A 1/72 Unofficial Dogfight Double

[colin m]

1:72 is good for the soul, or for impatient does like me, a quick result.

[stona]

1:72 is good for the soul, or for impatient does like me, a quick result.

These are both nice little kits. The fit so far is very nice. I did a dry fit of the Spitfire wings earlier, before I glued top to bottom, just in case, and it was a near perfect as you can get.
Obviously you can't get all the detail, the instrument panels must be a scale foot thick, but the kits make models that look exactly like a Spitfire and Bf 109 without too much fiddling about. You can't ask for much more than that!

[stona]

I now have these more or less built and primed.



They are both nice kits and some thought has gone into making them if not simple, then sympathetic. For example it is almost impossible to fix the Spitfire's horiziontal stabilisers at an incorrect angle relative to the fuselage. That might be obvious to someone who builds a lot of aircraft like myself, but maybe not to someone having a go at something different or just starting the hobby.

Everything has fitted as near perfectly as can be, with the single exception of the Messerschmitt's lower engine cowl (with the oil cooler molded in) which required a couple of swipes with some sandpaper.

On the downside both the tail plane support struts on the Messerschmitt broke in exactly the same place when I was cleaning them up. Annoying, if not exactly an insuperable problem.

Unseen above is the tube I have fitted in the fuselage to accept 3mm clear acrylic rod, which will form part of the stand. According to my calculations there should be a nice interference fit, but the rod hasn't arrived yet, so we'll see

[scottie3158]

Steve,
All looking mighty fine.

[stona]

I found a bit of 3mm brass rod in my cupboard. As long as the acrylic is also 3mm when it arrives the stand should work well.

It's not very elegant, the acrylic will be much more, shall we say, subtle but it shows that it will work.

[adt70hk]

Looking good Steve. Definitely looking forward to seeing these cross the finish line so I can learn a thing or 5!

Keep the good work.

Andrew

Ps. I managed not to break the 109 tailplane supports! Don't know how though....

[stona]

Ps. I managed not to break the 109 tailplane supports! Don't know how though....

I just broke the antenna mast for the Bf 109 too. I'm not fixing that, I'll cut a new one from a suitable bit of card.

It's also a miracle I didn't lose any of the aileron balance weights. They really are too small for injection moulding, so you end up having to sculpt them from the surrounding blob of plastic. I suppose in a kit like this there is no alternative.

[adt70hk]

I just broke the antenna mast for the Bf 109 too. I'm not fixing that, I'll cut a new one from a suitable bit of card.

It's also a miracle I didn't lose any of the aileron balance weights. They really are too small for injection moulding, so you end up having to sculpt them from the surrounding blob of plastic. I suppose in a kit like this there is no alternative.

Now the mask I did snap when removing from the sprue and so had to make a new one.

As for the balance weights you're completely right, I must have knocked one of them off about half a dozen times of not more....

The worst thing there was another thing that sticks out the bottom of the wing, not sure what it's called, but it was the biggest of the three.

When I came to put the decals on I realised I was supposed to put a cross decal directly over this thing.

the problem was I had already put the matching decal on the other wing and it was firmly fixed in place so I couldn't move it in a bit and do the same on the wing with the sticky out thing.....

So I had to snap this thing off off, put the decal over the top, and then make a small hole in the decal and reattach it at the right spot. Fortunately it went ok!!!

ATB

Andrew

[stona]

That sounds like this little beauty:



It's the pitot, which is the device that enables the pilot to know his air speed. I've knocked several off models over the years. I always include them with the little 'dangly bits' to be added at the last minute now...and still knock the B*&#dy things off

[adt70hk]

That sounds like this little beauty:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]n1133740[/ATTACH]

It's the pitot, which is the device that enables the pilot to know his air speed. I've knocked several off models over the years. I always include them with the little 'dangly bits' to be added at the last minute now...and still knock the B*&#dy things off :sad:

That's it. I wondered if it might be a speed related thingy.

It was rather ironic that throughout the build it was the only 'sticky out thing' I'd not managed to knock at least once and was then face with the prospect of having to deliberately snap it off. Good idea to leave them them until the last minute. I'll do that from now on!

I see the Spit also has it standing off the wing. Why did they stand slightly free of the main aircraft body? Was it to do with airflow?

Thanks as always.

Andrew

[stona]

Yes, pitots need clean air away from the boundary layer. They were usually offset like these or positioned on a probe in front of the wing, usually near the tip.
The actual pitot tube, the bottom of the L, was usually a brassy coloured alloy and could usually be heated too. A frozen or blocked pitot doesn't work!

[adt70hk]

Yes, pitots need clean air away from the boundary layer. They were usually offset like these or positioned on a probe in front of the wing, usually near the tip.
The actual pitot tube, the bottom of the L, was usually a brassy coloured alloy and could usually be heated too. A frozen or blocked pitot doesn't work!

Thanks Steve. And good point about the freezing!

[stona]

Slow but persistent progress on these two.

With the exception of the white wing tips and rudder on the Bf 109 the basic painting is now complete. If I get the white done today I'll be able to get some Klear on tomorrow and thing about some decals.

[adt70hk]

Looking good. Can't wait to see the decals. They do bring things to life!

[papa 695]

Slow but persistent progress on these two.

With the exception of the white wing tips and rudder on the Bf 109 the basic painting is now complete. If I get the white done today I'll be able to get some Klear on tomorrow and thing about some decals.

[ATTACH]399761[/ATTACH]

I'd have thought by now you would be able to tell the difference between both aircraft Steve. and the one on the left looks very good not a mess.
Only kidding great work both look very nice.