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1/48 - Supermarine Spitfire F.R. Mk.XIVe by Airfix - released


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3 hours ago, Work In Progress said:

The Airfix XIX is fundamentally accurate.

 

I don't understand your last sentence at all.

He's not a fan of Airfix at all.

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3 hours ago, madcop said:

You're right, ACADEMY fuselage is crap. If you still want to get a Spitfire XIV out of it you'd better start looking for the Old DACO correction set …

The Daco set is not helpful for the nose/shap problem, some bits can be used, spinner/rads  IIRC

1 hour ago, Work In Progress said:

You can fit the Daco set until you are blue in the face, and the Academy kit will still be a grossly distorted representation with a hugely too deep fuselage. The  Academy wing is also far too deep. The whole kit is just a cartoon notion of an actual Spitfire. 

 

OOB, this is correct, but, the Academy problems are mostly of the oversize nature, and it's not really difficult to trim the kit back.    About the same effort as preparing a vac form I'd say,  and nearly every major part needs some work, but the correct shape is in there, AND, the panel lines are basically in the right place.

 

I have failed so far to do a set of problems before - WIP - corrected pics  .... and, I'll just cut and paste myself...

 

I have the Daco set,  I think it's poorly done, and does not really fix the kit either,  I have read reams and reams of tosh about the Academy kit,  and as John Adams of Aeroclub pointed out, the only accurate bit OOB is the tail......

 

BUT, as the Academy kit problems are of the over size nature, and the panel lines are mostly in the right place,  and neatly petite as well,  for about the effort of cutting out a vac form or trying to graft on a Daco resin nose.... (which does not correct the wing problem) and then making good the surface detail

 

Basically the Academy kit is too deep in the fuselage, and wing, and the nose ring is oversized.   The wing also has the too broad at centre chord that that the Tamiya Mk.I/V has (and the Occidental/Italeri IX and Airfix XII and Seafire XVII BTW)

 

the good news is,  with " some modelling skill" , and a new spinner and canopy, you can just tweak the Academy... while the new Airfix kit should make this obsolete,  other who fancy working up their skills, or who get one cheap may want to give it a go...

 

here's the basic main tweak, slice out of the cowling panel to bring it up, an saw cuts in the nose to let you pull the nose ring in,  the left part is unmodified.

 note the thick wing, this needs about 1mm taking out, thinning this bring it up to meet the raised lower cowl line.

Spit%2520academy%2520nose%2520mod%2520DS

There are more things to be done, but I'm reasonable happy with the basic "recipe" so far.....  inevitably this like much of my projects got as far as the basic fix, and put in a box, partly as I only did some basic documentation.... like the above photo.  

 

Stuff like this I need to be in the mood, and have the tat to hand,  which at the moment rarely happens.   

 

 

4 hours ago, Biggles87 said:

I would also use the Airfix PR XIX to produce a high back Mk XIV by the way.

 

My pragmatic suggestion, smash mould a new spine,  and graft it on, which will allow the fuselage behind the cockpit to remain hollow.

 

 If that messes up, THEN look at a new fuselage, as sure, use a Airfix PR XIX, but then you end up with a surplus low back fuselage, which from what I can see, is going to be better dimensionally round the nose, as the PR XIX is a little slim round nose, slightly too small nose ring. 

 

What are you going to do with leftover lo-back?  Sure, one use would be one of the early Mk.22's with the older fin, after that? 

 

The surplus XIX wing is good for a another PR spit with the bowser wing.    

 

Note that UC leg mountings are part of the new XIVe fuselage sides. 

47817390772_990d660cea_k.jpg

 The PR XIX kit are not

Spit+b+parts+baa.jpg

 

 

   Given all that is NEEDED for a high back XIVe is , ..er,  a high back,  this is hardly the most bit of advanced scratch building ever.   Look at the sprue shot above     

I suspect that leftover Eduard canopies could be of use, as the high backs come with open and closed options.  

