OT's Mk.XIV duo *** Finished ***

[Old_Tonto]

I am building two Fujimi Spitfire XIV kits in 1/72 scale. The first will be a high back, round wingtip example of the Belgium Air Force..
My second build will be a low back, clipped wing FRXIV of the Royal Indian Air Force because I have the decals. I also have a few Quickboost bits to sort some issues these kits have, notably the curved spine & tricky engine cowling.

Here are my victims for this group build:

I will build them both side by side so keep to a single build thread. Here are the box contents.





Can't wait to get started.

[Martin R]

Oooooh yeah! I always like to see MkXIVs.

Everyone goes on about the upper engine cowling being split into two bits. I just put some shims in and attach each side to the respective fuselage half.

People also mention the fit of the high back fuselage spine. Dry fitting and, if necessary, shimming will see you right.

Regards,

Martin

[Old_Tonto]

Thanks for the advice Martin. I will give the shims a try as I only have one resin cowling.

[Stuart]

Nice - I love Griffin Engine spits!

[DazDaMan]

I built one of the low-back models last year. You shouldn't have any problems with it.

Low-back Mk.XIVs are like hen's teeth!

[Old_Tonto]

Having been shamed into action by Daz's sprint finish I thought I would get started on these tonight.

First off I gave the pit section a squirt of interior green.
There is no point going overboard with detail because Fujimi only provide a seat and half a barrel to simulate the cockpit. See below:



I suppose that's what is called a cockpit tub!
Next I glued the wings together. Sadley the starboard wing top is a little narrow but nothing that can't be fixed. I think it was the kit and not me.
Anyway, the seat and stick are added to the tub before being attached to the central wing section thus:



I will add the seat harness made from Tamiya tape tomorrow.
That is as far as I gotten I'm afraid. Life does get in the way sometimes. Sorry.

[Martin R]

No need to apologize, dear chap. Some are finished, some are not yet started, and most of us are somewhere inbetween.

Looking forward to seeing more.

Regards,

Martin

[DazDaMan]

Looking forward to seeing yours finished. Here's how mine turned out:

[Old_Tonto]

Looking forward to seeing yours finished. Here's how mine turned out:

That's rather tasty Daren.
I have managed to get a little more done on my pair:



The fit of the green plastic is much better and I'm pretty sure thats not down to me.
Next up I will fit the troublesome split engine cowling to the low back example and try the resin replacement on the high back Spit. Lets see if the resin one is worth the cash.
Before that I will have added a small strip of plastic to add stability to the cowling.



Once that has dried I will join the two parts together and see how they fit. Better get cracking with these as I need to tackle an A-10 this month too.

[DavidWomby]

These look good, OT. Will they be short span or what?

David

[Martin R]

Good progress, OT

[DazDaMan]

Looking good so far. I'm sure yours will look better than mine!

[Old_Tonto]

These look good, OT. Will they be short span or what?

David

Both will be full span David. I've got nothing against the clipped wing it's just that both the Spits that I have decals for are full span. I know the Belgium Air Force eventially changed all their Mk.XIV's to clipped wing at the same time as they stripped the paint off.

I spent some time using all my years of experiance as a modeller (stop sniggering at the back!) getting the two piece engine cowling to fit as best I could so as to compare it with the resin replacement from Quickboost. What do you think?



I'll reserve judgement until they are both filled, sanded & primed. First impressions are that the Quickboost resin cowling is a perfect fit.
The same cannot be said for the replacement spine though.



Some filler required here.

I hope to get these ready for paint by the end of the weekend.
More to follow.

[Purplethistle]

Hmmm, Nice work on your part, but looks like Quickboost made a coccyx-up with the spine

[iggie]

That's a bit of a large panel line, that's all; couple of thick-ish coats of paint, no one will be any the wiser....