Arie Donker has sent us photos of his superbly detailed and finished Spitfire Mk.1.

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If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

Excellent Arie, I'm building a 1/32 Spitfire MK I too and I have a million questions, here's just a couple, or three:
1. Which kit is it, I'm guessing Revell ?
2. Which cockpit detail set did you use, if any?
3. Where did you source the wheels and undercarriage legs, including the tail wheel and leg, and who makes the exausts?
Mine will be finished as the mount of Geoffrey Wellam of 92 Sqn. He was the youngest pilot to fly Spitfires during the Battle of Britain. His book, "First Light", is a must read.

Hi Mal

You can see how Arie superdetailed the cockpit HERE.

All the best

Rowan

Hi,

I did loads of scratch building though kit parts are sufficient.
eg kit parts were updated with drilled holes, putty (most ciano), Thinning, rods sheet, etc.
Shape of the hasegawa/Revell kit is mostly correct!
Exept for the cross section behind (closed) canopy. It is rounded whereas it should be more squared off up to aprox. the antenna mast.
Trunk of the radiator is little off (too chunky) so it was scratch built.
Oil cooler in kit is a hybrid between a markI/II and a MK VB.
This part too was rebuilt. eg lowered down.
Tail wheel ia reworked kit part.
Exhaust, reworked kit parts. The only thing i did NOT like working on.
Wheels also kit parts. with little rework.
Struts were scratch built.
Wheelbays were rebuilt.
There are tons of references on the web.
Beware the marks tough!

Hi Arjen,

Wow, fantastic build! It's one of the most realistic finish that I have seen on a plastic model kit!

Jean-Luc

That's just awesome

The exhaust & the stains of them are AWESOME

A question: This frame needn't to be paint ??


Cheers Nick

Hi Nick,




No...



Jean-Luc

Ok, thank you very much Mr. Jean-Luc


Cheers Nick

Now I really am impressed wonderful scratch building, how long did that lot take you?
I'm going a totally different route and trying to backdate the Aires (I think) MK V cockpit and fit it into the Revell MK I (1/32). The aim was to have it ready for the Scale Modelworld show in mid November, but I realised that I wasn't going to get it done in time so switched to the Pacific coast 1/32 Hawker Hurricane, which I reckon to finish in time.

Rowan, I do plan on doing reviews and build articles, of both, but my priority is getting the Hurri finished in time for Telford. I will be using a new product of mine on it (I'll be sending you a sample, if it works ) which is the reason that I am entering it into the competitions

Absolutely stunning work Arie, congratulations on a beautiful build.

Cheers, D

Hello arie, Congratulation for yor Spit MKI,joly good job, now, I have a problem I also wanted to make in the same scale the Spit of E Lock but now ,have you got any picture of the black and sky underneath ?,should you I would then do the same colors.
best regards
bidule

Hello bidule ,

The spits depict an earley one.
Some references state Black and white is okay for this plane at this time of war.
I have no picts that proofs it is wright this way.
Even so, the camo for even or od numbers is sometimes confusing.
Dig deep in the references.

Port wing black, starboard white, rest silver, with roundels, was the normal underside scheme from the out break of war, until June, 1940.
From June 7th., all undersides were to be Sky Type S, without roundels, but, due to a shortage of paint, it was fitful, to say the least.
Sky, with black port wing plus roundels, was from 12-12-40.
Several years ago, in a SAM, Ted Hooton wrote an article on early Spitfires, where he noted which airframes did not comply with the normal A or B schemes.
One (very) minor point, no Spitfire had a crowbar before 1941 (possibly 1942.)
Edgar

Nope. The black and white scheme applied to under surfaces of day fighters until June 1940 was instigated by Dowding and it was to be applied 50/50 down the centre of the fuselage. Because of misinterpretation of the Air Ministry’s instructions the scheme was not implemented in accordance with his wishes and aircraft were finished with only the wings painted black or white and the fuselage undersides Aluminium (silver). Dowding complained about this and kept complaining until he got what he had wanted. There were no roundels on the under surface of the wings. Roundels on the under surfaces were introduced in September 1939 for aircraft serving in France with the BEF and AASF (Advanced Air Striking Force). Aircraft operating over the French coast could also carry roundels on the under surfaces of the wings. On 4th June 1940 roundels on the under surfaces of the wings were ordered for all aircraft. This lasted until 7th June when under surfaces were ordered to be painted Sky with no roundels on the under surfaces.

