1/48 Scale RCAF Spitfire MK XVI..........................(Completed 28 Sep 2017)

[lastvautour]

Drawings have been scaled and wood selected. Now to find the time.

Lou

https://www.the-blueprints.com/blueprints/ww2planes/ww2-supermarine/74860/view/supermarine_spitfire_lf_mk_xvi/

[Boomerang]

Thanks for sharing that link Lou.

I've got some drawings for a Mk XVI and found details of  an Australian pilot in 66 Sqn. I'll shuffle
  my build list.
Looking forward to your progress reports.

Cheers
Gordon

[lastvautour]

Just started this afternoon.

Lou

[lastvautour]

This project would not be a good example for doing bubble canopies. However, it is progressing.

Lou

[lastvautour]

Wings and fuselage are shaped and sanded. The first one had the tail section removed, horizontal plane added and tail glued. This was harder to sand the tail area. On the second one I sanded the tail area and will cut a notch for adding the horizontal plane.

Lou

[lastvautour]

Notched the horizontal tail plane and added a plug to fill in.

Lou

[lastvautour]

Photo one shows the filet before shaping.
Photo two shows carburetor intakes.
Photo three shows the cooling scoops. If you look close on the left are the canon armament. I forgot to take a close up but there will be time once all is together. I started making the tail wheel as a one piece unit but may change to a four piece assembly.

Lou

[Boomerang]

Coming along nicely.

Gordon

[lastvautour]

Photo 1. The tail wheel is in rough cut.
Photo 2. Applying putty has begun.

lou

[Rafael]

Beautiful and elegant.

[lastvautour]

Ready for the primer.

Lou

[lastvautour]

Wow, what a sloppy sanding job on those Spitfires. Finally bought my favorite primer and used two heavy coats as filler. I figure three or four sandings with priming in between.

Lou

[lastvautour]

The exhaust manifold is proving trouble some. I have taken three approaches to date.

1. Carve the block to the shape of the exhaust and slice off pieces. The problem is carving small enough to make it look realistic. The assembled unit was done so

2. The next approach was to use a round file to do the back side of the exhaust pipe and sand/carve the front to shape. The piece kept on breaking while carving and sanding was difficult.

3. Place the block in the drill press and drill down into the grain and then try drilling side on. Those are the small pieces in the upper left corner and the part that has blue ink on it.

I see many hours of fun getting this right.

Lou

[johnnytodd]

Maybe try cutting the entire exhaust pipe stack from a single piece of brass - time consuming to saw but not as brittle as wood.  Then shape with a fine file...?

[lastvautour]

I don't do well with metals. But thanks for the thought.

Lou