This might be just what's needed: --| The Sutton harness on the Spitfire |--

While this Mk.IX seems to have the later type QS harness, the shoulder harness mounting mechanism in the fuselage was similar.


Great build you're having here btw. Very nice work.

Ps. Here's some more reference: Cockpit "walkaround"

Great attention to the details Mike . But like Steffen said don't beat yourself up over them .
The build is turning out super and has been a joy on following your progress .

Thank you all for very kind and optimistic words. Good to know you see it worth the effort...

According to the spitfiresite.com"
"In 1946 came another modification, this time in the form of Type QS harness. "
...so I'm affraid Eetu it does not qualify to my Spit. Anyway thank you for your time and attention.

Well, I think I'll just search for some mk.V references (e.g. posted by Eetu) and I'll use them as a guide. I think that the harness was more or less similar to the type used in mk.V's, it's just a matter of finding proper pics.

Oh, my bad. Sorry. I was assuming the part about it being "generally similar in operation" concerned the shoulder harness to fuselage attachment.

I'm no expert on the subject, but wasn't the harness on the mk.V similar, if not the same, as on the mk.IX? At least that's definately not a sutton harness on the mk.V walkaround.

No problem... I think so too, it will be the direction of my further investigation. In the walkaround pics likned above we can definitely see the QS.

I also think that Terri and Steffen are right too and their suggestion is also worth implementing: do the harness and not bothering whether it is very correct or just a little.

I found an old brass from Eduard in the stash (I almost forgot about it) with the two types of the harness. I decided to use Sutton type which will be attached just as Eduard shows it.

I have no guarantee that this is correct but at least I will be able to blame Eduard rather than myself for not being 100% correct

Next weekend I'll post pics of the cockpit ready to close. I didn't have much time for modeling, I just made some last touches with paint and glued the belts to the seat. I have to to made the bottle for the compressed air used for an emergency opening of the landing gear and finish the attachment of the harness behind the armoured plate.

Here is a bit to read and watch about wide C-wing bulges.

LINK to article on the Hyperscale

Here's another report of the progress. Actually I should post it a week ago, but I forgot to copy the pics from the camera and left it at home...anyway, here's some last details of the cockpit I have done. Next step will be to get everything together and close the fuseladge halves (and make everything impossible to see).

Pilot's seat with the Sutton Harness


Scratch build bottle and a PE "frame"

Because I decided not to do any more details here where I stand one step before closing the fuselage.











And a question for you before the next update (it may also be a guide what will be next): what makes airplane an airplane?

Modelling can never be too easy...When the fuselage stands on side waiting for the glue to dry I worked a bit with the wings. Do you remeber when we dicussed the version I should use? Mk.V without bulges or Mk.IX with bulges (shown below)?



Well, it not actual right now, I have to use Mk.IX. Why?-you may ask. It's simple:

I cut out the gun panels from the upper side of one of the Mk.V wing and prepered it to fit the CMK gun bay.



Then I dry fitted the resin part. I hope I don't have to say what's wrong...



Thing has even more complicated when I dry fitted both wing parts and a gun bay: resin collides with the sidewal of the wheel well and moves a bit to the left. This causes missalignment of the gun bay.



That's not all. I read about Brett Green's problems with the leading and trailing edges. Well, I have the same problem...



The problem exists only when I try to combine parts for mk.V and mk.IX. Thank God when I dry fitted both mk.IX parts together everything looks fine, the same with the mk.V. I think it will be much easier to remove the bulges than to allign the edges.

To sum up, due to the problems mentioned above it's not worth the effort to keep on trying to open the gun bay and stick to the combination of the wing parts. Flexibility is the discriminant of the victorious blitzkierg!

Ah, I almost forgot. This will need some care no matter which version of the wing you choose - awfully thick edges.

Hi Michal

Nice progress and my sympathy for having soo much trouble.

Was this wing guns set really designed to fit the Airfix wing? ... most of the AM stuff is specifically designed for one kit (no matter if that is wrong or right) ... and: measure twice cut once ...

Somehow I have the feeling that you produce most of the problems you have by yourself ... but if you like it this way then keep going and also keep posting

Maybe you can just sand down the bulge on the wing, seems the plastic is thick enough ....

all the best

Steffen

Nope...it was designed for Hasegawa IX's. But I would never expect that the differences in the dimension would be so big.




So now it's two of us...




That's what I'm going to do. The plastic is really fat in this place so I hope not to meet any more problems. If not I will simply remove the "details" of the gear bay, fill with resin and then sand down.

One more thing about the wing. See the "details" of the landing gear bay. Does it look like the imitaion of the original one? Definitely no...

Due to the Independence Day in Poland and the ugly rainy wheather I'm at home almost all day so I spent some time at my workbench.

This time I focused on the wing. Here's what I did.

The first step was to cover from the inside the empty case shuts.

Method used...


