I've always
wanted a 1/32 Mk 19 and the only way I could get one is to use the MDC
conversion kit (£32.00). Once I got the conversion kit the next step was
to buy a Revell Mk1 and start chopping away the front section along
with the fin and discard the wings in favour of a pair of resin c wings
also supplied by MDC. Everytime I make a kit I like to try and learn
something new and filling isn't my strongpoint, so into the deepend with
this project. Cutting away the fin and fitting the resin one wasn't too
difficult, the main problem I found was fitting the solid resin griffon
nose the the open front end of the Mk1. I ended up putting some plastic
inserts into the front fuselage then making an insert that would fit into
the front thus blocking the hole up and giving me more surface area which
to glue the resin nose section on. The wings for this kit were resin
C wings which when fitted to the fuselage needed a length of coat hanger
wire fit into the roots of each wing so that when bent would give the
correct dihedral. Now with the nose and wings fit it was down to
filling and rubbing down, the wing to fuselage fit wasn't very good for me,
so plenty of sanding was required followed by a good dose of squadron fast
drying white putty. I applied this putty using my daughters rapido game
which has some excellent tools for applying filler.
Once I was happy with
the filling, I started to spray the model, now PR blue seems to be all
kinds of blue, so I used some photographs I took of PM631 at The
Battle Of Britain Memorial Flight for reference and began mixing, the
markings for the aircraft were all sprayed on as I'd never done this
before and fancied having a go. The only problem I have now is putting the
pm631 serial on the aircraft as I can't find decals to suit. I am quite
happy with the result and I've learned a lot from building this model, as
long as you learn something new each time it's got to a success.
Chris
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