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Supermarine
Spitfire FR.18
A Tale of
Near Disaster!
OK, so I had
already built a Spitfire IX with everything open, exposed engine etc (see the
article in the ARC gallery); what to do next?
I have
always liked the Griffon engined Spits, so I thought I would have a try at
building one of these in a similar way. The base kit is the Fujimi Spitfire XIV.
I wanted to ring the changes slightly so I decided on a Mk XVIII, in the Fighter
Recce version, so that I could do some work on the camera bay.
The cockpit
was detailed in my normal fashion, using very thin (5 and 10 thou) plastic card
for the ribs, stringers etc. Other details were added using sprue and other
oddments for the various boxes, switches, throttle control etc. I used the kit
instrument panel, which had very fine engraved detail, mounted on a scratch
built frame. The seat, mounting and frame were scratch built from thin plastic
card. Rudder pedals and control rods were also fabricated.
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I made the 3
cameras and their mountings from various odds and ends of plastic, rod, tube
etc, using the excellent drawing found in Spitfire –The History by Morgan and
Shacklady as a reference. When everything was complete, the interior was
finished in Humbrol 78 (Interior Green), washed with very thin black,
highlighted and the details picked out in other colours. Just then is when near
disaster struck.
I had just
finished painting with some matt black and reached up to the shelves above me
for a reference book. Pulling the book out (and not looking!), I did not realise
that another book had come with it. The second book fell neatly on the tin of
paint which had not had the lid put on properly. After realising what the crash
was, I then noticed that there was black paint everywhere. On the wall (even
UNDER the desk), on me, and, shock horror, on the interior of the model. I
cleaned up as much as I could from the model, and seemingly everywhere else, but
there was still quite a lot on the model. Nothing for it but to let it dry and
start painting again. MORAL: always look at what you are doing!
Back to
modelling. I had already cut the cowling panels from the kit before closing the
fuselage, and then added the firewall from plastic card and detailed it with
sprue etc. When I made the Spit IX, I used the excellent Aries resin Merlin
engine. Sadly there are no resin Griffons. I did order one from Engines ‘n’
Things, but when it arrived, I found that it as an exact copy of the Aeroclub
white metal MERLIN engine! Not quite right. I had to resort to plastic card etc
and scratch build. It was fairly easy using various thicknesses, and plastic
tube of the right diameter for the cylinders. The wiring and plumbing was now
added. I painted the engine satin black and dry brushed with aluminium.
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I could then
mount it to the fuselage. The Griffon mounts are considerably simpler than those
of the Merlin and were cut from Plastic card. I had to make sure that I
incorporated the characteristic down-thrust of the Griffon when it was mounted.
More plumbing was added, painted copper etc. The frames for the cowing panels
were cut from 5 thou card.
A friend of
mine suggested that I also show the spinner removed on this one. The breakdown
of the kit parts was quite useful for this. The blades were added to the back
plate, after shortening the mounts slightly. Then I added the pitch mechanism
from rod etc. The main hub was from rod, a band of 5 thou with lightening holes
drilled, and the bolts from cut up stretched sprue.
With the
complex work finished, it was on to the main airframe. This proceeded quite
quickly. Ailerons were deflected, as were the rudder and elevators.
I scratch
built the gun bay and guns (20mm and .50 cal Browning, this being an E wing),
and the ammunition came from Reheat etched brass. Scratch built bomb racks were
added to the underside of the wings.
All the main
work was now done and the model was checked for any little flaws that needed
filling, rubbing down etc. After priming with matt white, the camouflage was
added from Humbrol Ocean Grey, and Xtracolour Dark Green. Undersides were
Xtracolour Medium Sea Grey. The Sky fuselage band, and wing leading edge stripes
were previously painted and masked.
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Decals came
from a variety of sources, found in my decal bank. I had decided on a machine
from 32 Sqn based in Palestine in 1948 because of the nice Squadron markings.
The checkers were added to the tail from cut up blue decal and the marking under
the cockpit was hand painted. This was around the time that there was some
confusion over the application ad spacing of underling serials. This particular
aircraft had one character added to the underside of the radiators.
A little
black wash was added to some panels and some weathering was done with Carr’s
powders. A coat of Xtracolour matt varnish, and Bob is your mother’s sister!
Len
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