1:48 Spitfire MkXIVc

The seat and the belts are the most noticeable things under the glass

When someone looks over a finished fighter, the eye always slides into the cockpit. The first thing it registers there is the seat with its belts. On British machines the shell is light, resting on a frame, and four straps run across it. That detail costs the modeler the most work, and it is a shame to let it disappear under carelessly sprayed framing.

The set covers the glazing on both sides. The inner face of the frames is painted in a dark interior shade, which visually deepens the cockpit, so the light straps and the metal shell stand out. If the frame stayed clear from the inside, the whole space would light up and the depth would be lost.

The package holds two glazing masks figured for the outside and the inside and two national insignia masks. The roundels are sprayed, so they lie directly in the paint and take the final matte coat without visible outlines.

The Mk XIV was the first production Spitfire with a five-blade propeller and a Griffon engine. The longer nose, the big propeller and the deep fin made it a completely different machine from the earlier Merlin-engined versions, even though the name stayed the same. The c designation refers to the armament arrangement in the wing.

It pays to lay the mask on dry first and check whether the outline sits on the molded frame. A small deviation can be shifted while the film has not yet fully adhered, and only then are the edges pressed down with a wooden stick so that paint does not run under them.

The material is self-adhesive, machine-cut, and it leaves no glue behind when removed. The cut is based on the Academy kit in this scale; the model itself is not included.