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General Modelling Forum => General Modeling topics => Modeling Blogs => Topic started by: The Wooksta! on March 08, 2012, 06:59:56 AM

Title: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on March 08, 2012, 06:59:56 AM
This is probably going to bore you to death if you don't like the most iconic British aircraft ever. It's detailing the work I'm doing to whif the Spitfire family, taking in the Supermarine 224, the Spitfire, Seafire, Spiteful, Seafang and Attacker.

Yesterday mainly saw me sorting through the umpteen boxes of kits, trying to get all the Ventura (now Jays) kits into one place, for reasons that I'll come to later.  It was... interesting to say the least and in some respects, I didn't know I had quite that many.  Sorting through the boxes of part started and nearly completed airframes will be even more of an eye opener.  Still, it got everything tidied away and certain kits sorted and grouped together, for example the Heller XVIe in the black boxing into one box (an A4 paper box will take ten), Airfix PRXIXs into another.  You get the picture.

So, why did I want all the Ventura ones together?  Well, apart from wanting to know how many I had (multiples of each kit, with the FXIVe having the most - 7), I wanted to strip several of their wings with a view to moulding and casting them.  Strictly for personal use - I've a boxful of the old Aeroclub vacform fuselage conversions, not to mention the various Brigade ones and even a few of the old M&E Tr.9s and all need donor kits.  Having the moulds for the wings should make this easier.  In addition, there are some of the older kits out there, such as the Frog/Novo F.XIV, that have reasonably shaped fuselages - ie not drastically wrong (Forces of Valour, I'm looking at your abortion!) - that can be salvaged with a decent wing.

In total, I stripped three kits of their lower wing section, two VIIIs and a IX, one of the former giving up the wing uppers too, plus an XVIII for the wing uppers.  This means I can assemble 2 C wings (early and late gun blisters) and an E wing.  I have to do a little filling on the lower of the latter as it's taken from a C winged aircraft) to sort out gun hatches, but that's really it.  

I did notice that the VIII - an Australin aircraft boxing - came in two slightly different boxes, one of which had a catalogue number.  The plastic is different too.  One has upper wings with the wide early gun blisters, t'other has the late narow blister.  The latter had the radiators moulded integral, the former had them separate with nice little wells.  Their early Grffon Spitfire kits were designed somewhat similarly.

When done and dusted, all cleaned up, wheel wells filled and given some strip detail, the surfaces smoothed and filled where necessary - Ventura kits are limited run and have some odd sink holes which need filling - they'll be mounted on a web of plastic card along the leading edge, stood vertical and moulded in a single piece mould.  I've done it twice, with a Seafire IIIc wing (which needs redoing) and a Spitfire F22 wing to convert the Airfix or Ventura 19 to a 21.

One thing is for sure.  I do not like cleaning up those Ventura bits.  They're a pig to get off the sprues, the lower wing especially, as the sprue gates are HUGE.  The parts themselves need constant fettling to get them to align properly.  In the end, I got two cleaned up and taped together and halfway through the third.  I was beginning to lose the will to live.

A test fit with several available fuselages, all from different manufacturers, proved that my idea was sound - they'll fit any fuselage, although some may need surgery to fit properly.

Now I just need to get some more rubber.
Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on March 08, 2012, 07:48:44 AM
For Telford last year, I concentrated on building items for The Plan - nothing else but Spitfires or related items. At 2pm of the thursday beforehand, I had nothing finished.  Out of the 50+ that had been assembled, primed, painted and decalled, nothing was finished.  At 4am on the Friday, there were thirty or so boxed and ready to go. 

So what had happened to the rest?

They were left.  Some of the part finished Spitefuls were there, but remained boxed.  Along the way, during the final push, I had abandoned quite a few, some were painted but undecalled.  One or two were just left primed.  Two didn't get the last colour and are still masked.  One other needs remedial sanding before I can do some respraying.

So, in a rash of enthusiasm post Telford, some were finished off.  IIRC, I did about ten or so that week, including one of my favourites, the Spitfire FR26.  This was the 1996 release of the CMR Seafire FR47, which they'd cocked up.  The wing wheel well bulges were too small - being for a Spitfire F22/24 - and the canopy was a standard Spitfire bubbletop.  Well, that was crying out to be whiffed and as my first CMR Spitfire, an absolute joy to build.  Well, once the warped resin was sorted out it was.  Love to get another.

Here's one:
(https://www.whatifmodellers.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi137.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fq201%2Faircav14%2FDSCF4042.jpg&hash=92f169fe306098ae2c4f186dacb71853a1fae82f)

This started as a Heller F.XVIe but was finished as an Indian Air Force Spitfire LF8e.  Well, that's what it should be but I'd forgot to sort out the ailerons (they're mk IX and not the shorter VIII).  It's one of the hangover ones from Telford 2010 so really needed finishing.  I'll redo this one properly at some stage as I'm not quite happy with it.

Anyway, that rash of enthusiasm didn't last long.  One thing I'd got increasingly sick of with The Plan was that I wasn't building - painting, decalling and finishing is all well and good, indeed decalling is when a bare model starts to come to life and you can see before your eyes the idea that's hitherto been a spark of imagination - and it's just building the things that I really enjoy.  Cutting bits up, sanding and throwing together is something I find quite relaxing.  Well, sometimes.  That being the case, in the runup to christmas, about 10 more airframes were built, mainly Heller 16s but some Airfix PR19s as well.  More ideas, you see.

So, 2012.  Mention of Operation Cosford elsewhere on the site prompted me to finish off something stalled from 2010 so that it could be handed to Martin for unveiling at the Cosford show (and no, I'm not giving any hints other than it's RAF and most definitely NOT a Spitfire).  This made me dig things out and get them finished and a fresh look at the Hangar Queens of 2011.

This is one of them:

(https://www.whatifmodellers.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi137.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fq201%2Faircav14%2FDSCF4032.jpg&hash=d39f476839197f114f59ab9ae9722e176849338d)

The Xtrakit Spitfire F22.  Moulded by MPM and this pig of a kit fought me every step of the way.  The wing wouldn't close with the wheel well detail bits in place.  The moulding surfaces needed serious thinning.  The prop went in the bin as it's waaay too short and the blades are the wrong shape entirely (the old Testors 22 has better blades that this!)  The fuselage wouldn't close with the cockpit parts in and it's apparently too short.  I think it's too wide.  The wing didn't want to go onto the fuselage, the canopy doesnt close properly if the door is closed (that's actually a fault in the distructions, they tell you to use the wrong rear section).  in the end, I just used an Airfix 19 prop and an Aeroclub canopy rear.  This one will be redone when I get my hands on the Airfix 22.




Both photos taken by Aircav at Huddersfield a few weeks back.
Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on March 08, 2012, 08:13:31 AM
Having added some pics, I went back through the Picture post to try and pull all of my Spitfire stuff into one thread.  Or at least link them.  I don't - and won't - use external photo hosting, for various reasons I cannot be bothered to go into.

Airfix Spitfire Vb:
http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,30676.0.html

Airfix PR19:
http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,31188.0.html

Airfix/Blackbeard FR21:
http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,30675.0/highlight,spitfire.html

Kitbits Seafire FR47:
http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,30674.0.html
http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,31187.0.html

Interesting comment from me about the then forthcoming Xtrakit Spitfire F22.  Little did I know just how much of a pig it was going to be.  That one may get redone with either an Airfix 22 or a hybrid Ventura kit.

Pegasus/Magna Spitefuls:
http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,30671.0.html
Looking at the 2 Sqn one, I'm minded to redo it.  The spine around the cockpit needs fixing and the canopy is yellowing.


Some works in progress (dated 2009)
http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,26002.msg379181.html#msg379181


Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on March 09, 2012, 04:16:26 AM
Last night, more sorting through boxes.  This time to sort out the bench and tie things assembled with the actual hard copy of The Plan, as opposed to the one in me head.  Really, it needed doing, if only to tidy the place up.  In doing so, I realised I had three more Airfix IXc's than I thought.  They can get tidied away into the stash.

More bits also for the spares box too.  Sort of.  The forthcoming Airfix F22 wing does fit the Airfix PR19, so the two that were donated by Overkiller (thanks again, Duncan!) were allocated for conversion to F21s (both F and FR versions) and have already been separated.  The cockpits are assembled and painted, meaning the fuselages can be closed up this weekend and put to one side.  More mess out of the way.

One of the great things about Spitfires is that when splitting kits or conversions up, they can be combined with others, meaning no waste.  The leftover wings from the two 19s have already been allocated elsewhere.  One is being combined with an Airfix Ia fuselage (original tooling) that I'd done some surgery to some years back to get this wing to fit.  And promptly forgot about.  I should be able to find the rest of the bits in the spares boxes to assemble a complete airframe plus a Falcon PR canopy and I should have a PRIV.  No real idea of scheme, but overall PR blue is most likely and I've some idea of a foreign operator for this, one which did operate Spitfires.

The second...  More involved.  A chance extra in a Magna Spiteful bought last year was an Airwaves Seafire FR47 engine cowling and I had the bright idea to put it on an Airfix PR19.  Chopped the engine off and then left it. As usual. Bits of other airframes in the box included a homecast F18 fuselage with the engine and tail cut off (dodgy cast), an F22/Spiteful fin and a pair of F21 wings.  I'm sure they were going to be another attempt at a PR25 but I'll need to cast the interior for that first.

At Telford, amongst many purchases, I got the Freightdog PR11 conversion.  This uses the Airfix 19 as a basis but again, bits can be split.  The 19 with the engine cut off will get the PR11 front end and radiators but I'll be keeping the big tail as I'm liking the idea of a PRX trials aircraft with a big tail and contraprop plus one of the late Merlin developments, which by all accounts were pretty powerful.
The slipper tank will get used elsewhere but the fin conversion bits will eventually go onto another 19.  That I'm considering as an early 14 which had the mk 8 tail. 

Whilst I'm blathering on about the same subject, a dig through the spares box a few weeks back yielded several Airfix PR19 wings - these having been converted to other marks (21s mainly).  What to do with them?  The Revell Vb isn't a bad kit, it's just that the prop is wrong, the radio behind the seat shouldn't be there and more importantly, no gull wing underneath.  I have quite a few of these stashed away, included a load from an ebay wing.  However, with some surgery, they are salvageable and these spare wings are ideal.  More PRIVs or possibly something else.  I may need to get some decals for the latter.

More ideas = more expense = more bits for the spares box = more ideas = more expense.  Trapped in an enjoyable Moebius loop or just insane?


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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on March 13, 2012, 08:45:22 AM
The weekend...

Scrabbled around in the spares boxes to find some of the bits needed for the Airfix Mk Ia/Heller XVIe mash up and ended up with an extra wing and an extra fuselage.  So it gets a companion.  One will be an FR machine, the other a fighter bomber.

A good whiffer has a mind that can 'freewheel' - one idea leads to another and then another.  The Moebius loop I refered to earlier in the blog.  Some of the bits that were going to go on the mash up were test fitted to a part started new tool Airfix Ia (which will be a PR1G eventually) and they really looked the part.  So much so, the I/IIa I'd just bought got started straight away. I'd bought it so I could strip out the large Va oil cooler for the PR1G but that went by the way and I just got started on me new idea.  That led to thinking about more along the same lines and I realised I had a requirement for two or three more IIa kits.

Sunday.  Dug out a mk Ia and a IIa and made a start.  One was to be the second of the upgraded mk Is, the other an early machine  - haven't whiffed many early mkIs but there is plenty of scope in the proposed foreign orders. So, I then started digging for bits.  Amongst all the props and airframe bits, the box yielded a pair of four blade props, the exhausts for two aircraft, pointed rudders - and two Airfix Va oil coolers. 

Hurrah!  No further expense.  Well, at least for a while.  Bits cut off sprues, spare bits refilling the spares boxes.  Wings assembled, one of which was clipped.  Really does make a Mk Ia look different with them clipped.

I also decided to do a Vb to similar standards and had a load of Tamiya bits snaffled off ebay, enough to make one complete airframe plus spares.  Tiny bit of surgery to one fuselage half to remove the rudder.  It's easier to do the upgrade to the Tamiya one than the Airfix Ia, because the Tamiya kit comes with both windscreens - later Vs had the windscreen adopted from the IX onwards and many older machines were later retrofitted.  Aparently it gave an extra 5mph.

The two F21 conversions are now closed up and once I havce the props assembled, both will go to one side to await the new Airfix 22. The PR.X trials aircraft has the new Freightdog engine fitted, although that needed a little fettling to allow it to fit properly.  It's just dry fitted into the wing for now.

Monday saw the cockpits assembled and painted, plus the PRIV now has it's wings on but with gaps everywhere.  More filler!

Comments on this thread go here:
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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on March 13, 2012, 08:58:23 AM
Mention of filler brings me to another cobble together job.  Whilst scrabbling through the airframe spares box, I found an Airfix Vb fuselage with the engine cut off and I think it was one I'd tried to graft a Griffon on at some stage.  At the same time, I found a DB Griffon engine that I'd used over 20 years ago to do one of the Griffon prototypes, not that there's much of it now.

I find the early Griffon Spits quite fascinating, mainly because of all the possibilites that they open up.  I'd done a Griffon IVb from a salvaged Aeroclub mk 12 fuselage conversion some time back - it's in the current Alternate Spitfire display - but again, it's one I'm not happy with and I'd like to do it again.  So, this being the case, I've cobbled a fuselage together and it's currently awaiting the mass amount of filler to be sanded off. 

I've just remembered that I've what's left of a Frog/Novo 14 sitting in the airframes spares box - I found the engine whilst digging out bits for the Airfix airframes.  I've a feeling they may work better and I can do a IVc (early) at the same time as the IVb. Mainly because I've a resin wing that I was given by TsrJoe and it really should be used up.

Or should I have a go at the proposed six cannon version?  IIRC, they were mocked up but never actually built.  As the early Griffon was better at low altitudes - above 20,000 it was no better than the Merlin 61 of the Spitfire IX - and toting 6 20mm cannon, it would make a rather attractive alternative to the Typhoon.

But this means even more ideas and more things to do.  My army grows!

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on March 15, 2012, 09:06:51 AM
Sometimes, whiffing is closer to reality than we think.  Last year, I did a Spitfire HFVI as a Metrological Flight aircraft and then discovered that various RAF Met Flights *did* actually use the Mk VI (and the VII, come to that).  Mention elsewhere on t'interweb about the RAF using various timed out fighters as bomber defence training made me think about Spitfires being used for similar purposes and as a result, reached for a Mk Ia.
I've just used up my stash of the new tool Airfix mk Ia, so had to use one of the older tool (but still bang on the money shapewise) kits.  Wing sanded and assembled, locating pins removed - it was one of the snapfit ones and the pins ruin the fit - and then left to dry whilst I went in search of a suitable squadron in Chris Lake's "Flying Units of the RAF".

But then I find that these training flights DID use Spitfires after all.  So what do I do?  It's a nice idea so why not just change the scheme?  Keep the RAF pattern but make the colours a bit more Luftwaffe to make the whole thing a bit more dissimilar training?  So I dug out an Airfix Vc wing (which is frankly unusable as it's way too thick and mis-shapen), glued it together and used it to try out a colour test.  Dark Sea Grey over Ocean Grey looks reasonably close to the Luftwaffe's RLM 74/75 combination to make it feasible and with a black spinner, the Spitfire should look suitably 109-ish.

One thing that I did find in Flying Units is the use of the F22 by the Pilot Refresher flights.  I'd like to see a photo of one of these to know just what schemes they wore and how they used their codes.  Tempted with using a Spiteful for that.
Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on March 15, 2012, 09:08:01 AM
A day off yesterday meant I could spend some time on trying to get some airframes assembled, getting four closed up and the wings on two.  The clipped wing on is now sitting on it's undercarriage and awaiting primer.  It looks very like a mk IX now, albeit one without any guns and should really confuse anyone looking at it.

The one thing about the trio of mk Ia's getting the upgrade that's been nagging me is the canopy.  The older kit was easy enough to change but the newer one has the canopy firmly wedded to the fuselage to make any change different.  However, there is a way round it.

I taped up one fuselage and the masked off the area round the canopy.  I sawed the windscreen section off and then chopped it down as much as I dare before fitting it in place.  A great deal of careful sanding later, the cutout in the fuselage is plugged with the very thing it's meant to take and I can place a replacement Falcon mk IX canopy on the aircraft.  Unfortunately, these come sectioned to display open, so I had to open the cockpit door.  In some respects, this is a good thing as the cockpit is well detailed and worth showing off but it's a real pain for spraying, certainly for a modeller as cackhanded as me.

The other thing that narks me is that vacform canopies are a pain to cut out and trim to shape.  The Falcon ones are the best money can buy and certainly value for money (anyone who says otherwise is either lying, wrong, stupid or just plain miserly), but the sectioned canopies could have been designed a bit better to make them easier to cut out.  The Pavla ones have sections between the canopy parts the same size and are easier to trim - it's just a pity that the plastic is quite brittle and the actual parts once trimmed do not fit.

Quick visit to Halfords meant I could get some primer, so I'll get this and a few others primed at the weekend and possibly get some spraying done.  I have an unusual scheme in mind for a PRXIX I got as a salvage model at SMW2010 and I really want to get cracking on it.  It's still RAF but isn't a PR machine any more...

Comments on this thread go here:
http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,34772.0.html
Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on March 21, 2012, 04:28:53 AM
The weekend saw some activity towards getting some things nearer to completion.  Three aircraft were primed - an Isreali low back IXe, a post war XVIe and an E.19. Not saying much about the latter, other than it's a 19 with a few extra bumps.

Test fitting things was also the order of the day.  One of the 19s that was allocated to become a 21 with the arrival of the Airfix F22 was dragged out and I started to rebuild the area around the cockpit so I could fit a new canopy. 

Initially, this would have been  Falcon vacform one, but with my simmering resentment of vacform canopies, I decided to try fitting a canopy from the Airfix IXc instead - I have several spare and I know it fits.  Out with the scrap plastic card and the files and after about an hour's work, the canopy fits. And then all my best intentions go to pot.

Because I idly test fitted the Airfix IXc wing to the finished fuselage and it's almost a perfect fit.  Okay, you need to trim the tab from the front and the back end needs extending or something a bit more creative, but cross-kitting the IX and the XIX will give you a XIVc.  Admittedly, it works out more expensive than the Academy or Fujimi kits, but you do end up with two models from it.  So I decided to go down that particular route.

The tab on the front of the IX wing was trimmed down and the new wing fits but the base of the bulkhead that holds the seat fouls the wing closing up, so that needs trimming down too. Extending the back of the wing needs something a bit more creative.    When I converted the XIX into a 21, I needed something to fill a similar gap and I moulded the camera section of the XIX wing.  Perfect fit. However, the back end of the IX wing now needed trimming, so I quickly marked it up and cut it back. Tiny bit of plastic card to fill the gap and I now have a XIVc.  Still need to do a bit of rescribing to change the ailerons but all in all, it's an easier build than the Fujimi kit and it looks right, unlike the Academy one.

So, I now have a XIVc, what about an 'e' wing version?  There's two ways round it.  Firstly, and probably the easiest, would be to switch the upper wing gun bulges.  The second would be to use a Heller XVIe wing.  Again, this fits the Airfix XIX almost perfectly but would need some more filling. 

After the work on the XIV, I was left with an Airfix IX fuselage without a wing.  I had a Heller 'e' wing to hand so did a bit of test fitting.  Again, almost a perfect fit.  I also had a completed IX fuselage to hand, one without a rudder, so I decided to do a IXe.  The spare fuselage takes it's place so nowt spoiled.  The trimmed wing piece filled the hole in the fuselage and some scrap plastic card and filler took care of the cowling gap.

As I mentioned earlier in the blog, swapping wings and fuselages makes Spitfire modelling easy and the availability of decent kits of various marks at reasonable prices makes this whole thing possible with little or no waste, either in time, money or plastic.
Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on March 21, 2012, 04:30:16 AM
Been a quiet few nights as I wanted to do some research, namely reading Chris Lake's "Flying Units of the RAF" to find more applicable units to fly some of the more unusual creations in The Plan.  Discovered quite a few and others that feed the monster even more. I didn't realise quite how many F22s flew with second line units.  And again, I realised that sometimes whiffing is closer to reality than we think.


Comments on this thread go here:
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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on March 22, 2012, 05:07:07 AM
Well, I'm getting closer to getting a few things in primer.  All of the PR19s are in their undercarriages with the camera ports masked, the PR.X has the tailplanes on and filled, the LFIXe needs a touch of filler and I've also discovered that the Airfix u/c will fit the Heller wing.  Which is nice.  The FR.XIVc is also on it's u.c now and I'm very pleased with it.

All I need to do now is fill the cockpit openings with sponge (the bath kind, not cakes!) and wait for the weekend - I don't like spraying primer in the dark.  Well, that and I tend to feel the cold more these days.  There's another reason.  Daylight tends to highlight any flaws in a paint coat and spraying outside in the dark, albeit with the outside light on, you tend to miss bits.

I started using sponge for filling and masking holes last year.  It's light, reusable and fairly cheap - one large bath sponge costs less than a quid and provides enough for a lot of models IIRC I did over fifty last year and used about a quarter or less.  Prior to that, I used damp pieces of toilet roll but they dried hard which made them difficult to extract and tended to leave tiny fibres behind which were both a mess and hard to remove.

One thing I did do last night was to get the Isreali low back and a post war RAuxAF XVIe sprayed aluminium.  It was still light - just - when I got home from work last night to get it done.  Out into the back garden (must clear the weeds soon) and a quick blast with Halfords Gloss Aluminium and they were done.  

Need to do a bit of research for the RAuxAF one as the squadron I have in mind did actually have a pair of Spitfire F16s on the books but there's some doubt as to whether they actually flew or were just hangar queens for ground instructional use.  I'm more minded to have it flown by the unit commander.  I just need some appropriate decals and need to make a decision on whether to use wartime Type C or post war Type D markings.  The latter would look smarter but the aircraft I already have in that unit's markings are in camo and with Type C markings.  I'd like to keep everything in the plan in one unified scenario but I starting to think that that won't be possible sadly.

If I get some time later, the Isreali one will get decalled as I'd like to get it finished soon.  One of the lads at the club expressed disgust at seeing an Isreali aircraft on display a few weeks back and I wanted to do this one just to annoy him - I hate racism.  I already have the wheels done - well, some four spoke hub ones are done for something else as yet unfinished and I'll nick them.  I'll cast some others for the unfinished beastie.  So it's just the prop, exhausts and the canopy to sort out now.

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on March 23, 2012, 07:02:42 AM
The decision on the RAuxAF Spitfire 16 made me think about doing another Spiteful with the same unit, this time in overall High Speed Silver with the post war Type D markings.  I have all the bits there - in fact, I cleaned up one of my resin Spitefuls a few weeks back although I think I already have something in mind for that - so may make a start on it over the weekend, alothough I really should finish the decalled and varnished Spitefuls that are staring at me accusingly from the shelf.  Especially the FR16 built from the Magna kit.  I was quite pleased with that so I'm not quite sure why I left it unfinished.  Laziness probably.

In total, there's four, but that doesn't include the four others that never got to the decalling stage.  One of those got some national markings a few weeks back - I rather like the post war intruder scheme worn by the Hornets of the Church Fenton wing in the late 40s, one of which is in the old Frog kit so decided to scale it down for Spitefuls.  One wearing that scheme and toting rockets and drop tanks would look rather aggresive, although it's a toss up between using the Magna kit or my own castings.  

The former has the deep chin similar to that of the Seafire FR47 and I have quite a few stashed away. It's just such a pig to build, although nowhere near as bad as either the AZ kit or the CMR one it was ripped off from.  

Actually, I've just remembered that I've a built CMR one I bought from a guy on Britmodeller a few months back.  I had thought of using it as an aircraft with one of the advanced flying schools (Swinderby popped into my head immediately) but the Dark Sea Grey/Dark Green/PRU Blue scheme is quite dark and would hide an awful lot of flaws.  

Drop tanks...  Those from the Airfix Firefly are ideal and I've several tucked away to use as masters for moulding, thanks to Weaver, but I've yet to do it.  There's a pic of a Spiteful prototype with a large torpedo shaped drop tank under the fuselage and I think one from a Hunter would be ideal.  It was designed to be able to carry a 1,000lb bomb under each wing too and IIRC, I have some of those stashed away too, thanks to Falcon, although I was going to use them with Hornets or Mosquito B.35s.

There's something about the Spiteful that - like another later product of Vickers, the TSR2 - lends itself to all sorts of whiffery.  It just looks right and, had the war gone on another 6 months and Boscombe Down not had such a downer on the type, it would have entered service.  So many possibilities...

The Isreali low back IXe now has it's markings.  Just need to give it a quick blast with matt varnish, do the little bits and it's ready to go to the club.  Looking at the decal sheet instructions did give me some ideas for Egyptian Spitfires though.

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on April 06, 2012, 03:37:29 AM
Been a busy few weeks since I last updated this.  Half a dozen are now masked to get the final camouflage colour on and one or two others need tiny resprays to touch up some areas that need remedial work.

One good idea I did have was to do one aircraft as a whiff throughout it's career.  For example, I'll be doing a low back IXe as a Czech aircraft, initially with the RAF, then with the Czechs, off to Isreal and then finally Burmese.  This did happen with quite a few aircraft that ended up in Burma, being flown initially by the Italians or the Czechs and then sold to the Isrealis. 

I also like the idea of the Isrealis buying Griffon Spits from the Indians, so much so there's a PR19 at the primed stage that will end up as an Isreali aircraft, although after having seen a photo of an Isreali Mosquito PR.IX/PRXIV with underwing bomb racks, I'm tempted to add some bombs to it.  However, doesn't make sense with a hihgh altitude aircraft so I may have to rethink it slightly.  A PRXI perhaps or maybe an early PRXIX before they got the pressurisation.

I finally got round to doing some moulding.  Nothing major, just a few little bits that I'd been putting off for a while - Griffon fishtail exhausts, spare in one of the Fujimi kits and which I needed to replace the awful ones in some of the Ventura kits (managed to find 3 sets altogether), Brigand mainwheels (from the Valom kit and to replace the trully abysmal ones from the Magna kit), Firefly slipper tanks, which are ideal for Spitefuls/Seafangs and a small contract job for Magister spats.  However, I've forgotten to add the Spitfire seats which I should have added to the side of the moulds.  Balderdash!

I need to remould some smaller bits anyway so that's just another extra one to do.  I know I need to redo the Spitfire cockpit moulds as they're just about dead, as are my mainwheel moulds.  Need to find the Legato F22 before I do that though.
Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on April 19, 2012, 05:09:36 AM
Haven't updated this for a while as I haven't really done much, other than more casting and throwing Spitefuls together.  In total, there's four now with their wings on and some or all of the filler on also, plus I'm cleaning up another two.  Four will be Spitefuls, two Seafangs.  I've already got one BPF aircraft but would like another, possibly with the high demarcation like the Seafire 15s seen with BPF markings.

Two of these use the Pegasus wings with the integral moulded cannons - I had two spare sets and decided to use them up with my resin fuselages.  No fit problems, given that the resin fuselage had used the Pegasus kit as a master, one I'd corrected a flaw or two and tarted up the cockpit.  I'm curious to see if my resin wing would fit the old Rareplanes vacform fuselage as I'd like another PR version or two.  Or possibly a two seater, either as a trainer or a night fighter for the Navy.  ASH radar in an underwing pod for that and the centreline torpedo-shaped drop tank.

I've also gone back to a pair of the vile Academy FXIVcs that were being converted to F21s - I'd got them in a big box of Spits off ebay and decided to do something with them other than scavenge them for bits.  I'd got one of the SAM F21 conversions mastered by Paul Lucas so that took care of one and the other was modded to take my own F21 wing.  That's now on and the second lot of filler is curing.  Doesn't look too bad and may end up as a Met Flight aircraft circa 1950.  That way I don't have to find any guns although an F21 with just stubs is quite appealling.

I'd mentioned earlier in the blog that if you've a reasonable fuselage that lacks the gull wing then it can be salvaged with a decent wing, so I've a pair of the SMER boxings of the Heller Vb that I want to do something with.  The Heller kit wasn't that bad, just didn't have that gull wing and some of the bits were a bit crude, although it did have a nice cockpit interior for the time.  

Anyway, a test fit showed that it would take an Airfix Vb wing with some surgery to both wing and fuselage so after a half hours work with a scalpel and a file, I've now got the basis for a mkVI, although it'll have the normal wingtips rather than the long span ones and will be a training machine.  I did have to go hunting for the caniopy and stripped it from a VI bought in the ebay win mentioned earlier.  That leaves me with a VB with no canopy but it will end up with an Airfix Vb wing but clipped and most likely in a far east scheme with an Aboukir filter.
Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on May 01, 2012, 08:12:27 AM
Well, the Smer/Airfix hybrid is now together and going through various stages of PSR.  The wing/fuselage fit on top is seemingly endless, but it'll be worth it in the end. The Academy 14s are now looking more and more complete, with the tailplanes and radiators on, so hopefully they can be primed soon.

Some time ago, I bought some Frog/Novo F.XIVs that I intended to use as conversion fodder.  One was given some surgery to take my 21 wing and there I left it until I dug it out last week.  For some reason, it had a resin spine in it for a two seat trainer.  Some work with a scalpel and the fuselage is now together, although I had an interesting time reaming out the resin to take some cockpit interior.  In the rear I can get away with just a seat - it's pretty cramped so little can be seen - but the main cockpit will need a bit extra. 

I'm not looking to finish it soon - too much else to prime first, let alone spray, but I have considered a scheme for it - either standard RAF Ocean Grey/Dark Green/Med Sea Grey with Type D markings and Aux AF codes (607 possibly) or Dark Green/Dark Earth and PRU Blue with Indian markings.  Plus, given that I had to rebuild quite a bit of the fuselage with filler, I'm not looking forward to taking off any masking tape lest the filler come away too.

On the subject of markings, I've remembered what I was going with the second F21, I just can't remember the unit name!  It's one of the flying schools and I've the markings for a F.IX which is in standard camo and Type D roundels but with a BIG yellow panel on the fuselage with black codes.  That would look rather spiffing and certainly bright but will be an absolute pain to mask off, especially considering that the yellow would have to go on first.

The work on the Spiteful family also crawls along, with another early Seafang now in filler and another Spitful fuselage being cleaned up.  I really should get some more finished but as I've said, it's more the building of things that I really enjoy.

In the meantime, for some light relief, I've thrown together a Lancastrian, although this has Merlin 85s.  I'd started it a while back and it's intended for a post war training unit.  Simple scheme and it may cause some confusion.  Good! 

Part of the inspiration for it lies with a part decalled Beaufighter.  I need some white outlined red code letters and found them on a Shackleton sheet, but there's another copy of that sheet in the stash so I don't feel too guilty about using it. 

Lancasters are threatening to derail things, because I've a pair that really need finishing plus a third that needs more work.  I really should get them done and boxed, because they clutter the place up and some of them have been several years in the making.

Too much to do, too little time.  Modeller's curse!

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on May 02, 2012, 07:53:59 AM
I went looking for the decals for the Beaufighter last night and came across a part used DH Hornet sheet.  One of the options was for a Sea Hornet at Hal Far, Malta and looked rather unusual so it caught my attention. 

I've a Seafang in the post war FAA scheme of Extra Dark Sea Grey and Sky with the high demarcation.  It's one of my own castings and doesn't have the wing cannons so I'd always intended it for second line duties.  Initially, I'd thought about the red/yellow striping worn by some Sea Furies and Seafires on an exercise but decided against it but finding these decals plus a memory of something RotorheadTX did with a Matchbox Tempest got me thinking about doing something similar myself, only with the Seafang.

Apart from the decals, there's not a lot needing doing to it. I have a boxfull of 3 spoke hub wheels that were done last year, so all I really need are the prop and the canopy.  The Seafang was to have had the same canopy as the Seafire FR47  and I've plenty of Falcon ones, so that's sorted.  I'm just not looking forward to sorting out the serial code on the fuselage.  Underwing?  I just ignore it.  All my post war RAF and FAA aircraft are in a whiff universe that never went back to putting them underneath.
Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on May 18, 2012, 03:53:17 AM
Finally!  Getting something done.

The E.XIX now has it's decals on.  Few little tweaks and can get the varnish on and then it'll be finished sharpish.  Considering that I got it as a built up wreck, it's looking surprisingly good.

I've also got the underside colours on a few others, so I can get decalling over the weekend.  Most of then are FR birds and I'm looking forward to seeing them finished, especially the FR.XIII with all the upgrade bits.  The FR.XIVc is another one but I'm going to have to start searching for a squadron for that one.  2 Sqn springs to mind - they were always an FR squadron but it's too obvious.  Time to start re-reading Flying Units of the RAF!

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on May 24, 2012, 03:54:35 AM
Got some of the decals on quite a few last night, although I concentrated to just the national markings because I need to do some research before I go any further, especially with the PRXIII and FRXIVc.  I'm pretty much decided on a squadron for the latter - I gave them FR21s last year.

Tonight is going to be masking, pt 1.  This is with maskol.  Paint that on in the disruptive scheme and then spray over the top.  Simples.  There's only the four to do today, maybe a couple of hours work.

More ideas abound, this time for Spitefuls.  Firstly as coastal strike.  Wouldn't have the range for the Norwegian coast but Holland or Denmark would be well within range.  Underwing slipper tanks, one with a strike camera, two sets of double tier rockets per wing (spare from the Academy 14) and the torpedo drop tank under the fuselage.  Or bombs in place of the rockets.  Either way, they'd be toting some tasty looking lethality.

The other one I was considering was Rhodesian.  They definitely had Spitfire F22s - I've several sets of markings for them - and there's a photo of one in Spifire International on a plinth in Dark Earth and Dark Green with the Spear roundels.  I've several sets of those stashed away too.  Simple backstory is that they purchased a squadron of Spitefuls to replace the F22s in the ground attack role - with it's wide track u/c the Spiteful would be better for operating from rough airstrips - where they'd be used to keep fractious tribesmen down.  I rather like the idea of one lobbing a couple of rockets through Mugabe's window.  However, I'd have to go for the dark scheme but with a slight twist and use the squadron bars on the decals with the type D roundels.

The final thought was Swiss.  Now, I'd heard that they did consider Sea Furies and given that the Swiss operate from roads and hide their aircraft in tunnels it makes sense - wings fold to get into smaller tunnels and the arrestor hook would be useable with airfield arrestor gear.  So, what if the Ministry of Supply offered them the 30 or so production Spitefuls and Seafangs that were built but never flown at a knockdown rate?

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on May 28, 2012, 04:18:41 AM
Haven't done a lot, due in part to the weather (too hot and bothered), the garden (have you seen the weeds out there?!!!) and sheer laziness.  One thing I did find whilst fighting the garden - an MPM PRXIX wheel that had fell off a cocktail stick when I was spraying it last year and which promptly vanished.

I did get the clipped wing PR1G masked and the green on, though.  Another couple got a respray but these are long term ones and one of them I decidedly unhappy about the canopy.

Apart from that, it's been more decalling, doing the odd 30 mins worth here and there.  You'd be surprised how much you can get done in short bursts.  In total, there's about 6 plus a Sea Fury that just needed it's squadron code reapplying.  Some of them are looking fab - the Seafang really looks the business, although I've a feeling I used the wrong size roundels even though I nicked them from a Seafire 47 sheet - but the Ib doesn't really cut it.  More left handed than right handed, if that makes any sense.  I'll finish it, but more from a sense of completion than owt else

Just got to cut out a few letters for the FR14c and that's done.  I chickened out on the serial and wound up using the one from the Academy kit as I'd found two sets of decals which gave me what I needed.  The only others I found were either E wing aircraft or the Fujimi ones which don't look quite right.  That's another one I'm looking forward to seeing finished.

And apart from that, I still have to mask the other PR1G!

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on June 01, 2012, 07:50:58 AM
Four finished and another half dozen to go  - the Tyneside show is sunday and I have tonight and perhaps a little bit of tomorrow to get the others done.  I'd like the Seafire 47 finished but won't lose any sleep if I don't.  Not happy with it but it'll do as a crowd filler at the back of the display until I can do a better one.  The source kit lets it down - it's a Ventura one and I should have done more clean up on it. 

I may try a cross kit with the Airfix 22 when it comes out, using the Ventura wing and some resin bits.  Given that at least 1 of the 22s will be donating it's wings to a PR.XIX so I can do a 21, it'll be a nice use of spare parts.  The Ventura fuselage can be crossed with my resin wing and I get an FR26 out of it.  Win-win all round

Very happy with the contraprop PR.X trial aircraft and the 2TAF FR aircraft - the Airfix one still needs the canopy and the door done, plus a few aerials but it looks the business.

Spiteful wise, I've decided on a squadron for the one in the post war intruder colours.  I know it's cheating, but I'm going to nick the squadron codes and markings from a Frog Hornet and put it with either 19 or 41 squadron, probably the latter as I've 19 flying the F22, although 41 were flying F21s before they got Hornets.

There's a trio of Spitefuls I'd like to get finished for Sunday but lack of time and pressure of trying to get the others finished will be against me.  One I do want finished, because I'd salvaged it from a bad decision and I'm happy with the 5 blade Merlin prop I cobbled together from a pair of Aeroteam contraprops and 5 blade Griffon props.  It looks right but odd.  First glance you'd not notice the difference, but it's just odd enough to get you looking again. Which is a sign of good whiffing!

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on June 06, 2012, 04:34:03 AM
Well, they got there, kind of - the three Seafires were cheats in that two didn't have their tailwheel doors, one no exhausts and one no tailwheel.  Then again, bits fall off in transit and sometimes we never notice.  That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it, although I really should go through the boxes and do some running repairs and touch ups.

The stash got a nice influx of kits at Temple Park and I got the Czech markings I'd been wanting for a while in one of the CMR kits - I've already got it but the decal sheet has long since vanished.  I know I've got it, it's just a question of where.  It did take me three years to find my CMR Speed Spitfire kit after all and it was only a chance glance in the CMK Commonwealth CA15 box (I discovered that I've three!) that enabled me to find it.  Not all the Temple Park acqusitions are for The Plan - the CMR ones certainly are not - but some are.  The Xtrakit F.XII was high on the must get list, especially with it being deleted and OOP.

The display itself looked fantastic, although it was too cramped in places and too spaced out in others.  You can see for yourself here:

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Something told me to enter the competition this year.  Partly to bulk the numbers out (it wasn't as well attended as it should be, although the standard was quite high), partly for a laugh and oartly to get some whifs into it. So I entered two of the Spitefuls.  I nearly entered two of the Seafangs but changed my mind.  Fool!

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This was an original Pegasus tooling that I'd intended on doing as a target tug back in 2004.  It got as far as being primed in white but then I changed my mind (I *loathe* painting all the black/yellow striping having done it with a Meteor TT3 some years back after having an argument with C-FKWT - what happened to him, BTW) and it became a PR machine.  Never finished and it was stripped and redone last year but never finished. 

Pegasus original tooling, with my  resin tail surfaces, wheels and radiators.  The exhausts are Aeroclub white metal ones, the canopy an Aeroclub vacform one (Seafire FR47) and the prop was nicked from a Frog/Novo F.XIV. The slipper tanks are Airfix Firefly ones courtesy of Narses2.  The undercarriage was from the later Pegasus tooling. Decals I think are either Freightdog or Xtradecal.  Pity they silvered a little but still, it got a Highly Commended. 

(https://www.whatifmodellers.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi652.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fuu247%2FJBricknell%2FOtherStuff19.jpg&hash=275c94656f3c59ca1158690039fa636a9978c55d)

This one, the Speed Spiteful, won it's class, even though it was up against a BFO scale Phantom and I'd written off it's chances.  This is a Blackbeard Resins one with a Falcon Seafire 17 canopy and CMR Spiteful prop.  Decals were from the CMR kit and a Carpena sheet, the white stripe being from a French Seafire and unlikely to be used for the real thing.

