Iain Ogilvie

Hi all - this is where we're at - I desperately need to crack on with a Spitfire I have to have finished in two weeks - so this one may be delayed for final bits and bobs. Have fun! Iain

And the primer stage is almost in sight! Cowls assembled and fitted (with lost central 'cone' replaced with home-made resin copy). Radio/Radar kit painted and fitted. Rear canopy fitted. Landing light cover painted clear yellow internally and fitted. Eduard Brassin wheel parts prepped and part painted. I *will* finish! Iain

Apologies for quality of images - quick snaps under poor lighting - still not got everything sorted in the workshop... First off - the excellent Barracuda cowl flap sets. Deviation from instructions in that I've assembled everything onto cowl fronts - rather than mounting the radiator units to the firewall first. This made adding all those actuator rods a hell of a lot easier!! Been playing with the nose. 'shelf', armour plate, gun-sight, armoured glass and windshield fitted and blended into nose with sanding sticks - slightly re-shaping the canopy in the process - and removing moulded in frame lines. Front end has been gone over with various grades of MicroMesh and plastic polish to restore clarity of the transparency. Rear transparency just placed in situ - not bonded yet as I need to do all the radio/radar kit... Tail feathers on - note corrected fins... Ventral gun pack front end on... More when there's, er, more... Have fun! Iain

Further progress... Internal frames shaped to fit under fuselage top section and wing root areas cleaned up after boxing in: Starbord door and window section prepped and 'windows' removed for glazing Wing roots trued up and pretty good fit now! Iain

*I'd* almost forgotten about this one!! Thanks to a little sunshine I managed to get the last two exterior window sills replaced - so now back on models... Thought someone might find my method of adding windows useful (you never know!) Using a brilliant sheet of clear acrylic sheet (Bayer Vivac) = beautifully clear it comes with both sides of the sheet coated in a blue protective film: New panes are cut using the openings as a template: Once happy we have panes that fit - remove the protective film - and it's out with the black permanent marker - once around the outer edges of the clear pane and once around the window opening: Excuse the finger prints! All fitted nicely in place a fine brush is used to flow Plastic Weld into the joints from behind - pointing the brush sideways in towards the joint on the white plastic side (not the acrylic - marks easily!): And Bob's your Aunty: Panel loosely tacked in place - panes will be polished with Plastic Polish before masking again ready for paint: Right - back to the slog... Iain

This one's been on the go since '07 (my usual glacial buuild rate) but yesterday I dug her out for a looksee and made lots of progress (for once!): Inner walls double skinned with corrugated plastic sheet and brass box section side rails added to straighten the sides: Start made on more bulkheads - rectangular 'blanks' of correct width made up - and one 'notched to fit around brass 'rails'. Later I'll shape to fit roof and cut out middles - so the form upturned 'U' shapes: New doors made/cut out to convert the fuselage to correct mark of Ju52: Wing roots boxed in with plastic sheet cut oversize - will be cut back and shaped to profile later: Wings loosely on - only a few minor tweaks need then fit's a good'un... All control surfaces now prepped and bonded together: Wheels assembled, spats assembled, cowl rings cut out and replacement canopy sourced from a spare Combat Models kit (hoping the original will turn up somewhere): Fuselage top - next stage gun mount opening: And reinforced internally with more corrugated styrene sheet: Back later (prolly with some other random project! ) Iain

That's an F Mk 6 - with ventral gunpack - some of the set shown here: Iain

For anyone interested - this is what I'm thinking in terms of breakdown of individual parts availability - and 'complete' sets - thoughts/input appreciated! Absolutely no idea re. prices/availability yet - but once I have the base patterns complete I will post here and elsewhere asking to get an idea of interest (not commitment) so I have a rough idea of volumes before casting - and, therefore, a reasonably accurate idea of costs! But progress is now up a gear! Iain EDIT - there's the F/R probe, gun ports and F3 vents to be added - and the belly tanks probably need to be available separately...

BTW - if anyone's wondering what those horizontal lines are on the fin - that's just me filling horizontal surface detail as it was no longer horizontal after rotating the fin back a few degrees. Oh - and shape is distorted there because of position of camera lens/distortion. Now - do I try and match Trumpeters 'rivets' - or go smoother - more prototypical - and leave builder to fill divots in rest of kit? The latter's the way I'm heading at present - but feedback welcomed! Have fun! Iain

Thanks folks... Some better images: Iain

OK - all day on Lightning stuff today - I need a break! More fettling on the fuselage underside for the early machines: And a little more on F Mk 6 belly: Blending canopy area and further shaping on spine and area immediately behind canopy: Now - in further news - there is a God! Ages ago I mentioned the flaps should be constant chord? Well - because taper made them *thinner* in plan I can fix with new resin flaps and simply cut back the flap openings in the wings a little. Original top, my rough shape below: And the fin - getting there! There will be a further strip added to base: Night all! Iain

It seems that I can spend hours on this - and not a lot of progress! Fuselage keel has been straightened up again - and is just about ready for detail - as is the early belly tank. F6 tank has been reshaped in side elevation and now ready (finally) for me to add gun troughs and build up a little at the front. In picture news - a start made on a second go at the square top fin - a wedge has been removed from base (0 at front - approx 1.5 mm at base of rudder) to correct the angle at rear - and the top's been shortened a little. Next step, apart from correcting surface detail, is to add a wedge of plastic to leading edge (and fill that divit of an intake at base). Once done it will be the same shape/size/angles as the Echelon one. Alongside this the spine has been 'fitted' to the upper fuse curve and is being fine adjusted. Horizontal stab has been reshaped - and now looks like the real thing: More soon (maybe). Iain

All good fun Rog... Anyhoo - the list of ongoing projects is actually somewhat larger than that - but built stuff does get spat out the other end from time to time Iain

And Phinally: Iain

Next: There's more... Iain