NPL

Tamiya or Eduard? A simple build, Tamiya, Eduard's early Merlin series is outstanding. The figure included is of Douglas Bader. The whole series of Merlin Spitfires from Eduard is in its own class. That is probably also the reason that Tamiya never gave out a new version of the Mk.V. They cannot compete with Eduard.. If only M. Sulc could be persuaded to also serve the Griffon versions. ... Its is not necessary to buy the Dual Combo version. There are other versions, Weekend, ProfiPack with only one plane and not so costly.

With Mr. Sulz's (Spell the name if you can) talent for business, I would not be surprised if te missing parts are included in the separate Mk. I cockpit. It seems very complete and you can see for yourself assessing Eduard's home page, with plenty of illustrations. With all these extras, it will probably be the most costly Spitfire ever.

And you don't think that they calculated with it as part of a coming Mk. V? Of course we don't know if they will produce a Mk. V -- probably a Mk. Vb.

By the way does Tamiya not have a similar line here, as part of their way of attaching the propeller?

And if they recognize a mistake, they willingly correct it. I am afraid that I had a fight here with on of the persons behind these fine decals a few years ago, partly because he didn't understood that my mistake was due to a foreigner's not flawless command of English.

Let me make just a note about the greatest selection in decals for the Mk. I: Fündecals Spitfire Part 2. You can download the instructions from their home page. About 26 different schemes from Oct 1939 through the Battle. NPL

In the catalogue, if you scroll through it, it's 1/144.

OK, I should have deleted the Lysander part. I reacted to their forthcoming Spitfires. But no problem.

& the MkVc!

Wdell, at least two version, the initial one with two blade propeller, and the usual one. See Eduard's presentation at Nuremberg (IPMS Deutschland has a link to it).

But sometimes you have to pay in order to get what you want. Thus I didn't find the price asked for, £40 as too expensive. If you really want something, life is too short to give up an offer and to wait for another.

Not there are not that many variant of them, but scores of variants of the Spitfire/Seafire. So some basic conversions skills will be the solution.

I know ... but couldn't resist the temptation. After all, his career in the Luftwaffe ended with his opposition to the way the Germans handled the Starfighter.

Gosh, I believed that it was a Starfighter!

Got mine this Monday. Already have the Merlin-volume. First impression: Vastly superior to the similar two volumes: Robert Humphreys, Robert, The Supermarine Spitfire Part 1: Merlin Powered (Modelers Datafile, 3; SAM Publications, 2000), and The Supermarine Spitfire Part 2: Griffon-Powered (Modelers Datafile, 5; SAM Publications, 2001, although suffering from some of the same problems, such as photos of details being to small in size, and especially the limitations caused by the author deciding to stay with available (mostly) models. Therefore the models in 1:32 are excluded as non-available, which is true for the Revell reissue of the old Matchbox F.24, but not necessarily of the Pacific Models Mk.XIVc, which should be available under a new ownership. But here the problem is evident: By choosing models still in normal circulations, the volume will soon be out-of-date, as kits are issue and withdrawn all the time (how long will the new Airfix PR Mk.XIVe stay in light of the rather harsh reviews?). The same problem is just as evident when decals are listed -- supposed to be available at the time of writing, but tomorrow? And of course same thing with accessories. Here the publisher should think of the internet and the vast new possibilities offered here to get out-of-print issues, e.g. on ebay. It will be hard to better the book using classical printing options.However, It is like a new car which is old when it has left the shop. It is probably the time for publishers to review the options: Especially how to prevent a fine volume like this to be obsolete, say in a year. from now. Maybe, after some second thoughts the project was from the beginning over-ambitious. Impossible to complete. What modellers need maybe a kind of 'Trevor Snowden approach', a manual for modellers planning to build Spitfires -- any mark -- following the lead of Brett Green. Then a basic text but with constant updates via the internet. But all of this does not distract from the fact that Franks' two book are most inspiring. I wouldn't miss any of them.