During the mid to late 1930s, Britain was engaged in the task of building the world's first integrated air defence system. A means of detecting enemy aircraft at a distance in the form of what is today called radar was developed together with a command and control system to pass the information gathered by the radar to the fighters whilst in the air.

One of the many problems of integrating this system was how to distinguish between friendly fighters and enemy aircraft from the ground. This was necessary to allow them to be tracked over land by the Observer Corps. The early Chain Home radar transmitted its signals through 360 degrees, in order for the radar operators to distinguish the direction that the enemy were coming, the inland 180 degrees had to be blocked out electronically.
The result of this was that there was no radar coverage inland, and all the plotting information which was required for a successful interception, such as the location of the fighters in relation to the raiders once they had crossed the coast, had to be obtained visually, by the Observer Corps.

The solution to the problem of distinguishing friendly fighters visually from the ground was originally suggested by the Commander in Chief of Fighter Command, Hugh Dowding. In May 1937, Dowding wrote to the Air Ministry suggesting that the undersides of fighter aircraft should be painted in such a way as to make them easily identifiable from the ground. He suggested that the underside of one of the lower mainplanes should be finished in silver dope and the other in dull black. By this means however arrangement was likely to be viewed, it would always present a characteristic part coloured appearance to the observer. After some consideration by the Air Ministry it was decided that the idea should be tried out and permission for trials to begin was granted in July 1937.

During October 1937 Dowding wrote to the Air Ministry to inform them of the results obtained from the experiment. Whilst doing so, he suggested that with production of the Hurricane gathering pace, the undersides of the wings of these aircraft should be finished black on the port side and white on the starboard. He also suggested that to make the marking as clear as possible, the aircraft identification numbers should be omitted from the wing under surfaces.

The Air Ministry agreed that some Hurricanes could be finished in this way for the purpose of a large scale service trial and wrote to Dowding during December 1937 to inform him of the decision. As production of the Hurricane was well advanced by this time, it had not been found possible to apply the marking to early production aircraft, but it was to be instituted as soon as possible without delaying production.

The Air Ministry felt that it could not agree to the omission of the serial number from the under surfaces of the wings believing they should be retained as a deterrent to unauthorised low flying as they almost always allowed the offending aircraft and therefore pilot to be identified.

Hawkers were informed in a letter dated 8 January 1938 that it was desired that the under surface of the port wing was to be finished in black and the starboard wing white, with the flaps and ailerons included in this colour scheme. The identification numbers on the starboard (white) side of the aircraft were to remain as they were at present, but those on the port (black) side were to be applied in white to be visible against the black background. Because the Air Ministry had not made it absolutely clear whether the outer wings only were to be black and white or whether the dividing line between the two colours should be on the centreline of the centre section, a sketch showing only the outer panels of the wings finished in black and white was submitted to the Air Ministry in January 1938 for their approval along with a quoted price of £5. 0. 0d. for each aircraft to be finished in this manner. When the Air Ministry raised no objections, this was how the aircraft left the production line.

In March 1938, the Air Ministry wrote to Fighter Command informing them that the serial numbers of the Hurricanes earmarked for the new under surface colour scheme were 11576 - L1625 and delivery was expected to commence before the end of the month.
Once these aircraft began to go into service during early April 1938, Fighter Command expressed a wish that all Spitfires and Hurricanes should be finished in this manner. However in June 1938, Dowding complained that the Hurricanes which had been delivered by that time had not been properly painted as he wished the black and white colours to cover the largest possible surface and to meet on the centreline. The Hurricanes supplied thus far had not been painted on the fuselage at all, leaving a silver strip between the black and white which caused the colours to blend into one another when seen from a distance, destroying the contrast. He also suggested that the roundels on the under surfaces of home defence fighter aircraft were no longer necessary as the black and white finish would act as sufficient identification from below and the roundels only served to break up the clean expanse of black and white which was being relied upon for recognition.
The suggestion that roundels be removed from the under surfaces of Home Defence Fighter aircraft was considered by the Air Ministry, which concluded that there was no legal reason why this could not be done and in August 1938, the Director of Operations and Intelligence, wrote to Fighter Command to inform them of the decision. It was however stated that the roundels must continue to be used in the Field Force fighter squadrons.

