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Posted

Hi All,

 

Been pondering my next build for quite a while, finally decided to step out of my comfort zone and take a shot at the awesome looking Laminar Flow Design (from here on in, known as LFD) Spitfire FR.XIV conversion of the classic Tamiya Spitfire IX kit.   It's out of my comfort zone for a few reasons.   First, I've never hacked up an expensive kit before and this conversion requires some serious surgery.   I'm going to be cutting out big chunks of that lovely Tamiya plastic, including the entire nose, portions of the wing leading edges, the ailerons, parts of the tailplane, the aft fuselage and probably some other areas as well.   I've used 3d-printed parts here and there but nothing like this.  Also, I've always been apprehensive about replicating British hard-edge camo schemes.    Just seems like it's going to be a challenge for me, I'm much more comfortable doing soft edge schemes.    Lastly, I've never (gasp) been a huge fan of the Spitfire.   No idea why but it just wasn't my cup of tea.    Maybe just too dainty compared to the more chunky US aircraft that I've been building.   

 

When LFD first announced their conversion, I honestly had no idea what the Mk XIV even looked like.   However, after looking at some pics, I kinda fell in love with the aircraft.   It's the furthest thing from "dainty" that a Spitfire can get.   The Brits felt that their standard Merlin powered Mk IX was losing its performance edge over its late-war Luftwaffe adversaries.  The Germans were also attacking Britian with low level V-1 and fighter bomber raids and the Mk IX just didn't have the speed to intercept these threats.  So the Brits did something very un-British, they solved the issues by simply stuffing the biggest engine they could get their hands on (the RR Griffon, which was nearly 30% larger in capacity than the Merlin) into the Spitfire.  The end result is just a totally brutal, thug of an aircraft, with amazing performance (especially at low level), despite losing some (others would say "most") of the carefree handling that was a hallmark of earlier versions.    The front end almost looks grotesque with a massive 5-bladed prop (necessary to handle the much-increased power output of the Griffon), fitted with an equally massive spinner and huge cylinder bulges on either side of the nose.   Couple that with a large air intake, two enormous underwing radiators and a much-enlarged tail section and there certainly isn't anything dainty about this version of the Spitfire. 

 

wbW6nmc.jpg

 

G6npwup.jpg

 

I'll get back to some of the other details on this beast later.   For my subject, I think I'm going with one of the subjects presented in Aviaeology's RCAF Fighter-Recce Spitfires sheet.  The sheet is outstandingly researched, as all of their products are, with a nice selection of interesting FR IX's and XIV's to choose from.   My pick is RM876 / "H", a veteran FR.XIV based in Belgium at the beginning of 1945, serving with No 430 (Canadian) Squadron.  Haven't been able to find a picture of her online, so a screenshot of the instructions will have to suffice.  She's nicely weathered with paint touchups and the scratched-up remnants of the D-Day invasion stripes still left on.  Disregard the lower profile, that shows H later in 1945 when the British 2nd Tactical Air Force mandated some changes to the color scheme including removal of the invasion strips and over painting of the Sky-colored spinner and tail band.   

vDxhmq7.jpg

Here's the obligatory shot of all the stuff I think I'll be using on this build.  Not enough room to show the donor Tamiya IX!  Got a large selection of Barracuda Cast resin, the above-mentioned decals and, front and center, is the LFD conversion kit.     The LFD box art shows most of the parts I'll be replacing. 

ydCrHrJ.jpg

 

 

That's all I've got to share for tonight.   Feel free to chime in as I get started with any comments, critiques and suggestions.   

 

John

 

 

 

Posted

Alright!  Great to see another Griffon-charged Spitfire on the assembly line.  The LFD conversion is very well done so I'm sure you'll enjoy the experience.  In addition to all of the Barracuda goodies, I would recommend taking a look at Mathieu's cockpit stuff... the throttle quadrant, landing gear control, electrical junction box and instrument panel are very significant upgrades.  To reduce the surgery required, I would look into getting a set of Tamiya VIII wings from Tamiya customer service.  The VIII wings has the required panel lines for the leading edge fuel tanks.  

