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Building Race #80 in 1/18 Scale is Now Available!

I’m pleased to announce that Peter Castle’s Building Race #80 Spitfire Mk XIVe in 1/18 Scale is now available!

This 565-page eBook features Peter‘s award-winning conversion of the HpH Models 1/18 Seafire 47 to represent a Spitfire XIVe—specifically, Race #80, as flown by James McArthur in the Tinnerman Air Races at Cleveland, Ohio, on September 4th 1949.

Peter rebuilt much of the airframe, scratch-built most of the detail parts in aluminium and brass, and covered the model in aluminium litho-plate for an authentic natural metal finish. Peter’s model won the National Senior Champion award (among many others) at Scale Model World in Telford in November 2017, and its construction is presented here in forensic detail.

Not only does the book contain a blow-by-blow account of every stage of the build, including how Peter fashioned many of the intricate details, but also:

  • an illustrated account of the history of TZ138 by noted aviation illustrator and author Juanita Franzi;
  • a 12-page tutorial on Turning Small Parts with a Rotary Tool;
  • a 33-page tutorial on Designing Your Own Photo Etch Parts;
  • a 16-page tutorial on Skinning Models in Metal;
  • a 15-page tutorial on Forming Metal Around Compound Curves;
  • bonus: seven full-page walkaround photos of a Spitfire Mk 19 seat.

This book is a must-have for aspiring scratch-builders, Spitfire fans, and any modeller interested in learning from the best.

The book is $22 Australian dollars as a downloadable PDF from our store. Please check out the sample pages below:

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