Dpgsbody55

Nice result. I might have to try one of these myself after looking at your build. Cheers, Michael

Interesting. Thanks for the response. Cheers, Michael

I like the sound of a D day group build, and I have just the project in mind and in the stash too. If it starts in June, that would be perfect for me. Cheers, Michael

I hope you're right too, given the lack of any new P-40 other than the GWH effort. I have a P-40B, E and M, so I'm hoping that H2K will do a re-pop of the P-40N in particular. We won't talk about the Trumpeter offerings... Cheers, Michael

The wing shown in your picture is not an E wing, but a completely new wing designed for the Mk.21 and later variants which carried four 20mm cannon and no machine guns. With the introduction of the RR Griffon engine, speeds had risen to a point such that aileron reversal was becoming an issue. The original wing had a theoretical aileron reversal speed of 580mph which was a speed that could be reached in a dive quite easily with the Griffon engine Spitfires, and lower than many of the newer planes. The older wing and all it's different types (B, C, D, and E) were all derivations of the original 8 machine gun wing and was also much more flexible aft of the wing spar. This was done deliberately by R.J. Mitchell to save weight and improve theoretical manoeuverability. But it also had speed limitations and was a cause of gun jamming when cannons were fitted. The new wing was 47% stiffer and had piano hinged ailerons with geared trim tabs which helped increase the theoretical aileron reversal speed to 825mph. It was fitted with Mk2 or the shorter lighter Mk5 Hispano 20mm cannon and had a different planform to the original wing. Note the changed wing tip area here as the most obvious clue. One other change was a 7.75 inch increase in undercarriage track. The Spitfire went through many changes in it's production life, but most of them were "small". The plane had a major update with redesigned strengthening and fuselage structure for the Mk.VIII, to help take the power of the Merlin 60 series engines. Because of the pressures of war, this took too long to get into production, so the interim Mk.IX was hastily built, having used a converted Mk.V, which was itself converted from the Mk.I. As such, the Mk.IX was noticeably weaker and more dangerous to fly than the Mk.VIII because of the increased stresses on the airframe brought about by the power of the two stage supercharged Merlin. Similarly, the Mk.XIV Griffon used the Mk.VIII as it's basis and had similar issues. All of these later marks ran into compressability problems brought about by the use of engines far more powerful than was originally intended for the Spitfire. The problem was known by early 1942, and this is the period when thoughts turned to a major redesign of the Spitfire's wing for the model that became the Mk.21 which first flew in production form in March 1944 (LA-187). However, the plane had handling problems (trim sensitivity) and were not considered as suitable for the average squadron pilot until March 1945, though the first squadron to become operational was 91 Squadron in January 1945. Only 120 were built and production stopped with the war's end in May of that year. The Mk.22 was similar, but had the cut down fuselage, enlarged tail surfaces as shown in the drawings above, as well as 24 volt electrics. WW2 was the first time in military aviation when planes were modified and adapted as much as possible to keep them in use, rather than design completely new planes with all the development delays they would bring. Previously, after one or two marks, a new plane would replace it, but pressures of wartime needs and the increasing sophistication of aircraft meant they could be adapted and improved, for the most part. The Messerschmitt BF-109 is another example of this, though with that plane, it had reached it's zenith with the F model and would have been replaced had the Me-209 or '309 been any good. However, you are quite right to be confused by the difference in cannon barrel bodies. This is yet another part of the plane than was constantly improved and model builders need to be very careful in researching the variant that they are building. More so than many kit manufacturers have been. Cheers, Michael

Work has continued on this model as it edges closer to looking more like a plane, rather than just a collection of plastic bits. Here's the wheel wells, one assembled and one still to assemble showing the retraction mechanism. Attached to the wings and ready for the top wings to go on. The outer gear doors have also been set in place and are trapped by the gear well outer edges. Before that happens, the inner doors need to connect to the closing mechanism. You can also see the outer doors in place. Wing tops on. While waiting for that to dry, the flaps, ailerons and drop tank were built up. The drop tank is removable and may be useful in protecting the gear doors when I put the model down, before I attache the undercarriage. Also in this shot are the tail surfaces built previously. So here's the fuselage and wings ready to go together. However, notice the gap in the wheel wells. This will be filled in by the fuselage when these two components are assembled. Just make sure that part of the fuselage is also painted aotake. You could paint it after assembly, but I think this way is easier. One last job before assembly. I decided to paint the yellow wing leading edges now. Again, I think this will be easier to mask now and paint, before the fuselage makes the job more awkward. Possibly tomorrow, I will remove the masking, then remask the actual yellow leading edge. The band starts very close to the fuselage and it will be easier to peel away after paint, than try to mask this area off later when it's all together. Digits crossed this idea works out well. Next time, the model will look like a plane. Cheers, Michael

