Dave W's 1/24 Spitfire Vb

[Ian M]

Coming along nice Dave

Ian m

[BarryW]

That pe Sutton harness is certainly looking effective - very nice work overall Dave

[colin m]

Looks nice Dave. So, what are your plans for the exhaust manifolds ? Will the engine still be in place even if not visible ? ( I have one of these to build in the future)

[Dave W]

Looks nice Dave. So, what are your plans for the exhaust manifolds ? Will the engine still be in place even if not visible ? ( I have one of these to build in the future)

I've put some plastic card on the inside of the engine cowling cut outs so I've got something to glue the exhausts to .

[Dave W]

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I've added some detail to the control column.There should be 3 pipes down the aft side.Ive added these using fuse wire.Airfix don't include a button on the spade grip for firing the guns.Ive used a piece of scrap plastic for this.Its probably over scale,but the real thing was quite big anyway.The kit supplied compass is too small and not very convincing.So I made one from sprue and plastic card.Then I applied a decal from the instrument panel decal set to it before attaching it to the instrument panel.Then I glued the fuselage halves together and attached the top cowling panel.This panel has not been moulded properly and has a sunken area which Ive applied some filler to.Next job is to mask the cockpit opening and then sand down all the rivets on the fuselage.

[Alan 45]

Awsome stuff dave , it's not a nice kit really is it but your doing a great job

[Dave W]

Awsome stuff dave , it's not a nice kit really is it but your doing a great job

It's a crap kit Alan.But I have this strange desire to try to improve it and build something half decent.It will soon be time to tackle that wing dihedral problem.

[Alan 45]

I agree mate and your doing a great job so far , I really want to see that dihedral problem and how you go about it , I found the the underside of the wings was pretty much right but the top pushed them down due to how thin the plastic is on the underside

[Dave W]

I agree mate and your doing a great job so far , I really want to see that dihedral problem and how you go about it , I found the the underside of the wings was pretty much right but the top pushed them down due to how thin the plastic is on the underside

My idea is to fix the lower wing section to a base and support the wing tips.Then build a spar from plastic card probably about 10 mm back from the leading edge.That should stop the wing flexing when the fuselage and upper wings are fitted.We shall see....

[Dave W]

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I've spent two hours this evening sanding down rivets and joins on the fuselage.Then I applied some filler to the joins.More sanding tomorrow.Ive also glued the gun hatches to the lower wing after sanding them to fit.I will start building a wing spar soon.

[Dave W]

I've made a start on fabricating a wing spar to ensure the wing keeps its dihedral .Ive screwed the wing to a basic wooden jig.Then I cut some thick plastic card to shape.It needs refining to fit a bit better.Then I will make a second one to double the thickness and glue it to the lower wing.

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[stona]

Very nice. What figure did you use for the dihedral? My best info is six degrees, but I'm not sure and will be approaching the same problem myself sometime!

Cheers

Steve

[Dave W]

Very nice. What figure did you use for the dihedral? My best info is six degrees, but I'm not sure and will be approaching the same problem myself sometime!Cheers

Steve

I've used six degrees Steve.It looks right to me and will be a big improvement on no Dihedral at all!.

[Dave W]

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That's the spar made and clamped in place whilst the glue dries.I used two layers of 1.5mm plastic card which I think will be strong enough.

[Guest]

Clever stuff there Dave!