Spitfire Mk VIII

[Phartycr0c 2,685]

Nice work inspirational to say the least. 

[MARU5137 15,904]

The fit of the fuselage looks FLAWLESS. 

NEAT job.

Keep it coming.

 

[dennismcc 5,167]

Coming together nicely, keep up the good work.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[Dpgsbody55 2,061]

I've been tinkering with the wings on this.  First thing is to add all the panels that Tamiya give you for the different variants.  There's a few as the picture shows.

 

 

As these parts were drying in place, I built up the elevators, tail planes and ailerons.  Tamiya provide a similar pivot mechanism for these parts to the Trumpeter setup, and neither impress.  It's overly fiddly and while I'm glad the parts are separate, a glued tab joint would suffice.  Also added was the port and starboard nav lights that made their way to the lower wing on the MkVIII.

 

 

The next step is to build up the radiators.  The radiators themselves were painted flat black, then dry brushed in silver to bring out the detail.  I also added etch grilles to the oil coolers.

 

 

The radiator housings also benefited from more etch for the rad flap operating arm and flap detail, but I elected to use 0.5mm plastic stoc for the rad flap braces, due to utter failures in the past with etch bits.

 

 

The last thing was to add the gun heat tubes at the back of each radiator, before adding the radiator housings.  These were made from 2.0mm square plastic stock, cur at 45 degrees to form an L shaped tube, then the square edges were rounded.  The port side tube (on the right) is longer to clear the oil cooler.

 

 

I still have to add on the short span ailerons and their fillet, as well as the wing tips, but that will all happen after the wings have been added.

 

I've also cleaned up the fuselage join, which didn't need much work at all.  Such a nice model .  The only "filler" required was a small dab of Mr Surfacer on the very front tip of the fuselage in front of the petrol filler.  This is yet to be sanded, but that's another job to do before the wings are added.  Lastly, the rudder has been added.  A touch of CA glue was needed as the top pivot didn't want to stay in place.  There's no barb on this piece.

 

 

That's it for the moment.  Thanks for looking.

 

Cheers,

Michael

[Dpgsbody55 2,061]

A bit more progress, and it's beginning to look like something.  The wings went on next, exactly as they were from my last update.  Sticky tape was used to help set the dihedral properly and evenly, but mostly just to make sure there were no accidents during the glue curing process.  The trailing edge of the wing also needed a little help to stay in place.

 

 

The wing root gaps are almost non existent and will only need the smallest amount of tidy up, which will save a lot of time trying to re-scribe the kit detail.

 

 

Next, on with the tail planes.  this needed a little more help from the sticky tape as they didn't want to sit square to the wings in head on view.

 

 

This resulted in the worst gap on the model so far, on the underside of one tail plane.  The other joints are just as good as the wing/fuselage joint.

 

 

Once all this had set, I started on the final part of the wing construction; ailerons, tips and flaps.  After test fitting all the parts, I decided to use the inverse procedure to that advised by the instructions.  This was due to the difficult nature of those fiddly metal pins that are supposed to join the ailerons to the rest of the model.  The wing tip parts would have got in the way.  So here's the ailerons attached.  I used some carefully applied CA glue on all metal pins, as the outer ones have no hook and didn't want to stay in place.

 

 

The MkVIII version uses the short span ailerons, whereas the MkIX and MkXVI use the original long span ailerons.

 

 

Next, after letting the CA dry and ensuring aileron pivot, in went the fillets that go between the wing tips and ailerons.

 

 

Then I immediately attached the wing tips and set both tip and fillet in place with clamps.

 

 

So here's the now complete wings (cannon barrels excluded).

 

 

The flaps have also been installed, closed, but I forgot to take that picture .  But you'll know what they look like closed.

 

Now it's back to that engine and firewall, which have been totally ignored since the first days of this build.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

[Alex 2,244]

On 1/19/2021 at 11:25 AM, Dpgsbody55 said:

As these parts were drying in place, I built up the elevators, tail planes and ailerons.  Tamiya provide a similar pivot mechanism for these parts to the Trumpeter setup, and neither impress.  It's overly fiddly and while I'm glad the parts are separate, a glued tab joint would suffice.  

 

I know - I wish they would not do that.  They add unnecessary complexity to these kits by insisting on engineering movable control surfaces, foldable landing gear, etc.  It's a static display model, not a toy.  I wish they would put that engineering effort towards even more and more accurate cockpit and engine detail instead.

[MikeMaben 7,811]

Mike, you have to drop those elevators some. It's mandatory on Spitfires. 

[MARU5137 15,904]

Michael,

Well that is tremendous  progress .

Your build is coming together rather nicely.

 

      

[Dpgsbody55 2,061]

I'm beginning to think that radial engines are easier to detail than inline engines, at least as far as spark plug wires go.  They were difficult enough when I did my Tamiya MkXVI, but this one is driving me round the bend.  Every set I've tried to make so far has ended up in the bin.    However, I shall persist a little longer before using the Eduard jobbies.  Better eyes and steadier hands would help....

 

But here's where it is now, somewhat progressed from the last picture.  Readers may remember that I built up and painted a very bare engine before going on to the fuselage.  I did this because I wanted to put in the oil lines on the starboard side so that nothing would be in my way.  Here is those line now in place.

