Stona's Spitfire...with floats

[stona]

I have now had a good look at the kit and, crucially, decided which aircraft I'm going to do and at what period of its life.

First a box full of plastic, I haven't started yet!



There are problems. The seat I will hide with a pilot nicked from the old Airfix kit.

The upper surface of the stabilisers I will replace with some from Grey Matter Figures. I don't know what this is supposed to be!



I will be doing EP754 as seen here in Egypt on the Great Bitter Lake, sometime in late'43 or early'44.



All the bits are in the kit to do this, but the fin and rudder are incorrect, as seen here.



The kit would be okay for one of the early prototypes, but I want to build the production version. I've made an investment in a corrected tail, also from Grey Matter Figures.



This is a substantial investment and will require some serious surgery of the kit, but I think it will be worth it. It will be a better and more accurate fix then me altering the fin with card etc.

I had some issues on the Grey Matter website paying for this, but an email to Tim was swiftly answered and any minor inconvenience resolved. Credit where it's due and hats off to Grey Matter for good customer service.

I will have to add a decent harness, probably from RB Productions, and iff there's any money left in the kitty I may order some Miracle Masks from Mal Mayfield. I think masks are more than justified in such a large scale.

This Super SIG is turning out to be rather expensive! I'm glad the kit was a present

Cheers

Steve

 

[stona]

Most of you know that I enjoy the history of a build as much as the build itself. To this end I've been looking into the Great Bitter Lake, which lies at the southern end of the Suez canal.

I looked on Google earth for Kibrit air base, RAF station Kabrit or Landing Ground 213 during the war. To my amazement I found what I think might have been the slipway used by the Spitfire floatplanes in WW2 !



I know it was concrete and likely to have survived. Not having Ron's touch with water I was a bit nervous about how I would pose the finished model. Now I have another option.

Cheers

Steve

 

[flyjoe180]

Nice bit of research there Steve.

 

[stona]

I got in touch with Mal of Miracle Masks fame to get hold of some paint masks for this project. I do very vaguely know Mal, we met once and had a chat at a model show in the company of our mutual friend Mr N Julian. Unfortunately he has given up on the paint mask business which is a shame. He has however very graciously agreed to make a set up for my floatplane. On the back of this I checked my paint cupboard and much to my relief I still have some of the excellent WEM Colourcoat roundel red and blue.

Hooray! and a tip of the hat to Mal, definitely one of the good guys

I'm hoping to have everything sorted in time to make a start early next month. I'm too busy for the rest of January!

Cheers

Steve

 

[Ian M]

I bet you are as pleased as I am that WEM paints will carry on. Yeah!

Ian M

 

[stona]

I bet you are as pleased as I am that WEM paints will carry on. Yeah!Ian M

I most certainly am. As you know they have been my 'weapon of choice' for several years now and I was not looking forward to figuring out a different system!

Cheers

Steve

 

[BarryW]

I got in touch with Mal of Miracle Masks fame to get hold of some paint masks for this project. I do very vaguely know Mal, we met once and had a chat at a model show in the company of our mutual friend Mr N Julian. Unfortunately he has given up on the paint mask business which is a shame. He has however very graciously agreed to make a set up for my floatplane. On the back of this I checked my paint cupboard and much to my relief I still have some of the excellent WEM Colourcoat roundel red and blue.Hooray! and a tip of the hat to Mal, definitely one of the good guys

I'm hoping to have everything sorted in time to make a start early next month. I'm too busy for the rest of January!

Cheers

Steve

I am amazed. He produced the Tiffy masks I am using.

 

[stona]

Well Barry I may have misinterpreted Mal's original email slightly and I want to set the record straight as I've seen the results people can achieve with his mask sets. They are obviously a first class product.

Here's Mal's reply to my email in which I too expressed my disappointment that he had 'retired' from the mask business, and in which I sent him the information for the custom masks I was after.

I reproduce it in full:

Hi Steve,

Got that, I will aim to get these in the post on Monday I try to do bugger all "work wise" over the week ends

I haven't completely retired from the mask business, just the custom stuff. I am retired and the custom stuff was taking up far too much time, not in producing them but with emails trying to sort out details!

REgards.

Mal

As you can see he IS STILL IN THE MASKING BUSINESS which is vey good news indeed. It's just the custom stuff he's no longer producing. The standard sets, of which I guess the Typhoon is one, are still available and he is still making them.

Apologies to all, including Mal, for any confusion caused.

Cheers

Steve

 

[stona]

I got home today to find that my paint masks (courtesy of Miracle Masks/Mal Mayfield) harness (Hannants) and 1/24 figure (our very own Ian M) have all arrived. Sadly the resin bits from Grey Matter seem to have gone missing

The good news is that I sent an email to Tim at Grey Matter Figures, really just to check that the parts had been despatched, and got an almost immediate reply, this on a Saturday morning. Tim will send me another lot on Monday as the original order has gone missing somewhere. You can't get better service than that, so a big tip of the hat and thanks to GMF and their customer service.

If for any reason both orders turn up I will happily return one. You can only fit one tail on a Spitfire

GMF and for that matter Mal who kindly made some custom masks for me, both go to show that there are good guys in the hobby and elsewhere. They far out number the ar**holes!

I was planning to make a start before I'm off again on Monday, but it will have to wait until next month. I'll update then.

Cheers

Steve

 

[Ian M]

Good to hear that Johnny turned up.

Roll on next month so you can make way with the build.

Ian M

 

[Vaughan]

Looks like a really interesting build Steve.

 

[stona]

The Grey Matter correction sets are now reported to have arrived chez nous by the boss ("there's another package for you") so onwards and upwards when I get home

Cheers

Steve

 

[Ian M]

"there's another package for you"

Hmm I've heard that one a couple of times... lol

Ian M

 

[BarryW]

I am looking forward to seeing this Steve, specially how you get on with that correction set.

 

[tr1ckey66]

Really great stuff Steve, the research is really interesting.

Looking forward to seeing this floatplane Spitfire come together.

Paul

 

[stona]

Enough waffle...time to make a start!

I've decided to grasp the nettle and make the most radical adjustment to the kit parts straight away.

I have the kit fuselage, the Grey Matter tail unit (very nice, very impressed with it) and a razor saw to hand.

View attachment 98777


The old adage 'measure twice, cut once' doesn't work here. I must have measured twenty times in all sorts of ways before applying some Dymo tape as a guide and making the cut. Get this wrong and the project could be over before it's started.

Yikes!

View attachment 98778


Now to offer up the resin tail.

View attachment 98779


Than f**k for that!

More later

Steve

 

[Ian M]

Phew!

I hate that first bite with the saw. I have the same one as you show so I know that it cuts like a hot knife through butter...

Nicely done SIr.

Ian M

 

[flyjoe180]

A collective sigh of relief along with you Steve.

 

[stona]

I'm home for a few days and have started construction. I like to build sub assemblies, paint and then detail them as I go along.

View attachment 99128


The engine is not going to be shown, so I'm building just enough to hang a propeller and the exhausts on.

I will not 'super-detail' this, though I will add some bits and pieces in areas that will be visible.

Cheers

Steve

 

[stona]

I was hoping to get further than I have on my little break. I have painted the inside of the cockpit and completed the seat and harness, instrument panel etc

I was hoping to get the fuselage joined, but hey ho!

Here's some piccies of what progress I have made:

View attachment 99397


View attachment 99398


View attachment 99399


Cheers

Steve