Aircav1980 Posted December 8, 2015 Share Posted December 8, 2015 I am hoping for some help from some of the Spitfire experts out there. I would like to do a Spitfire in the near future. I want to keep it to 1/32 scale. I would like to model a plane that took part in the Battle of Brittain. I am a fan of Tamiyas 1/32 kits and would like to build that one. My question is, is there one of Tamiya's Spitfires that could easily be converted to an earlier model? From what I read the Mk II was the model that took part. I really have no idea what the differences are. If I cannot convert Tamiya's kit is there a kit you recommend? Does anyone have marking option recommendations? Thanks Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
do335b6 Posted December 8, 2015 Share Posted December 8, 2015 Not really all the Tamiya Spits are late models which were far different from the early ones, They made a number of improvements to the engines and airframes, backdating one would be a major task. Revell has the Mk 1 and and brand new Mk II and you can get a really nice cockpit from eduard. Either of these would make a good BOB Spit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cees Broere Posted December 8, 2015 Share Posted December 8, 2015 Apart from that the Mk I was mainly used, the Mk II arrived later in the battle. Cees Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee_K Posted December 8, 2015 Share Posted December 8, 2015 (edited) The Revell Mk IIc kit has numerous issues that has been documented here on LSP extensively. It can be made into a relatively accurate Battle of Britain aircraft if you get the Barracuda resin correction set to replace the incorrect ailerons and oil cooloer, and a resin replacement of the misshapen spinner and prop blades. The spinner is a bit hard to find in the aftermarket as most of the on-line retailers are out of stock. I used a leftover from an old Hasegawa kit. Another nice-to-have are the replacement resin wheels from Barracuda as the kit wheels are incorrectly dished outwards. Shave off the crowbar in the cabin door and find an aftermarket harness. Clip off the weird T-top on the aerial post on the verticaal stabilizer and add some tiny triangles to the main aerial post. The Tamiya VIII, IX, and XVI kits are not viable solutions for an early Spitfire. Here's my Revell IIc, finished as a Mk I in May 1940: Edited December 8, 2015 by Lee_K Bill Cross and Uncarina 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aircav1980 Posted December 8, 2015 Author Share Posted December 8, 2015 That's kinda what I was thinking about the Tamiya kit. I was just hoping. I also read that about the Revell kit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DougN Posted December 8, 2015 Share Posted December 8, 2015 There is always the old Revell kit and the Revell/Haswegawa Mk I/II hybrid kit. Well not as detailed, either of them have a (much) better shape than the new Revell kit. D Bellis 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D Bellis Posted December 8, 2015 Share Posted December 8, 2015 There is always the old Revell kit and the Revell/Haswegawa Mk I/II hybrid kit. Well not as detailed, either of them have a (much) better shape than the new Revell kit. The old Revell kit also has more accurate raised & recessed panel lines where appropriate. The downsides of that kit being the lack of the proper 'gull' representation under the wing roots, as well as the aforementioned sparse detailing. D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee_K Posted December 8, 2015 Share Posted December 8, 2015 (edited) Revell has issued three early Spitfire kits: 1. Ancient kit from the 60s (?) that D Bellis mentions. It can be found at swap meets and vendor tables. 2. 2002 Hasegawa/Revell hybrid that DougN mentions. Revell took the 70s vintage Hasegawa Mk V kit and added a brand new wing appropriate for a Mark I/II. It too is out of production and available at swap meets and vendor tables at contests. It is actually is not too bad of a kit although the Hasegawa parts have raised panel lines and the Revell pieces are recessed. Rescribing the fuslage and stabilizers is fortunately a fairly simple task. 3. The 2014 Mk IIc kit, with all its issues. I continue to be perplexed at how Revell's kit designers could make so many mistakes when excellent references and museum examples are readily available. Here's my Hasegawa/Revell hybrid that I built about ten years ago. I should have left the crowbar off, I now realize, and those landing struts need to be angled a few more degrees forward. Oh well... Edited December 8, 2015 by Lee_K DougN 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave J Posted December 8, 2015 Share Posted December 8, 2015 It can be done with the Tamiya kit... But there is alot of work involved. I believe there was an WIP/Finish build posted here on LSP by a Czech modeller? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted December 8, 2015 Share Posted December 8, 2015 2. 2002 Hasegawa/Revell hybrid that DougN mentions. Revell took the 70s vintage Hasegawa Mk V kit and addd a brand new wing appropriate for a Mark I/II. It too is out of production and available at swap meets and vendor tables at contests. It is actually is not too bad of a kit although the Hasegawa parts have raised panel lines and the Revell pieces are recessed. Rescribing the fuslage and stabilizers is fortunately a fairly simple task. It's my understanding that it was Hasegawa who released that kit initially, and that Revell simply licensed it, rather than took Hasegawa's parts and supplemented them with their own. I remember doing some research around this recently for the Kit Database, but of course, the details are already forgotten! If anybody knows anything definitive, I'd love to hear it! Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cib2265 Posted December 8, 2015 Share Posted December 8, 2015 Tamiya really need to do the Mk I/II, and then the Mk V of course, huge gap in the 1/32 market for them there. (and if the chaps at Grey Matter Figures would ever reply to me, I could do a Mk 12 - the best Spitfire - as well) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony in NZ Posted December 8, 2015 Share Posted December 8, 2015 Interesting discussion, I always fancied converting the Mk IXc into a Vc. Now that you can get an early 'short' Merlin from the new Mosquito kit it seems more do-able Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D Bellis Posted December 8, 2015 Share Posted December 8, 2015 (edited) 2. 2002 Hasegawa/Revell hybrid that DougN mentions....It is actually is not too bad of a kit although the Hasegawa parts have raised panel lines and the Revell pieces are recessed. Rescribing the fuslage and stabilizers is fortunately a fairly simple task. The Revell fuselage and tail parts have both raised and recessed surface detail accurately rendered where appropriate. The Hasegawa wing is the part that would need to be rescribed. HTH, D Edited December 8, 2015 by D Bellis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted December 8, 2015 Share Posted December 8, 2015 The Revell fuselage and tail parts have both raised and recessed surface detail accurately rendered where appropriate. The Hasegawa wing is the part that would need to be rescribed. HTH, D Does anybody have an example of this hybrid kit? I'd love to see what, if any, copyright information is on the 'new' parts. Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted December 9, 2015 Share Posted December 9, 2015 I think you have that backward. It's the Hasegawa (raised panel line) fuselage from their 1978 Mk.Vb mated with new (1990s) Revell Mk.I wings with scribed details. Again, I've seen evidence that suggests that the new wings are Hasegawa's, not Revell's; I just can't find where I had this discussion, but I'm sure someone posted a photo showing a Hasegawa copyright mark on the wings. Hasegawa themselves actually released this kit at least twice: http://www.largescaleplanes.com/kitdb/details.php?kit=1473 http://www.largescaleplanes.com/kitdb/details.php?kit=1476 I would love to have something more definitive, even for the sake of having accurate information in the Kit Database. Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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