[quoteThe bulges in the seat pan and left side were introduced to accommodate the inflation bottle of the pilot's rubber dingy which was part of his seat-pack. Mk I and II Spitfire seats didn't have them.[/quote]
Almost correct, Jessie, the metal seats didn't have the recess, but the plastic seat did (well, after a fashion.) The first recess was a simple square, but it was found that the corners were prone to cracking, so the edges were elongated into cones, to ease the pressure.
The left-side "kink" was to accommodate the ripcord, without chafing, and it was normally lined (along with part of the seat-base) with basil (i.e. made from sheepskin) leather.
We believe that the slot, in the right side (through which the Sutton thigh-belt fed) was introduced to ensure that the strap didn't foul the raising/lowering handle.

So to sommurise: The first seat is wrong..but then again right. My version is right too. (By pure luck from my part..NOT knowledge), Flash eliminators should be there..But there also removable.. And the 19th have flown wit none..one and two roundels under there wings... ...Yep it's so easy making an accurate spit model. Nothing to it..

But it does fit the bill. Learn more about the type while i am building. Thanks all.

Oh question for the seafire...Is there a spitfire equivelant that i could use for more cockpit info. That would have about the same colours and/or lay out. Would that work with a Mk 22 to 24 maybe?

Now ask me why I prefer USA WW11 Naval aircraft. ;-)
Joel

Ok... ...Joel why do you prefer USA naval....




But on a serious note. Would the evolution of cockpit colors in the spitfire during the war and after also count for the other english types in that same timeframe..

Let's say conncluding on the info now; an early fairey battle would have an green metal chair, While a Fulmar or a Tempest would have a red plastic one with black leather?

Unfortunately, you need to know your specific aircraft (and colour photos, if you can find them.)
The Hurricane, Typhoon and Tempest seats were metal, so silver at first, later green (on the green-interior Tempest.)
Meteor and Vampire seats were red plastic, though some later ones were painted black.
Cockpits went over to black (but gradually) as the need for possible night-flying increased; car-door Typhoons were green, later the bubble-canopy version went 50/50 black/green like the Seafire 17, then all-black (as can be seen in the RAF Museum's Typhoon.) Tempests went the same way, with early Vs green, but the II & VI black; Meteors, Vampires, and all Sea Furies were all-black.
Late Spitfire cockpits stayed green (no night flying,) with the odd XIX & 21 being black, but the 40-series Seafires, Spiteful and Seafang were black.
Believe me, that's just scratching the surface.
Edgar

Not really; there was "furniture," in the 47, which didn't appear in the Spitfire. As an example there was a bomb/rocket fusing/selection panel on the port cockpit wall, and, because of that, the hand-grip was a strange "D" shape, presumably to keep the pilot's hand away from hitting one of the switches. It is possible to get a copy of the Pilot's Notes (which have black-and-white cockpit photos) from Crecy Publications (maybe Amazon as well,) or I could send you copies of the photos to an E-mail address of your choice.
Edgar

Edgar you have a PM.

Cliff I liked your thread but you have gone quiet,hope all is well with you just life got in the way of modelling. Phil

Thanks Phil. All is ok. I Got a new job and that took a bit of adjusting. (especially because it's more physical as my last one. which means muscle ache. A loooooot of it. :-) ). and spring arrived big time here in the Netherlands. Ao i spent a nice amount of time turning my balcony into a herb garden (read more muscle ache ;-) )

But yesterday i went behind the desk again. Edgar Brooks emailed me a couple of reverence pictures. (Thanks Edgar) and based on those i finished of the cockpit of the Seafire.
And joined the fuselage halves. Next job there is making the wing fit.

On the mark 1 i have it read for paint. Next weekend i have two days free after another. so expect a picture update then

Thats good news Cliff, down here things are finally starting to cool down .Looking forward to your next post Phil.

As promised i'm back again. As i said earlier. I have a new job. Working outside in the garden section of a big D.I.Y. shop. And loving every minute of it. But as always you need to find you feet again. And that takes time and effort. Which would explain my short absense.

