BloorwestSiR

Sorry to hear about what happened. I'm glad to hear that no one was hurt which is the important thing. A friend had his 1 year old Toyota 4Runner stolen just over a month ago. He had an aftermarket tracking device on it so he knew where the car was. The cops sadly weren't interested and neither was the insurance company. He's been tracking his car ever since and watched it leave Toronto, head to Montreal, then leave there most likely in a container. It crossed the Atlantic and at the beginning of the month was going through the Straits of Gibraltar. Canada sadly has an extremely high car theft rate now and it's not getting better.

Except the XIV rads are deeper. I'll try to grab a pic of the Tamiya and the LFD rads to show the difference.

I don't have the Revell IX kit but if the rads are similar to what's in their II kit, the ramps are fairly shallow. Not hard to cut them on either side and then bend them inward which is want I did when I built that kit.

Currently the conversion is designed for the Tamiya XVIe kit. LFD is coming out with a different version that will work with the high back Tamiya VIII kit. One of the changes he's making is to the vertical tail so it will fit the high back fuselage better. This one will also include the blister style fairing on the camera port. Using the VIII for the high back conversion simplifies things. The retractable tailwheel is already part of the kit and the wings won't need panel lines added. As for the kits themselves, the Tamiya Spitfires have been out for quite some time now so I imagine there's lots of them out there. Tamiya USA was even running a sale on them for some time earlier this year. Using a different manufacturer's kit is certainly do-able but I suspect there will fit issues. I know when I did my original XIV conversion, it was designed for the PCM kit which had a very different cross section compared to the Tamiya kit I used it on. So I had lots of reprofiling to make it work.

Thanks John! Yes Matthieu messaged me about the correction to the correction. If you look closely at the port door, you can see the small imperfection on one edge. I'll swap in the replacement next time I'm at the bench.

Thanks Tom!

Great looking parts Simone! Do you have a link to where I can purchase them? Carl

So I've made more progress on this build. Using the templates for the hatches, I scribed them into the plastic. I then drilled them out and sanded the openings referencing the templates for size and shape. Mine was one of the first 20 made that had a minor issue with the starboard camera door. LFD includes a replacement one separately. On mine, the original had a small blemish but that was it. I've used the substitute one. While fitting the second door, I sort of realized that most conversions would have one engrave the hatch outline,add the rivet pattern and be done. Then I noticed the hinge detail that is included on the replacement. So I guess that makes the extra work worthwhile. Last was the single port side hatch. That was the done the same as the starboard ones. At this point, I'll need to start working on the interior.

Thanks John! It's definitely a well thought out conversion. The fit has been so far been very nice too. Between this and the Halberd Cavalier Mustang, the quality for these conversion sets had really leapt forward.

I haven't spoken to Terry in a while. I should maybe give him a call and see if he had any plans for a reprint.

I think the only hurdle is the fillet at the base of the vertical tail. But someone with your skills that shouldn't be a problem. If you start with an VIII, that'll have the retractable tailwheel and therefore one less thing to deal with. As for your set should get picked up by Canada Post sometime today. I sent Martin the tracking number but let me know if you need it.

It's just a bit deceiving as I haven't done any tweaking/adjustment to the fit yet. The fuselage is still mostly the rough cut plus I haven't glued anything yet. I suspect things should fit better once I commit things to glue.

Tom, I'd get the seat and the cockpit update sets as well. I've used on the several that I've built and they do make a difference.

I took a look at the chin scoop and noticed that the shutter door(?) is even moulded in place on the upper side. I guess that's one of the benefits of 3D printing the parts. It's hard to see in the pic but it's there. Here's the various templates for engraving new panel lines and hatches. They're marked left and right so no mixing that up. For the fuselage camera hatch, hees the backside of the template. Note the cutout along the upper lip. That fits over the tab on the fuselage half. The exterior side. The template inner edge needs a quick sanding to completely remove the attachment points and then it'll be ready for scribing. It's pretty much foolproof and a brilliant way to do this.

Thanks Tom! It's a very well thought out conversion I was looking at the template for the fuselage hatch. He has tabs moulded into it that lock into place on the kit part so it's aligned correctly. Very clever and well done and reduces the chance of error.

First step I did was cut the nose free. I used a pair of side cutters and took my time removing the supports. There's internal bracing as well as locating pegs to help attach it to the fuselage. I then started on the fuselage cuts. Their location are marked out on the instructions and the mostly follow panel lines. A quick test fit to the nose. Looks good so far. I then continued on with the remaining cuts to the vertical tail and the tailwheel section. For the latter, I used the included jigs to mark the location out and then cut them with a razor saw. The pegs on the back of the nose plug into the kits bulkhead. Then you glue thay to the fuselage giving you a nice secure join. Just tape holding things together. More to come...

Peaking in the box, everything has a nice protective cage around them. I did have a single part break loose but it was intact so no issues there. Cutting away the packing gave me a closer look at the quality of the parts LFD include extra exhaust pipes in case one looses/break any. The new retractable tailwheel as well as the templates for where to make cuts in the kit fuselage. LFD includes them for doing the fuselage hatches as well as for engraving the leading edge fuel tank panel lines. A really nice touch. Camera and mount if you do the FR option. Lastly the spinner and prop blades.

Griffon posted Spitfires are my favourite variant of this iconic aircraft. Years ago, I did a high back XIV conversion using the Tamiya VIII kit and the RB conversion which was designed for the PCM kit. Lots of extra work as a result but I managed to pull it off. I then built the old Revell/Matchbox Spitfire 24 kit thinking at least I'd have one bubble top version. A kit of its time but I still enjoyed it. PCM released their high back XIV kit and finally we had an OOB option for a late war Griffon kit. As a result, I made plans to convert one to a PR XIX and finding a Cammet high back conversion to doa bubble top XIV. I started the XIX but haven't finished it yet. Now we have the latest option from Laminar Flow Design.

I got my 2 sets on Thursday while away camping and had a loose piece as well. It was one of the hatches. Nothing broken though.

Here's some of my set. I've cut the protective cages away. I'll start a WIP in the morning.

Mine arrived yesterday to Canada but I was away camping so just opened it today. Looks very nice and might just have to jump to the top of the queue. Carl

Hasegawa makes a self adhesive film that's textured. That should be good for recreating the antislip paint.

My LHS listed the two kits as pre-orders and is offering a discount on them. $188 CAD which seems very reasonable to me so I grabbed the Achilles.

Thanks for sharing all the pics.

Just went live and I've placed my order. Looking forward to getting this in the mail. Carl