Hi all,

I've been working on this for an eternity with it supposedly going to print, but it seems a better idea to post it on the new LSM.

Here goes. I'll do a few updates and spread them out so it's not overwhelming.

My plan is to convert the superb Airfix 1:24 kit to a low back XVI, using the Buchon Scale Models conversion kit, plus a swathe of other items also supplied. I built the Me 109G Buchon conversion a few years, so I know the quality to expect here. For starters, here's what I'm using.

Great work so far!

:)))

Geezz.. get a crack on!

Before any plastic surgery can be done, I needed to get into the resin stuff. This little box will be the main star of the show for this build.

Before I can gauge what I'm working with, I taped up the Airfix fuselage. Also, I just really like to see what things WON'T be like when I'm finished 😆

There's quite a lot of parts in the conversion set, but these are the ones dealing with the new spine of the aircraft. The surface detail is perfect to that of the plastic host. The spine is supplied in two parts, with internal parts to strengthen the construction and stop deformation.

The first thing to do is to remove the casting block you see in the previous picture. A nice, quick job. Some care is needed to remove the block from the spine part on the right as you don't want to accidentally remove any resin that's needed. You need a perfectly good match to the other half.

The internal stiffener parts are now added and clued with some CA.

And the spine is then put together. You'll notice the lowest edge has a very slight kink to it. This is intensional as it exactly follows a panel line on the Spitfire fuselage.

The stiffener on the left IS angled at the bottom. This is because the fuselage cut is lower on one side than the other.

I found the best way to carefully remove the plastic spine was to chain drill along the panel lines and then gradually carve away and use sanding sticks to level the edge out. Test fitting against the resin spine has to be done continually. I didn't get it quite right toward the rear end of the spine, and you'll see a couple of plastic shims.

Here's a few more resin parts specific to the XVI. The bulkhead behind the pilot seat has to be cut down and the new section grafted into place. You can see that here, along with the PE armour plate. A new cockpit door is supplied.

I really didn't like the suggestion that you glue all the plastic fuse together then CA the spine into place. Too many variables for error for me, so after painting the inner cockpit area shown here, I carefully glued the spine into the starboard fuse half. This was I could align it properly and shim as necessary. You'll see more shims here, along the bottom edge of the resin spine. As you need to scrape away plastic for the spine to seat, these are simply to make sure that when the other half is added, the surface levels are, well....level.

Here you can see the other side, and those plastic shims I needed to add (my fault).

Finally, here's a photo of the whole spine test fit, just before I added and painted the internal cockpit areas.

I've not closed the fuselage up yet, so decided to do a bit more of the resin work. This time the wing.

There are panels on both upper and lower wing sides that need some remedial work, and here's the upper wing being tackled.

I always find the best way to remove sections of plastic is to chain drill the dead area and then carve carefully and sand...all the time, checking the fit of the resin part.

The openings are cut 'just to size so I can squeeze the new part in and apply CA from the underside of the wing panel....a bit at a time, so I get everything level all around the replacement part.

I'l post the lower wing panels soon.

Nice work always luv a bubble canopy hence the reason the ole 1/32 MkXXV is on the desk.

2 hours ago, KevinM said:

Nice work always luv a bubble canopy hence the reason the ole 1/32 MkXXV is on the desk.

Get the build in our logs area! I'd love to see that.

The process of removing the lower wing panels is the same, but before I did that, here's my aborted work on removing the moulded landing flap detail. It simply wasn't worth the hassle of tying everything in, especially at the wing root. It looked clumsy, so I glue the flaps close, which is how they would be when on the ground.

The resin panels are excellent and they are a perfect fit.

Before the panels can be fitted, the rear wing spar needs to be fitted so the trailing edge isn't flopping about.

Internal wing structures are now fitted.

You do some Nice Clean work........Joe?

Nice fitting parts. Also nice parts fitting :)

Cheers

Martin

I thought I'd build up the tail parts as a small diversion from the wing. You can see the specific stabiliser and elevator parts needed tor this machine. Airfix does provide parts for the ailerons etc. that don't turn to point forward at the tips. Those are scrap for this build.

Go on then....a quick test fit to the fuse, as I now have the completed tail units. In 1:24, this is quite a big bird.

Back to the wing, and the removal of the cannon location and blanked stub. These are cut and carved away and the positions drilled out for the new resin parts.

