Academy 1/48 Spitfire XIVs and KMC Correction Set

 by Rafi Ben-Shahar

Academy’s 1/48 Spitfire XIVe kits has been on the market for some time, but seldom surfaces on modelling shows and on the Internet. Yet, among the Spitfire kits offerings, Academy’s kit sports the most accurate dimensions and crisp engraved panel lines. While these kits are easy to build, their lack of popularity probably stem from the bulbous appearance of the nose that harness the Griffon engine and destroys the slender and proportional outlines of earlier Spitfire marks.

Perfecting the Academy Kit

If you do attempt to build this kit, some points have to be considered. Although the overall dimensions are plausible, a few shape corrections are required to perfect your work. The KMC resin set kit addresses the flaws of the kit. In essence, some or the parts supplied ”stretch” the overall length of the fuselage. These include the spinner, engine cowling and a wide-chord tail. If you invest time and money (or have good friends), you will be able to acquire the scarce KMC kit.

Having built one kit with conversion (generously donated by a friend), I was tempted to complete my collection with the bubble canopy version. However, this time I was not up to forage around for the KMC kit (or ask for non-existing favours).

Instead, I attempted to reverse-engineer the changes brought by the conversion kit and replicate them by means of new scratchbuilt parts. It sounds more difficult than it actually was: scratchbuilt parts can be crafted by (nearly) everyone, the question being merely how much time and effort are you willing to put into a project.

Investing more time in a single project beyond the certain point means risking the loss of modelling fun. In the extreme case, one would simply get tired of the never-ending project and put it aside. That’s just where all those resin correction sets come handy.

This article was originally published in IPMS Stockholms Magazine in March 2007