Airfix 1/48 Spitfire PR.XIX

[Amo Aero]

My first model in almost 7 years! I tried to pick a kit that would be the easiest, most trouble free 1/48 scale build. I (re)learned, at least for me, that no such kit exists. Overall, it went together well, and was an enjoyable experience. There were some surprises though: IMHO, Airfix's decision to include dropped flaps was a mistake--Spitfires are almost never seen with them dropped. It took a bit of fiddling to improve the fit--not really a big deal, but to hassle over a feature which is superfluous was irritating. The real challenge came with fitting the MLG struts--it took quite a bit of filing and carving and drilling to get them to fit into their sockets in the wheel wells. After finally getting the first "leg" in place, I broke the little plastic spigot on the 2nd. I ended up cutting away the broken stub, then drilled out the strut and fitted a brass pin. I drilled an oversize hole in the corresponding socket in the wheel well and superglued in a short length of telescoping brass tube to provide a strong and precise attachment. After that the remaining gear went in just fine. I never did get the cameras to line up properly with their windows in the fuselage. In retrospect, I should have painted them black so they would be less noticeable or just left them out altogether. As a matter of course I masked and painted the black walkways at the wing roots. Later, I discovered the kit decals are superb--perfectly registered, opaque, conformed well with little to no silvering. Had I known that I could have used the walkway decals and saved some time. Now that the picture is posted here I see I forgot to paint the nav lights--D"OHH!!

 

 

 

[Simon382]

Very nice indeed. 

[AeroNautique]

Great job! PR XIX has to be one of the most beautiful aircraft ever designed, great curves and clean lines.

 

I've got two of these sitting on my work-bench/Girlfriend's kitchen table, so I'm taking notes about the landing gear, good to know in advance 👌

[Amo Aero]

6 hours ago, AeroNautique said:

PR XIX has to be one of the most beautiful aircraft ever designed, great curves and clean lines.

Yes, it's hard to beat late model Spitfires for aeronautical beauty. PR.XIX is so clean, no gun blisters, etc, and the postwar color scheme further accentuates its sleek lines.

 

Enjoy your builds! It really is a nice kit. If I had test fit the MLG before assembling the wing it would have been so much easier to deal with the fit problems.

[Newbie(kinda)]

That is VERY sharp. Lovely build and great finish; I assume you must be airbrushing. I know I'm being picky but it would be even better to see some more pictures (especially as I'm currently building a PR1G and I want to see what you've done with the camera apertures!). Paint those nav lights and shoot a few more...!!

[Learstang]

Lovely job on a lovely aeroplane! Probably my favourite mark (marque?) of Spitfire. I've built several PR.XIXs, but in the One True Scale.

 

Regards,

 

Jason

[Amo Aero]

1 hour ago, Newbie(kinda) said:

 I assume you must be airbrushing. I know I'm being picky but it would be even better to see some more pictures (especially as I'm currently building a PR1G and I want to see what you've done with the camera apertures!). Paint those nav lights and shoot a few more...!!

Yes, it is airbrushed. TBH though, I am in complete awe of those who wield the hairy stick. If I had to rely on hand brushing, I would have given up modeling for knitting years ago.

 

Re additional pix: One of my ongoing projects is building a table top photo studio. When it's operational I'll post more pix. Even so, the only thing you would learn from detail pix of my camera apertures is that they are horribly misaligned. If my model represented a real PR Spitfire, the camera rigger would have been courtmartialed for sabotage.

[Vinnie]

A lovely crisp build, especially after a seven year absence. Well done.

[Rob G]

7 hours ago, Learstang said:

mark (marque?)

 

Mark. The marque would be Supermarine, as marque in this context is simply a poseur's word for 'maker' or 'brand'.

[Learstang]

9 hours ago, Rob G said:

 

Mark. The marque would be Supermarine, as marque in this context is simply a poseur's word for 'maker' or 'brand'.

 

Thank you, Rob! I always get those mixed up.

 

Regards,

 

Jason

[Amo Aero]

I just posted a build video of the PR.XIX. It's about 20 minutes long for those of you who may be interested.

 

My apologies to the moderators if I did something wrong here.

 

 

Edited June 7, 2018 by Amo Aero
embedded video

[Stephen]

That looks great, the most attractive version of the Spitfire.

[F-32]

[cybershed]

Looks beautiful  - some more pics would be nice.