discussion Steve's 1/32 Revell Supermarine Spitfire Mk.IXc

[HAWKERHUNTER]

Great to see this GB up and running. This is my offering and one that I had in my stash.Its the incredible MkIXc and I will be building mine in the colours of the Canadian Airforce 416 Squadron based at Tangmere in May 1944.
This aircraft had the full elliptical wing rather than the clipped variant. So far the parts look clean and well moulded and I will cracking straight on with it as I have been out of the building cave for some months. In a couple of the photos I have included a paint pot and craft knife to give you some idea of the actual size.










Thanks for following and best of luck to everyone else taking part in this classic GB.

 

[flyjoe180]

Looks like a nice kit Steve

 

[HAWKERHUNTER]

Being it is such an iconic aircraft I have treated it to a Eduard seat harness set.

 

[yak face]

Nice choice steve , its a good kit by all accounts , the belts really make a big difference , cheers tony

 

[colin m]

I built Revell's 1:32 Spitfire IIa (I think) it was a great kit. Hopefully this is just as good.

 

[Portman]

A very nice choice HH, that looks like a beast of a kit.

 

[HAWKERHUNTER]

Finally managed to get some bench time in. Started with the office and despite being 1/32 some of the work was quite difficult. The pilots seat was made up of 5 different sections which were quite difficult to line up perfectly.


Next up was the seat supporting framework which was made of 4 different sections.


But it eventually came together well and is making up into some nicely detailed office space.



Just going to let this lot set before attempting to add any further detailed bits and pieces. Pretty pleased with how its shaping up and I think it could be a lovely detailed kit. Thanks for watching.

 

[HAWKERHUNTER]

Some more progress this afternoon. Started assembling the wings. First job was to drill our some holes on the lower wing.

Next I inserted the wheel well side walls.

And finally the upper and lower wings were joined.

The two halves went together really well and held in place with tape and clamps.
As I am building the earlier variant of the MkIX I will be fitting the standard elliptical wing tips. The wing tips are made of two sections joined and then glued in place when the main wing section has dried.


I have also put some primer onto the office walls and internals ready for the primary colour to go.

 

[Portman]

Great to see some progress!

 

[Nicko]

Off to a flying start Steve!

Nick

 

[flyjoe180]

Great start Steve. It looks like there is a fair amount of detail in the cockpit.

 

[HAWKERHUNTER]

Great start Steve. It looks like there is a fair amount of detail in the cockpit.

Cheers Joe. Yes the cockpit has some nice details in there. I will just be using the instrument panel decal though.

 

[HAWKERHUNTER]

This last session I have been working on assembling the horizontal stabilisers and elevators. You are required to cut a small triangular section off the stabiliser in order to get the elevators to fit.
The arrow points to the bit that needs removing.

Once cut you are left with these

Then with a bit of final trimming you get these.

Next I attached the wing ends and we now have that iconic elliptical wing shape.

In oreder to get the above picture I did a dry assembly of the wing to the fuzz and unfortunately, no matter how hard I tried, I could not illiminate a rather large 1.5mm gap where the wing joins the fuzz. I have checked on line and this kit is notorious for this fit problem along with many others including twisted fuzz, poor dihedral of the wing, poor wing to fuzz alignment, and many more.


So filling that is going to be fun and will require card and filler to give it some structural strength at the join. It is too big just to use filler although I might look into epoxy putty to see if that is suitable. Thats it for now. Thanks for checking in.

 

[flyjoe180]

Crikey, I hope that's the worst bit of the build Steve.

 

[HAWKERHUNTER]

Crikey, I hope that's the worst bit of the build Steve.

Me too Joe. Its a relatively easy fix and I havent seen anything that bad since the 1/24 Airfix FW190 that I did some years ago.

 

[HAWKERHUNTER]

Today I have been working on the rear horizontal stabiliser and elevator and getting some colour on to the interior. Hats off to Revell for the design and fitting of the rear horizontal stabiliser. They have made it so that there is a bit of a step on the join so that the stabiliser can only be fitted one way and it really locks in solid and is a perfect 90 degrees fit to the fuzz.
The below picture shows the plans and you can just make out the step on the fuzz.

So I have glued in the stabilisers and elevators.


Really pleased with the fit of these as getting them properly lined up can often be a problem.
Next I added some colour to the cockpit side walls and interior in preparation for the last bits to be attached internally, throttle quadrant etc. The MkIX seems to have a light Olive Grey type colour so I went for Revell Matt 45 light Olive Grey but I think it has dried too dark. The pictures make it look even worse as they were taken in false light.


This what I am trying to get something like.


So I will have a play with it tomorrow and see what I can come up with.
Finally just been assembling some cowlings.


Thats it for now.