Spitfire Mk-Vb Floatplane

[Charles_c]

I'm new to the forum, but not to Guillows models or modelling. I've been building "flying" models for 65 years. I'm originally from Maryland, but retired from the U.S. Navy in 1971 in Norfolk, and bought a home in Va. Beach. This is home now.

Thought you would like to see what I did with the Guillows Spitfire (kit-504). I used the plans from the Guillows Rufe to build floats, scratch built the pylons, modified the tail, added a pectral fin and made a Supermarine Spitfire Mk-Vb floatplane. FYI, Supermarine actually built 4 floatplanes, one Mark-I, two Mark-Vb's and one Mark-IX.

Charles

[Mitch]

Charles,

That is very cool. You did a great job. How did you make the prop. Does it have a rubberband in it?

Mitch

[Bill Gaylord]

Beautiful job. I was amazed to read when I first came across this subject, that it was nearly as fast and handled as well as the non-float version.
If not rc or rubber, it would be a good contestant. I have the 28" version at nearly 16oz that flies well with the large wing area, and could easily be built more conservatively with the floats at the same AUW.

[Charles_c]

Mitch: The prop is made from two of the typical red ones that come in the Guillows kits. I filed them down to shape, then notched both and super glued them together. To get the spinner to fit right I used a one hole hand punch to make the slots. Yes, it has the typical rubber band. With about 150 turns on the prop, it will taxi about 20 feet. There is 10 grams of BB's in the nose of each float to keep it on a even keel, but probably too heavy to fly.

Bill: Thanks for the kind words. I did some research on the Spit Floatplanes. They intended to send them to the Greek Island area to interdict the Ju-52's hauling supplies. Someone did their homework and found out there were too many bf-109 bases in the area. The floatplane would not have a chance against a 109.

Here's a pic of one of the props after being cut down. I have other pic's of the construction, if you'd care to see them.

Charles

[Mitch]

Charles,

That is really cool I love how you used the kit parts to make a realistic propeller. Other people have asked where to get propellers... I think you found the ticket. Does your spinner pop on and off? That is another challange I do not know how to overcome... Getting that spinner on and having it balanced.

That plane looks really great!

Mitch

[Pauli72]

What a really interesting subject/plane to make a model of! I never knew that the RAF experimented with converting a Spitfire to a floatplane. Nice work.

[ADW 123]

I think everyone would like to see the build photos you have

[Charles_c]

OK, guys... here are some of the under construction pic's of the floatplane... The float was copied from the Guillows "Rufe" floatplane.

Charles

[Charles_c]

Here's some more, showing the modification to the tail assembly... I found a three view drawing of the Spitfire Mk-Vb floatplane online and enlarged them to 1:24 scale.

Charles

[Charles_c]

Here the float pylons are under construction. I used 1/4" sheet balsa, but glued two pieces together criss-crossing the grain for strength. (They're in reverse order )

Charles

[Charles_c]

Charles,

That is really cool I love how you used the kit parts to make a realistic propeller. Other people have asked where to get propellers... I think you found the ticket. Does your spinner pop on and off? That is another challange I do not know how to overcome... Getting that spinner on and having it balanced.

That plane looks really great!

Mitch

Mitch:

Just saw this. No the spinner is permanently attached. I cut a balsa circle that will just fit into the spinner. Glue the prop to the balsa circle and put my wire through both, bending it over and gluing. Using a one hole hand held punch I make holes in the spinner, then glue the spinner to the balsa circle. Hope this helps...

Charles

[Mitch]

Thank You and I must say your model Looks Marvelous!

I always had trouble getting the spinner on and straight! I think I will do like you and make my proppelers from used plastic ones! What a great idea... even if I didn't think of it myself. I was trying to carve wooden ones... and did not like how they where coming out. I'll save that chore for my areoplanes from The Great War!

Mitch

[kittyfritters]

I'm new to the forum, but not to Guillows models or modelling. I've been building "flying" models for 65 years. I'm originally from Maryland, but retired from the U.S. Navy in 1971 in Norfolk, and bought a home in Va. Beach. This is home now.

Though you would like to see what I did with the Guillows Spitfire (kit-504). I used the plans from the Guillows Rufe to build floats, scratch built the pylons, modified the tail, added a pectral fin and made a Supermarine Spitfire Mk-Vb floatplane. FYI, Supermarine actually built 4 floatplanes, one Mark-I, two Mark-Vb's and one Mark-IX.

Charles

Charles,

This is one of the nicest kit bashes I've seen. It might be interesting to do it with a 400 series Spitfire kit, scaled up floats, and electric R/C.

Howard

[Charles_c]

Mitch, Howard, et al: Thanks for the kind words. It was an interesting build. Here's some more pic's of the construction. First pic is the prop construction. These were taken with a light gray primer on the parts. You can see where I added extra wing ribs to help anchor the floats.

Charles

[Charles_c]

BTW, guys, here's a pic of the real one...

Charles