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Playing in the Sandbox Group Build Sept 1, 2024 - Jn 1, 2025

Revell Spitfire II New Test shot pics


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Erik,

I am not a Spitfire expert, but from the top of my head the spinner is too pointed. The oil cooler intake needs to be

shallower (semi-circular). The coffman starter is a seperate part so can be deleted. The seat is the "plastic"version,

earlier Mk I's had a metal seat. I thought the ailerons are fabric covered? Have to check that.

Edgar, anything I have forgotten?

Cheers

Cees

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Looking forward to.

I always wanted to do the East India Spit YT L. Revell has it as one of the two options.

Also doing a Mk I with the famously oversized codes DW K. Anyone know if there

Is a 1/32 decal set available?

Cees

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This is what I found, today, when I was briefly loaned one to look at:-
1/. it needs a "Mk.I" oil cooler.
2/. it needs the crowbar deleting, unless your model dates after January 1942 (the fit was retrospective.)
3/. 2-bar rudder pedals are o.k., but need the fabric straps over the top.
4/. gun button was brass, with a silver surround, not red (post-war elfin safety?)
5/. Very pistol cartridge rack was normally left off, and Castle Bromwich had (red) plastic seats, not (green) metal. Spitfire seats were never Bakelite.
6/. seat armour is missing.
7/, seat backrest has an odd depression moulded in, which I've never seen.
8/. I can only guess at what part 40 is, but I think it's the landing light operating lever, and Revell forgot to switch it over, while they did sort out the instrument panel. Part 41 (oxygen bottle) should be black, not green.
9/. part 42 (compressed-air bottles) was silver, not green.
9/. rudder and elevators' "stitching" is overdone.
10/. I have no idea what the two "lozenges" (on the top of each wing) are.
11/. unless your Mk.II dates from 1940, the rudder "prong" shouldn't be there, neither should the aerial.
12/. post 1940, IFF aerials were fitted, and the position of the discs is marked.
13/. if you drop the flaps, the door, in the top of the wing, needs to be cut out, and opened.
14/. 50B, which fit into the square holes under the windshield, is/are/were "station keeping lights," which might have been coloured like the navigation lights, but that remains a mystery, for now.
15/. while over-prominent, the "rivets" are nowhere near as bad as the photos appeared to show.
16/. the fuselage is about 2mm shorter than the Hasegawa Vb (all at the spinner end,) but it doesn't "shout," and it appears to have better curvature than the (somewhat slab-sided) Hasegawa fuselage.
17/, wingspan and chord (minus wingtips) are identical to the Hasegawa Vb.
18/. Revell have matched Tamiya, in the wheel wells, by providing back-sloping walls - very well done - but the "orifices" are too oval.
19/. there are three oblong "protuberances" on the spinner, but Revell do tell you to file them off, so that might be something to do with the requirements of the mould.
20/. Revell appear to have confused Sky with Sky Blue, but their "Sky Blue" is reportedly a match for Sky.
21/. instrument panel is fixed, but possibly missing the landing lights control (see no.8.)

 Hope that helps, and I've had to give it back to the owner, so can't help further.

Edgar

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The second "crossbar" was introduced on the production line 12-1-41 (don't forget that's January,) and was mooted as early as 27-7-40, so it'd be a brave man (and that's not me) who set either type in stone. Both the Mk.I & II Pilots Notes show the single bar, but Tuck had his pedals modified, and I'd be very surprised if he didn't have the whole Squadron done at the same time, together with any other Squadrons sharing the airfield.

Incidentally, many don't realise that exactly the same applied to the Hurricane's pedals (I didn't until I read the files.)

Edgar

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Thanks for your very comprehensive asessment of the kit, Edgar!

 

What do you think of the shape of the spinner?

 

As for the metal ailerons; If I have read it correctly they were indeed metal on the Mk.II, but also retrofitted to Mk.I's, at least some? IIRC it was mentioned in the biography of "Sailor" Malan that he came across those metal parts and scrounged as many as possible for the aircraft in his unit. Could also have been Alan Deere, I forget.

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The kit is back with its owner, now, and I'd like to check the spinner against Peter Cooke's article on spinners, before commenting, but its shape seems more reminiscent of a de Havilland, rather than Rotol, example.

Metal-covered ailerons were introduced 17-7-41, and there was a somewhat unseemly scramble, as senior officers "pulled rank" to get them, often causing problems for Supermarine; Bader, famously, got them, while the rest of his Squadron did not. Fitting was retrospective, so any Mk.I or II could have them (and did.)

Edgar

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Review is imminent ! Propeller and spinner are supposed to be the dehavilland which very few MkII's had so that's a bit of an issue. There's a good kit in there tho.

 

 

LSM review will be posted later tonight.

 

 

:unworthy:

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  • 2 weeks later...

Yesterday I started sticking some bits together such as rudder, elevators, horizontals, ailerons and wings.

I noticed that the elevator horn balances and the horizontal stabilisers are hollow. These should be solid, so some filling is in order. The leading edges of the wings have some molding irregularities on them that prevents a good joint. Some sanding is needed, just a minor observation. The ailerons have quite thick detail on the top side, this should be sanded down a bit. The spinner has some square patches on the sides ( instruction plates?). These I sanded off. I also sanded the top of the spinner to a less pointed appearance. These are my observations so far.

Anyone else?

Cheers

Cees

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Yesterday I started sticking some bits together such as rudder, elevators, horizontals, ailerons and wings.

I noticed that the elevator horn balances and the horizontal stabilisers are hollow. These should be solid, so some filling is in order. The leading edges of the wings have some molding irregularities on them that prevents a good joint. Some sanding is needed, just a minor observation. The ailerons have quite thick detail on the top side, this should be sanded down a bit. The spinner has some square patches on the sides ( instruction plates?). These I sanded off. I also sanded the top of the spinner to a less pointed appearance. These are my observations so far.

Anyone else?

Cheers

Cees

I didn't pick up on the mass balance good spot! I'd be interested to see how the spinner looks after some re profiling, the prop blades could do with some to as they're to broad but not miles off.

 

Could do with starting a snags list thread for this kit.

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