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Here is my entry for the group build, which is a Spitfire PR Mk XI, thought to be EN685. This aircraft was captured by the Germans and operated by 'Zirkus Rosarius' whose role was ro display captured allied aircraft to Luftwaffe units. The base kit is Hasegawa's Spitfire Mk IXc: I will dress up the cockpit with an Eduard cockpit Zoom set and will use the Aero Club Fuselage correction kit . To convert the Mk IX to the Mk XI I will be using the Airwaves conversion kit and and the Cutting Edge Zircus Rosarius Special Missions Part 3. (I have already built the Hawker Typhoon and the P-51B Mustang): Let the build commence!

As nowadays I pretty much only build the Supermarine Spitfire and its variants in 1/48 scale, to make life a little easier for myself I've decided to throw everything I have on the go into one Spitfire superthread that should see me through to the eventual end of what in my head I call The Project. This will entail building some 50 different Spitfires in 1/48 scale. It won’t be an exhaustive trawl through every marque and operator, just ones that take my fancy. I've realised today that I'm causing myself unnecessary stress by overcommitting to group builds (I'm sure I'm not alone in this); not just that, but I'm forcing myself to do subjects just to fit a theme of a given group build (with Spits there's a lot of flexibility in this regard), when often I'd just like to give myself the freedom of the stash. So, inspired in part by @ModelingEdmontonian's Hawker Hurricanes Around The World project, going forward I'm going to try to have all my Spitfires under one roof, as it were, and dip in and out of GBs as and when I feel like it. The Supermarine Spitfire was my first love when I started modelling, first time round, back around 2009. For a while I built nothing but Spits in 1/72 scale. Then I got into some other stuff, took a decade off, came back to it during the lockdown (like you do), did some other stuff and recently came back to Reg Mitchell's finest, albeit in failing-eyesight-friendly 1/48 scale. I've also been enjoying learning more about the rich history of this most iconic of aircraft. I already have an Eduard Mk Ia in the bag, and at the moment I have the following three builds on the go: Spitfire Mk Vb EN951/RF-D, flown by Squadron Leader Jan Zumbach of 303 (Kościuszko) Squadron during 1941 A very well-known Polish Spit, actually the third Vb flown by Zumbach bearing a variation of his personal “Donald Duck” artwork. This is the new-tool Airfix kit, which is very decent apart from a very poor gluing join for the wheel oleos. I had glued them on and masked them prior to painting only for them to snap off again. I’ll find a way. This build is OOB apart from the decals which are by Techmod. The only change to the plastic has been the deletion of the wing strengthening strakes. I’m nearly there with this one, it’s my first attempt at some meaningful weathering, so far some wing root wear using drybrushed acrylic paint, an enamel wash and a light oil wash. I’m going to have a go at some chalk weathering next before finishing it off. The WIP to date is here. Spitfire Mk IIa P7308/XR-D, flown by American pilot P/O William “Poppy” Dunn of 71 (Eagle) Squadron, summer 1941 At a less advanced stage I have this IIa as flown by American pilot P/O William “Poppy” Dunn of 71 (Eagle) Squadron during the summer of 1941. The kit is Eduard’s Ia Overtrees set with a motorised undercarriage unit swiped from a Tamiya Mk I kit and a Coffman start bulge from an Eduard Mk V kit. I’m using decals from 3D-Kits’ “Rotol Spitfires” sheet; it gives the option of either pre-August 1941 Temperate Land Scheme or post-August 1941 Day Fighter Scheme, proposing that the airframe flew with 71 wearing both colour schemes. For reasons I explored in the WIP I feel this is unlikely, and I’ve decided to go with DFS. It’s a box of bits and pieces at the moment. Seafire Mk IIc MB218/S-A, 809 Naval Air Squadron FAA, HMS Stalker, Operation Avalanche, September 1943 Finally, this is the Seafire Mk IIc that I’m doing for the Salty Sea Dog GB that I’m hosting (I’m going to continue the GB WIP, of course). This is the Special Hobby kit, which I’ve been finding a bit of a bruiser compared to Airfix and Eduard. I’m building it as a striking shark-mouthed, clipped-wing Seafire that flew from HMS Stalker during the allied landings near the Italian port of Salerno in September 1943. Having lost one of the resin cannon from the kit I’m waiting for some brass replacements to arrive from the big H, then I’ll be able to press on. For the same GB I’ve also planned a Seafire Mk 46 and a Spitfire Mk Vc Trop as flown to Malta off USS Wasp via HMS Eagle, which in my heart of hearts I know I’m unlikely to be able to finish by the end of April, so they may well find their way here. So, there we have it. I'm also going to be a little more disciplined by having one build on the go at any time, rather than serial starting and spinning proverbial plates, so my aim is to firstly drag the Zumbach Vb over the line. We'll see how it goes! Thanks for looking in. Tony

