- The Airfix Tribute Forum -

airfixteen

hawkertempest5s build will be reported here

Good Luck on that Spitfire
_________________
You must listen to what the baked potato say.....

Luke

hawkertempest5

hawkertempest5 · Posted: Mon 31 Mar 2008 18:36 pm Post subject:

RAF Group build, preveiw.
Well then, my first group build of the year and I'm looking forward to getting started now. With this being the 90th anniversary of the RAF, I thought, what better way to honour that than to build a Spitfire! Actually it's just an excuse to build another Spitfire from my stash.

For this build then I'm going to be building the Airfix Club Spitfire XVI. Most of you will have this kit so I'm not going to spend ages now talking about the kit itself other than to say it's exactly the same as the Mk IX kit from a few years back but with a low backed fuselage and tear drop hood replacing the high back fuselage and standard canopy.

I'm going to be using some after market accessories to improve the overall look and feel of the kit. I'm going to be using the correction set from Aeroclub to replace some of the inaccurate and chunky looking kit parts, including the super charger intake, wheel doors, canon bay covers and rudder and elevators. I also have a set of white metal round pipe exhaust stacks that are a bit more typical of those fitted to a late build Mk XVI. I'm also going to be using after market decals for a post war aircraft.

I already have two low backed Mk XVI Spitfires in my collection but both of these have been built as wartime aircraft so this should make a nice change to the usual green/grey aircraft and will sit nicely with the Mk 22 that I built for the ATF build last year. This should be an enjoyable build, I hope.

hawkertempest5 · Posted: Tue 01 Apr 2008 20:42 pm Post subject:

RAF Group build, 1st update:
As first days go, this has been a very good one. I got started as soon as I got home from work and after checking that all the parts were in order I started work on the interior. The first job here was to modify the seat back frame to suit a low backed aircraft. To do this the head armour plate support bar (the spike on the back of the frame-I’m sure it has a more technical name than bar!) needs cutting off flush with the back of the frame and the head rest cushion also needs removing as this was not fitted to the Mk IX/XVI. With that done I fitted the undercarriage control lever and throttle to the fuselage sidewalls and the control column to the rudder pedal piece.
I decided to try out the acrylic paints that come with the kit and so gave all the interior parts a coat of the H78 that came with the kit. Other than it being a tad thick, it covered really well and dried very quickly. This then is the biggest advantage of using acrylic paint. Just half an hour after giving a first coat I was able to re-coat any parts that needed it and after another hour was able to do most of the interior detail painting. It normally takes a couple of days to get to this stage. Now all I need to do tomorrow to finish off the interior is a bit of dry brushing and some detail work on the instrument panel.
Whilst waiting for the various colours to dry on my interior, I got cracking with modifying the wing. Most Mk IX/XVI kits come with what is, essentially, a universal C wing. To convert it into an E wing proper is a simple task and just involves removing the two small blisters from the redundant outer machine gun bay access panels on the lower wing piece and then filling the cartridge ejector ports in the same two panels. The whole job took about ten minutes to complete. Of course, the leading edge machine gun ports will need filling in at a later date too.
With the lower wing sorted I turned to the upper wing panels. Normally if I’m building a wartime aircraft I begin here by removing those post-war wheel well bulges but as this is a post-war aircraft I can leave them be on this build. On this kit the bulges are far too prominent and should really be a bit more subdued. The wing is the biggest fault with this kit. It is far too thick and lacks some panel details. Next task was to fit the Aeroclub replacement E wing canon bay covers. These required very little work to get them to fit nicely and once I was happy with them I carefully worked them into position. Because they are much thinner than those from the kit if you’re not careful they can end up sitting below the surface level of the wing. I then ran a drop of poly glue around the underside of the covers and put them aside to dry.
Last job tonight then was to assemble the Aeroclub replacement propeller and spinner. This needed a bit of cleaning up and I had to open out the blade slots in the spinner a tad to get it to sit nicely against the back plate. I also needed to add a bit of filler around this joint. I did a bit of sanding here but I needed to add a drop more filler so I’ve put the prop aside until tomorrow now.

