dennismcc Posted December 17, 2020 Share Posted December 17, 2020 Looks great, nice details. Cheers Dennis Dpgsbody55 and mpk 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mozart Posted December 18, 2020 Share Posted December 18, 2020 Well done Michael, that cockpit really looks spot on, wonderful work. Dpgsbody55 and mpk 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom2 Posted December 18, 2020 Share Posted December 18, 2020 Beautiful Cockpit and clean and crisp details! Cheers! Stefan mpk and Dpgsbody55 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dpgsbody55 Posted December 20, 2020 Author Share Posted December 20, 2020 Just a quick update as I'll be putting this aside for a few days while I return to another build. The pilot's seat frame is now finished. I've not added the volt regulator visible at the top of the seat frame as it was not positioned here on the MkVIII. That leaves only one other part, the altitude switch which was painted before assembly and "wired" up. The rear frame was then glued into place on the floor (or what passes for such on the Spitfire ), along with the seat frame and joining brace at the top, as was the completed instrument panel/controls assembly. This was placed into the fuselage and both fuselage halves taped together to act as a jig. Here's the result once dry. This is what it looks like in the right fuselage half. The pictures are just for effect. As you can see, I've also started the "plumbing" of the cockpit, but more will be added later. So far, I'm happy with this model, despite Tamiya not providing the cockpit parts for a MkVIII. That's it for the moment. I'll be putting this aside for a few days while I get back to what I hope will be a fix for the windscreen issue encountered on my P-40B build, but I think I'll be back at the cockpit plumbing on this within a week. Cheers, Michael mpk, Peter, Uncarina and 9 others 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazzas Posted December 21, 2020 Share Posted December 21, 2020 Looking sharp! Dpgsbody55 and mpk 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nighthawk Calling 1 Posted December 25, 2020 Share Posted December 25, 2020 Great progress so far, will be watching with interest Dpgsbody55 and mpk 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlbertD Posted December 26, 2020 Share Posted December 26, 2020 Sure looks nice. Dpgsbody55 and mpk 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dpgsbody55 Posted December 28, 2020 Author Share Posted December 28, 2020 The left side of the cockpit is now finished. This is probably the easier side to detail. It's close to OOB but I have added some Eduard etch as well as the cabling. I've also mounted the voltage regulator on the lower edge, moved from behind the pilot's headrest. MkVIII's had quite a few differences in the cockpit layout which Tamiya haven't carried through to the model. Unfortunately I don't have enough pictures of the MkVIII cockpit, but I do know that the voltage regulator was mounted roughly where I have it. It definitely couldn't go in the kit allocated spot as it's too visible there and not appropriate for the MkVIII. I think the air tanks were somewhere else, as was the map pocket, but I don't know where. The space occupied by the map pocket had a large electric junction box in it's place, but I decided not to replicate that as it would be too time consuming, and I think it would have been better to make a junction box before gluing anything together. I'd already gone past that point, and the lack of decent pictures also contributed to my decision to go the way I have. So the cabling goes to the stock kit fusebox instead. Here's a couple of gratuitous shots with the cockpit "floor" in place, just for effect. On with the right side. Cheers, Michael Gazzas, Uncarina, Alex and 7 others 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazzas Posted December 29, 2020 Share Posted December 29, 2020 Your wires look great as does the rest! mpk 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncarina Posted December 29, 2020 Share Posted December 29, 2020 Great job, and I hope I can do half as nice a job when I build mine! Cheers, Tom mpk 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dpgsbody55 Posted January 5, 2021 Author Share Posted January 5, 2021 On 1/3/2021 at 10:25 PM, MARU5137 said: Just popped by to see how goes it! Thanks for asking. I've taken a few days off the project, but have re-commenced with some work on the right side of the cockpit. Hopefully an update in a few more days. Cheers, Michael mpk and Uncarina 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dpgsbody55 Posted January 7, 2021 Author Share Posted January 7, 2021 The right side of the cockpit is now finished. I added some more of the Eduard etch details such as the plaques and IFF guage, plus some more wiring and plumbing using 0.3 and 0.5mm black wire, as well as 0.3mm steel wire which was painted in the interior colour. A copper wire was used for the pneumatic pipe which I believe had a "tap" on it, so I made one of these from plastic sprue and stock. The oxygen hose is a short length of guitar string, and the hose retainers are Eduard etch. I wish I'd not glued the black oxygen bottle which is part of the pneumatic system at this time as it made fitting the cockpit interior a bit of a pain. However, I did this as I thought it might be a pain installing it after as the instructions said. Yer pays yer money and yer makes yer choice!! While this was being built, I also worked on the undercarriage lever quadrant and it's pipes. This was also embellished with more etch, but I used the stock lever, rather than cut off the plastic one and glue in a fragile etch job. Then four 0.5mm holes were drilled for the hydraulic pipes to be fitted which I made from 0.45mm brass rod. The pipes were bent around the frame supporting the instrument panel (frame 8) and took a fair amount of time to bend and adjust so that the quadrant sat in place. Next, the previously completed cockpit floor/instrument panel/seat frame assembly was glued into place and the left side fuselage half placed together as a jig. Note that the undercarriage selector quadrant is not yet fitted. After an hour, the U/C quadrant was then fitted, jiggled into place around frame 8. I did the same thing with my MkXVI build a few years back and found it easier that time than this. Musta done something different so I'll be reviewing the photos of that build so I don't have the same issues next time. Here it all is with the left side taped into place so we can both get an idea of the finished job. I'm sure once the seat is in, I won't be able to see as much!! Left side view. Next I'll complete the pilot's pew, seat belts and install these, then I'll be closing up the fuselage. That will be the next update. Cheers, Michael denders, Chris Wimmer, Sepp and 12 others 15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncarina Posted January 8, 2021 Share Posted January 8, 2021 Very nice! Cheers, Tom mpk and Dpgsbody55 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RadBaron Posted January 8, 2021 Share Posted January 8, 2021 Great work mate!! Dpgsbody55 and mpk 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phartycr0c Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 This is great work and inspiration for my spitfire builds! mpk and Dpgsbody55 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now