I've now started on the wings after having done some more work on the fuselage and built the tail planes. First of all was the fin and rudder which are the Tamiya typical etch rudder retainer pins on a steel shaft clamped between the rudder halves. This is then inserted into the fin then mounted onto the fuselage. No photo of that bit but here it is attached to the fuselage. The join is very clean and only needed some Mr Surfacer applied to the joint. This was also all that was needed for the fuselage joins. The above picture is after clean up. Next was the tail planes. This was a little different from the rudder as the hinge pieces (E8 and E9) are cutouts in plastic from the lower elevator surfaces where the butt up against the tail plane. They're retained to the tail plane with more etch steel retainer pins. On the left tail plane, I followed the instructions which are a pfaff. You're supposed to put the hinge between the etch pins, CA glue the three pieces to the lower tail plane half, then add the top half, after which once dry, you glue the elevator to the hinge cutout. This didn't work very well for me and the elevator barely moves. So on the right side, I put one retainer pin on the hinge piece, glued that, then lifted it slightly to add the other pin. After gluing the tail plane halves together, and allowing to dry, I then shoved the elevator pins into the slots in the tail plane. Much better, and heaps easier. The next night, I sprayed aotake on everything I could in the wing components. There's quite a few more than in this shot, but you get the idea. Alas as I was trying to put the airbrush down, as well as sort out all the parts, I had a little accident with a paint spill. Mostly over my left hand. I think that hand looked like something from a cheesy '60's sci-fi horror film as I was trying to clean it up . At least I can now get to grips with the wings. So the next day, I painted the wing guns and added them. While this was drying, I made up the inner wheel well doors. These consist of four parts each, two of which are the kit supplied metal hinge and the closing mechanism for the door itself, which hooks onto the closing undercarriage wheel. These are held between two plastic pieces for the inner and outer door surfaces. One part of the inner door is painted cockpit green, and the closing hook is painted semi gloss black. One it's all dry, they can be placed onto the wings, and are retained by part H4. Except mine was missing. I know I had it, but it must have gone missing while I was painting all the parts and my hand in aotake. I've got a carpet protector beneath my chair, which is very handy for stopping parts disappearing into the carpet. Not there. I even cleaned my bench. Not there. So I finished up making my own from stock plastic sheet. It's the white between each wheel well. Once dry, it seems to work quite well. Panic over. Next up is to make the outer doors and the wheel wells themselves. These have the spring latch mechanism for the retractable main wheels. Then I can put the wings together and attach them to the plane. That's for next time. Cheers, Michael

Another superb build, and beautifully finished as always. Cheers, Michael

Good progress so far, though it looks like it hasn't been easy. Cheers, Michael

How did I miss this?? A very interesting take on the Hurri. That cockpit is one of the best I've seen. Cheers, Michael