Modified E wing. I’ve filled the cartridge ejection ports in the lower wing outer machine gun access panels to create the E wing as fitted to this aircraft. I’ve also used a replacement set of upper wing canon bay access panels, as those supplied with the kit are somewhat inaccurate. I also took the opportunity here to paint the areas around the radiators that are difficult to paint once the radiators are fitted. The radiator centre itself was painted with H53 and the surrounding area with X038 RAF High Speed Silver, the main colour of this aircraft.

hawkertempest5 · Posted: Wed 02 Apr 2008 18:49 pm Post subject:

RAF Group build, 2nd update:
After yesterday's rush of activity it’s been a bit slower today. I finished off the interior painting with a quick dry brushing of H56 and a bit of colour detail on the instrument panel. It became quickly apparent that I’d not done this for a while as I managed to over do the dry brushing a bit on the panel but the cockpit gap is so small on this kit that you really can’t see inside anyway so I’m not bothered about it this time.
With the painting done I finished off sanding the filler around the propeller back plate joint and then I glued the wing halves and fuselage halves together. With those drying now at least over night that’s it for today’s work.

All painted up. I’ve not gone too mad with the interior painting because I’m not fitting the open cockpit door and so you really can’t see too much inside when it’s all done anyway.

A bit too much H56 still on the brush when I did the dry brushing on the panel and bulkhead me thinks. It will not be noticeable though so I’m fine with it this time.

dancho · Posted: Wed 02 Apr 2008 20:04 pm Post subject:

Nicely done.
_________________
“Build what YOU want, the way YOU want to, and above all, have fun.”
- Al Superczynski (1947 - 2007)

Ratch · Posted: Wed 02 Apr 2008 21:04 pm Post subject:

That instrument panel looks nice Roger

_________________
and was Jerusalem, builded here
The new No. 2
Airfix Club 500287
IPMS 10983

TopGun · Posted: Thu 03 Apr 2008 11:25 am Post subject:

Nice start
_________________
Airfix Club 500006

plane mad · Posted: Thu 03 Apr 2008 13:40 pm Post subject:

the level of detailing seen on some of these builds is awesome, this one being by no means an exception,

makes my gnat look a bit of a joke realy!
_________________
is he mad about planes or just plain mad,
dunno but my moneys on both!!!

hawkertempest5 · Posted: Thu 03 Apr 2008 18:18 pm Post subject:

First off then, thank you all for the positive feedback so far

Right then, on to today's progress...

RAF Group build, 3rd update:
It’s been a night of test fitting and filling tonight. After letting the wings and fuselage set over night it was time to dry fit the wing to the body. As ever there is was huge gap between the wings and the fuselage. This problem is helped by placing a bit of cut off sprue inside the fuselage to spread it out a bit but it failed to solve the whole gap issue in this case and I’ll just have to get down to a lot of filler work when I do the joint for real. So nothing new for a Spitfire build there then!
Other jobs done tonight include filling the machine gun ports in the wing leading edge and running a bit of filler along all the main joint lines on the wing and fuselage. I’ve sanded the wing but the fuselage still needs doing. I’ve painted the propeller blades using the acrylic H85 that came with the kit and I’ve also assembled the Aeroclub super charger air filter/intake and this will now need a bit of filling and sanding around the joint between the Aeroclub and Airfix pieces.
Next job on the list is fitting the flaps in the raised position, always a fun job, and starting the detail painting on some of the other bits and bobs such as the undercarriage and wheels etc.

Wing to body joint, the Achilles heel of the Spitfire kit. Only Tamiya have designed a Spitfire wing to body joint that really works.

With the addition of a piece of cut off sprue. The joint is much better and pulling the wing up with tape whilst gluing will help a bit too. Even so, I have a fun filled weekend of filling and sanding ahead!

hawkertempest5 · Posted: Sat 05 Apr 2008 16:12 pm Post subject:

RAF Group build, 4th update:
From today’s photo it does not look like I’ve done very much at all over the last two days but in reality, I’ve actually done quite a lot.
Fitting the flaps was just as much fun as I’d thought it would be. They needed sanding, re-shaping and thinning out and they still need a pile of filler in them before I’m going to say I’m happy with the result.
Another job that was twice as hard as it might look to be was fitting the wingtips. The fit was quite nasty with a huge gap on the underside and they overhung the wing at the trailing edge. I’ve spent a few hours on these alone today and, although I now have the shape right, I still need to do some filling and a bit of re-scribing to finish them off.
On a more positive note, the upper cowling is a good fit and this has now been glued in place and I’ve got at least a first coat of paint on all of the bits and bobs that need adding later such as the undercarriage, canopy frames and propeller and spinner.
With work still ongoing on the wingtips and flaps it’s unlikely I’ll get the wing fitted to the body now this weekend. Never mind though, less that a week into the build and I’ve still got plenty of time to play with.

Flaps fitted (but not yet finished), propeller spinner painted, wingtips fitted (again, not done yet), upper cowling fitted and I've got a first coat of paint on the canopy frames.

airfixteen · Posted: Sat 05 Apr 2008 16:20 pm Post subject:

That is looking good!!!
_________________
You must listen to what the baked potato say.....