What, we’re here already?! I think it would be foolhardy of me to commit to my hoped-for recce Spitfire double build just now, so I’ll just put this one here for the moment. I’ll be building Spitfire PR Mk XIX PS934/WY*R of 541 Squadron, based at RAF Benson in 1950. I’ll be using Airfix’s 1/48 kit with decals from Xtradecal. Actually an airframe I’ve built before in 1/72 (again Airfix, new tool at the time) some 12 or 14 years ago: Hopefully now I have a bit more experience under my belt I’ll make a better job second time round.

This my second from the superb “Southern Star” Dual Combo boxing after my 92 squadron Mk.Vb - I always wanted to build an Aussie spit but every time I have nearly got to it - something came up to put me off. So now I have done it and I am reasonably pleased with the result - though I should learn my lesson and do ALL of my research before I start. Based on research carried out by the genius Peter Malone and some self interpretation of pictures found on the net, I modified the Eduard colour scheme and made a couple of minor mods to the kit. Basic plan was for a standard Tropical RAF colour scheme of Dark Earth/Mid-Stone over Azure Blue but with the Mid-stone overpainted with Foliage Green. The white tail and wing leading edges were apparently (I hope) added shortly before the squadron moved north to Kiriwina Island for operations. Also at this time it appears that the Mk.II IFF was replaced by the Mk.III IFF which dispensed with the wires from the fuselage to tail to be replaced by a dipole aerial under the starboard wing. I hate those wires so a dipole was dutifully and gratefully added. Also, the pipes for the gun heating system were removed from the rear of the exhaust leaving unfilled holes in the cowling - suitable holes were duly drilled (Well after painting - should have done my research earlier!)In all the pictures I could find - none showed any stencilling so I was lazy and left them out - I can feel a rash of pictures coming along to prove this wrong now! I wasn’t happy with the Eduard suggestion for the colours of the Votes filter sides and the spinner. They both look like similar but slightly different greens from the Foliage Green to me and my interpretation of the pictures. I tried to make the whole thing look a little but scruffy and dusty but as I noted to a friend - that often makes it look not so well done! There was one howler which was too late to correct but no model is perfect so it will have to stay as it is. Anyway - again a super kit from Eduard and again the removal of the carrier film from the decals was fairly easy and effective. Will definitely be building more! Cheers Malcolm