Before i started on that new job i did some D.I.Y.'ing of my own. Redoing my hobby room. New lay out, some shelving for finished models, Better lighting..and a nice stereo section for good music while concentrating...So overal i have a better work area, with more room, where i feel more comfortable in.





Well, back to the actual build. I left the Airfix Spitfire in a bit of a "tight" situation



Which helped fitting the wings a bit..But not a total success..So sanding was still required..





Which made me think that it might be an idea to show you guys what i am using as materials. That always helps with giving advice..Then you at least know what i do or do not have...

first the tools..







Glues and other model potions



The brands of acrylic paint i tried.



I now favor Vallejo, with Tamiya as second option..For thinning it down i use this stuff. Advised by my local airbrush shop..



And i aplie it all with this baby..







Then my...what-the-hell-is-did-i-do-wrong-now guide...





Wash and weathering stuff...Oil based..



And to clean it all...



On with the build itself. After sanding, it was time to play with mister putty again..





Quickly followed by adding the other pieces of the puzzle...





And in the case of this Airfix retooling, you can seriously call it a puzzle. If you need to apply these sections..



Airfix conviniently made this nice hole..



which corresponds perfectly with this bit sticking out here..



And another part is fitted..Same for the air intake..



And because everything really DOES fit..You end up with a nice airframe in no time at all.





It's a shame that Airfix made such a mess of the inside cockpit measurements . But if you prework that. Then i can Highly recommend this kit for a small kid, starting in the hobby

So what about the special Hobby Seafire? Well the cockpit fitted nicely..







(Thanks Edgar for the Info you offered me. It really helped with getting a nice paint job.)

But it is a limited edition..And that showed soon enough..



Partly that is caused because of some excess plastic..



But mostly because it really does NOT fit well...





So it started to become clear to me very soon, that this was a different ballgame. Here i really needed to clean up every single element. Prefit it..adjust it's fit..And only THEN commit to glue. Something that i hadn't have to do with previous builds..
But the parts are so nicely molded, i don't really care actually..





And after some "strong convincing" this also started to look like an airplane..



Although it is clear, i still lack a bit of experience with this type of kits..Some parts go on reasonable well..



And some parts go less well...Here for instance i only realized to late that a bit of black tubing on the inside would have transformed this nice boat porthole, into the camera lens that it really should have been...



And to make matters a bit more difficult yet..Special Hobby sometimes just leaves out the numbers...(So which parts IS that upper section of the air intakes suppose to be then???..)



But with time, patience, perceverense..and an occasional bit of strong language..I ended up with a nice basic airframe yet again..





Which DOES need a wee bit of putty still...LOL..





It started out as an comparison build.. So what did i discover up till now.. Well first of i'm amazed how little the airframe actually changed over the years..





Off course instruments in the cockpit changed. The wing shape is a wee bit more slender....But the biggest difference is really the nose section. To build in the bigger Griffon. They had to give the Seafire an extra chin. And some odd looking nose bumps..



But on the other hand...Don't we all age like that......?? With added bumps and things...And pieces of body starting to hang a bit...

And to straight away ask for a bit more info again. In this picture there are three small holes under the big one that already has a clear part in there..



I'm asuming the big one is another camera..But what are the three small ones. I know i also have to put clear parts in there is well. But i kinda need to know what the underlying color should be..

The three small holes are for identification/recognition lights. They were red, green and amber from forward to aft.

Thanks Jessie, appreciate it.

Cliff,
You're making steady progress, and slowly but surely solving every issue as they come up. Looking forward to seeing both Spits with some paint on them soon.
Joel

Hi Cliff

Looking at your photos, you've clearly devoted far too much space to your music set-up. Come on! Whoever heard of enjoying yourself whilst modelling! (Or is so you can't hear the phone from work ring? - that is permitted. )

Just kidding - great progress, and I love the detailed shots as you go.