Photos courtesy of Jaybee and Martin H

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on June 06, 2012, 08:00:17 AM
Now that there are some photos available, I think it's time I filled you in on a few more of the line up.

(https://www.whatifmodellers.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi652.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fuu247%2FJBricknell%2FOtherStuff15.jpg&hash=db2b3dff461050d5c37f3d3c9fa1e6c278c2a270)

This is a PR1D, although it started as a Hobbyboss Spitfire Vb.  You need to replace several bits anyway, so it got a Falcon early PR canopy, Airfix Vb prop, wheels and exhausts, a resin Aboukir filter and an Aeroclub u/c, more of which anon. In addition, the flying surfaces aren't as well defined as they could be so a little rescribing was in order.

It's difficult to think up convincing alternates for the early PR machines, because they were what they were and there were so few of them.  A flip through the On Target book on PR Spits yielded something convincing.  BR416 was built as a PR1D and was used almost exclusively in the middle east, ending up SOC in Palestine in 1945.  Say it was just left on a scrap dump by erks who were more interested in coming home than putting an axe through it and was found by the Isrealis.  The Aeroclub Spitfire u/c was intended for his Griffon fuselage conversions and as such had the torque links introduced on the mk IX and never used by the PR1D.  However, the Isrealis DID fly the mk IX and would have used the spares to rebuild BR416.

Standard RAF colours - again, these would have been left behind.  Not a model I'm that happy with - the u/c got written off, hence the Aeroclub replacement (which I'd allocated to something else) and I always seem to have a problem with RAF desert camouflage.  I also loathe vacform canopies with a passion.

(https://www.whatifmodellers.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi652.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fuu247%2FJBricknell%2FOtherStuff14.jpg&hash=bf79508254124d67365b1537bce3ca1e12894335)

Another Isreali machine, this time an LFIXe with the bubble hood.  Actually, it's the Heller LFXVIe but the only difference between the IX and the XVI was that the latter had a Packard Merlin and there was no external difference.  Simple whif being that the Czechs were given late bubble hood IXs and they took them home, selling them to the Isrealis later.

I'd already done one Isreali low back but I liked this scheme on the Egyptian/Isreali Spitfire sheet and decided to adapt it for a low back.  The Egyptian markings ended up on a Spitfire PRXI - they did express an interest in buyiung them but never did.


Photos courtesy of Jaybee

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on June 07, 2012, 04:12:24 AM
Time for a few more pics.

(https://www.whatifmodellers.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi652.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fuu247%2FJBricknell%2FOtherStuff17.jpg&hash=1eb06454860a0b3da7d7cabb490db82b82cef0f1)

This is the Magna Seafang F.31, finished as a second line aircraft using the Legato decals for a Seafire F46.  The prop is an Aeroclub one but it's a replacement - the one I was doing for it originally inexplicably went on a PR19 and had to be replaced with an Aeroclub one.  The Magna canopies are frankly awful so I used a Seafire FR47 one from Aeroclub and the wheels also got replaced with some home cast resin ones.  I'm quietly pleased with this one as it taught me that the Magna kit isn't as bad as I'd previously thought.

(https://www.whatifmodellers.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi137.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fq201%2Faircav14%2FNorthern%2520show%25202012%2FDSCF4310.jpg&hash=5faf2d846b72f0ceb97243c6eadace8e0673c455)

This is more of a rare beastie, the PRXIII.  There were 26 of these in total, all converted airframes, and very few photos.  They served with  541 sqn and some then found their way to the Royal Navy.  The decals are from the Model Alliance Early Merlin Spitfires sheet.

Again, this was a Hobbyboss Spitfire Vb, with an Airfix Vb u/c & wheels, Airfix IXc prop (I think...) and a Falcon canopy.  Like the PR1D, I did a little scribing to emphasise the control surfaces a little more. 

So, what makes it a whif, then?  Easy.  The prop on the original was a 3 blade, I've gone for a four blade.  Both the PRXIII and the Seafire III used the Merlin 32 and the latter had a 4 blade prop to get the best out of it, so perhaps the erks swapped things round?  I also went for 6 stub ejector exhausts for added effect.  I also added the low level camera, pointing out of the bulged camera port on the starboard side but you can't see that too well in this photo.

Finally, the scheme.  The profile suggests some colours I've never seen the RAF use with PRU Mauve undersides.  However, some researchers think that it retained the PRU undersurfaces it had when with 541 and was repainted in the Temperate Sea Scheme on the uppersurfaces of Extra Dark Sea Grey and Dark Slate Grey.  That seemed to make a bit more sense and I went for that.  I rather like the combination and may use it again in future - I did something similar with a PRXIX a few years back and liked that too.

I rather like the Hobbyboss Spitfire.  It's cheap, easy to assemble and the plastic is both thick and rather soft, which makes it quite forgiving when doing conversion work.  Yes, it does need some replacement bits but those with a capacious and copious spares box shouldn't find it too onerous.  Given that you'd need some of those bits anyway if you were converting, say, an Airfix Ia, it's almost ideal.

Photos courtesy of Jaybee and Aircav

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on June 07, 2012, 06:04:43 AM
Modellingwise, I've done little since the weekend, because shows tend to take a fair bit out of you for a day or so but I did get cracking with a PRXIX yesterday.  This is to be one of the three pathfinder ones I've been planning since Christmas.  I've done the wartime ELINT/Radar spoofer (the post war one is largely assembled), the pathfinders were to be in a similar scheme and I'd already built them. 

Only to remember that the cockpit interiors should have been painted black and I'd used cockpit green.  No matter, I had ideas for PRXIXs anyway, so simply reallocated them.  One becomes Pakistani, another Isreali (sold on by India) and the other RAF in the Far East, although I'm still undecided on scheme but will probably end up doing both of those in mind because the Airfix PRXIX is cheap, reasonably accurate and such an enjoyable build.  I did get the radiators painted and fitted, so all three will have a date with the airbrush at the weekend.

I also got one more of the Telford refuseniks closer to completion, this being a PRXIX lowback.  It's a spare AZ F.XVIII fuselage from their F.XIV kit with the wing and tailplanes from the MPM PRXIX out of the Millenium set.  I didn't have a cockpit interior so cobbled one together from some resin bits and strips of plastic card.  Not up to Tamiya standard - or even Airfix, come to that - but still, it does the job. 

The canopy became tricky, because none of the PR windscreens would fit, so a little judicious bending and strategic use of superglue (which I'm wary of doing with clear parts due to the possiblity of the fumes fogging them) and it fitted.  I'd also cut out a rear bubble section some time back for the vile Xtrakit F22 and simply used that.  All it needs now is the prop (I have a cleaned up Airkit one from his F21/F22 awaiting primer) and the pitot tube.

I also started an Airfix mk II but may have to think of some other ideas for it.  What I had in mind probably won't work.  Still, nothing wasted as it'll get finished eventually.

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on June 08, 2012, 04:27:03 AM
Another day, some more pics.

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This is a Telford refusenik from 2010 and it was toveyed around a few shows last year.  It's an old Aeroclub Spitfire F.XII fuselage conversion that I'd originally done in 1991 but got stripped a few years back and the wing fell off.  Consequently, the bits got slung in a box and forgotten about.  

Fast foward some time later and a discovery.  I test fitted an Airfix Vb wing and it fitted but would need filler.  Hmmn, basis for a mk IV?  The rudder would have to go so it got some careful surgery and the tail planes were also snapped off, these being the later mk IX style and would have to be replaced with some spare Airfix Vb ones.  I needed constant PSR on the wing roots as they flexed and cracked all the time and it nearly went off a wall on at least two occasions.  Still, I never completely abandon any model.  Well, 99% of them anyway.

So, now I've a mk IVb, what scheme?  Battle of Britain, as it was the 70th anniversary.  Say Rolls Royce managed to get enough Griffon prototypes ready to equip a flight or perhaps a squadron?  Which one?  I decided on one of the Defiant squadrons and nicked some decals from the MPM kit.

Due to the nature of the model, a salbage job with a wreck, I'm in two minds about it.  Happy that I managed to turn some wreckage into something decent but generally unhappy with the build overall.  It was a struggle and not a pleasant one.  Plus I cocked up the decals in places.  It's one I'll redo at some stage and hopefully with a better kit, possibly an Xtrakit FXII although I may do that as a mk IVc.

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Another Telford refusenik, but only just and I really wish that I'd got this one finished as it's one of my favourites.  It started as a CMR Seafire FR47 and is the moulding they did in 1996 - I've had this one in the stash since 1997.  

I was looking for something last year when I found this in the box of CMK Seafires.  On closer inspection, it turned out that CMR had made a right cock up - the canopy is a standard Spitfire bubble and the wing bulges over the wheel bays are too small.  Essentially, all they've done is add a panel line to the wing for the fold and the deeper cowling.  However, that meant that I could do a decent Spitfire FR26 from the box, albeit with a small amount of filling to de-navalise it.

The fuselage was also a tad warped, so some hot water treatment cured that.  The sting section was replaced with part of an Admiral F22 rudder that's spare in their Seafire F46 kit.  I used the kit's underwing combat tanks - the drop tank will eventually find it's way onto a Seafang and the undercarriage was replaced with an Aeroclub white metal one - I didn't like the look of the kit u/c as it looked too weak and being resin, I suspect it would warp under the weight.

It went together a dream and I was highly impressed with it, especially as it's the first CMR Spitfire I've actually built.  Been looking for anothyer and finally got one off ebay a few days back.  That's going to be similar but with a standard 5 blade prop.  I also have the earlier CMK FR47 which is somewhat more basic and resembles the Pegasus kit.  Who copied who, I don't know but it'll get built as part of The Plan at some stage, along with the Pegasus one.  Syrian or Egyptian possibly.  I've plans for some subtle whiffs for their F22s using the forthcoming Airfix kit and some spare AZ decals.


Also in the photo: to the left is the Final touch Seafire 47 - see these threads: http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,30674.0 and http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,31187.0

To the right is the Ventura Seafire FR47, which is a *very* subtle whiff indeed and you have to know the subject well enough to tell what it is (and no, I'm not giving it away!)

There's also the tail of the Central Gunnery School F22 I did some years back and most of the Seafire F45.  The former is a salvaged Airkit F22 and the latter is a converted Academy F14 I was given some years back.  See this thread for a nude photo. http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,26002.0

Photos courtesy of Martin H.

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on June 08, 2012, 07:33:08 AM
This one (the black grey one in the centre coded J) is one I'm very happy with, the R.XIX.

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This was an Airfix PR.XIX I got last year as a salvage job and did it need a load of clean up!  The u/c, prop, exhausts and canopy all needed replacing as they were either smashed, missing or seriously glue scarred.  The u/c and tailwheel came from...  Actually, I don't know where I got it but it was an Academy 14.  The wheels were my own resin ones.  Canopy was a spare Airfix one, as were the tailwheel doors.  The slipper tank was a spare Freightdog one.  The prop was stolen from another Airfix XIX but the prop that came with it was salvagable.  The exhausts are home cast resin copies of the Fujimi ones.  Still need to do glareshields though.

It's a radar spoofer, flying alongside the bombers and used to draw off German nightfighters, wasting their time and fuel.  So she carries a few whip aerials and underneath a "Monica" tail warning radar aerial.  That was modified from a spare arrowhead aerial from a Tamiya Mosquito NFII.  I also added the bulged low level camera panel, although this is used as a flare chute.  

The scheme is Extra Dark Sea Grey over black and I'll be doing it again with a XIX used for pathfinder duties.  I wanted it to be as anonymous as possible, so no squaron codes and no serials.  No white on the national markings either.

Very happy with the finished result.  Consequently, I've a post war version on the go with the MPM XIX, but this will be a bit more colourful.  Or at least, a bit brighter.

And I'd better explain the others too.

The desert one to the left is a Pakistani PR19.  Straight Airfix kit with MPM markings.  Another Telford 2010 refusenik.

In front, wearing a yellow P, is a Royal Navy example.  Again, and Airfix kit but the rudder is modified to have a sting section for an interim version flying off the carriers for recce flights.  Eventually, I'll have one in BPF markings and possibly a full naval scheme.  Still have to work out where the wing fold will go, although that'll just be a scribed line.

In front of the Pakistani one and only just visible is a SAAF example.  This was given to me built, I just had to finish it off.  Base kit is the MPM one from the Millenium set.

Behind J is an F21 in Far East camo.  Aeroteam kit and it's safe to say that it isn't my favourite kit.  You can just see the wing from a second Aeroteam kit.

Wearing early Indian markings coded 96 is an FR21, cobbled together from the Ventura PR19 and my resin F21 wing.  Took a while this and I'm not too keen on it.  Good as a crowd filler though.  Behind it as a PR21, using the Airfix 19 fuselage and my F21 wing sans cannon bulges.

Finally, and looking quite smart in 603 Sqn markings, is an Airkit F21.  Another salvage job using a kit I built back in 1992.  Plenty of markings for this as an F22 in the stash so it's the simple "give the unit a different mark" routine.


Photo courtesy of Martin H

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on June 13, 2012, 04:23:44 AM
Plenty of assermbly going on at the moment, mainly mk IXs and I hate the Airfix wing.  It needs some judicious sanding on the trailing edge of the lower wing and it's a real pain. Other than that, they're a real breeze to assemble as they're so simple.  Others may complain about lack of detail but once the seat is painted with some tape seatbelts, that's all you really need as you can see little else through the canopy.

Right now, there's a long span IXc, an FR IXc and an VIIIe.  I need to know the colour match for RAF "Deep Sky" for the HF IX although I've heard that a mix of PRU Blue and white is a reasonable match but I may just go with PRU Blue for quickness.  That one is because the one I did last year from the KP kit stalled because of problems with the cockpit aperture - it's too long and no canopy I had would fit it properly.  The wing tips are from the Freightdog HF.VIII conversion but I'd used the tail on the VIIIe, along with the wing bulges from the 3D late IXe conversion set. 

The exhausts, rudder and prop from that are going on another Airfix IXc, along with drilling a camera port on the starboard hatch, as this will be the FR.IXc mentioned above.  Norway for this one as they did look at the possibility of converting some of their Spitfires for the FR role. This meant a quick flip through the relevant section of Spitfire International and I discovered a unit I've been wanting for the late Vb that I painted but didn't decal last year.  Norway did want some for the training role but never got any.  Time to dig out my Norwegian markings!

I'll have to do some casting too, because I'll be needing instrument panels.  This is the one concession to extra detail in the cockpit and I found that the panel from the Airkit Spitfires was a perfect fit.  Okay, a little surgery to the pieces that hold the cockpit section so it can be popped in place with the fuselage closed up.

Also on the bench is an early mk XIVc - the early ones still had the mk VIII tail section.  This is a crosskit of the airfix IXc (wings, guns, u/c and canopy) with everything else from the Airfix XIX.  The tail is being converted with some of the bits left over from the Freightdog PR.XI conversion.  I never waste anything.

Soon, this lot will have to be boxed and put to one side as I need to clear the decks, quite literally.  The Airfix F22 is almost here - the lorries are on the road now delivering them to your LHS as I key this.  This is one I've been looking forward to since it was anounced.  Pity it's the wrong side of payday...

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on June 15, 2012, 08:33:46 AM
I now have the first two of the new F22 and...  Actually, I feel a bit let down.

It is everything I wanted - beautifully detailed and with some nice spares and oodles of possiblities -  but something about it feels wrong.  It didn't help that the one in build has some quality control issues - the wing fillet is short shot, as is one of the u/c doors plus everything has had to have flash trimmed for better fit.

One other trick, which I learned from the Airfix MkIa is to drill out the locator pin holes - they're a very tight fit and as such the fuselage won't close up properly unless you drill them out.  Even so, it still needs clamping when the cockpit assembly goes in.  That didn't fit together as well as the Ia either and like the Ia needs some trimming to go together properly.

The wing is nicely detailed and the fit is again better once some fettling is done with the mating surfaces.  I can understand with the AZ and MPM/Xtrakit ones - they're limited run - but Airfix?

I *really* dislike the wheels.  The hub isn't as well defined as it could be and on the example in build has a lot of flash on it.  Ideally, it'd get replaced but as they've moulded it with a flay, the axle is a larger squarish shape so the wheel is angled correctly on the leg.  This is quite clever but another annoying niggle.

Yet another niggle is the odd lip on the outside edges of the tailwheel doors.  These need trimming because there's no such thing on the real aircraft.  I don't like the options for the closed doors - the tailwheel section is a solid lump whilst the maingear ones are thick with a bar to help location.  Not that much of a niggle really but these are always handy for other things.

Fit overall is good, with the caveats mentioned above.  They've continued with the tailplane locator style used on the mk Ia and it makes alignment much easier.  Love the prop.  It looks very nice indeed but the spinner needs the panel line rescribing.  The supercharger intake is also the nicest one in injection.

The engine cowling.  Slide mould used to get the rocker covers but needs cleanup and some of the panel lines around it are a little indistinct.  There's something about the whole cowling that bothers me and I just can't put my finger on what it is.  It feels... dainty.  Too dainty.  The Griffon is a big, beefy engine and the cowling doesn't really reflect that.  Not in my view anyway.  I've plans to replace one with an FR47 cowling anyway, but I shouldn't have to do this.

Overall?  8/10. 

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on June 19, 2012, 09:23:52 AM
It's together and not far from being sprayed either .  The wheels are now painted and they don't look quite so bad under a coat or two.  The fit alignment is clever and means you can't get them wrong unless you're an imbecile.

The second on the bench is close to having the fuselage closed up - just need to put the decal instrument panel in place and I'm toying with opening the cockpit entry hatch.

This one is going to be a Seafire F46, possibly in overall high speed silver and flown by some high ranking officer in charge of training - there's a RW Seafire 17 in polished metal that is similar to what I want to do.  Alternately, it'd be a Extra Dark Sea Grey top with Sky underneath but very glossy and with the type D markings.  Either version has the stubs in place of the cannons - I trimmed them down.

The spare u/c doors have been trimmed down and used on one of the Academy 14s converted to 21s.  The one with my own wing now has the u/c on and the aforementioned outer doors.  It doesn't look quite so bad but it's going in a dark scheme and will be a Met Flight aircraft.  Just need to find teh old Aviation news with the Met Flight Hastings in it for confirmation of the scheme.  I'm sure it's Dark Sea Grey over Med Sea Grey, but would like to be certain and in any case, I need to be clear about the roundels.  Pretty sure they're wartime type C.

Again, this is another aircraft with just stubs in place of the cannons and I used some sprue offcuts from the Airfix IXc and PRXIX - some of the moulding gates are quite delicate and with a little trimming, they're almost ideal.  Although trimming them down is a nightmare when they go ping across the floor.  Lost about six last night.

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on June 20, 2012, 05:52:28 AM
Quick Google image search revealed that the Met Flight scheme I want is indeed DSG over MSG with Type D roundels, so I'm looking forward to doing this as it's a nice scheme combo.  It's also on the South African low back IXes and it's quite attractive, with the Type D roundels, doubly so.  Just need to get some primer now as I've several coming together.

Closed up an Airfix I last night night, this being the I/IIa boxing of the Airfix kit and will be pre war Dutch, replacing the old Hasegawa one that yet to finish.  I'll still finish that one off, because it's a museum exhibit whereas the Airfix one will be the real thing.

Also closed up the 46 and took the opportunity to open the door.  Airfix have moulded some delicate detail in there and it's a shame to hide it, although being a Seafire it's all in black but I did use a silver quilting pencil and a stiff brush to weather it a little.  One thing I did notice is the moulded on hinge at the base of teh door on the outside.  Every other kit has this as a recessed line.  Another plus mark for Airfix.

Must get some more of the F22 as I'm still coming up with ideas and just want to get cracking!

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on June 25, 2012, 04:39:41 AM
Now have the early XIVc together and it's looking good.  Still to attach the tailplanes and there's some filling and sanding to do.  The intake underneath is on and I should have it ready to prime in a day or so. 

Also closed up another PR19.  Can't quite remember what I was doing with this one, possibly a post war RAuxAF one in NMF (my RAuxAF sees each unit getting a couple of PR and FR aircraft to ensure there's a reserve of trained PR pilots).  Not PRU blue, you ask?  Some post war PR aircraft were in silver finishes, two PR Spits spring to mind and there are Lancasters and Mosquitos too.  I already have a RAuxAF PR19 in overall PRU blue but I do quite like the option of a PRU Blue overall aircraft with Type D markings and a 607 Sqn shield from the F22 decal sheet.  Then again, there's a pair of PR21s that I've yet to decal, so may just use one of them.

I did paint the cockpit black, so I can do another of the three pathfinder aircraft I had planned instead.  There's another half dozen of the Airfix 19s in the stash which are earmarked for The Plan, so either option is good.  May just dig out another couple and make a start anyway.  It's such a nice kit to build, although the only niggle I have with it is the trailing edge of the wing lower - unless you give it a sanding, there's a step.

Also started one of the dozen F22s I had on order - they've finally arrived.  I've some subtle whiffs planned for one and I'm looking forward to spraying this one.  Not revealling anything yet.  Quite like the idea of an F24 in the Intruder scheme but whether it'll be RAF or RAuxAF yet, I don't know. 

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on June 27, 2012, 03:48:41 AM
All of the aircraft I was assembling over the last few days now have their tailplanes on and the filler done, so hopefully I can have them on their u/c tonight and they'll be off to prime in a few days.  Well, if the weather stays dry for more than an hour or so.  Can't prime them indoors as the overspray from Halfords cans goes everywhere - found that out when I started using them back in '96 and sprayed a Spiteful in Nissan Silver.

Looking at the early 14, I was thinking of another one.  Given that cross kitting the Airfix IX and XIX is so easy and produces a pretty good result, I'd like to do it again and again, it'll be a trials aircraft.  I'd like to do a XIVe but with four 20mm cannon - I'd read mention of the possibility in a Spitfire thread on Britmodeller and it also said that any such aircraft (it was theoretical that the e wing could take 4 20mms but never done) would have had similar blisters to the later 20 series wing.  So, out with the E wing conversion sets and off we go.  Fairly easy to change the Airfix wing - just fill in the ejection chutes underneath and add the blisters on top

The other thing I'd do would be to move the oxygen bottles to the wing and put a fuel tank in the fuselage behind the pilot.  With a slipper tank underneath, it's likely that you could escort bombers to Germany and back in daylight.  So, this means the possibilities of Lancasters in daylight camo - Ocean Grey and Dark Green over MSG?  Dark Sea Grey and Dark Green over PRU Blue? Med Sea Grey over PRU Blue? 2TAF markings on the wings? 

Hmmn, I'm liking this more and more!  Although I'd probably stick with the Airfix Lancaster for quickness but may re-engine them with Merlin 85s, Lincoln tailfins and rudders, add Village Inn to the tail and use either FN82 tail turrets or standard Lancaster tail turrets but modded locally to carry two .50 cals.  Would also use a Martin mid upper rather than the usual, so you'd have a really up to date Lancaster.

So, this means two now - a testbed and an operational one.  Good job I have a good stash...


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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on June 28, 2012, 03:08:31 AM
It isn't fair!

My brain is causing problems.  Thinking about the 4 cannon mk XIVe made me think that it may be better to use the Fujimi kit rather than cross kit the Airfix one.  Partly because I've a load of Fujimi ones in the stash and partly because the Fujimi 19 comes with upperwing blisters but no guns.

On reflection, I decided to go with the original plan, because the Fujimi kit is a real pain to build - fill here, cut this, sand the wingtips down.  But then I remembered that the Fujimi kit is a decent representation of the wing used on the Mk 8 onwards with the inboard leading edge fuel tank and I'd need that for the 4 cannon bomber escorts.  Out with a Fujimi 19 and started clipping bits off.  I then noticed that the locator holes are opened up for the oil booster pumps so it had been started as a 19.  I've decided to put these on anyway - longer missions to Germany and back would need more oil for the engine so I can explain that away, with the additional oil being stored in one of the redundant outer gun bays.  Well, the one that doesn't have the oxygen bottles.

Finally, I went looking for my fuselage fuel tanks and a dig through the conversion bits box (an A3 paper box full of interesting goodies).  I found I had two - Airkit and Pavla  - and both are different.  I'm going to scratch a copy of the Pavla one as it looks bigger. Doesn't look too difficult - some laminated plastic card for a box and a cut up biro for the round top, little bit of wire for the fuel feed.

Wing and fuselage are now assembled - I can do the cockpit as a full tub and insert from underneath.  I decided to go with clipped wings, partly for easy of construction but also because the trials one will be full span. 

The trials one - with AFDU* codes - wll be an Airfix cross kit, mainly because I've enjoyed doing the few that I've done so far and I'll likely keep the PR19 canopy to represent the ones with the rounded Seafire 17 style windscreen which were tested on some Spitfires, including one of the development aircraft for the F21.

The possibilities of the Fujimi kit had got me thinking.  How about using four .50 cal machine guns instead of the cannons and use them as training aircraft?  Means that I can use the Fujimi PR19 kit from the box, albeit with a spare fighter canopy or vacform bubble canopy and a resin spine to do a lowback.

Users?  RAF gunnery schools?  Central Gunnery school?  Royal Navy even?  NMW with nice yellow trainer stripes?  Nice!  Low back or high back options?  Do it with a Heller 16 too.  Haven't got many mk 16s in The Plan yet and I have quite a stash of the Heller kit.

And then thinking about the Fujimi wing made me think about a clipped wing PR19.  The early ones didn't have pressurisation so a low level one may just work.  Give it the bulletproof windscreen but without guns at low level, it'd be quite slippery. 

Again, out with an Airfix 19 and off with the wingtips.  Replaced with a clipped option spare in a Fujimi kit that'll be one of the four .50 cal aircraft.  Does change the appearance a fair bit, which I noticed when I did similar modifications to the Airfix mk Ia

Camo?  Ocean Grey or Dark Sea Grey and Dark green over PRU Blue.  Either looks fab and leave it with Type C markings.  Or just stay with the Type B and go for a wartime version of the later Intruder scheme?  I don't have to use the Sky band (hate painting it on as I can never, ever get it straight and the decals are always bobbins and never fit) and PR units had more leeway with camo so I may dispense with the yellow.  Hmmmn, post war version too?


I said this was limited to my imagination and unfortunately for my wallet, it appears I'm back on a roll!  It appears I've got another half dozen at least to add into the hard copy of The Plan!


*Air Fighting Development Unit

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on June 28, 2012, 04:09:27 AM
One thing that's got me curious recently about this blog - how many people out there, ie site members rather than guests, are actually following it?



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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on July 02, 2012, 04:51:10 AM
Didn't do much over the weekend due to the distraction of Fringe, season 1.

However, I *did* get the clipped wing low level PR191 assembled and it's ready to prime.  Stripped the low level camera bulged hatch from another AZ early Spitfire (I really should get round to moulding that as I seem to be using quite a few).  I'm also thinking of adding the forward looking camera that was fitted in the belly slipper tank on some FR14s.  Just need to make the little fairing - I've a spares box full of the slipper tanks and I rarely use them.

Radiators and doors on the Seafire 46, I just need to make the sting hook fairing from platic card - the CMR one I had in the spares box is a bit too wide.  On reflection, I may just rework the piece of fuselage I cut off.  

I've plans for a few more Seafire 46s, with one possibly on Malta.  NMF or EDSG/Sky, I'm as yet undecided.  No guns though.

Another thing I've done is more long term.  I've designed and made some 607 Sqn squadron bars to fit late Spitfires or Spitefuls, using the ones in the F22 kit as a guide for sizes.  I've got some 48th Vampire decals which I know will fit but not enough for what I'd like to do.  Have to say it, they look pretty nifty and  mate has agreed to print them. He's into 607 Sqn himself so he can also use them.

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on July 12, 2012, 04:32:21 AM
I haven't done much over the past few days, due to my addiction to US SF series Fringe (now 5 episodes into Seaon 4 after having gone through 60 odd episodes in little over a week).

I have finally got the rest of the decals onto my 41 Sqn Spiteful and thanks to a tip* from a mate, I won't suffer from silvering decals.  Needs a coat of varnish and some little touches here and there but it looks pretty good. Need to paint the prop though, but I'll need to clean it up first.  It's one of Colin's new resin ones and I'm itching to try it.

Having gone with one of the schemes from the Frog Hornet - well, the colour combinations anyway - I'm tempted with a Spiteful in the High Altitude Day Fighter scheme.  Being faster than the Mustang, it'd be more than a match for the Ta 152 if used for escort duties over the Reich but I'm not sure if I'd use the Blackbeard or Magna kits in the stash.  It'd have to have drop tanks, so the wing slipper tanks plus the centreline torpedo tank look increatingly likely.  Time to raid the spares box.

My clipped e wing FR14 is together but needs some sanding - the Heller 16 wing fits the Airfix 19 with little or no fuss and this is the second one I've assembled.

Really need to get some priming done as the number of completed airframes is stacking up but the weather is currently against me.  I'm sure I saw some bloke building a big wooden boat like thing in his garden.






*Dip the decal into hot water as normal and leave steeping on wet cloth (I use a hanky on a saucer).  When it slides off, damp it down on the cloth and then dip into a bath of Klear.  Place onto the model as normal, move it into position then press down with a damp cotton bud and wipe off the excess Kleer.  Seems to work so far!

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on July 16, 2012, 04:42:39 AM
The FRXIVe highback is getting closer to completion - the tailplanes and supercharger intake is on and I'm building up the area around the cockpit to allow the fitting of a proper canopy.  I think that this will end up as a SEAC machine, possibly a local conversion rather than an aircraft sent out.  I'm not looking forward to adding the white recognition stripes.  The other alternative is PR Pink, although as I've got an FRXIVc in pink already, it's not a priority.

Yesterday I made the camera/slipper tank combination (carried by some FR14s) by drilling a hole and using the plastic stick from a cotton bud as the lens.  It's not ideal, being a bit small, but it looks the part and it goes underneath anyway.  I have a resin one somewhere but it never fitted anything so it never got used.

The plan was to put it under the clipped low level PR19 but these combinations were added to the FR versions as they didn't have the wet wing, so I may use it on something else, of which more later.  The other reason was that I knew some PRXIs had cameras in the wings in addition to the fuselage and wanted to do something similar with the low level 19.  Off I went looking through the references and found a photo of a forward looking camera, so I sliced up a Mk Ia engine intake to make something similar and it'll eventually go under the port wing.

The slipper tank with camera.  I've a few PR19 wings left over from the highback 14 conversions I've been assembling and I know that with some minor surgery, they'll fit the old tool Airfix mk Ia fuselage.  I'm toying with the idea of a PR training squadron equipped with various timed out aircraft and this could well be ideal.  I was thinking about a clipped PRIV, with Merlin 32 and a four blade prop, plus stub exhausts.  Anything further risks re-running ideas I've already done, albeit with armed aircraft (mkIa and Vb) although that's never stopped me in the past. 

A look through Lake's "Flying Units of the RAF" revealed that there's a gap in the squadron numbers around the cluster of PR units, with the number plates for 545 and 546 being available.  I'm minded to have one for PR trials and training, with the other for operational duties, possibly FR so I can have a home for the FR.XIIIs I did some time back, although I still have to finish two of them.

PR and FR is a good seam to mine for whiffing, especially with Spitfires, given the number of one off and limited conversions, although I've been thinking that it's cheating, a lazy way out.  Then again, I'm enjoying the process so who really cares?

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on July 18, 2012, 06:51:58 AM
Spent the past few nights looking through the airframes spares boxes and looking at various wings (PRXIX mainly) and fuselages to see what's there and what I can cobble together from the spares box.  This is something I've always enjoyed, taking junk and turning it into something decent and I suspect that it's a guilty pleasure of most other whiffers.

Anyway, I found a resin F.18 fuselage and the remains of a Ventura 18 fuselage, along with a Ventura PR19 wing.  I'd always considered crossing the two and I think now's the time to finally get down to it.  The fit's pretty good, I just need to tart up the cockpit and then find a set of upper engine cowl bits.  The Ventura bits are cleaned up wrecks of a pair of Spitfires I did circa 1990/91 and the 19 fuselage became an FR21 a while back.  Where the 18 wing went, I haven't a clue but it'll be in a Spitfire box somewhere.

The resin fuselage got cleaned up and the gaping air bubbles filled - the mould was never the best and with the availability of spare fuselages in the AZ kits, not to mention the growing stash of Aeroclub fuselages, there's not a lot of point in redoing it.  I test fitted an Airfix 19 wing and it's a reasonable fit, although the fillet underneath will need superglue, filler and some pummeling to get right.

So, I now have the bits for a pair of low back 19s or PR18s.  Haven't decided on the designation yet.  There may yet be a third, but with a Spiteful tail - I heard mention some years back that one F.18 was fitted with a Spiteful tail unit, which finally sorted out the stability problems begun with the rear fuselage being cut down.  I've several spare fuselages and tailplanes in with the AZ Spitfire 21/Seafire 45, so I only need to find the wings.  

Obviously, I'll need to find important items such as props, u/c units and canopies, the latter being a particular bugbear with the lowback PR19 I did a while back.  The two based on the Ventura kit will accept the Ventura Seafire 47 canopy but I foresee similar problems encountered with the AZ fuselage recurring.  U/C will hopefully be sourced from Aeroclub but the prop for whichever one turns out the bestest in terms of finish will be one of Freightdog's new Spitfire Griffon props.

I still want to do a proper navalised 19 at some stage - I did a prototype version some years back - but want folded wings.  Laziness means I may just resort to a scribed line on the wing but fitting a larger rudder and a contraprop is a definite must.  A PR 19 in a post war scheme is quite appealing, although several of the other potential schemes in mind are equally nice.

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on July 30, 2012, 05:08:55 AM
Not a lot to report, mainly finished the assembly of an VIIIe and an HFIX.  The latter used the wingtips from the Freightdog HFVIII conversion, but the tail section was used on the VIIIe.  Not sure what I did with the drop tank.

My four cannon IX finally has the big gun blisters - I raided the Sword Seafire III for these as they're hold overs from the older tool and not needed for the Seafire III. That's going to be a desert one, possibly Polish Fighting team.  Certainly want to put some Polish insignia on it somewhere.

Also got the tailplanes on the last of my FRXIIIs.  It's been sitting about for ages and I wanted to get a bit further with it.  At the very least, get it to the stage where it can be primed.

Did start yet another pair of Airfix PRXIXs - the stock pile is now down to one remaining.  These will be far east aircraft operating from Iwo Jima alongside  the half of Tiger Force based there and used for post strike photos.  One will be PRU blue, t'other overall polished metal and both will get British Pacific Fleet markings, for reasons I've explained in other threads. Either is likely to cause comment and I'm looking forward to finishing them, although as yet I've just cut the bits off the sprues.  Must remember to add the slipper tanks.

Just need to get some primer now.  There's a large backlog building up.


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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on August 02, 2012, 04:17:21 AM
Both of the PRXIXs are together, one of which is now sitting on it's u/c and is close to being primed, although I still need to find a slipper tank for it - I found that the one in the Freightdog PRXI set won't fit the 19 - actually it fits perfectly but the Griffon radiators won't if it is.  Back to the spares box.

For some reason, I got thinking about the early Rolls Royce conversion MkIXs, all of which were converted Vc airframes.  What if they decided to upgrade some HFVIs too?  I thought about using an Airfix Vb but decided to go with the C wing and thus start with an Airfix IX instead.  So I dug out an Airfix IXc - finding out I had a few more than I thought, which is nice - and several Freightdog conversions. 

It's actually bits from three sets - the full RR conversion, the wingtips from the HFVIII and the wheels and prop left over from the PRXI conversion.  Wings are together and need filler (the tips aren't as good a fit as they could be but I've found that the same applies to any HF tips for Spitfires), fuselage assembled and cut, so the engine is installed and the filler is on.  Wheels and prop are tidied up and ready to prime. I dug out a spare bulkhead left over from an Airfix 19 so the cockpit should be in pretty soon as well, although I need to cast a few instrument panels.

One of the things I don't currently have in the line-up is an Attacker.  I've got two elsewhere, but they don't match current standards and in any case, one has suffered u/c failure.  There's an assembled one that lacks u/c and canopy and I've upgraded the cockpit plus altered the nose for a camera fit, the plan being to finish it as an FR bird.  In addition, there's an assembled fuselage that I've been working on occasionally, with a resin insert for the canopy - it'll be solid with the wheels up as a flying model. 

TBH, the Frog/Novo kit need too much upgrade work and I'm really too lazy to repeat the work every time, especially with the 10+ aircraft in The Plan.  Hence the flying models with solid cockpit canopies.  Even then, I need to blank off the intakes (I may come up with a resin insert), fill several holes (natch) and rescribe some panel lines before sanding off the rivets.

Anyway, I went to find a set off assembled wings from the Attacker box and then pulled out two more airframes that have had work done on them.  One has had the cockpit opened, so I may use the copy of the AZ cockpit tub I moulded last year and do a "proper" model, although as I've taken off the fin fillet it'll have to be an RAF one. 

The other one stays as a solid one and I'm strongly tempted to do the torpedo fighter version I thought of a while back, although I'll need to cast some more wing slipper tanks to leave the centreline free. EDSG over Sky with the low demarcation line and definitely Atlantic markings and the tail code for HMS Eagle.  Alternately, I may keep the fillet but remove the arrestor hook and have it as an RAF one operating from North Coates in a similar scheme.  I'll probably do both...

Although, then again...  I'm now toying with a Highball installation.  Later developments came as a crate and were capable of being fitted to the Hornet - from memory, the whole thing is no bigger than the belly tank carried by the Attacker anyway.  So it might just work.  Watch this space.


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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on August 03, 2012, 03:25:10 AM
My HFVI hybrid is now together.  I did a small casting session last night and did the instrument panel, along with a few other bits and the fuselage/wings plus drop tanks for another Spiteful.  The blisters and guns are in place and all the sanding/filling is done.  May have to do a bit more to tidy it up and get the u/c legs on but it should be ready to prime by the weekend.

I've also got one of the Attackers ready to prime.  All the filling and some limited rescribing - u/c doors and the flaps - was done last night.  Again, another one ready to prime.  Scheme will be a standard RAF one for 1945/46 - Ocean Grey/Dark green over Med Sea Grey with yellow leading edges and the yellow outlined type C roundels on the upper wings for 2TAF operations from Jan 45 onwards.  I did consider DSG/DG/PRU Blue but I've enough on that scheme for the moment and those colours are going on the FR one.  That one will will also be 2TAF.

Just wish I knew where the Falcon canopy I've got for the Attacker went.  I used it to make a mould so I had solid resin plugs but it went walkies after that.  I've a few Aeroclub ones but they just don't fit.  Once I have the canopy, I can get the FR one underway and I really want it finished by Telford.

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on August 06, 2012, 07:26:17 AM
A nice arrival on saturday (two PR19 rear fuselages, tailplanes, doors & tailwheels) meant that I could get on with a second mk 8 contraprop - I've got one and really enjoyed it, hence wanting to do a second.  Cue Airfix IXs getting dug out and assembled.  

I dug out a pair, because looking at the hard copy of The Plan (or at least, from memory), I knew there was an FR.IXc that I hadn't started.  Norway had wanted to convert several of their IXs to FR configuration but in the end simply bought several PRXIs.  Again, an ideal gap and converting the Airfix IX to an FR is simply a matter of drilling out a camera port on the portside hatch aft of the cockpit.

I've also got what will be an FR.IXe on the go too.  Well, it got started a while back and I've done a little more.  That's going to be an Isreali one, so I'll be using some of the 3D conversion bits, namely the wing blisters and the rudder.  I'm minded to clip the wings, but if I'd wanted to do that I would have married the Airfix 9 fuselage with a Heller 16 wing. 