Happy birthday Kev. Hope you get spoiled. Cheers, Michael

A bit more progress on this one. The gun magazines on this one are apparently cockpit colour, so this part was dutifully painted as per the kit guide and glued into place. While that was drying, I put the guns together and drilled out the gun barrel ends as well as deepening the cooling holes. These were then painted a lighter shade of gunmetal, as indicated by the tweak list on this site. After the paint had dried, a black was was applied to bring out the cooling holes in the barrels. I did have some Eduard etch bits to replace the kit gun barrels, but I didn't think the juice was worth that squeeze. They're almost entirely hidden by the gun cowl in front of the windscreen. Anyway, bending them into perfect tubes was a nightmare. Next, was the engine firewall, which is just two pieces - the wall itself and an oil tank. The firewall was painted AS12 on one side, and the cockpit side was painted in cockpit green. The tank was painted titanium silver, though it probably should have been AS12 too. I just wanted to highlight it a bit more. I've also drilled out a couple of holes in the bottom for possible oil lines to the engine later on. This was set aside and used as an alignment tool for the engine mounts which comprise left and right pieces to form the mount, then an engine mount ring that goes on the front. Since each half of the mount is glued only at one small point, I glued these halves together, placed this assembly in the firewall, then immediately added the front mounting ring to ensure I got this bit right. Hopefully I'll be able to attach the engine in the right place now!! This piece, once the glue had dried, was painted semi gloss black. While that was happening, the guns were fitted. These required some test fitting and adjustment, as the mounting slot on the guns is formed by two halves of the gun breach glued together. The resultant excess glue has to be properly cleaned out before fitting the guns to the magazine and immediately after which, the firewall was glued into place. Here's the view from the back. Notice also the etch rib/fuselage stringer reinforcement plates attached to the back wall of the cockpit. One in particular (top left in this view) kept falling off, so I glued it back on, only to have it fall off again when I test fitted the cockpit into the fuselage halves. So I glue it back on again, add some more bits, and it falls off again the next time I test fitted the cockpit. More glue, more test fitting, more falling off - you get the picture . Word from the wise. There is no way the top left and top right pieces can be seen when the model is closed up. Don't waste your time on these. The others are doubtful too unless you're fitting all the etch bits to the bottles that go onto the back of this. I didn't. Too little juice; too much squeeze. So the next thing was to fit the engine mount to the front wall. The instruction say to leave this until the fuselage is together, though it also says to glue the halves together much earlier in the piece then slide the complete cockpit tub into the now complete fuselage. This might be OK if you add no extras as I have, but if anything from those extras gets in the way, sliding that tub will be a no go. Adding the engine mount now ensures proper alignment in the fuselage, and gives the bottles at the back a horizontal surface to adhere to when you glue those in place on the back wall. So the mount was glued into place, then the whole sat vertically on the mount and the bottles added. As you can see, I've added more pipes to the bottles. I think these may add something, as there's no armour plate behind the pilot to obscure all this detail. Speaking of which (details, that is) here's the DF radio that goes behind the cockpit. Only fit this if you're adding the DF loop to the outsides of the model. I've added more details to what is a rather blank piece of plastic based on an image I stumbled on. Or, at least, my memory of it, as I couldn't find it again. Only the white knobs are molded into the kit piece, but I've added access panel detail and extra knobs and wiring. I've yet to add a cable securing tape to this, but you may make it out in the next picture, in which I've started gluing this piece and the cockpit to one side. Adding the engine mount now also means that you can't just push the cockpit into previously joined halves, but does have the advantage in the the engine mount can be glued properly to the very front of the fuselage for extra engine security. You can see how the DF radio is visible behind the pilot in this picture, so definitely worth a little more attention. I could now trail fit the other fuselage half as well as the lower wing piece, which has more detail to go into that space behind the cockpit. It's busy back here in this model. The instructions say to fit these after building up the wings, but before fitting them to the fuselage. The aotake bit/thingy is from the kit. There was an etch set, but I decided against this. It's going to be dark back there. It's a juice/squeeze thing. Working on these parts now has allowed me to trial fit all this stuff into the space behind the cockpit and ensure that all the extra details I've added like the wiring/cables and etch pieces fit without clashing. So this evening, just before doing this update the fuselage has gone together. I did have to fit the tail wheel leg too, as well as a vinyl piece for the elevator to pivot in. I've also drilled out the three lightening holes in the rear fuselage which are revealed when the elevators are moved from the neutral position. That's all for now. Next I'll be working on the tail surfaces, but not fitting them, as well as more work on the wings. This entails lots of fiddly stuff getting the undercarriage to go up and down, as well as doors to close in unison on this rather toy like model. It's different . Cheers, Michael

I received an email from Z-M yesterday evening informing me that my pre- ordered FW-190A-4 is scheduled to be shipped on or just after 7th October. This year . Mine will almost certainly go into my stash while I wait to see what aftermarket comes along for it. Cheers, Michael

I was a little disappointed to see that the undercarriage must go on during construction of the wings, but I take your point that this method is best for this model. I'll just have to spend more time masking when I get to mine. Not a big deal, really, but fitting undercarriage after painting is definitely easier. I've always been taken with the elegance and simplicity of the C-202's design, but I like to have the option to display my models with the engine covers off. I can see me having to build a second to have it both ways simultaneously. I'm glad there appears to be a good selection of markings and paint schemes for this model, so that should help here. Enjoying your build and the discussion surrounding the model and the plane. Cheers, Michael

I'd like to see Italeri stay with a Regia Aeronautica theme for the moment. A C-205 would be great, as would a C-200. But there's others they could tackle too which would attract my money. Savoia Marchetti SM.79 anyone? Cheers, Michael