Clear the Bench! It's Kotare Spitfire time.

[Gazzas]

Hi guys,

     This is my first Spitfire since the monogram kit I built in 1978 or 79.  So be patient...   I'll try not to paint the cockpit in RLM 66.

Anyway...   enough with my bio and habits...   Let's dry fit.

 

You'll notice how the light passes through the plastic.  The trailing edges are rapier thin.

 

Even with the wing taped together, light passes through.  But the flaps are molded 'up' for you.

 

The fuel tank cover was a little reticent to fit...   this is the only trimming I did to get stuff to fit.   I widened the hole by the arrow with a hobby blade.

 

The wing fillets have to be attached to the wing to attach the fuselage...   otherwise, the contact area is very tiny.

 

 

Somebody will wonder about this area...

 

This looks really 'stepped' at the moment.  Tape just can't do what Tamiya extra thin can.

 

The closed canopy is friction fitted...

 

The wing roots are a joy to behold...

 

Likewise the fit of the tailplane.

 

 

 

 

The aft fuselage has a lot of surface detail...

 

Anyway...   that's it for now.  Pretty awesome, eh?

[geedubelyer]

Thanks Gazzas, this bodes very well. 

She certainly resembles a Spitfire. 

 

It looks as though the team at Kotare haven't added the same surface treatment as they did on the Lanc. Perhaps the airframes they used as references were all smooth and unrippled? The fit of parts looks to be neat and tidy?

Those raised rivets on the rear fuselage look quite prominent in the bright light of your photos. How do they look to you? 

 

I am eager to see how this one builds up. Here in the antipodes we may have to wait a little while longer but it's shaping up to be worth the wait.

 

Cheers,

 

Guy

 

 

[Stokey Pete]

Oh wow! It looks like the dream fit.

Interior grey green. 
Just reminding ya again. 

[Talon]

59 minutes ago, geedubelyer said:

Thanks Gazzas, this bodes very well. 

She certainly resembles a Spitfire. 

 

It looks as though the team at Kotare haven't added the same surface treatment as they did on the Lanc. Perhaps the airframes they used as references were all smooth and unrippled? The fit of parts looks to be neat and tidy?

Those raised rivets on the rear fuselage look quite prominent in the bright light of your photos. How do they look to you? 

 

I am eager to see how this one builds up. Here in the antipodes we may have to wait a little while longer but it's shaping up to be worth the wait.

 

Cheers,

 

Guy

 

 

Note the rib structure on the inside of some parts. This causes a subtle sink mark on the outside surface producing a faint panel undulation to replicate the skin of the real aircraft.

[Gazzas]

1 hour ago, geedubelyer said:

Thanks Gazzas, this bodes very well. 

She certainly resembles a Spitfire. 

 

It looks as though the team at Kotare haven't added the same surface treatment as they did on the Lanc. Perhaps the airframes they used as references were all smooth and unrippled? The fit of parts looks to be neat and tidy?

Those raised rivets on the rear fuselage look quite prominent in the bright light of your photos. How do they look to you? 

 

I am eager to see how this one builds up. Here in the antipodes we may have to wait a little while longer but it's shaping up to be worth the wait.

 

Cheers,

 

Guy

 

 

 

it's really hard to gauge surface texture of the wings without paint.  You can feel it when you rub your fingers over it...   but it's difficult to say exactly what it will look like.   I never knew the Spit had raised rivets on the fuselage.  They do seem quite prominent...   But I'm not the spitfire expert.   I'm just very pleased with the fit, trailing edges and general feeling of quality.

[quang]

1 hour ago, Talon said:

Note the rib structure on the inside of some parts. This causes a subtle sink mark on the outside surface producing a faint panel undulation to replicate the skin of the real aircraft.

Do not confuse injection sink mark with intentional rippling effect on the skin. That is what Italeri tried to make us believe with their 1/32 F-86F 

[branchline]

1 hour ago, quang said:

Do not confuse injection sink mark with intentional rippling effect on the skin. That is what Italeri tried to make us believe with their 1/32 F-86F 

 

Knowing several of the Kotare team personally and noting that the majority of them are the ex-WingNutWing design and production team, if there is something in this kit that doesn't look right I'd say check your references.

 

When I saw the internal ribbing of the fuselage and mainplanes, I immediately thought that they are there to represent the production skin to structure rivet lines evident on the wartime Spits ie those that had most likely seen some combat flying. There is little point in trying to only compare the detail with a modern day rebuild without looking at wartime images

 

This will clearly be evident to those amongst us with lots of "picture" books from old, in which the images therein, apart from showing the raised lines of rivets on the fuselage as appropriately captured by the Kotare kitset, also show the external "ribbing" effect, particularly on the wings.

 

It will interesting to see a coat of paint on a finished kit and see just what the ribbing produces on the external surface. 

 

Rgds Brent

[quang]

 

10 minutes ago, branchline said:

Knowing several of the Kotare team personally and noting that the majority of them are the ex-WingNutWing design and production team, if there is something in this kit that doesn't look right I'd say check your references.

I never said it doesn’t look right.

All I said was that in the plastic injection process, sink marks occur when there’s an abrupt difference in thickness on the moulded parts, which is exactly where the internal ribs on this kit are located.
If they’re sink marks, they were not intentional. If they were planned, they’re not sink marks.
Draw your own conclusion. 

[thierry laurent]

2 hours ago, Gazzas said:

 

I never knew the Spit had raised rivets on the fuselage.  They do seem quite prominent...   But I'm not the spitfire expert. 

They had rivets on the rear fuselage of the early marks. Typically this is valid for "short nose" Merlin Spitfires.

[jbrennan]

6 hours ago, Gazzas said:

Hi guys,

     This is my first Spitfire since the monogram kit I built in 1978 or 79.  So be patient...   I'll try not to paint the cockpit in RLM 66.

Anyway...   enough with my bio and habits...   Let's dry fit.

 

You'll notice how the light passes through the plastic.  The trailing edges are rapier thin.

 

Even with the wing taped together, light passes through.  But the flaps are molded 'up' for you.

 

The fuel tank cover was a little reticent to fit...   this is the only trimming I did to get stuff to fit.   I widened the hole by the arrow with a hobby blade.

 

The wing fillets have to be attached to the wing to attach the fuselage...   otherwise, the contact area is very tiny.

 

 

Somebody will wonder about this area...

 

This looks really 'stepped' at the moment.  Tape just can't do what Tamiya extra thin can.

 

The closed canopy is friction fitted...

 

The wing roots are a joy to behold...

 

Likewise the fit of the tailplane.

 

 

 

 

The aft fuselage has a lot of surface detail...

 

Anyway...   that's it for now.  Pretty awesome, eh?

Awesome indeed ! I had almost forgotten about this release given the furore around the Airfix IX. This just reaffirms I will have to find funds for this also.

Thank you

Jon 

[dennismcc]

Looks great, hopefully Hannants will have mine winging it's way to me soon.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[themongoose]

Watching! 

[quang]

[Bern]

12 hours ago, thierry laurent said:

They had rivets on the rear fuselage of the early marks. Typically this is valid for "short nose" Merlin Spitfires.

They also had rivets on the forward fuselage and main planes, but these were flush, puttied and sanded smooth.

[Greg W]

Looking good Gaz, following!