The reverse is also possible, although the Airfix wing needs some trimming to fit the Heller fuselage and then you've got to change it to E wing configuration.  It's probably easier to add the standard tips to the Heller clipped wing.  If I'd pulled my finger out, I could have used a resin wing but I never did mould up the Ventura wings that I intended to do.

Not quite on top of The Plan but I'm getting somewhere.

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on August 09, 2012, 04:49:01 AM
Crosskitting the Airfix IX and XIX to get a XIVc and a PR XI is all the rage at the moment - I've already done the former and there's one of the latter resting in a box somewhere.  However, you need to rebuild the lower cowling of the IX fuselage and as I'm lazy and can't be bothered with all that sanding, I came up with something else.

It came to me when I was in the bath last night - most of my best ideas tend to do that - rather a simple way round the whole conversion problem, or at least, how to avoid all teh hard work and come up with something a little more unique into the bargain.

Egypt wanted to buy several PRXIs but the plan fell through.  What if they had bought them and one got shot down, but was undamaged enough for the Isrealis to cobble back together using spares from their other Spitfires?  Thoughts about perhaps a bad belly landing with the whole engine cowling dunched in, losing the enlarged oil tank.  These were really for extended missions over Germany and I doubt that the Isrealis would be flying that kind of extended mission.  A shot up canopy too, losing the rounded windscreen.

So, the model would be thus:  Airfix 19 wings and u/c plus 4 spoke wheels.  Everything else is from the Airfix 9 but the tail would need replacing with the mk 8 tail available from Freightdog.  Not sure if I'd use the pointed rudder or not, but a rounded tail on such a hybrid aircraft is a nice thought.  Camo scheme/  Stick with PRU blue for most of it and a different scheme for the new parts - standard RAF for the cowling and Isreali stripes for the rudder?

Other thoughts?  Swedish Spitfire F22s (easy!), Norwegian PR19s (they had the PRXI but the 19 would be better).  The latter is closer to fruition, given that I've an assembled PR19 but no intended operator.

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on August 22, 2012, 05:17:07 AM
My hybrid Isreali PR XI is now together and is awaiting more sanding around the tailplanes and radiators.  Looks odd, which is the intention of the build.  In the end I went with the rounded tail from the donor fuselage, partly for the salvage nature of the intended model, but also because IIRC I'd nicked the rudder from the conversion for another aircraft.

The nature of my goldfish like attention span means that I picked up the Attackers again and have made some real progress.  I threw another two together last night and the second is awaiting filler.  It would have been three but I got fed up with doing the same upgrade work - mainly blanking off the intakes to prevent a seethru look and scribing several panel lines.  The first had some really awful plastic for the fuselage which cracked and shattered when I was cutting down the fin fillet.  I'm going to do that in the high Altitude Day Fighter scheme of Med Sea Grey over PRU Blue.  

IIRC, I did an Attacker years ago in 2000/2001 - actually, it was a salvage of a model done in 1991 - that I intended for that scheme but in the end went with an overall High Speed Silver scheme and 20 Sqn markings from a Modeldecal sheet.

The Attackers that are works in progress got shown off to a few of the lads at the club the other night.  One of them had the Firefly wing slipper tanks I'd cast for the Spiteful and with the solid resin canopy in place, it looks very sleek - it's only with it's undercarriage down that the Attacker looks clunky.  With the belly tank, it looks like it's up the duff.  Really need to cast some more Attacker bits, mainly the canopy plugs but also the belly tanks.

Gary suggested Argentinian Navy for it and whilst I like the idea - so much so, there's one inserted in the relevant page of The Plan - the one on the blocks is definitely RN.  Some other tin pot south american were suggested, Guatemala being one and IIRC they did look at buying the Attacker at one stage, along with the Dominican Republic. I think I have some Cuban markings somewhere, so that's another possibility along with the Swiss.  The latter could be interesting - ex Swiss ones on the UK airshow circuit?

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on August 27, 2012, 03:21:02 AM
Well, my stock of Novo Attackers has been decimated due to starting quite a few more (5).  This gear up flying model malarkey means I can get quite a few done and dusted, and bar boxing in the intakes, I can have them together relatively quickly.  I think there's two left unstarted, a Novo one plus what I think is an original Frog one in dark blue plastic.  I've kept these two as I've two of the Airwaves etch sets and may do them as real ones at some stage.

I did get on with some casting over the weekend, mainly slipper tanks, the solid Attacker canopies and belly tanks.  Plus some Meteor cockpit tubs as Gary wants some for the Frog ones I sold him (the cash going towards the Telford Plan spending spree) and some for at least two Meteors I have in mind, one being an FR version of the Sea Meteor F20.

Few more ideas for Attackers, mainly revolving around aircraft in NMF finishes.  Quite a few of the Meteor decal sheets have some very colourful markings for RAuxAF aircraft and some of these units using Attackers as hacks is quite appealing.  The spare 607 Sqn shields in the Airfix Spitfire F22 means that an Attacker with them is inevitable, although they'll get the colour bars that I designed for the Spiteful too.  Still need to get them printed.

I'd also considered at least one RN aircraft in NMF but now the ideas are flowing - Central Fighter Establishment, Air Fighting Development unit, an aircraft in camo and national markings but sans codes with an anonymous OTU, the list is endless and limited by my imagination. 

A Zirkus Rozarius has just dropped into my head, although that'll be better in NMF/RLM04 Gelb than the RLM71/RLM04 that most of the captured aircraft flown by the Luftwaffe wore, certainly more colourful.  It's a pity that the PR19 and F22 that were planned for that unit suffered u/c accidents and have been relegated to the long term box. 

A real pity as they were sprayed and ready to decal, along with at least one PR21 (the u/c on t'other one looks iffy) and a Seafire F17.  I was quite pleased with the latter, as it was cobbled together from an Aeroclub Seafire 17 vacform fuselage with a load of my own cast bits.

I even considered a PR Attacker with the Photographic Development Unit - easy enough, just remove the guns, have the cameras in the nose, add the wing slipper tanks (one with a forward facing camera?) and an overall PRU Blue scheme.  I've a small collection of whiffed PDU aircraft within The Plan and this one would fit in nicely (as would the two PR Meteors that have just popped into my head and I have the cockpit tubs for them cast).  Mind, I don't think that one in PRU Pink would be appropriate somehow and I'll leave the rest to your dirty minds.

So, given all of this, a restock on cheap Novo Attackers seems to be the order of the day.  Now I'm wishing that I'd picked up a few of those that Thorvic had pointed out on the Collectakit stand at Telford last year - can't remember any that were more than 4 quid apiece.  However, now I'm after them, there won't be any!

I'd like at least one or two decent ones, with the canopy open and gear down, so one of the AZ kits got dug out and I did some dry fitting.  Not happy with the fuselage fit, as one half looks to be a mm deeper than the other.  I had similar problems with the Magna one I built years ago and IIRC, I lined up the top and filled the bottom, using the belly tank to hide the worst of it.  May do the same again, but if I do it as one in the post war Intruder scheme (using the bombs from the CMR kit), I may hide a bit more.

Chris (Narses2) mentioned that the CMR Attacker came with a spare canopy so I dug that one out (it'll be a real one eventually, but likely the prototype) and had a look.  Sure enough, it's a spare but is the metal back canopy for the FB2.  It may go on an AZ kit instead.

Must get out and spray at least one of the ones assembled and filled.  If the weather holds...

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on August 28, 2012, 05:44:04 AM
Spent and hour or so cutting out the shapes to blank off the intakes on half a dozen* Attackers last night.  Created one set then used it as a template for a second, they bcome templates for more, etc.  I'd already assembled the wings, they just need cleaning up.  I'll have the fuselages closed up tonight (I'd really had enough by that point last night) and then I can do the cleanup and rescribing of the engine hatch.

One's definitely going to be the PDU aircraft and the 607 Sqn machine I mentioned yesterday is going to be an Acklington Station Flight aircraft (going with the Meteor T3 I did some years back) but with a 607 Sqn shield and coloured wingtips.  It also means I can use the spare roundels and fin flashes from the Airfix F22 - their new policy of including enough national markings for two aircraft is certainly a winner with me.

Still need to cast a few more of the belly/slipper tanks and the solid canopies, at least another two sets.  The last batch I did went funny as the resin wasn't mixed right.  They seem to weep, if that makes any sense, but dry out after a few days.

*I never do anything by halves when it comes to modelling and usually 'production line' things.  The idea is to start about 6, 5 get to primer, 4 get painted and I usually finish 3.  Lots of things about, most unfinished but when you *do* finish them, it's spectacular.

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on August 30, 2012, 04:31:42 AM
One of the Attackers is now decalled, partially anyway.  Overall High Speed Silver (aka Halfords gloss Aluminium and I need a new can) with the wingtips and rudder in 60 Sqn colours, although the hand mixed purple doesn't look quite right, being too dark and more purple than lilac, and my hand painting is a bit wonky.  Looks good at a first glance and photos will hide a lot.  

I just gave it the national markings (using the Airfix Spitfire F22 sheet) and the 607 Sqn shield went on the fin above the flash instead of the nose.  The excuse will be that the erks found it easier to paint it there than the nose but it's there because I think it just looks better.  Codes will be for Acklington station flight and for a serial, I'll nick it from a Vampire FB5 - they're in the same time frame so it'll look right.  I may have it ready for the weekend at this rate, so hopefully it'll get unveiled at the Driffield show (IPMS Tyneside had a stand so be afeared - The Wooksta! is coming!)

Thoughts of Acklington made me think about another Spitfire that's part started.  An Airfix IXc I think I was intending to do as a real Isreali one but I'm now toying with the idea of modding the wing to an E configuration (which I may have partially done), adding a pointy rudder (in camo) and spraying the rest of it silver.  I have the serials for a high back 16 somewhere so that adds one of them to the lineup. I may do a Heller low back 16 to go with it.  IIRC, there's one sprayed silver already and has been waiting for decals.

I'm sure I've said it before, but not every what if *has* to be front line  with one of the "sexy" squadrons.  I'm so sick of seeing the 56 sqn checkerboard fin applied to anything and everything that even the good ones don't have the same impact they once did.  And don't get me started on sodding Zwillings!  Jaded and cynical?  Possibly, but then I've been doing this for twenty years.

One final thought.  Given that once The Plan is completed I intend writing a book around it, would there be any interest in compiling this blog into a book form?  Charlie Brooker did something similar with his Guardian columns.

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on August 31, 2012, 03:26:44 AM
The Acklington Attacker is now ready for varnish, which is good because there's a Spiteful which really needs varnishing too.  I decalled it a while back and it's just languished in a box, along with various other painted and decalled things that I really should finish.  Quite a few of them are Spitefuls and I'd like them out of the way. Whilst I've got the airbrush out and the compressor fired, I may as well get a few sprayed with their first colour.  I know there's a PR.IG that masked ready for the lower surface colour and several mk 16s need another coat.

I went searching for the mk IX I mentioned yesterday, only to find that the fuselage had been modded to a mk VIII with the Freightdog tail and the wing had the inner blisters removed (only on post war aircraft) but still retained the C wing gun blisters.  So, I dug out an Airfix IX when I went looking for something else.

One thing I know I want to find is that Xtrakit Mk XII that was part built for last year.  IIRC, the wings are done plus the cockpit.  The plan was for another FR bird, although whether it'll be in the Ocean Grey/Dark Green/Med Sea Grey scheme or the more usual Dark Sea Grey/Dark Green/PRU Blue that I normally prefer.  Think I'll got for the former as I've enough of the latter.  I know I've got markings for the squadron I've got in mind, I just can't remember the number. 

It's just a case of finding the kit, which I'm sure is in a re-used original Heller 16 box - I had plenty of them about when I was tidying it away.  There are that many boxes to go through and I'm unsure which one it would have went in.  That's about an hour gone whilst looking for it.

Some slight progress with the PR Attacker.  The wings are rescribed where necessary and then sanded down, the canopy plug is in place and the filler is on the fuselage.  In addition, I've got the resin slipper tanks for the wing cleaned up and they'll go on once the wings are in place and the roots filled/sanded back.

This year I intend to have everything finished for Telford at least a few days beforehand, ideally the Tuesday.  I'm fed up of being up until daft o'clock the night before. All construction has to be finished by the 17th of September and if the weather holds, I'd like to get the bulk of the priming done by then too.  Meaning a month of spraying, a week of decalling and then another week of finishing off.  As with previous years, it'll be little things, like wheels, exhausts and props that'll trip me up.

Why do we put ourselves through this?

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on September 06, 2012, 08:03:14 AM
I didn't get as much done at the weekend as I'd hoped, partly laziness but more realising that what I wanted to do would entail more work to get up to a level before I could start proper.  So in the end I opted for some priming and sanding.

Sunday saw the small version of the display getting a day out at Driffield.  It looked OK and went down rather well.  No snarky comments as there were few if any JMNs about.  Only came back with the one kit purchase, but spent more on books.  One of these being the SAMI datafile on Griffon Spits.  Nothing I haven't already got but a handy one stop shop to dip into.

Found the F.XII I was looking for.  It was in a Heller box as I'd suspected but not the one I had in mind, if that makes any sense.  A quick look at it reveals it's not quite as far on as I'd thought I'd got but I have at least a week of construction time left - it may spill but only if the priming I want done is complete.  I'll do the necessary prepping with sponge tonight to get as much of that out of the way tomorrow or over the weekend as possible.

Attackers.  The PRU one is now ready to prime and the Argentinian Navy has had the rescribe work done on the fuselage and is under a coat of filler awaiting sanding.  Need to rescribe the wings, sort out the canopy plug and the belly tank before I can go any further.

I've had a look through the hardcop of The Plan to prioritise things, highlighting those that I'd like to get done and finished. There's a number of Fujimi Griffon options that I'd like to get done but they are a bit of a pain to do, although a quick switcheroo with something built & painted for an unstarted one means I can get a small minitheme underway.  I have an FR14e in far east camo that I intended for SEAC (the whiff being intended as kill markings - the war was over before the FR14e was delivered) but as I was wanting to do an Isreali machine (bought from the Indians), I decided to just change the markings which have yet to be applied anyway.  IIRC I wasn't happy with the paint job but a second hand machine suitably dirtied means I can get away with it.  Maybe.

I think there were two other Fujimi Spits in The Plan that are highlighted and I'm sure that they were half done, which means I need to clean up and assemble my resin cockpits - the kit gives you sod all by way of detail and if I'm shelling out up to ten notes, I want some detail in there.  I like a reasonable base level and the Fujimi kit doesn't have that.  Externally fine, but not the cockpit.

There's also a pair of Airfix 19s re-winged as XIVe's that I want finished.  The FR will end up over Japan as one of the occupation aircraft but the other will be a SEAC one, although I detest the white theatre bands with a passion.  Real pain painting those on.

Yesterday saw me cleaning off filler, getting stuff advanced to primer stage but also trying to sort boxes out.  I must get ahead with the props and wheels, so this will entail splitting boxes up - I have a tendency to gather everything together to eliminate clutter but usually wind up mislaying bits in the meantime, meaning a frantic search and usually robbing Peter to pay Paul.  I *really* don't want that to happen this year!  So, there's a pile of A4 boxes at work waiting to go home.

Interesting night ahead...

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on September 07, 2012, 05:39:29 AM
Managed to get most of the sort out done but there's still a load left to sort through.  More A4 lids salvaged from work helps.

Painted a slew of Merlin exhausts and got a few wheel hubs sprayed silver too. Still need to sort out exhausts for the post war Merlin aircraft, although I may cheat with some and leave them with wartime ones.  Alternately, tack them in place with white glue and replace them later. I do know I need to cast a load of fishtail Griffon exhausts but I have a high failure rate with these.

A final sift through The Plan has identified a few others to prioritise and a few to be deferred.  I do need to do more sorting and pull everything together before the final push starts.  Offhand, I know there's about 6 airframes to close up (ie cockpit in, fuselage closed and wings on) but I can get these done by Monday.  A week of final filling and sanding plus some priming and remedial work and then I can get spraying. 

This is the time I'm least happy with.  Primer?  Fine, picks out flaws which although irritating, is necessary.  First colour?  Not a problem, although with one colour schemes - ie PR birds - I do enjoy.  Get them out of the way sharpish, so PRU Blue tends to be the first to get sprayed.  It's the masking that I really hate, especially when I have to deploy the tape.  And people wonder why I tend to go for simple schemes?

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on September 10, 2012, 06:48:31 AM
Got a decent head start over the weekend whilst the weather held.  Pretty much all of the priming - at least the initial coat - is all done bar the six or so airframes that were still under construction.  Three of those are now ready to prime, two of which are going to go NMF/Polished metal so I'll prime in Aluminium which will show ANY flaw so it's ideal.

Another benefit of this is that I may actually get some of the decalling done early.  One of them was going in a Navy scheme but a quick rethink made me decide on NMF.  It remains a Navy machine, albeit shorebased and second line. Part of it will have to be primed in white though.

Lots of wheels painted but not as many as I would have liked plus I realised that I needed a load of the late wheels and the 4 spoke hubs so a scrabble through teh resin bits box has yielded hopefully enough.  Painting these is on the list for tonight.

I did get the Fujimi aircraft assembled - well, the fuselages are closed up and the wings are on and filled.  Still need to do some major sanding on them.  The 4 cannon F.XIVe with the fuselage tank is one and I managed to find the piece to represent the fuel tank behind the cockpit - the round tub that Fijimi give you for the cockpit.  Cut down and sanded a little, it looks just about bang on.  I doubt anyone could tell the difference.  I thought I'd identified a problem with the two Fujimi 14s - both are in the same scheme (OG/DG and MSG) and could be difficult to tell apart when I start decalling  - but then I remembered the 4 cannon one has 4 wing blisters, so I don't think it'll happen

I've also identified the aircraft needing props, mainly Griffon airframes and at least three of those need contraprops.  I only have two, short of robbing several kits in the stash (which I really don't want to do to at least two), so a PM to John Adams of Aeroclub via Britmodeller may be in order.

I think I'm in a better position than I was this time last year so it looks quite promising.  Still think I'll end up chasing my tail again...


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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on September 12, 2012, 06:55:25 AM
Last night I did sod all.

Let me rephrase that.  I did a lot of to-ing and fro-ing but, in the end, acheived sod all to show for it. 

I moved boxes around, tried to allocate wheels, find out what I was missing and needed to do, tie it all up against the hard copy of The Plan (finding stuff that wasn't on there and - more worryingly - stuff that should be there missing altogether, mainly 2 PR19s) and managed to drive myself round the twist.  In the end I gave up, with a splitting headache and feeling really annoyed. And this is weeks in advance! 

The whole purpose of the exercise was to ensure that this situation didn't happen further down the line, so really, it's better that it happened now.  In addition, I may take the opportunity to prune a few out that I'm not happy with.  They've waited long enough so a few weeks/months more won't hurt.  In at least one case, I've already got it's replacement on the go, so it may get donated to a worthy cause (ie the SIG reserve collection) once I have some photos and it's been to a display or two.

So apart from this monumental waste of Time, what did I actually do?  I sprayed some wheels and painted a few props.  I finished two off and did another two, plus assembled another pair.  Plus the contraprop 21 got it's undercarriage on, so that's off to get primed over the weekend.

When I was fretting over The Plan, I found what I thought was a typo and I was convinced that I had a planned colour scheme wrong. So much so, I actually painted the prop!  In the cold light of day, I realised that the scheme on The Plan was indeed correct but I rather liked the idea of a Met Flight F21 in 2TAF colours (DSG/Dark Green over PRU Blue and a black spinner but with glossy post war Type D markings) which I thought it was what should have been on The Plan. On reflection, it's more likely to be a communications hack rather than Met Flight and I may use the unassigned but painted PR21 that suffered u/c failure some time back.

I've just remembered that I've an Airkit F21 that's in need of a rebuild so it *may* just come out.  Most of the construction is done, it just needs filling and sanding plus I'll have to source an u/c and canopy.  On the plus side, I've got the prop done and being a late aircraft it'll have round exhaust pipes and 3 spoke wheels.  I've just painted a slew of the latter.  Down side means poncing about with vacform canopies which I hate, although the Airkit 21 canopies are easy enough to work with and fit quite well.  The dark colours may hide whatever deficiences are there in it, although I think I have to find a new rudder - I'd originally converted it to a Seafire F45 and did the mods to get a sting hook.  A look in the Special Hobby F21 kit should find me a spare rudder but I know there's a load of 14 rudders in the spares box.

It's somewhat ironic that i have a dislike for the Spitfire F14 yet I'm quite fond of the F21, when apart from the wing they're essentially the same airframe.  I have quite a few whiffed F21s in The Plan and this is just adding to it!

One thing I've been wanting to do is a normal span wing with a low back 9/16 fuselage and I have a scheme already in mind for it.  Snag is, the Heller 16 kit is set as a clipped job and I loathe putting tips on clipped wings.  They never look right.  Much easier to cut them off.  So I decided to try and see if I could cross-kit the wing uppers from the Sword Seafire II with the wing lower from the Sword 16. If they're going off the right drawings, they should be a perfect fit and I get a Seafire LF.IIc out of the leftovers into the bargain.  Sure enough, they did fit and I've now got my full span 16, albeit an expensive one. 

Another bonus was that I found an ideal set of unit markings for the FR.XVIe that's already got a coat of paint on.  It's a Polish unit and I've been adding Poles or Czechs into my battleplan for a while - there's a Spiteful FR to complete that's got Polish markings on the cowl.  Even better, the aircraft in mind doesn't have that pesky Sky band to worry about, has a nice black spinner (out with the Halfords for the whole prop!) and natty 2TAF roundels on the upper wings.  As I've a pair of the Sword 16s, I don't feel quite so guilty about sacrificing the markings either, especially as some of the other serials are going on other whiffed 16s.

More Blue Peter moments tonight before I get started too.

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on September 13, 2012, 06:50:56 AM
Apart from the Blue Peter stuff with A4 box lids (turning them into trays with two compartments which hold one complete airframe plus the bits in each), there wasn't much done.  A few airframes now have their lids on so are ready to be masked prior to spraying.  Some others have had remedial filling done.  Got some more wheels painted, including the two for the vile AZ Spiteful* that's bit sitting about "nearing completion" for a year.  I also cleaned up the canopy and gave it a bath in Kleer, along with a slew of other canopies.  Few more props done and some more sanding on the trio of Fujimi 14s. 

One thing I did notice was that the low level PR19 hasn't got the slipper with the forward facing camera.  What the devil happened to it and just where have I put it?  May have to quickly knock up another one tonight.  Whilst I'm blathering on about low level stuff, I'm still undecided as to what scheme my FR.XIVe will end up in.  Initially, I was thinking about SEAC but remembering I detest painting those white stripes on (and decals just don't look convincing, even if I could be bothered with the hassle) I was toying with a 2TAF scheme and adding a contraprop (conveniently forgetting I don't have enough props to cover what's already in The Plan). 

Then again, it's just a bit too easy and I've two or three 2TAF aircraft in the build at the moment anyway.  Plus, given that I've discovered a pair of Airfix 19s sans wings I may just do the 14 in both F and FR configuration with contraprop and the big 18 rudder.  The former would have to get rockets or a pair of bombs and the latter a forward looking camera or the bulged camera hatch on the PR1Gs. 

Hmmn, at least that connundrum is settled, but what to do with the highback FR14e?  Dutch perhaps?  Transferred from RAF stocks post war when they re-took control of the Dutch far east possessions?  Given that I was going to do a Dutch PR19 anyway, it isn't too much of a stretch and does get me out of a small bind with regard to missing items and The Plan.  It does mean that I can defer the Dutch PR19 till later (ie buy it another day as I've run out of Airfix 19s) and use the one thus allocated for the planned PR19 in MSG/PRU blue in SEAC markings.  The planned Norwegian one has already been deferred. 

I've plenty of Dutch markings thanks to the Brigade Tr.9s in the stash (I've a pair of CMR ones which will end up as the real thing at some stage in the distant future).  I'm still uncertain as to possible colours - either Ocean Grey or Dark Earth - but an orange or red spinner is a must.  In any case, the idea of Dutch Griffon Spits has been appealing to me, especially as a few Dutch squadrons flew them under RAF control.

The next few weeks are going to be busy but rather dull, as it's going to be several rounds of spraying and masking which must start on Monday, so updates are likely to be few and far between.  Certainly less eventful.


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*I *loathe* that kit and I'm not over happy about the "finished" model either.  Another one for the reserve collection, methinks.
Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on September 14, 2012, 04:34:30 AM
Two down, oodles more to go.  Got the old Hasegawa mk Ia finally finished.  It's been awaiting a new tailwheel and because I'm not particularly keen on it (the kit and the finished model), I've been dragging my feet.  Getting it finished should spur me on a little and bump things up a gear. 

Why don't I like it?  The base kit is poor, having been superceded years ago by the old Airfix Ia.  I didn't like the finish and the wheels are wrong.  I can get away with it as being a restored aircraft and it's replacement - the new Airfix mk I - is already primed and awaiting paint.

I also pulled my finger out with regard to the AZ Spiteful.  Again, it took little effort to finish it but it's not one of my best, a definite case of left handed modelling.  It's a crowd filler and one for the reserve collection.  The original kit is poor, I'm unhappy with the finish, the fit, the decals and frankly, I hate it.

Got four more in primer and the Attackers are re-primed.  And apart from them, it was just a case of painting more wheels and props, plus a set of exhausts for an Airfix Mk Ia that's been sitting about for ages.  More left handed models.  With a few exceptions, all the wheels are now done and I'm trying to do a few props each night.  They always trip me up at the last minute

I've finally got a unit for the RN mk IIa that's been sitting painted for a year, a second line fighter trainer school.  I got a sheet of yellow British style letters (the pack said Luftwaffe but the style looked RAF) at Telford last year for that very purpose, but it was just letters and all the units I found had numbers in the codes.  A quick flip through the On Target Seafire book to confirm spinner colours yielded a unit. Woo hoo!  So that'll get decalled tonight, hopefully.

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on September 18, 2012, 09:11:15 AM
Saturday saw me plug a gap that had appeared from noweher in the plan and I managed to throw together another Airfix PR19.  Final filling and sanding on that tonight so I can get the u/c on and it shoudl be primed by the weekend, weather permitting. I did manage to get some more primed on sunday, in between the rain storms plus another half dozen got sprayed proper with a can of Aluminium.

This week will see the final phase of construction, the final cut off point is the 21st of September  - Friday.  So last night I managed to get together that Xtrakit mk XII that's been looking at me accusingly (another FR version).  It's not an easy kit, needing a fair bit of fettling but it looks good once it's done. 

In addition, there's another Airfix F22 quickly closed up (most of the work was done on it a while back) and that will end up in the post war Intruder scheme with underwing tanks nicked from the Special Hobby Spitfire F221  I'd like to put rocket stubs on it too but have mislaid my F22/24 references so I'll just stick with the tanks.  Given that they'll be glued on prior to painting, there's less work.

The undercarriage finally went on my e wing FRXIII amd it's one I'm really pleased with, so finishing that one is a definite must.  The prop is done for it but I still need to decide which wheels it's going to get, either 5 spoke hubs or plain covered hubs.

The other thing I wanted to do was another low level PR19, although this will be a post war aircraft in the Intruder scheme, with a big rudder and contraprop.  I found the fuselage bits no problem, but all of the wings have been butchered - at least, they've had some surgery and usually to remove the locator bits for the radiators.  A trawl round the few shops in Newcastle city centre that sell kits revealed nowt.  With a rapidly looming deadline, I'll have to run with what I have.

More worrying, it adds another contraprop aircraft into a Plan teeming with them (IIRC, 5) and I don't have many useable ones I can steal - the CMK/CMR Spitfire F21s in the stash give me 3 and the two Seafire FR47s that are wrong will give me another 2, whilst the AZ Seafangs yield another 2  so I may be ok.  I've a few more in the various AZ Spitfire 21/22/24/45/46 boxings but these are based on the Aeroteam/Eduard F21 prop and need fiddly assembly for which I neither have the time nor the patience.  The sooner Colin at Freightdog releases his threatened resin set, the better!

Still no decalling, but I may do some tonight.  I need something a bit more relaxing.

In terms of progress, I'm way ahead of where I was this time last year.  Undoubtedly, The Plan will get pruned as the deadlines approach but I feel confident that this year I have a good chance of achieving everything I want to do.

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on September 27, 2012, 08:03:59 AM
Spraying has finally begun!  Tuesday saw the airbrush and compressor fired up and half a dozen PR Spits now have an overall coat, although three need a respray.  Three of my export aircraft also got their first colours, two of which I'm please dwith, although the Egyptian LF9 needs another coat of Mid Stone.  I don't know what it is about this colour but I've yet to do a desert schemed aircraft that looks right.  In addition, a decalled Spiteful finally got matted down - it only needs the canopy and a tailwheel, plus some tiny aerials and it's done.  Looks fab too.

Finishingwise, an FRXII in PRU Pink *finally* got finished.  Another one I've been dragging my heels with - it nearly made Telford 2010 but didn't - and another one I'm unhappy with.  It was rushed and it shows.  Frankly, I hate it.  Another crowd filler and another that will be replaced in due course before getting stripped and redone.

I also took the opportunity whilst the compressor was fired up on Tuesday to get the Acklington Station Flight Attacker glossed.  That's now finished but needs a stand.  So, with that, I now have the last bookend in place, although I have plans for quite a few Attackers and intend to strip-mine the Collectakit stand of them at Telford - Geoff pointed a load of them out last year but at the time I thought I had enough.  Six should do, but if they're cheap enough - ie £3 as that's all they're worth - I'll nab more.  One trader was selling them for £12 each a few years back. Good luck with that, mate.

Couldn't face another night of spraying but tried to make a final push towards getting all the props done.  Everything in The Plan (well, all the highlighted ones anyway) were tied up with the relevant boxes and marked off.  If I've seen it with me eyes, then it gets marked off in thick green, otherwise red pen.  All of the Merlin props are done, I just need to do the Griffon ones and that highlights a real and worrying problem - not enough props.  I've been nicking the Airfix ones for Spitefuls and have assembled the MPM/Fujimi ones in the spares box.

Schemes are still fluid in some cases - I'm undecided over the two 14es although RAAF for the FR14 and Dutch for the F14 seem to be a final conclusion.  In addition, there's an FVIIIe that I had considered RAAF but I'm yet to be convinced.  Unless I do an RAF or SAAF one in Italy.  The FRIXe that I had slated for Isreal is now a 2TAF one - Isreal did have some FR Spits and until I can find some more details, I'm not touching them.

More spraying ahead tonight.  Retouches, resprays and first colours.  Once that's done, either decalling or back to the props. I think I need to look at the situation with regard to wheels too - although I know most are done, there's an element of doubt.  Once these are all done, the final coming together is going to be spectacular.  I think.

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on October 04, 2012, 07:18:19 AM
All the first lot of spraying is done, apart from a few late comers that have just been primed, plus one that was primed but I hated the finish so stripped it back to the bare resin.  Yes, Fairy Power Spray *will* remove Halfords Primer.

The schemes are now finalised.  The FR14E is RAAF in standard RAF grey/green. Orders said that they should be be Dark Earth but my RAAF unit commander is going to ignore those rules.  The Dutch F.14e is the one in Dark Earth but has a nice orange spinner.

The FR.IXe has the upperwing bulges and as it's primed, too late to sand off so some lateral thinking.  208 Sqn had IXs before getting FR18s, so it's going to be a unit hack in that micey but fetching post war desert scheme.  I can also nick some 3 spoke PR19 wheels for it rather than the frankly vile kit ones although I'll need a new prop - all my Airfix ones are now painted and no spare red spinner.  I'll end up doing another FR.IXe at some stage but will remember to sand the wheel bulges off.

There's also a pair of low back IX/XVIes that I had sprayed silver but hadn't decided on final users - 607 was one, possibly 603 for the other - but in the end one's going Burmese and will be one of four models that will all be the same aircraft but at different points in it's history - RAF, Czech, Isreali and finally Burmese.  Just need to repair the Isreali one.  So I still need to come up with a user for the other.  Unless I just do it real as a Joker.

Currently masking the second colours and I hate Maskol.  Still, it's the least worst of the masking agents so I have to stick with it.  Masking bores me rigid...

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: Radish on October 05, 2012, 03:29:31 AM
Bloody hell, Lee.....talk about prolific......

The hobby should give you a Gold Medal for your production rate!!
Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on October 05, 2012, 07:50:26 AM
Every year I do it, even though I promise never to do it again.  I add late items into a build plan one everything is settled and advanced.  This time?  Three more Spitfires, although in my defence, one was planned and then dropped and all three are part started anyway.

One is a Hasegawa F8, which will end up as an FR bird with clipped wings, although whether its RAF or RAAF I'm undecided.  Green on top with PRU Blue underneath is the intended scheme.

One is an Airfix IXc converted to an F.VIII contraprop, but with the F14 tail surfaces.  It's intended as a post war machine with one of the schools, so no need to take off the wheel bulges, stubs instead of guns and 3 spoke wheels. Overall NMF with Type D markings and black codes.  Quick and simple.  The contraprop is the one from the Special Hobby F21 which is too small diameter-wise.  Red spinner.  The fuselage was already assembled, wings took five minutes to and down and the cockpit is ready to go in.

Final one?  A part started F22 that's going to be a 24, but whether it's Hong Kong auxiliary AF with a contraprop or RAF in Malaya with tanks and rockets has yet to be decided.  Either way, it's NMF.  Again, quick and simple.  The tanks will come from the Special Hobby F21 (and they do fit) with the rockets from a CMR F22/24 or FR47.  Korean War is another alternate which I may keep for the future but it's given me an idea.

More props finished, think I only have a few left to finalise and a catalogue has revealed I need a fair few sets of Airfix PR19 4 spoke hub wheels, approx 4 sets but ideally 6 in case of disappearences.  I may have to mould them for future use but I know there's some Aeroclub 4 spoke hub wheels that are mounted to mould up.  May just have to do that this weekend if I have a free hour.

The first lot of Maskol is now done but due to bitter experience, second coats are necessary.  Another boring night beckons, so a comedy box set DVD is a must to have as a background.  Dinnerladies or The Young Ones? Last night was Dempsey and Makepeace.


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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on October 08, 2012, 06:34:29 AM
The second lot of Maskol took a night - the first coat took three days - and all the spraying was done yesterday.  All bar half a dozen now have their second disruptive colour on.  My hands had a distinctly green cast most of yesterday.  Doing the respray ( I do one coat and then another later to ensure I've covered it properly) to 30 minutes.  Doing the first lot took longer for some odd reason.  I hate spraying.  And now I have the clean up (removing the maskol) and masking with tape.  A real fun week, although I may break it up by organising the colours, so anything with Azure blue gets masked first and sprayed, then MSG or PRU Blue. You get the picture.  Anything to break up the endless tedium of masking.

The F24 over Malaya is now assembled with the filler on the wing roots and having had a quick look at the rockets in the CMR 22/24 I'm going to use a set of Academy ones instead.  The CMR ones look a tad too delicate and likely to break during clean up.

The other two late comers are at the same stage so they should be ready to prime by the weekend.

I wonder...  Is the tedium of all the painting and masking making me look towards assembly to break the monotony?   Could explain a lot.

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on October 15, 2012, 06:55:19 AM
A mammoth masking session took place on Wednesday and Thursday to ensure that the weekend was free so I could go to Glasgow with a clear conscience.  The bulk of the spraying took place yesterday as I was too knackered on Saturday to do much other than veg out in front of the telly.

The masking tape is now all off and most need touch ups here and there where it's taken off little chips of paint.  One I managed to respray but all will require use of a brush.  I am most unhappy with this.  However, having said that, there's quite a few that I'm really pleased with and some that I'd be happy to put into a reserve collection.  I'm wanting them done to get them out of the way.

The three late comers are now primed, one is ready to spray proper and the canopy is on.

With the vast bulk of the spraying done, I can see light at the end of the tunnel and no, it isn't a train coming in the opposite direction.  I'm sure that I'm about a week, possibly two, ahead of where I normally am, so it all looks achievable with perhaps time to spare.  However, I can't slow down lest these comments come back to bite me.

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on October 17, 2012, 04:39:10 AM
Decalling has commenced, sort of.  There's 4 decalled fully and a few partials (ie national markings and serials are on, they're just waiting for squsdron codes.  The Met Flight F.21 I'm quietly pleased with and the Seafire F46 converted from the Airfix F22 doesn't look to bad either, although I'm not happy with the surface finish.

To get to this stage, it was out with the hairy sticks and I touched a few up (oo-er missus!) to overpaint the paint chipped off.  On of the worst affected was the Admiral F.24 and I'd abandoned it in disgust last year.  It doesn't look too bad now and I'm hoping that the Korean War stripes (thoughtfully provided in the Xtradecal F22/24 sheet) should divert attention away from the paintowkr.  However, if I add a few red stars as kill markings under the cockpit, I can explain them away as overpainted repair patches.  Need to find that P.39 decal sheet...

I also did quite a few of the yellow leading edge recognition markings, although I still have a few to do, plus all them nasty Sky fuselage bands.  Decals never look right and my hand painting is shonky at the best of times.

Thanks to Captain Canada, I now have all the four spoke hub wheels I need, although I did order an Airfix PR19 from the LHS to ensure that I had a spare set. I'm planning on backdating it to a PR.IV but with a two stage Merlin.  Confused?  So am I but I think it'll work.  If not, the PRXI conversion from Freightdog for the nose should rescue it.  Win-Win either way.  If it fails, I'm thinking of grafting the Freightdog RR conversion onto a mk Ia (old tool and I know that the 19 wing fits it) and going down that route.  You've got to love hybrid airframes.

Jaybee's BBMF Spitfire F22 has kind of pre-empted something I was toying with but have yet to do.  I've a IIb sitting awaiting decals and a chance find of a photo of a mk I with a four blade prop, 3 spoke hub wheels and 6 stub exhausts made me think about finishing the IIb I have as a BBMF example.  However, it's not a model I'm happy with, so it'll be finished as something else, but the idea is still sound and there's a Hobbyboss Vb in the stash allocated to this idea.  Just need some Aeroclub Spitfire u/c legs.

More spraying to do tonight - found two that escaped the airbrush on sunday and there's a few that I couldn't face doing then either.  Plus the ETPS F21 doesn't have as much yellow on it as it should.  There's a little bit of masking too, which I must get done tonight.

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on October 18, 2012, 06:01:19 AM
Got the masking done last night, so more spraying done last night, plus a pair that needed remedial work with Halfords cans got done.  May need to retouch one underneath and as some of the decals are on, it's going to be some tricky masking.  There's not too much spraying left to do, so I really want it done this week so I can concentrate on the decalling.

The Admiral F24 is now decalled and it looks pretty good.  You can't see the areas retouched unless you look closely so I may have got away with it.  I went looking for that P39 decal sheet for the kill markings, only to find a pair of Aeroclub arrestor hooks that I've been wanting.  Result!  Means I can get the last two Attackers sprayed once they're fitted.  The decals I was looking for were in the decal box and pretty close to the surface.

Several more got partially decalled, two being Airfix 22s converted to 24s (all I did was shorten the gun barrels).

Bit more masking tonight, the most important being the F21 with a training school.  Really want that one done, if only to spit in the eye of people who say I stick to aircraft with easy schemes.  Wonder what they'd make of the Isreali PR11?

