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Spitfire XIV collective hysteria - FF-B on the bench


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Given that @mark.au@bigbadbadge and @Dunny have succumbed to a common urge to build Spitfire XIVs, I was wondering if I could join in with another one?

 

Of course, I insist on a kit with state of the art tooling:

248-B8-D6-C-CDFF-41-E8-A0-FF-AD48496-F84

 

... of which I seem to have two!

 

If I'm allowed to join the happy throng, this will be in the 132 squadron SEAC scheme. There are photos in the IWM collection showing this very aeroplane as well as others from the squadron, so I'm happy with the colour scheme (and I am going to assume that the squadron codes are white).

 

Accuracy?? Hmm, I'm sure there's lots to talk about here - for me, the two things that really stand out are the lack of a gull wing, which throws out the wing fairing something awful, and the too-small radiators. So I will have at those. I will also be detailing the cockpit from the plastic bits box, will add a full-size pilot, wheels up on a stand (probably an Airfix one out of sheer perversity). 

 

Awfully tempted by a what-if Japanese V1 but I think I'll lie down until that goes away.

 

Well fingers crossed, I'll wait and see if I've been judged desperate enough to participate.

 

Regards,

Adrian

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I recall following an IMS-USA suggestion with this kit, adding an Airfix Tiger wheel onto the nose and filling/reshaping the underside of the nose.  I really should have done something about those radiators.  I could yet - it has gone through a number of reworks and is currently intended for be an RIAF FR.  Some kits are for reworking not actually finishing.  Good heavens, if we actually did that we'd have to buy another one.

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1 hour ago, AdrianMF said:

I've been judged desperate enough to participate.

So they've beaten you into submission over this one. :D

That bunch of reprobates :wicked: are lucky to have you involved. ;):whistle:.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

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49 minutes ago, AdrianMF said:

And just why would I even attempt to improve on perfection?

6-D10-E5-C6-A2-DC-450-B-B62-D-59-FE2-F43
 

the door even has a crowbar…

Love it - can't wait to see what you can do with this Adrian!

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No time like the present! Start with “That Fairing”:

3-E3242-DB-F892-4-DB2-BFB0-77-B4-C065142

 

It forms a flat plate along the bottom of the fuselage where you can see the reflection:
ADA297-AD-529-F-4-DC0-BD0-C-F56-D05-CD16

65-D7-D4-ED-7445-4-B91-90-A4-64-BD94-A2-

 

In both photos above the top half in the picture shows the modified one.
 

Enough of that. Here’s some one-handed Spitfire juggling! With the old but accurate Airfix MkI:

73-E2645-A-F01-E-436-F-85-B4-24007664140

Quite a big difference!

 

I will have a go at the gull wing tomorrow evening.

 

 

 

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Nice! I didn't quite comprehend the size of the operation until that last picture (although taking these kinds of pictures has about a 70% success rate for trashing models if you're me). Dunno about the cockpit though, I have a sneaking suspicion that Frog have missed out a large grey blob from somewhere.

Andy

 

 

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7 minutes ago, Rob G said:

Won't that be sort of overscale?

I suspect I might have to reinforce FROG’s otherwise-perfect cockpit too!

 

The fella that comes with the kit is a classic FROGman, but scales out at around 4ft 8! So I should have said “appropriately scaled” - I will be rummaging through my spare pilot collection at some point for one that can see over the window sill.

 

I haven’t done a sprue shot (not much left on the sprues on this one) but I will include the kit pilot in a future pic as evidence…

 

Regards,

Adrian

 

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Not my scale any more, but as I’m following the several other Mk XIV/FR 18 builds it would be churlish not to.

 

John

PS: Good luck with the gull wings. might I suggest backing the flat plates with thickish Plasticard  ( fixed with tube glue )then attack them with a half round file to create the troughs.

🇺🇦

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I suppose a “before” picture would have been useful here. In the absence of that, here’s an “after” picture of the gull wing effect after a lot of sanding with sandpaper wrapped round a paintbrush handle and a sanding stick:

F35-BC2-B7-1-DCA-4281-87-D7-9-B61-D0-A1-

 

I promise you, it was as flat as a pancake before! Luckily, the plastic was thick enough to get away with it. There will be more sanding to refine it when it’s all glued together.

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On 15/08/2022 at 17:36, Graham Boak said:

Airfix Tiger wheel

Thanks Graham. A Tiger wheel! Heavy duty mods indeed…

 

I’ve done a bit of sanding in front of the cockpit to make the top line of the nose a bit more curved, but to be honest I’ve held it up to a couple of three views downloaded from the web and it looks pretty close, so after the gull wing I won’t be making any more significant shape changes. The wing looks to be a mm or so too long in chord, but that just means it will match my Airfix PRXIX, which suffers from the same problem.
 

So I’m sorry about not being terribly accurate but (1) I wouldn’t start from here if I wanted an accurate model as opposed to a bit of light relief, and (2) I will save all my accuracy for the Eduard Spitfire IX in the stash, which I will probably never build…

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1 hour ago, opus999 said:

:D  I'm still trying to wrap up the Yak...🤪

 

Yeah it's tough to do, always takes me ages, what with the parcel tape getting wrapped around the legs and the horns making holes in the brown paper. And let's not even talk about the string... 

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43 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

Great job on the Gull wing section Adrian,  that looks awesome. 

Chris

What he said - that's an impressive result!

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

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20 hours ago, mark.au said:

the gull wing is as Spitfire-defining as the elliptical wing

Thanks fellas!

 

It’s been an interesting exercise to get from what FROG put there to something closer to the correct form - having made the changes I feel I understand the shape a lot more. 


Can anyone tell me what the lump under the fuselage of later marks of Spitfire is for? It’s a little dome under the fuselage about level with the end of the wing fairing - you can see a little hole in the picture above where I sanded it off on my copy. Not all spitfires had it - FF-B didn’t, for instance, but if you look at pictures of late Spitfires, about half of them do.

 

Regards,

Adrian 

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