Spitfire Mk. XIVe

by Robert Bracken

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Here is my 1/48 scale Spitfire XIV. It represents "Blackie" O'Connell's Mk. XIV, "Emily", in service with 402 Squadron.

The model is a conversion of the Falcon vacform kit using parts from the Otaki Spitfire VIII. The Spitfire XIV kit was one of Falcon's earlier efforts, and was quite crude and basic in comparison to their later offerings. From memory, I also used a nose from the Falcon 1/48 scale Mk. XII conversion.

I received an Academy Spitfire XIV as a gift. This was a nice kit but I wound up raiding the box or parts to finish my hybrid model.

The navigation lights are toothbrush sections in green and red. I made an instrument panel by photocopying the instruments from the Hasegawa Spitfire V kit and making up a two-layered panel. The propeller assembly is made up of the metal parts in the Falcon Conversion set. I used the back part of the Falcon spinner and cut off the front half of the Otaki spinner to use as the tip.

A combination of Humbrol and Xtracolor paints were used to show the different shades of grey and green. Watermark decals finished the 10 year job!