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on October 19, 2012, 06:06:00 AM
Final lot of masking done last night and then more spraying.  With one exception, virtually all of the spraying is now done.  Disaster struck when I was cleaning up one of the Malaya PR19s but I'll repaint the wing when the masking comes off later.  A repainted wing would make sense for an aircraft nearing the end of it's career.  And the ones that Thailand got were *filthy*.  The F21 now has the first coat of Ocean Grey on.  I'll give it another coat tonight when I respray the PRU Blue on the two PR19s and the FRVIII.

Apart from that, all I did last night was paint a few more aircraft with their leading edge yellow stripes and retouched an Attacker.  In the cold light of day, the retouching doesn't look too bad.  Whilst I'm on the subject, I asked a layperson (ie Wor Lass, who isn't a modeller) to see if there was owt wrong with the few aircraft that had either dodgy surfaces or serious retouches with a hairy stick.  She said they looked fine, so I'll live with them.

Apart from the spraying, more decaling tonight.  Hopefully should have another three tidied away.

Heard mention of 4 cannon mk VIIIs, so that's another I'll add into the plan.  Freightdog conversion bits on an Aifix IXc is the route I'll take and I've several Australian marking options I can use.

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on October 23, 2012, 08:02:06 AM
I'd forgotten how much I dislike decalling and also how much time it takes up.  You'd think I could have got loads done over the weekend, but no.  I just couldn't settle and consequently, not much got done.  Some partials but I only finished four.  I couldn't settle last night either - a mate dragging me out to the casino didn't help either (sometimes I think I'm his carer...) -  but at least I managed to get more done.

So far, there's a total of 15 to varnish, which is about 20% of the total currently in build.  Obviously, not all will come to Telford, it's just a handy deadline to try and get more finished and into the boxes.  My plan is to finish as many as I can and then pick out me favourites and they come with me.

More decalling ahead of me tonight.  Current aim is to get as many with their national markings on and then I'll go back and add things like serials and squadron codes later.  Quite a few need their Sky bands painted around the fuselage, which means tedious masking to ensure I get relatively straight lines.  My masking is a lot better than my hand painting.

One thing holding me back is a lack of decals.  I thought I needed some Norwegian roundels but a chance find on ebay pointed me in the direction of a kit I already have which should give me both squadron codes and national markings. I can find serials elsewhere and looking through Spitfire International reveals that the Norwegians left the bulk of their Spitfires with their original RAF serial codes.  Double bubble! I have some Portugese markings - enough for one aircraft, so the F.IXe is sorted - but need some more and hopefully the ones I have on order will arrive by the weekend.  I'm sure I've a sheet of Portugese markings somewhere but I'm not sure where it is, possibly the loft at me Mam's.

Arrestor hooks are now on the Attackes and the F21 has it's first coat of green.  I'll get some more of the decalling out of the way before I do  the masking to spray their last coats.  I'm having a change of plan with regard to one of the Attackers.  I had intended Argentinian but it may go Canadian instead.  Or possibly FAA with Korean stripes or the red/yellow excercise stripes from the Trumpeter Sea Fury.  Or is that a real one anyway?

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on October 24, 2012, 09:17:18 AM
I don't know what it is but I just can't seem to settle with this decalling and I'm just dragging my heels.  Last night I finished a total of two, although I did advance a few others.  Latest disaster seems to be a lack of upperwing roundels in the decals box - the ones in the Airfix IXc aren't the best, frankly, although I have resorted to using the better ones and they seem to look okay.  They may look better under a coat of varnish.

A dig through the loft at me Mam's unearthed the Portugese markings that I *knew* I had, along with some extra Argentinian roundels and flags, but not as many as I thought I had.

More changes of plan, this time with one of the PR21s.  Both already have their colour on - overall PRU blue - but I've never had any clear idea of what I wanted to do with them, although I may have done when I started them May last year.  Thoughts of use as Met Flight or courier aircraft did run through my mind but didn't feel right. I'm sure I'd considered SEAC but as I have at least four 19s in SEAC colours, plus a PR21 in the Far East anyway, I decided against it. 

But then I had an idea about masking some of the PRU Blue off roughly with Maskol and respraying it in silver.  There's photos of Mosquitos and Hornets which had camo being overpainted with Silver Dope and then it being stripped off in tropical storms over Malaya, so there's basis in reality and it's a way round a problem.  Well, one at least.  What do I do with the other one?

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on October 25, 2012, 04:54:36 AM
I hate decalling.  Almost as much as I hate masking.  It's more of a love/hate relationship - it's a pain looking through the boxes for the ones I want, cutting them out and watching them disintegrate when threatened with water but when they go on and I start to see what I had imagined slowly being revealed.  The HFIXc now has national markings and serials (still need to add the squadron codes) but already I love it.

Another thing that I seem to be doing more and more is naming them - does anyone else do that?  Last year there was a Hobbyboss LF.Vb that I named Queenie after the fuselage code.  The Lancaster AEW was named Dougal.  And now I've named at least three of the ones decalled - an FRVIIIc was nicknamed Romeo, a PRXIX got called Uncle, an FRXIIIe was named Fab 5 Freddie of all things (he's a rapper, DJ and graffitti artist who got name checked in Blondie's Rapture) and something else was named Norman (the backstory will have it flown a Geordie pilot). Edit:  Just remembered it's a mk Ia based on Malta in 1940.

It plods on slowly but I'm starting to be wracked with doubt, not to mention thoughts of saying enough and concentrating on what's already decalled.  One thing I'm fearing with that thought is that, like other models cut out of plans in previous years, I'll abandon them for good. Which would be a shame as there's quite a few that I'm pleased with and want to see them finished, not to mention a few others that I dislike but want finished to get them out of the way for good - the Pegasus Spitfire F22 for one, bearing in mind I've had it for 20 years and have yet to finish it, although it's come close three times.

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on October 30, 2012, 08:01:42 AM
The bulk of the decalling is now done.  There's a few left to start - two of which I still don't quite know what to do with - and one I still need to spray but I can definitely see the end now.  Speaking of the end, four got axed.  I wasn't happy with them anyway - one may even get stripped and there's another which I can't even find in the hard copy of The Plan, although I had a feeling I may have been planning to build it as a real one anyway - so no great loss.  The Pegasus F22 has waited 20 years to be finished, another few months won't hurt.

I'm actually starting to enjoy the decalling now, as the codes and personal markings are going on some of the ones already with their national markings.  And kill markings - I do aircraft that kill people.  Not many aces though.  There's a few that I was somewhat ambivalent about but now the markings are on, they look much better.  Last minute unit changes abound though - an F22 that was slated for export became an RAF one upon the discovery I didn't have enough decals in good enough quality to actually use.  Ditto a PRIV that may end up with the Navy - I ran out of Portugese markings and the aftermarket decal sheet I was using decided to disintegrate when dipped in water.  Which means that the Polish FXVIe gets different markings.

I've been thinking of a Russian unit staffed by RAF pilots with communist leanings - a British Normandy Niemen if you will - led by 'Comrade Ogilvy' and flying Spitfire LFIXe low backs.  Not quite sure what the markings might look like (a C type roundel in the centre of the red star?) so I'll put that one to one side for now, partly because the FXVIe that I may have used has the yellow leading edge strip.  But a Russian test unit for an overall NMF 9 lowback is possible.  Need the decals though.  Think I'll buy a Hobbyboss He 162 and that NMF 16 that got axed may get a reprieve.

I did create a Polish ace flying a Spiteful and that one *will* be at Telford. It'll be getting rockets and drop tank so should look pretty cool.

It's starting to come together.  The last few decals should be going on tonight and then out with the varnish tomorrow.  That's going to be a long night...

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on November 01, 2012, 07:51:44 AM
Got half of the varnishing done last night.  Quite a few need some final tweaks before I can varnish them - missing u/c doors and in two cases the u/c needs to go on - but the bulk will be done tonight.  After which, it's a simple case of paint the u/c doors and glue on props, wheels and exhausts, the vast majority of which are 'something we prepared earlier'.  The NMF ones will need glare panels but little else.  I'm really pleased with the second line RAF F22.  Actually, I'm pleased with the varnish on most of those done last night.  Eggshell finish.  The varnish has also hidden the dodgy paintwork on one of the Attackers.  I can get two of them tidied away tonight and I just need to do the stands for them.

One thing I did notice when varnishing a few is how shoddy they are.  Admittedly, they're older models that I'm trying to finish off but will very likely end up being replaced in short order, using either the new Airfix Ia or Hobbyboss Vb.  At least two more for the reserve collection...

It's all coming together. The weekend is going to be interesting.

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on November 02, 2012, 06:04:18 AM
The bulk of the varnishing is now done.  There's a few which need a bit more tweaking before I can varnish them but I tweak a few last night and they'll get a varnish coat tonight.  I did affix quite a few exhausts last night and some u/c doors got painted.  Glare shields are all done too.

Two of the Attackers were finished last night.  All they needed was the canopies painting black and the exhausts done.  They both look fab and the varnish has hidden the dodgy paintwork.  That old Frog kit doesn't look too bad really.

So, that's two done  out of the 70+.  Not good. The sheer enormity of it all is beginning to set in and panic may not be far behind.  Already the axe has fallen on a night intruder Vb - the weak resin u/c collapsed again and I'm not happy with it anyway. Another reserve collection perhaps, certainly one to replace.  I'm minded to also axe the two Attackers that still need paint, along with the Flying School F21 on time grounds.  There's also some low back IXs that were going to get Czech/RAF markings but may also get the bullet.

As I said earlier, the weekend is going to be interesting but most of saturday is already booked with other things.  I've a feeling sunday is going to be a long day.

I have some days off next week but ideally want everything finished by Wednesday afternoon so I can box them that night.  I do not want to be chasing my tail at 3am Friday morning when I get picked up at 10am for the journey to Telford.  In any case, I have other plans for Thursday involving fast cars, curries and casinos.

What was that tale about Sysyphus again?

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on November 15, 2012, 08:27:16 AM
Well, Telford has been and gone. 

The final run up was similar to previous years and my large lead helped but slipped as deadline loomed.  In the end, I just abandonded stuff, safe in the knowledge that I had more than enough.  In total, I completed 60 models, although some till had the canopy masking to come out.  This could well be my most productive year yet, although IIRC I finished 90+ back in '99.  The final tally is still to be totalled, as I'm trying to finish the few that didn't make it - last night saw a pair of Spitefuls finished, although the 2TAF one still needs tailwheel doors and aerials.

Why abandon things?  I'm not running myself ragged again.  Besides which, the opportunity of a spin in an Aston Martin Rapide was too good to pass up and that was on the Thursday before Telford.  The 6 litre V12 engine was the sweetest engine I've ever heard, apart from the RR Merlin of a Spitfire (Mosquitoes sound similar but the harmonics are different due to there being two Merlins).  And a free Indian buffet?  Turn one of them down for some plastic models?  Are you mad?  I was still coming down on Friday morning.

The display looked good, especially the four finished Attackers in flying mode - the other two got sprayed but I ran out of time on them, although they will be finished by Sunday.  Quite a few people commented how effective they looked, being at the back and above the main display.  The bulk of it was comprised of stuff finished this year or 2011, although there were one or two older models - the Supermarine 224 and the Spitfire Prototype being essential, despite their age.  The latter will need redoing at some stage as I was never happy with the canopy.

Several people picked my brains with regard to Spitfire whifs they're planning, one of which is similar to something I've got in the pipeline. Another I quite like the sound of, so I'm nicking it and doing something similar, although I'll use some redundant Ventura bits (as I know they'll cross kit) rather than what they're planning.

Haulwise, it was my best year yet.  Three Airkit and two Legato resin kits had me jumping for joy (ensuring I was there when Collectakit opened helped, big style) and then being early in the Kit Swap to nab a large number of CMK kits for a tenner apiece.  Lady Luck was certainly smiling.  Especially when there was a Seafire 47 of the tooling I'm always on the look out for.

Donations to The Plan are always welcome and this weekend was no exception.  Lenny passed along an unknown resin Seafire FR47 which was sans a wing but that's replacable.  IIRC, there's a resin plug in it for the canopy too.  I have suspicions that I know who cast it and it looks very similar to the Ventura Seafire 47, although the radiators look quite like Airkit F21 bits.  Chris on the Collectakit stand gave me a CMK Seafire FR47 too, but this was one of the old tools.  All three mean I have enough to do quite a few late Spitfires, either F26 or FR26.  The other donations are mentioned in the stash thread.

Next year, will I be there?  Doubtful now.  Bombshell at work - I'm out of a job in March at the latest.  The writing's been on the wall for a while.  At least I went out on a high.

Future plans?  Well, I'll have the time to do the writing, most of the modelling has been done and I have the design skills, even if they are a bit rusty, so a book version of The Alternate Spitfire is likely.  Publication date may be sometime around 2014.

And on that note, I'm closing this thread.  For now...

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on November 21, 2012, 08:46:09 AM
On reflection, closing the thread was daft.  The sky hasn't fallen in, not yet anyway.  I still have the vast bulk of the kits needed to complete The Plan as it stands and if I have to buy any more...  We'll wait and see.

I finished the last two FRXIIIs at the weekend - all they needed was the canopies.  The back section of teh Airfix Ia was sawn off and fitted in place and I used vacform ones for the rest, the windscreen went on easy enough and the sliding section is left open.

There's still a few other unfinished ones kicking about - the two Attackers that need decalling, for example and a XVIe in overall NMF.  Post war XVIe aircraft are hard to whiff, because there were so many of them and they were with every unit as hacks.  I'm toying with a Polish squadron for that one with late Type C roundels, as though it's been delivered and repainted just before they went home.

Looking at The Plan reveals that I don't have many Seafires - I think I have more Spitefuls finished - so I'll be making a start on them soon.  A few in Dutch markings as training machines until they get the Seafang is possible.  I know I had plans for some but some of the Seafire marks are hard to whiff. 

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on November 24, 2012, 02:58:27 PM
The two Attackers were decalled last night and look rather good.  Wor Lass liked them both although I need to give the Canadian one it's serial codes.  This is only the second Canadian what if I've done*, although quite a few of the aircraft done this year either got Canadian Maple leaves under the cockpit or were with Canadian squadrons.  On reflection, I seem to have done quite a few RAF foreign squadrons - call it The Plan's contribution to multiculturalism - especially Poles or Czechs.  Which reminds me, I need to finish that Polish FR16.



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* The other one is in this thread (http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,7019.0.html) and as it got a load of flak from a former member of this site, I vowed then NEVER to do another Canadian whif. 
Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on November 26, 2012, 04:52:21 AM
Decalling the two Attackers made me think about a few more and consequently I dug out the box of half started ones. There was a half dozen all told, all of which had the intakes blanked of.  Two have had the cockpits and wheel bays opened up but I'll leave them till later, although a lack of actual vac form canopies means that they are low priority.  However, I did get some Pavla Fouga Magister canopies a while back so the likelihood of a pair of trainers is high.  One also had the fin removed but the AZ and CMR Attackers come with two fins so I have a replacement.

Two have been fully assembled - ie the few panel lines I'm keeping have been rescribed and everything else sanded off.    One has had the guns cut down to just stubs and I'm thinking of it with one of the flying schools in the mid/late 50s, which means overall NMF with dayglo strips.  Then again, I may keep that for one of the two seaters and just do it as an RAuxAF machine instead.

While I was rescribing, my mind wandered, thinking about other operators.  I've already mentioned the possibility of Swiss ones but India popped into my head.  Given that Pakistan actually had Attackers, one forced down or landed by a defecting pilot and operated as a hack or evaluation machine isn't too far a stretch.

I've also been tinkering with the Xtrakit Spitfire F22.  Now, I know that I've slated this kit in the past and yes, I'm still not that keen on it but given that I know where the flaws are I think I can get one together easier than I did before.  The key is careful preparation.  The same could be said for the Ventura kits, which have nowhere near the same amount of detail but don't come in for the same level of flak.

This week I'd like to get a few more of the Telford refuseniks done, as there's at least three low backs that only really need the rudders sorting out and they're finished, although I think the Egyptian one also need it's prop and canopy finished too.

I totted up how many models I'd finished off this year and I'm nearly into three figures, although a good half dozen aren't Plan related.  Could well be my most productive year ever.

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on November 28, 2012, 12:38:12 PM
So, I now have two Attackers assembled and, barring a little more sanding, almost ready for priming.  Given that both are intended for an Aluminium finish, I'll prime them in said colour as it usually highlights any flaws.

I went searching for Attacker bits as I *know*I've some more somewhere, but all I could find was one which had the cockpit opened out and the nosecone removed.  IIRC, it was going to have a contraprop and a buried Bristol Centaurus engine but the current Plan has higher priority.

I've also made a start cleaning up another Airfix 22 and I intend this one as a camouflaged machine but with a slight twist.  Not saying much else about this one.

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on December 14, 2012, 06:00:34 AM
Attackers.  I now have more of these than I can shake a stick at, thanks to several Ebay wins and also a deal with DaveT on Britmodeller which netted me a total of twenty complete airframes plus miscellaneous bits.  Some of these were two sets of wings which I'm thinking of combining with some Frog/Novo Spitfire 14 fuselages and spares from the Special Hobby Spitfire F21/F24 (mainly rudders and canopies) to do a pair of Sea Victors.  I may do one flying to make life a little easier.

Most of the fuselages were assembled and as they didn't have any intake trunking or blanking plates, all of which had to be cracked open.  That's now done, with varying degrees of damage.  One complete fuselage half has been written off, but thankfully there was a spare half sitting in the Attacker spares bin - the other half had shattered when I was trying to grout out the cockpit.

I'll need to get casting, as I'm almost out of belly tanks and canopy plugs.  However, I'll need to do some moulding too - one of the ebay wins was part started with an old C Scale Attacker FB2 upgrade set.  Lots of nice useful bits in it, including an FB2 canopy, tailplanes and a vacform belly tank.  


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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on January 31, 2013, 06:51:28 AM
I've started the book.  Well, the preliminary layout mock ups anyway.  The writing will come later, although I've got some of teh modelling notes over the past few days.

Should have something to show off in a few weeks time at 'uddersfield.
Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on May 31, 2013, 05:13:40 PM
No updates for a while as I'm doing a tour on Lancasters.  However, I've found time th'neet to advance a pair of Attackers - they're already decalled so it was just a case of painting the exhausts and the canopies.  Haven't got the back room configured for spraying so their final matt varnish will have to wait a tad longer.

Also did some running repairs - a 2TAF FRXVIIIe got it's canopy sorted and the tailwheel replaced.  The Seafire XVII finally got some tailwheel doors and the Xtrakit F22 got the entry hatch replaced.  Not sure if I actually fitted it originally but then I *really* hated building that kit so if I didn't, I'm not surprised.

At the mo, an Isreali low back IX has it's rudder curing before I finally get the stripes on it.

Not a lot, but gets another few out and ready to display. 


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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on June 03, 2013, 04:49:28 PM
After I posted that, I managed to get another pair of Telford hang overs finished off, both 16s.  Well, one was a 16, t'other was a late IXe low back.  

The former was a Polish FR16, built with a Heller kit kindly donated by PR19 Kit.  Proper markings but with the subtle addition of a camera port just aft of the cockpit.  Don't know why it never got finihed as after the rudder, there was nowt else to do on it.  I had intended to fit a resin Freightdog rudder but found that I hadn't corrected the height of the fin, so had to go hunting through the spares box to find a Heller fuselage to cut the rudder off.  Quick bit of gluing and painting (grey/green primer) and it was done.

The Egyptian LF9e was a bit more involved but at a similar stage, although I still hade the canopy to do and the prop to sort out also.  The former took a few minutes and another Heller rudder was found after some more frantic searching in the spares bin, but given that it was fast approaching 4am saturday morning and I *really* needed the sleep, I took the easy step of using a preprepared Airfix IX prop with a yellow spinner rather than faff about with the (correct) Heller prop with a white spinner.  It was assembled and the spinner half painted and I knew it would take too long to do.  Well, a blind man and David Blunket won't tell the difference and I only glued it in place with white glue, so should I find the time to get it finished, it'll take seconds to replace.

Sunday's Northern Model Show saw the first (and likely last) full display of everything finished for The Plan.  Why?  Well, given that there are 13 boxes, each containing a minimum of 10 models, plus a pair of shoeboxes with another 5 each, they're an arseache to tovey about.  In addition, unpacking to display and then sorting them into some semblance of correct order is also problematical.  It took an hour to do, although it did look very impressive when finished, especially with raised plinths and a back shelf.  Even so, the export section had to annexe part of the What If SIG display area.  As I'd arranged the display to have the exports/foreign operators at that end, I had the overspill being largely Isreali.

Another reason for taking the main display down in size is that some models are old and looking very tatty plus there are several more that I was never happy with to start with.  Three of the Spitefuls have a date with some Fairy Power Spray after they've been photographed as they need bringing up to standard.   The one that I'd rather not retire just yet is the Supermarine 224 but some of the paintwork is looking iffy and I'm sure it's due to using superglue as a filler.

I entered three into the competition, more to bulk out the numbers than any intention of winning and was quietly surprised to win both classes I'd entered.  Second year in a row too - the Speed Spiteful winning last year.  One of the ironies is that I nearly entered the Seafang last year. Wonder if I can pull a hat trick and win next year?  Nice to think so, but somehow I doubt it as I can only see Lancasters in the immediate future, although there's a pair of Attackers that need decalling soon.

One thing I did find in the spares box - but frustratingly not enough - were several Pegasus Spiteful sprues.  These contain all the bits I generally replace and I've been thinking of using the supercharger intake as the oil cooler blisters on the Centaurus Lanchester.  I wanted something similar to those on the Bristol Brigand and my mould of the Brigand bit is both old and only has one item on it - the Lanchester will need eight.  Okay, the Spiteful intake is much bigger, but I can explain that away as "tropical filters".  however, I only found six sprues, even though I *know* that there are more to be found.

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on June 16, 2013, 12:55:54 PM
Well, it's official - the Lancaster phase is over - for now anyway.  I have just cut the bits of the sprues for 4 PR19s and I've a feeling there's more follow.  One's a model I planned for last year but dropped at the last minute (Norwegian), two are to be 607 (entry and exit of service, so two different schemes) and the last will be another that I'd planned for last year but somehow morphed into a 2TAF aircraft - clipped wings, contraprop, big rudder, low level cameras and all in the post war Intruder scheme.

So, having started that, it was time to resurrect the hard copy of The Plan, and proceeded to cut it down to size.  Having done so, I was still over two A4 sheets.  No doubt some more judicious pruning is in order, although quite a few of the ones remaining actually have paint on them - a few even have decals and varnish.  A target of a maximum of twenty, but no doubt I'll start getting more ideas along the way.

Speaking of ideas, I had a few on friday, after seeing a photo in the Morgan/Shacklady "bible" but I'm not going to say much else except that I don't think that anyone's done anything like this before.  This started me thinking of more hybrids and test fitting some bits got me thinking about the back story for yet another....  Must stop.  Really.

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on August 26, 2013, 01:31:54 PM
Not a lot of updates to this recently, largely because I'm simply too knackered to do any real modelling - breakfasts are killing me at the minute and over 8+ hours a day on my feet is starting to grate.  Reason being is that I have a new job.

Hmmn, August is nearly over and this time last year construction was almost finished.  This year, I've barely started and having pruned the already cut down plan even further leaves me with no fewer than 20 models to do.  Far too many, even if at least four have their decals on and require minimal work to finish.  I think it'll have to be pruned again to something a bit more manageable, so basically anything already painted and decalled or a mix of Airfix 19s and 22s, although there's a started Hasegawa VIII that will be done.

But there's other things that should be finished first.  Would it be better to just crack on with them, because they're assembled (the early Sea Hurricane idea mentioned in another thread) primed (various Lancasters) and in some cases painted and decalled needing final work (at least two Tempests plus a Meteor, but that's likely to get stripped anyway as I was never happy with it) or carry on with The Plan?

Need to make a decision one way or another - and very soon.

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on August 31, 2013, 04:56:36 PM
Well, I've decided to do a VERY limited version of The Plan and no more than ten but possibly 15, the latter being the largest possible number I can do in the limited time available.  A month max to get all the construction done and then another month for all the painting, leaving a few days to do some final tinkering.

It's also going to be limited to some easy builds, meaning Airfix 19s and 22s, although some of the latter are being converted - one is using the Freightdog bits as a Seafire 46, although I'm saving the cannons for something else as it's going to be a rather polished hack.

One or two that are kicking about in my head are hybrids but may need a little more work than I'd like, although swapping fuselages about with a couple of AZ kits may prove to be the answer.  Th alternatives are either CMR using their 22 with a spare IX wing or the Ventura kits which I do know are cross kittable. 


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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on September 01, 2013, 02:39:41 PM
First of September and it's been a construction day.  An HF21 started (Airfix 19 with my resin wing and some spare F22 bits) - it's getting a contraprop, big rudder, slipper tanks and short barrel cannons to take on Ta 152s.  Plus that nice high altitude day fighter scheme.

Whilst looking for the bits, I dug out an extra wing or two as I fancy another FR21 but unsure of what scheme or markings it may end up in - 2TAF is so last year - although a Seafire FR45 is tempting and I have the requisite spare bits.

Not one but two Airfix 22s have been allocated for conversion to Seafires - found a lovely scheme that I wanted to copy.  One had two undercarriage sprues, so another kit got opened and I'll use it for spares.  The Seafire mentioned above will get the spare doors from a SH Spitfire 21 as well as the hook attachment - I don't have enough of Colin's conversions but I know I've plenty of spare contraprops and I can live with the Airfix wheels.

Also dug into the box of half built Spitefuls and pulled one of mine out with attached Pegasus wings.  Again, another Ta 152 chaser in the MSG/PRU Blue scheme.  Tailplanes on, plus slipper tanks and I'll use the drop tank from the Freightdog 46 conversion.  That may end up getting primed in a day or so.  I've been thinking about this one for a while. 

I know there's a number of part started Spitefuls that wouldn't take much effort to turn round but I also need a late model Seafang, if only to do the Dutch one I've been planning.  Wonder where the part started AZ one is?

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on September 15, 2013, 01:04:46 PM
Not a lot to report as the day job seems to be getting in the way - breakfasts are a killer.  Have got some fuselages closed up and the wings on.  Off on wednesday so I foresee a lot of sanding being done.

The AZ Seafang is together and it's a far superior kit to their abysmal Spiteful.  The fuselage seems chunkier.  I still prefer the Magna kit, although that has problems of it's own.  I did dig out a part started one but I doubt it'll get any further than the cockpit getting painted black.

The fuselages of everything I want to do are by and large closed up apart from 3 Airfix F22s and an Airfix Mk Ia being crossed with a PR19 to get  PRIV.  The former takes the latter wing, so with a Falcon PR canopy and the Rotol prop from either 3D or Airfix, I have a PRIV without having to spent Sword money.  The PR19 wing is spare as it was left over when I was converting the 19 into a Seafire 45.

Had a quick flip through one of the Commando comics recently and found a PRVII.  Now this is an HFVII but as a PR machine.  Conversion looks to be a fairly simple one crossing the Airfix IX and XIX but needing a few extra bits.  May look into this one a bit more closely...


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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on September 22, 2013, 06:15:49 PM
Well, getting a bit closer.  All the fuselages are closed up with the wings on and I've reached a cut off point  - nowt else is going into the build programme now.  Doesn't help with the last minute addition of a pair of Airfix Vbs.  Both are FR versions, one being a cannon armed PR1G in PRU Blue and the other being a late Vb (with the mk IX tailplanes, canopy, six stub exhausts and four blade prop) and will be a traning machine attached to 16 Sqn and in overall PRU Pink.  The PRIV mentioned in the last entry will be similar - with the same mods as the pink Vb, but with a modified PR19 canopy as I found that it fitted the Aifix Ia (old tooling) with a modicum of surgery.  Med Sea Grey and PRU blue for that one with post war markings, although I'm leaning more towards overall PRU Blue for speed.

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on September 28, 2013, 07:31:44 PM
Construction is very nearly over.  Everything is now on it's u/c with one exception (a Hasegawa mk VIII) so if the weather's nice tomorrow it's out into the back garden to do some priming.  One or two are going aluminium - certainly one of the Seafire 46s but possibly the contraprop 45 also.  I'm not quite sure quite what I want to do with that and I'm leaning more towards an aluminium scheme with post war roundels as a station flight aircraft at possibly Culdrose.  Ditto the AZ Seafang as I did want to Dutch in a Sky/EDSG with the low demarcation but again, aluminium is quick and I'd like one in a stripped and polished scheme - the Magna kit is a bit rough for an NMF scheme.

Final question - is anyone still following this thread?

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on September 29, 2013, 04:30:08 PM
Got two Spitefuls primed but progress today has been somewhat slow, although pretty much everything is ready to prime, barring the Hasegawa VIII mentioned upthread.  There's also a Heller XVIe that I did have plans for but can't remember what they were - possibly an Italian low back IXe in NMF - it's together and just needs an u/c.  May just finish it off to get rid of it.  Italian or Egyptian markings perhaps.

Cut off point for construction is tomorrow, so as usual, there's some latecomers, this time a pair of XIXs have just been thrown together - they'd been part assembled and the interior's painted and given that both will end up in PRU Blue (with Norwegian and FAA markings), they shouldn't prove too much trouble.  Having said that, I am considering South African markings for one, but in their two tone grey scheme with Type D style markings.

Whilst prepping the PRIV for priming, I did have an idea to do it in BoB colours  but with some fictitious codes as though it was one of the aircraft used in the film.  That's a possible small subset collection - whiffed Spitfires used in films.  Certainly one worth considering.  I know I want to do an He 111  with Merlins in Luftwaffe colours but with RAF markings overpainted, ditto a Buchon.

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on October 04, 2013, 12:09:27 PM
Everything is now primed, barring an FR.Vb and two 19s, and much of the remedial work has been done and reprimed.  Again, typical of me, another latecomer but again, thrown together from part assembled components - another PR.IV.  With a modicum of surgery to the fuselage, the wing from an Airfix 19 will fit and the 19 canopy will also fit the Airfix Ia (old tooling though) with some alteration.  

Now this isn't quite a PR.IV, as the canopy alone is incorrect (should have the side blisters).  It also has the later u/c, four spoke wheels, mk IX tailplanes with the enlarged elevators, Aerovee filter and will probably end up with a four blade prop.  Just remembered I need to fit the Coffman starter bulge on the already primed model - oops!  Backstory?  Rebuild PRIV with mods given to late mk Vs and then used as a hack by one of the PR units post war. The second one on the go will get the pointy fin and because - as usual - the ideas were flowing and enthusiasm was kicking in, I dug out enough spare bits to assembled a THIRD although this would end up in BoB colours for my small but growing collection of whiffed Spitfire survivors as extras in the film.  I've even toyed with a highback F22 sans guns.  That'll really confuse people, although bearing in mind that the two PR19s that were with the BBMF were used, it isn't that far a stretch.

Somewhere I have a assembled Aeroclub MK 12 fuselage conversion mated to an Airfix Ia wing as an early Griffon Speed Spitfire.  Very tempted with it now in PRU colours instead.  Really must dig it out, although I'm not adding that into the programme because I doubt that there's time, although an overall PRU blue scheme is easy to do.  Just means adding more wheels and yet another prop to sort out, not to mention PR canopies.

Another idea that's got me thinking is an Airfix F22 in the air race colours applied to one of 41 Sqns F21s, either as a genuine aircraft (and I am considering a 41 Sqn F22 but in MSG/PRU Blue colours - their Hornets were delivered in that scheme and that's another sort of whiff I've been planning) or a warbird.  Again, another one for post Telford due to time constraints, although maybe not...

Warbird hybrids are an interesting area to mine for potential whiffs and not just for Spitfires.

Mention earlier of a low back XVIe reminded of me that's already sitting in NMF in a box from last year - another stalled one - and it's one I really should as I remember buying it.  It was only later in the day that I found it had belonged to a member of one of the Yorkshire clubs who had sadly passed away shortly prior to February 2000. I'd known Ken Oxley well enough for some pleasant chats over the years at various shows, so it deserves to be finished, if only as a small tribute to remember him by, so I may have to do it in real markings.  May try to find something a bit more obscure though.

With the bulk of the priming done, I'm hoping to get a start to the spraying on either sunday night or Monday afternoon.  Need to fit canopies and start masking too.  Thankless task that one, as is painting wheels.  Another job for sunday night, although most of the hubs are done, they're still sprued up and thus need snipping and sanding off.  Don't enjoy that although about a third are done.  Also found some finished ones in a box left from last year.  Result!

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on October 06, 2013, 02:19:02 PM
I really must stop looking for bits, because I keep turning up airframes that are together and just need minor work to get them to primer stage.  Obviously, there's that Heller 16 mentioned upthread (Italian or Egyptian) but then I found a crosskit Airfix IX with a XIX wing that I think may have been going to be an XI at some stage.  However, I did a hybrid Isreali machine ad wanted to do it later in it's career so I've dragged that out too.

The air race 41 sqn F22 is now underway.  This adding things in has got to stop.  

All the wheels sprayed so far are now cleaned up and ready to be mounted.  There's a half dozen or so sets to be sprayed, largely from the airframs that I've just added to the programme.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtVhIQ4e9fo

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on October 18, 2013, 04:05:19 PM
Priming is finally finished, canopies for the most part are now all on and the bulk of them are now masked.  Everything that's going in an NMF finished is at the stage where the decals can go on.  Fingers crossed I can get some of the paint on this weekend as all the single colour schemes (ie PR/FR machines) should be ready to decal by Tuesday - wednesday night at the latest.  Thankfully I have Tuesday and Wednesday off.  

IIRC, there's only about four with a three tone scheme and one of them I'm seriously considering binning: it's a Hasegawa VIII which appears to have been warped as the rear fuselage is out somewhere.  Really dislike that kit and I'm considering using an Airfix IX with the Freightdog conversion.

The Heller 16 which I'd mentioned I had already painted has been located - along with another pair.  How many more did I leave unfinished?  Don't answer that one.

Time is running out and I'm seriously behind.  The numbers may have to be pruned.  Drastically.

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on October 20, 2013, 11:32:06 AM
No spraying as yet - everything is going arseachingly slowly - realised that the areas around the rear canopies needed rebuilding, so the two Seafire 45s are waiting for filler to cure.  The HFVI needs the canopy cutting out, Spitefuls need doors and bulkheads.  Almost tempted to give up.

May just get these bits done today, start to spray tomorrow.  At least Xtracrylic dries sharpish...

Wheels are all done, as are the exhausts and the props are about halfway - all the spinners are done, some blades undercoated. I found I needed two coats of Xtracrylic for decent coverage so I've been doing the blades with Revell acrylic paint - I know in the past I've said I hated it - in general I still do, but quickly using a pot left lying about (probably from a Lancaster) I found the coverage decent and better than Xtracrylics so have decided to use it on a trial basis.

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on October 22, 2013, 07:23:00 PM
About half of the spraying is done - with two exceptions (one of which will probably get axed...), all of the single colour stuff is done, although one needs a respray.  All of the two tone stuff has it's upper surface done, although the Med Sea Grey HF21 nearly went off a wall in frustration at the airbrush repeatedly clogging, despite the paint being more than thin enough.  I did get the uppersurfaces of the Avro Lanchester done, although a second coat along the fuselage top decking may be required.

At a guess, about half a dozen have yet to receive any paint, but that's a nice position to be in.  Nowhere near as good as last year, but I'm organised as I can be and it's been a turbulent year, so if the planning falls apart, then I won't be too upset.

Masking is now on the canopy for the Met Flight HFVI and the two last Spitefuls have the relevant missing doors created from plastic card.  All three have a date with the airbrush tomorrow.

Very happy with the finish on one of the Seafire 46s - first time I've sprayed with Tamiya paints (a cheap bottle from Modelzone's demise) and it went okay.

The hard copy of The Plan (2013) has been amended and those being culled are greyed out.  There's one late addition that isn't on it and for the third year running, the captured F22 in Luftwaffe colours has been deferred.  It was only started in 1992...


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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on October 30, 2013, 04:42:35 PM
Finally started the decalling and about a third at least now have some markings on - largely just the national markings until I can sort out serial and squadron codes.  The Spitefuls and Seafang are going to be nightmares as usual in that regard, although I could just nick a serial from a Sea Fury for the latter as I doubt anyone would notice.

Two or three have yet to have their undersides sprayed, but one I just don't care and the other two...  Nothing this year is desperately important - just being at Telford is amazing enough and having some new models to show off even better.

That said, quite a few I'm seriously unhappy with.  The Malaya F24 being the most hated, the Seafire F45s don't quite tick my 'Like' box either.  General finish, build quality.  You get the picture.  That said, I've seen far, far worse on display at Telford so I feel a bit better.

Three days left to do the decalling, varnishing on Monday.  Gives a day for final tinkering and pack on Wednesday.

Down to the wire.  Again.


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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on November 04, 2013, 04:13:56 PM
Time is now drawing very short indeed.  With one exception, all the decals are on, although I hthink one or two really need some numbers on them.  I may just leave them off as the Isreali PR one may not have had any due to their usual paranoid secrecy, whilst the Norwegian one because it was RAF operated and only had their markings as a cover.

The one exception is a desert schemed IIa - I did intend it as a hack but 60 Sqn SAAF originally wanted Spitfires as fighter recce aircraft - indeed, they demanded them - but got a pair of Mossies instead.  The plan was that they did get the Mosquitos but also managed to scrounge a hack and modified it locally for use as a PR machine.  Can I find the Airfix Vc with the decent SAAF markings in it?  Can I fairy cakes! The irony is that I saw it last week and can't remember which box it's in...

Varnishing tomorrow, then paint the u/c and tailwheels.  Sort out the canopies for the bubble tops and then start banging on the pre-prepared fiddly bits.

Maybe, just maybe.  I can get it all done, but again, it'll be down to the wire. Again.

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on November 14, 2013, 12:17:55 PM
Well, it's been and gone.  In the end, there were some new models - largely the PR birds and the converted 19s.  Anything that didn't require too, much work to finish and in fact, they still need their tailwheels/pitot tubes sorting out.

Am I unhappy?  Not really.  If I'd had wednesday off, I could probably have finished everything I wanted done but given the events of the past year, just being at Telford was the important thing.  New models to display was a bonus.  

This one isn't new - one of the 2011 builds - but I don't think you've seen a pic of it yet:

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-bEK6Q8LE_iU/Un6L32AnzWI/AAAAAAAAg0Y/zbqXNr85yRY/w955-h716-no/PB090077.JPG)

The Airfix IXc converted to a Floatfire using the floats and tail from the Eastern Express floatfire.  Trust me, these are far superior to the relevant bits in the PM kit.  Tail is a bit thick though. I did use the same parts with an Airfix Vb but that was in one of the boxes that stayed here.  I've a part converted Vb with the horrid PM bits yet to see paint.


PR19_Kit did remark that he thought this year's Alternate Spitfire display was a little muted and on reflection that's probably true.  However, it did represent a reasonable amount of the last two years output and the fact that there wasn't more was down to sheer laziness on my part - I just cannot face unpacking, sorting into order and then repacking so many models. On top of that, the display is on my club's stand and had to be pruned slightly to get their models on the table.  I can't hog a whole club space for myself (Mind, if anyone at the club did/does complain then they'll be told in no uncertain terms, and no doubt with a lot of swearing, that next year they can fill the table themselves and I'll just not bother).  

I will confess that I really put out my own favourites, rather than follow any plan this year and most were the same small display I took down to the Southwell show a few weeks back.  Cheating?  Yes, but it's my display.  So there.

So, where do I go from here?  Well, finishing off this year's Telford laggards is in order and in most cases, it shouldn't take too much effort.  Tarting up a few in the boxes and some running repairs are also in order.  

After that, I think I'll put the Spits away and do a few other things for a while, perhaps finishing the numerous Tempest and Lancaster whifs that are cluttering the place, not to mention that Meteor PR3 that's kicking about.  And I *must* get the decals on the Lanchester.  Want that one finished for Huddersfield.