 

Anyway, just some  thoughts and suggestions.   Hope of use/interest

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Agree, the Academy XIV is almost useless. I'm impressed with Troy's approach to correct it, but lots and lots of work and TLC to finish will be needed. Those of us who put accuracy high on the list will not have to walk that road however, the new Airfix FR.XIVe looks very promising so far. But I mentioned the Academy kit as an alternative to those contributors to this discussion thread who cannot accept Airfix products, at least not later efforts it seems.  

Never mind, everyone is entitled to an opinion, right? A little odd perhaps to voice such an opinion here, considering the title of the thread itself..

 

When it comes to a high-back XIV, I'm almost certain that an excellent model can be made by combining the fuselage from a PR.XIX and the FR.XIVe. True, quite a lot from these two kits will end up in the spares box, more expensive than just scratching the high back as Troy suggest. The dimensions and breakdown of the Vb and the FR.XIVe looks almost identical. So I tested combining the PR.XIX fuselage to the Vb wing with excellent result. If the profile and chord of the FR.XIVe wing is the same as the Vb wing I believe the fit will end up as perfect after some minor fettling. The similarity of the kits with respect to surface detail will lead to the end result being very even. Again as Troy points out, the fixing of the landing gear have different solutions in the two kits.  But I suppose that landing gear mountings could be transfered from one of the kits to the other. Those so inclined will probably be able to transfer the FR.XIVe engine to the PR.XIX fuselage if it is better in shape.

I certainly will enjoy and look forward to such a conversion project!

Finally, to add a fighter windscreen to the PR.XIX fuselage will need some thought and care. An Eduard, Airfix or Hasegawa will not fit directly, they lack the lower frame. I guess that the easiest solution will be one from Falcon or a spare from a Tamiya Vb.

To quote Troy: just some thoughts and suggestions. Hope of use/interest

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When I said I would use the Airfix PR XIX to make a high backed Mk XIV I was not thinking of just using the fuselage but the whole kit and converting the wings to ‘C’ armament. I think the nose could be ‘ beefed up ‘ a little with the help of Barracuda and I have a large number of canopies in my Spitfire spares box to choose from. A high backed XIVc would look good next to a XIVe I think.

 

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4 hours ago, Biggles87 said:

When I said I would use the Airfix PR XIX to make a high backed Mk XIV I was not thinking of just using the fuselage but the whole kit and converting the wings to ‘C’ armament. I think the nose could be ‘ beefed up ‘ a little with the help of Barracuda and I have a large number of canopies in my Spitfire spares box to choose from. A high backed XIVc would look good next to a XIVe I think.

 

Absolutely, but then you have the question: Will the wings fit? For C-wings you might also use Eduard,'s. I have some of the overtrees version just for this: To canibalize. 

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3 hours ago, Tomas Enerdal said:

I will soon know what it's REALLY like. I have it on preorder from Airfix, and they have just charged me...

 

But Tomas, that is exactly the problem. They charge but according to other people on this forum, they don't deliver.

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Interesting!

This is the message I recieved;

"

Dear Tomas Enerdal

Great news! Your Supermarine Spitfire FR Mk.XIV (A05135 ) Pre-Order has now arrived at our warehouse and will shortly be prepared for dispatch.

Your order number is A00267384.

If you have any questions about your order, please contact our Customer Care Team on 01843 233512 or [email protected] quoting your order number.

Thank you for choosing Airfix."

 

At the same time I recieved a reciept from PayPal;

"You sent a payment of £37,99 GBP to Hornby Hobbies Ltd"

 

Let's see what happens!

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I said that the Airfix postage charge outside the UK was too hIgh. Assuming you paid the pre-order price for the kit,that's a rediculous amount to have to pay, and that's why I ordered from Jadlam, if they can do it for 50% of the price I'm prepared to wait a little longer. Being on a fixed income ( Retirement pension ) and not having a LMS any more, I have to rely on mail order  so the postage charge is a big factor in deciding who I order from.

I hope that it arrives soon Tomas and that you're pleased with it.