All the best

Rowan

Hi Cliff Good to hear everything is going well. You are makeing steady progress with your build and they are looking good. Like Rowan I enjoy how you photo-document your build. All the best Phil.

Jeez, last post end of april. I seem to have lost track of time the last months, with my new job and all.
Anyways.
Here a small update just to prove that i'm alive and well..and still occasionally do a bit of modelling too..(shame shame)
Today i worked on masking and spraying the canopy (of which i have no photographic evidence )
And i started on the underside of the Mk 1.
First i decided to give the white side a preshade. The idea was to end up with a oil smeared look in the endproduct..



And afterwards i followed with the white..



But to be honnest. The white is to thick..And not build up in nice thin layers. So i lost the preshade effect again..
Why is that so? Well, a year ago i made this bird...



A Seafury inspired by the Reno air racers. At the time it was my first airplane that i tried to paint with a airbrush. And i had serious problems with the white and the yellow..especially caused because i didn´t delute them well enough. The feedback at the time was that Yellow and white are really hard coulors to work with anyway. So i ended up beeing "scared' of using them.

Therefore today i was so concentrating and pushing that i forgot about the basics of ..thin layer..dry..thin layer again..dry... In stead i pushed on straight away..*blush*

Good thing is that in the start i had the same problems as the first time. A year ago.. (A bit of a grainy effect. dry bits all over the place..) But i managed to solve that by deluting the paint more. Ending up with a nice mixture that gave no problems at all.
So this layer i´m gonna leave as is. And i´m a hell of a lot more confident when i will go for the white paint again next time. I´ll promise to do the layer thing right that time.

Well let's be honnest. Only a white update is a bit boring. And because my girlfriend decided to go for a stroll...i could return to the hobby room instead of the kitchen...So out came my dark side...



And together i think they call that black and white pc..:-) ..



the bare parts will end up aluminium..And off course i made a few masking mistakes again..But nothing unsolvable. And i have to say..it looks much more finished already.

And then for the metalheads amongst us.
Merlin versus griffon . Pump up the volume and enjoy!

De Mk 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e33yGl-7uvE

en de Mk 47: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YioXYhbVPA

Hi Cliff,things appear to be progressing nicely and looking good. Cheers Phil

I'm taking babysteps at the moment..But still their steps. I am getting somewhere. And who said i should be in a hurry with this build. :-)
So i now added the aluminium..





Leaving some damage on the black again..Oh well. That will teach me not to do it in the obvious order of wheel bays, white and then black.
Now the panellines are bugging me more and more. I just find them to deep and toy like. Here is a comparison between the real "restaurated" thing and the model..





I don't think so. And then it occured to me that, if you can create more depth in a model by adding a contrast colour. In a pin wash for instance..then you should get the opposite effect when you use the same.....*ENTER LIGHTBULB*






Yep that's more like it. I'll have another look at it on sunday. Do the repairs then too. (mumbles something about a bad seam around the oil cooler..blush) And maybe even the upper side..

While the wash does seem to reduce the depth of the panel lines, the width is still a major issue, especially after your comparison to the real aircraft. About the only way to rectify those panel lines is to fill them in with Super glue, then rescribe, which is a major undertaking.

Joel

I agree with you Joel. But i haven't tried rescribings anything yet. And the step from 'never done it before' to 'doing a whole plane straight away 'is a bit overambitious.
So for now i'll juist take your previous advice. Take it one step at a time..and ecxept it as is...

But i do wanna learn to rescribbe. "cause i have a P 51 lying around from airfix that has the same grand canyons running all over the survice.

Cliff,
I'm not very good at re-scribing either. When I read articles and builds with massive amounts of re-scribing, their techniques all seem so easy that even I can do it. Of course it's quite the opposite.

Re-scribing really should be done before you start the painting process. So at this point I fully concur with you to just leave the Cannons as is.

BTW, the paint that pulled up from all that masking, what type and brand of masking tape were you using? Tamiya tape de-tacked by applying to your forearm will make a huge difference. Also the brand of paint, and whether or not you used a primer are all variables in the equation.
Joel

Joel