Requirements to build a 1/48 High Back spitfire XIV

[sprue]

I'm interested in an early high back XIV and I wondered if cross kitting was feasible, what does the team think?

 

Mike

[Troy Smith]

48 minutes ago, sprue said:

I'm interested in an early high back XIV and I wondered if cross kitting was feasible, what does the team think?

 

Mike

 

yes,  a chap on here has grafted on a Aiifix SpitfireVb spine already.

That does mean a leftover and pretty useless Vb kit.. except as spares.

 

Also, and has been discussed here, do you want a XIV with a c wing, or an e wing?  Only the initial batches of the XIV had the c wing.   The new kit is e winged,  so depends on your chosen subject.

 

@Paul Budzik  has done a couple of videos on the new tool Airfix Spit XIV,  and has said the 3rd will be on how to make a new spine without cross kitting.   

 

I'll see if i can find the relevant links.

 

 

[Crimea River]

 

 

EDIT: the high back conversion video has not yet been posted.

Edited July 2, 2019 by Crimea River

[Tail-Dragon]

I had been planning on using an old Otaki Mk IX upper spine for this, now I'll wait until I see what Paul Budzik has come up with.

He is the King of scratch building and modifying!

 

(as an afterthought, the Eduard Mk IXc early comes with a spare set of IXc late - narrow blister wings. I wonder if they could be used for an initial Mk XIVc ?)

Edited July 2, 2019 by Tail-Dragon

[sprue]

it will be interesting to see what alternative solutions are proffered. I must say the videos in post No3 are illuminating.

 

Mike

[Troy Smith]

5 hours ago, Tail-Dragon said:

I had been planning on using an old Otaki Mk IX upper spine for this, now I'll wait until I see what Paul Budzik has come up with.

He is the King of scratch building and modifying!

as I have been saying, it's a new spine and canopy, and upper bulkhead parts.  

Given Paul Budzik just showed how to clone a cannon blister, I suspect he'll do something similar, or make a mould, and smash mould a new spine.  Canopies could be got as an Eduard spare, they come with open and shut versions.

As I have also been saying, try modifying the existing fuselage,  and if that goes wrong, try a cross kit...

 

5 hours ago, Tail-Dragon said:

 

(as an afterthought, the Eduard Mk IXc early comes with a spare set of IXc late - narrow blister wings. I wonder if they could be used for an initial Mk XIVc ?)

 

Eduard recessed rivets is the problem,  so either fill them, or rivet the fusleage... plus the XIV wing is based one the VIII,  which has some detail differences, leading edge tanks and ID lights IIRC.

 

Tip I picked up here, the ICM kit comes with separate gun bay doors, with too shallow blisters,  but if you cut down round the blisters, (easy as the plastic is soft) you get a separate blister of about the right size.

It works, I have a part hacked Airfix Vb to Vc which I did this for the blisters.

 

HTH

[Andrew Jones]

If using the Eduard Mk IXc wing you will also have to consider that as the Mk XIV used a MkVIII wing , then the aelirons will need modifying, or just use an Eduard Mk VIII wing

[Work In Progress]

Might as well use the Eduard VIII fuselage as well as the wing. All you need to add from a Griffon donor, which could be an Airfix XIX or XIV, is the fin and rudder (probably easiest simply to replace the whole of the tail unit cut off at frame 19, the slanting frame just ahead of the tailplane) and the engine / prop, and the under-wing radiators.

Edited July 2, 2019 by Work In Progress

[sprue]

Thanks to all for your inputs

 

Mike

[Tail-Dragon]

Very interesting - I had not known that the Mk XIV wing was based on a Mk VIII wing.  I now wonder if the Otaki upper wing and canopy can be used on a Mk XIX.  ( I know I keep harping on the Otaki kit, but I have one in my 'don't bother to build' pile, and I'm reluctant to cut up a buildable kit for parts - I'm cheap)

[Stephen]

On 7/2/2019 at 11:25 PM, Work In Progress said:

Might as well use the Eduard VIII fuselage as well as the wing. All you need to add from a Griffon donor, which could be an Airfix XIX or XIV, is the fin and rudder (probably easiest simply to replace the whole of the tail unit cut off at frame 19, the slanting frame just ahead of the tailplane) and the engine / prop, and the under-wing radiators.

Eduard has MkVIII overtrees  on their site

 

https://www.eduard.com/eduard/aussie-eight-spitfire-mk-viii-overtrees-1-48.html 

[Work In Progress]

The XIV is a stop-gap re-engined VIII in much the same way that a IX is a stop-gap re-engined Vc.

