Academy Spitfire XIV 1/48scale

[Ian M]

Well it took a while but here are the pictures of the finished build.

Hope it passes muster.

[ATTACH]39490.vB[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]39491.vB[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]39492.vB[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]39493.vB[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]39494.vB[/ATTACH]

The flash fired on the first shot, hence the colour difference from the other pictures.

Comments as ever are welcome.

Ian M

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[ATTACH]43409.IPB[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]43410.IPB[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]43411.IPB[/ATTACH]

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[Guest]

oet: I'm writting you this message to say I love youR spit

very nice work my frined, very nice indead...

Roman

[Guest]

I have been away to long...not seen a spit for many a moon, great job....and very nice clean paint job......will this be getting a touch of weathering or is it a show piece build...

Now the only criticism I will add is.....get rid of that damn Humbrol liquid poly........ahhhhh.....:cheeseygrin:

[papa 695]

A very nice spitfire great work Ian

[Guest]

Looks great - my only complaint is its much too clean

[Guest]

Very nice spitfire :clap3:

[Ian M]

Thanks chaps.

It was one of those builds that took a 360 turn but ended up OK.

There where a few challenges along the road; painting the ID codes was one of them but pleased with the way they turned out.

No dirt, grime or other stains except the exhaust. The actual aircraft was kept pretty clean as was most of them at this late stage of the war.

I forgot to mention at the first post that this was Jonnie Johnsens last Spitfire of the war and saw little or no action. He did not shoot as mush as one enemy aircraft down in her!

What's wrong with the Humbrol liquid poly. Its just a thicker version of the Tamiya extra thin.... Its a good job you didn't see the Revell contacta glue :-)

Ian M

[Guest]

Hi Ian, very Impressive build mate, makes me wanna large scale spitfire to do....

Cheers, Andrew

[mossiepilot]

Really nice Spit Ian.

Tony.

[Guest]

i thinks its awsome shows what you can do in face of bad painting days lol

[stona]

Very nice job Ian. It's come out really well in the end. I have ordered a low back Spitfire for delivery sometime in the future and hope I can make it look something like yours!

Too clean? Johnson was a Wing Commander,he probably had a team of erks licking the damned thing clean!

Cheers

Steve

[Vaughan]

Very nice Ian. Great build.

Vaughan

[Guest]

Superb.

[Guest]

Great looking spit Ian,very clean build !

[Guest]

For those who insist that late-war aircraft should have the patchwork quilt/stored-down-a-coalmine finish, there was a leaflet issued in 1942 (at exactly the same time as the Spitfire moved over to synthetic paint,) detailing precisely how aircraft should be cared for. Consisting of over 10 pages, there is one with a list of 14 "don't" instructions, which include not to lean ladders against the aircraft; wear rubber-soled shoes (issued) not boots; don't lay items on the ground doped-surface down; don't brush paint as if "whitewashing," use a spraygun if at all possible; don't lay items on wet or muddy ground; use felt or cloth on wing surfaces on which to lay tools, so as not to scratch the surface; don't leave your aircraft dirty at any time. Congealed oil and dry mud will strip the dope from the metal when you are eventually forced to clean it down.

That last item should be enclosed, in large red letters, in every RAF model kit sold. Sorry this is late, but it's taken 10 years to finally find a copy of this leaflet in the National Archives in Kew; typically it was in a file on Spitfires, not camouflage.

Edgar