Sorry if this has turned into a rant.

 

John

 

 

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15 minutes ago, jaw said:

Airfix have told me that my Spit 14 will be delivered tomorrow!

 

John

I also have received an email from Airfix telling me that my 6 kits have been dispatched 🍾

 

They should arrive here in Connecticut by the end of the week if past performance is any guide.

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Released

https://www.facebook.com/officialairfix/photos/a.80699376270/10157079689546271/?type=3&theater

Quote

We’re delighted to announce our newly tooled 1:48 scale A05135 Supermarine Spitfire FR Mk.XIV has been released! Find out more about this exciting new kit on the Airfix website, or with your local model shop: https://www.airfix.com/uk-en/supermarine-spitfire-fr-mk-xiv.html

 

61255734-10157079689556271-6036339267649

 

V.P.

Edited by Homebee
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well, well, well, it seems that some people at Airfix have severely miscalculated the demand. This is quite ridiculous: Available -- out of stock -- available -- out of stock.....

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High-back Mk.XIV; independent of whether one just converts the PR.XIX or graft the PR.XIX fuselage to the FR.XIV, there is still the question of which fighter windscreen that is best to use on the PR.XIX fuselage? Several kit windscreens lack the lower frame, which then is integrated into the fuselage itself. It seems that the FR.XIV is made that way too. Biggles87 (or anyone else), what do you suggest? My spares box is rather limited I'm afraid.

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Yeah, the inherent risks of lean production, one of them is market miscalculation. Others are production or logistics disturbances. Without knowing, I suppose that Airfix is more of a design bureau these days and that the sprues are made elswhere (abroad?). Cartograph decals, etc. Makes them succeptible. I also suppose there are hundreds of thousands of preorders from the Indian and Belgian markets alone...

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16 hours ago, jaw said:

Airfix have told me that my Spit 14 will be delivered tomorrow!

 

John

And yes it was delivered earlier today. It looks as though the lower canopy frame is moulded min with the canopy. Despite all the aggravation with Airfix I have to say on first glance that it does look rather nice.

 

John

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4 hours ago, Tomas Enerdal said:

High-back Mk.XIV; independent of whether one just converts the PR.XIX or graft the PR.XIX fuselage to the FR.XIV, there is still the question of which fighter windscreen that is best to use on the PR.XIX fuselage? Several kit windscreens lack the lower frame, which then is integrated into the fuselage itself. It seems that the FR.XIV is made that way too. Biggles87 (or anyone else), what do you suggest? My spares box is rather limited I'm afraid.

 I have several windscreens, both with and without the lower frame so I'm hoping that one of them will fit, if not I'll have to think again.

 

Hannants are still showing the FR XIV as" coming soon", so presumably Airfix used the first production batch to fill their pre-orders. Considering that people have been begging Airfix to produce one for a long time, it does indeed seem that someone has seriously miscalculated somewhere.

Edited by Biggles87
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1 hour ago, baldeagle said:

Never mind Hannants.I am still waiting to hear that my pre-order has been sent.I probably won't bother pre-ordering in future.

bottom I wrote earlier, I pre-ordered my copies from  Hannants. They don't charge before they dispatch.  But nice to know that at least one among us have the kit by now. Iy really exists!

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I wonder if that "Kit-Kat/Have a break" feature makes it extra difficult? Sending-food-stuff-i-the-mail-legislation can be a legal headache...

From videos it looks more and more like ordinary production, however. Styrene has gone from translucent dark grey (at Telford) via baby blue to normal light grey.

Whatever, eagerly waiting.

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Well my pre-order for 2 kits arrived from Airfix this afternoon. A very quick box opening and it all looks very nice.

Only one disappointment- no Kit Kat included in either box🙁

 

P

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Wake me up when Airfix do the Mk XIV in 1/24.

 

 

 

 

....Seriously though, I'm having one or two of these and 1/48th isn't even my scale. It's a low back Mk XIV Spitfire. That's the only excuse I need!

 

Steve

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