The antique BoB Revell Spitfire Mk.I

[fastterry]

According to Edgar, stiffeners were introduced on the production line 16 July '42 which was well into Mk V production. Any Mk Is & IIs that were still about after that time would have had them fitted at overhaul.

TRF

[thierry laurent]

Hi guys,

 

Another required update: opening the small intake under the belly. The kit part was closed with a badly simulated mesh face. With some drills and files, a far better replica can be obtained. This asks for a little bit of time as the plastic is quite thick.

 

 

And as you can see, I also extended the walls of the radiator as the kit has a too classical issue in Spitfire kits: a far too shallow radiator!

 

 

 

There are not ten ways to solve that: scratchbuilding a fully new and deeper radiator is the way to go. Nonetheless, it is important to check regularly that the new components will not create a problem when the upper wing will be added.

 

First, you have to remove the movable rear section cautiously.

 

 

Then, thin its rear edge and rebuild the flap part with the addition of missing sides in plastic card.

 

 

Again, multiple dry assemblies are required to check the correct positioning of the part.

 

 

If you look closely, you will see that I also added some additional rivets where I extended the part.

 

This will give a better visibility to the rear section of the radiator (thanks to a more opened position). 

 

The next step will be the radiator box itself and the "ramps" to add between the wing surface and the box. Then, the final step for the radiator will be the addition of the last external details such as the flap hinges, the angled tube in front of the box and the weapons heating tubes behind it.

 

 

[Pete Roberts]

Nice work there Thierry!

[dodgem37]

Nice mod.

 

Sincerely,

Mark

[Tnarg]

I love to see your tweak lists, but this is far beyond those lists. The photos show how to make the plane come alive. Thanks for the chance to watch.

 

Tnarg

[Greif8]

Very nice work Thierry.  I have to admit my scratchbuilding skills look very poor next to yours.

 

Ernest

[thierry laurent]

Thanks, well there is nothing extraordinary in that. Just patience, experience and as much documentation as possible. This is time-consuming for sure but to me this is really part of the pleasure. Some of us like the quick assembly and prefer the painting steps, others like modifying kits, then other ones love total scratchbuilding and you have tons of intermediate modelling positions. To me, this is what is really interesting in that hobby.

[thierry laurent]

Now, we will have a look at the radiator main structure.

 

Finally, I could use part of the original radiator plastic part. It was too shallow but as the radiator itself was not correctly positionned, I could at least retrieve the front ramp section. I built the radiator itself and the rear ramp out of leftover bits of 1mm plastic card. I simply copied the too shallow front faces and the rear ramp and extended them.

 

 

I used sections of leftover RB Mk.IX and Eduard Mk.II radiators to make the faces. Normally, both meshes should be located in the same axis (whereas the Eduard part is slightly protruding). However, when the radiator is located in the wing, this is not noticeable. I already had to cut and sand the photoetched mesh parts and this is not really easy without damaging them.

 

 

Alas, I could not use any existing photoetched mesh as such as the Mk.IX radiator faces are different, the Tamiya kit has a slightly larger cross-section and the Eduard parts stupidly copied the too shallow radiator faces of the recent Revell Spitfires Mk.II & IX! By the way, I hate when so-called detailing parts are just adding a layer of "detail" on inaccurate parts rather than taking the opportunity to correct them!

 

One challenge was the fact the ramps must be bent to mate correctly the wing. Just take your time and dry fit ten times to get the correct stance.

 

 

This shows the new radiator part in the wing:

 

 

Here is the front face:

 

 

And the rear one:

 

 

Not perfect but far better I think. Sorry for the quality of the pictures but the section to capture is very small to focus correctly and you need eigth arms to handle the kit and the camera!

 

Now I still have to add the final external details on both sides.

 

Another problem out of the list...!

 

 

[fastterry]

Erm Thierry, I think the Mk I radiator has no division as it only handled water (glycol). On the Mk IX and later the underwing radiators had water, oil and intercooler sections so were therefore divided up. Sorry to be a smart ***s, this is just for future readers of your excellent build.

TRF

[thierry laurent]

Don't worry! I appreciate constructive comments. The Spitfire Mk.I pictures I have checked showed a strengthening bar located more or less in the middle of the radiator faces. So, even if the internal components are different from the late marks ones, you still see 'two' meshes (even if it is very probably a single one with a strengthener put in front of it). Accordingly, with the scale effect, I considered recycling the Mk. IX parts to be acceptable to get something that 'looks' reasonably ok. Replicating perfectly the faces would have been far more difficult as this would have asked for cutting fully new meshes and rebuilding the frames with thin plastic strips that would have been too thick. As I wrote it is better but not perfect because I had to accept compromises. To me, the only good option would ask for designing ad hoc photoetched radiator faces. Alas, as I wrote nobody did it and doing this myself was far over the amount of effort I was ready to invest for that kit. I hope this explains that. 

[Gazzas]

Love the new radiator!

[fastterry]

Thierry, I have just had another look at my references and you're right, there is a thin strip dividing the radiator. Pays to look at photos first before jumping into print.

TRF

[Greif8]

Exceptional work as always Thierry!  I agree with you about the different things that inspire us.  I definitely fall into the camp of build mostly OOB and see what can be done in the painting and weathering stages.  You have probably noticed that I like building figures as well, and most of my builds have one or two in a setting that has a narrative to it.

 

Ernest 

[thierry laurent]

I love figures as well (I have tons of them, 1/32 and 1/35). However, I have not painted full figures for many years. I painted the flesh parts of some WW1 figures some months ago but I've yet to finish them...

[thierry laurent]

To go back to the radiator, here's a comparison between the original part and the scratchbuilt one:

 

 

You can see the difference of depth in situ. Front:

 

 

and rear:

 

 

At least this effort is not worthless as this will be really visible, more particularly the front section.