Spitfire PR.IG Part One

Hello, it's me again. Yes, who else would it be?

I've got something old but completely new. I'm going to be building a Spitfire PR.IG. This Spitfire was an armed photo reconnaissance variant with an oblique camera mounted in the side of the fuselage and two cameras mounted underneath. It still retained all eight guns, but pilots were told to avoid combat whenever possible and were chewed out even if they were successful in a lethal encounter. I will be using Tamiya's Spitfire Mk I kit for the base and adding resin after market parts for the conversion.

I'm building this Spitfire dedicated to my beautiful wife for all she does for us. She loves the elegance of the Spitfire as well as the PR.IG's paint scheme. I thought it would be a good tribute build, as well as keep me out of trouble while she and the progeny are visiting the relatives for the next few weeks. Hello Thing One and Thing Two!

If you've never built this kit just on its own, you should.

Tada. Parts.

Here are the resin parts I will be using. I decided that I will only be using the Airwaves parts on the left. I received the resin kits free of charge from a friendly Spitfire enthusiast at the local modelling club. Thanks Mr. D!

Some reference material on the PR.IG, also provided by Mr. D (inside the entire book of reference material on loan). I'll get it back to you Mr. D, I promise!

I was looking forward to beginning the build as it will be a part of a special interest group (SIG) build on International Scale Modeller forum. I had to wait for July 1 to begin and I have to be done and post photos by September 30. Finally, a SIG that corresponded with what I wanted to build, when I wanted to build it! Here is half of the fuselage before cutting out the door.

The door successfully extracted with an X-acto blade.

I used dial calipers to identify the center the best I could. I had to look up how to read dial calipers on YouTube as I haven't read dial calipers since high school, when I took a drafting course. Calipers are my new favorite tool for measuring everything now.

I indented the plastic in the center with an X-acto blade so the pin vise wouldn't slide to the right when I started drilling.

Here is the first challenge I ran into. The hole was still very small and if I made it any larger, the fuel tank would be in the way.

Time for some cuttin'.

No one will see the back end of the fuel tank anyway. Well, I guess you and the Internets now.

The second problem was that I used the largest pin vise bit I had and the hole was still pretty small. I was taking a risk, but I really didn't want to buy and wait for bigger pin vise bits. I tested this method on a piece of scrap before doing this. What I learned was, the bit has to be going fast and go from the outside to the inside.

Here is the final hole. I didn't want to risk making it bigger.

Dry fit on the tank and the camera.

I have more clearance now for the hole and camera.

I guess I should mention, you should wear a dust mask before cutting and sanding resin. The explanation I heard is that the dust particles are like microscopic shards in your lungs.

Here are the underside cameras. A chunk of the wing needs to be cut off. I was watching the movie John Wick for the second time while I was doing this. The best action film I've seen in a while.

Part of the fuselage underneath also needed to be cut away.

I made some initial cuts with the razor saw.

Test fit of the wings and fuselage.

Resin test fit.

I have gaps in some areas that will require attention.

Here is the underside part of the wings I trimmed off and used as a test piece for the power drill method. I'm testing Kristal Klear in the same diameter hole to see if it will fill the hole.

Kristal Clear will dry clear as you can see. Within an hour the thinner application is already curing. The thick application at the top, took about six hours and it was a bit cloudy.

Here is where it sits.

Well, not really. I have a bit more done on it, but you'll just have to wait and see! The parts I needed to begin the interior arrived this week and I have begun assembling and modifying the interior. Thanks for visiting. Another update will be coming shortly, as well as a Zero update.