1/72 Spitfire aerials?

[gripper]

Ok, have about 3 diferent spitfires in my collection but all seem to have different aerial combinations under the wing, the small spike sticking out at either end of the underside of the wing ( presumably the radio antenae? )

One has one on one wing, another has one on both wings or has one broken off.....no visible breakage? :o

Anyone help :cool:

[tricatus]

That small spike (L shaped) you are looking at is probably the Pitot tube and is found on the underside of the port wing, I'm not an expert but I am not sure there was one on the starboard side on the real thing. I'll go up into the loft and check some other models but I know 49005 has only one.

[tricatus]

49002 (Bader) has the pitot in the correct place, however, there is a small hole on the starboard side that suggests the tooling could accommodate a pitot. G50041 (the bare metal polished one) does not have this hole, and the pitot is correctly placed. More to come......

[BSteinIPMS]

Thanks, T. If I'm not too badly mistaken, all single-pilot aircraft have only one pitot tube (picks up ram air to run the airspeed indicator) for the pitot-static system.

Two pilots would mean a second pitot tube for the second set of pitot-static system instruments (airspeed indicator, altimeter, rate-of-climb indicator - nowadays called "vertical velocity" indicator), the second being for the co-pilot or second officer.

Sorry, can't help myself..... :rolleyes:

[CFBC]

I learn something every day... Thanks guys.... :)

[snafu]

On the real thing, you'll find the pitot tube is situated underneath the port wing of the Spit.

[tricatus]

....and 49505, the Spitfire in the BofB set, is the same as 49002 i.e. the errant hole :) . The pitot (or pressure head as they used to call them) is in the correct place. They also called the landing gear "alighting gear". I wonder if that reflected the skills of the then pilots i.e. they "alighted" whereas we now "land" (and walk away if it's a good one ;) )

[jaypit1611]

All my AA Spits only have 1 pitot tube, although some do have the Radio antennia back to front "D-B P7966 Douglas Baders Spit"

[Sailor.]

Brings to mind that old one liner.
A good landing is one you walk away from. A great landing is when you can use the aeroplane again!
;)

[tricatus]

So I wonder what this extra hole in the tooling was for ?

Although, I can imagine a marketing meeting......"...this thingy, is it on the Port (which, being alcohol, I understand) or Starboard (which I think is a list of celebrities)..Oh, doesn't matter, put a hole in both wings and we'll sort it out later...

[condor]

All my AA Spits only have 1 pitot tube, although some do have the Radio antennia back to front "D-B P7966 Douglas Baders Spit"

The 1st Spitfire (Malan) had 2 pitot tubes in error, and the aerial on back to front. Half of the Bader Spitfires also had the aerial back to front, although this was rectified half way through production.



Condor

[Paul F]

The 1st Spitfire (Malan) had 2 pitot tubes in error, and the aerial on back to front. Half of the Bader Spitfires also had the aerial back to front, although this was rectified half way through production.



Condor

Some of the later Malan Spitfires had the aerial masts fitted correctly - I complained to Corgi at the time about such a fundamental error, and they eventually sent me a second example FOC with the aerial correctly fitted.

And yes, the first examples of Malan were also fitted with pitots under both wings before that error was also pointed out. After these basic errors quality got better for a while, but now seem to be on the slide again.

I'm not sure where the errors occur, but dealing with Asian manufacturers myself, albeit in an unrelated industry, they do try to get things right, but it is very easy for mistakes to be made due to misunderstandings in communication. Often their eagerness to deliver quickly to keep the customer happy means they "try to help" rather than following the instructions they are given to the letter. So, given the "fine detail" needed to get a 100% accurate model there are so many potential pitfalls along the way. The Corgi habit of launching multiple versions of the same basic tool simultaneously opens the door for simple c*ck-ups such as swapped canopies on the Sabre etc - I doubt the Chinese even realised they were different, let alone that the differences were "important"! After all, let's remember that the factory produces all sorts of diecast models, not just Corgi AA models, so I don't expect there are many aviation enthusiasts working there who might appreciate the subtle differences between sub-types.

Corgi do need to keep a tight(er) QA/QC rein on the factories used, and have shown they can get it right at times - perhaps we should continue to offer constructive criticism rather than just slag them off. Any of our "experts" here fancy moving out to the Far East?

Paul F

[no4mkit]

So I wonder what this extra hole in the tooling was for ?

Although, I can imagine a marketing meeting......"...this thingy, is it on the Port (which, being alcohol, I understand) or Starboard (which I think is a list of celebrities)..Oh, doesn't matter, put a hole in both wings and we'll sort it out later...


:D Somehow I can believe that's exactly how it went down, tri! :LOL: