Supermarine Spitfire F.Mk.XIV (AZ Models)
The AZ kit is only for experienced "colectors." Good thing I are one!
I'll use Lacey's SEAC scheme on the left.
Some photoetch goodies - especially the Marabu cockpit set (upper right).
Master cannon barrels and Barracuda tyres - what more could you want? Actually, 3-spoke wheels aren't right for this bird.
Why, a Quickboost prop of course! Designed for Academy, so I hope it fits! And some 4-spoke wheels from SBS.
The Marabu photoetch cockpit and Yahu instrument panel. Everything is flat!
Start bending! Rear bulkhead and tread bars on left, seat support on right.
Seat support and armour plate added, seat folded up nicely!
After assembly and painting, I think this is much more true to scale than the kit parts.
Wheel wells added to bottom wing. Several nasty injection stubs ground away.
I don't like the seam between the wing and the wheel wells.
Putty is your friend!
I used my Dremel tool to open up the exhaust area.
This was necessary for the aftermarket exhausts to fit properly.
Scratchbuilding a compass for the instrument panel. Tiny little bugger.
Cockpit painted, installed, and given a wash. Plastic card added to prevent exhausts from pushing through.
Lacey's Mk.XIV had an extra armour plate behind the headrest - I used a spare photoetch part.
Hard to see, but the Yahu instrument panel dials are exquisitely detailed.
Fuselage together, and some filler added to make a flat surface for the spinner.
I like those exhausts!
Marabu also provide some nice photoetch radiator screens.
Wings on!
Some filler needed, but not too bad.
I spent some time sanding the carburettor intake so its lip looked authentically thin.
Master even provide an insert for the .50 calibre machine guns. Excellent!
Tailplanes on, and wing leading edges drilled out to accept the Master brass parts.
Radiators added, and no filler required at all.
The Master brass parts really look nice.
A close up - can you see the insert in the machine gun?
I used some card stock to build a well for the tail wheel.
The kit decals had no light blue in the roundel or fin flash - I'll use these from a Model Alliance sheet.
Ocean Grey is applied - I use Gunze H75 for this.
Followed by freehand airbrushing of the Dark Green, Gunze H73.
To get a nice edge, I used 80% thinner and a #1 needle on my Paasche H airbrush.
Next I used Gunze H309 to represent the fresher green paint over the ETO roundels.
The overpainted roundels were done freehand, with no mask.
I used used a base of Gunze H306 and postshading with several other greys on the underside.
The overpainted ETO roundels on the bottom of the wing are a bit too big. Oops!
I love the alignment jigs that Quickboost provide. How else could you get the alignment right?
Five-bladed props exude power just looking at them.
A Sky fuselage band (Gunze H74), a coat of Future, and the stickers go on!
The stencils came from an aftermarket decal sheet by Aviaeology.
With a magnifying glass, you can read those stencils, too!
Marabu include new gear doors in their photoetch set. Better than the kit parts, I think.
Landing gear scissor links also from Marabu.
I finally found someone I can vote for this year! Oh, and the control column too.
Flat varnish and some more post shading.
Post shading was done with highly thinned H338 Light Grey and H95 Smoke Grey.
She's done! Chips were done with a silver prismatic pencil. Pastels were applied to the tyres and exhaust.
Even though the outer machine gun bays were empty, photos of SEAC Spitfire XIVs show the red doped patches.
Coming at ya!
The windscreen came from the kit, the mirror from Marabu, and the rest of the canopy from Falcon.
The whip aerial is a piece of 0.005" Nitinol wire.
The only panel line wash was for the control surfaces.
A family portrait with the Airfix Mk.I and the Revell Mk.Vb.
The man himself, Sqn. Ldr. James "Ginger" Lacey (in a different Spitfire).
Plus, he liked to build model airplanes in the dispersal hut!
Comments
1 13 August 2016, 02:26
Bill GilmanHi mates - I've uploaded photos of my latest build. This was a quick little project to build the 1:72 AZ Models Supermarine Spitfire F.Mk.XIV in the markings of Ginger Lacey. By the time I got around to creating this photo album, the model was finished, so this is the first time that I've documented an entire build, start to finish, all at once. The kit needed some aftermarket to improve the details, but all told it went together nicely. Enjoy the photos! Cheers, Bill
13 August 2016, 03:37
Choppa NuttaReally nice work Bill,
love the PE work and the group shot, lovely work 🙂
13 August 2016, 03:48
Hanno KleineckeMasterly done, as always Bill ! Especially the cockpit is absolutely stunning. Really hard to believe it`s not 1/48 ! 👍 👍
13 August 2016, 06:53
Mats BengtssonWhat a beautiful Spitfire. It is always a pleasure to watch your builds Bill.
13 August 2016, 09:38
Spanjaardwow, really nice build. great detail, nicelly done. it looks certainly like 1/48 rahter than 1/72
13 August 2016, 13:06
Bill GilmanThanks, mates!
These older AZ Spitfire kits sometimes get some bad reviews, but I found it to be a typical build. I've read that the kit is somewhat under-scale, and that may be - particularly in the wingspan which is a mm or two less than the Airfix XIX. But the firewall to rudder post dimension seems to match the Airfix XIX kit almost exactly. And you certainly can't tell any wingspan difference when I posed the three kits for the group shot.
I really like that group shot, by the way. You can really see the differences just in those three marks, let alone the entire Spitfire line. Eventually, I'll have a kit of every mark, right? 🙂
13 August 2016, 13:47
Holger KranichAh, uncle Bill has been at the bench again! I like These griffon engined Spittys! Again a masterpiece from the "garbage plate"! 🙂
17 August 2016, 13:13
Album info
This build will use the AZ Models kit along with several aftermarket parts to model one of the SEAC Spitfires flown by Sqn. Ldr. James "Ginger" Lacey, one of the highest scoring British aces of WWII.