Then again, the long wing PR.VII is itching to be done.  Just wish I'd remembered what I wanted that Freightdog PRXI conversion for when I was at Telford!  Although given the number of MPM PR XI's I have stashed away, I may just tinker with that one instead.


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Photo with thanks to PhilP.
Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on November 14, 2013, 03:02:28 PM
There were another two pics taken by PhilP of some of The Alternate Spitfire display models which I'd placed on the SIG display, if only to contribute something to the table.  As it was, they seemed to be in good company, with several by JayBee, Narses2 and A N Other (whoever they may be).

I would have posted them earlier, but couldn't find the links.  Some head scratching ensued and technology was sworn at, but we got there in the end. 

First up:

(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-IfhDSjV28g4/Un6L3DaXEaI/AAAAAAAAg0U/jztw2Jy0EbY/w955-h716-no/PB090076.JPG)

A four cannon mk IXc of the Polish Fighting Team in North Africa.  This used a spare set of cannons from another Airfix IXc (possibly the Acklington Station Flight high back XVIe which got four stubs) and the large blisters from the retooled KP IX.  Apart from that, straight from the box, although I have a suspicion that I should have used the smaller intake rather than the Aerovee filter...

I don't like the desert camo, because I always seem to have a problem with it, but this looks okay.

Second one is one I'm a lot happier with.

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/bVw31uTuyCaQgpzhN20yZ6Dbxl8pJWWFtnEjsuehSqTF=w955-h716-no)

A 541 Sqn Spiteful PR15.  A reworked original tool Pegasus Spiteful, with my own resin tail surfaces, wheels and radiators, an Aeroclub Seafire 47 canopy and a Frog XIVe prop.  Of the four PR Spitefuls I did in 2011/2012 (and it's split because although I did the bulk of the work in 2011, I only finished them in 2012), this wasn't one of the favourites but it seems to be growing in my affections, possibly because of the scheme, possibly the glossy post war roundels. Must do another PR Spiteful at some stage, possibly using the Magna kit.

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on November 20, 2013, 06:06:10 PM
After some searching, I did manage to find a photo of the 2013 Telford display posted on Britmodeller.

(https://www.whatifmodellers.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1196.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Faa401%2Forjanutne%2FSMW%2FIMAG2260_zpsded8a7a2.jpg&hash=f5f5af96d24685d33d09f199cf597674a429b1ce) (http://s1196.photobucket.com/user/orjanutne/media/SMW/IMAG2260_zpsded8a7a2.jpg.html)

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Photo with thanks to Ørjan Utne.
Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on November 25, 2013, 01:47:25 AM
Tall Eng's recent Spitfire two seater has impressed me so much that I'm going to have to steal the ideaand tweak it a tad:

Merlin - use a Heller 16 kit but use the big tail from the 18 and possibly the 22 tailplanes to cure the stability problems caused by the lower spine.  Obviously, the cockpit gets moved forwards.  I'd keep the guns, although the cannons may go and be replaced with .50 cals.  I'd add the underwing slippers.

Griffon - use the Fujimi kit as Keith did, or possibly one of the spare AZ fuselages I have lying about.  Possibly the same armament or I may just keep the cannons.  It'll get the contraprop to cure the stability issues. 

On reflection, the spare AZ fuselage is probably the way to go as I've a few of them (you don't say...) and I can find the rest in the spares box - I certainly have a spare CMR wing for it and some AZ tailplanes too.

Just a scheme and unit now.  Overall NMF with yellow trainer bands? 

Thinking about another whiffed 18 now as this thinking is proving fruitful.  An armament practice school or an advanced flying unit?  One of the pilot refresher units?  They did have 22s and an alternate scheme for an 18 is a good idea.  Don't have many whiffed 18s at the minute.

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on March 04, 2014, 04:04:59 PM
Not a lot going on, apart from finishing off a few of the stalled Telford 2013 builds in time for 'uddersfield.  One that didn't make it got finished on the following day - I'd been given a bag of spares which included a set of Italeri 6 stack exhausts, so the BBMF Mk Ib got finished.  The AZ Seafang got there but didn't make the journey back - smashed u/c and prop.

Ideas?  Not many at the moment, although Tall Eng's recent F22 has me thinking - I really think that they'd have gone with the post war style markings and I have plenty of them, so I may do a variation on his idea.  There's some extremely subtle Mk Is planned, although I need to know when the armoured screen and 3 blade prop came in - was it post Sept 39?

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on July 22, 2014, 05:23:39 AM
Time to update this methinks, although really there's little to say because I haven't been building anything.  That's not quite true, I've done some tinkering with a Heller 109C and done some minor assembly on the new Airfix Blenheim, but other than that, nothing since before Huddersfield.  No real interest.

However, came in last night and was determined to find something.  Couldn't find it but did find a Brigade mk 12 conversion.  I've got a few of these but they've been sidelined as they're intended to go with the Italeri Spitfires which are frankly garbage and not even fit to scavenge for spares other than the canopy.  So I decided to see if the bits would fit another donor.  The C wing uppers will fit the old Airfix Vb wing lower.  Good, got plenty of them and could do with a cheap Vc - the Airfix C wing is attrocious - but what about the 12 fuselage?

Hmm.  Tapes it up and offers to Airfix Vb wing.  Kind of fits, although the wing will need some minor surgery.  So far so good, that gives me a XIIb or c if I use the Airfix wing lower/Brigade wing uppers.  Then I tried the new tool Airfix Ia wing.  Even better fit, although some surgery required to the wing and a little sanding on the fuselage.  Will the Airfix interior fit?  Lot of sanding and grouting out but yes it will. 

Result!  I now have a wide option for early Griffon Spitfires, mainly mk IVs but also FR and PR hybrids.  Everything can be bodged without having to resort to using the Aeroclub fuselages.

I'm also starting to think about Telford and what I want to do this year in terms of Plan items and the SIG display.


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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on July 24, 2014, 04:37:41 PM
Been through the Spitfire spares box to find a set of Airfix Vb wings to play with and with the front fairing/lip/lower cowl removed, it's a nice fit onto the Brigade 12 fuselage.  Then a quick look for an assembled Airfix PR19 wing.  Again, some minor surgery and we're good to go. 

I'm not too sure about tailplanes, given that the fuselage is geared to go with the Italeri abortions, but the AZ Spitfire IXs all come with early and late tailplanes and the mounting lug looks similar, so I may be able to bodge it.

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on August 20, 2014, 02:27:21 PM
"The invasion... it's begun!"

It's been a funny year and for various reasons I haven't done anything.  Little bit of tinkering here and there but no actual gluing.  I was still having ideas, but nothing serious and still buying kits although at a much reduced rate.  However, my creativity has returned... and with a vengeance!

Spitfires are now being thrown together with some speed as the clock is ticking for Telford.  A completely new and revised version of The Plan has been drawn up specifically for this year.  Apart from a Spiteful and the two Spitfire Tr's there's no holdovers from previous years.  I need to keep the numbers down too - the current job has unpredictable shifts that play havoc with a build programme, as I learned to my cost last year. This time it *will* be different and if anything isn't ready to spray by the cut off point, it gets axed.

The other thing I'm doing now, as long as the weather holds, is to photograph as many of the finished builds as possible.  Why?  Well, there's the projected book and also possibly sticking some on photobucket or one of the other online hosting sites.  But what I am going to do is a flip book, one Spitfire to a page with some brief modelling notes.  From the 224 through to the Attacker.  Basically because the whole display is simply too large to lug around - there's at least 15 boxes with 11 Spits in each - you do the maths!  It was a hard job getting them into a 12ft double depth space and an hour to sort out.  So, rather than scale it back, take them all but in a different format.  Most in the book and a box of my favourites plus a box of anything new.  Depending on the reaction to the flip book, I may just try and get that published.  I still need to start designing the pages, but have some ideas in mind already.  The modelling notes for quite a few are already done and in the can.

I've also been thinking more and more recently about slightly widening the scope of The Alternate Spitfire.  Not a lot, I grant you, but just a little.  I mean, the Attacker is in there and really it's there due to being an outgrowth of the Spiteful.  One or two suggested including the ill-starred Swift (of which more later), but I'm thinking more of the true alternates that were put forward to the same spec as the Spitfire, such as the Gloster F5/34, Martin Baker MB2 and the Vickers Venom.  I did gather the bits to have a stab at the Bristol 133 but they're buried somewhere deep in the stash.  Say Mitchell fell off the perch a few years early and never finished the Spitfire except as the halfway house between the 224 and K5054.

It's possibly more to add a little bit of interest and break up some of the display, because a table full of Spitfires is, well, a table full of Spitires to the untrained eye and only the afficianado can tell the difference between them.  And some are so subtle that you *really* have to study them to know why they're whifs.  Plus it's an opportunity to give the 30s section of the projected book a bit more depth.

Anyway, I'd really rather talk about the Swift.  I did some tinkering with the old Hawk/Testors Swift some months back, really just cleaning it up and getting the old Airkit resin intakes to fit.  Airfix are about to release their FR5 so it's perhaps time to finish this relic off.  Quickly glued it together, using the laughable u/c legs themselves to fill the holes and filling the engraved fin flash and some ejector pin marks on the wing.  I left the horrendously thick fences, partly through laziness but really, it is what it is, an old kit and if I want a bells and whistles Swift then the Airfix one is imminent.

As for a scheme.  Well, 74 Sqn were mooted to get the F2 at one point, so that's likely even though it breaks my rule on whifs getting the obvious squadrons.  Probably overall NMF but with a black fin.  Obvious?  Yes, but it is quick and I do have some 74 Sqn markings for Hunters I can steal.  I did briefly consider either 92 or 111 sqns using markings from other Hunter sheets, but again, these are terribly obvious so back to 74 Sqn.

The amount of money the RAF wasted on trying to get the Swift to be any sort of interceptor was horrendous and IIRC, production lines were being set up in Belfast to build a considerable number of Swift F4s.  The reheat never worked properly and it had all the agility of a brick but... The Swift was a very tough airframe and excelled in the low level tactical recce role.  Perhaps that toughness could have been used properly, turning the aircraft into a low level strike fighter?  After all, the Typhoon was crap at being an interceptor but excelled at blowing up German tanks and other such low level fun and games. 

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on August 28, 2014, 05:08:33 PM
"Don't you understand? It's all up here in my mind. The information's here, but I can't reach it."

Right.  Update on progress... Mixed...

It happens every year.  I set a plan, with everything I want to do set out and every year something gets added.  Kind of.  What's happened this time is that I'd actually started pruning The Plan (2014) down to make it a tad more manageable - 3 Fujimi 14s which I'd forgotten what I wanted to do with them got axed, along with a Hobbyboss Vb and an Airfix Vb for similar reasons.  The proposed Tr.XVI is very likely to go the same way, although that does have the benefit of having the wings assembled... in 1991. Recycled bits!

Having done that, several more get added in a few days back (2 PRIVs and a mash up Tr.21 from a load of spares box bits and a resin 21 wing)  and then yet another today - idly test fitting a CMR HF7 wing onto a MPM PR19 fuselage only to find it fits and off we go with an HFXIVc.  See what I mean?  Mixed. Yet again.

Actually, it's not that bad.  Everything I want from the revised plan is closed up - ie fuselage together and wing on bar two.  These are the Xtrakit F.XII which will be a F.XIIe (and, worryingly, apart from cutting bits off the sprue, that's as far as it's got) and a PR.IV mash up (Airfix mk Ia new tool fuselage with Airfix PR19 wing) and that only needs a tad more sanding and the wing will fit.  I do have the PRIV which will end up in Battle of Britain markings as a taxiable extra in the film.  Lots of things have been covered with filler, so there'll be a lot of mess when I get sanding in a day or so.  Then tailplanes on and we repeat.

Any further additions?  I hope not, although if the promised F23 wings get handed over on saturday...  Well, all bets are off then.  Another one I added in at the last minute  was a Heller F.XVIe which may end up as a Navy target (they did use Mosquitos) in overall silver.  Simple scheme.

Timewise, anything which doesn't have it's wings on by sunday night gets axed whilst everything has to be together, filled and sanded and on it's u/c by Sept 15th, so it's ready to prime.  Depending on progress and pressures of work, I may bring that deadline forward to Sept 10th, so everything has to be primed, remedial sanding done and ready to spray by the 15th.  Doable.  Ideally, I want everything ready by the saturday prior to Telford, leaving a few days to finish off the few holdovers from previous years, two of which are two seat trainers which I really want finished as the two seaters aren't represented yet. I'm still undecided about the Tr.16 that got axed - the bits to do it are there and i was considering an overall yellow scheme similar to the ones worn by Mosquito trainers issued to RAuxAF units.  I may have to do the Tr.21 in that scheme due to the large amount of filler that comprises the fuselage - masking will involve tape at some point and undoubtedly, the filler will get torn off.

This year I will not be tinkering on the day prior to going. Sick of it really - I'm getting to old for all that 4am friday morning malarkey.  Just want to chill out, possibly go for a ruby and maybe a drink or two.

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on October 01, 2014, 04:54:40 AM
"Time, Professor. It is all a matter of time."

Updatey type thing...

Well, everything is assembled and, bar one or two, all filled.  Everything is all primed, although as usual everything that's going NMF is primed in aluminium.  Still need to get a few canopies on and masked before I can start spraying, although those that are going aluminium are generally ready to decal.

As usual, my promises not to add anything into the plan fell through - two Airfix 19s got added at the last minute, although as these are easy to assemble and both going in overall PRU Blue so easy to spray.  Still have to cast a few 18 rudders for the contraprop aircraft.

Again, as usual, plans are fluid and there's a few that I *still* don't know what I'm doing with them.  The F.XVIIIe with the Spiteful tail is now going Aluminium in the absence of a proper idea - I'm now thinking Central Fighter Establishment hack but with Type D markings rather than Type C.  Rather pleased with that one.  There's a NMF Heller XVI that I haven't a clue as how to finish - there's still two from last year! - but I'm thinking about 6 Sqn in Cyprus as they did have some rather beat up Hurricanes before they got the Tempest VI.  I had considered the Airfix IX converted to an VIII but that's going to be a Pakistani aircraft in desert colours.

I'm actively thinking about axing some now rather than later to ease the spraying load, so the Academy 14 and an Airfix Vb that's become a VI face the chop.  The former because I hate the kit and also because it needs a big rudder and contraprop, both of which I have in limited numbers.  There's one that was converted to a 21 that needs the prop more urgently.  The latter because I can't face the vacform canopy, TBH.

Most of the smaller bits - wheels, props, exhausts - are largely done.

So, compared to last year I seem to be in a reasonable position.  Plenty to do, but I'm fairly organised this year and I don't have the added complication of a new job to contend with too.  I still have to work around shift patterns, but apart from that, I'm confident that everything I want to do this year is achievable.

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on October 01, 2014, 04:23:34 PM
"It's started!"

No, not the airbrush - although the workroom has been reconfigured for spraying - but several aerosols.  With one exception, all the NMF ones are done, including an Airfix Vb that was going to be a hack but is now a 6 Sqn aircraft.  Two Malta based aircraft now have their uppersurfaces done, thanks to a can of £1 paint from Poundworld - the top looked similar to Dark Sea Grey so I took a chance on it.  It's somewhere between Dark Sea Grey and Extra Dark Sea Grey - too dark for the former, not blue enough for the latter - but if explained away as a temporary colour sprayed on whilst aircraft in transit to Malta were aboard a carrier?  Then again, sunlight and salty air can have odd effects on paint.  One I had envisaged in EDSG and Sky, but the thought of Azure blue underneath won out and I'll add Dark Slate Grey on top too.  It's a lovely scheme which I've used before and was rather keen to use again, although not on Spitfires.

Looking through Alan Lake's "Flying Units of the RAF" revealed the proposed use of the Spitfire PRXI by a Met Flight unit.  Rather handy as I've one on the go, although now I'm considering overall PRU Blue and said unit's code letters rather than the MSG uppers/PRU Blue lowers with the high demarcation line and Type D markings I was planning on.  Back to the time factor again, but I've several MPM PRXIs in the stash and they're not difficult to obtain - my LHS has one I can lay my hands on fairly quickly.  I had considered using PR.Xs in a similar role - their pressurised cockpits would make them a bit more comfortable for the role and post 1945, they were surplus.  PRU Pink with Type D markings?  Seems an eye catching scheme.

I was reading through the book to check on something with regards to code letters allocated but never used - I had planned a pair of early Spits with two such squadrons but as usual my imagination goes into overdrive and I planned a few more.  In addition, there's an Airfix Mk Ia that's built and painted but never finished, so that'll fit with the same unit as a training hack.  The same info also helped me make a decision with regard to a built Airfix Vb that I really can't remember what I had planned for it.  My short term memory is shocking these days.

Back to 6 sqn.  I had promised myself that I wasn't going to start anything else - the cut off point has well and truly passed - but I almost started a pair of Airfix F22s, one of which would end up with 6 Sqn.  The Vbs I'm giving them in 46 to replace their beat up Hurricanes would be replaced with low back 9s or 16s and then F22s later on.  In the real world, they went from the Hurricane to the Tempest 6, which is quite a jump in performance. 

It would seem that I'm building several mini themes within a larger narrative.  The Alternate Spitfire is a good catch all for these, much as The 1946 Berlin Airshow was a good catch all for the Luftwaffe stuff I was building in the late 1990s, which some of the older hands may well recall.  I *really* wish I knew what happened to the Fw 3x1000 delta and the Ar 96B Nachtjager.

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on October 12, 2014, 12:44:34 PM
"There's no pattern to it at all. It's nonsense!"

Well, the first stage of spraying is over.  All the single colour stuff is done and everything in multiple colours has the first colour on and ready for masking.  How I enjoy that... I don't think.  There's one still to have it's canopy sorted out before I spray it, a PR aircraft that's going either PRU Pink or Blue, still haven't decided that but I do want to get it done

As ever, plans are still fluid and some colours have changed - Dark Earth instead of Ocean Grey, Dark Sea Grey instead of Ocean.  In some cases it's due to the darker colour to hide flaws, others because I simply made a mistake.  As with previous years, ones that were not in the plan have been inserted, but at least this time they're already assembled and in some cases painted.  One just needs decalling, another needed a colour overpainted as it was the result of an experiment that didn't pan out.  All the other colours on so I simply brush painted it to save time.  Another was a bought in salvage job I had an idea for but then dropped to ease things.  However, it caught my eye when spraying earlier and as the ase colour was close to what I was spraying, I decided to give it a new coat.  I'll need to find a new u/c for it but I've a spare prop and it's a simple two colour scheme.  Speed is of the essence now. Finally, there's a couple that aren't in The Plan but are being built in parallel - they can be axed if need be and I won't feel guilty.

It's usually about now that I start thinking up new ideas, probably to think of something other than the monotony of spraying and masking.  There's plenty of them but largely for hacks and second line aircraft.  I really need to start writing them down as I'm just itching to start - construction is always my favourite part - so I've considered a fresh 2015 copy of The Plan, although I may get another one or two done post Telford, in amongst finishing off all the abandoned builds, of which there are a considerable number!

As for time... I seem to be on lates at work at the moment and partly at my own request (I *loathe* getting up early), so less time for spraying as I don't like running it too late at night, but it does mean that some of the smaller jobs can be done and I should be able to get a fair bit of the masking out of the way this week and possibly get further ahead with the spraying.  It's a more ambitious plan than last year but I'm sure I'll get the core of it that I want finished.

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on November 23, 2014, 03:54:22 PM
"But that's not the plan anymore is it, Avon?"

Telford's been and gone and despite so many promises, I was working away to the last minute again, although only two main boxes and a shoebox went down.  Got the core done but several that I did want finished didn't make it.  Quite a few of those have been finished since but the rest are still to be piked up again.  However, being on lates at work has meant that I haven't had the energy to do it.

The spending spree on Plan items at Telford went well, although certain Czech traders were conspicuous by their absence and although I bought a lot, there was nothing really special.  Apart from an Airmodel reboxing of a CMR Spiteful which I suspect is the basis of the Pegasus original tooling.  There's certainly a tie up of the two somewhere, although the Czechs did copy a few Pegasus kits.  I'm still trying to figure this one out.  I did buy a few Luftwaffe items which may well fit into The Plan at some stage, these being a Ta 152H and an Fw190D-11.  I'll need them in RAF camo for an article planned around several unfinished PR19s, although the D-11 isn't essential.

Displaywise, a little muted but more thought out than last year, if that makes any sense, and everything was 100% new.  I did finish several of the holdovers from previous years and they made it in their regenerated forms. Some models escaped the Tyneside stand and invaded the What If? SIG table - a Swift, an extended wing PR19 (Kit liked that one especially) and an early mk I that had a lot of people asking what was whif about it.  Extremely subtle it was too, but I'm not saying much else until I have the article written.

So, where do I go from here?  Well, having had some ideas based around certain squadrons, I'd like to take that to their logical conclusions before going anywhere else.  One I'm tempted with is a 607 Sqn F22 in overall High Speed silver with the markings they had on their Vampires.  Plus possibly another F22 in the High Altidue Day Fighter scheme, although this time with slipper tanks (possibly the Firefly ones I use on the Spiteful) and maybe a contraprop.  There's definitely a contraprop 22 to do at some stage.  Plus I have to finish a Tempest II in desert camo.  Yep, you heard that right.  Although I'll have to find it first...

Two PR19s were actually started at Telford, the reason for the latter is that I'd forgotten to attach the wheels retracted option into the wings of the former.  D'oh!  The second will eventually be a Rhodesian one in the spurious camo worn by an F22 that was used as a gate guardian.  T'other will be a second SAAF bird but in a similar camo to that worn by their mk 16s.  I'm still tempted by a PR19 or two in navy camo proper, plus a Seafire 45 in the three tone scheme.

There is a kit of something decidedly leftfield and unexpected that's now underway which will fit into The Plan, as part of an article under the working title of "Swift Encounter". I'm saying nowt else.

All this being the case, I've started a new version of The Plan using the new ideas as a core.  I've also going to have an "odds and sods" version consisting of everything that's been abandoned, erm, "put on hold" because I'd actually like to know what I've actually got kicking about to finish off.

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on January 07, 2015, 03:46:22 PM
"But it's a fake!"

Did some brief tidying and attempting to put boxes away a few weeks back.  Apart from finding things I'd forgotten I had (The Plan stash is LARGE and even I forget what's in there), I discovered I had a number of ye olde Hasegawa Spitfire mk I.  

Now this has long since been superceded, first by the Airfix 1970s tooling and more recently by Tamiya and Airfix, not to mention AZ.  Really, it's well out of date - rivetty, undercarriage track way out, fuselage an odd shape and no gull wing - but it always was useful for the early mk I bits and the 4 spoke wheels are really nice too.  The cheeky sods are still occasionally banging it out at top dollar hoping to con some gullible idiot into buying it.  Me?  No, because all of mine were bought as part of job lots on ebay.

So, what it's all about?  I got thinking, ye knaa, as ye do, and came up with a rather novel way of getting around it.  I also found another fuselage conversion which I'd chucked away for a rainy day, largely because it also has no gull wing but it's a solid resin one so with a bit of grouting, it may well be possible.  However, I'm not going to bother, because as it is, it'll fit nicely with what I have in mind although whether it'll take the Hasegawa wing is a moot point, so I may just have to try and get the Encore boxing of the Heller mk I (also as old and rivetty as the Hasegawa kit, but not nearly so nice) to get the wing.  Why that one?  Much nicer decals, a Portugese option on it IIRC.

Anyhoo, expect to see one or two of these later in the year.  Pretty sure I have about three of the Hasegawa kits knocking about, possibly 4.  One of which may end up wearing RAF captured markings...

On a totally unrelated note, the Airfix PR19 canopy, with a little work, will fit the Revell mk V fuselage.  I suspect the mk IX canopy will also, again with some judicious pruning.  The former means that I can finish the RAF Benson station flight PR.IV.  Just need to find a spare 4 blade prop and some 6 stack exhausts.

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on May 28, 2015, 06:33:34 PM
"Doctor, can you see the object? What is it?"

Just a test.  Nothing to see here. Move along, these aren't the Spitfires you're looking for.

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on May 28, 2015, 06:52:16 PM
"There has been another extraordinary development in the mystery of Mars Probe 7"

Does my drinking offend you?  What's gannin on?  The Wooksta is back from relegation and thanks to Wor Norman we now have pictures!  Aye, me mate Norman has a Facebook page and said I could hoy some pictures up there to share.

Reet.  Today, we'll answer the mystery of just how BIG the stash is.  

(https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xaf1/v/t1.0-9/21684_1645127495703380_5242591516253813347_n.jpg?oh=bcc707b5e58e71495c6b510c8e84b718&oe=55F9CE0F)

(https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xta1/v/t1.0-9/11246853_1645127492370047_1749155856028309334_n.jpg?oh=1ccae17248317e64f848a8a9949e72bb&oe=56013186)

(https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xft1/v/t1.0-9/11391518_1645127529036710_4612272178157176651_n.jpg?oh=15bfac9b00bad140f7d03706bf2fd2ef&oe=560467C7)

(https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xta1/v/t1.0-9/11329782_1645127475703382_7746050096298925998_n.jpg?oh=196213395ca7255e568d938ca3fd8d29&oe=55EF8ED7)

This is just the "Wall of Death".  It doesn't include The Bookcase or the smaller stash on t'other side of the room plus what I'm working on elsewhere.  There's a small stash of Spitfires in me Mam's loft too.  And those photos are pre-Telford, probably last August, so don't include any items bought since then.

More as and when...

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on August 12, 2015, 07:34:52 PM
"More haste, less speed, Mr Cornish!"

Not quite speed, but Swifts nonetheless.

Currently building two - an Airfix and an Xtrakit.  I dislike them both, the former as it's fiddly and the latter because it's crap, largely because the back end looks well bloated.  The Airfix one is highly detailed but the internals are a pain, especially the cockpit tub which didn't fit properly and I had to saw off a mm or two.

The Xtrakit also has fit problems - the wing at the rear is a bit out and as the kit doesn't have a tank, I stole one from the Airfix kit to hide it.  in addition there's some MASSIVE gaps around the wing roots and these are taking a great deal of PSR to eliminate.  I had considered a PR scheme for this, similar to that worn by the Meteor PR10, but given all the sanding and the fact that I just want the thing finished, it's going FRADU and a late scheme similar to that worn by the Hunter GR11s.  Neither does it help that the canopy has been stolen to use on my Magna Swift F7. Thankfully, I procured a replacement vacform one.

I'll probably end up getting another two or maybe three Airfix Swifts, despite saying that I wasn't interested, because I've been getting ideas.  Nowt too far out, other than a ground attack one which is what the current Airfix one will be due to a set of practice bomb carriers and some Matchbox Hunter pylons and SNEB pods.  Probably 20 sqn in the far east.  I still want to do that PR one and there's also the PR6, but that will have to use Colin's F7 conversion for the wingtips and tailplanes.

The Swift was never part of The Plan, but it does bookend it as an Epilogue as such, and I suppose I'd better dig out the Maintrack Supermarine Type 545 to finish the lot off.  Know it's somewhere in me Mam's loft...

I did consider using an Xtrakit Swift to form the basis of the Tay/Avon powered Attacker but looking at the plans, the Novo one is probably a better place to start but utilising the back end of the Testors Swift which I know will fit.  

And then there's the possibility of a Type 510 in RAF or RN markings, and possibly even RAAF...

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on October 22, 2015, 07:04:58 AM
"It's started..."

I've generally kept quiet on this year's Plan because I sort of lost interest for various reasons.  Getting old stuff finished and other types built had a higher priority until sometime in August.

So, trying to get something done and instead of the usual shotgun/blunderbuss approach I've gone for something more targeted and going for some already started themes - 6, 617, 618 Sqns and a few that just take my fancy.  It'll be a small quite subdued display as opposed to previous years but that's because I want them finished a week prior to Telford and not at 4am the day I travel down.  Been there, done that and had far too seriously enough of that by half, okay?  So it's just Spitfires and a pair of Swifts.  Plus a few that need their decals on from last year.  I know Kit will like one of them.

Where are we then?  Are we there yet?
Everything is now at the ready to decal stage.  The bulk of the wheels and exhausts are done (I do need to cast some also) but I've yet to do the props - they're assembled but just need painting, which I'll do one the decalling is done.  I'm hoping that'll be saturday night but expect it to run into Sunday. One of the last few holdovers from Telford 2011 still needs it's markings - an FR14 - but although the paint is one, I'm not going with the initial idea (SEAC) but going with a change of theatre entirely yet keeping the same colours.  Confused?  Good!  

I've other things apart from Spitfires to decal, one of which is this year's big build, an idea which I've mentioned before but assembled it this year and I'd like to keep it a surprise for Telford.  It is BIG but surprisingly, shouldn't take up too much space on the table.  Conversely, it's two stablemates might - IF I get them finished in time.

Anyhoo, back to work...

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on October 25, 2015, 09:03:48 PM
"Nah, pet.  Aah'm just the gadgy wot does the graft.  DENNIS!!!"

Decalling.  God, I'm bored and with the finish line for this stage a little way off.  Most have the bulk of the decals on, some just national markings but the code letters are on.  I'm annoyed, more because I've had plenty of time to get much further but haven't had the drive or focus to just get stuck in.  Discovering the late great Christopher Hitchens and devouring anything featuring him on Youtube hasn't helped.

On reflection, I'm in a better position to complete much of what I want this year than in previous years, largely because I've kept in down.  Okay, a few extras have been co-opted into the programme but they can be discarded as they're none essential.  Getting them a bit further on isn't a bad thing.

Anyhoo, off to bed.  Want to try to get up that bit earlier to really crack on.

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on September 19, 2016, 06:44:06 PM
It's been a year since I posted anything here, largely because whilst I've been building - but sadly not finishing - lots of things, including many Spitfires, I've rarely hard the urge to say anything about it.  In many ways that's a real shame, because those of you who have been following the long and winding road that is both this thread and The Plan have been denied their fix and also because I haven't been jotting down my ideas here.  And I could do with that right now as I start priming the assembled models in all their unpainted hordes and in many cases I cannot for the life of me remember what I was doing with quite a few of them!

I know quite a few of the Heller mk 16s and Airfix mk IXs were going to be a squadron line-up for an Alternate 607 Sqn, a few converted types with new engines or tails, plus there's some variations on a theme for export types but some of the others are complete blanks.  Why did I build them and what was I intending to do?  I know with some of the AZ kits it was to give them a bash and see what the problems were, but now they're assembled, I don't have a use in mind.  Not that it really matters, I'm sure I can come up with something later and if they're primed then they're not to far from the finish line.

Primer wise, I've done about half of the wing, but there's a great deal to do and my shifts aren't making it any easier.  I have tried the Halfords yellow filler primer, which looks to be a good base for RAF Mid Stone - I've yet to do an aircraft in a desert finish that I'm happy with, so this is an experiment in many ways.

I'm still getting ideas, although not just for Spitfires - the resin beer barrels in the Eduard Spitfire IX "Royal Combo" have had me thinking and so much so, I even dug out a Novo Oxford and thoughts are crystalizing around a Seafire, but whether it'll be a III or a 17 is another matter.

What will actually reach Telford is another matter, but I'll plug away and we'll see what happens.  Time is running short.

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on November 04, 2016, 07:23:49 PM
"We're on our own, playing for time - and it's running out!"

A week left.  Actually, not even that.  I have 5 days left, plus perhaps some tinkering time.  The Plan has been pared to the bone as due to circumstances, space is very limited.  Is this stopping me?  Had away and bollards!

The usual vast fleet is all sprayed, some tidy has been performed and decalling is now underway.  I'll go with the method I've adopted over the past few years of putting on the national markings and leaving codes for later.  Five done, with one of those complete.  Decalling must be finished by late afternoon monday to allow for varnishing to be done on the night.

Too much to do.  Props need painting, as do wheels and exhausts.  Worryingly, I have to cast a whole slew for the number of Heller Spits that need replacement wheels - the kit wheels are an odd amalgam of wartime size with postwar hubs.  Thankfully, no vacform canopies to worry about this year though.

And yet again, I add another one into the spray queue, albeit a dead simple overall PRU Blue on a PR19.  I liked the idea of the spears too much and wanted another.  There was plenty of 19s primed, although I cannot remember what most of them were for.  Two I know about, but the other four?

Really not sure of whether to plug away with the whole carousel or cut me losses and concentrate on the quarter, especially the 607 Sqn aircraft as there's some schemes I really like.  But I'm rather fond of the 21 that's on the go even though I noticed something that I should have fixed earlier but didn't.  Can get around it in the backstory but it niggles somewhat, even though the other two that are now stalled can be fixed.

Wish me luck, as I'm really going to need it...

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on November 07, 2016, 07:48:24 PM
"Your time is running out, Blake.  Your time and your luck."

Two days left.  Decals are on the bulk of what I'd like to do but reality has bitten with a vengeance. I've had to make some tough choices and be somewhat ruthless.  A quarter have been cut out of the builds and some that have been decalled partially have been deferred as I wasn't happy with them either. 2 of the 607 Sqn aircraft are examples, but several PR types are cut out, in addition to a pair of Swedish aircraft.

Fate has also stepped in with the discovery of the lack of a set of white codes in the appropriate sizes has meant 3 that I was rather pleased with are now on hold.  They just need the codes, so if they arrive tomorrow - I have two sets on order with different suppliers and they are in the post - then I *might* be able to finish them.  Whether I have the space to take all of those that I finish is another matter.  Depends just how many I can get into the new boxes as I'd bought a slightly large size for the RAAF Shackleton last year (incidentally larger and cheaper - work that out if you can!) and I'm curious to see if they'll take more than the ten or so I can get in the other boxes.  All down to packaging and that's something I was *very* good at.

So, tomorrow is varnishing, some small touch ups here and there, sorting out wheels, props and exhausts.  Not to mention all the canopies for the bubbletops, of which there are a good number.  The props are all assembled - the two contraprop jobs have already been cut from the programme - so it's just out with the paints.

Down to the wire yet again, but as the deadline has been moved forward to wednesday lunchtime, pressure is mounting.  A loooong day beckons...


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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on March 19, 2017, 03:00:13 PM
"We never did get to watch the video!"

I never did get round to adding the white codes to the three, although they just arrived in time.  They've been sitting somewhat neglected on the shelf.  Until now.  One has had it's codes applied, albeit in a different style to what I wanted due to not having the squared off codes.  It doesn't look too bad though.  The other two will have to wait a day or two - don't have time tonight for various reasons - but they will be finished this week.  I also got the upper wing roundels onto another that for some reason (probably rushing things) I forgot.  That, along with the FR16 I was talking about earlier, will get varnished tomorrow. I want to clear the decks of a fair bit of unfinished stuff so as to make a decent stab at this year's Plan items, whatever they may be.

Attackers.  Two have now had their coats of Ocean grey applied and await masking to apply the Dark Green.  One will be the prototype in a more prototypical scheme as it were, the other is a what if within a what if history, if that makes any sense.  Well, it does to me, so there.


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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on March 25, 2017, 05:36:48 PM
"You can't clean the toilet, Neil. It'll lose all its character!"


I've finally started to do something to find out just what I have in the way of Spitfires. I've spent an hour sorting out some kind of catalogue.  Manufacturer, kit, boxing, you get the picture.  Even with my sometimes encyclopedic memory, I wasn't quite sure how many boxings of a specific kit some manufacturers have done - Fujimi and AZ mainly, but also Ventura.  So despite me slagging it off in the past, I had a quick scan of Scalemates to give me rough idea. 

In the case of the Fujimi and Ventura kits, it was quite helpful and in the case of the latter, I found a boxing of their PR.XI I've never seen, so that's one I'll be looking out for. 

The AZ entry is considerably large as they've reboxed their kits with quite a few decals and schemes, with some AZ boxings being transferred to their KP label with different box art but identical decals.  I know I missed one or two of the AZ ones - the Vb Trop with Neville Duke shooting down some beastly Eyeties over Tunisia, for example - but got the same decals in the KP boxing.  Intellectually, I know it's not that important, but the collector in me screams "Find them you fool!"

The reason for the catalogue is twofold.  One, so I know exactly what I've got and two, with knowing that, I can have a look at some kind of rough pruning.  There's quite a few obsolete kits in the stash that realistically, I'll never use, so once identified, I can either just dump them in a bog box and flog them off as a job lot or strip them for anything useable and then bin what's left.  Or dump it in a box at a show at a bargain price.  Someone will be daft enough to buy it.

I've been thinking about Neville Duke's Spitfire.  May have a go at it but change it for a Vc instead.  Typical of me and my brand of subtle whif modelling...

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on April 03, 2017, 10:01:26 AM
"This calls for a celebration! Vyv, throw another record player on the fire."

Yay!  Finally got the two Spitfires that were awaiting varnishing done.  Both look rather splendid, although the FR16 has got an interim prop until I can give it one with the correct spinner colour of either Black or PRU Blue.  I'll be looking to finish the decalling on a few more Spits over the next week or so - two 607 Sqn jobs need their serials and codes, plus there's a pair of Rhodesian PR19s that need serial codes.  Really would like them finished. 

There's also a couple that just need some final tinkering with canopies and they're done - a desert Vb and a Tr 21.  The latter I definitely want finished, although getting the pair done would be better as I can then shift a largeish box elsewhere.

Not looking to assemble anything else further at the minute - doing a tour on Tempests at present - but finishing a few off does help clear the decks somewhat and help keep my Spitfire itch at bay for a while.  It's not something you can get treatment for, just more Spitfires.



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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on April 05, 2017, 02:47:23 PM
"Oh, God. I think I'm going to be violently and copiously sick."

Got the Desert Vb done, and TBH, I'm not happy with it.  Okay, it's just a Hobbyboss kit and I'm never that happy about any of my desert aircraft, but this one was looking okay till I got to the canopy.  And nothing would fit.

Well, the Airfix Vb and IXc canopies will, but at the early stages where you can blend them in and I'd left it off.  The best I could do was use the Hobbyboss back end, a Falcon sliding section (slid back) and a Heller XVI screen, which is pretty ropey anyway.

Still, it's done and I may revisit it at some stage but with a better kit.  Possibly Tamiya, although that has serious flaws itself. Then again, I have a fair few AZ ones, one of which is the 3 in 1 Joypack, and they're the older tool.

Next one to finish is the Tr.21 and that's a different ballgame entirely.  Not looking forward to cleaning up that contraprop...  And yellow brush painted...

After that, a bit of decalling with a pair of 16s and a pair of 19s to finish them off, not to mention the contraprop VIIIe.  There's also a couple of PR birds to do.  Good job I have some time free.

I just would rather crack on with the Tempests!


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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on April 16, 2017, 08:35:23 AM
"Now, you knew that anyway, and we don't care, so where's the surprise?"


It's started. 

Officially, I am now starting to thin out the Spitfires.  Not much really and it's just tinkering at the sides, but I've pulled out some of the lesser kits that I now are useless for my purposes and can be disposed of to a gullible public for very little. 

Basically, I was asked if I had a Frog/Novo mk VIII and I said I did, but didn't know where it was.  As it happened, I found it within five minutes of starting to look, although having to shift some of the boxes around to actually get to some of them.  While I was going through, I had a look inside some of the boxes in them, finding at least 3 old KP mk IXes, an old tool Airfix mk Ia, a Frog XIV and 2 Smer mk Vbs.  That's them in a pile to get shot of.

As I was looking in the first box, I found a load of the old Aeroclub vacform fuselages.  I know I have at least two full boxes of them - how many more are there???!!!  I *really* need to do this inventory soon!

Just about to start decalling the two 607 mk 16s that have been waiting to get their codes.  Another was decalled, but needed a replacement u/c, so that's now on and awaiting paint.  Should have all three tidied away by tomorrow and that's yet more finished off, so it's back to the Tempests!

