Revell Spitfire FRIXc MK915 pink recon

[Pastor John]

Like what you have done to the rivets, will do the same, thanks and looking forward to seeing the end result

[Wackyracer]

21 hours ago, Fanes said:

I see the following options:

1. live with what Revell provides
2. cut the alignment tabs from the resin part, drop in in from below and then struggle a lot to get them flush
3. try to wiggle them in with their alignment tabs - may be possible since the inboard quarter (I guess) isn't covered from the wing's top

What would you recommend?

Hi

 

I'd go with the Revell bits for this one. I'm doing a PR 1G and using Barracudas correction set and you need to insert then file away a lot to get the top wing to settle.

 

 

 

 

[Fanes]

15 hours ago, Pastor John said:

Like what you have done to the rivets, will do the same, thanks and looking forward to seeing the end result

Thanks for checking in John! I hope your hands will be getting better - there's so many more Ju 88s to build for you

31 minutes ago, Wackyracer said:

 

I'd go with the Revell bits for this one. I'm doing a PR 1G and using Barracudas correction set and you need to insert then file away a lot to get the top wing to settle.

That's what I feared, Aaron. Thank you very much for protecting me from a (too) late finding.

Anyway, how's your PR 1G coming along?

[Fanes]

Filling, sanding and filling again isn't that much photo worthy but unfortunately necessary.

I've been looking through my saved reference pictures aof MK716 and stumbled over a "wrong" photo:

 

That's clearly not MK716 but with some digging that seems to be MK915, which is included in Pastor John's Spitfire decal sheet .

It doesn't seem to be built as often as MK716 which makes it even more appealing.

Both airframes look quite similar with two details from the above photo that differ from MK915:

1. it doesn't have the wheel covers but 5 spoke wheels;
   Revell only includes 4 spoke ones and I thought to get away with adding the Tamiya PE covers for MK915
   --> luckily there's a set of Barracuda wheels with the correct amount of spokes in the stash
2. MK716 carries a drop tank under the fuselage. I was only aware of the slipper tank but this seems to be the cigar shaped one which was originally from the Hurricane or Typhoon

Brengun makes a 1/32 drop tank and it seems to be of the correct size and shape:

(picture from the Brengun website)

A question to the experts: is that the correct drop tank for a Spitfire? If not. what's an alternative source?

[Vince Blackburn]

6 hours ago, Fanes said:

Filling, sanding and filling again isn't that much photo worthy but unfortunately necessary.

I've been looking through my saved reference pictures aof MK716 and stumbled over a "wrong" photo:

 

That's clearly not MK716 but with some digging that seems to be MK915, which is included in Pastor John's Spitfire decal sheet .

It doesn't seem to be built as often as MK716 which makes it even more appealing.

Both airframes look quite similar with two details from the above photo that differ from MK915:

1. it doesn't have the wheel covers but 5 spoke wheels;
   Revell only includes 4 spoke ones and I thought to get away with adding the Tamiya PE covers for MK915
   --> luckily there's a set of Barracuda wheels with the correct amount of spokes in the stash
2. MK716 carries a drop tank under the fuselage. I was only aware of the slipper tank but this seems to be the cigar shaped one which was originally from the Hurricane or Typhoon

Brengun makes a 1/32 drop tank and it seems to be of the correct size and shape:

(picture from the Brengun website)

A question to the experts: is that the correct drop tank for a Spitfire? If not. what's an alternative source?

Ah "V" my personal favourite pink Spitfire 

[Wackyracer]

8 hours ago, Fanes said:

Brengun makes a 1/32 drop tank and it seems to be of the correct size and shape:

(picture from the Brengun website)

A question to the experts: is that the correct drop tank for a Spitfire? If not. what's an alternative source?

Yes, there's a nice profile and pic in allied aircraft in the Ardennes.

[monthebiff]

Looking very  good, that Baracuda radiator is a whole lot of work to install properly but worth it in the end!

