Kotare Spitfire PR IV

[BlrwestSiR]

I picked up the AIMS PR Spitfire conversion set when it first came out a couple (more?) years back. It was designed for the Revell Spitfire MkII kit which was at the time the most up to date early Spitfire kit. 

Then Kotare came out with their MkI kits.  Having picked up a second copy on clear out at one of the local shops, I figured that it might be the better candidate for the AIMS conversion instead. A quick comparison showed that it was definitely feasible.

Then more recently, Model Maker released a set of masks for Spitfire BR416. This was a PR IV that services in Malta and carried anl distinctive Blue over White camo scheme. To tip things over the edge, @Martinnfb sent me the Aboukir filter needed. 

So here we are.  

The kit:

The markings:

The conversion:

The filter:

One more piece, the extended wingtips:

[BlrwestSiR]

First up, the cockpit. I did a test fit of the major components to see what needed modification, if any. 

At the same time, I drilled out all the lightening holes in the frames. 

Then the relevant areas were painted in silver. 

[BlrwestSiR]

Trying a different approach, I used the new AK Real Color markers for the RAF Grey-Green areas. This was much faster than masking them off. 

First coat looks a bit meh:

Much better after a second one:

The IP needs a couple instruments removed from the upper side.

After scraping them off, I did a bit of touch-up with some Mr Surfacer.

 

[BlrwestSiR]

While that was drying, I started on the wings. 

The main spar and wheel wells were glued in. 

I then added the upper wings. I trimmed off the outer wingtips. Here's one side done. 

The Tamiya wingtip is just about a perfect fit. 

I then filled in the MG access panels on the lower side. I initially started with Mr Surfacer but switched to CA as it dried faster. 

I did the same on the upper side as well as filling in the MG barrel openings. For this I used some Wave tapered plastic rod. It fills the holes perfectly. 

[Martinnfb]

What a great idea, following with interest.

Cheers

Martin

[Count0]

8 hours ago, BlrwestSiR said:

Wave tapered plastic rod

You can do the same thing with the cast off ends of stretched sprue. For free. 👍👍

[belugawhaleman]

I have that kit and I was concerned about the part that is used to make up the spine of the rear fuselage.. Will it fit well....we'll see.

Interesting conversation... Nice work so far😀

[DocRob]

Nice work on the Spitfire, Carl. She will be a beauty in white and blue. Thanks about mentioning how the AK markers work. I have some on the way right now, including GB interior green for my Kotare Spitfire.

Cheers Rob

[BlrwestSiR]

@DocRob, the markers seem to work best over a matte or satin coat. They're okay on bare plastic but it's a bit too smooth so it has a harder time with coverage. Same with over gloss paint. 

[BlrwestSiR]

Time to start on the fuselage mods. 

First up, I trimmed and test fit the two fuselage halves together. With the way that Kotare designed the fuselage, the upper flat bit above the hatch will need to be removed. 

One side done. 

Followed by the second. 

Then test fitting the cockpit parts, the shelf will also need to go. 

[Spitfire]

A fascinating conversion and that colour scheme is certainly very different, its very tempting as I do not have a PR Spitfire in the display cabinets.

Great progress, keep up the good work (please)

Cheers

Dennis

[BlrwestSiR]

A small but of progress. As mentioned previously, the rack needed to be removed. 

It was a bit of a challenge to figure out the best way to do so but in the end it came off fairly cleanly. I trimmed the back until it was level with the frame. 

The I used a razor saw to cut the last bit free from the frame. 

Now to build a camera mount. 

[Martinnfb]

Smooth ! 

[belugawhaleman]

Good work Carl! Surgical precision😀 

[BlrwestSiR]

Okay, the camera mounts are fiddly! There's a bunch of very tiny parts. The instructions were a bit unclear so I finally broke down and pulled out the recommended reference book, the old SAM Modellers Datafile. With that, I figured out how the mount goes together. I think. 

Here's the oblique camera mount/gimbal. The frame goes around the camera, and the two other bits are just the start to the mount. Not sure how I'm supposed to a) get them together, and b) have the stay together. We'll see I guess. 

Here's the resin camera bodies. The set contains 3 different types, F8, F24 and F52 cameras. 

[BlrwestSiR]

And the mounting bracket is just too much to put together. Some of the tabs to hold the brackets together are small than the attachment nubs that hold the part to the PE fret. They look nice but I can't pull it off. I'll use what I can. 

Onto the camera openings. Here I cheated a bit. I have the templates from the Alleycat PR XI conversion left over so I used those to mark the ventral camera ports. They're offset from centre so I had to tape the fuselage and main wings together. 

Using the guide holes on the template, I drilled a starter hole for both camera ports. 

Then I used a reamer to open them up to the correct diameter. 

Here you can see the doubled up thickness on the forward port. This is from the way the kit parts are designed. You can see it from the topside. 

I decided to cut away some of the excess material and hopefully I won't have fit issues down the road. 

[DocRob]

That´s some nice surgery, Carl, the holes camo out clean and round. For those cases, I have a Tamiya conical round file, which helped me a lot over the last years.

Buy Conical File 1,5-8mm / Cone Length 55mm online | Tamiya

Cheers Rob

[BlrwestSiR]

@DocRob, here's the reamer that I use. It's made by Hudy from Slovakia i think. They specialize in tools for RC cars and are part of XRay and Serpent. Both of those are high end RC car brands. They're very nice works of art and I've have a few of them. 

[BlrwestSiR]

Ugh, I found more wing mods that needed to be done. The PR IV used the later style round oil cooler found on the Spitfire V series and not the semicircular ones on the MkI and II.

First thing that came to mind was getting a Kotare Va kit and swapping out the oil cooler from it. Checking the instructions on Scalemates, the lower wing doesn't change between the two kits, just the oil cooler. So that was the expensive option plus having to wait for the kit to arrive.

I then decided to look into Plan B. This was to take one from the intended base kit, the Revell MkII. That kit kit has a MkV circular oil cooler instead of the semicircular one that it should have. Having a Revell kit in the stash, plus a Barracudacast correction set, I pulled it out to see if it could work. 

All glued together. 

After some tweaking, I got a decent enough fit. 

I also finally filled in the shell ejection ports. 

[Count0]

17 hours ago, DocRob said:

That´s some nice surgery,

Could use a step drill bit, very slowly and carefully. But ultimately you would have to use the ream for final fit, I doubt the steps on the bit would end up being exactly the right size. Look very nice though, so your method worked fine.👍