Tutorial Novice - Supermarine Spitfire - Where should I start? - An ID Model

[lastvautour]

Mark and shave off another edge on the fuselage. Mark off the bottom and lower side approx 3mm in and remove the materiel Using the guide template round off as much as possible but not too muck . Sandpaper will be used to finish rounding the fuselage.

[lastvautour]

Just keep removing small amounts of wood until the guide comes close. Looking at the pictures you will notice that I put the guide somewhat behind where it shows it on the plan. It is just to get the proper shape. Sanding will bring it down to size later.

[Peter]

Hi Lou,

I am trundling along behind you at a meandering pace. I have the new wing cut out and ready to be shaped. I have a razor saw for cutting the dihedral, then on to the fuselage shaping. Thanks again for doing this I would have been completely lost by this point.

This is where I am






Peter

[dave_t]

Peter,
     Are you using strictly hand tools for this, or do you have a scroll saw, band saw, etc? I wouldn't really say you are trundling along, though Lou's fast work may make it seem that way

[Peter]

Hi Dave,

I only have hand tools, but what is slowing me down is real life kids, work, kids activities and the wife. So trundling along with hobbies is normal for me. I actually prefer Lou being a head of me it allows me to see whats coming next so I can wrap my head around it in advance.  I will post a progress photos tomorrow. I'm definitely hooked on this hobby.

Peter

[lastvautour]

The cockpit area is next with the cutting of the windscreen area. Looking at the model from the top, the line that marks off the front glass area has to be cut vertically. Looking at the un-contoured side, you see the line is on a flat surface but the side we have carved the line is now moved by the new surface. if you look from the top, both sides should have identical lines but when you rotate the model the perspective will change.

[lastvautour]

Here we will remove the corner of the canopy area. Cut straight down and remove that small triangle area marked by the hand drawn arrow.

[lastvautour]

Next is to start rounding off the front fuselage. Do the same as for the rear fuselgae and remove one edge at a time work slow. You can see how much I removed in the photo. this sort of an in between picture with the arrow pointing to the vertical cut we mentioned before.

[lastvautour]

We just connect the dots and join the front fuselage contour to the windscreen.

[lastvautour]

Now looking at the next picture, just carve the area between line 1 and 2. The next photos should show you what to expect in a finished rough cut.

[lastvautour]

Using a sanding block, smooth out the fuselage side. Just round off the edges and look at the guide for directions on the contour at the front of the plane. No need to get to precise at this point.

Next we will do to the bottom front what we did to the rest of the fuselage. Work slow and remove the materiel carefully not to go to far.

Using the sanding block again, round things out. I use medium (150) grit to smooth thing nicely.

[lastvautour]

Although not absolutely necessary I frequently use contour lines. I take a straight edge, in this case a 1/4" piece of cardboard. Draw a line vertical to the fuselage. When you look at it from the side all lines should be parallel to each other. When you rotate the fuselage you can better see the shape of the body and can sand to fix any glaring error one may have done.

[lastvautour]

Now just repeat everything I said and do the other side. Easy as pie. Easier because I am not much of a baker.

[lastvautour]

There are a few ways of marking the control surfaces of a model. I will show you two. One is to score the surface using a pen. Crush the wood down to form a dent but not enough to break the fibres. This will stay in place as you sand and prime. Just redo as you go along. The other is using a permanent marker, mark them on top of the finished paint job. Now if you are doing an ID model, it is all black, so indenting the surfaces would be beneficial.

[lastvautour]

Getting back to the wing, I broke mine so I cleaned and re-glued it. Once set, I use wood filler to hide the joint.  Next cut out the radiators for the bottom of the wing. The plan shows them on the wrong side. We will fix that.