Finally, one of the Attackers has been masked so I can spray the green.  I'll get the other one done later and get them both sprayed when I do the Tempests tomorrow.

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on April 20, 2017, 06:07:03 AM
"Vyv, Vyv, uh, can you, like, actually kill yourself with laxative pills?"


Well, it's done.  I've gone through the Spitfire boxes and pruned out all of the kits for disposal.  And there was a lot of junk!  11 Frog/Novo Spitfire 14s with the V1s.  Decided to keep one as it was part started, five were complete so they can be sold off separately and t'others had bits missing, so a big bag for them marked Spitfire bits and flog them off as a job lot.  I nearly lost count of the old KP mk IXes that were in there, although I kept one for nostalgic purposes as it had a Beatties sticker on it.  Shame to dispose of them as they were the gold standard mk IX until the Hasegawa one came out in the late 90s.  Two Academy ones also popped up, so I was only too pleased to throw them on the pile.

I also managed to condense a few boxes down and get a fair few loose kits lying around tidied away.  So the back bedroom/workshop is a bit less cluttered, but not by much.

I did find a few things I'd forgotten about, such as the Legato resin Spitfire PR.Ig, which is really nice although the canopy is now a beautiful shade of gold.  The Esoteric mk VIII/IX was expensive when it came out and was the CMR of it's day, although looking at it now, it's quite clear that's it's a tarted up Heller mk XVI.  That's not going to stop me moulding up some of the parts - such as the tailplanes and the radiators, quite possibly the wing, for use in other projects

The Freightdog reboxed AZ 14/18 kits - I have two but I'm sure there's a third one somewhere but I haven't been through all of the boxes due to space issues and the pile is somewhat ricketty.  Trust me to be killed by being crushed to death under a pile of collapsing Spitfire kit boxes.  Apt perhaps, but I'd rather go by  wrapping an Aston Martin round a tree.

I'm also at the amazed at the sheer number of particular kits I've amassed.  No, not the Airfix ones, as I know I have a shedload of all the marks in the shiny red boxes - and that was BEFORE the Great Home Bargains Airfix Treasure Hunt added a three figure sum to the collection - but the likes of Sword, AZ/KP and even Aeroteam.  I discovered at least two of the International boxing of the Sword mk XVIe I didn't realise I had, plus at least three Pegasus Spitefuls and one RS Spiteful - I thought I had two RS Spitefuls, but no, there was a third so where and when did I get that one? I know I got one at Telford in 2012 and one off ebay but the third?  Even more Aeroclub fuselage conversions, although at least these were boxed with donor kits.  Two boxes full of various conversion and detail/replacement bits acquired at shows.  Three A4 boxes full of the Ventura kits, numerous Heller XVIes.  It just goes on and on and on.

The sooner I get this inventory done, the better.  But at least the bulk of the pruning has been done.

Finally, the Attacker prototype has got it's green disruptive coat on.  I pulled one of the two AZ prototype Attacker boxing out during the search so I could nick the decals for it.  I'll get it masked tomorrow so I can do the undersurface colour.  Now - Medium Sea Grey or Trainer Yellow?

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on October 16, 2017, 09:28:43 AM
"I'm afraid I couldn't find any needles, so we'll have to use 6-inch nails."

Been a while since this has been updated, largely because finishing the Magna Buckmaster and Brigand was so soul crushing, it knocked out any enthusiasm I had for the hobby and I just didn't want to do any modelling for a while.  Didn't stop me buying things though - especially the Eduard kits - but nothing gave me any real push to want to do anything. 

I did think of doing something simple and real may have done the trick - the Airfix PR19 in the markings from the new boxing was my intended victim - but that never happened either.  Besides which, I begrudge paying a tenner for something I bought 60 of last year when they were less than 3 quid each just to get a serial code I'm pretty sure I have anyway on two separate decal sheets. However, time was running short for Telford and I have to have something new, so into the boxes and off we go.

So, what am I doing?  Nothing really new, just getting together airframes I started in the wake of Telford last year.  I'm pretty sure I know what they were for - largely, more 607 Sqn malarkey and some different schemes on various Heller 16s.  Czech, Portuguese and Turkish sprang to mind.  There's also some airframes from last year that are primed and some of those painted that may get a review to see if I can push them a shade further.

The only thing that has been started new is an MPM PRXI, which will end up in the late scheme worn by the PR19 and possibly with 607 Sqn markings.  I've also though about digging out the Spitefuls for another one in their markings but they're more involved than can be done in the limited time I have left, although there is one that could be used as a PR option.

So the ideas are flowing, but again there just isn't enough time in the day and I've left it very late in the day now.  3 weeks left and nothing has been sprayed so it's going to be a close one.  Again.  You'd think I would have learned by now...



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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on October 19, 2017, 10:16:30 AM
"NO! Before that, Michael! Oh God, I've got to stop sniffing this Ajax!"

So, where am I up to?

Well, the construction phase is now done, with the last airframe substantially complete.  All the priming is done - just in time as the weather has changed for the wetter.  The canopies are all cleaned up, had their customary bath in Klear and where possible attached.  I think there's a touch of filler required here and there, but other than that I'm pretty much ready to start spraying.

The revised Plan for this year is set out, so I know what I'm doing and there's a few holdovers from last year that I'll try to advance a shade further, mainly as they already have their paint on and I know the relevant wheels, props and exhausts are all done.  Just a case of add the decals and a coat of varnish and almost over bar the shouting and swearing.  I may have to call on Kit for one or two serials for a pair of PR19s.

So, all being well, I should have the first part of the spraying done by tomorrow night.  Really need to get to the end of the second phase by monday night as I'm back at work from Tuesday having had a week off.  Trouble is, one or two still haven't been nailed down as to what I want to do - one of the Czech ones is either overall Dark Green (possibly RLM82 if I have some) or has a light blue undersurface (either RLM 65 or 76).  I'm saying nothing else about that one apart from it's given me an idea of a sideways development.


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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on October 20, 2017, 03:57:21 AM
"You didn't know I was going to do that, did you?"


It's happened.  Yet again.  I get the build plans all set, everything to a certain stage and then shoot myself in the foot and add something else.  Another mk XVIII with a Spiteful tail this time.  I was looking in some boxes and just found it.  The wing was done, so it just needed the fuselage assembling, and... well, I just couldn't help myself, yeah?

I did one a few years back, albeit in overall Silver with deleted cannons and second line codes.  This one will be armed - four cannon and in a three colour scheme, I just don't have a squadron use for it yet.  It's now together, with filler everywhere.  Hopefully, if it stays dry outside for an hour, I might get it primed.

It doesn't help either when i find an assembled airframe for a Seafire IV (basically a Spitfire  mk VIII with all the Seafire mods, including a resin wing) that got abandoned at some stage.  Again, quick coat of primer and we can advance it a bit further.  And in the next box was the assembled Martin Baker MB3...

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on October 23, 2017, 06:24:38 PM
"I hate these places. They're so depressing. You know, Michael, I would rather go to a lecture than a laundrette."

After a monumental effort, we're now about a week behind where I should normally be.  And that's despite adding extra airframes into a build queue and primed ones into the spray queue.  The most recent and last one - promise! - is a IVb that was converted from the Airfix Vb with a resin nose I got as part of a box of bits bought at 'uddersfield last year. I've now got to think about making an appropriate 3 blade Griffon prop for it and the IVa I deferred last year.

All the aircraft with their single schemes are ready for decalling, the two and three colour jobs are ready for the main mask with tape, although the 3 colour ones will need the maskol peeling off and clean-up with tape to get the loose bits off.  I'll do that tomorrow and then start with the tape masking on wednesday.  That's going to be slow, as I'll only have a few hours to play with when I get in from work.

All the wheels are done, bar one or two sets, whilst the exhausts are all sorted.  Two have them already in place - one as they were already glued in with it being an inherited airframe (thanks, Robert! That FRXIVe is going 607 Sqn 2TAF), the other as they're cast as part of a complete resin nose.  Still not entirely sure of what some aircraft are going to be and I've a feeling that I'm starting to repeat myself with some ideas.

I think I still need to mask up an Attacker - as part of a whif within a whif - but I can see some light at the end of the tunnel.  Again, I think it could be close and there's a few other things I'd really like to try and advance but they're not Spitfires although one is masked for it's undersurface colour.  A choice between PRU Blue and Medium Sea Grey.  Difficult to choose and that MB3 is gnawing away at me too.


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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on November 06, 2017, 09:03:01 AM
"Listen, Michael, there's no need to worry! I've got a plan with which to thwart them!"

It's going to be down to the wire - again.  Several minor disasters - wrong colours requiring total respray, decals being non available as I'd stolen them earlier, amongst others - have conspired to set me back. I can never settle decalling and I've still got three Czech and a Portuguese one still to decal, plus finishing off two others which have their national markings on.  I've ruthlessly cut two out of the build and can see cutting out another three, possibly four which will help get the numbers down.

Having finished decalling the last of the F14s, I've some to the conclusion that there's something dreadfully wrong with the Fujimi kit.  I don't mean it's dreadfully over-engineered nature that resulted from their desire to get as many out of the mould as possible, or the lack of cockpit detail, or the poor fit, or the balloon shaped canopy.  It's the fuselage, which seems too deep or perhaps squashed is a better description.  It's nowhere near as bad as the Academy kit but there's just something wrong with it.  By comparison, I've an F14 that's a crossbreed of Airfix IXc wing and PR19 fuselage which seems to look more accurate, and that's despite the fuselage being short and the wing chord too wide.  Given that I've a vast quantity of both kits in the stash courtesy of the Great Home Bargains Airfix Treasure Hunt last year, I may well take the decision to flog off me Fujimi highback 14s  and just cross-kit the Airfix ones.  I also have quite a few of the Ventura kits tucked away and despite their challenging nature, they do look far better than the Fujimi kit.  If only Eduard had went for the XIV rather than the late Merlin ones...

I'll be varnishing tonight, so tomorrow to add all the bits and touch up the u/c legs and doors and we should be ready by the end of Wednesday - even if I have to stay up all night to do the props again.  I don't have thursday night as, foolishly, I'd volunteered to go into work. Wish me boss could write a proper rota so I wouldn't have to volunteer - I lost saturday night for the same reason and I'm still a bit miffed at that.

So, pack everything thursday morning - I'll have to get some new boxes and get some comestibles - and try to relax a bit after I come in from work, possibly via the curry house...


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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on January 17, 2018, 04:48:08 AM
"No, but it doesn't say, "Ensure the machine isn't full of washing-up liquid"!"

I've not done much post Telford, usually because I've been too busy at work and thus knackered when I get in.  However, January is a bit quieter - read dead - so that affords me a bit of time to make a start on what I want to do this year.

I've tinkered a bit with a few Heller 16s I got at Telford, if only to ensure I don't have to find a home for the boxes - I've always said that you can never have enough Spitfires, but unfortunately you do run out of space in which to keep them.  The Supermarine 327 is now underway and prompted by one of Narses2's comments, I've dug out an AZ Attacker.

It looks to be quite a nice kit in the box, with some restrained detail - but the fuselage does seem to have one half deeper than the other.  Pretty sure I can fix it with some hot water and a lot of bending.  If not, then I'll align it along the top and build up underneath where it's not quite so noticeable.  The belly tank should hide a few flaws.

Still not sure quite what I want to do with it yet.  Probably RAF.

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on February 09, 2018, 08:37:06 AM
"Even mindless violence seems boring today!"

I got bored with the Attacker.  Got some preliminary work done on the intakes and the wings together but I didn't have a lot of enthusiasm for the build in general, so it went back in it's box.  I had more pressing issues.

Namely, the Supermarine 327.  The deadline I'd set myself and promised Colin I'd have it finished by - the Huddersfield show - was looming on the horizon and coming up fast.  It's only been the past few days that I've actually done any real work on it and with some effort got to the decalling stage.  Resin kits by their nature are generally easier and quicker to build (pause for sarcastic response vis a vis current CMR output), so once the cockpit was all buttoned up, it rattled along quite quickly.

I have to be honest and say that it wasn't one I was particularly interested in - I'm more partial to the Taurus engined Type 324, so much so that I blew up the 3 view in the relevant BSP volume and started looking at what bits to use (a Hornet fuselage and an Airfix Spitfire Vc wing with Mosquito tail surfaces and possibly parts from an LS Dinah) - but it's started growing on me more and more, especially seeing the castings and knowing that they were mastered by Paul Lucas.  I'm exceedingly happy that I didn't shell out for the Unicrap abortion, although I may well have to try and get his Type 325, even though I dread what I'll be letting myself in for.

Future ones?  Something with underwing rockets and four blade props, with markings from a Mosquito unit, and another with a training unit in a late war scheme. There's a PR one I've got a scheme in mind.  It does mean that Colin could well be in for a few of my hard earned Grotzits, although not this weekend.  I want to get the second one done first.

As is usually the case, there's a Spitfire on the go.  Not saying much other than I started it at Telford, it's a Heller 16 as a base and a sideways development of something I was quite pleased with.  This won't be ready for Huddersfield, even though it's together.  I've a feeling that the canopy could be the problem here.

Future projects?  I have a Magna Gloster F5/34 that slots into The Plan as a parallel development and I'd also like to do another MB2 at some stage.  Both are likely to be second line aircraft in the later Grey/Green/Grey scheme.  The Gloster I think is already part started, so could well be a quick build.  I hope...


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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on April 25, 2018, 11:12:21 AM
"Then what are you looking in the cellar for?"

I've not updated this in a while, largely because I've not been doing anything Spitfire related, although the modified 16 I alluded to in the last post got primed and then refilled.  Still not entirely sure what scheme I want it in - and there are several in the air force I have in mind for it -  although something dark could well be what I want.

I've been doing some tidying, largely to see if I can get some kits stashed away but it's really a fruitless exercise given the sheer volume of Spitfires that I have, somewhat akin to trying to put toothpaste back in a tube.  I'm constantly surprised by the sheer number of certain kits that I have - just when I think I can't find any more, another will reveal itself.  Such as a '96 tooled CMR Seafire FR47.  Or Airkit Spitfires.

Anyhoo, I did open an Xtrakit Spitfire F22.  I've slagged this kit mercilessly and with good reason - it's short, the fuselage too wide and the wings have an odd shape in plan view, plus the fit is appallingly bad - but I'm seriously considering finishing this, because I'd done some work on the wings and the cockpit internals are all in.  Quite what scheme and air force I'd finish it in is open to conjecture, but I'm leaning towards Lebanese to go with the mk 9e low back I did some years back.


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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on September 03, 2018, 02:37:58 PM
"Look, I haven't started hiding yet, have I?"

It's just turned September, even though the last few weeks have felt like October.  My sense of timing is so screwed...  And this means Telford is looming and I need to start thinking about this year's contribution to The Alternate Spitfire.

I've a feeling this could be a warmed over retread, largely with stuff held over from last year or 2016 due to the non availability of various decals.  I'm talking about the middle east exports I had started, although quite a few of them were repurposed as 607 Sqn aircraft.  There are still quite a few painted ones that just need serials to finish them off, so I may ask Kit to print off a few so I can at least get them done and dusted.

I've still quite a few ides, but these involve two seaters and I'll have to use up the rougher T-bird conversions rather than the decent AZ kits in the stash which are earmarked for real world builds.  Unfortunately, I don't have the time left for involved builds, so that's been knock on the head, at least for now.  However, I have done some test fitting with an Airfix 19 wing and the Brigade Tr9 conversion as the thought of a T-bird using an armed wet wing makes a bit more sense, at least from the pure flying aspect.

I was given a wrecked AZ T-bird which looks to be salvageable, certainly easier than doing a Brigade one and I think I've a spare Hasegawa wing that may well fit.  I'd really like to do some RAF T-birds as I think they'll look quite fetching in silver with yellow bands and post war roundels.  The other scheme I'd like to do, albeit with the PR19, is something akin to post war transports with white top decking, silver everywhere else and a blue cheatline.  Again, possibly not enough time and the decals could be fiddly.

I've started divesting myself of Fujimi Spitfires.  If it wasn't started or at least all the bits were there, all the highbacks for starters, are being disposed of.  I've still quite a few left - at least ten - but I've quite a few part started ones so I'll have to finish them off.  At least one is a low back so I may have a go at another mk XVIIIe as the Egyptians were looking at them, along with PRXIs although I did one of the latter.

Need to get thinking as time is running out.


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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on September 09, 2018, 02:30:52 PM
"Here they are, El Presidente!"

Finally!  I searched high and low for days, went through every Spitfire boxing to hand but I couldn't find that part started AZ mk IX UTI trainer.  Today, doing some tidying, I open a PRXIX box to see what's in it and there it is.  Cue lots of rejoicing.  I can get another Czech one done, although I'm leaning more towards an armed Isreali version.  I also used it to check the cuts I'd done to an Airfix IX to do another UTI, although I'm still unsure of what scheme it's likely to get.  North Korean or PLAAF perhaps?

I'm slowly slogging through various Spitfires with no real goal in mind, so I really should get the thinking cap on for what I really want to do.



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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on September 13, 2018, 07:12:18 PM
"Eenie, meenie, meinie, mo. Oh, by the way, there's a couple of strange girls in the bathroom."

Well, I've drawn up this year's copy of The Plan.  It's not very big, manages to use several airframes that are part started, if not actually together, and a few new ones, the last few I've just closed up, although I think I need to do some casting to do the cockpit for the Egyptian mk 18. 

It's also meant that I can put aside several mk 16 lowbacks that I'm still not sure what I was going to do with.  Portugese? Turkish?  Possibly some middle east ones - IIRC one may have been earmarked for Syria but I'm bunging a few to one side for now until I figure out what I want to do with them. I'm also minded to throw together the part started AZ mk 18 that's kicking about and there's a PRU Pink late Vb that I mentioned some time back that I wanted to do.  Again, I'll have to do some casting for the tailplanes.  So, two extra to stuff into a plan that was almost finalised.  Typical!

I'm still in two minds about several almost done ones - do I stick them in with the aim of finishing them or do I concentrate on the new stuff?  Time is running out...


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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on September 17, 2018, 03:34:41 PM
"Well, of course you hate it, Neil, it's not finished yet!"

Thanks to Bungle, I have another Airkit Spitfire F21 to play with and as it was already part painted, I decided to carry on with it.  I have a not inconsiderable stash of this particular kit and Airkit Spitfires/Seafires in general, so it's really about time I did something with at one or two of them.  It was also the first resin kit I ever bought - back in September 1990 IIRC (it was the same saturday I bought the DWB photonovel of the Doctor Who story Power of the Daleks) - and one I still have very fond memories of building.  It's still kicking about in a box somewhere but I don't have the heart to strip it and redo it.

Anyway, I digress.  I've got it underway and it's been highly enjoyable so far, although I've yet to put the wings on.  They'll go on later tonight.  I'm unsure of what I want to do with it, although I started it with a particular idea in mind - another unit hack, albeit with aluminium undersides rather than the PRU Blue of the one I did some years back.  Then I remembered that there was a built up one that I got as part of a lot of Spitfires bought on ebay last year, so I'll finish that one off as the hack and use the other one for another unit.

Another Airkit product I may go back to is a Seafire F17 that got the cockpit in and then abandoned.  I've quite a few of those wretched beer barrels in the Eduard royal combo and as I'm *NEVER* going to do anything flown by Johnny Johnson, they're really surplus until I thought about a Seafire carrying a rum ration aboard a carrier and as the Airkit one is part started, I'm tempted to use that one. Just got to find it now...

In the same box as the ebay F21 was a Ventura Spitfire F.14e (that's what it says on the box - the original kit was released as a post war aircraft with Belgian markings), and that had the hard work already done - the fuselage all cleaned up and assembled, complete with the Griffon upper cowls in place.  The Ventura kits are much like the Fujimi ones in that respect, but have a much better outline.  So, all I have to do is sort out a cockpit interior - already done with some resin bits from my bits box and assembled the wings, which are also cleaned up.  Like the F21, I've yet to consider a unit, although it could fit into my 607 Sqn history when they transfer from ADGB to 2TAF but before getting FXIVe lowbacks.

The AZ mk XVIIIe alluded to earlier is now assembled, although I had to sort out the rudder.  Like most people, they assume the 18 had a bigger rudder attached to the same fin as the 14 when in fact the fin on the 18 is shorter by at least 6 inches which when compared with the tail assembly of a 14 makes it look even wider.  Miraculously, I had a rudder to hand in the bits box and I'd already started cutting the fin down.  The Fujimi 14 that's been converted to an 18 now has it's cockpit assembled and that'll be going in later as I'd like it closed up tonight.

Holdovers.  I'm going to try to finish off a few of those that got their decals on and varnished.  There's a good five or six of those and I may have to call in some help from Kit for one or three of those.  Mention of Seafire F17s above reminds me of one tat suffered Cat.2 damage but I've a feeling it wouldn't take too much effort, possibly less than building a complete airframe, even if that airframe is as enjoyable to build as an Airkit one.

Pretty sure I'm now in the end stage of building, so priming can start at the weekend, with a week of tidy up before spraying can commence in October.  I'm not looking forward to that bit...


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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on September 24, 2018, 04:36:30 PM
"Yeah, my potion! My potion as well!"

After trying unsuccessfully around various large supermarkets (but not ASDA as I detest their parent company and won't give them a penny of my hard earned), I managed to get a bottle of Pledge off ebay.  Supposedly, this is the rebranded Johnsons Kleer, but whether it works just as well is open to conjecture.  More as and when.

The two Airkit items under construction have now reached a significant milestone in having their wings and tail feathers attached.  The Seafire seems to be fighting back, but it's more an issue of duff casting than actual buildability.  The fin is somewhat thick, but that seems to afflict all the Airkit stuff.  Hopefully, I can get a coat of primer on it before I go any further.  Looking at it a bit more cloesly, I've a feeling that the Airwaves Seafire III folded wing could fit it, although I rarely do folded wing stuff and in any case I have a pair of the similar CMK sets for their own Seafires.  As for the F21, I'm still unsure of what unit it'll end up with, but one under 2TAF control and equipped with FXIVs could well be likely.  A flip through the final volume of Chris Thomas' 2TAF set hasn't yet yielded a unit but gave me an idea for one of the two F18s on the blocks, t'other being Egyptian.

I've had to do a modicum of casting with some indifferent results.  I thought I needed a set of mk IX tailplanes for a late Vb but the castings came out imperfect and then I find a set in the resin bits box. Cue quick clean up and they're now on.  I just have to find a pointy rudder with a beefy enough width to go with the Airfix Vb fin.  May have to raid an Eduard kit...

I did however cast lots of wheels. I need quite a few of the four and three spoke hubs for various Heller Spitfires that are kicking about. Attacker solid canopy plugs and Firefly tanks are also being cast but cockpit parts are more important.  Unfortunately, their fragility is impeding efforts to get them out of the moulds.  I just need one set to get that 607 Sqn clipped F14 lowback all closed up, although I know I need to sort out another wing as I'd filled the wrong panels...

Finally, on the subject of resin bits, I dragged out my box of Blackbeard Spitefuls to see if I could get any further, largely because I'd an idea for another 607 Sqn gate guard, although I may have to do it somewhat differently to what I'd planned and at the moment I don't  - actually, a quick check has revealed that I can actually do both, as there's another part started airframe I can use if I can find some extra bits in the resin bits box.  There's two Seafangs and whilst I have an idea for one, I'm not quite sure what to do with the other.

Still no further getting anything primed, but I'm plodding away.  Time is ticking...

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on September 26, 2018, 07:01:41 PM
"Look! Look, when they get back, tell them I'm incredibly sorry!"

You'd think after 6 or so years doing the same thing I would have learned by now, wouldn't you?  But no, yet again after setting a Plan - and this one was decidedly conservative and short - I decide to add extra stuff into it.  I mentioned the Seafangs above, but in the box was two Spitefuls and bits for at least one more.  Two are going 607 Sqn and I know exactly what I want to do with them in terms of scheme (unfortunately, I don't have the decals to do another).  I have started another one, because I've had a hankering to do a Rhodesian one for some time, but whether it'd be in the light grey worn by their Spitfire F22s or the three tone camo worn later, I'm not quite sure.  Although having said that, it's not as important as the 607 Sqn stuff so it could well be axed. 

I've a feeling I may have to take an axe to the whole plan anyway, because it's looking a tad unwieldy.  I've updated it and it now runs to a page and a half, and that's after trimming out a few which I was still unsure of what I was going to do.

Still, quite a few are ready to prime so I should be in a position to start spraying a few by the start of next week.  I hope.  And bearing in mind a few - oddly, very few - are in NMF finishes, I might even get a head start on some of the decalling.  But I'll believe that when in happens!


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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on September 27, 2018, 07:21:19 PM
"Well, I think that should do it!"


First major milestone passed - priming has begun.  However, it's had to stop as I ran out and due to work commitments, I won't be able to get to Halfords until Sunday, which will be a journey and a half to get to sodding Silverlink via public transport through the badlands of Wallsend...  I'll also have to get a can of Gloss Aluminium - the one I thought was gloss isn't and the resulting spray job looks...  Not what I want.  However, these are teh primer coats, so I can live with it.

I've also cleaned up a load of resin wheels for various Heller 16s and even painted a few exhausts.  These, along with props, always tend to trip me up, so I'd like to try and avoid all this unpleasantness if possible.

Yet another Spitfire has been thrown back into the build queue, this time a mk IX UTI converted from an Airfix IXc with some strategic saw cuts and a few resin bits and bobs.  It doesn't look too bad and this time, I know exactly what I'll be doing with it.  North Korean.  No?  Yeah, you're right.  It's going to be another Czech one.  This WILL be the last addition, any other changes are likely to be deletions.


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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on October 01, 2018, 04:29:36 PM
"This should get things going!"

Now about two thirds through the priming and as predicted, the journey to Silverlink was as tedious and vile as I'd feared. To top that, Halfords would appear to have stopped doing Gloss Aluminium, which is a real kick in the teeth.  To add further insult to injury, I tried getting the relevant storage boxes from various outlets only to find that the worthless tax dodgers... er, students, had hoovered them all up, apart from those in ASDA which were vastly overpriced.  Still, what I overpaid there I saved on a reduced bottle of Koko Kanu*, which I've been meaning to get for a while now.

What was promised as the last addition has been closed up and it looks rather spiffing.  This is the Czech mk IX UTI converted from an Airfix mk IXc and I'm very pleased with it so far.  It was to have been the last addition to this year's build programme, only I found enough cockpit parts about to get another Fujimi F14e low back together, although I'm torn as to what to do with it.  Another 607 Sqn aircraft? Pakistan?  I'll advance it to primer stage and make a decision then.

And then whilst searching for something else, I find the old Czechmaster Seafire F47 - and by old, I mean pre-1996 and it appears to be very similar to the mid 80s Pegasus kit (and one is a copy of the other, but I'm not sure which way round it is).  It's basic but could be the basis for another Spitfire F26.  Quick build?  So, the wings are on, plus the fin and it's now slathered with filler.  I am tempted with an NMF scheme, possibly 603 Sqn when they trade in their F21s, but I'd rather use a better kit for that and in any case, something darker, such as the late 1940s Intruder scheme, may hide a few flaws and the sheer crudity of the kit.  It has a poor representation of a gull wing and the contraprop has vanished, so it'll have to get a standard 5 blade one.  The kit canopy is a lovely shade of gold, but couldn't be used anyway, ironically being one for a Spiteful.

Mention of Spitefuls brings me to the last Spiteful mentioned, which is now axed for the time being, largely due to a lack of canopies.  The 607 Sqn one I'm doing does look rather good though and I'm determined to have that one finished at least.

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*Koko Kanu is a coconut flavoured white rum, which looks and tastes like Malibu but is a manly 40% ABV as opposed to the girlie 17% of Malibu.
Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on October 03, 2018, 07:05:05 PM
"But it says here, Michael look, "Ensure machine is clean, and free from dust"!"

Well, almost at the end of the priming stage.  One or two last ones to do in terms of prime, fill and sand and then I'm on to the spraying.  it's not quite that simple, there's a fair bit of other bits and bobs to do first, but in many cases, I can get the two top colours on before having to worry about underneath.  Radiators and u/c legs will cause delays and I really need to get spraying.  Underneath can wait until I have more time to spare.  A full day or two could be helpful and I have a week off work coming up, although I had planned to start decalling then.  Or at the very least, get the masking done for the last camo colour.

The Plan has been updated and pruned where necessary, although one entry that I know is on the go isn't in it.  One of the exports planned has been altered to reflect an available Spit that was two thirds painted.  If I can save myself a small amount of work, I'll do it.

Still kind of undecided over what scheme the CMK Seafire cum late Spitfire will get.  I'm leaning more towards the standard three colour scheme and stick it with one of the post war second line units.  Looking at photos of Mosquitos in the period I'm considering, it looks like I can use the nice glossy post war markings which I really like and white codes.  I've had a flip through Alan Lake's Flying Units of the RAF and now have a victim in mind.  Now that the kit has a coat of primer on it, it doesn't look quite so bad, although compared to more modern kits, it does look very clunky.

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on October 04, 2018, 06:42:42 PM
"Five past eleven and it's still raining. I wonder how hard it is?"

I had hoped to get the last of the priming done and some work on various radiators but the weather has turned.  Still, I managed to get many of the wheels cleaned up and mounted so I can spray the hubs.  Also assembled several props, which is one thing I dislike doing, plus got the radiators for a pair of Fujimi 14s assembled.  Tedious stuff, but better it's done now than at the last minute.

It's slowly coming together.  Once I start spraying, it's going to look a bit better.  I need a hard copy of the current Plan, as there's several on the go that I doubt are in there - if I can eliminate them, it should cut down on duplication of effort.  It should also make the place a bit less cluttered.  But not by much...


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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on October 14, 2018, 04:43:27 PM
"Oh God, no sugar!"

Spraying has *finally* commenced and the first colours are now done, although not without a few snags.  The late F26 was initially done in Dark Sea Grey but upon updating the Plan, I found it should have been Ocean Grey, thus necessitating a respray.  Annoying, because the DSG had gone on really nicely and I had a very nice surface sheen.  Still, the respray was just as good.  I also discovered that the FR.VIII should have had Mid Stone on first instead of Dark Earth.  Frustrating isn't the word, but I'm never keen on Mid Stone and I've yet to get a desert scheme I'm entirely happy with, so I may well change the colours and do the planned FR.VIII later.  I've a feeling I was thinking of a couple in a few different schemes in the same theatre (Italy) so I don't think I lose anything.

The two Czech T-birds will also need a modicum of surgery, largely adding the rear canopy rails and I'm annoyed that I didn't add them BEFORE I started spraying.  Luckily, I remembered halfway through spraying the c winged UTI version and before I commenced with the e wing.  I've also decided to change the scheme on that one after looking at the markings from the KP Avia CS-199 and deciding to nick one of them to make life a bit easier.

More worryingly and certainly annoyingly, I discovered that I have no Extra Dark Sea Grey or Sky either, which means a three hour round trip via public transport to Whitley Bay to relieve Uncle Frank of several bottle of Xtracrylic.

And I *STILL* haven't learned the lessons of the past about adding stuff back into a crowded plan.  You see, as I had the compressor and airbrush fired up, I decided it might be a good idea to put some paint on a few others sitting in primer from a while back.  I looked at one mk IXc, with it's canopy in place and masked up ready to spray and decided to get some paint on it.  Not entirely sure what nationality yet, although I'm leaning towards Portugese and I think that's what I'd intended anyway.  I did look at several others but thankfully, common sense took hold and I put them back in the Cabinet of Doom for another day. 

I did think about a respray for a stalled FR16, because the upper colours had lifted when I removed the tape and it looked awful.  Darker colour perhaps and another change of owner?  Turkey had mk XVIe lowbacks and an FR one on the Soviet border would make some sense, plus they did respray their PR19s with a dark green upper surface.  Something along those lines I might be able to get away with.

I also found my RAF Attacker FR bird, but again reflected it'd be a better idea to leave that one for a while, largely because I've forgotten just where I'd put the canopy and the whole thing needs more work than available time would allow.  Pity, as I think it's going to look rather good.

Anyway, I've turned a corner, not onto the final lap just yet but I'm not too far off.


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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on October 15, 2018, 07:16:00 PM
"God, what a boring day."

Just as well I phoned Uncle Frank as I left the house I'd have had a wasted trip - no Extra Dark Sea Grey until thursday and I won't see him till saturday.  Slows me down a bit but I've got other things to do in the meantime.

By which I mean masking for the second coat on all the three colour aircraft.  Slow and messy with Maskol and it's one job that I *really* hate, almost as much as masking with your actual tape, which is even more boring.  So, stuck on an episode or two of "Callan" in the background and managed to do seven.  If I can get the same number done over the next few nights, I can get the whole lot done bar the two RN aircraft going 3 colour by the weekend.

Went hunting in the spares boxes dotted about to try and locate the missing Attacker canopy.  No luck but I did find a contraprop that I think was allocated to a Swedish aircraft.  Just need to find another.  I did find a load of resin wheels I think I cast last year.  Pity I didn't find them sooner as I could have saved myself some hassle a week or so back.

Finally, I got the canopy rails on one of the T-birds and give it a blast with some Halfords - I bit the bullet and went back to Silverlink to get a new can and lo and behold, it's back to being the nice shiny stuff again. Said T-bird looks amazing, even without decals on it and I'm looking forward to seeing it done.


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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on October 22, 2018, 05:18:14 AM
"Then what are you looking in the cellar for?"

It seems others have the Spitfire bug as well and being the kind soul I am (actually, I'm not, I'm a selfish self centered individual but I *try* to be better) I've offered the bits from me copious Spitfire spares boxes   - I say boxes, because I have several dotted about and even after condensing them down, I still have a few - to them.

So, I've been rummaging about for radiators to start with and what do I find?  The Attacker canopy, which should have been in another box entirely.  Now, do I have a look at trying to get the FR one done or do I just leave it for now?  See, I think it'll look really good and it's one I've been wanting to get finished for a long time but it diverts effort away from the main build at what is a critical time, and that's despite having a week off.  Hmmn.  I need to clean up and attach a belly tank, sort out an u/c and doors and then quickly prime it.  Could be done, possibly later today.

However, I digress.  All the first stage making is done and I'm slogging my way through the second top colour.  I've come to the conclusion whilst spraying the FR.VIII that I hate the Hasegawa Spitfire.  I've yet to do one that I've been remotely happy with and I may well just dispose of the lot that's in the Stash, not that there's too many of them anyway. 

The Heller 16 that I'd abandoned due to lifted paint got an overall coat of Dark Slate Grey - it was in the airbrush after doing the Seafire 17 and Seafang so I decided to use it as the Turkish 19s had an olive green colour and Dark Slate Grey looks a bit olive green if you squint a bit - and it looks okay.  Will the paint lift this time?

I've just one final batch to do - about ten - that need the Dark Green and then it's off with the maskol and on with the tape.  That's the one stage that I find soul crushing, as it takes ages.  Still, means I can get the undersides done in a day.  If all goes to plan, I should be able to start decalling on Saturday.  Which reminds me, I need to do some research into serial codes...


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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on October 25, 2018, 05:22:54 AM
"Oh, God. I think I'm going to be violently and copiously sick."

Well, it's done.  the masking with tape is all done and I'm ready to start spraying undersides.  Two days it took and I only just had enough tape - the last airframe, an 18, I had to cut bits off others already masked to scrape together enough to finish it.

Go the u/c and doors on several that I'd bypassed for speed reasons and I've yet to sort out the Seafangs as I couldn't find the box with the bits in until fairly late on.  Me mate dragging me out for an hour in the casino didn't help.  Still, it was a break which I needed and got a few more done when I got back in.  The box of Eduard spares received from ebay has helped there and a bag of resin copies of various Eduard Spitfire wheels has been dragged out also.

Anyhoo, I'll have the bulk of the undersides sprayed today.  I've already done the ones with aluminium undersides - out into the back garden with a can of Halfords - and the masking is already off.  Really very happy with them so far and I'm looking forward to getting the decals on.  The Attacker I'm very fond of already and the F21 had me beaming like a Cheshire cat that's been let loose in a cream factory.  I like the F21 as it's that last variant that looks like a Spitfire, whereas the F22 onwards, what with it's cut down fuselage, big tail and revised wing, looks almost like a different aircraft but with some family resemblance.   

The Spiteful, I'm less happy with, but I've had a change of plan as to what I was doing with the pair.  The silver one gets proper codes and a red spinner (saw a mention of a 607 Sqn one with LA codes and a red spinner on Britmodeller by a 607 Sqn fanatic so I know it's right) and the one that was going to be a gate guard, and still could be if and when I ever do the writeup, will get squadron bars.  If I had another set, I'd do it with a silver aircraft too.  Bearing in mind I've a plan for a lineup of 607 sqn aircraft into the 50s and 60s (P.1081 Kestrel and then Hunters), I really do need quite a few.

And I *still* haven't learned the lesson about putting airframes into a complete Plan at the last minute!  This being a mk IXc that was already together and primed and I thought about a Czech one that was stripped back to the metal after VE-Day but before they went home re-equipped with the latest lowback IXes.  Quick bit of sanding to sort out the bulges and raiding an AZ mk IX to get the gun bulges, replacement cannons courtesy of the Eduard spares bin (that is going to be so helpful in the long run and that's before I start raiding those in the stash - having had a quick count, I'm sure it's into the three figure region, which seems high but bearing in mind I have quite a few of the two, three and four kit boxings, it's not hard to come up with that figure).  First coat of paint is on and I need to do a modicum of sanding and filling, but I should have it ready to decal quite soon.  I'm doing something similar with a mk XVIe belonging to a Polish squadron and a XIVe lowback with 607.

So, I've turned the corner onto not quite the final lap, and I've still got a lot of work to do, but I'm now seeing the beginning of the end. 

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on October 25, 2018, 02:00:38 PM
"Yeah! I had to! I was drunk!"


Two thirds the way through spraying undersides and had to take a break.  On the final third now and halfway through all the medium sea grey.  I'd forgotten quite how much I detest spraying and three tone schemes specifically.

Didin't help either that I pulled YET ANOTHER primed model from the "Cabinet of Doom" to give it a coat of overall PRU Blue.  Well, I mentioned that I'd got the Yugoslav decals for mk IXs, had a look to see what could be done and found a pair of PRIVs converted from the Revell Vb with an Airfix XIX wing.  Couldn't do the projected Yugo one as it'd have to have a Vokes filter and it already had the small filter in situ.  Anyway, it's now sprayed but I'm at a loss not as to what to do with it.  I've done the post war hack thing with PR birds so a modern warbird may have to suffice, especially as it's got the later legs with the scissor links (inherited from the Airfix XIX bits).  I have a can of not quite PRU Blue but it sprays horribly so I just kept the standard PRU Blue.  Anyway, it's not on the list so will probably go back into the "Cabinet of Doom" for the time being.

I did find a use for some of the Airfix mk Ia models in there, although it'll have to wait.  I'm thinking of that nice 3 colour scheme worn by the early PR Mossies and I've a unit in mind, 421 (Reconnaisance) Flight, so a small collection of their aircraft (probably no more than six, and all early Merlin types) could be interesting.

The tape has been removed from several more of those already sprayed and the Turkish FR bird looks okay, although the tape did lift some filler at the wing roots. Hmmn.  Not too difficult to fix with a few quick coats of Dark Slate Grey quickly sprayed on.  I did consider some large black anti slip sections, but one of the lifted bits was in the wrong place to fix that way, so back out with the airbrush.

Right, few doors to put on and back to work.

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on October 26, 2018, 07:26:59 AM
"Now then, where was I?"

