It is Dragon's 1/700 HMS Invincible.  The Nelson kit has pulled a Houdini on me, I know it is in the stash but cannot be located.  The Invincible was at hand though.

Thanks robert, now i remember, this getting old thing can be really anoying. I will get it changed.

Managed to get the decaling done. Love how well the one shot primer hides the decal film. 

Oh that looks prefect Andy! 

Andy> That's a great looking Spit.  Certainly better than my attempt.

Robert> The Invincible look as if it's being beaten into shape.  Nice!

As for my own Airfix "Aircraft That Shall Not Be Named", I've pretty much wrapped her up.

I must admit, she's not the best I've done, but considering what I've gone through, she's lucky to be finished at all!  Here's a preliminary shot of her, with painted base.  I'll post some finished shots tomorrow (though I doubt they'll be better).

Thanks for looking!

Gary

GAF

Andy> That's a great looking Spit.  Certainly better than my attempt.

Robert> The Invincible look as if it's being beaten into shape.  Nice!

 

As for my own Airfix "Aircraft That Shall Not Be Named", I've pretty much wrapped her up.

I must admit, she's not the best I've done, but considering what I've gone through, she's lucky to be finished at all!  Here's a preliminary shot of her, with painted base.  I'll post some finished shots tomorrow (though I doubt they'll be better).

Thanks for looking!

Gary

 

One of the things I enjoy about scale modeling is researching the model I'm building. I try and find out everything I can about the item, when and by whom it was built, how and where it was used and when possible, listen to people who really know something about the item.

The Supermarine Spitfire is a well-documented aircraft, but for reasons I think I'm just begining to understand it represents more than vintage aircraft and I wanted to know why? It is a thing of beauty as described by James Holland, English Author and Historian of World War II history in this video by Jodie Kidd.

https://youtu.be/JNo8xzSYrCQ

Thanks, Sergeant!  That's an interesting video on an iconic aircraft.

I had to wait for "some sunny day" to photograph the ATSNBN.  While I wish I could have gotten rid of the shadow, I'll take what I can get.

I want to thank Bish for running this GB.  While I couldn't match the wonderful work done by everyone else, I'll still remember this one as the one that gave me a heart attack! 

Gary

Gary, your effort while recovering from a heart attack is something to be well-regarded. Most people I know consider it a life-changing experience.

I completed painting the Spitfire cockpit and I'm now ready to start exterior assembly. I have always loved airplanes even though I served in the Navy and Army. I must take after my uncle and my father who were both in the Air Force.

Harold

The vest was a Christmas present from my wife.

Nicely done gary, and well done for getting her finished. Thanks for taking part, maybe i need to ease off on the GB's if they have that effect.

Loking really nice there Harold. Thats a great collection of badges.

Bish

Loking really nice there Harold. Thats a great collection of badges.

 

Harold

Hello Gary, great job on the Airfix Spitfire.

Nice to see a decent representation of the dark earth.

regards,

Jack

Got you added gary.

I must admit i was getting a bit confused, then i realsied that you and gary are doing the same aircraft (JB did it as well). I do like that look with the yellow round just the one roundel and the NMF undersides, even if it is on one of those aircraft. Nice work.

Harold, just looking at your pics again and have realised you have one of thopse plastic seats and i love the colour, it is a really nice match for the image that Jack posted a while back. I wounder if the depression in the bottom of the seat was for the parachute, though it seems a bit small to me for that.

Bish, that is a good question about that lozenge shape depression in the pilot seat. 

After a little searching, apparently it was to accomodate the inflation bottle for the pilot's personal dinghy.  According to the late Edgar Brooks, introduction date  for this was likelly late 1940.  Up until then, pilots only had their Mae West to rely on, and have also read that during the BoB, fighter pilots were advised not to chase the Luftwaffe across the channel.

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234936242-lozenge-shaped-depression-in-spitfire-seat-to-accommodate-dinghy-co2-bottle/

regards,

Jack

Now that would explain the shape of the depression. And if i am not mistaken, the parachute doubled as a cushion so the pilot would not have been sat on the bottle. The bottle would have been tricky to remove though i imagine.

Yes, it was like a double cushion with the raft packed in between the pilot and parachute:

Not sure how the emergency dinghy was deployed, but during my searches there was mention of instances where the dingy would inflate in the cockpit, and the pilot would have to 'attack' it with a knife - wow...lol.

regards,

Jack

jgeratic

Yes, it was like a double cushion with the raft packed in between the pilot and parachute:

 

Not sure how the emergency dinghy was deployed, but during my searches there was mention of instances where the dingy would inflate in the cockpit, and the pilot would have to 'attack' it with a knife - wow...lol.

 

regards,

Jack

 

Harold

Bish

Harold, just looking at your pics again and have realised you have one of thopse plastic seats and i love the colour, it is a really nice match for the image that Jack posted a while back. I wounder if the depression in the bottom of the seat was for the parachute, though it seems a bit small to me for that.

 

I have a question; that little feature attached to the pilot's harness and marked with a red arrow... Is that supposed to be the parachute ripcord? If so, I intend to remove it because I want the cockpit open without a pilot in the seat.

Harold

Harold that detail is the locking mechanism for the Sutton safety harness, and was also a quick release feature.

regards,

Jack

jgeratic

Harold that detail is the locking mechanism for the Sutton safety harness, and was also a quick release feature.

 

regards,

Jack

 

Harold

Bish> Thanks!  No need to cut back on the GB's.  I think it was my own life style that contributed most!