 

Regards. Andy 

[Kagemusha]

It is the correct drop tank, Hannants stock it also, link

 

 

[Fanes]

Thanks Aaron and Kage - drop tank is on order!

16 hours ago, Vince Blackburn said:

Ah "V" my personal favourite pink Spitfire 

Hehe, you're welcome

12 hours ago, monthebiff said:

Looking very  good, that Baracuda radiator is a whole lot of work to install properly but worth it in the end!

 

Regards. Andy 

Allright Andy, you got me there..

 

Fiddling with the radiators

Luckily I have a second (and soon a third) Revell Mk. IX in my stash and it's supposed to become a PR XI in the future.

Since the PR XI is my favourite Spitfire by far - just so elegant and sleek - it will definitely get the Barracuda radiators.

But for now it will be my test mule.

Did some chain drilling on the port side:

 

A quick cut later:

(sorry for the vertical photo - scalemates annoyingly doesn't want it to be horizontal)

After some cutting, scraping and sanding we have a positive fit!

 

 

I don't know why, but I only had  to cut a little of the upper wing half to get it to fit - no modifications on the Barracuda part were necessary.

Or am I mistaking somethin @Wackyracer?

 

Here's a direct comparison of both versions from above.

For reasons I don't fully understand, the Revell part fits worse than its resin sibling

 

And why am I doing this? - well for anyone who hasn't seen this mess before:

 

compared to:

 

I guess the winner is clear!

But back to my initial problem and the already assembled wing with the guns fitted, the rivets on the leading edge filled and the weird bulge above the wheel wells removed.

Does it blend??

- hell yeah it does!!!

As you can see, the wing halves were taped together to simulate the glued wing and I was able to do that:

 

You can remove the radiator after the assembly which means it is feasable to insert it in the glued wings as well.

The only problem now is to make the cutout on the assembled wing. I will try this later on the starboard side of my test mule.

 

Stay tuned

Joachim

[Fanes]

Test run succesful

As mentioned above, I did a preliminary test on the starboard wing.

The halves were tapes and clamped together to simulate the glued wings.

Long story short:

Eureka - it works

 

Same procedure as before was applied supported by some work with a grinding disc to open up the wing roots.

It took me about twice as long as with the unassembled parts but after some sweating and swearing and around one hour I was this point

 

It's not as good and clean as the other side but I'm now confident enough to cut the real thing

As a bonus I have a prepared set of wings for my next build.

[Wackyracer]

9 hours ago, Fanes said:

 

I don't know why, but I only had  to cut a little of the upper wing half to get it to fit - no modifications on the Barracuda part were necessary.

Or am I mistaking somethin @Wackyracer?

Mine was for a mk.I/II wing so maybe that's were the difference is. That filter didn't go right to the back of the wing and I believe its deeper to?

[Fanes]

12 hours ago, Wackyracer said:

Mine was for a mk.I/II wing so maybe that's were the difference is. That filter didn't go right to the back of the wing and I believe its deeper to?

Makes sense - what a lucky coincidence for me

[monthebiff]

You made short work there Fanes, looking very good.

 

Regards. Andy 

[Fanes]

I took a deep breath and made the cut on the real wings. After around 20 dry fits and small adjustments, the new radiators were a drop fit.

Well, actually a wiggle-to-drop-fit because of the glued wing halves but anyway now I'm here:

 

and with the housings dry fitted:

 

The fit may look a little bit rough but the intake ramps were'nt glued in the above picture. They're CA'ed now and it looks like there's only minimal clean up required. Less so, if I could have fitted them from above...

 

To finish up the fuselage I have to insert the camera in its bay, but it needed some paint before that.

Here we go with a dark blue grey for the F.24 and a little darker hue for the cradle

 

 

I will have to figure out the actual attachment in the fuselage now.

There were wooden cross bars with a slot to attach the cradle as it can bee seen partially on this PR XIX.

The bars themself were directly attached to the bulkheads.

 

So, it's down to cutting some styrene sheet/profiles.

 

[monthebiff]

Those radiators look good, Excellent work and well worth the extra effort. 

 

Regards. Andy