The leading edge is first protected for the butchery that's needed.

And the resin parts installed with CA. A little Mr Putty was then dribbled into any small gaps and then sanded flush.

Back to the underside. The outboard MGs have their leading edge ports filled with styrene sprue. This is then sanded flush to eliminate those positions. On the underside, the weapons bay doors are replaced with styrene card and then riveted to match the wing details and some reference I have for this machine. On the real aircraft, these bays would hold compressed air tanks.

The lower wing is completed with the addition of the clear clip wing tip parts, ailerons and the kit landing flaps. The Eduard ones were ditched at this point.

Even with clipped tips, this is a very impressive assembly with the overall size. I much prefer the clipped wings on the XVI. That's the whole reason for picking the machine I'm modelling.

One more wing thing to go, and that's the underside radiators. These are built, pending a later fitting.

It's never been my intention to build this model with the engine exposed.

It's just my nature to want to show the pretty lines of the XVI without any distraction. That was another reason I opted to ditch the dropped landing flaps.

Ok, if you convert the IX to the XVI, you WILL need a couple of other items that Buchon Scale Models sells....these are the upper cowl and the round Packard-built Merlin exhaust stubs. I've not shown the stubs in this update as we're looking at how I tackled the front end itself. You'll clearly see in the comparison photo here how the lower resin upper cowl is more bulged and rounded. The Packard Merlin's slight difference in arrangement meant this was needed. Also, some access ports are different or missing on the plastic part.

Internally, the side cowl parts will need the plastic frames so we can later add the resin exhaust stubs.

And as the engine won't be on display, the absolute bare minimum of the engine is required. This is the minimum, although you will see I took the razor saw to the rear of the intake.

The cowl is now assembled carefully. I did this in a couple of bench sessions, testing the fit against the fuselage to make sure I had no nasty surprises.

Here's what I removed from the intake. This simply isn't needed as I wanted to glue the forward intake into the cowl and then the engine block and firewall could then be sipped independently into the cowl at a later stage.

All this does is to provide me with a location for the prop!

Here's a little cockpit work. As I'm cutting down that spine to a low back, the bulkhead where the seat fits, needs to be changed. These cockpit parts are in the Mk.XVI conversion set. The plastic bulkhead needs to be cut at the correct place and this grafted on. I'm not following the instructions exactly though, and the new resin section will be fitted into the new spine and the cockpit connected into it. This just means that I can get everything exactly where I need it with resin. CA isn't as forgiving when it comes to juggling things about.

Before slicing that bulkhead, I did some initial test fitting of the regular plastic parts so I can get an impression of how things will eventually fit.

Two further bulkheads behind the cockpit, also need to be cut down so they don't interfere with the resin spine. The lower sections still give rigidity to the cockpit assembly.

here are a majority of the cockpit parts before paint, including a photo of the modified bulkhead for the cockpit seat.

Wow. That is indeed nice clean work. Great pics too by the way!

Oh, this is the decal sheet I'm using, with the clip winger being the machine modelled here.

it appears that TB900 had flat exhaust stabs

9 hours ago, Martinnfb said:

it appears that TB900 had flat exhaust stabs

Dammit!

A few splashes of colour. TBH, I'm not a fan of that Tamiya paint for the interior. It doesn't look 'quite' right to my eye, but onwards we do. The interior parts are assembled and then everything given a base coat of XF-71

XF-71 is then mixed with a drop of black and the raised areas sprayed. The base colour is then mixed with white, and the lowland areas sprayed.

Finally, a very thin coat of XF-71 is used to blend the shades.

Nice to see this being built. I was considering the conversion set as well so it'll be great to see how well it goes together.

Carl

7 hours ago, FG2Si said:

Nice to see this being built. I was considering the conversion set as well so it'll be great to see how well it goes together.

Carl

This goes together beautifully. The casting is exceptional and the instructions nice and clear. Definitely worth a punt.

Ok, here we go. These will be the last photos of this build for a few weeks until I finish HMS Surprise.

Internal detail painting and decals are now done. You can clearly see the cut down rear bulkheads in this image.

The nest update should show the airframe coming together for paint.

Looking good! 😀

My prob is the type of harness isn't readily available in 1:24...only the earlier Sutton types.

Any ideas?

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