1/48 Academy Spitfire FR Mk XIVe

by Robert-Jan Willekens

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Spitfires are probably the most modelled aircraft, and I have to admit it's a beautiful airplane. I myself have about 14 Spitfires in my collection, with another five still in the box! This is my 1/48 scale Academy FR Mk.XIVe late-war Spitfire which I built OOB but with markings from my decal spares. It is finished as a SEAC (South-East Asia Command) photo-recon aircraft of No.273 Sqn RAF flying against the Japanese from an undisclosed airfield in the Far East, possibly Burma, at war's end. So we are talking August 1945.

Click on images below to see larger images

The colours are Ocean Grey and Dark Green over Medium Sea Grey by Humbrol; all toned down with white to create a bleached effect. The original RAF roundels were oversprayed as on the real aircraft with fresh Dark Green and MSG, creating the circles. I am not 100% sure whether this is the correct camouflage, as many Spitfires bound for the Far East were painted Dark Earth/Dark Green. Help, anyone?

 The aircraft involved had only two Hispano 20mm cannon; the blue patches were intended to imitate muzzle protection patches; quite superfluous as no guns were installed in the so-called 'e'-Wing. For additional range, a slipper-type droptank was fitted. The cameraports are filled in with MicroScale Crystal Clear; the canopy is a vacform replacement from Squadron productions. Codes and identification letter are from an old Letraset dry decal sheet. The black and white picture is from Spitfire in Action, page 41  (squadron/signal pubs. Aircraft No.39)

Robert-Jan

Photos and text © by Robert-Jan Willekens