Hurrah! All the spraying is done.  Except it isn't.  When I started sorting a few boxes, one that I'd already assumed had it's underside coat...  well, anyway, it didn't, so that's one to mask later and quickly get sprayed.  I've the underside to respray on some none Plan items* - and they only got sprayed because they were already masked for spraying some time back, possibly May 2017.  IIRC, I've yet to give a short nose Seafang (short nose being my term for semi-navalised Spitefuls that have the arrestor hook but standard Spiteful nose, as opposed to the long nose with the deeper Seafire 47 style cowling) a final coat of sky.

All the tape is off now with a minimum of lifting and overspray issues.  A few will need some remedial action with a brush but overall, very happy so far with pretty much everything. Some are already firm favourites and these have higher priority for completion. As to whether it all gets finished is down to time or the lack of it, Work, and the vagaries of the postal service.

Haven't done a lot today other than sort the various aircraft into box lids with their respective wheels, exhausts, etc, to see where I'm up to.  There's a lot of props yet to sort out but not as many wheels as I'd feared.  The resin copies I was given of the Eduard Brassin wheels** are nice but I can't find a way of mounting them for spraying as cocktail sticks just don't work.

Decalling may start later today, but after the last few days graft, I'm taking a lazy day today.  I plan to have the bulk of the decalling complete by Thursday, a day of varnishing, and two days tidying up.


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*For the record these are a P51D Mustang, an MB5 and a Tempest II.  There's also a Centaurus engined "Furious"  but that needs a tad more masking before I can spray it later.

**  Nice bag of various 3, 4 and 5 spoke wheels plus top cowlings were sent by another Spitfire fanatic on Britmodeller some time last year and it's only now that I've started trying them out.
Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on October 28, 2018, 09:22:00 PM
"Even mindless violence seems boring today!"

Little over a quarter into the decalling and I'm bored to tears.  I hate it more than masking, especially all the cutting out of squadron code letters which takes forever.  I spent over two hours yesterday going through the decal boxes to try and pull things together.  I had to do the same again today and don't have a lot to show for my time.

What I do have is starting to look quite spiffing.  Several done so far are only partials, because I'm waiting for decals to arrive and more worryingly, I know I'll have to order some tomorrow as I don't have enough Sky code letters to do several mk Vbs.

The Plan is becoming slightly more fluid, as I've noticed that there's a few on the go that aren't in it, so one of the planned Swedish aircraft may well end up in RAF markings instead, largely because I want it for a second line unit to go with the F26.  I couldn't find the unit I wanted so went with another and then thought about a few extra to go with it.  My fetish for lineups kicking in again.  I did find mention of this unit (I *think* it may well be 203 Advanced Training School) having a PR19 on the books but there's only a serial mentioned, no scheme, so I'm thinking a quick Aluminium respray of another primed "Cabinet of Doom" resident and get the decals on.  It's a grey area but one that I'm quite happy to exploit.  It also gets one of the many unfinished aircraft done.  Much of the smaller parts are already done, so it's not really too much of a stretch.

Doing the research is having an odd effect, because it's making me think about the next issue of The Plan and where I want to go with it.  Quite a few ideas are popping up and I'd like to start cutting plastic.  Not just with Spitfires, but Spitefuls and Seafangs, Hornets too.  Getting hold of the lates Franks Datafile on Merlin Spitfires doesn't help matters either, especially with Colin reboxing the AZ/KPM Spitfire Vb with parts for Seafire Ibs and some of the bits are applicable to mk Va's...

I'm also reluctantly considering axing one or two of the planned middle east exports.  The Syrian mk IX because the markings I have that are in period are a bit big, the Lebanese one because I already have a Lebanese aircraft in the collection and the Jordanians?  Well, I'm not sure if the markings I have are right for the early 1950s.  The mk IX I'm quite happy to reallocate but I was quite wedded to the mk 22 as it looks completely different in a desert scheme.  I've a mk XVIe lowback that I *still* don't know what I had planned for it.  May well be best to be ruthless now, because pruning the numbers will help getting the bulk done.

Clock is ticking and I still have a great deal to do.



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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on November 02, 2018, 04:59:35 AM
"What's happened to all your clothes, Neil?"

A day past schedule and the decalling still isn't complete.  The bulk of it is now done, but there's quite a few which need finishing - I'd got the national markings on and then moved to the next. so I've got to add nasty things like serial and squadron codes.  There's several which where waiting for some custom serials (thanks Kit!) which I'll finish on sunday - for various reasons, I lose much of tomorrow.  All of the decalling must be finished on sunday to stand any chance of getting the bulk finished.  I know I'll be varnishing then too.

Several of the ones I'd been vacillating over markings have now been sorted out.  The mk 16e ended up as a 13 Group communications aircraft (they had a mk IX) and I also gave the planned Syrian IX to the same unit, suitably serialed as a 16 highback.  The planned Pakistan 14 is going RAF instead - I couldn't be bothered with the extra research and, having done the research for the other RAF second line ones,  I found a suitable post war unit.  The 203 AFS 19 is now done and I also dragged out another PR19 from the "Cabinet of Doom" which will get a quick coat of PRU Blue on sunday and be marked up as a met flight aircraft.  Still haven't learned that lesson and I doubt I ever will...

The research is annoying, because it's throwing up quite a bit that I *really* want to do but can't until I have Telford out of the way!  Bollocks to the decalling and finishing - I just want to start gluing!

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on November 02, 2018, 08:13:59 PM
"No, but it doesn't say, "Ensure the machine isn't full of washing-up liquid"!"

The last bar one of the un-decalled Spits are now done, the last one is awaiting some decals which I should get tomorrow and it'll get done tomorrow night.  There's still quite a few partials still to complete, but I have most of the relevant decals ready to go on, it's just having the time to do it and sunday should see the lot done and hopefully varnished.

I have a fair few wheels to sort out and then there's the whole thorny issue of props to consider.  Then there's the exhausts as a few will still need sorting out.  Pretty sure I'm now within sight of the final lap, but it still feels like there's lots to do.


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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on November 04, 2018, 06:34:49 AM
"Bored. Bored. Bored! Bored!"

Still decalling, but almost on the final straight with that now.  The last one to start decalling, a lowback IXe in Russian markings and flown by "Comrade Ogilvy" is now done.  I'm really happy with it, although the patriotic slogan I wanted down the fuselage didn't quite eork out, so he just got kill markings and a Ace of Spades badge.  I did want an RAF roundel in the centre of the fuselage star, but couldn't find one small enough (although having said that...  No, still too big) but really, it's not that important.

Still slogging my way through the partials, but it's small stuff now so should be ready to varnish later.  But it all looks really good.  The two 607 Sqn Spitefuls look good, especially the one in the final scheme with the squadron bars.  Really happy with that one and I'm looking forward to seeing the final result.



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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on November 05, 2018, 06:12:48 AM
"What about Jelly Botty, where you have to eat 18 curries?"


Decalling all done bar a few small bits on two aircraft and I'll get them done later after I've had a bath and something to eat.  The bulk of the varnishing is all done.  Need to find a few small bits for one or two and we're good to go.

There's quite a few now that I'll stick to the back of the queue for various reasons.  The Egyptian mk 18 just doesn't work, but I think it's down to the decals which aren't geared to go with that particular kit.  And the two Hasegawa mk 8s, but then I really dislike the Hasegawa Spitfires and I don't think I've yet to finish one that I've been entirely happy with, although no, I did quite like the one I converted to a Seafire IV.  The Seafangs just don't work either, although I'm quite taken with the Dutch one.

Got a coat of aluminium on the cloned Eduard Brassin wheels I was given some time back.  The castings didn't look that impressive but the paint has really brought out the detail.  May have to do some moulds for myself!

There's still a lot to do, but it's starting to come together.  Slowly.

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on January 02, 2019, 04:06:52 AM
"We never did get to watch the video!"


Telford's been and gone.  Not a lot of new stuff finished since then and the bulk of the abandoned stuff is still that - abandoned.  Which is some cases is a pity, as the finished models could be rather spiffing.  The Spitefuls need canopies and they are always a pain.  However, one of the lads at the club has some rather interesting resin and a vacform machine, so he's been politely asked if he can copy a canopy.  I've several copies of the old Czech resin kit that Pegasus used as a master, so this canopy should fit.  I'll also twist his arm to do the trainer canopy from the CMR kit, as I know I'll be needing quite a few for the planned T-birds I'm hoping to do this year.

My plan to do several models for a minitheme on 421 recce flight has now blown into a proper family tree, starting with several mk IIs, taking in a PRIV and PRXI before mutating into a proper squadron (546, which never formed) with PR19s and FRXIVs, finally ending with mk 16s as target tugs for the AACU.  The three end models are done, although I'll need to respray the mk 16 before I can get the decals on. Rather pleased with the two NMF 19s but I really want a PRU Blue one to go with them.  I have one in primer that just needs the canopy on and it's good to go to the paint shop.

Hopefully, I'll have a trio of all new things at Bolton, but possibly a few more.  I got one of the last 607Sqn post war aircraft finally finished last night and another isn't too far off.


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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: PR19_Kit on March 29, 2019, 09:22:38 AM
Quoteespecially those sodding yellow 2 shaped things -  compounded by the fact that they're for a slightly different airframe.

They're the 'Hoist Here' markings, and they're mean to look like hooks. The RAF seemed to be psychotic about dumping them all over their airframes during that period for some reason.
Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on September 08, 2019, 11:42:33 AM
"Hi, Neil. Is this some sort of sick joke? Why isn't supper ready? You haven't done a bloody thing, have you, Neil?!"

I kind of lost my mojo for some time.  The tour on Lancasters petered out, largely due to a minibreakdown caused by stress at work.  I just haven't wanted to touch plastic for some time since then, but the arrival of september means the clock is running down and I need to look at this year's display.

Having drawn up this year's issue of The PlanTM, it went in the bin and got re-written as V2.0.  Quite a bit - actually most of it - is written around a great number of stuff part started, assembled and in several cases even primed.  There's a few I'll need to start sticking plastic together for, but not many.  Probably no more than six.  I say that now, but undoubtedly it'll go up as the cogs start turning.

The whole thing revolves around two ideas.  The first being the whole 421 Recce Flight/546 Sqn.  They had the codes LZ- but 66 Sqn had LZ.  Hmmmn, how do we get round this?  Well, I have 607 Sqn reforming on Spitfires after they come back from France having lost their Hurricanes and I kept them in the UK, so 66 Sqn go to the far east in their place, naturally with Spitfires.  So I get to do several far east ones - actually, V2.0 has half a dozen.  This gives me two small themes and bulks out my far east section.

The second revolves around a chance find of a photo of an F21 in the markings of 122 Sqn.  Now, they had Mustangs from early 44 until post war, when lend lease ended and they got F21s before being re-badged as 41 Sqn.  This changes now, so they get a few 'e' wing mk IXs before changing to the F.XIV as part of ADGB and then they get re-assigned to 2TAF, ending the war with F21s in April 1946.  41 Sqn remains as they were in history, but their Spitfire F.XIVs are replaced with Spitefuls before they get Hornets later as per reality. 

This thinking resolves the fact that I gave 41 Sqn Spitefuls some years back, but I realise now that I need to build one in late war 2TAF markings.  Not such a hardship, as I have one assembled that I was never happy with and would be only too delighted to give it a respray.  Failing that, there's a part started one that wouldn't take too much work to get to the primer stage.

I just need to start gluing a few bits of plastic together and start looking at sorting through the boxes with the part assembled stuff to get it into some sort of order.  I have two weeks of assembly time, and not that much that really need assembling.  And depending on the kit, I can through them together *very* quickly.



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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on September 09, 2019, 04:26:59 AM
"I must be hallucinating. What's good for a hangover?"

Well, I've got a pair of Hasegawa mk VIIIs on the go.  I don't like the kit at all - lack of detail and the fit is less than stellar - but I had a pair in the stash and they go together reasonably quickly.  I did find an assembled wing too, so that could be useful, although the fit to the fuselage when it's assembled is more challenging as I've discovered in the past.

Out with a pair of mk XIIs - I'd thought about one or two being issued to 122 Sqn as ground instructional airframes when they convert to the mk XIV but they keep one flying as a hack.  I had a pair of part started Xtrakit ones so they were handy.

On looking for something else, an assembled Hobbyboss mk Vb, complete with Vokes filter, revealed itself.  Handy, I think, as it'll do for the 66 Sqn one I'd planned for the far east.  Unless they do a quick tour in the middle east before transiting out later when war breaks out there.  Means I can do another Airfix Vb with the spare Airkit filter that arrived as part of that box of bits I got a few weeks back.  I've a pair of those dug out and they go together very quickly.  It's a kit I've always liked, even if it's a bit long in the tooth now.


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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on September 29, 2019, 10:27:38 AM
"Honestly, Neil. Of all the stupid ideas."

Short update.  Virtually everything is together, apart from a pair of Airfix F22s that'll end up as F24s.  One will be the RAF Acklington Station Commander's aircraft and thus very shiny in aluminium, t'other...  I'm keeping tight lipped about it but the back story is humorous and interesting.  It really depends on if I can find the correct red paint and more importantly a specific set of decals.

The Airkit 14 is coming along nicely, I just have to find the other tailplane I'd cast for it as it appears to have vanished off the face of the earth. I need to cast another set for the Airkit F21 I'm salvaging.  That's all tidied up and ready for priming, once I get the tailplanes sorted.  I have a hankering to start another, but that's not really a good idea considering the time element.  I can slot the part started AZ mk IX I acquired off ebay into the plan, given that it was to end up in aluminium anyway and thus a quick spray job.

I really need to start priming soon, but the weather is against me and I need primer, so that's a two hour round trip to Silverlink through the badlands of Wallsend.  I also need Maskol, but that will have to wait until saturday, providing Uncle Frank has any in stock, although Fenwicks in the Toon may well have.

Looking at the list, it's quite probably too long and ambitious for the timescale, so some judicious pruning may well be in order.


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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on October 09, 2019, 08:02:50 PM
"Look! Look, when they get back, tell them I'm incredibly sorry!"

Well, again, we have a completed and considered Plan and again, I stick something else into it at the last minute.  This time it's an Airkit Seafire 15, plus a few other assembled things.  Time is now running short and whilst everything is now together bar the Airkit 15 (the fuselage is done), the bulk of the priming is yet to be finished.  All bar one of the things to be NMF are done and finished, ready for decalling.  One needs some sanding before adding the canopy and a final coat, plus the radiators need to go under the 122 Sqn F.21, but a good chunk of The Plan (now at V5.0!) is done.

Given the time element, I'm reluctantly thinking of axing huge swathes of stuff - the bulk of the 66 Sqn stuff is unimportant and the two Dutch aircraft can be quietly sidelined.  I'd really like to get the 421 Flight/546 Sqn, 122 Sqn stuff done and anything else would be a bonus.  Although the 41 Sqn Spiteful could end up looking rather good. And this doesn't include the half dozen decalled holdovers from last year that I *really* want finished, because they work really well  and need to be displayed. 

Said time element is now running down.  I estimate a good twenty days left - five to get the priming done, ten for spraying/masking and another five for decalling.  That takes me to the end of the month, leaving a few days tinkering time.

I've found a use for an Aeroteam F21 that got assembled and abandoned some years back.  NMF finish and it's wearing Type C markings.  I've decided on a 122 Sqn contraprop aircraft.  The rudder was already removed and I've test fitted an F.18 rudder.  Somewhere close to hand is a Rotol contraprop that's the right colour, so with a modicum of work, that'sone long term hangar queen eliminated.

TBH, there's a few other things I'd like to start - another F21 in 122 Sqn markings, albeit with nice glossy post war roundels, plus a pair of 41 Sqn Spitefuls.  I've a hankering for one in the air race colours worn by their OTL F21s.  However tempting these are, they'll have to wait until next year. At least, post Telford

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on October 13, 2019, 08:15:36 PM
"Well, of course you hate it, Neil, it's not finished yet!"

The wings are on the last two - these being the Airkit Seafire 15 and yet another PR21, this being intended as a quick one in overall PRU Blue as the prototype.  The Seafire is intended for a simple two colour scheme of Extra Dark Sea Grey over Sky with the low demarcation with Type C markings and markings for a unit operating off the east coast.  The wing joins of both need some serious filler work, the Seafire especially, but I really need that one done as it's one of the few left to add for a complete line up - I may have to do a Seafire IIc and possibly another Seafire XV but once done, it means that I'll have whiffed nigh on the entire Spitfire family.  No mean feat.

Everything else is primed and much of the remedial work is done, so next is to get the canopies a nice cold bath in some Pledge - you can't get Kleer any more and what little I have is earmarked for decalling, but Pledge works well enough for canopies - and then get them on and masked so I can get spraying.  The intention is to get the bulk of everything assembled to the masking stage for the second colour and then start eliminating anything that's really not essential.  At least I can get some stuff further forward before abandoning it again.

I'll have to start looking at the props soon too, as these generally trip me up.  The bulk of the wheels have their hubs done, so an hour or so should see them done.

Lots to do and hard decisions are going to have to be made.  I do not want to be running down to the wire again.  Been there, seen it, done it and felt the sheer tired stressfullness of it all - and I'm too old for all that balderdash.

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on October 17, 2019, 08:11:06 PM
"I hate these places. They're so depressing. You know, Michael, I would rather go to a lecture than a laundrette."

I detest vacform canopies.  Apart from cutting them out, it's generally a lottery if they'll fit or not.  The two closed canopies stolen from various Airkit Spitfires fitted the Airfix Vbs that I was working on a treat, whereas the Squadron PR canopy did not fit the Revell Vb that's now a mk IV (fuselage crossed with an Airfix 19 wing).  However, I'd been given some Airkit parts by Colin some time back and they included several resin plugs, two early PR canopies being amongst them.  One of the lads at the club did me a load of canopies including said plugs and first time out, they fit.  The aforementioned PRIV and a Vb that's the cannon armed equivalent of a PR1G.

All of the highback canopies are now in place and just need masking up before I can start spraying the upper surface colours.  One or two will have to wait, as I need to cast a few bits and I'm waiting for a new batch of resin.

The Airkit F.21 got it's final coat of Aluminium yesterday and it looks fantastic.  Really looking forward to seeing this one finished.

Thoughts on downsizing this year's Plan to something more realistic given time constraints and other factors are still ongoing, but I'm going to wait until the first colour coats are all on.  I know what I want to do with regards to the camouflaged examples, it's just deciding what are the must haves and the not important enough.



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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on October 22, 2019, 08:13:02 PM
"That's just the most completely brilliant thing I've ever seen...A flying shark!"

Well, spraying has *finally* started - and then stopped due to time issues as I don't like running the compressor too late.  Plus I was having technical issues with the airbrush.  I did however give the Dutch 16 lowback a nice coat of medium green - apparently some wore an experimental jungle scheme and I had to give it a go, so much so that there's three rather than two Dutch 16s now in the Plan. I also added another PR21 into the Plan as I liked the idea of one in overall Aluminium in the far east - it'll go with the one I did some years back with the paint partly worn off.  It's a quick and easy one to spray.

I've looked at the spray schedule - all of the Ocean Grey stuff should be done tomorrow, with the 41 Sqn Spiteful first in the queue as I've an image in me head of how it'll look when it's done.  The trio in overall PRU Blue are waiting until I do the undersides of several.

Time is against me this year more than ever.  I started late and work is getting in the way.  I'm hoping that the extra day off next week will help me catch up a bit.  I need to start decalling no later than next wednesday to have a hope in hell of getting anything finished...


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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on October 28, 2019, 06:18:51 AM
"God, I'm bored. Term only finished four hours ago and already I'm bored."

After a day of masking off the upper surfaces with Maskol, I've now started spraying the second colours on.  The Seafire 15 was done first, largely because as it's one of the few marks that I *don't* have, it's important to get that one finished and as such it's now got Super Priority.

I'm about a third the way through - I do them in batches of about 6 or so, with two more batches to do.  Largely to let the dust settle, give the compressor a chance to cool down and myself a cuppa.  I reckon there's about another hours work, give the paint a chance to dry and cure fully, then I'll start stripping of the Maskol later and start masking with tape tomorrow.  I've a feeling by the end of it, I'll be happy to go back to work...

IF I'm lucky, I should have all the undersurfaces done tomorrow too, so I can *finally*- start decalling on wednesday.


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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on October 28, 2019, 07:52:39 AM
"Snow, snow, bloody snow! I hate the bloody sight of it!"

Now halfway through and ran out of the bottle of RAF Dark green I was using, so ideal time for a quick brew and get the last mk IX masked - it needed some last minute tidying before a quick coat of Ocean Gray before I started everything else.  Once the Maskol's dried, I'll do it as part of the last batch.

And *YET AGAIN!* I add something else into The Plan at almost the last breath!  This time a completed and masked Airfix PR19.  I was going to do it as a modern warbird painted up as a wartime aircraft.  IIRC, an RAAF one in Caldwell's markings.  I've got those in with the Eduard Aussie combo and several spare sets, so it's a quick and easy one to do with an overall Foliage green upper and light blue underneath.  The spinner is white with red stripes, but I'll go for overall red on the grounds that warbirds are never completely accurate anyway and it's representing Caldwell's mk XIVe that he was flying post war.  I've given the RAAF at least one mk 14 and this now opens up the possibility of a few more, plus possibly a mk 21 and or a 22 as a post war evaluation aircraft.  And if the RAAF has Spitfire F22s, then so might the RNZAF.

Well, back to work...


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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on October 29, 2019, 09:12:53 PM
"That's OK, Neil. It was bound to happen sooner or later."

Well, the masking came off with few problems, although the third Dutch mk IXe low back gets abandoned as I'm just not happy with it, not to mention the time element.  All of the tape masking to do the undersides is now done after a mammoth session today, interspersed with cups of tea and fortified by chocolate biscuits.  However, it ended just a shade too late to do any actual spraying, which will be later today.  I'll do it in batches again, with the various colours.

The trio of PR21s now have their u/c on.  I've discovered that the Eduard legs will take Aeroclub wheels and I have a number of spare 3 spoke hub wheels kicking about doing nothing, so that's something to remember for the future.  One of said trio is going aluminium but the weather has turned a bit damp for outdoor spraying.

However, that time element is now kicking in with a vengeance due to schedule slippage.  Decalling *may* start today, but don't hold your breath and I lose much of friday and saturday.  Time to start sharpening that axe, but I know what I want to keep and what is expendable.


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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on October 30, 2019, 09:33:26 PM
"I was just beginning to enjoy myself."

Well, decalling has begun, despite the fact that I've yet to do any real spraying because I came in from work rather late and after sorting out a pair of PR21s before spraying, I found that it was really too late to fire up the compressor.

I've got nice glossy type D markings on several. The 81 Sqn PR21 looks very nice in overall aluminium and with the later roundels it'll be a neat contrast to the one I did a few years back.  May have to do one in PRU Blue at some stage.  It just needs it's serial and I'll use one from the sheet of cancelled F21s that Kit printed for me last year.  I wish I'd asked him to do several serials for F24s - well, actually I did, but they were for cancelled aircraft that now become later F26s with the Seafire FR47 style cowling - but I can get round that by stealing the decals from a Special Hobby F24.

I did get the undersurface aluminium on the RAF Acklington station commander's aircraft, only to find some bleed through.  It's not too bad and I'm sure some careful painting can hide it, because I rather like the scheme.  I really want to finish the 607 Sqn Spiteful that went in the same scheme last year, because it's one of the few 607 aircraft that will complete that minitheme.  Although the idea of one toting bombs or rockets underneath for armament practice camp is quite appealing.

So, there's a great deal of spraying to do tomorrow, but *IF* I can get the bulk of it out of the way tomorrow, then I can crack on decalling.  There's still quite a few aluminium aircraft to do, but I'm not quite sure just what I'm doing with them, other than they fit at the end of the 545 Sqn theme.  You see, I wanted a rag tag mixture of  F16e's in different schemes and roundel styles to fit that particular period.  However, the whole 122 Sqn theme is a bit more important, largely because I have one of the former and I'd rather have more of the latter.  The post war F21 now has it's codes and just needs a serial, and the later one has the roundels but little else.  That one is a must have, mainly as it's an Airkit one and it looks fab.  That's shaping up to be my favourite so far.



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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on November 03, 2019, 08:13:54 PM
"It's probably someone unbelievably boring!"

Well, I'm two thirds through the decalling and I'm losing the will to live.  I've already eliminated five from my enquiries due to a lack of relevant decals, to whit Medium Sea Grey code letters.  All the national markings are on, plus some serials and I've a total of (drum roll, please) six that are ready to varnish.  I should get the bulk of what I want done tomorrow but I'm still thinking of pruning the numbers further.

Whether or not I actually finish anything is another matter, but if I can get the 122 Sqn stuff done, plus the Spiteful and Seafire 15, I'll be reasonably happy.  The Spiteful I'm quite happy with but the canopy could well be the bugbear.  They usually are with them.



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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on November 05, 2019, 02:39:27 PM
"Oh, who cares?"

Well, all the decalling is now done.  I'd pruned out quite a few that I wasn't happy with - the Dutch trio for example got canned, along with all the far east 66 Sqn stuff, although the Vb has it's national markings and serial on.  I had thought of canning one of the 546 Sqn PR1Gs but after I found a spare serial I decided to do it after all. 

Something else got pulled out of the Cabinet of Doom - a PR.X that has the big 14 tail and will be getting a contraprop.  Now, I didn't have a serial for it but on checking the fictional serials that Kit had done for my Rhodesian PR19s that were finished last year, I found that they sit quite comfortably in a black out block just before the serials for the production PR.X aircraft.  So that got assigned to 546 as yet another trials aircraft.  The planned Dutch low back in standard RAF camo got pinched back, because I liked the scheme and with nice Type C markings it became another 546 aircraft, this time a communications hack.  There was also a PRXI in the cabinet that had got as far as national markings and a 607 Sqn shield but it was another I wasn't happy with but I know I can write something around it wearing the 607 shield and 546 Sqn codes.

So, the next task is to sort out props and exhausts, plus painting u/c bits.  And then there's the soul crushing thought of vacform canopies for the Airkit stuff. 

The real problem, though, isn't time.  Which is tight but I've done it before so I know I can do it again, but really it's a lack of enthusiasm.  I just can't be bothered with it all.  I really want to finish some of them - quite a few - but I know if I start doing one, I'll want to do another and another and I'll be back where I started.





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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on November 08, 2019, 02:29:35 AM
"I'm bored and deserve to die. This is the end. Armageddon! No future!"

I got up on wednesday, pottered about a bit with sod all enthusiasm, looked at everything there and just thought "Sod it" and went out.  It finally just got too much for me.  Really didn't want to do anything.

Some sort of enthusiasm came back later and I did get a few things done.  I took the attitude of "if it gets finished, it can go, but if I finish nothing, I'm not going to lose any sleep."  In the end, I got about a dozen or so finished, all of which are now packed and ready to go.  Not the ones I really wanted (the Airkit stuff and the Spiteful) as they'd take too much work, but there's a few nice ones in there and I got the bulk of the 546 Sqn stuff done.  Plenty left to sort out when I get back, so they should be done in time for Bolton in January.  IF the enthusiasm comes back.

I've started my Plan for next year, but there's moves afoot at the club for some sort of themed display which doesn't fit my interests.  Unhappy with that, although I'm sure I can be a bit more subversive than usual.  It may leave next year's Plan without a home.  However, I'm not entirely unhappy with that, as there's been whispers over the years about how much room I take up on any given club display, so next year, I may well take the attitude of "Go on then, YOU fill the table as I'm sick of it!"


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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on November 16, 2019, 08:36:51 PM
"It's so rare when you get a chance to go out these days."

I managed to get a round dozen or so finished.  Not examples of my finest work perhaps, but decent enough.  They're more place fillers than must haves, although my RAF Acklington station commander's aircraft do look rather good and I'm rather pleased with the two 545 Sqn PR1Gs.

I've done very little since I got back, although the Hasegawa mk VIII that I got from Kitbasher at Telford is ready to close up.  Not sure where I'm going with that one, although a 66 Sqn one in the far east is quite likely, even though the other two have yet to get any decals.  There's also an Airfix mk IXc that's been converted to an E wing and it'll be a 607 Sqn aircraft at armament practice camp, so I get to play with some of the many Eduard bomb carriers and bombs that are littering the spares box.  Only question is do I go for a camo or NMF finish




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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on December 02, 2019, 05:37:38 PM
"No. No, Neil, it's Madness this week!"

Haven't done much with the backlog of unfinished Telford stuff, due to lack of enthusiasm for them and the lure of just building stuff for the sheer hell of it.  So far I've a trio of lowback FR14e's, one of which has the F18 tail which the late ones did get so 546 Sqn for them. The F.VIII I got from Dave is now ready to get it's u/c on and a coat of primer if the weather stays dry.  There's a trio of PR19s that will be going Royal Navy or Airwork and two of those will be getting yellow trainer bands.  Finally, other than the 607 mk 16 mentioned in the last post, there's another PR21 on the go, which is going to complete the 81 Sqn mini theme.

So, plenty on the go but due to work commitments, not a lot to show for it.

And the Madness bit?  Well, I'd started a Ventura 18 and it's going reasonably well - the plastic on this one seems quite soft so it's moving along at a good pace and I'm rather enjoying it.  So much so, I've dug out their F14e highback.  I know I've one already, but that was a part started salvage job I got from ebay and another with 607 Sqn in their 2TAF period is the scheme I'm thinking of.


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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on December 08, 2019, 02:43:36 PM
"Oh, it's broken."

Well, I've had a chance to go through that box of Spitfires and spares and...  Well, let's just say it's a *very* mixed bag!  I'm sure I've bought a similar box of bits from the same seller a year or two back.  The guy is clearly a Spitfire nut and has a penchant for cutting up airframes to get something more accurate out of them - except none of what he's done makes any real sense.

For example, he's taken a Hasegawa mk IX and cut down the rear fuselage to do a lowback.  Now, this is frankly daft, considering that the Heller XVIe lowback has been available since the mid 70s and it's few faults are easily fixable (new canopy - Falcon, wheels - any number of resin aftermarket, raised panel lines - get the scriber out!) so why go to the trouble to cut down a rather ropy base kit?  There's also an AZ mk IX in the midst of becoming a PRXI, with a rebuilt deeper chin and a wing from an Airfix XIX (which is too broad in chord anyway...) which on reflection does make some sense, given the lack of available PRXI kits and I think I can salvage it, although what air force it'll end up with is anyone's guess.  The same goes for an AZ IX being converted to a mk XII and it looks to be a decent job.  I'm not saying the guy is a bad modeller - he isn't, there's actually some very good work in there - just his choices seem very counter intuitive.

There's a lot of butchered fuselages in the box - mainly AZ IXs but some Xtrakit 22s and criminally, an Xtrakit mk XII!  There's some Sword 14 wreckage but I've a feeling they're more from the spares in the lowback boxes. Quite a few spare canopies too but like all the other bits, nothing is kept together for any given project.  It's all very...  haphazard, random.  I know my system uses a tame black hole and several hand grenades, but this is a whole new level!

Is much salvageable?  Short answer - yes.  Quite a few wings - mainly AZ or Airfix (two sets of F22 wings will go towards a pair of F21s with the Airfix 19s I have stashed away).  There's an AZ mk VIII wing that I know fits their 14 highback fuselage - and I have one in the spares box - giving me a clipped XIVc which will fit neatly into my 122 Sqn theme.  The aforementioned lowback IX, PRXI and F.XII.  There's a nicely painted Fujimi XIV lowback that was converted to an XVIII which is very salvageable, couple of Airfix Vbs in the form of random bits.

The best bits are two CMR kits - a Seafire IIIc that wouldn't need much to turn it around and I've been wanting to do another with a pointy tail for a while now and a Seafire 46.  Now this has had some really nice painting in the cockpit - except it's cockpit green when any fule kno that Seafire cockpits from the 15 onwards should be black.  Now this isn't such a bad thing, because I've had a thought fopr some time about Norwegian Spitfires with arrestor hooks for use on windswept airfields in the north and this would seem to fit the bill rather nicely.

So, a curate's egg - good in parts, bad in others but ultimately worth having.  I've had a number of boxes like this from various sellers and they always have something worth having in them.

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on December 08, 2019, 07:09:46 PM
"What's my prize?"

Well, I've sorted through the box and come out with the following:

Two near complete Airfix Vbs.  Oil coolers and gun barrels are missing, but easily replaced
CMR Seafire III - the canopy and wheels are missing.  Again, easily replaced
CMR Seafire 46 - canopy yellowed and the prop has shed a couple of blades
3 near complete Hasegawa mk VIIIs. There's a fourth, with the fuselage cut down for a mk 16.  I may well finish it as a late production IXc with the cut down fuselage as a test bed with the AFDU.
1 AZ IX converted to a mk XII
1 AZ IX with the nose converted with a deep chin for use as a PRXI and the fuselage modified to take the Airfix XIX wig.  I found the u/c and radiators in my spares box.
1 Fujimi XIV lowback assembled as an 18.  Radiators, wheels and canopy missing.  Again, spares box.
The bulk of a Ventura Seafire F17 with the CMR wingfold set.  The latter doesn't fit the former too well, but I'm sure I have a spare wing for this kit somewhere in a spares box and I have no recollection of acquiring it.
Spares from 3 Airfix F22s - no complete fuselages, so they're now donor wings for F21s
All bar the fuselage from an Airfix mk Ia.  Added to a Brigade mk XII fuselage conversion, I think I could have another interim Mk IVa.

There's wreckage and spares from other kits as mentioned in the last post.  Quite what will happen with the wreckage, I don't know, but any spare wings are always useful.



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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on December 09, 2019, 07:08:56 AM
"That's a completely brilliant idea, Mike. I've been wanting to do this for a long time! "

On reflection, the low back Hasegawa fuselage may be better off as a lowback VIIIc - there was at least one prototype but the RAF refused them outright due to the stability issues (cured on the 16 by the simple remedy of clipping the wings, which increases the efficiency of the tailplanes).  What air force it may end up in is anyone's guess but any of the mk VIII users are ideal candidates.  Indian or RAAF being most likely.

There is a small snag.  All the low backs had the 'e' wing as standard - the oxygen bottles were moved to the redundant outer gun bays - except for the Seafire XVII.  However, given that the latter largely operated under 20,000ft, it didn't seem to be a problem.  IIRC, most RAAF Spitfire combat seemed to take place under 20,000ft so that would seem to be the likely candidate.  AND I have oodles of RAAF Spitfire markings.  Slam dunk.

Now I just need to remove the piece that the former owner has glued into the tailwheel bay...


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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on December 09, 2019, 01:12:46 PM
"Hurry! Get some money very quickly!"

You know it's odd.  Some years back, people were divesting themselves of the Ventura Spitfires/Seafires for peanuts - I mean, I got one or two in the kitswap a year or so back for a quid each - largely due to their limited run nature meaning they required a great deal of clean up, some skill to assemble and a decent spares box to make up for the lack of detail parts.  Despite that, they're still very accurate, supposedly because the original master maker had started with the old tool Airfix mk Ia and worked from there, and all the wings are interchangeable. 

Really, they're a product of a different time and a mindset that the modeller could and should be able to use his or her skill to detail a kit, not rely on a ton of aftermarket resin.  And to be honest, once you've done the basic clean up, they do look pretty good.  I was very proud of the mk XVIIIe that I built with my then limited skills back in 1990 and it didn't look that bad - certainly better than the one MPM released about five years later.

Now, prices seem to be going through the roof.  Collectakit have quite a few but none of which are under a tenner and Kitfinger have several on ebay for about 16 quid.  I know they're limited run, but come on!  Surely they're not *that* desirable?


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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on December 09, 2019, 06:34:46 PM
"Don't be stupid, Neil. That's not a shark!"

It had to happen at some point.  The FR Attacker was dug out and the vacform belly tank is attached and filler applied to blend it all in.  It's one of the few that I started before realising it was quicker and easier to do the Frog Attackers as flying models, thus the cockpit is grouted out and some basic detail added, and the wheel bays have been opened up.  I've the very basic u/c legs stolen from a Pegasus Spiteful and the vile Frog canopy replaced with a far superior Falcon one.

I've been itching to get this one done for a time and it may fit in with my 546 sqn theme, although I don't want to give them the Attacker -as it means more work.  Thus I know what the scheme will be - Dark Sea Grey and Dark Green over PRU Blue with the rather fetching 2TAF Type C1A roundels. There's lovely.  I very briefly considered PRU Pink but then thought better of it.

It's one I've been looking forward to finishing and who knows, it may well be ready in time for Bolton - but don't hold your breathe just yet.  I've a boatload the size of the Titanic of other nigh on finished Spitfires to get through first.


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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on January 01, 2020, 04:09:12 AM
"It's the middle of summer, big ears!"

I've been looking at the Epilogue for The Plan, to whit the Swift, largely due to getting a cheap Testors one on ebay.  This brings my total up to three and having had a look in the box I bought from Collectakit some years back (which didn't contain a Testors swift but DID contain a complete Magna Swift F7, at least 5 Airkit Swift upgrade sets and a CMR fuselage) I know I've all the bits to sort them out.

One of the Testors kits I have has had the back end cut off at some point - I think I was going to cross it with an Attacker to do the Prometheus - but it is fixable.  I've a feeling it'll have to end up in a dark scheme, probably standard camo and 74 Sqn markings.  Now, before you all say "But you don't do sexy squadrons!" there is a basis in reality as 74 were going to get the Swift F2 but received Hunters to great relief when it was realised what a dog the F2 was.

Having had a quick look at the Magna Swift in the box, I did think about reworking it as the PR6 using one of the Airkit noses but then rejected it in favour of a camouflaged one with Firestreaks rather than the nasty Fireflash missiles - IIRC, Weaver got the Fireflashes when I bought the kit. So, how do I do the PR6?  Simples - I use the cheap Airfix one I got in the kitswap in 2018 and some of the Pavla F7 conversion for the extended wings.

One thing that has crossed my mind with all the bits kicking about - using one of the spare Airkit noses on an Attacker to do one with a nosegear u/c, although I may well use an AZ one rather than a Frogspawn, simply because the latter needs to much work too bring it up to scratch, although the solid wing does mean relocating the u/c much easier.  More thought will be needed on this one perhaps.

And I really must finish the Swifts that have got paint on.  There's an Xtrakit one that I think was going FRADU and a Magna F7 that's been on and mainly off for about twenty years that doesn't need that much work to finish either.  Finally, the Airfix one that assembled needs priming, but I can't remember what I'd planned for it - it may well have been the FGA role with SNEB/Matra pods and markings from the Airfix Hunter.  Given that the last releases had similar side bars to the Swift, it may well have been that for some kind of subtle twist that's become my trademark...

And finally, somewhere in another Testors box is a Maintrack/Project X Supermarine 545 that I really should have a bash at.  I did consider getting the Whirlybird repop with all that nice resin, but it's still a vacform and at 30 notes for something little bigger than a Hunter is a bit steep.

So, plenty of food for thought if I get bored with Hasegawa mk 8s.  All of these are largely assembled and just awaiting the u/c gear before I can prime them.  I decided on a post war survey aircraft for one of them, with a camera port drilled in the port fuselage hatch and clipped wings.  It's going Australian, as they were a major user of the mk VIII and had quite a few left over at the end of the war. Overall aluminium finish with Type Ds on the wings and a Roo on the fuselage.  Something simple that I can get ready for Bolton!

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on January 01, 2020, 05:24:03 AM
"Eenie, meenie, meinie, mo. Oh, by the way, there's a couple of strange girls in the bathroom."

I've had a quick scan of various references on the Swift prototypes (and the name was used by V-S for ALL the development aircraft from the Type 510 onwards!) and I think to get a Prometheus, it would be easier to use a Frog Attacker with a Swift nose, wings and tail surfaces - backdating a Swift is harder.

