Doing a pair of Spits...Eduard and new Airfix.
As you'd guess, the Eduard kit is far superior to the Airfix, but for less than 10 bucks, the Airfix is quite nice. Fits right in with the rest of their newer stuff.
I got a bit ahead of myself and forgot to take the obligatory pit pics. Eduards pit is GREAT, and Airfix's pit is a bit more simple, but still pretty nice. I did cut of the Airfix IP and replace it with the molded IP from the Eduard kit. The Airfix IP was just smooth, for a mediocre decal.
Since all that and most of the assembly is already done, I'll focus this more on a couple simple things that can be easily done, to add a little "life"...starting with droping the elevators.
It takes very little effort to drop the elevators, and I believe the benefit outweighs the effort.
I started with a PE saw (from Tamiya...came as a set of 4...recommended!).
This will only go so far, on account of the angle. For the angle, I used regular sewing thread to "saw" through the plastic...
For the long, straight section, I just scored the top a few times with the back of a blade. I scored the underside moreso than the top.
I score it until it is thin enough to bend, but not break.
In place. This is a good time to "eye ball" em...make sure they're the same!
The only bugger about the Airfix kit, is that there's no option for the canopy to be open. Simple fix! The windscreen fits nice, so that can be cut free from the one piece canopy...same goes for the rear piece. Problem is, the center section will not fit over the rear section. So, before cutting up the canopy, I smash molded some clear plastic (from a blister pack), over the kit canopy (attached to the end of a screwdriver with some poster tack...I hold the handle of the screwdriver between my knees).
Next, I cut a mask on the kit part, peel it off and stick it to the new part. This makes it a lot easier to cut the part to the right size. (I should also mention that I had to cut out the little door)
Again, using the PE saw (I love these things! They are also perfect for rescribing panel lines), I cut up the canopy.
Everything in place...
Next, I'll take ya'll through how I finish.