I know what you mean about "Gary's".  There are enough to start a GB of their own!  

Harold>  That's a beautiful pit.  Glad we've got so many scholars around who can tell what those odd objects were for!

Gary

Gary: I'm glad you're feeling better. Hope back to 100% soon. Love the Spit. Great job and I love the base! 

Harold: Cockpit looks fantastic! I've got to remember to try a Bakelite seat in my next Spit. 

And I'd wondered about the funny notch in the seat. Thanks guys!!! 

Here's my latest pic, just to remind you guys I'm still in this. Added the landing gear and the guns. And didn't like how the white looked on the roundels so I sprayed them with some white paint though a circle stencil. Then I noticed somehow I'd gotten overspray on the wing. And I'd sprayed some varnish over it. So I mask the wing off again and resprayed the primary colours.

Thankfully it a small thing, not sure it's noticable on the photo. You should notice a little lighter paint on the gun blisters on the portside wing. I still need to redo the panal lines there and it should darken it back down to match everything else. Anyhow I'm going on holiday next week so hopefully I'll get the canopy done and the model finished by the end of November. 

Or that's the plan anyway... 

Thank you, Gary. I am starting the exterior today and hope I can do as good a job on the camouflage as you and Cliff did.

Nice save Cliff. Sounds like a lot of work but the end results look great.

Regarding the circle template, Cliff did you apply the template in direct contact with the wing surface? The reason I asked is that did not work well for me on my Matador. But I did end up using the circle template to make my own painting masks with Tamiya making tape.

Since then, I have learned there are better products on the market for making paint masks than Tamiya masking tape. I did not finish this model because I forgot to thin the Tamiya camouflage paint and it just did not look good to me.

Camouflage paint quality varied widely during the Second World War depending on whether it was done at the factory or in the field. My Nato Black camouflage looks like a field job applied with mop head instead of a spray gun.

Harold

Thanks Harold. 

I just held the template over the wing and sprayed though it. I probably should have used it to cut a mask with tape. The edges are a little fuzzy. But I was afraid I might pull up the decals already down even with a coat of varnish over them.

The Matador looks fine by me!  

Gamera

Thanks Harold. 

I just held the template over the wing and sprayed though it. I probably should have used it to cut a mask with tape. The edges are a little fuzzy. But I was afraid I might pull up the decals already down even with a coat of varnish over them.

The Matador looks fine by me!  

 

You might recall I built three Matador's, the two later production version models never made it to the finish self. But someday I would like to build a tanker (petrol hauling) type Matador and perhaps this unfinished model will have a new paint job.

Harold

Sergeant

The Supermarine Spitfire is a well-documented aircraft, but for reasons I think I'm just begining to understand it represents more than other vintage aircraft and I wanted to know why?

Rather than give you a review of the movie I will quote a statement made by one of the RAF pilots: "The Spitfire is emblematic of British innovation, ingenuity, determination and unwillingness to be bullied." Another statement I like: "The Spitfire was a lady in the air and a *** [not a lady] on the ground". This was a quote from an AFT woman pilot who flew Spitfires from the factory to Squadrons throughout Britain. If you are interested in watching this documentary, I found it on the Apple TV channel.

As an American farm boy growing up in the 1940's and 50's I heard a lot about the Second World War and my uncle who was an RAF fighter pilot from 1941 to 1944. I took a keen interest in my British and Canadian heritage and studied European history. In my youth boys still had real life heroes and mine was Winston Churchill, Prime Minister. I think Mr. Churchill would agree with the statements made in this documentary regarding the Spitfire and what it ment to the British people during the war.

In my opinion the British people saw the Spitfire as a fist in Hitler's face and the hope they needed to hang on in the darkest days of the war.

Harold

Harold, if you liked that movie, search for "Guy Martin's Spitfire". I came across it while searching for the movie you recommended. Its about the restoration of N3200 which is in the movie you watched. Plus, I like Guy Martin. He's a retired road racer (motorcycle) and builds/built some wicked bikes. Little bit of a nutter also lol.

xenon55

Harold, if you liked that movie, search for "Guy Martin's Spitfire". I came across it while searching for the movie you recommended. Its about the restoration of N3200 which is in the movie you watched. Plus, I like Guy Martin. He's a retired road racer (motorcycle) and builds/built some wicked bikes. Little bit of a nutter also lol.

 

Some interesting facts from the film: After a difficult beginning Lord Beaverbrook got involved and at the peak of production the Spitfire and Lancaster factory at Castle Bromwich was turning out 85 Spitfires a week. The Mark I Spitfire had only enough fuel for one hour of flying time and enough ammunition for 14 seconds of continuous firing. This meant the ground crew had to be fast and they were very fast. They could reload more the 2,000 rounds of ammunition in 3 1/2 minutes.

This story is also a tribute to Geoffrey Stephenson the original pilot of N3200 that was shot down and crashed on the beach of Dunkirk in May 1940. The plane remained buried in the sand for seventy-five years and then was rebuilt over a three-year period to perfect factory specifications by the team Guy Martin was working with on the restoration.

Thank you xenon55 for recommending this outstanding documentary film. I enjoyed every bit of it, start to finish.

Harold

Completing fuselage and starting wing assembly. Interior requires a second coat of gloss varnish, then interior decals and a seal coat of satin varnish. When the varnish is dry I can glue the fuselage together around the completed cockpit.

The main wing assembly is already glued together and ready for the fuselage, then I can add the remaining exterior parts.

Harold