...and the result


Then I started a monotonous sanding of the leading and trailing edges. It was so time consuming that I have only one wing done so far. I have no picture of the trailing edge but I managed to peal a potato with it so I think it's sharp enough.

Here's a comparison of the leading edges: thined above, not fined below.


After that I studied the shape of the gun bay cover from the kit and the Aeroclub aftermarket.

Comparison of shape (Airfix on the left, Aeroclub on the right)





And fit of the Aeroclub one to the wing




As you see "some" filing and sanding was needed.

Result:




This will need extra care and a lot of putty


Well, all this work is not difficult to do, you just have to fit the parts often and check the allignment. I think the result you achieve (e.g. with the eadges) will be worth the time you spend with the file in the hand.

Finally I decided that this Spitfire will be finished in the following marking


This is the machine flown by the W/Cdr Aleksander Gabszewicz, he shoot down five Messerschmitts while flying it.
Thank to the guys from the polish forum I was given photos of this airplane. Do you see the difference in the grey colours?

Somewhere there is an original Airfix plastic of the wing. I'll try to find it tonight

Modelling is not only the struggle with the plastic, paints, airbrushes, PE's or your own disabilities Sometimes you have to get some new skills and use the computer. Not only for posting pics of your build on Aeroscale but to create something breathtaking what will extole your model to the skies.

For me that something special was the self made masks with roundels, serial number and code letters ;P

Here's a sample. If you want an original version of the file in "curves" just write me a PM with your email address.

Cool!

do you have connections to Montex, do you have a plotter or is there someone near you where you can get this cut??

all the best

Steffen

Heh...not yet

I found a company with a plotter about 100m from my office so I'm going to check they service quality soon. They take about 5euro for cutting an A4 sheet. I just have to draw a number for a Panzer III in 1:35 which I build on Armorama to have all the numbers I need on one sheet and then I'll ask for cutting.

That's a fantastic price. Very interested to see how you get on. PM inbound.

I already know that I'll have to change the dimmesions of some roundels. Still need some work to get it perfect. I have taken the sizes from the Tamiya's Spitfire Mk.V decal 'cos I didn't have any better refferences at hand. Maybe this weekend I'll find some time to improve it.

While trying to find a motivation to work with the masks I worked a bit with the wings. But first here are two pics of the fuselage tail.

Aeroclub's rudder fits here very well, just needed light touch with a round file to thin the edges.



The fit of the leading edge of the stabalizer was not so good -there was a step. Indead of filing the step I used a bit of putty and sanded smooth with a paper. Quick and easy.



Now let's see the wings. First the whell well.
It didn't fit well to the upper halve of the wing - there was a giant space. I glued a plastic strips, cut to shape and filled with putty. It wasn't enough, becasue I had to fill the small space with a putty once again after gluing both halves together.



Because I separated the aileron I thined the edges and will try to fit the separate and reshaped aileron to the wing.





And here's a general overview of the upper wing halve.

I have modified the masks template - there were some dimmension errors in the B and C1 roundels and the serial number. Everything looks fine right now. If you want an original file with the mask just write me a PM.

I just want to say I'm still alive and modeling

I separated the ailerons from the wing halves, thined the edges and glued the wings. There is "some" missalignment of the ailerons lines. You can see it as a big step on the glued wing. This will require some work to get it done properly, but shouldn't be difficult.





If you decide to thin the wing edges a bit, just as I did, don't forget also to thin this part because if you miss it you will have another step on the wing-fuselage joint because the fuselage will be sitting to high.



Also have in mind that:



The most difficult part of the wing build is the wing tip. The wing tip I used is Aeroclub, it has much better shape than the Airfix one. i have glued the wing halves first and then the tips. If you will thin the wing edges just as I did I suggest you to change the sequence of the build. I think, that it should look like this:

step 1: glue the wing tip to the lower halve and try to avoid the step on the lower surface.
step 2: sand down the edges checking the thickness often
step 3: glue the upper halve of the wing trying to avoid the step on the wing and tip joint.

This sequence will make getting the proper wing thickness on the leading edge much easier and will save you some time with filling and sanding the wing tip trying to get the surface smooth. i think this will apply to any Spitfire you will build.



As you see there is also a small step on the leading edge. It could be avoided here, but would apear on the trailing edge. I decided it would be much easier to remove from here, so choose the less evil

Nice one Michal!

I really admire your dogged determination on this build, and they way you're not letting things slip past where many of us would just say "It'll do!"...

All the best

Rowan

Thank you Rowan, I'm just trying to build this model the best I can. I think I made enough shortcuts already and considering that I will have to do a few more I'm doing what I can to have a good looking model at the end.

Well Rowan,
You gave me a question yesterday to think about...I mean this about detailing and "letting things go".

Maybe I really exagerate with the details...I think that if it would be a Messerchmitt I wouldn't work so hard. But simply I can't do it in this build, not with a HOLY SPITFIRE...

;P