PCM 1/32 Spitfire XIVe

By Mike Prince

Introduction

The Royal Australian Air Force operated several marks of Spitfire in the European theatre during and immediately after WWII, ending with the Mk XIVe. These were operated by 451 and 453 Squadrons, and here I’ve modelled the Spitfire flown by the last Commanding Officer of 451 Squadron RAAF. During this period the squadron was based in Germany as part of the Allied occupation forces from September 1945 until disbanded at Gatow airport in late January 1946. The aircraft, by then looking very weary, were then passed to 443 Squadron RCAF.

The Kit

The Pacific Coast Spitfire XIVe is a limited run kit. It goes together very well, and in this instance required only a few very small areas of filler, with the only areas proving any sort of challenge being the fit of the front and rear parts of the spinner, and the bulkhead carrying the instrument panel needing a little trimming. The upper wing to fillet join was strengthened by carefully matching the thickness of the plastic forming the wing fillet and wing upper surface, then adding a strip of scrap plastic protruding from the fillet’s inner surface to create a shelf and increase the gluing surface area for the wing root.

Modifications

As is my usual way, a few modifications were undertaken. These included:

conversion from high back to low back rear fuselage using a nicely cast spine from Grey Matter Figures and a superb Alley Cat resin bubble canopy;
Master brass gun barrels;
BarracudaCast seat, pilot door and wheels;
extra hatches and camera ports engraved (the actual camera windows were plated over);
some rivet lines where bare metal was to be exposed in the walkway areas.

Painting

Paints were Humbrol throughout, with the demarcation between colours achieved using Blu-tac rolls. After the base colour each was given an irregular second coat using lighter and darker versions to break up the monotone finish. At first this looked a little extreme, but subsequent weathering with washes and spot fading blended this in. Panel line washes were limited to control surfaces and removable panels only. The worn areas on the wings were achieved by first spraying them with Alclad, then a heavy coat of One Go (Future). Before the camouflage coat had fully cured it was carefully scraped with an old scalpel and sanded with worn out wet and dry sandpaper, used wet, to expose the Alclad underneath. I think exposing underlying bare metal always looks better than applying silver chips on top of the paint later (at least when I try it). I also tried a different technique for the wingtip lights, first painting them a dark red and dark blue-green overall, then highlighting the centre with bright red and green while the first colour was still wet – simple and effective.

Markings

National and RAAF markings were from a Red Roo Models sheet (intended for a Mk IX), with the late war upper wing roundels left over from a Meteor F4 build (coming soon). Squadron codes were achieved by first painting the fuselage white, then masking the letters and diamond. The serial was a composite from the spares box. The red spinner back plate is speculative – all I can say for certain is that it was painted darker than the remainder of the spinner, and seemed to be about the same shade as the roundel centres.

Conclusion

Overall, the Pacific Coast Spitfire XIV goes together very well and was a thoroughly enjoyable build. For a late mark Spitfire it is the only viable option without resorting to a substantial modification of one of the other model marks available in this scale. Besides, I think it looks just awesome.