Spitfire canopy - open or closed?

[Guest]

My tamiya spitfire is nearly finished but I'm really torn between an open or closed canopy. Most I've seen have it and the door open for good reason but this makes me think I should close it to be a little different !

What do you think and why ?

[Guest]

Can you just position it closed?

I'm thinking it would be a crying shame to make a lovely interior then glue the canopy closed permanently.

[Guest]

I could do - I've got both doors :-)

[stona]

It's up to you but I just flicked through just one "Spitfire" folder on my computer and ,looking only at parked machines,some occupied,the tally of open versus closed was 26 to 4. On that statistic I'd leave it open!

Of course there is absolutely nothing wrong with being one of the four either.....that hasn't helped much really.

Here's a nice picture of a closed up Spitfire from that folder. It might be Egypt but it isn't hard to see why the hood is closed!

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

I'm all for a realistic moment in time so how about taxiing with a pilot at the controls and the door closed but the canopy open? A figure really brings a model to life for me.

[Ian M]

A nice Idea Richard but then that super cockpit will be hidden by the pilot and that would be a pitty/crime (?) .

Havent seen you around for a long time Richard, been at sea?

Ian M

[Guest]

Hi Ian, medical issues took up a lot of time for a while but I'm back on track again and just about back to normal. I'm still working at sea but spending a bit of time in Germany at the moment as we build two new ships so all a bit different and interesting for a while. Thanks for asking, I do appreciate it.

As for the cockpit, I can't deny hiding the detail is such a shame but seeing the aircraft closed up with it's beautiful lines all in place is a shame to miss out on as well. Maybe the only solution is to build two!!

[stona]

As for the cockpit, I can't deny hiding the detail is such a shame but seeing the aircraft closed up with it's beautiful lines all in place is a shame to miss out on as well. Maybe the only solution is to build two!!

You are quite right Richard! I've previously built one "in flight" for that very reason. I am a self confessed "Lufnutter" but the lines of a Spitfire are incomparable. It helps that the Tamiya kit that Matt is building captures those lines so perfectly.

Matt you could pose your expensive Tamiya one,with that fantastic cockpit detail with the canopy open and build a much cheaper Hasegawa MkV,stick the excellent Tamiya pilot figure in it and zip it up. There you go,who said we couldn't solve a problem on this forum?!?

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

:-) open it is then, I'm loath to hide the cockpit detail !

[spanner570]

Question please for you fly guys...

What is the protrusion below the nose on the spitfire in the photo?

As it's in Egypt I can only think it is some sort of ducting for a better air flow over the rad.

Any thoughts?

Ron

[stona]

It's a Vokes filter. It was fitted to tropicalised Spitfires to prevent the engine ingesting dust during take off and landing. The normally quite discrete air scoop under the Spitfire nose is the air intake. The radiator(s) are under the wings. The increased drag of the Vokes filter knocked (depending who you believe) 20-30 mph off the top speed. A more streamlined tropical filter can sometimes be seen on North African aircraft. This is the Aboukir filter named after the maintenance unit at Aboukir that produced it.

Cheers

Steve

Edit. Tropicalised Spitfires had factory modifications. They were produced as such on the production line and not converted later.

[spanner570]

Thanks for that Steve, I knew you would come up with the goods.

I can go to bed with an empty head now!!

Sorry to stretch your thread Matt...

Ron