Spitfire XIV RB159 / DW-D 610 Squadron RAF, Spring 1944

I tried kit bashing, something I have done rarely and only with the Spitfire, to make a XIVc from the Airfix IX and XIX kits.

The Subject

The XIV began showing up in squadrons late 1943 and early 1944. Initially they were used to replace the MK XII that were remaining as low level interceptors of Fw-190 penetrations. When Germany began the V-1 launches just after D-Day they were reassigned to intercept the increasing number of V-1’s coming across the Channel.

RB159 was delivered to No. 610 Squadron “County of Chester” Royal Auxiliary Air Force on 1 January 1944 as part of the first batch of 50 built. It served with Nos. 350, 41 and 416 Squadrons before being scrapped in 1949.

The Model

I pieced this together from 3 kits, actually: The wings, main landing gear, canopy, and cockpit came from the Airfix IX kit. The fuselage, prop, carb intake, tail wheel, tailplanes, and radiators came from the Airfix XIX kit. There was very little fit issues, the lower wings-to-fuselage joint required a bit of added plastic as the XIX fuselage insert is shorter than the IX bit on its wing.

The canopy required building up behind the cockpit; since the XIX was pressurized the aft area of the canopy goes down to the rails, unlike the XIV which was similar to the IX and was much smaller. A bit of sheet cut to fit and sanded to shape actually provided a better glue surface for the canopy.

Everything else fit quite well, and it quickly took on the “look” of the XIV. Painting was hassle free and the only decals I had for subjects that did NOT have invasion stripes was the old Academy XIV. As an aside, not a bad kit, just inaccurate in shape. So I use the cockpit, landing gear and other bits of that kit as spares for older Spitfire kits that are devoid of detail.

The Academy decals were mostly either out of register or the wrong color, but I was able to find the serial and squadron codes that were very close to the right color. I nearly masked and painted the squadron codes but chose to use the deals anyway. Roundels and fin flash were from my spare decals.

Summary

This was a relatively easy kit-bash. I’ve got the older Fujimi XIV as well as the Admiral/AZ XIV/XVIII kits and the new Sword XIV c/e series. This one seems to look better, but that simply could be due to my improved skills of late.

Would I do another kit-bash? Not likely for this mark. I’ve got enough XIV kits now that I’ll meet my desires for the likely future.

Thanks for looking…