 

 

Here it is again with all the remaining kit parts in place.  I'm glad I did it this way as the right magneto would have got in the way.

 

 

Plumbing on the port side.

 

 

And the last little bit on the right side again.

 

 

Thought I'd post this just so you all know I haven't consigned the model to the SOD.  So now back to the spark plug wires again.  I want to make my own as using the Eduard ones, which are only supplied for the left magneto, would look quite different to the one I'd have to make for the right mag, which supplies spark to the plugs on the inside of the engine, under the inlet manifold.  I don't want that mis-match as I'm planning on displaying it with most, but not all, cowlings removed.  Once done, I can get on with the firewall and engine mount.

 

Cheers,

Michael

[MikeMaben 7,811]

On 1/29/2021 at 7:57 AM, Dpgsbody55 said:

           Better eyes and steadier hands would help.... 

                            You said it brother !!!

     

                           

 

[Dpgsbody55 2,061]

I think I've now gone cross-eyed, but at long last the ignition system is complete.

 

After quite a few attempts, I managed to build three sets of spark plug wires; two sets of six for left and right side, and one of 12 for the plugs on the inside of the V.  First up I fitted the set of 12 plug wires, let them set in place, then I poked all the wires down the left and right side of the inlet manifold as appropriate.  Next, I attached them to the magneto using a length of fine electrical cable which bends to shape easily and is the right diameter.  A length of 0.4mm wire was set into the rear of the plug wire run tube and the electric insulation eased back a little so that the now hollow insulation mated with the 0.4mm wire I added, then the protruding copper wire at the other end was glued into a hole drilled into the magneto.  I had previously drilled all the holes for the plug wires on the outer spark plug locations, so the right side set was mounted, allowed to dry then the wires fed into those holes.  Here's the right side:

 

 

Top view:

 

 

Lastly, the left side set was mounted, again allowed to dry, and the wires poked into the relevant holes.

 

 

I still have a little work left to do on the engine, including adding the header tank and making the water hoses to connect to the engine, but I may add a little more around the rear of the engine.  That will depend on how much space I have for such things once I've made the engine mounts and tested for space.

 

So I've now started work on the firewall so that I can make the mounts.  I haven't got very far today, but I have added some of the kit parts after having first drilled them to take some plumbing.  Here it is so far, glue marks and all...  . 

 

 

There's also some touch ups required on the engine too, so that's next followed by more fiddly plumbing.  Hopefully I should have something more to show by the end of the weekend.  I haven't got much else I can do other than read a book, thanks to us being in covid lockdown and bush fires raging some distance away raining ash down on us and filling the house with smoke.  Thankfully I'm not otherwise affected, but please spare a thought for those folk who have lost their homes.  2020 doesn't appear to have finished yet.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

 

 

Edited February 3 by Dpgsbody55

[Alex 2,244]

Yeah, those V-12 ignition harnesses are not trivial to make, even at 1:32.  Just went through the same process with the Packard Merlin on my Mustang.  Nice result you got!

[Dpgsbody55 2,061]

On 2/4/2021 at 12:16 AM, Alex said:

Yeah, those V-12 ignition harnesses are not trivial to make, even at 1:32.  Just went through the same process with the Packard Merlin on my Mustang.  Nice result you got!

 

Thanks Alex.  I'm liking your Mustang build.    Building these V-12 ignition harnesses is not at all easy, and made harder as you get more ancient and have to squint more at these things.  But they add so much to a model and look heaps better than the rather 2 dimensional etch jobs.

 

So my Spitfire build continues with the engine firewall and mounts, as well as some more detail on the engine itself.  Here's the firewall with some plumbing added.

 

 

Next up, after a little tidy up, was to add the engine mounts, and a little more etch detail.

 

 

Then I started on the pipework provided in the kit, starting with the oil system.  This is a bit of a pfaff to put in as it involves two pipes and the oil filler can which has to be mounted so that the aforesaid pipes can be attached.  I did this all in one go, which I think is the best way to get it right.

 

 

I let this dry before adding the other three pipes.

 

 

Once that was dry, I added some more pipes, as well as the rear brace for the engine mount.

 

 

 

I still have a few more pipes to add, but I can't do that until the engine is added permanently.  I next added a little of the linkages at the rear of the engine.  These were built from plastic sheet stock and 0.4mm wire.  More squinting .

 

 

 

So a few hours ago, I added the engine to the firewall/engine mount assembly.

 

 

 

As I said, I have a few more pipes to add to this, the oil tank etc, as well as some touch up work to do first of all.  Next up after that will be to complete this assembly with the cowling mounts, but I'll leave the exhausts of those mounts until I get to the final stage after painting.  I won't be adding the air intake below the carbie as I'll display this with the bottom cowl permanently in place.  But to give myself a little inspiration, here it is placed, but not glued, on the plane.

 

 

I used the top cowl to check alignment and at this stage, I'm happy with that. 

 

 

So a bit more engine work, then back to the model itself so I can get it to a point at which I can apply some paint.  I don't think I'll be displaying it on the stand as it's pilot-less, but I did build up the stand to see what it might look like anyway.  Until the next update.

 

Cheers,

Michael

[mpk 9,315]

I love this. I'll shamelessly use this thread when I get to my Mk.IX. 

[Gazzas 7,736]

Splendid!