Posted
56 minutes ago, Thunnus said:

Alright!  Great to see another Griffon-charged Spitfire on the assembly line.  The LFD conversion is very well done so I'm sure you'll enjoy the experience.  In addition to all of the Barracuda goodies, I would recommend taking a look at Mathieu's cockpit stuff... the throttle quadrant, landing gear control, electrical junction box and instrument panel are very significant upgrades.  To reduce the surgery required, I would look into getting a set of Tamiya VIII wings from Tamiya customer service.  The VIII wings has the required panel lines for the leading edge fuel tanks.  

 And the Mk.VIII fuselage which has the retractable tail wheel bits and the correct panel line detail under the horizontal stabs. This is the path Uncarina took on his build. There will still be surgery, scribing and, of course, the additional expense of the sprues, but perhaps a better starting point. But NOT necessary.

Posted
2 hours ago, Thunnus said:

Alright!  Great to see another Griffon-charged Spitfire on the assembly line.  The LFD conversion is very well done so I'm sure you'll enjoy the experience.  In addition to all of the Barracuda goodies, I would recommend taking a look at Mathieu's cockpit stuff... the throttle quadrant, landing gear control, electrical junction box and instrument panel are very significant upgrades.  To reduce the surgery required, I would look into getting a set of Tamiya VIII wings from Tamiya customer service.  The VIII wings has the required panel lines for the leading edge fuel tanks.  

I’ll be ordering the LFD cockpit upgrade.  

Posted
3 hours ago, TBC said:

 And the Mk.VIII fuselage which has the retractable tail wheel bits and the correct panel line detail under the horizontal stabs. This is the path Uncarina took on his build. There will still be surgery, scribing and, of course, the additional expense of the sprues, but perhaps a better starting point. But NOT necessary.

 

I didn't even consider that approach, being such a Spitfire newbie but that is definitely one way to do it.  I did it manually and since it is in such a small area, the filling and scribing work was very elementary.

IMG_5568.jpg

 

IMG_5569.jpg

 

IMG_5570.jpg

 

 

FYI... when I contacted Tamiya about the VIII wings, the customer service rep said that the sprue was officially out of stock but that he had access to the wing parts as scraps.  I was sent an incomplete sprue with the wing parts for free.  He commented that mine was not the first request and asked if I knew what was going on.  I let him know that LFD was offering an XIVe conversion for the Tamiya Spitfire and that probably spurred interest in VIII parts since the XIV had some things in common with the VIII.

Posted
On 11/5/2024 at 1:18 PM, Thunnus said:

Alright!  Great to see another Griffon-charged Spitfire on the assembly line.  The LFD conversion is very well done so I'm sure you'll enjoy the experience.  In addition to all of the Barracuda goodies, I would recommend taking a look at Mathieu's cockpit stuff... the throttle quadrant, landing gear control, electrical junction box and instrument panel are very significant upgrades.  To reduce the surgery required, I would look into getting a set of Tamiya VIII wings from Tamiya customer service.  The VIII wings has the required panel lines for the leading edge fuel tanks.  

Great tip, thank you.   I went one better, since I'll be building the LFD Mk Vc tropical conversion, I decided to save my existing Mk IX kit for that build and found a VIII on Amazaon for $89.   Order placed.  

Posted
3 hours ago, John1 said:

Great tip, thank you.   I went one better, since I'll be building the LFD Mk Vc tropical conversion, I decided to save my existing Mk IX kit for that build and found a VIII on Amazaon for $89.   Order placed.  

That will also take care of the retractable tail wheel, and if I recall correctly the shorter aileron.

 

Cheers,  Tom

Posted
On 11/9/2024 at 10:59 PM, John1 said:

Great tip, thank you.   I went one better, since I'll be building the LFD Mk Vc tropical conversion, I decided to save my existing Mk IX kit for that build and found a VIII on Amazaon for $89.   Order placed.  

 

Good stuff!

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