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1/48th Airfix Spitfire FR.Mk.XIV, 443 Sqn RCAF, Uetersen, Germany Jan. 1946


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Hiya Folks,

                After seeing photos of ex 451 Sqn RAAF Spitfire XIV`s in service with 443 Sqn RCAF in Germany I have wanted to build one,...... as the Canadian`s retained the Kangeroo marking of the Aussies and then added their own Wasp marking and codes with many having nose art too. Thankfully Exito Decals came to the rescue with an excellent decal sheet and I`ve used it here with the fairly recent Airfix Spitfire XIV kit.  My only gripe with the decals was that the spiral for the spinner is back to front and therefore I had to turn it around, add the yellow part facing downwards and then brush paint yellow onto the white underside of the decal after it had been applied..... apart from that the decals are superb and the instructions include artwork which can be framed and also photos of the real aircraft,..... all in all a quality item,..... as is the Airfix Spit! 

 

Here is a 451 Sqn RAAF Spit in Germany, complete with Kangeroo marking;

images-2.jpg

 

And here are some after transfer to 443 Sqn, including the subject aircraft;

Spitfire-XIV-RCAF-443-Sqn-2-I-M-TZ198-Ge

spit-xiv-443-sqn.jpg

spit-XIV-TZ141-443-sqn.jpg

 

Here are the Exito Decals;

exito-decals.jpg

exito-decals-3.jpg

exito-decals-2.jpg

 

Here is the model;

DSCF7126-NEW.jpg

DSCF7129-NEW.jpg

DSCF7131-NEW.jpg

DSCF7132-NEW.jpg

DSCF7135-NEW.jpg

DSCF7136-NEW.jpg

DSCF7138-NEW.jpg

DSCF7140-NEW.jpg

 

And here it is with a little brother which was built alongside it,.....using a Sword kit,... told you I liked this scheme!;

DSCF7141-NEW.jpg

1/72nd Sword;

DSCF7144-NEW.jpg

DSCF7151-NEW.jpg

DSCF7150-NEW.jpg

As usual both models were brush painted,

Cheers,

            Tony

           Tony

 

 

Edited by tonyot
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That is an awesome scheme and markings that I had never seen before! Ho, hum- another outstanding model, Tony! Nice pair- wonder if they  make a Mk XIV in 1/144  or 1/32 so you can have a trifecta?

Mike

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Thank you everybody for your very kind comments,...... got to admit, being a model that I have wanted to build for some time (and I was in the process of converting the old Academy kit with a resin nose to make it,...... and by bodging up some decals from the spares box to do so!) I was so pleased that Airfix released their kit and Exicto released their sheet,.... it sort of felt like the gods were aligned on this one so I had to make a special effort and it has taken pride of place as a result!

 

Cheers again everybody

                                       Tony 

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51 minutes ago, Adam Poultney said:

Very nice! How was the build?

Thanks Adam,...... yeah the build was OK,.....the only problem I had was with the fuel tank section in front of the windscreen,.... it is a tad too small and I added plastic spacers to raise it up and make it flush with the surrounding fuselage,..... although I think that it should actually stand proud of the fuselage slightly due to a sheet of armour plating? 

Cheers

         Tony 

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1 hour ago, tonyot said:

Thanks Adam,...... yeah the build was OK,.....the only problem I had was with the fuel tank section in front of the windscreen,.... it is a tad too small and I added plastic spacers to raise it up and make it flush with the surrounding fuselage,..... although I think that it should actually stand proud of the fuselage slightly due to a sheet of armour plating? 

Cheers

         Tony 

Lovely as always Tony :)

 

I think you're right re: the fuel tank cover (and the forward cowl) standing proud, see this post 

 

Please, do let me know your secret to getting such a smooth brush painted finish - as a fellow brush painter I've always admired the quality of the finish you achieve!

 

What paints did you use and what did you weather with?

 

Cheers!

Ben

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6 hours ago, wellsprop said:

Lovely as always Tony :)

 

I think you're right re: the fuel tank cover (and the forward cowl) standing proud, see this post 

 

Please, do let me know your secret to getting such a smooth brush painted finish - as a fellow brush painter I've always admired the quality of the finish you achieve!

 

What paints did you use and what did you weather with?

 

Cheers!

Ben

It is just practice mate,..... don`t load your brush too much,..... build up layers rather than slapping too much on,....spread the paint around evenly and scrub any brush marks flat,..... for large areas use a flat wide brush,........ don`t be scared of using a smaller brush for demarcations and then filling in using a larger, flat brush. I use acrylics and enamels,..... whichever colour is best for the job. I did like Aeromaster and Polly Scale but I`m running out of those now so have tended to fall back onto Humbrol enamels,...... but I`m still experimenting with thinners etc for Tamiya and Xtracrylics.

 

Hope that helps,....cheers,

                                        Tony

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On 1/9/2020 at 6:39 PM, bigbadbadge said:

Wow Tony another cracking model fella, very nice indeed.  Great work.

All the best

Chris

Cheers Chris,.... glad you like it mate.

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39 minutes ago, woody37 said:

Another stunner mate, always impressed how you get such a fine finish with them hairy things (paintbrushes just to clarify things 😂)

LOL!!!

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Have you not noticed that you've used the wrong exhaust stubs? They should be the tubular ones as are all the subject aircraft on that Excito sheet. Maybe you could exchange them for the correct ones? 

Also looking at both the images and profiles of your aircraft it looks like the sliding part of the canopy should be nmf and not in camouflage colours as you've done.

You're correct about the decals being excellent though, i'm just in the closing stages of building 

DN-Y "Yvonne" 

I'm going to build your aircraft next so thanks for the heads up about the spiral decal being the wrong way round. 👍

Tim.

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26 minutes ago, tank152 said:

Have you not noticed that you've used the wrong exhaust stubs? They should be the tubular ones as are all the subject aircraft on that Excito sheet. Maybe you could exchange them for the correct ones? 

Also looking at both the images and profiles of your aircraft it looks like the sliding part of the canopy should be nmf and not in camouflage colours as you've done.

You're correct about the decals being excellent though, i'm just in the closing stages of building 

DN-Y "Yvonne" 

I'm going to build your aircraft next so thanks for the heads up about the spiral decal being the wrong way round. 👍

Tim.

Tim,.....

.... Looking at the pics of the real thing I couldn`t actually decide between the wartime or tubular exhausts,......so opted for with the earlier ones as they are ex wartime machines,...... the exhausts can easily be switched. I`ve looked again and agree that they do look like the latter. I did choose tubular exhausts for the smaller version to hedge my bets.

I`m aware that the canopy `looks' a plain light colour which could be silver or grey green primer,......not being sure which,...... I opted for the camo colours in which it was no doubt eventually painted,....or the previous canopy frame was painted. 

Glad I came in handy for something with the spiral,

Cheers

          Tony

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Tony,

I'm still undecided whether to do the  sliding part for Yvonne in white or nmf? Or would the canopy be painted silver?

So tubular exhausts were a post war fit then?

Tim.

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