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Three Spitfires + 1

Started by Michael Turner · 71 ≡ · ↻ 1 year ago · 1/48, Gunna Build, RAAF, Spitfire, Spitfire Mk Vc, Spitfire Mk VIII

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Michael Turner said 2 years, 7 months ago:

For my club "Gunna Build" competition this year, I'm building three Aussie Spitfires.
Two are the 1/48 Eduard Mk VIII "Aussie Eight" Spitfires and the third is a 1/48 Special Hobby Mk Vc.
1 attached image. Click to enlarge.
Michael Turner said 2 years, 7 months ago:

The Mk Vc is going to be in RAAF colours using the Aeromaster Aussie Mk V Pt. II decal sheet.
It will be in the markings of a 457 Sqn aircraft, ZP*X, flying from Livingston just south of Darwin, Australia, in 1943.
I've cut a few parts off the sprue and glued one or two parts together.
2 attached images. Click to enlarge.
Michael Turner said 2 years, 7 months ago:

The two Mk VIIs will be schemes from the kit.
The first is a 79 Sqn aircraft, UP*F "Hava Go Jo!", flying from Morotai in April 1945.
The same scheme is on the BarracudaCals Spitfire Mk VIII Part 1 sheet and I think the Elephant is better rendered on that sheet, being a lighter grey, so I'll use that decal for the build.

The second aircraft will be from 457 Sqn, ZP*V, flying from Labuan, Borneo in June 1945.
This aircraft is unusual in having four eyes painted on the nose. The original shark mouth was smaller than shown with the rear set of eyes. This was over painted with a larger mouth and the forward eyes, but the original eyes were not overpainted.
This aircraft was one of the few Mk VIIIs to achieve an air kill, as by this time the Japanese were rarely to be seen in the air.
2 attached images. Click to enlarge.
Spiros Pendedekas said 2 years, 7 months ago:

Wow! Three Spits in one go, my friend @Michaelt! What a great project!
Looking forward to the Aussie schemes, that they seem very interesting, the four eye "monster" shark definitely included!
Michael Turner said 2 years, 7 months ago:

I actually started these two kits a couple of years ago, occasionally doing little bits during my lunch break at work.
With Covid forcing me to work from home, that is where they sat for most of last year.
Then I was offered a 'redundancy package' and I finished up in November last year and brought the kits home.
With a new job (I'm still working from home, though) and a bunch of other kits I've been building, I've only just got back to these kits.
This is where I go to:
1 attached image. Click to enlarge.
Michael Turner said 2 years, 7 months ago:

The + 1 is an ICM Mk VIII that I had started at the same time as the Eduard kits, but with the intention of converting it to a long winged Mk VII.
That requires a bit of scratch building in the cockpit and rectification of a number of sink marks and other blemishes.
As can (mostly) be seen, I bought a replacement propeller, lower cowling and wing gun covers.
The main wheels are unusable so I well steal the plastic wheels from the Eduard kit which comes with two sets resin wheels.
The aircraft will be 'PB', flown by WNGCDR Peter Brothers, commander of Culmhead Wing, in June 1944.
Decals are from the Victory Models "Spitfire - Aces of the Empire" sheet.

This one won't be for the competition though, so progress might be a lot slower...
1 attached image. Click to enlarge.
Michael Turner said 2 years, 7 months ago:

Ah, Spiros (@fiveten), you jumped in quickly as usual!
As you can see, it is 3+1 Spitfires.
Spiros Pendedekas said 2 years, 7 months ago:

Great that Eduard offered two sets of wheels, my friend @michaelt! Looking forward to the ICM kit as well, really curious to see how it builds (I have an ICM Spit to build, as well).
Pedro L. Rocha said 2 years, 7 months ago:

4 in a row 😉 sounds like an ambitious build, a lá “Iron Werks” style
John vd Biggelaar said 2 years, 7 months ago:

This will be an awesome thread, Michael @michaelt
Four Spitfires from your hand will look amazing.
Looking forward to them.
George R Blair Jr said 2 years, 7 months ago:

Sign me up for your ambitious build, Michael (@michaelt). Looking forward to the many variations in the markings.
Michael Turner said 2 years, 7 months ago:

The three builds in progress.
The Special Hobby Spit doesn't include the compass located below the instrument panel, so I am scratch building one using some thin brass (from the Meng Fokker Dr.I) for the shelf and a piece of sprue for the compass. The Eduard photo etch includes two compass faces each, so one of these was used tor the SH kit (after the photo was taken).
1 attached image. Click to enlarge.
John vd Biggelaar said 2 years, 7 months ago:

Quite a bunch of Spits, Michael @michaelt
I'm looking forward to this scratch build compass.
Spiros Pendedekas said 2 years, 7 months ago:

As our friend @johnb, I also look forward to see this scratch built compass, my friend @michaelt.
Love the posted pic with the Spit models production line!
Michael Turner said 2 years, 7 months ago:
G'day John (@johnb) and Spiros (@fiveten),
Here are a couple of pics of the instrument panels including the scratch built compass for the SH Mk Vc.
The control column sits so close to the instrument panel that it is hard to see the compass anyway, but, as always, I know it is there.
2 attached images. Click to enlarge.
1. Eduard Mk VIII

2. Eduard Mk VIII

3. Special Hobby Mk Vc

4. Scratch built compass and compass shelf
1. scratch built compass and compass shelf

2. Special Hobby Mk Vc

3. Eduard Mk VIII

4. Eduard Mk VIII

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Work in Progress – Aircraft

Three Spitfires + 1