Some diecast beauties

[hrtpaul]

Just bought an Airfix 1/48 Mk Vb

What's it like in the box mate?

[Cap'n Wannabe]

Dunno yet....it's on its way from the UK..$32 including postage...
And I just picked up their 1/72 kit from Toyworld Highpoint to practice on

[Cap'n Wannabe]

Guess what arrived on my doorstep...well, the post office...today..
Airfix new-tool 1/48 Spitfire Vb.....speaking of which, I had a much better idea for my 1/72 kit, but that's for another post..
Anyhoo....it looks noice. Very bloody noice!
A couple of things to note - there's 3 different canopies...only two decal options, so they're prolly gonna do some other types in 1/48.
The cockpit is really cool and very detailed....you get a two-piece tub, basically the bottom section of the fuselage split down the middle. Most of the bits and bobs that go on the cockpit sides are separate parts. I like that - makes painting a heap easier. No seatbelts, though, unless you use the pilot.
The sprue gates are maybe a tad on the large side, but not overly so.....not like their 1/72 Mustang.
The upper front section of the cockpit is a separate piece....see my comment about them prolly gonna do other types..
Elevator, rudder and ailerons are separate bits..
Wheels up/wheels down...nerd's choice.
Bugger all flash
A few bits I couldn't identify...s'pose if I read the instructions more carefully, all will be revealed.
Bog standard front end, or Vokes filter...again, nerd's choice.
Downside for me is the cannon have a section of leading edge moulded to them....gonna have to sort something out there 'cos I'm not putting bangy things on mine.
On to the fatal flaws...
The spinner is a poofteenth of a micron too wide at the fat end...that would scale up to 0.001" in real life.
The airfoil section at the wing root should be a NACA 2213 - they're royally stuffed that by using a NACA 2213.05.
Clearly they've used metric rivets on about half the fuselage, rather than the correct imperial size. Also, the rivet's grip length is too short. And they're stainless steel, not aluminium.
The valves in the tyres are short by about half a thread, and they're aligned 0.025° further towards the front of the aircraft than they should be.
The tyres themselves are overinflated by 2 psi. Haven't figured out how to fix that yet..
And probably the biggest flaw is the engine oil is the wrong type. They've used mineral oil instead of ashless dispersant.
So if you can live with all that, you'll end up with a chunk of plastic that looks remarkably like a Spitfire.

[tor lives]

Ya got any pix???
TOR

[Cap'n Wannabe]

Not yet....I think Brett Green did a review on HS, though..

Edit:
http://hyperscale.com/2014/reviews/kits ... ewbg_1.htm
I noticed he conveniently glossed over the flaws..

[hrtpaul]

Great review mate. Not sure how you're gonna fix all those things wrong with it. It sounds like an unbuildable model for sure, even though I haven't seen it yet