Historical Background
Supermarine's (or rather, Vickers-Armstrong's) Spitfire was the most celebrated British fighter of World War 2. The prototype first flew in 1936 and it eventually became the only British fighter in production throughout the war, As a type, the Spitfire was ranked as one of the finest combat aircraft, thanks to its involvement in the early, dark years of World War 2, especially during the Battle of Britain. The Spitfire was built in numerous variants, called Marks, eventually totalling more than 20. While the Marks identify the variants, they were not in chronological order (for example, the Mark IX appeared before Mark VIII). The early Marks were powered by versions of Rolls-Royce's excellent Merlin V-12 engine with power output ranging from 1,030 hp Merlin II in the early Mark I to the 1,720 hp Merlin 66 (and Packard-built Merlin 266) in the Spitfire IX/XVI.
As early as December 1939, Supermarine staff mooted the idea of using the Rolls-Royce Griffon 37-litre, V12 inline engine with a predicted speed of 423 mph at 18,500 ft. However constant problems with the Griffon delayed the installation of the engine until late 1941 with successful trials of the Spitfire Mk.IV. The Griffon IIB which powered the Mk.IV was a single-stage supercharged engine rated at 1,735 hp. Stronger main longerons were needed to cope with the increased weight of the Griffon. The new engine had a lower thrust line than the Merlin and the engine was set with a -0.5 degree of downthrust. The lower line of thrust and greater engine capacity changed the contour of the cowling with more prominent bulges over the cylinder heads, a teardrop-shaped fairing over the upper cowling to clear the magneto and a deeper curve to the spinner. The lower cowling lost its 'pigeon-chested' looks. The Mk.IV was then designated Mk.XX to avoid confusion with a renamed PR version.
The Mk.XX was eventually redesignated Mk.XII. The MK.XII suffered from poor high altitude performance due to its single-stage supercharged engine. By 1943, Rolls-Royce had developed the 61 series of the Griffon with a two-stage supercharger. The Griffon 61 entered service as the slightly modified Griffon 65 and was installed in Spitfire Mk.XIV. To harness power from the Griffon, a new five-bladed Rotol propeller was used. The nose was made longer and because of this and increased slipstream from the propeller, a larger fin was installed. And because of the greater cooling requirement, the radiators were bigger, which required bigger housings. Improved VHF radio meant that the aerial mast can be dispensed with and was replaced with a whip aerial.
Griffon-engined Spitfires entered service in early 1943 when No.41 Squadron received their Mk.XII in February and No.91 Squadron in April. These two squadrons were the only users of the Mk XII. In June 1943, the two squadrons moved to RAF Westhampnett, forming the Westhampnett Wing. The first kill by a Griffon Spitfire was scored on 17 April 1943, when a Ju 88 was shot down. At low altitudes, it was one of the fastest aircraft at the time. However, the advantage was not fully exploited as German Jabo pilots refused to be drawn into dogfights below 6,100m. When the Mk XII was able to engage enemy fighters, it was indeed a formidable combat aircraft. The low-altitude performance became useful again towards the end of its front line service in Summer 1944 when it was used to intercept low-flying V-1 flying bombs. The Mark XII was retired in September 1944. The Mk.XIV entered service in January 1944 with No.610 Squadron, being the first full production of the Griffon Spitfire. When the V-1 attacks began, the Mk.XIV was also used in the 'anti-Diver' patrols together with the Mk.XII, P-51 Mustang, Hawker Tempest and later, the Gloster Meteor jet fighter. The interception was dangerous as cannon rounds may (and did) detonate the warhead, resulting in the loss of the interceptor. Other methods were used to down these early cruise missiles, such as by aerodynamically tipping the V-1 using the wingtip of the intercepting aircraft
Following the invasion of Europe, the Mk.XIV was used as the main air superiority fighter by the 2nd Tactical Air Force in North-West Europe.The Mk.XIV can also be used as a fighter-bomber, for which four squadrons of Mk.XIVe were set up for this task. In the Far East theatre, the Mk.XIV was only delivered in June 1945 when No.11 Squadron became the first unit so equipped in the theatre. It was however too late to make any impact as there was hardly any Japanese aerial activity in-theatre by that time. The Mk. XIV was actually supposed to be an interim design, pending the availability of the definitive Mk. XVIII. However, in a repeat of the Mk. VIII/ Mk.IX story, 957 Mk.XIVs were built compared to 300 Mk.XVIIIs. The Mk. XIV came in two versions - Mk.XIVc with 'C' wing and 'fastback' fuselage and FR. XIVe with 'E' type wing (4 x 20mm Hispano cannons or 2 x 20mm cannons and 2 x 12.7mm Browning MGs) and 'bubbletop' canopy.