Wonder if I can get a cheap Magna Swift F1? Edit: No, the only one one ebay is 30 notes and an FR5 anyway.  Best of luck with that, mate!

Some tidying up as yielded a built up Hasegawa mk 8 that was going to be an FR bird in Italy.  Can't remember what scheme it was going in but it may have been intended for PRU Blue undersides.  That'll get primed with the other mk 8s later in the week.


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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on January 06, 2020, 06:23:08 PM
"I just don't seem to be able to get rid of this hangover."

Well, I managed to get three of the Telford holdovers finished yesterday - all part of my 421 Recce Flight/546 Sqn theme - plus another two today, one from said theme and another that was a holdover from Telford 2018.  All that needed was the canopy, and that's now in place.  Plus I've moved a bit further forward with another long term hangar queen, an Aeroteam F21 that was going to be a Seafire F45 but got repurposed as a 122 Sqn contraprop.  Just needs the canopy and the prop and she's done.  Finally, there's an Airkit F21 that needs similar treatment.  There's a few others which won't take much work to finish and may well make an appearance at Bolton.

Discovery of a South African Spitfire decal sheet has prompted some thoughts on aircraft from that region, mainly FR9 lowbacks and I've several Heller kits part started that would be rather useful toward that end.  I also like the idea of one in NMF with yellow T bands and stub guns - there's one sitting there for such a scheme.  There's some nice schemes on that sheet and I'd like to give some a bash.  I did consider the South Africans selling their aircraft on to Rhodesia, but the former was getting rid of their Spitfires at a similar time to the latter, although as Rhodesia sold quite a few of theirs to Syria, perhaps the Isrealis could buy the former SAAF machines?  Still, I'd like to do one or two more Rhodesian Spits, although I've already got a trio of PR19s and another that was intended for mounting on a plinth.  Thoughts are revolving around an FR22.

One of the Hasegawa kits is now on it's u/c and could well get primed soon.  It's going RAAF in overall NMF, so could be rather simple, especially if I use the prepainted canopy that's sitting in the box.

The Testors Swift I got off ebay has arrived and I'm looking at making a start on it.

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on January 08, 2020, 07:44:48 AM
"See?...God! Mike's floating! How's that done, then?"

Something I've been tinkering with is getting a little closer.  I've been toying with a Spitfire F22 floatplane for a while and a sudden realisation that I didn't have enough F22 u/c legs for the projects on the go made me realise that sacrificing one or two for a floatplane or three may be a good idea.  I'd bought several of the Eastern Express Seafire floatplane kits simply for the floats (the rest is the antediluvian Frog kit and thus fit only for the bin) and they were stashed away for this purpose - on reflection I'd like another two or three for other Plan projects, more of which anon.

The main airframe is largely together and she just needs her tail feathers but I think it'll need a ventral strake, so out with the plastic card.  The undernose intake will need to be a bit longer, so a Vokes filter reshaped should do - if I was to do a production version, I'd use a Seafire 47 style cowl and the u/c bulges on the wing uppers would go too.  Another one for the future perhaps and probably with Korean War stripes, although maybe not as I just don't do wing stripes out of sheer laziness.  She's got to have a contraprop and luckily, I've just aquired an Airkit one, although I did find one lurking in a box the other day, although I've a feeling it really needs to go on a Spitfire F26.

So, a prototype, and given the period - say 1947? - overall aluminium with type C markings and a big yellow P.  Codes are easily stolen from a Seafire F46.  Given enough enthusiasm and a bit of spare time, I *might* get it finished for Bolton but more likely 'alifax.

I'd still like to do a Floatfire based on a cut down fuselage F.IX and the Heller fuselage will take an Airfix IX wing with little or no difficulty and given the weight of the floats, I doubt it'd be tootling around much over 10,000ft, so the oxygen bottles can go elsewhere.  There was a plan OTL for a float variant of the Seafire 45 and I've plenty of airframe bits to cobble one of them together.  I'd also toyed with an Attacker floatplane, but that's already been done by someone else although his was the larger production version and I could get away with just doing a prototype...

By way of something a bit different...  I was looking in one of the many Spitfire spares box yesterday for something and found a complete and assembled Heller F16 fuselage.  Also lurking in the same box was a taped up Airfix 19 wing.  Now, I know that tehy fit, so idly, I dry fit them and mark off where the fuselage needs cutting out.  One thing leads to another and now I've the prospect of another lowback PR.XI.  A search in the spares box also gives me resin copies of the internals and a seat was also found.  One tailplane was in there, plus an AZ radiator.  I know I've enough spares elsewhere to assemble a complete airframe and I've an end user in mind too - 546 Sqn, and I've got them test flying and proving all sorts of FR and PR Spitfires in the late and post war periods.

An on a final note, I've manged to scrape together enough resin bits from the same spares box to assemble a cockpit for the Seafire 17 that arrived in that box of assorted spares I got off ebay a few weeks back.  That may well be together by the end of the week too, although I still don't have a scheme or user in mind for it yet - Canadian perhaps, replacing their 15s?

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on January 13, 2020, 08:55:38 AM
"I don't know, Neil, but I'm going to stay and find out."

That box of bits a got a few weeks back seems to be the gift that keeps giving.  There's the remnants of an AZ mk 7 in it (well, it's that tool as it was released in several boxings as a mk VIII as well).  The wing is certainly there and that's the really useful bit, because it's got the smaller ailerons.  I had planned on using it with the spare AZ mk 14/21 fuselage but found that it didn't fit without some surgery.  But I know that it does fit the AZ mk 9 fuselage and that leads to something else.  Also in teh box was a canopy and I'd got an AZ mk VII at Telford a year ort so back sans canopy, so that's that sorted.

But back to the mk 8 wing and the subject of two seaters.  Now, Vickers had done all the design work and built a prototype  but it was based on the mk 8, not the mk 9, that was later, and the Tr.8 was suggested to the RAF as a useful trainer for the Auxilliaries.  However, being tight - and we were very poor at the time - the Air ministry said no and VS used all the design work on the Tr.9 and flogged quite a few abroad, although there were more interested parties than those who actually got the thing.  This means I have a use for all the Brigade ones tucked away and although that fuselage is intended to take the vile Italeri mk 9 wing, it does take the Airfix one and I have quite a few of them tucked away.

Now, I have a spare mk 8 wing and nothing to do with it - or have I? I stocked up on quite a few AZ two seaters in all the various boxings - and could have made a few bob too given the way prices shot up for a while on ebay - and thus I should be able to do one as the Tr. 8.  Ok, AZ did one, but it was really just the plastic for the Tr.9 and the modeller had to do the albeit few and none too difficult mods themselves.  The kit came with a new sprue for the Tr fuselage and the internals, which meant that the modeller was left with a spare single seat fuselage and a lot of other bits on the sprues.  What was that I said about the gift that keeps giving?

Anyway, to cut a long and rambling story short - and it is going on far too seriously long enough by half - the spare wing and a few other bits from the same box gives me the means to build two kits out of the 1.5 in the AZ Tr.9 and something different into the bargain.  The thing is I've already done a pair of Tr's in RAuxAF markings, plus the yellow Tr21 so what markings does it get?  Given that the RAAF had Spitfire 8s it may be a good idea to pass then to the Aussies or maybe a bit further south to New Zealand, as I've been thinking of doing something else with a Hasegawa mk 8 and New Zealand Spitfires have been something I've been considering for a time anyway, albeit F22s rather than mk 8s.

And the gift that keeps giving?  Well, that also applies to that box of spares I got a while back and given the similarities between the two, I'm sure they're from the same seller, although I can't prove it as ebay deletes stuff after 6 months.  The reason being that the Seafire 17 wing I mentioned in an earlier post was taped with Tamiya tape and I just don't use it.  The Seafire in the recent package didn't have a wing, so I'm coming to the conclusion that the taped wing is indeed the one from the one in the recent package.  Anyhoo, the cockpit is now done and installed and the wing is being cleaned up to be fitted later this week.  Markings?  Well, I'm leaning towards Canadian Navy, albeit still in the UK so I can use their earlier markings.  I have a lot of the various Seafire 17 kits - there's one that was built a decade back from the Aeroclub conversion with a resin wing and painted that just needs some repair work to finish so I really need another option.  Much as I like the FAA finishes, they really are very limited

I did consider some Navy two seat Seafires a while back, but I doubt they'd be strong enough for carrier use  so they'd have to be land based and that gives me yet another option or three for the many AZ, Brigade and even the old and very rough M&E two seaters.  The latter being very thick and I'm tempted to sacrifice one to take a Griffon and a bigger tail to try for another Tr21.  The last one used a Frog 14 fuselage  but I know I've a spare AZ 14 fuselage that I know will take my resin copy of the Ventura 22 wing.  Then again, I've a resin 2 seat spine somewhere and a vast number of Airfix 19s that will take either my resin wing or the Airfix 22 wing and I have a few spare.  We're back to the gift that keeps giving...

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on January 15, 2020, 07:45:54 PM
"Honestly, Neil. Of all the stupid ideas."

Well, I decided to do a bit of work cleaning up the assembled Magna Swift that I bought from Collectakit in error a few years back. I say error, I bought what I assumed was a Testors Swift with some Airkit upgrade bits, but opening the box it turned out to be a great deal more than that! That's now ready to get the tailplanes and a coat of primer to see what flaws need sorting out.  There's what I think is an Airkit belly tank in there but I may just get a Freightdog one and keep the Airkit one for something else.

Again, this is one that seems to be a gift that'll keep giving, because I've had a good look through the box and there's a complete Magna F7, two bagged Swift F1/F2 conversions, one loose F1/F2, a complete FR5 conversion and the remains of another.  Plus the fuselage, tail surfaces and assorted other bits from the CMR Swift.  I've a few ideas on what I'd like to do with that, mainly involving a different wing and either mid fuselage or shoulder mounted just to look somewhat different - I did consider that with an Attacker to do a Supermarine analog of the MiG 15 and it may yet come to pass, possibly using one of the Airkit Swift FR5 nose to make it even more different with a nosegear.

In other news, I've finished the 546 Sqn PR.IV and a pair of 122 F21s, so that brings the number of Spitfires completed this year to 8.  There's a few that need decalling - actually, quite a few - but I've sorted out the ones I want to do first and it includes a mk 9 that's been sitting about for a while in that fetching post war desert scheme awaiting a squadron, so I've decided on 6 Sqn as they were in the middle east in the correct time frame.  If I can find the correct Modelart decals, I may well try to finish that FRADU Swift I'd got the paint on and then abandoned - I think there was paint related issues at the time but having looked at the model, albeit not recently, it didn't look too bad.  It's a dark scheme so I may well get away with it.

Finally, the Seafire 17 is now all closed up and two or three stages into PSR, so that may well see a primer coat soon.



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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on January 17, 2020, 06:48:43 AM
"Well, I think that should do it!"

I've finished the last two Airkit Spitfires that were on the go - one being an F21 that I got as part of a salvage lot:

(https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/PQ0AAOSwOXldQswe/s-l1600.jpg)

It's the grey one with some green on the engine cowling.  The silver F22 is also an Airkit one and that had several goes with Mr Muscle to get the paint off.  I've tidied it up a bit and filled where necessary but I've yet to think of anything to do with it and I've done the courier/communications thing with the F21 twice.

And the other being one I got off Bungle in 2018 and didn't finish in time for Telford that year and it's been sitting there gathering dust. IIRC, it's in the same markings as the first Airkit Spitfire F21 I did back in 1990 and that's still about somewhere but as it's one of my oldest surviving models, I really don't have the heart to strip it and redo it.  Neither needed too much work other than the vacform canopies.  The next few on the completion list are a pair of Airkit Seafires, the 15 having priority as I don't yet have one completed, an Egyptian F18 and the 203 AFS F26.  These have been long term hangar queens and I want them done.

I've got the next few scheduled for decalling sitting waiting, but I'd really just like to carry on building!


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PS  The F.XII in the photo is a hybrid comprising parts from the Italeri V and IX and an unknown source Griffon cowling.  I suspect the vile Modelnews kit.
Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on January 17, 2020, 02:13:25 PM
" Ah-hah! Just wait one moment, Michael."


Well, that's one milestone passed - the Seafire 15 (early) is finished, which means I only need to do a late Seafire 15 and a Seafire IIc and I've done the entire Spitfire family.

I've just put the finishing touches on the Airkit Seafire 15 and it looks better than I thought it would.  Of course, it was still fighting me to the end - the catapult spools for the underneath were so small and fiddly I just couldn't fit them and after one went ping into the distance, I decided to just stop there and then.  Technically speaking, it really needs an arrestor hook and possibly a whip aerial or two, but I'm calling it done.

So, what's next to finish?  The gypo F.18, because I want something simple!  Then probably the FR26, mainly as it really just needs a prop and teh seat and she's done.  Very happy with that one.


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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on April 10, 2020, 11:21:31 AM
"Okay, I'll change it, then! Hello, Cliff Richard!"

Well, I've got the PR Swift on the go.  Bearing in mind it's ye olde Hawk/Testors kit and basic in the extreme, it doesn't take much work.  Few minutes with a file to grout out the intakes, pop in the Airkit ducting and glue the fuselage together.  The nose was lopped off and on with the Airkit FR5 nose. Almost a perfect fit, so it's now got a fair bit of filler slapped on it.  I used the undercarriage to plug the holes in the wings where they actually go - I'm doing an inflight model as it's easy just to throw together.  The Testors kit is so basic that it's not really worth doing much else with it, especially considering the availability of the vastly superior Airfix kit. 

Depending on how it comes out, I may have a bash at another one, possibly in an NMF finish - IIRC, some of the Meteor PR10s wore that scheme so I can get away with it.  I think.

I still want to do a PR6 at some stage, but I flogged off my spare Airfix one a while back, and given that I have a spare Airkit nose I'm thinking about cutting of the nose of the Magna F.7 and using that as the basis for it.  I've ordered another Magna one from ebay to do a camo'd F7 toting Firestreaks.

I've also looked at sticking said PR nose onto an Attacker and one has had the relevant surgery.  Lo and behold it fits, although I'll need to do some filling underneath.  Given that I now need two of these noses, it's going for a bath in some moulding rubber, along with a few other Swift bits.  The intakes blanks from the Xtrakit Swift fit the Novo Attacker well enough to use and I've been meaning to mould them for some time.

I also cut out and sanded one of the Type 545 wings.  One was all I could manage as I was losing the will to live after all that sanding.  Hopefully, tomorrow should be just as sunny, so I'll crack on with the starboard wing tomorrow.  I've a set of spare Swift tailplanes, so I'll probably use those instead of the vacform ones. 




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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on April 11, 2020, 04:15:43 PM
"See?...God! Mike's floating! How's that done, then?"

The assembled - well, wings and fuselage anyway - Spitfire F22 floatfire is getting closer to primer.  Not much - the underfuselage strake is all sanded down to relative satisfaction and the rest of the bits should be going on tomorrow.  I've yet to find a suitable intake to replace the standard  undernose intake, so it may return to the backburner.

The early PR Swift is now assembled and awaiting multiple PSR sessions.  It's looking pretty decent and hopefully should be primed in a day or so.  I've the second partially assembled, but it needs a PR nose and thankfully, the bits are in a mouldbox awaiting rubber to be poured.  I've got the nose, two exhausts and the intake ducting in it.  I'm still thinking about how to do the ventral slipper tank - I did have a look on Colin's site but he's got none in stock currently.

I'm somewhat undecided about the second PR as I'm thinking more of converting it into an FGA instead - the Swift was largely useless as a fighter, being about as manouverable as a brick, but was pretty solid at low level so as a replacement for the Venom in the fighter bomber role it may have been a better bet.  IF I could get another Hawk/Testors Swift, I'd be laughing - there's a couple on ebay now but the sellers are charging way over the odds for a kit that at best is really only worth a fiver.  I certainly wouldn't go over that.

Haven't gone any further with the 510 but the 545's starboard wing is now sanded down.  I've decided to use a spare set of Swift tailplanes that was in the box of resin Swift bits instead of the kit parts - they're close enough to the plans I have and if anyone was to say they're wrong, well, MFM and if that doesn't work I have a more pithy response.

Part of me is tempted to drop the 545 wings into rubber to have a basis for the proposed production version, which looks something like an overweight F86D with a crescent wing.  I'd like a second, but I'm not paying the price Whirlybird are charging for the current release - 30 notes for a vacform of something roughly Hunter sized with a few resin bits is not a bargain.



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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on April 07, 2023, 09:38:15 AM
"You didn't know I was going to do that, did you?"

I've actually started a Spitfire, the first for three years. Nowt startling really, just an Airfix one that's going to be a 1960s RAF one.  It's spun off from something else I'm working on and will be potentially one of a trio - I only wanted to do the one, but ideas always get out of hand with me. I have a Heller low back that is assembled and without a user, plus a two seater that needs salvage work.

I already have a unit in mind, and a graphic for the unit badge, which I need to do some Photoshop work before asking Kit to do his thing.

Anyone who can be bothered to reply should do so here:
https://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php?topic=34772.msg552036#msg552036
Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on October 28, 2024, 04:23:55 AM
Cornflakes. Cornflakes, Cornflakes, Cornflakes, Cornflakes, Cornflakes, Cornflakes, Cornflakes, Cornflakes.

Long term readers of the Stash threads should know I have a vast number of Spitfire and Seafire kits.  I've guesstimated the number to be well over 500, but have never actually counted them as that route only madness lies.

Having said that... 

I recently dug out some HF.VII decals for someone and early Rolls Royce Mk.IXc decals for someone else.  I was astounded at the sheer number of CMR kits (Gold standard until the release of the Eduard kits) of certain marks in the stash.  No fewer than 6 mk 7s and an equivalent number of early 9s.  I'd also gone through the stash of Ventura kits and there was 3.5 A4 boxes full of said kits plus a standard Crisps box too.  Multiples of every release bar one - the sting hook Seafire 15.

I also discovered yesterday that I had no fewer than ten of the late 90s release of the CMR Seafire 47.  They'd got it very wrong, so much so it was really just a Spitfire 24 with a few Seafire 47 features.  Ideal for whiffing but ten?

It should also come as no surprise whatsoever that there are also a vast number of stalled projects at various stages.  What should come as a surprise, nay, an outright shock to the system, is that I am thinking the unthinkable...

Finishing them as real ones.

Nowt too difficult, for now at least, a quartet of PR19s and a solitary mk IXc, just either aluminium or PRU Blue overall.  And I've already searched out the decals.
Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: PR19_Kit on October 28, 2024, 05:32:28 AM
I knew SOMEONE had to have all those Spitfire kits somewhere, and your stash is the obvious place Lee.  ;D
Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: NARSES2 on October 28, 2024, 06:13:55 AM
Quote from: The Wooksta! on October 28, 2024, 04:23:55 AMFinishing them as real ones.


Now't wrong with that at all Lee  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on November 04, 2024, 03:45:18 PM
"Oh God, I think I'm going to be violently and copiously sick"

I had a recount and found that one of the Seafire 47s was actually a CMK I 46, but that brings the total of those in the Stash to at least six...  I also found that I had a similar number of CMK Seafire 45s.  This is borderline insane, compounded by the fact that I have yet to check in the secondary stash...

I'd had cause to find all the fiddly bits to go on all those PR19s that I'm planning on finishing as real ones, by which I mean such niceties as canopies, radiators, wheels, etc, only to turn up another assembled 19, a pair of part assembled and both one converted to a PR21 with a new wing and a mk IX converted to either an e wing 9 or a 16.

The 16 I have a real scheme in mind, but the PR21 is a whiff and has to be finished as such.  But this is the start of a slippery slope and yet another rabbit hole I'd rather avoid for now, thanks very much.  And having to finish the 633 Sqn mk 16 that's miraculously back on the bench is not helping matters...
Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on November 08, 2024, 04:21:05 PM
"By the way, it was a complete lie about the oil."

It's official - I have fallen down the rabbit hole and am now looking at Spitfires again.  So much so, I've been dragging certain kits out for cross kitting and kitbashing purposes.  Some are to be subtle, others less so.

I just need a bottle of Xtracrylix XA1123 Deep Sky...
Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: Pellson on November 10, 2024, 09:47:47 AM
Quote from: The Wooksta! on November 08, 2024, 04:21:05 PM"By the way, it was a complete lie about the oil."

It's official - I have fallen down the rabbit hole and am now looking at Spitfires again.  So much so, I've been dragging certain kits out for cross kitting and kitbashing purposes.  Some are to be subtle, others less so.

I just need a bottle of Xtracrylix XA1123 Deep Sky...

It's really nice something in this world falls out as predicted..  ;D
Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on November 11, 2024, 04:52:49 PM
"I was worried we wouldn't hear the front doorbell, so I decided to pep it up a bit."

Having had cause to search for things, I discovered another pair of largely assembled Mk 21s, converted from the Airfix 19 with my own resin wing.  I have absolutely no memory of building them, but it must have been late 2019 or early 2020, certainly in the same timeframe as the other two I did some sanding on last week.  I also have no memory of what they were to be, although as one has cameras it must have been intended for the fighter recce unit, likely 2TAF.  I have a few too many of those, thanks, so it may well go SEAC - although that means bothersome white theatre bands - or perhaps Malaya post war, searching for Mexican bandits.

More current thinking is crystalizing around Seafires, of which I have many kits but not enough finished models.  It's mainly working through some of the more obvious gaps in airframe and engine choices - say a rushed navalised 12, with earlier Seafire III features or a fully navalised F.14c. 

Not as difficult when you consider several manufacturers have done a wide selection of the Spitfire family, which makes this easier. Ventura, AZ and Sword spring to mind. Ventura are very accurate - no one has yet done a better mk 18 (MPM wasn't fit for the bin and the AZ has issues with shape and fit) - but need a lot of work and copious use of the spares box to get the best results. AZ didn't do many Seafires and their kits are a mixed bag - the early ones are rough and need work.  Which leaves Sword, who did a wide variety, especially the Griffon marks, and virtually all of the Seafires without the 20 series wing.

Like many of the Czech manufacturers, Sword seem to be thinking more long term and trying to screw out as much of a mould as possible, so for example, the single stage Griffon Seafires are covered by one definitive late Seafire F.15 sprue, with the early A frame hook 15 and the later Seafire 17 options being added by the simple expedient of a new sprue with the relevant fuselage and a few extra bits.  Much of the box content is largely spare parts, and in some Sword releases, this is both fuselage and wings, as well as spare exhausts, wheels, guns and prop.  Very handy.

Having a good number of the Sword kits, sometimes hoovered up for a relative pittance, it seemed like they are the obvious choice for such mix and match kitbashing. There are several benefits; all the parts are interchangeable between marks (but not all), many of the spare parts add towards various models rather than filling a spares box and they all match in terms of quality.

It's not all plain sailing. The wing to fuselage fits on the Sword 14 is not good - oddly, the AZ mk 8 wing fits better, and that's a knock off Fujimi 14 wing (and I can prove it) - and the 14 lower wings will not accept other Sword wing uppers.  But by and large, the various mix and match approach is paying off, even at the test fit stage.  It's also giving me cause to look at revisiting a few kitbashes I did back in the early days of The Plan, but with better kits than were available then.  I may yet get a low back with the long span tips.

Final comments. This thread is mainly used by me for making notes.  I really don't want replies here cluttering up the place and there's a separate thread for that purpose.  If anyone wants to spout off, go there.  This thread is for my rubbish, not yours. 

Anyone who can be bothered to reply should do so here:
https://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php?topic=34772.msg552036#msg552036
Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on November 13, 2024, 05:55:05 AM
"I did that, actually."


One of the other routes not taken with Spitfires was the single stage Griffon, with only the 12 using it.  The prototype, originally the mk IV before that number was allocated to a PR type, eventually wound up with the late wing as the F.20.  Having tried various 20 series wings, I think I've settled on the Airfix 22 as it was to hand and I have many in the Stash.  I did briefly consider crossing the CMK kits,  but that could get pricey although I did get some quite cheap.

This led to thinking about the Navy wanting something similar, using spare Seafire 15 and 17 fuselages.  If I went down that route, I'd most likely use a Ventura 15 fuselages and my resin wing, largely to use up that large stock of Seafire 15 kits littering the workroom, but also as I know they'll fit.  The timescale doesn't quite work, the bulk of the Ventura ones I have are A frame hook rather than sting but a prototype or an in service one presented as a whif on a table at a model show could be amusing.  Real stuff presented as whifs in within a fictional TL are quite metatextual, a whiff inside one really is double bubble.

The other mk 12s in mind are one fitted with a folding wing - the Navy getting the 12 to play with as trainers before they get the 15 and some bright spark in the engineering section tries fitting a Seafire III wing - and one in desert colours, with possibly SAAF markings, as one sent to the MTO for tropical trials and then nabbed by 60 Sqn SAAF for use in the FR role over the Mareth line.

Whilst we're discussing North Africa, there's a pair of 9s going 4 cannon for use with 6 Sqn, they get them to replace their Hurricanes as the S guns are heavy and not much good when fending off marauding 190s (although one of the Tsetse Mosquitos took out a Ju 88 with a shot from the Molins gun!). There's an AZ one for the clipped wing and an Airfix for full span.

The mention of FR types leads to thoughts around some 4 Sqn aircraft just after the war before they were disbanded and 605 Sqn renumbered.  Not sure if the decals I have in mind would fit an FR.14 low back but may well fit a Highback or a PR19 instead.  We shall see, but I need to do some reading up on 4 Sqn anyway.


I doubt it's worth it, given the lack of replies and all that, but comments for those still remotely and vaguely interested, and who can actually be arsed to reply, go here:
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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on November 15, 2024, 03:44:59 PM
"Oh, who cares?"

I did have a post keyed, but technical issues meant I lost it and I couldn't face rekeying a wall of text, even if I could remember it.

Basically, the 4 Sqn idea won't work as they only used single letter codes - I have to check that with the references - and their UP code was carried over from 605 when they were rebadged as 4 Sqn.  Still, their unit badge would fit on a mk 22 fin.

I have got a bit further with a pair of FR22s, using the Xtrakit 22 and the Special Hobby Seafire 46 fuselage. Now I dislike these kits, as the shape is all to cock and the fit is vile, but I have them.  The Special Hobby late Griffon types come with a lot of spares and I've been thinking how  to get the early 47 without the late cowl scoop.
The prototype flew that way and I was thinking of early in service ones but I'd rather something a bit more accurate, so using the Ventura 22 with the wing uppers from their 47, as well as some of the spares from the Special Hobby kits may well work.  I'll tape one up over the weekend.

I did also think about adding some later features to the Seafire 45, but that may be going too far.  Again, taping something up could be fun.  That cowl, plus the big rudder and a contraprop, would look different, especially on a modern warbird. Either that or it's a cobbled together gate guardian or even something built for an airshow static park in the 50s.  The Navy did things like that then.


I doubt it's worth it, given the lack of replies and all that, but comments for those still remotely and vaguely interested, and who can actually be arsed to reply, go here:
https://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php?topic=34772.msg552036#msg552036

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on November 18, 2024, 04:14:17 PM
"You might have laughed, Micheal!"

Having read the relevant sections on 4 Sqn in various reference books, they didn't have proper squadron codes in the period I'm interested in, just single letters.  Although one aircraft immediately post war before they were disbanded and 605 rebadged is possible,

The idea of trying to get an early 47 by using a 22 fuselage with a 47 wing from the Ventura kits has foundered on the way the kits are broken down and the vile plastic Ventura used.  I think there's a bit too much work involved.  It's easier but vastly more expensive by cross kitting a CMR 46 with a CMR 47 wing, but that may be if and when I do a real one. For whiffery, the Special Hobby will do, even though the kit has some serious shape issues.

The same shape issues affect the Special Hobby 21/45 but if I can live with the 22 and 47 as whiffs, then I probably can with the 45.  Do I use a 47 wing too?  Yeah, why not.  It'll do as a hack or a unit commander's toy.  I'll have to find a suitable naval maintenance unit.  Pity the text in the Ray Sturtivant book I have as a Navy reference is so bloody small.

There's a few other late Seafires in mind, both a 45 and a 46, as shore based types in the far east, although I haven't quite nailed down the colours.  At least one gets SEAC roundels, although I'm not sure if BPF markings were applied to shore based stuff. Aussie roundels could be one way out, they did find their way onto 618's Mosquitoes.

I have to confess I find whiffing the Seafires a lot more daunting, largely because I don't have the knowledge base and the references seem confusing.  At least to my eyes.  I really need to study Sturtivant more, I just find him very dry.

I doubt it's worth it, given the lack of replies and all that, but comments for those still remotely and vaguely interested, and who can actually be arsed to reply, go here:
https://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php?topic=34772.msg552036#msg552036

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on November 19, 2024, 06:45:44 AM
"What fish!"

The Seafire 45.7 is coming on but the fit of the kit is slowing this down.  I had to do some surgery to the nose to get the 47 lower cowl to fit and the wing roots needed some work too.

7930AA3A-C900-46F0-8800-FB74F06953F9.jpeg

0555424E-CBA6-4E0A-97A2-0EA926DC5434.jpeg

This is earlier on before I started any gluing.  It's got the tailplanes from the 47 here for the hell of it, but it will get the usual tailplanes when it goes together.

The other thing Special Hobby got wrong was the fin.  The contra prop cured the torque issue but introduced critical trim instability. This was cured using the 18 rudder with Z trim tab.  However, whilst the rudder is bigger the fin is shorter by a couple of inches - there's a panel line near the top of the fin on a 14, 21 or 45 that's the start of a wooden block between the metal fin and the rudder itself.

The 14/21/45 rudder is taller than that of the 18 and both rudders in the 21/45 are the same height in the Special Hobby kits, so it'll need a new rudder for the contra prop version which I want. Contraprops are cool.

AZ made the same mistake with their 18, but they did have the revised hatches on the wing correct. It just needs a new rudder, but the revised wing means you can't do the lowback 14s without rescribing the hatches.

Ventura had the fin on their 18 correct but the wing was that of the 14, it didn't have the revised hatches.  It's a late 14, as some had the 18 rudder.

Really, the 14, 18 and the contra prop Spits are a real minefield and the 18 is a tricky one to nail down.  Does it matter?  Depends on the individual modeller.  Personally, I'd like it as accurate as possible on the grounds that the best place to hide a tree is in a forrest. If said tree is an evergreen Douglas Fir in an Oak forest in the middle of December then it's going to stick out as wrong. Especially if covered in glitzy baubles.

I've learned a great deal about Spitfires during the course of The Plan. There's a lot of interesting gaps and roads not travelled to explore.

I doubt it's worth it, given the lack of replies and all that, but comments for those still remotely and vaguely interested, and who can actually be arsed to reply, go here:
https://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php?topic=34772.msg552036#msg552036

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on November 21, 2024, 04:26:56 PM
"Neil, this is snow!"

Another day, more tinkering and sanding, this time several Ventura Spitfire kits.

I've wanted to get a good FR.XIVe high back for a while.  I've done it before, from the Airfix XIX and a new wing, and although I was generally happy, they were always compromised. I did think about trying it with the Sword 14 high back - I still might as it's got a decent shape - and another option would use an MPM 19 fuselage (millennium edition) with a Fujimi wing, but whilst I know it will fit, there's something wrong with the shape of the fujimi kit that I've never quite managed to figure out. And the Millennium 19 fuselage was warmed over Fujimi.

Which left crossing the Ventura 19 fuselage with the wing of the 18, which is fine as Ventura got the hatches wrong on the wing and it's for a 14.  Their 18 didn't have the camera ports either, but if and when I do it proper I'll cross a Sword FR14 lowback fuselage with the AZ 18 wing and a new rudder. Or the AZ wing with an Aeroclub fuselage, of which I have far too many stashed away.

The real drawbacks with the Ventura kits are the lack of detail, the horrendously thick sprues gates (those utter crybabies whinging about the Airfix sprues really should count their blessings), and the flow channels that need power tools to remove. But the shapes are generally bang on, they all cross kit and the canopies - two in each box - are beautifully clear

Anyway, after using the drill, the hedge trimmers and some bleach for far too seriously long enough by half, I got the wings taped up and they fit the already sanded fuselage nicely.

I just need to sort out an interior, exhausts and some wheels, probably Sword or AZ given all the lovely spares they provide, then add some mesh in the radiators and I can try and hammer it together.

I also cleaned up and test fitted one of their Mk IXc kits, but it's an odd mix of late rudder and intake but early wing blisters. The shape looks to be bang on though.  The availability of the Eduard kits has rendered all other late Merlin Spitfire fighters redundant, but I have a good number of these and I'd like to get a few together, with the help of the spares box and a few resin bits, if only to say I've done it.

Think I may have a go at a 21 next.

I doubt it's worth it, given the lack of replies and all that, but comments for those still remotely and vaguely interested, and who can actually be arsed to reply, go here:
https://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php?topic=34772.msg552036#msg552036

For more information, please reread.
Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on November 25, 2024, 04:24:57 PM
"Think I'll play murder in the dark."

When I was going through the Cabinet of Doom yesterday, I discovered a pair of Airfix Mk Is that I cannot remember just what I'd intended them for.  I know they were going to be early, and I'd used Sky as the interior colour - it's close to a pre war shade used as an interior colour by Supermarine - but quite what I don't know.

In another box is an Airfix Hurricane rag wing that I think was going to be a night fighter if Munich had gone hot.  Perhaps they were going to be similar?  I know the Hurricane was going to go NIVO Green overall, so at least one of the two Spits will.  I just need to get some NIVO and Vallejo do an equivalent colour to FS.34096.

I'll need to do some research as that pre war period is a bit of a blind spot.

There was also a box with no less than six Mk1s, all part started and again, I have no recollection of quite what I wanted to do with them.  Possibly bomber defence flight squadrons, and at least one is going to be likely a PR.1G, probably on Malta and with that nice bulged camera panel I am wont to use, although I think it will need some kind of tropical filter. Possibly Aboukir as it's a bit less chunky than the Vokes.

The 4 Sqn research has revealed little of any real use.  I did find mention of a PR.XIII, a rather elusive type, with a serial but no codes, but I don't recall which squadron was using it.

There's a few ideas crystalizing around early Griffon Spits as the Brigade 12 conversion will take an Airfix 1a wing, albeit after some surgery.  I have two wings modded and the initial thoughts for the first is for a bounce aircraft with one of the OTUs, with clipped wings and a colourful nose.  Later on, one or more may wind up as PR machines, although I think I did something similar some years back but it could have been rushed.

The conversion also takes an Airfix interior too. Which is nice.

I doubt it's worth it, given the lack of replies and all that, but comments for those still remotely and vaguely interested, and who can actually be arsed to reply, go here:
https://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php?topic=34772.msg552036#msg552036

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on November 27, 2024, 03:38:18 PM
"Not particularly, you got any kebabs?"

You'd think that with having several mk.Is and IIas kicking about, either part started or at the primer stage, that I'd have enough but no, that's just too simple.  I have to start a couple more.

I have a feeling I'd intended, a good five years back at least - 2019 was a very stressful year and much of it is a blur - that some of those were going to be trainers, either with the Navy in early war colours or in South Africa.  There's some interesting schemes worn by Hurricanes that I'd like to try, quite a few are very colorful.  I'll have to hit the references again.

The other options are several PR types, the PR.1G in particular.  Either as Malta based or far East.  I know I did one, but it may have had the larger Australian style roundels and I'm thinking of at least one in overall PRU Blue with SEAC roundels.  There's some interesting Malta schemes in very unstandard colours, so it looks like I'll be investing in more paint.

And the new started ones?  I did think I could cross kit two of the AZ early kits to get a version of a Va airframe with a Vokes filter, but they don't cross kit easily and the way the canopy fits on the  2011 mk V they did is somewhat unique.  I did think I could use the canopy in their similar vintage IIb, but that doesn't fit the airframe it's intended for anyway.  The kicker there is that I have a good half dozen of those tucked away...

The Tamiya kit is another option, but the wing has the oil cooler moulded integral and would require some surgery.  The PR.1G had the Merlin 32, which had the larger oil cooler of the V.  I have some spare and a spare Tamiya wing to play with.

But then I start another couple, the old 1978 Airfix one, which despite being old, a bit rivetty with raised panel lines and somewhat basic, is spot on shapewise.  I need more ideas.

I doubt it's worth it, given the lack of replies and all that, but comments for those still remotely and vaguely interested, and who can actually be arsed to reply, go here:
https://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php?topic=34772.msg552036#msg552036

For more information, please reread.
Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on January 04, 2025, 07:31:37 AM
"Well, what have you brought me this time?"

A conversation yesterday with a mate who's currently converting a 24th Airfix Spitfire VIII into the blowback prototype got me thinking about how I could do it in 72nd.

Now I did one some years back, from a Heller 16 and did the cutout for the retractable tailwheel.

DSCF0086.JPG

I was quite happy with it at the time, but having learned more over the years since it was done (2011, I think), it could well be time to revisit again and do it will some features that should have been on it but were missed.  I do have an assembled Hasegawa one that I'd acquired which already had the low back mods done, but I'd really like something a bit better.  I think that has some post war features on it and there was some talk of the RAuxAF getting Spitfire mk VIIIs, albeit as trainers, so I may well keep it for that.

So where do I start?  The same package that got me the converted Hasegawa kit also had several sets of AZ mk 8 wings, so that gives me a wing, and a clipped one too.  This is good, as the main objection the RAF had to the low back 8 and 9/16 was the stability issues caused by the rear fuselage fuel tank.  The 8 was rejected outright but the fix on the 9/16 would have been to increase the size of the tailplanes, increasing their effectiveness.  So those from a Spiteful or Spitfire 22 would have been ideal.  However, that would have slowed production, so they simply removed the wingtips, which has the effect of making that tailplanes bigger.  It also increased the roll rate and people have wrongly assumed that's why they did it.

As for a fuselage?  In their boxings of the low back 9s and 16s, AZ give you both low and high back fuselages, so one is spare.  Actually, the AZ 9s are superb for the sheer volume of spares, so if the 16 kit was done as a 9 with the early C wing blister, I get the tailplanes and later wing blisters too. Eduard give me a lot of other spares and I can rob the spares box for a lot of other parts too.

The canopy on the prototype was similar to that of the Seafire 17, with a rounded windscreen and internal armour glass, and I have a spare Sword one.  Which is nice.

Markings?  Anything off a low back 9 or 16 would seem to be fair game, although one of the mk 8 units could be possible too.  Had they been spamming them out, it's more likely they would have gone to 2TAF sqns, as their loss rate was quite high.  I do like their colourful post Jan '45 roundels, the fact that the prop is all one colour and I don't have to worry about that Sky tailbone.  I hate painting them and the decals never really fit properly.  There's also an AIMS decal sheet for 2TAF Spitfires that looks quite tasty too.

And for a second postwar one?  Crosskitting two Sword Spitfires would be easier, using the fuselage from their 16 International boxing, with the wings and internals from their 14 highback.  Already done the test fit.  There's some nice decal options in the Eduard 16 and on the Xtradecal 16 sheet.



I doubt it's worth it, given the lack of replies and all that, but comments for those still remotely and vaguely interested, and who can actually be arsed to reply, go here:
https://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php?topic=34772.msg552036#msg552036

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Title: Re: The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog
Post by: The Wooksta! on January 06, 2025, 07:16:41 AM
"Found it."


Trawling through a link provided elsewhere, I turned up this photo of the mk VIII low back prototype.

Spitfire_Mk_VIII_JF299.jpg

Pretty, isn't she?

I've seen another, from the port side on the ground, but this is much nicer.


I doubt it's worth it, given the lack of replies and all that, but comments for those still remotely and vaguely interested, and who can actually be arsed to reply, go here:
https://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php?topic=34772.msg552036#msg552036

For more information, please reread.