Academy 1/48 Spitfire FR. Mk.XIVe **Ready for Inspection**

[stikpusher]

This is my build of the Academy 1/48 Spitfire FR. Mk.XIVe. I built it OOB aside from adding a seat harness and an acetate lens for the gunsight. I did replace the roundels and fin flashes with some Aeromaster decals, since the kit did not include the 1945 style upper wing roundels, which the markings should be. Otherwise, contrary to reputation, the Academy decals worked perfectly. The markings are for 451 Squadron at RAF Gatow near Berlin during the Allied occupation in 1945. I used Tamiya paints for the RAF Temperate Day Fighter scheme.














Since this model was built for the CAF Museum at Falcon Field in Mesa AZ, as part of Phoenix IPMS project, I kept weathering to an absolute minimum.

Thanks for looking, comments and critiques are welcomed.

[jeaton01]

Looks good, Carlos. It will be a nice addition to the museum.

[Joe Rix]

Very sharp looking Spitfire Stik. You did a masterful job. That will make for an excellent presentation at the museum.

[stikpusher]

John and Joe, thank you. I do hope that they like it.

[406 Silverado]

Man that camo job looks PERFECT Carlos!! Very well built Spit and I'm certain that the museum will be most appreciative to have that masterpiece in its collection.

[kyledehart5]

Beautiful result and a build that was a pleasure to follow along with!! Very nicely done. I’m quite sure the folks at the museum will love it.

[TJ]

Great finish. I'd have a tough time letting it go. But I'm sure the museum will love it

[handiabled]

Fantastic finish Carlos! The CAF Museum is getting a wonderful addition to their collection

[adt70hk]

Now that's very nice!! Really rather splendid old chap!!

How did it go together? You may have seen I picked up one free in a model show.

I know it has some dimension/shape issues (spinner/cowling??) but it still looks very nice.

Again well done.

Andrew

[dupes]

Oooooh, nice! I love how the Spit looks with the 5-bladed prop. I can't believe you got the Academy decals to work!

[Real G]

Nice Griffon engined Spitfire Stik! 

I was not aware of the roundel and fin flash error on the kit decal sheet.  Gotta get to building my kit...

[stikpusher]

Joe, Kyle, TJ, Brent, Andrew, & Dupes, thank you one and all!

Andrew, the kit went together quite well, although I did have one mishap. The camera windows fell inside the fuselage while I was taking off the masking material. So be sure that you use a very strong glue there when you glue those in place before gluing the fuselage halves together. Afterwards there is no turning back. I ended up using Micro Krystal Klear to make some replacement camera windows. And as you can see, the spinner is too bulbous compared to the actual shape of Griffon engined Spits, so I’d suggest getting a replacement. I believe either Quickboost or Ultracast makes one.

Dupes, amazingly, the Academy decals worked exactly as they should! But seriously I have had more hits than misses when using Academy decals in all the years that I’ve been building their models. The only reason that I went with AM decals is that the Academy upper wing roundels were the wrong ones for the time period, so I replaced all of the roundels for color consistency.

Neil, if you’re building this aircraft from late 1944 when the squadron first received Mk.XIVs, the kit roundel decals are fine. But then you’ll need to add the Sky rear fuselage band and spinner. Probably the Yellow outboard wing leading edging as well. The markings were changed in early 1945.

[ogrejohn]

That sure looks great Stik! Nice photography work too.

[stikpusher]

Thank you John. The light booth makes a huge difference in taking photos for me. And I’ve had a friend coach me on improving my photography techniques using my phone camera.