Early 1945, a Spitfire XIV of the RAF 2nd Tactical Air Force is refuelled at a recaptured airfield near Eindhoven.
This build was part of my 12 Builds of Christmas project - this started as a desire to take a break from a number of very complicated builds that were clogging up my bench and sapping the mojo, instead to focus on 12 straight forward builds on straight forward vignette bases - using a production line technique for efficiency.
I started on the 12th December with the original plan to complete all the builds by the 22nd January IPMS Bolton show. As it was, the project took a lot longer, as one might expect. Instead I ended up splitting the project in half and completing the first six during February of which this was one.
The kit is by Mark 1 Models, I have built one up before, as a Belgian postwar example, so was already aware of the challenges - it is a typical short run production with some ambivalently fitting parts and plenty of filler needed. There is an impressive build in the AK Interactive 144th propellor plane book which blends parts of this kit with the much finer Eduard IX, but I couldn't bring myself to sacrifice one of those now rare Eduard mouldings and the XIV for me at least passes the 'duck' check (looks like, sounds like)!
I had originally planned to make up one of the XVIII Spitfire models (the same sprue, but different decals) however the uncertainty of the scheme colours (Mark 1 make good decals but often seem to reference dated information for their colour profiles) led me to change to this 2TAF example which is well photographed and regularly modelled.
The cockpit interior is standard for the scale, I just added belts but no extra detail as it will be a closed cockpit.
When built up, the model was left with some rather noticeable seam lines along the fuselage and a very big gap at the wing root which didn't seem to want to fit at all with the fuselage parts. The butt joined tailplanes and rudder have to be left carefully supported for 24 hours to get a firm bond.
The prop was certainly well attached to the sprue!
After a nice dose of putty and fitting the rather awkward landing gear, construction was complete and it joined the rest of the extended family.
I painted up with the new AK 3rd Gen paints. These brush beautifully but the colour choices are very suspect.
I'm definitely no colour chip connoisseur, but even to my eyes the green was just wrong - it completely lacked the olive tone of the RAF Dark Green.
Fortunately I hadn't started decals, so I repainted the green with Revell Aqua 68 with far better results to my eyes.
Decals were painless, then brushed on some Citadel Matt Varnish.
All twelve of the aircraft are to be based on my new standard base type - 10x10cm canvas boards with masked edges to provide a white border. All of my models are intended to be shown on model show displays, so having a distinctive base makes for a nice consistency and good visibility, it also makes them much more convenient for transporting.
The most iconic pictures of the 2TAF Spitfires in the Netherlands show them in very wet muddy conditions, so I made the base suitably grubby.
I planned throughout the build to add a lot of detail to the scene with figures and vehicles. I used the excellent Ray Rimes 144th 3d printed vehicles - the Bedford QLD and a start cart too.
Quality is more than sufficient for display use and the solid windows I picked out in metallics. I added decals to the tanker using spare decals from the Beacon Models Spitfires and some muddy weathering.
The figures are from Arrowhead Minatures whitemetals range, good detail but come on small standing bases that have to be cut away very carefully. One of them is holding a hose nozzle so I had the idea to make him rolling out the hose, which was formed from some folded Tamiya tape.
So this wrapped up this build which is definitely my favourite so far. Thanks for reading and enjoy the photos.
And lo the last of the first half of the twelve builds of Christmas came to a close. The remaining six will hopefully return to the bench in April for decals and vignettes.