Airfix 1/24 Spitfire

[JCote]

To all of you, thank you for your many encouraging comments. You´ve made this newbie feel very welcome.

 

cheers,

 

Jean (as in Jean Valjean, that is, not as in Jean Harlow)

 

P.S. Matt, I´ve never posted anywhere before. I visit the other sites regularly and they often feature first-rate work, but for my modeling tastes, LSP is where the really exciting stuff happens, and it´s nice to be a part of it.

[JCote]

Correction: Matt, you´re right. I´ve never posted my own stuff anywhere, but I did comment on an ARC submission a few months ago.

[JCote]

I guess I was being a bit optimistic when I estimated two or three weeks time to complete the rudder pedal assembly, but at last I've more or less got there. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to the builder of a life-size Spitfire Flight simulator at www.simhardware.org. The site is a treasure trove of visual information on the Spit cockpit. Before finding it through an LSP posting, I was having trouble figuring out how some components went together, despite consulting several plans. Anyway, here are some photos, starting with a high-tech soldering jig...

[JCote]

..and the resulting part

[JCote]

the bottom structure..

[JCote]

the two are joined...

[JCote]

pedals and bars are added...

[JCote]

another view.. I'm also indebted to Klaus h for the tip on picking up "sprue-slice" nuts and rivets with a wet toothpick; I use to do it with the tip of a No11 blade and lost 10 for every 1 that I succeeded in putting in place

[JCote]

and a last one, with tha assembly dry-fitted into the fuselage. I'm taking a week off work and modeling next week to spend quality time with my 17 month-old daughter, after which I think I'll start working on the trim wheels. The elevator one promises to be a real headache. Bye for now

[PietvWdV]

Great stuff mate!

Please share some of your building techniques with us as well as posting the results, as they certainly look worth learning from.

[AngoMango]

Jean, this is amazing! Your build quality is right up on the top shelf. It looks like you are making the rudder pedals and various components from brass? Is there a specific reason for that? It looks suberb, and it's almost a shame to have to paint it! A real work of art mate, keep the pics coming!

 

Cheers,

Ango.

[bsarnoffca]

Really amazing detail work there, Jean. This is going to be a great build.

[bcauchi]

Great work there. This is going to be another 'how to build a great spitfire' lesson. Well done and welcome home.

[Radub]

Beautiful work JCote.

Looking good!

Radu

[JCote]

Thanks for your encouraging comments. Brian, if there's anyone who is qualified to dispense lessons on building a Spitfire, it's you.

Ango: I do use brass for some assemblies. there are several reasons for this. Brass is far stronger than plastic, especially when working with 0.1 or 0.2 mm sheet. It can be cut, filed and shaped quite easily (after annealing) and it can be photo-etched. I've got one of those DIY photo-etch sets that looks very much like a child's mad-scientist lab kit. The results, while very far from Eduard standard, are perfectly acceptable for my purposes. Another advantage of brass is that it can be soldered; combined with the use of simple self-made jigs, this provides for solid and true bonding. Finally, it can be machined. A while back I invested in a chinese-manufactured lathe and mill. It takes a lot of work to tune them up (there are internet sites that explain exactly how to do it), but they are capable of very fine, accurate work. I'll include "process" pictures in my next post. Just bear in mind that all these techniques are still new to me and I can claim no, and I mean NO expertise whatsoever.

 

Cheers, Jean