So… I’ve been toying with the idea of committing to a third build for the Salty Sea Dog for a few weeks. I thought I would do an Air-Sea Rescue Spitfire Mk Vb, but I discounted that fairly early on as, funky yellow codes apart, it’s another Day Fighter Scheme plane, I’ve done one of those recently. I also considered a French Aéronavale Seafire Mk 15 in EDSG over grey, but I’m not sure I’m ready for another Special Hobby bruiser just yet. At the back of my mind, though, lurked the idea of one of the carrier-launched Spitfires that was delivered to the besieged and beleaguered island of Malta during the 1942 “club run” operations. I’ve been reading a bit about these and it was a truly exceptional episode in the history of military aviation. However I was a bit wary given the sizeable can of worms that seems to get cracked open every time the subject of the colour of these birds is brought up. The airframe I’ve decided to go with is Spitfire Mk Vc (Trop) s/n BR126, whose story was remarkable even for a club run Spit. BR126 was one of the Vc’s transported to the Med by the American carrier USS Wasp for Operation Bowery, the second such operation to involve this ship, following a personal appeal by Churchill to Roosevelt. BR126 was embarked upon Wasp at Clydebank on 3rd May 1942, at the time painted in Temperate Sea Scheme and bearing the codes 3*X. All the Bowery Spitfires were fitted with 90 gallon “slipper” fuel tanks to give them the necessary range to reach Malta. The fuel feeds for these tanks had proven very unreliable during previous ops, to the extent that a the engineer who had designed them was despatched to the Med to sort the problem out. Sure enough, on taking off from Wasp on 9th May 1942, Canadian P/O Jerry Smith found that his auxiliary tank fuel feed was malfunctioning; there was no way he would reach Malta without it. The Spitfires were not equipped for carrier deck landing, having no arrester hook. The logical, and sensible(?) thing to do would be to ditch the aircraft in the sea and wait to be picked up; this, indeed, was what the pilots had been advised to do if encountering problems once airborne. However Smith, not wanting to consign a brand-new aircraft to the depths, somehow managed to land the plane back on deck (on the second attempt) with only a few feet to spare, an extraordinary feat of airmanship for which the American pilots on board Wasp unofficially awarded him his US Navy pilot’s wings. Smith asked for a replacement tank to be fitted and permission to continue alone, but this was denied. Accounts differ on whether Smith returned to Gibraltar with Wasp or flew there from Wasp the day after his famous carrier landing. The caption on the following photograph suggests he flew there, but I'm not sure of its provenance. There is an account of the landing here, although the bit about Smith flying on directly to Malta is incorrect. https://www.flightjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/No_Tailhook_Spitfire.pdf Jerry Smith being feted by American colleagues on board Wasp after his landing, his hand on his new US Navy wings: During its short stay in Gibraltar BR126 was repainted in Dark Mediterranean Blue over Sky Blue. With this new paint scheme and now bearing the codes GL*E for 185 Squadron (though see below), Smith and his aircraft were embarked on HMS Eagle, from which he flew to Malta on 18th May with 16 other Spitfires as part of Operation LB. The reason I’ve chosen this airframe, apart from the fact that blue is my favourite colour, is that it neatly sidesteps pretty much all those “what kind of blue, when, where and how applied” questions. My main references are The Spitfire Story and Spitfire: The Documentary History by Dr Alfred Price and the relevant Colour Conundrums articles by Paul Lucas (I am hugely indebted to @2996 Victor for kitting me out with a copy of the latter), which I hope we can all agree are pretty solid. The kit I’m using is one from Eduard’s Spitfire Vc “Per Aspera Ad Astra” Dual Combo. Now, here it gets a little bit murky. One of the OOB options is identical in every respect to the BR136 as illustrated in Colour Conundrums – same-ish colours (although "Sky" rather than Sky Blue undersides?), same yellow GL*E codes in the same style – except for the serial number, which is shown as a different aircraft, BR294. The Spitfire production data on airhistory.com presents the following for the two airframes: BR126 FF 25-3-42 8MU 28-3-42 RAF Abbotsinch 12-4-42 USS Wasp 3-5-42 flown off Wasp but landed back 9-5-42 '3-X' returned to Gib. flown off Eagle to Malta 18-5-42 185Sq 'GL-O' 18-5-42 f/l due glycol leak CB 15-6-42 FSgt RJ Sim safe SOC 31-7-42 FH39:30 BR126 First flew 24/3/42, to 8 Maintenance Unit 28/3/42, to RAF Abbotsinch [Glasgow] 12/4/42, loaded onto USS Wasp 3/5/42, flown off Wasp but landed back 9/5/42 coded ‘3-X’, returned to Gibraltar. Flown off HMS Eagle to Malta 18/5/42, to 185 Squadron coded ‘GL-O’ 18/5/2, forced landing due to glycol leak, beyond repair 15/6/42, Flight Sergeant R J Sim safe [later KIA over the Channel with 616 Squadron, 15/6/43 - a year to the day after his forced landing on Malta], struck off charge 31/7/42, 39:30 flying hours. BR294 FF 17-4-42 8MU 17-4-42 USS Wasp 3-5-42 flown off Wasp to Malta 9-5-42, to 185Sq 'GL-E' 30-4-42 Crashed on landing Hal Far 2-7-42 FSgt DG Reid inj SOC 3-7-42 FH55:10 BR294 First flew 17/4/42, to 8 Maintenance Unit 17/4/42, flown off USS Wasp to Malta 9/5/42, to 185 Squadron code ‘GL-E’ 30/4/42, crashed on landing Hal Far 2/7/42, Flight Sergeant D G Reid injured, struck off charge 3/7/42, 55:10 flying hours. …all of which would suggest that BR126 wasn’t coded GL*E, but GL*O… and that GL*E were the codes on BR294, which met its end nearly a month before BR126 after flying from USS Wasp on the same morning in early May, the difference being of course that BR294 made it to Malta, which BR126 didn’t, not just yet anyway. Ordinarily that would be the end of the matter for me: BR126 was GL*O… but for the existence of these photographs of the two Spitfires after their respective demises – BR126 quite clearly carrying the codes GL*E, and to my eye at least BR294 looking more like GL*F. The only quibble in all this is exactly when BR126 received its codes; when BR294 flew from Wasp it would have carried a “number*X” code, the same as BR126, and must have received its 185 Squadron “GL” code on arrival in Malta. Lucas suggests that BR126 already had its “GL” codes when it flew from Eagle. There are a few possibilities here: Gibraltar ground crew were aware of what codes were now needed on BR126 and they painted them on before it was embarked on Eagle. Lucas is wrong and in fact BR126 flew from Eagle to Malta without codes, receiving them on arrival. BR126 was originally coded GL*O but was given a new GL*E code sometime before its demise in June. The data on airhistory is just wrong. This is the bit I'm going to have to chew over. Anyway, this is how I plan to model BR126: how it looked as it left Eagle’s deck. probably GL codes, all four cannon, 90 gallon slipper tank, nice new paint job as described by Mr Lucas (who helpfully supplied Vallejo paint references – I may be veering away from my faithful Humbrol enamels for this one), very minimal weathering. I can make the serial number decals work – I have the “2”, the “9” upside down will give me a “6”, and with a sharp blade and a steady hand I hope to extract a “1” from the “4” – twice! However, BR126's s/n's are rather ""blockier" in appearance, I may have to do something with that. If you’ve made the time to sit and read this stream of consciousness, I’m grateful. Hopefully I’ll get onto this soon, once SSDGB builds nos. 1 (WIP) and 2 (yet to start, but should be a relatively quick build), and another couple of projects are out of they way. There should be time, and hopefully not at the cost of either of my two planned Reconnaissance GB builds. Thanks for looking in! Tony

