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1/48 Academy Spitfire FR Mk.XIVe


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After my Italeri Spit didn't end up so well, I moved on to the other kit that I put up for this build, the Academy Spitfire XIVe. I really hope I can finish this one for the GB at least.

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Got the fuselage together and the cockpit parts painted.

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A comparison between Academy and Ultracast's seats. Either Academy's is underscale, or Ultracast's is too large. This might cause some problems later when putting the cockpit together.

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Got the fuselage together and the wings are in progress. The cockpit parts were a little fiddly to get into the fuselage but other than that the assembly's been a breeze thanks to the good fit. My biggest worry is the camera windows dropping back into the fuselage later during the build, with no way to get them glued back if that happens.

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I also drilled out the exhausts with a 0.8mm drill bit for a better appearance.

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My biggest worry is the camera windows dropping back into the fuselage later during the build, with no way to get them glued back if that happens.

Copycat! :woot.gif::thumbsup:

While they weren't a press in fit, I made sure that mine would endure a nuclear holocaust by running a good bead of Testor's Clear Part Cement inside the fuselage.

Kit decals or aftermarket?

Mike

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Copycat! :woot.gif:/>/> :thumbsup:/>/>

While they weren't a press in fit, I made sure that mine would endure a nuclear holocaust by running a good bead of Testor's Clear Part Cement inside the fuselage.

Kit decals or aftermarket?

Mike

Cheers, Mike. I'll be using some Xtradecals to make a SEAC Spitfire.

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Nice choice of markings WW. That little splash of red on the spinner is just a right amount of pick me up for that camo scheme.

Look forward to your progress.

Mike

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Been slowly working on this. The main airframe has been assembled. Not too much trouble.

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There are a couple of ejection pin marks on the inside of the radiator housings. They're highly visible from when you view the model from the front and rear, so I filled them in. I also painted them since it will be impossible to get paint in here later. They will be masked off during the painting stage.

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The radiator faces were painted silver and given a wash before attaching them.

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Finally, I go the spinner and blades painted.

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For the carburetor intake, I attached a piece of styrene sheet and painted it black, otherwise you'll be able to see the locating tab.

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I got rid of the seam on the canopy by scraping it off with a new blade, then sanding with 800 to 8000 grit paper, and then polishing it with Tamiya compound.

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Got the camera windows and underwing lights masked and front windscreen attached, almost ready to prime.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I took a long time to get here but I finally got the Spit painted. I first painted the white stripes on the wings and stabilizers. Academy provides these as decals so it was just a matter of measuring the width before putting the masking tape on. This was then followed by the Medium Sea Grey, the Dark Earth, and finally the Dark Green. I used Tamiya paints for all the colors. I think the Dark Earth and Dark Green look a bit odd, but they were all I had at the moment so I went with them anyway.

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Decals are on. The Xtradecals worked very well as usual, but I can't say the same for the kit stencils. They silvered so I poked some holes in them before applying Mr. Mark Setter. That seemed to do the trick. I also discovered that I screwed up a little during painting; the white striping on the right side of the tailfin is slightly narrower than the left side by a couple of millimeters and it's kind of noticeable.

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I'm ready to call this build done. I attached the prop and canopy after giving it a flat coat. I'll take some better pics when I have the time before posting it in the Completed Builds thread.

It went together much, much easier than the Italeri. Maybe I should have started with the Academy first.

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Nicely done WW - please post in the Completed Builds thread and consider yourself officially entered in the raffle.

As it stands right now you have a 100% chance of winning since there are only two completed builds and only two prizes to be won.

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