Eventually Dowding’s nagging and complaining bore fruit and fighter aircraft were finished with the undersides painted black and white divided down the centre line of the fuselage. By the outbreak of war most anomalies had been corrected and the majority of fighter aircraft were painted in accordance to his wishes.

"One (very) minor point, no Spitfire had a crowbar before 1941 (possibly 1942.)"

Ahh, it stands out like a sore thumb knowing this now!
I like those "did you know's" Especialy BEFORE diving into a kit-build!
For me, those are not minor ditails!
I'm not going to change it though.


The Spit is one of my favorites.
Maybe next build. I want a VB on my shelves some day.

At the moment i'm building a 109 K-4
What a mine field are those Messerschmitts.

Thanks for the comments and interest in my build!

Arie

Hello Mr. Arie

I've got a question about the exhaust stacks & the exhaust stains.

What did you do and they are so AMAZING !!

Can you describe the techniques you followed with details please


Cheers Nick

EXHAUST STACKS

What i did is reworking the kitparts exhaust stacks with the tubular ends. (not the fishtail bafflers found on the later types like VB also includet in this kit).

The two pieces were shimmed (kit parts are too thin) and glued together. Individual manifolds were cut 3 pieces each (left bank and right bank)

Tips of the stacks were cutt off with a razor saw. Six individual aluminium tubes cuth to approx. length and superglued on. And sanded smooth with stack housings.
Than a drop of super glue on each stack joint replicates the weld seam.
The front two stacks on each side need to be a little curved inwards.

The stacks are sprayed in Revell brouwn. The tips in matt black and then cofee late white-ish sprahed only on the very ends of the stacktips. for a good tuned engine that is.

I hope i inspired you a little Nick.

Arie

Thank you very much Mr. Arie


Cheers Nick

Fantastic job.

I'm stunned with the anniversary of the Battle of Britain that no one has issued a Mark I in this scale. I am looking at acquiring the Revell or Hasegawa kit, but wonder what amount of upgrading is required, including re-scribing panel lines?

Hi Bill Cross,
The Revell one is a Hasegawa one with beter decals.
(Be sure you pick the right one. There still is the old re-issued Revell mk1 kit at large at the same price. This might not be the kit you're after)

The fuselage is the old Hase MK VB kit. the wings are a later mold with engraved panellines. the fit is good.
The kit is very good value for money. in my opinion.
Tamiya should be the best spit kit ever. but look at the price!

I like the looks of a plane the most like the pilot is in debriefing, leaving the plane hot on the ramp after a sortie.
All the maintaining panels, cowlings etc stil at its places not interrupting the aerodinamics and looks of a airworthy plane.

So i don't need:
moveable control surfaces.
Open engine bay.

Again, my opinion! (for now)

Arie

Can you specify which kit? There are several available on eBay right now from Revell and Revell of Germany. I don't want to end up with the wrong one.

This is the kit i build from revell:

Thanks, Arie.

Does anyone know how or if it differs from this kit?

Bill, that kit from 'Classic' range are Revell's own old moulds. It has an engine, but no 'gull-wing' shape under the wing.
Discussion here:
http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=51271


Arie's is built from the Revell/Hasegawa, which has the old Hasegawa Mk.V fuselage (raised panel lines), and new (engraved panel line) wings. See:
http://modelingmadness.com/scotts/allies/gb/32rspit1preview.htm

Also released as a Hasagawa boxing:
http://www.kitreview.com/reviews/spitfirei32reviewbg_1.htm

"Does anyone know how or if it differs from this kit?"

Hello, Bill Cross


It is NOT the Hasegawa kit!

This might be also the Hassegawa tooling:

[http://www.internetmodeler.com/2001/october/first-looks/revell_spitfire.htm]

This box Is probably not in The netherlands available.
So I've never seen it on the shelves here.
But it looks like it is the same contents.

Arie