The Spitfire Project

With the recent (2009) release of Tamiya's amazing new 1/32 scale Spitfire Mk.IXc, I figured it was high time
and get busy building some of the Spitfire kits that I've been collecting. Pacific Coast Models (PCM) released
two kits in 2008 - a Mk.IXc and a Mk.IXe. The aftermarket guys got to work shortly after, providing not only
decals, but also resin conversion sets to make a Mk.XIV and a Mk.XVI from the PCM kits.

CREDIT GIVEN WHERE CREDIT IS DUE - Click a link:
Spitfire Mk.IX kits: Pacific Coast Models Tamiya
Spitfire Mk.XIV Conversion set: RB Productions
Spitfire Mk.XVI Conversion set: Pacific Coast Models
Decals: Eagle Editions Zotz

Also, much information was obtained from online forums.
Thanks to many helpful people at these sites:
Aircraft Resource Center
HyperScale Forums
Large Scale Planes

PCM Spitfire Mk.IXc:

PCM Spitfire Mk.IXe

Tamiya Spitfire Mk.IXc

Work will start with the conversions of the PCM kits, since there's much more work to do there. Work will
commence on the Tamiya kit later on and the three will be finished concurrently. I chose to do it this way as the all
three aircraft use the same paint colors and have similar finishes.

Patrick Stantiford

/ / / / / This page under construction \ \ \ \ \

Stantiford

Box Art:

Stantiford

The Beginning:

1. Fuselage Modifications

The Spitfire XIV being modified
from the PCM Spitfire IXc kit.
The right fuselage half (bottom)
shown here has been cut apart to
accept new resin conversion
parts for the engine cowling and
tail fin areas. The left fuselage
half (top) is untouched in this
photograph for comparison. A
cut for a tail wheel modification
will be made later.

Spitfire Mk.XIV

Spitfire Mk.XVI

Same treatment for the PCM
Mk.IXe, being converted to a
Spitfire XVI. This time the
whole rear fuselage will be
replaced. On the uncut fuselage
halves, I have marked the cutting
locations.

See also, Spitfire on Wikipedia

2. Assembly

Temporary test fitting.
Modifications include a
different engine cowling/nose
section for the more powerful
Griffon engine used by the
Spitfire XIV. A larger tail
section was also needed for
control with the increased
horsepower.

The Spitfire XVI retained the
same Merlin engine of the Mk.IX.
The fuselage aft of the wings
was changed to accommodate a
"bubble" canopy with better
visibility for the pilot.

Spitfire Mk.XIV

Spitfire Mk.XVI

NOTE: PCM kits are what's known in the business as short-run kits, which basically means
they were made from a different molding process from your average variety model kit.
They cost less to produce, enabling small time operators to bring a product to market. The
trade-off is that these kits will have issues, like fit of parts, that make them buildable by
only experienced model hobbyists. These are not simply "glue-it-together" model kits.

Like most airplane models, I
begin with the cockpit. This is
made up of a combination of
plastic, resin and photo etched
(PE) parts. Resin sidewall
inserts, shown already glued
into the fuselages halves,
were too think to let the
pilot's seat fit into place. I
corrected this by cutting away
sidewall areas where the seat
will fit. The areas that were
cut away will be hidden in the
finished model.

Spitfire XIV

ABOVE: Thinking three moves ahead. After modifying the original kit fuselage parts for the new
resin forward fuselage parts, I taped everything together to look for potential fit problems.
Some were corrected immediately. Others were noted for correction in later assembly steps.
This will eliminate many headaches down the road. Note in these pictures the gun cover on top of
the left wing is already glued in place, but not on the right wing.

Stantiford

Patrick Stantiford

BELOW: I started assembly with the cockpit, but while components of that were drying, I built
up the wings. Other modelers reported alignment problems between the resin wheel well parts
and detail for the "roof" of the well, which is molded into the wing top parts. I worked through
this assembly slowly and got no misalignment.

LEFT: Some of the cockpit
components assembled and painted
and glued into place prior to
assembling the fuselage halves.
This is the correct cockpit layout
for the Mark IX and I'm sure the
XIV cockpit differed. For this
reason the cockpit canopy will be
closed on this model.

RIGHT: Once the cockpit was
installed, the plastic fuselage
halves were glued together. The
wings were then added, paying
attention to the fit at the wing
root-fuselage joint.

ABOVE: Two more views of the wing/fuselage assembly.

BELOW: The under-fuselage insert glued into place.

LEFT: The resin nose and tail
conversion parts fitted and glued
into place.

RIGHT: There were some gaps in
the join lines between the resin and
plastic parts. This was possibly
caused by imprecise cutting on my
part. It was fixed by placing
plastic shims into the holes.

ABOVE: Most of the heavy work is done. This will be set aside as I concentrate
on the Spitfire Mk. XVI model.

Spitfire Mk.XIV