Airfix Spitfire Mk XIV Review - Best Spitfire Mk XIV Kit? 

It’s not a terrible kit, it’s buildable, and with a bit of work you can get a decent result. I think the main issue is that for a lot of people, the XIV is the epitome of Spitfire development. With not a lot to choose from in the current market for this variant at that scale, it felt a bit disappointing. As I say though, a bit of work and you can still get a good likeness.

Airfix could do better and seem to be trying in some respects,to be fair(the Buccaneer is a beauty)..I’ve got this model being a Brit and spitfire fan.Airfix release a lot of different spitfire variants that other companies don’t and that’s there clever angle to attract the Spitfire crowds.If only they really went for it with a future mark and stun us all.. Great video series you’re doing on older releases which are well worth watching.Thank you and all the best from Blighty.!🇬🇧👍

the problem, at least where i live is that, if you want griffon powered spitfire, you can choose only academy, airfix or special hobby

I built one, and honestly I prefer its heavier panel lines to the Eduard because they show through the dark contrast of an RAF scheme better. The Eduard requires a Newton/Winston oil wash to poke through any dark colour: A skill that is unavoidable on the Eduard with all but the lightest colours, or with silver schemes. By contrast, the Airfix lines are just right to do a wash, but tolerate skipping that if you undercoat the paint in black. The Airfix upper center nose piece requires extreme prevention in shaving/trimming all the bulkheads, to not fatten the fuselage to a bad fit, and some plier work is required to replicate the "rear step", but it preserves two perfect circles on top while the Eduard method preserves only one... The rocker covers/oil coolers fitted well for me if you don't dark wash these areas. The one thing I don't like with the Airfix is that the clear parts look a bit coarse, and I always use Eduard Mk XVI parts on it (or the Rob Taurus vacu form equivalent):This is because I feel the broad Airfix windscreen does not allow enough fuselage "shoulders" on either sides, and I am a stickler on windscreens. I'll concede the Eduard is generally better if you dark wash it all over, but I try to go easy on the washes and prefer black basing: Deeper lines actually perform better with black basing, so a black based Airfix is about even with a dark washed Eduard in my book. The Airfix clear parts are the biggest issue by far for me.

A good looking kit for an unusual Variant. Surface detail is done well, based on your review and close up, however, having to fill in some of those problem areas you'd lose some nice detail, depending on filler. I've been trying Vallejo putty and minimising detail loss. It would be interesting to see A video of your camo paint of this kit. I recently bought a ground personnel kit " with dog mascot" off of Amazon. I didn't realize ICM was out of Ukraine, it requires a lot of glueing of people, but has nice detail. It definitely helps to see a kit review at this level of the build. Thanks

I love this kit. The problems that some have pointed out are minor. Yes a little extra effort is required to deal with the fact that it is not a Tamiya or Eduard. A builder with a good repertoire of basic skills should end up with a pleasing result. In any case, I'm very pleased indeed with my final product! And, yes, if Tamiya or Eduard do this aircraft I will certainly be interested.

I built this kit a couple years ago. It's a great subject but for a new kit the fit and finish is below standard compared to other new releases from other manufactures. Pretty much experienced the same issues you pointed out in your video and would not build it again or recommend it to a fellow modeller. I was really excited about Airfix's new Canadair Sabre release until I read/watched some build reviews pointing out many fit and finish issues. So will be passing on that one. Airfix really needs to step up their game. They do put out some very good kits but not many.

I bought an early production unit of this kit (pre-order) and part B01 was so oversize as to be unusable. There were lots of other issues too, so it ended up in the bin. I purchased a later kit after some of the problem parts had been "corrected" and while still a frustrating kit, it built up OK.

This kits moldings look reminiscent of the P40b kit, were they released near together?...

All kits are buildable. You just have to be a modeler to build it. IMHO kits that fall together are boring. That's why I like Classic Airframes kits.

In conclusion:Airfix did everything right except the kit itself.It's substandard for a 2019 tool.But there's no other option for 1/48 Griffon Spitfire.

What exactly are todays standards? Even their (Airfix) brand new Avro Anson kit has some weird fitting problems mostly seen on cheap kits from the early 70’s. Airfix has it’s charms, but it also has a very awkward reputation when it comes to maintaining a steady quality. Their kits are just way to expensive imo.