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Spitfire MkXIV


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Hello All, New Guy here, and I think I'll join this group build with a late war clipped wing Griffon engined Spitfire. Always wanted to try this conversion, but I'm "Spitfire challenged" and have NEVER built a Spitfire before! The learning curve looks to be steep. I started cutting plastic on friday night, and have it pretty well roughed out. Far enough along to take some pics tonight, and post them once I learn how! :ph34r: Hope this build won't be too boring, as Spitfires are pretty popular. Pics later on tonight. Later, Russ

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post-4413-1207537789.jpg

 

Okay, First attempt at posting pics. Whew!

Hasegawa Mk.VI HF fuselage, with Revell/Matchbox Mk.XXIV(?) "power egg". These Roman numerals get confusing! :) Research shows MK.XIV's had a MK.VIII fuse,(retracting tail wheel). Also don't know if it has 5-4-3 spoked wheels. Not sure if cockpit is pressurized? Already started on tailwheel, and underside radiators and pointy rudder. Used the larger air intake for the Griffon. Will have a Master Details resin pilot...these are nice. As far as I can tell with limited library on Spits, I have a multiple choice of wing types and tips. Hmm,. Kinda like the late war clipped wing..think it's a "C" wing. Anyway, I find I definitely need some kind of photo booth to get better pics. What do you think of the progress so far? Got about 4 hrs. into it, and should have the radiators on by tonight. Also confused about all the roundel styles. Methinks the late war ones are 3-colored and have a thin white inner strip on the wings/fuselage? Research goes on. Later, Russ

 

P.S. Got a new scribeing tool to play with. I will be doing a lot of filling, and the kit has raised panel lines....so it should get a work-out! It also worked great for cutting out the old oil cooler/radiator set-up under the wing. This is going to be fun.

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Nice job so far

 

"You can never have too many Spitfires"

 

post-4413-1207537789.jpg

 

Okay, First attempt at posting pics. Whew!

Hasegawa Mk.VI HF fuselage, with Revell/Matchbox Mk.XXIV(?) "power egg". These Roman numerals get confusing! :) Research shows MK.XIV's had a MK.VIII fuse,(retracting tail wheel). Also don't know if it has 5-4-3 spoked wheels. Not sure if cockpit is pressurized? Already started on tailwheel, and underside radiators and pointy rudder. Used the larger air intake for the Griffon. Will have a Master Details resin pilot...these are nice. As far as I can tell with limited library on Spits, I have a multiple choice of wing types and tips. Hmm,. Kinda like the late war clipped wing..think it's a "C" wing. Anyway, I find I definitely need some kind of photo booth to get better pics. What do you think of the progress so far? Got about 4 hrs. into it, and should have the radiators on by tonight. Research goes on. Later, Russ

 

P.S. Got a new scribeing tool to play with. I will be doing a lot of filling, and the kit has raised panel lines....so it should get a work-out!

"

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Great work Russ. This is quite an ambitious project! Have fun with the rescribing too. Some people love it, some people hate it, most of us just put up with it. It certainly makes a worthwhile difference to the final model when done well.

 

Kev

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Thanks Denie & Kevin! Ya know, it was you who inspired me to push my "comfort zone" Kevin?! I usually have a stack of reference material before I even start, but I thought I'd show some cheek and do something outside my envelope. I can see why Spitfires are so poular...this thing has some LINES to it. Smiles at ya like a pretty girl. Super aggresive looking with that MOTOR on the front. I'm in love ;) :)

Now if I could just find some reference pics of a Mk.XIV in late war colors/squadron codes!!!! Seems like I see them all the time, but now that I need them...where'd they go? Russ

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Quite the ambitious undertaking, and looking very promising so far!

 

I tend to like the clipped wing versions a bit more myself also, though they're all beautiful aircraft.

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post-4413-1207543665.jpg

 

Thanks Dave!, Fit really isn't as bad as I thought it would be. Not having a detailed engine, and a pilot in the cockpit will really knock down on the time needed to build this brute. I agree,..clipped wing it'll be. This version of the Griffon was rated as a low/medium altitude stop-gap version so the clips would be appropriate. Here's another angle. I'm actually working on the wing underside first, re-doing the radiators. The larger air intake is attached to the engine "pod". I'm enlarging some side views tomorrow to make sure I get the engine "stretch" the correct length. Only have views of late Mk.XIV with broader chord fin/rudder and bubble canopy, but they'll do.(maybe my next model?! I like these birds!) Tomorrow it'll be pics of the wing undersides, and my radiator mods. Any Spit experts out there see anything amiss, please let me know. All Mk.XIV knowledge of nuances and changes for this model are more than welcome! Later!, Russ

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Great conversion your doing there, I've been thinking of building a low back MkXIVe using the matchbox Mk24 with a converted Vc wing,

I was just wondering about your rudder, it looks more like a MkVIII type than a XIV, it may be the angle of the photo, alittle too pointy.

Mk 8,9, 12 and 16 all used a more pointed version of the original Spitfire rudder, 14, 18 and 19 used the much broader broad chord rudder which had much more of a curve on the top than the pointed late mark 9 version, I may be wrong and your rudder could be spot on, just trying to give some advice. If you do need a pic of a XIV rudder let me know and I will post one,

 

Should look mighty fine when its done!

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Ooookay! I'm back as promised, with some plans...A plan...and an epiphany!! Thanks for kind words first of all, much appreciated. Loic, thank you for your very kind offer, might take you up on it, be forewarned! hah! :)

After doing an all-night research flog, I have a squadron(or 2?) picked out and a paintjob.(uh, shoulda done this first?). Also realized I was looking at pics of Mk.12's, not 14's. Dooohhh! This would be a much easier conversion for a Mk12. No elevator mods, radiator/oil cooler same as Mk.5, and a pointy rudder. Just plug a Griffon on the front, with a small bump on top behind the spinner...and POOF. Done. But I digress.

TyphoonNick is correct, this rudder is wrong for a Mk.14. Also found some other nuances that might be interesting. Here are my plans I enlarged today to show what I'll be doing. First the tail feathers.

 

 

post-4413-1207649741.jpg

 

As you can see, the Hasegawa stuff is pretty much spot on in scale. (whew!)

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Moving on to the fuselage, here is the correct broad chord fin I will be making. Profile is a bubble-top Mk.14, but will work for now. Oh yea, FYI, I put the Matchbox/Revell Mk22/24 fuse up next to these plans, and they lined up nice.(cept the rudder of course.) Also, I was able to zero in my engine length, and panel lines using this profile. I'm within a 1/16th".(yes!)

 

post-4413-1207650259.jpg

 

This is going to be a hoot! :)

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