I have just completed my Christmas present from Mrs-G, the amazing beautifully engineered Airfix 1/24 Supermarine Spitfire Mk IXc kit. It was a joy to build. Disappointed with the small images generated by Flickr, any way of getting them to display full size?

Built from the 1/48 Eduard "Spitfire Story: Southern Star" Dual Combo boxing. Spitfire Mk.Vb trop ER821 of 92 San in Tunisia 1943. This kit was superb and was just what I needed - something easy to build after many a struggle recently. Built pretty much as per the instructions, I cannot remember any articular problems, apart from maybe a slightly dodgy fit of the huge tropical filter - but nothing too serious. I chose this set of markings from the box since I have a background Neville Duke and/or 92 San theme going. Colours started out as Mr Hobby H71/72 for the Dark Earth/Mid stone but they have been modified a fair bit by oil washes and filters. The underside was Humbrol 157 based on research found on this very site. This was the first time I have tried the "new" Eduard decals with the removable film. I have to say I loved them as it enabled the markings to be chipped and weathered a little. I found them fairly easy to work with but did have to mask and spray a few repairs here and there. As to the colours for the squadron codes - well there are a few reasons to doubt the blue colour but there are also reasons to believe it could be right too so I just went with it. All in all I am pleased with the outcome and recommend this excellent kit! Cheers Malcolm

Hello Everyone, Hope all are having a great time with family and friends during the holiday season.... I would like to share few pictures of my recently completed Spitfire. This one was Tamiya's very old 1/72 Spitfire Mk1 kit. Very nice kit and cheap. Great for a relaxed week end build... Enjoyed this build.... Still some work to be completed, Lights were not painted when I took these pics. fixed now. OOB build. Marking as per instructions not sure if it is real… Actual restorations look different… Thanks for watching Mukund

Spitfire HF Mk.VIII - 1/48 Eduard Profipack. 32 Sqn, Foggia, Italy 1944. A bit of a diversion from my usual area of biplanes and airliners, but I can't resist a Spitfire and have become addicted to Eduard's 1/48 kits since building my first one last year. I've got a general theme of trying to build a range of Spitfires to show the differences between various marks, and an HF High Altitude fighter was high on my list, despite the wing extensions spoiling the look! However, I think the Azure blue & Medium Sea Grey livery make up for it, as helps to show the pure shape of the rest of the aircraft, and I kept the weathering very light. I bought this at the Telford show last month and it went straight onto my workbench. An absolute pleasure to build, and my last completion of 2022, It is a bit difficult to photograph the interior after completion, so I took a few shots of the cockpit module before inserting into the fuselage. Next up I'll probably do a clipped wing LF Mk,Vb, to park alongside it. Thanks for looking, and Happy New Year! John

Hello all, This is my latest build, Tamiya's 72nd spitfire built in USAAF markings, it's an aircraft from the 52nd FG. The model was painted with AK real colors acrylics. Tamiya enamel washes, tamiya weathering powders and a silver pencil were used for weathering. Eduard PE was used for the interior and landing gear doors. Kits world decals ref KW172244 were used. PS: sorry for the pictures, my camera's flash burnt so I am using my phone.