The only two things seriously wrong with the Otaki kit are 1. It's got a IXc wing with long rather than short ailerons, so that needs fixing, and 2. It's got no gull wing section underneath. 

 

If you want to use bits of an Airfix XIX to cross-kit with something else in pursuit of an XIVc, use the whole of the Eduard VIII as the main basis for the model, saw off the nose and tail and install the tail, engine and rad housings from the XIX.

Edited July 5, 2019 by Work In Progress

[Troy Smith]

46 minutes ago, Work In Progress said:

If you want to use bits of an Airfix XIX to cross-kit with something else in pursuit of an XIVc, use the whole of the Eduard VIII as the main basis for the model, saw off the nose and tail and install the tail, engine and rad housings from the XIX.

Done carefully, the VIII nose and tail and rads can then be used to make a PR XI

That will a few other tweaks needed,  but do able.

[Work In Progress]

That is indeed the classic hustle 😉

[Troy Smith]

On 02/07/2019 at 08:38, sprue said:

I'm interested in an early high back XIV and I wondered if cross kitting was feasible, what does the team think?

 

Mike

 

On 02/07/2019 at 09:37, Troy Smith said:

 

yes,  a chap on here has grafted on a Aiifix SpitfireVb spine already.

That does mean a leftover and pretty useless Vb kit.. except as spares.

 

Also, and has been discussed here, do you want a XIV with a c wing, or an e wing?  Only the initial batches of the XIV had the c wing.   The new kit is e winged,  so depends on your chosen subject.

 

@Paul Budzik  has done a couple of videos on the new tool Airfix Spit XIV,  and has said the 3rd will be on how to make a new spine without cross kitting.   

 

I'll see if i can find the relevant links.

 

 

Now posted

 

 

one detail in the video comments, that I thought wrong at first, was about the position of the radio hatch, 

but this was moved from the port behind the cockpit, and moved to the starboard further back, in the roundel, by the 'T'

 

 

[Gwart]

 

The E wing on XIV's is essentially a kitted C wing and is not hard to change either way.The Airfix wing is missing the lights the XIV shares with the VIII (outer wing,under mid fuselage spine).Lot's carried E armament but retained outboard mg's.

 

The XIV tail was universal (blue line ) it's just the fairing (in yellow) that varies to fair it into the low/high back (red) fuselage.

 

Shane.

 

 

Edited July 15, 2019 by Gwart

[sprue]

That's an interesting video of one method of producing a high back.

Reminds me of the days of Alan Hall and Airfix magazine.

[Peter Roberts]

Good pick up Troy - all my reference agree with you regards the radio hatch position.

 

PR

 

Edited July 17, 2019 by Peter Roberts

[P_Budzik]

I like this approach the best of what I've seen and what I've tried ...

 

Paul

[Work In Progress]

This is indeed by far the best way to a high-back XIV in 1/48. And a very well-produced and clear video, too.

Good tip with the foil, I'd never thought of that.

Edited August 26, 2019 by Work In Progress

[Welkin]

Interesting approach (but I have still got my fingers crossed that Airfix will do a high-back XIV)!

[P_Budzik]

I did the Eduard Spit VIII conversion as just an experiment, but as I sit with it, I think it might be the best detailed version we're going to get for awhile.  Even if Airfix comes up with a new fuselage, the surface detail still won't be up to the Eduard Kit.  So unless Airfix has a complete epiphany and does an entirely new, more sophisticated kit, the only benefit will be that it's easier than the conversion.  I haven't heard anything about Eduard planning on a Mk XIVc, although now that I've fiddled with the conversion, I can see that they have a fair amount already done.  Tamiya ... I don't think so.  Just some thoughts ... and even if someone does, I'm glad I've given it a go.

[Welkin]

It's a depressingly familiar story - we get endless kits of every variant and sub-variant of the Me. 109 and the Fw.190, but there seems to be no chance that we will ever have a kit of all the Spitfire marks, whatever our chosen scale.

[NPL]

15 hours ago, Welkin said:

It's a depressingly familiar story - we get endless kits of every variant and sub-variant of the Me. 109 and the Fw.190, but there seems to be no chance that we will ever have a kit of all the Spitfire marks, whatever our chosen scale.

Not there are not that many variant of them, but scores of variants of the Spitfire/Seafire. So some basic conversions skills will be the solution.  

[Greenshirt]

22 hours ago, Welkin said:

no chance that we will ever have a kit of all the Spitfire marks, whatever our chosen scale

Hmm, in 1/72 most Marks are available from some maker, albeit a few are either resin or short run (ish). Only Marks I’ve had to get via kitbash/conversion are the III and IV, both prototypes so not surprising. Some PR variants are easy conversions. 

 

Tim