Spitfire XIVe Race #80, HpH Models 1/18 by Peter Castle, (ebook, KLP Publishing 2018)

Spitfire XIVe Race #80, HpH Models 1/18 by Peter Castle, (ebook, KLP Publishing 2018)

KLP Publishing is one of the new online publishers, based in Australia, specialising in digital books or ebooks, for the scale aircraft modeller.

Their ebooks are intended to exploit the digital format, and as such are not limited to an arbitrary page count; they are as long or as short as required to cover the topic properly. They feature large-format images and large font sizes to reduce the need to zoom in or squint.

The first three titles have proved to be a success: Building Brick’s F-86 Sabre in 1/32 Scale: A Scale Tribute to K.J. Bricknell, Building Mac’s Birddog in 1/32 Scale: A Scale Tribute to Macaulay “Mac” Cottrell, and Building the Wingnut Wings AEG G.IV Late in 1/32 scale, are all available in their website.

You can just visit their website, choose your ebook, pay easily by Paypal (even if you have no account – as a visitor/guest) and they send you by e-mail a direct download link plus free access to all future improvements. More details here.

The all-new 565-page eBook details Peter Castle‘s award-winning conversion of the HpH Models 1/18th scale Supermarine 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.

One of the great aspects of digital publishing is the inclusion of a huge amount of pictures. Peter took this model to Scale Model World 2017, Telford, where he walked away with the top honour of “Best In Show”. Those who saw the real model say that photographs do not do to the model -and its maker- justice. However, this extensive e-book is the next best alternative, written by the creator of the model, Mr Peter Castle.

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. Its construction is presented 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.

One major difference between this ebook and the more mainstream “how-to-build” books, is the levels of detail and specificity to which the author goes in explaining his procedures. The step-by-step emphasis is wonderful and incredibly helpful to anyone building a model at this level. All of his techniques are clearly and thoroughly explained and are supported by superb photos. And, happily, the names of the specific materials used are given. There are also several useful and practical in-depth tutorials and direct links to products or services required for the build. Peter has even included his mistakes and mishaps with some difficult or new techniques, as the modeller can equally learn from them too.

KLP Publishing and Peter Castle are to be congratulated on making this exceptional book available. We have no hesitancy in heartily recommending this book to all builders of large-scale aircraft models, regardless of their skill level. We believe any model builder, regardless of genre, would find this book idea generating and inspiring.

You may never build a model (exactly!) like this, but the inspiration, the clever modelling techniques and the wealth of step-by-step photos included will help you to advance your hobby to many, many steps ahead.

Highly recommended!

The book is $22 Australian dollars as a downloadable PDF from here. Please check out the sample pages in the photogallery.

Online publishing is now starting to find its way into the modelling community: The newest title, available in KLP Publishing “Build Guide Series” is about the 1/32nd scale Focke Wulf Fw 189 kit from HpH Models. Entitled “Building the HpH Fw 189 ‘Uhu’ in 1/32 Scale”, and written by Jan Gabauer, this eBook will take you through the build process for this complex multi-media kit. It is now available here.

An important note from Kevin Futter, KLP Publisher: “…Focusing on eBooks allows KLP Publishing to take a different approach to traditional printed modelling books and magazines. Without the cost-driven page-count limitations imposed by the printing process, we’re free to use larger type sizes that are friendlier on ageing eyes and to make images larger than typically found in print. Each ebook features no more than three photos on any given page, making them large enough to avoid having to zoom in to see them properly…”

The pdf digital quality is high enough to allow you to zoom in without loss of quality or print any page if needed. Considering some small WIP images in printed books or magazines, in which you can see very little detail, even looking through a magnifying glass, this is an invaluable advantage indeed.

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