hey im kinda new to this.
recently i built a 1:72 scale spitfire mark 1 for air cadets but once built, i set it up on my windosil at home. since then i have realised that the front rearview mirror that sits directly on top of the cockpit area has disappeared . i am pretty certain now that i am not going to find it and wondered, would this put me at a disadvantage if i wanted to enter this model into a competition?
please tell me your thoughts!
thanks.

Hi Royce, welcome to the site.
Are you from the Grimsby Cadets? if so I will be down your way one Saturday soon, possibly before Christmas and I can show you how to, simply, scratch build a replacement. In the meantime I will ask in various quarters, to try and find you one. I don't build in 1/72 but I know a few who do, Lampie, jetprovost, almonkey, are you there? Was it a round, car type, or a rectangular one?

Reference the competition, it could depend on which competition it was entered into. It might also depend whether or not there is a location hole, lug, left visable, which may make it obvious that something is missing. So that's a possible other option, fill in the location hole. A small amount of PVA glue (woodworking glue), applied with a cocktail stick and levelled off using a wet finger, will dry clear. You can then paint it to match the rest of the cockpit framework. Only a real Spitfire buff would probably know and not all Spitfires had the mirror anyway. If you enter it into a cadet competition, you may loose a point (not knowing how it may be judged) but if the model is reasonably well built it wont detract from the overall model anyway. By "well built" I'm talking about seams irradicated, well painted and well decalled. Again these are thigs that I will demonstrate when I can get down to Grimsby. If your not from there than I can help via this site.

Basically I wouldn't worry too much about a missing rear view mirror, unless you intend to enter your model in one of the national shows. Do you have any pictures?

Mal

hello royce, and welcome to the bulldogs!
if i remember rightly not every spitfire MK1 had a rear view mirror, i think it was something of an optional extra on the early spits, so it should'nt be too much of a problem losing the one off yours. and believe you me, every single person on this site has had a similar thing happen, i'm afraid its part of the hobby!
btw royce, is it possible for you to post up some pics of said spitfire? its an aeroplane thats quite popular round these parts (i have six spitfire kits myself to build at last count!)
*edit* mal can type quicker than me!

Hi Royce.
Welcome to the kennel
Personally,I wouldnt worry about it. As Phil and Mal have said,not all the early Spitfires had the mirrors,,( hardly a good choice if you intended to stay alive!),and some of the mirors that were fitted by pilots and ground crew were sourced by themselves,,car rear view mirrors were quite popular.
Unless its obvious that the part has broken off,I would leave it alone.What is the kit?,Ive built a couple of the Airfix MKI Spits and there isnt a mirror on the canopy part anyway.
Hopefully your in a position to post some pictures of your Spit,,photos are a big part of these forums.
As somebody in these parts is fond of saying,," you cant have too many Spitfires",,and as somebody else once said,,,
"Heres one I made earlier"

No rear view mirror :-)
Nige

Hey guys and thanks for the posts! i haven@t got any pictures as of yet but will try and get some on my digital camera when i find the lead> thanks very much for the advice> oh and mal< i do go to Grimsby air cadets< along with Tomcat and tuffners > i am looking forward to you coming to our squadron and cannot to meet you> by the way guys< please forgive all the>>>>>>> and stuff because my keyboard has decided it might go wild for a bit on my main computer> thankyou again and ill keep you informed on my spits i have decided ill go without a mirror until mal comes to our sqn and hopefully ill be able to scratch one>

Hi Royce glad you found the site, you forgot to mention that you go to cadets with Camogirl and Paulrobz but i'm sure they'll let you off

Mal, Camogirl and I said we'll get as many of our cadets as possible interested in the site, and soon we will have world domination Mu ha ha :-)

Well we already have world domination, but your welcome to join us

Royce, I spoke to Harri (Jetprovost) today and he said that he didn't think that the Airfix Mk 1 had a rear view mirror. But if you want one we'll see what we can do, I'll bring a, big, magnifying glass

As we are talking Spitfires forgive me but I always feel the need to post a picture of one, because as we all know; "you just can't have too many Spitfires"

mine does have a rear view mirror

Mal

My little Revell Hurricane does,,but Id rather chew a concrete paving slab than try and scratchbuild one of those.If it had broken off when I was building it then it would have stayed off Im afraid :-)


How does it go?,,"you cant have too many err,,,,Merlin engined fighters?"
Nige

Best not put a pic of my Spitfire in :-) :-) .
Andy

The spitfire in question isnt 1/72 it is the Revell 1/48. Spoke to Royce last night at cadets and i'm 100% sure its definatly the 1/48 Revell.

hey camogirl, i got home last night and checked and the model in question is infact a 1:48 so im off down to your shop on saturday to buy that spit you have. oh and whats with the world domination thing?
thanks guys for all the help, im going to enter the squadron model competition with mal judging!

Thats tomcat31's idea i deny anything to do with it. No probs ive got two out that are different to your previous one and put them where the others can find them.

Cool 1/48, it'll be easier to scratch build a mirror



What's this Sam, you have a shop?

I hear that you have started a Euro fighter Typhoon II Royce? Cool that gives me an excuse to post this:

Click on the picture.
Mal

I work part time in local model shop that my parent's friend owns. Like the Hawker Typhoon Mal I did a 1/32 Revell one it was my first kit, it was built out of the box , airbrushed (after tomcat31 gave me a quick airbrushing demo) and weathered but alas after four years it got damaged beond repair but i bought another Revell kit and plan to do a second one at some point in time. (hope in the future to try and get the resin MDC one)

Hi All.
Ive syndicated my feature on building the Airfix Spitfire MKI 1:72 over from Aeroscale.
Its built OOB apart from dropping the elevators and hopefully it'll give you all some pointers and maybe a bit of advice about building the kit and modelling in general.
It was the 2nd time Id built it,the 1st time was my "return to the hobby" last December,and the difference between the 2 finished models is huge.All the tips and techniques I used were learnt from the Kitmaker Network,and many of them from Mal personally.Hes a great teacher.Shame I cant get along to the cadets when hes there,,Id learn a lot as well.
Building The Airfix Spitfire MKI 1:72
Happy modelling guys and girls.
Nige