The Kit
Academy's 1/48 kits of the Spitfire XIV came out in 1996. In fact, as of November 2014, the Academy kits are the only 1/48 scale models of the Mk.XIV (I believe the Kitech kit is a knock-off of the Academy kit and do not count in my books). Both versions of the Mk. XIV were kitted. The joy of hearing the news soon turn into dismay when the models hit the shops. The kit suffers from many shortcomings, of which the most noticeable is the shape of the nose. While the nose of Griffon-powered Spitfires are longer than Merlin-powered variants, the profile still looks sleek unlike the Academy kit, which looks bloated. Other problems include:
- sidewalls of the oil cooler housing not perpendicular to the ground
- poor propeller blade profile
- 'fishtail' exhausts not included
- four-spoke wheels (Mk.XIVs use three-spoked wheels)
- ...and have I mentioned about Academy decals?
Otherwise, the kit looks very good with nicely engraved surface detail. Only one marking option is supplied: AP-D/RM619, No.130 Squadron RAF.
The cockpit parts and the side walls were first painted. Instead of using Tamiya's mixture to get the British Interior Green, I used Tamiya XF-71 IJN Interior Green. Well, the shade is almost similar, plus even the real pilots can't remember minute details of the aircraft they flew and were amused (even bemused) when modellers asked them about the intricate details! The instrument panel was painted X-18 Semi-Gloss Black and Gunze Silver was then dry-brushed to pop-up the details. Other details in the cockpit were painted XF-1 Flat Black where approriate. The Spitfire is another of the floorless cockpit design. To assemble it, the front and rear bulkheads were first cemented onto the right fuselage, together with the instrument panel. The control stick and cable assembly was then inserted between the bulkheads and was then followed by the seat assembly. The fuselage was then cemented together, but before that, the propeller 'shaft' was inserted in its place. The two-piece tail planes were then assembled and inserted into their places and to finish the fuselage at this time, the pilot access door and the bulges at the nose were cemented - there was no positive placement markers for the bulges however.
Next were the wing sub-assembly. Academy included rudimentary parts for the cannon bay i.e. just the cannons/machine guns. While not really necessary and adding thickness to the wing, the gun assembly was wrong for this kit as the parts are really for the 'E' wing configuration (1 x 20mm Hispano cannon and 1 x Browning 12.7mm HMG) - modelers who want to open their cannon bay can either replace them with aftermarket parts or cut the inner gun off. I didn't and the cannon bays were closed. The cannon barrels and the cannon port plugs were then cemented and was followed by the separate wing tips. The insides of the radiators and the air intake was then painted before I moved on to painting.
European-theatre RAF fighters were painted 'Temperate Day Scheme' of Dark Green, Ocean Grey and Medium Sea Grey from mid-1941 onwards. To paint these colours, I used Gunze Aqueous H335 for Medium Sea Grey, the Dark Green was a 5:1 mix of Tamiya XF-62 Olive Drab and XF-58 Olive Green respectively and the Ocean Grey was a 1:2:2 mix of XF-18 Medium Blue, XF-21 Sky and XF-24 Dark Grey. The prop blades were painted XF-1 Flat Black with XF-3 Flat Yellow tips while the spinner was painted XF-21 Sky.
Next came the dreaded part of building an Academy kit OOB - the decals. They showed all of the typical Academy decal characteristics of being thick, not easily conform to raised (and recessed) details and totally unresponsive to decal softening solutions. As if that weren't enough, the aircraft code and serial number, together with the fuselage roundel were printed together and therefore depriving modellers the choice of painting the invasion stripes (unless an aftermarket set is used). I quite struggled to get them in place and totally gave up with the ones covering the cannon bulges. I ended up painting the portion Flat White and Flat Black. And, on other thing, Academy did not include any stencilling in the decal sheet, just one for the inside of the cockpit access door. The model was actually left for a long time on the shelf unfinished and the decals cracked in the meantime. I have to touch up using paints, not satisfactorily I might add.
There wasn't much to do at this stage with this model - just installing the landing gear and its doors, the tail wheel and its doors and finally placing the canopy and the propeller. The sliding portion was however too thick and there is something odd-looking between the sliding portion and the fixed rear portion of the canopy. The rear-view mirror became a victim of the carpet monster and I yanked one from my Spitfire V to replace it. It wasn't terribly accurate (the kit mirror is a circle while the Spit V mirror is a rectangle), it will have to do. I decided not to wash the entire model, just on the flying control panels only.
Conclusion
Despite the numerous shortcomings, as of November 2014, the Academy kits of the Spitfire XIV are the only ones available for this mark in 1/48 scale. The kits' problems can be rectified through aftermarket parts but that was a rather expensive option. Another method is to subject the kit to plastic surgery, for urm, 'nose job' in order to correct the worst of the mistakes plus a number of others to correct the rest. I can live with the mistakes however (until somebody came out with an accurate, new-tool 1/48 Spitfire XIV!).
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