Since all three Sptfire floatplanes were sent to Egypt with plans on using them from a secret island base in the Dodocanese Islands, this qualifies for inclusion in the group.
’ve always thought the floatplane conversions of the Spitfire looked good – like “Schneider Cup Spitfires.”
Back in 1994, Gartex (a subset of Hasegawa) released a Spitfire Vb floatplane with the Hasegawa Spitfire Vb, and a resin tail, lower nose/intake, floats and mounts. I didn’t get it then, but then this past summer I saw one (maybe the same one) in the LHS estate sale shelves and picked it up.
Opening the box, time has not been kind to the Hasegawa Spitfire – I guess that’s why they no longer release it – but the resin is still wonderful. Better than the airplane kit. I decided to put it aside and “await further developments.”
So Eduard then came out with their Spitfire Vb series, and that included some Overtrees of the “Spitfire Vb (late)”. I ordered two. Then I was looking at photos and ran across the floatplane again. I wondered if a model could be created mating the Eduard kit to the Gartex resin?
While awaiting the arrival of the kits, I fiddled with the resin and a Spitfire II kit. Hmm… the Hasegawa rear fuselage really is too thin (like 1/16″ difference with a Eduard kit, noticeable in 1/48). And then it hit me I could do what Folland did: add on a new vertical fin, a new rudder, and new ventral fin, by cutting those parts off the Gartex tail plug. As to the floats, a little bit of sanding had the resin plugs for the float mounts fitting the lower Eduard wing. The resin lower nose wasn’t going to work, but it wouldn’t be hard to cut off the intake and make it fit the Eduard part.
So, when the kits arrived, I was primed and ready.
Photo 1 shows the wing inside with the plugs. No problem.
Photo 2 shows the lower wing with the lower fuselage part glued in place and then the resin intake fitted. No problem.
Photo 3 shows the main modification to the fuselage – you can cut off the vertical fin on a panel line and it will fit.
Photo 4-5 show the model assembled with the major resin pieces glued in place.
Photo 6 shows the model with all the resin attached. No problems.
Fortunately, in side profile, the Hasegawa and Eduard Spitfires match up, so the resin fins and rudder fit without problems at all.
One Big Thing I discovered is that it is possible – and much easier! – to attach the lower wing (with the lower forward fuselage part attached) to the fuselage, then attach the upper wing. No “industrial strength pushing and shoving” and overall better fit. I shall follow that with all Eduard Spitfires from now on.
The rest of the project is easy – attach the horizontal stab, the gunsight, the windshield. I will keep the floats off until painted. They’re an easy attachment on a panel line.
6 attached images. Click to enlarge.