Luke

TopGun · Posted: Sat 05 Apr 2008 21:57 pm Post subject:

Nice
_________________
Airfix Club 500006

hawkertempest5 · Posted: Mon 07 Apr 2008 10:02 am Post subject:

RAF Group build, 5th update:
I really have spent the whole weekend working on the flaps and wing tips! To be fair, I only had an hour or so at it yesterday though. This morning I finished up the sanding and re-scribed all the lost panel lines and the flap joint lines.
With that job done I was finally able to join the wing to the body. This is now all taped up and that is the way it will stay until tomorrow.
This week I’m on the dreaded afternoon shift so little work will get done before the weekend. However I’d like to have all the wing filling and sanding done by then. Fingers crossed.

Flaps fitted, filled, sanded and re-scribed. A time consuming job.

Wings fitted and taped up. Note the obvious gap that still exists along the side at the rear.

Plenty of dihedral! The wings will fall quite a bit when the tape comes off. Just look how thick they are, looks like a Hawker Typhoon!

hawkertempest5 · Posted: Tue 08 Apr 2008 11:08 am Post subject:

RAF Group build, 6th update:
The tape came off the wings this morning and the result is very pleasing. The gap between the wing and body is nothing like as bad as I’d thought it might be with only the area you can see in the picture in the last post needing any real work. The left had side is almost perfect and the dihedral is symmetrical on both sides. Result!

I’ve put in a bit of filler where it was needed and I’ll crack on with sanding tomorrow.

Heinkel51 · Posted: Tue 08 Apr 2008 13:35 pm Post subject:

Nice work there. Really admire the finish on the interior.

hawkertempest5 · Posted: Sat 12 Apr 2008 12:58 pm Post subject:

RAF Group build, 7th update:
The curse of the dreaded afternoon shift really hit home last week. It was made worse by the fact that I had to go in early on three days too

. To make things worse still, I’ve woken up this morning with a very sore, runny left eye

. All I can see is a big blurred mass! Not being able to see too well I can’t really do any work on the build today either. What that has meant is I’ve done more or less nothing on the build since last Tuesday. One thing I have done though is continuing sanding the filler I put in on Monday. I’ve done a little bit every night and it’s about done now. All being well, I’m hoping to get the filler work done by the end of the weekend and then I can crack on with the last few build items I need to fit before I can start thinking about paint

.

hawkertempest5 · Posted: Sun 13 Apr 2008 17:57 pm Post subject:

RAF Group build, 8th update:
I’ve made a real effort to make up for lost time today and got quite a bit done. All of the wing to body sanding is complete now and I’ve fitted the chin and done a bit of work on the filter. Aeroclub provide a replacement filter body and this is used with the intake end part from the Airfix kit. I assembled this a few days back but today I’ve been filling and sanding it to get rid of the joint between the two parts. Dry fitting the completed filter to the chin proved that it is a rather bad fit and will need some work to get it right. However the extra work will be well worth the effort because the Aeroclub part looks much better than the somewhat over size and odd shaped filter from the kit.
Other jobs completed today included the second and final paint coats on the bits and bobs. I now just need to paint the inside of the sliding hood with H78. I’ve also modified my white metal exhaust stacks to make them work with this kit and I’ve found a gyroscopic gun sight in the spares box to replace the incorrect reflector type that comes with the kit. Finally I’ve modified the seat back support frame. The kit part is solid but it should have a couple of holes in it. I’ve removed it from the sprue, drilled a couple of holes with a small pin vice and given it a coat of H78.

Wing fitted and filled. Next job will be to fit the horizontal tail and rudder. Yes, I did take the picture before I finished sanding the filler!

hawkertempest5 · Posted: Mon 14 Apr 2008 16:33 pm Post subject:

RAF Group build, 9th update:
An afternoon of building today. I have now fitted the rudder, horizontal tail, intake/filter and the radiators. The rudder and tail are from the Aeroclub set and give a better representation of the fabric control surfaces as well as more realistically thin trailing edges. Once I’ve sanded the filler that I had to use around the intake and a bit around the tail, the kit will be ready for masking off. I can now really start to think about the paint job at the weekend.

A Spitfire takes flight! Looking every bit a proper Spitfire now. I just love the low backed Merlin Spitfires

.

Fit issues with the filter. The price you pay for better accuracy.

hawkertempest5 · Posted: Fri 18 Apr 2008 12:11 pm Post subject:

RAF Group build, 10th update:
A very quick update this one. Basically, the kit is now ready for spraying with primer. Most everything else is done so it really is just the paint job now. I'm working the weekend so it may be next week before it's actually painted and I'll post pictures when it is.