Kostucha

Been some time since any updates have come up on this... is there anything new? And as a question from someone not all too familiar with the Spit, but would it be a lot of work to make the Spit XIV into a Seafire XV? Cheers, Mark.

Max, You work is simply... well... no, there's no simple about it. You're not building a model, you're making a small version of the actual aircraft. From working on just the front half of the 801, I know how much of a pain it can be, but your work on the entire engine is breath taking. All around, every single thing I look at, there is no shortage of detail. And not just detail, but accurate, precise, and exact detail of what would have been found on the aircraft itself. I don't know what more to say other than perhaps the best compliment I can give - it looks like the actual aircraft. I tip my hat to you good Sir! Mark.

Well, finally there's some progress on this one. Got the frame measured out and completely cut, just a matter of getting a soldering gun and puttin the jig all together inside the wing. Work continues slowly on the wheel well as well. Most of the parts needed are ready to be painted and installed, so hopefully I can get some update pictures on here shortly. Cheers, Mark.

Thank you Derek! And to everyone for your comments. I wish I could build more on this project, as I'm off leave and back at work, my personal time is far less than I expected. But, such is life - at least I love the job, so no complaints there really. The WOW point is a very good one, in that one will be a different overall length than the other. So it's a matter of showing the WOW effect in place, while still keeping the spacing from the airborne wheel and the turf, without inducing so much 'roll' that it looks like the good Sgt. is out of control. But, a very good point though! Cheers all, hopefully an update or two soon. This weekend though I'm off to the Salinas A/S, so everything's on hold at least until I'm back. Cheers! Mark.

They didn't...

Kevin, the mock up is looking GREAT so far. The complete set of flaps, and instrument panel faces are yours (from the trumpy PE set). Want them? Mark.

Very cool. This whole build is also a good reference to the actual thing, and how it was constructed. You're not making a model here JR, you're making a tiny version of the actual thing. Cheers, Mark.

Thank you very much guys. So far I'm trying to piece together a gunsight, and as well as the front windscreen. I'm thinking it'll be scratch built, as the one with the kit is pretty fogged, but also it doesn't come with the thick armoured plate, or any internal framework at all. It really would be quite easy and simple/quick to make a new wind screen for this build, then again, it would be pretty easy to polish this one up and build the frame inside of it. We'll see. As for the Sutton harness, a combination of scratch built buckles, tape for the harness straps, and short trimmed sections of the PE set for the rivets. Then it was painted armoured tan, hit with dull coat, chalk pastels applied, another shot of dull, and that'd be it. Cheers, Mark.

But wait - there's more! A few more shots of the new hood, and the cockpit glued in: I'm fairly happy with the height of him in the cockpit, as well as his posture too. I think I got it pretty close: Cheers, Mark.

Thank you JR, hahaha... I love being an Aircrew NCO... life is grand. Though no pilot, I love being the NCO side of the house... for now, who know's what down the road... as for tonight! Progress continues... had some trouble with the instrument panel - didn't sit right, didn't sit right at all. The hood was just... well... it looked cool... but so very wrong. None the less, here's what it looked like: After some hackin' and slashin, I built up the hood much as it was... tube frame on the edge, then covered it using some THIN evergreen. This was then shaved down and smoothed out, and a trim of green tape was added to give the effect of material covering the whle thing as in the real deal: After painting:

Inside of the fuselage halves. I wanted to show the look of the panels while keeping it smooth and flat. That, combined with not much being seen and wanting to add some shade, I was messin' around and came up with this: Instrument panel: the Airfix setup with inserts works great for this. Front piece (panel face) painted and ready, along with the rear piece in gloss, and a piece of clear wrap: Clear wrap is trimmed and layed on top of the back piece loosly: Top piece is pressed in and the clear wrap is sandwiched: It's all trimmed and ready to be put in. Here's the finished panel: Cheers, Mark.

Lookin really good. Really good. This one's gonna be a gem!