RW PR Spitfire, or nearly....Ready for take-off!

[PR19_Kit]

I've been slowly applying the Sky colour coats to the PR1C, using Mr Color Sky acrylic as it's a touch lighter than the Tamiya version to suit the earlier version of the Camotint paint used on the original PR Spitfires. The only trouble is that it's a very thin paint, and it's taken me four coats to get a decent coverage.

This pic is taken at the two coat stage, so you can see what I mean. The tail is at a four coat stage though, I always start my painting  at the tail to see how many coats I need and if the shade is correct as if anything's wrong there's less to correct.



I've already got the third coat on this morning and the fourth (and last I hope....) will go on around lunchtime.

[zenrat]

Stick with it Kit, you'll get there.
 

[PR19_Kit]

The PR1C's all over Sky now (or Camotint.....) and looks a lot better for it. I'm not sure if it should be gloss, matt or satin finish, but the Mr Color paint has quite a nice satin finish to it. A pity as I guess I'll have to Klear it all over before I put the decals on.

Note the opened canopy sitting behind the cockpit, and especially the two bulges on either side. These were added to the early PR variants to enable the pilot to get a better view below to see what he was meant to be taking pics of. Later on they bulged the canopy sides, and did the same on the fighter variants too, but the early PR aircraft were converted from Mk 1s with flat sided canopies.

For the model PR1C IBG have moulded these bulges as SEPARATE items....................   

You have to glue them in place of course and a RIGHT fiddle that is! There are no spares either, so you have to get it right, and I used a technique of putting a very small drop of Revell Contacta on the inside edge of canopy hole, placing the bulge in position with a pair of tweezers, and adding a few drops of liquid cement with a brush around the edge. That worked OK for one side, but the other bulge fell right through the hole! I fiddled it out and it's OK now, -ish............



I'm doing the detail painting now, and trying to figure out how to get the gear legs into position. Those of you who are old enough, think Skybirds86 Scimitar, and you'll get some idea how they fit. 

[NARSES2]

Looks good in that scheme Kit

[DeeBob]

You know, I've often said to people that after a certain amount of model building experience, you can put together a 72nd scale spitfire with your eyes closed, so I suppose it's a good thing that somebody's made a kit that proves there is still mystery in the universe!

Coming along really nicely, even with all the challenges!

[PR19_Kit]

You know, I've often said to people that after a certain amount of model building experience, you can put together a 72nd scale spitfire with your eyes closed,

I'm with you 100% there, I mean how difficult can it be to throw together a 1/72 Spitfire cockpit, it only needs 4-5 parts at most?

UNLESS it's an IBG cockpit, when it takes FOURTY parts!     

[PR19_Kit]

R7011's fully painted now, and is complete with all the little ad-ons, like pitot probes, canopy, prop, etc.

Just needs the decals and it's done.



I even added the little red crowbar on the side door, with a length of 5 amp fuse wire. 

[NARSES2]

You know, I've often said to people that after a certain amount of model building experience, you can put together a 72nd scale spitfire with your eyes closed,

I'm with you 100% there, I mean how difficult can it be to throw together a 1/72 Spitfire cockpit, it only needs 4-5 parts at most?

UNLESS it's an IBG cockpit, when it takes FOURTY parts!     

I got mine out of the box yesterday.....and put it back. That cockpits bl***y ridiculous 

[PR19_Kit]

R7011 is sorted, finally. 

Got all the decals on that I'm going to put on now, leaving some off because a) I can't even SEE them, and b) the instructions don't tell me where they go anyway! Most of them work pretty well, they're strong, not too thick, and once they're on, they're ON! No way can you move them bar a LONG soak in water and a scalpel blade under one edge. Don't ask me how I know this.......

The only home printed ones are the two serials under the tail, and they're there because otherwise the roundels would cover the oblique camera port.

You may say 'You've got the upper wing roundels far too far inboard!' but that's where they really were on some early PR Spitfires aircraft, and here's the proof.



That pic was taken at St. Eval in Cornwall where my Dad was based for a while in 1940-41. Interesting that that aircraft seems to have its whole engine cowling painted black, or a similar dark colour, isn't it? I've not seen that before. Plus the yellow 'tips' are 1/3 of the prop blade's length too!

Here's the pics of the model.







You can only JUST see the Light Grey codes, and maybe I'll print some darker ones and overlay them later, what does the panel think?

And here's the reason for it all, the cameras......



PR1Cs had a big, long lens camera in the fuselage aft of the cockpit, and you can see its port right there on the centre line, and they had two shorter lensed cameras in a pod under the starboard wing, with a balancing fuel tank under the port side. Some also had an oblique camera mounted on top of the big vertical one, pointing out to port usually, but sometimes later PR versions, mostly PRXIs, had them pointing to starboard, depending on which time of day they were operating.

As the missions were often along the Normandy coast, flying east to west in the morning had the cameras on the port side, and west to east in the evening had them pointing to starboard. That was because they were flying out of the sun at both times of day, making them more difficult to spot.

Anyway, that's my semi-Whiffed PR1C done and dusted, and I'm pretty pleased with it. It wasn't the easiest kit to build, even though it's a REALLY good kit, it's SO darn complicated, far more so than it needs to be really.

[DeeBob]

Looks great Kit, and what a striking photo of a real one! At first glance I thought they were doing maintenance with it parked on a cliff edge!

Pics like that with the black cowling, massively inboard roundels and oversized tip flashes really go a long way to counter one's rivet counting instincts.

[chrisonord]

Very nice indeed Kit, and kudos to your patience with such a fiddly build. 

[PR19_Kit]

At first glance I thought they were doing maintenance with it parked on a cliff edge!

St. Eval's a bit like that as it's right on top of a hill, and there's a steep fall down toward the sea on the west side.

Bizarrely all three runways cross at the same point, quite unlike most RAF airfields, and even sillier, the parish church is INSIDE the peri-track! I've been there a few times and the church is full of RAF and aviation memoribilia, well worth a visit if you're in the Newquay area.

[DeeBob]

At first glance I thought they were doing maintenance with it parked on a cliff edge!

St. Eval's a bit like that as it's right on top of a hill, and there's a steep fall down toward the sea on the west side.

Bizarrely all three runways cross at the same point, quite unlike most RAF airfields, and even sillier, the parish church is INSIDE the peri-track! I've been there a few times and the church is full of RAF and aviation memoribilia, well worth a visit if you're in the Newquay area.

That does sound cool, I'll bear it in mind!

[NARSES2]

That's come out really well Kit   

You may say 'You've got the upper wing roundels far too far inboard!' but that's where they really were on some early PR Spitfires aircraft, and here's the proof.

I've a couple of PR Spitfire kits that offer options with the roundels placed there, and every time I look at them, they just look wrong. I also find the use of A Class roundels that late in the war odd as well. I presume they are A class ?

[tahsin]

Definitely different. Definitely better than l image l could manage. But the 1940/41 has inspired me to search for this:

Uh, one camera bird with guns!