My first Spitfire in 1:32. The kit was nicely detailed, but suffered from fit issues mainly on the wingroots. I first attempted to place a spreader, but after adding the cockpit I noticed it widened the fuselage enough to make the roots meet the wings. Decals were the best part of the kit, they conformed to the panel lines without the need for Micro Sol. I did use it to make the lower roundels conform to the many bumps of the lower wing. Here are the photos. Hope you guys had a nice Christmas!

Just got these tiny wee things from Messrs. Kingkit for a bit of Christmas fun.

Hot off the bench, this one was finished yesterday and the glamour shots taken today. I built it as part of a small [unofficial] PR Spitfire group build in the WIP section. I also built it as this aircraft was flown by F/L R. Garvey when he outmanoeuvred a pursuing Fw190 such that it crashed into some trees. Garvey was credited with the kill and received a Bar to his DFC for the action. Here's the WIP. TL;DR The Airfix kit builds without too much trouble. As I was building an early PR.XIX I needed to build it as unpressurised which required some adjustment to the rear canopy and windscreen. There were also other airframe adjustments required, but none too onerous. The markings were painted but I used decals for the stencils; the overall approach was based on representing the aircraft was it would have looked on 6th October when Garvey returned from that sortie. The pics... Garvey survived the war and remained in the RAF. Sadly, he was killed at Shawbury, England in January 1948 when his Mosquito crashed during landing. Cheers.

After building (but not getting bored of) lots of Bf 109s and Fw 190s, I decided to pick this 1:32 Spitfire Mk.IIa from Revell. I read about its inaccuracies, but they don't detract the fact that the aircraft will, most likely, look like a Spitfire. I'm aiming for a start past December 6 of this year.

As my early Mk I is nearing completion my thoughts are turning towards my next Spitfire build. I had thought to do a very late marque variant, probably the F Mk 22 or 24, but have decided instead that any self-respecting Spitfire collection needs a classic day fighter scheme, sky-spinner-and-band Mk V in its line-up. The airframe I have chosen is a fairly well known one – for 20 years or so it was the box star of Airfix’s 1/72 Vb, first tooled in the 1970s: Spitfire Mk Vb EN951/RF*D, flown by Squadron Leader Jan Zumbach during 1943. EN951 was originally issued to No. 133 “Eagle” Squadron in June 1942 and flown by Lt. Don Blakeslee, an American, before being transferred to No. 303 “Kosciuszko” Squadron in April 1943 to be flown by Zumbach, a Pole. This airframe was in fact the third Mk V to be flown by Zumbach, coded RF*D and painted with his personal “Donald Duck” emblem. It is a well photographed subject. Zumbach on the left: At one time the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight had their Mk Vb painted to represent this airframe, in fact I have a little bit of history with it, Ten or so years ago I went to a Spitfire “technical day” at RAF Coningsby. This was outside the flying season, so the BBMF planes were in various states of stripped-downness for winter maintenance, and I was able to get up close to them in the course of a very interesting day. Here’s me with said Spit on the day: And a shot of the same aircraft during a different visit to Conigsby: Zumbach himself was a colourful character. He began his military career as an infantryman, but qualified as a pilot in 1938; unfortunately he was unable to take part in the defence of Poland against German invasion due to a broken leg sustained in a flying accident, but his unit evacuated to France where he flew the Morane 406 and the Curtis Hawk. He was shot down in June 1940 but escaped unscathed. The following week he travelled to England by boat, and was one of the founding members of No. 303 Squadron in September of the same year. Flying Hurricanes during the Battle of Britain he chalked up eight kills and one probable. He was shot down again in May 1941, but again was unharmed. By May 1942 he was Squadron Leader of his unit, and was the first allied pilot to come up against the Fw 190. His war ended rather ignominiously when he spent a month as a prisoner of war, having accidentally landed the Auster he was piloting behind enemy lines due to a navigational error. After the war, under a Swiss passport (his Germanic surname comes from his Swiss grandfather) he made a living around Africa and the Middle East as a second-hand aircraft dealer, smuggler and mercenary. Zumbach died in slightly shady circumstances in France in 1986; an investigation into his death was closed by order of the French authorities without public explanation. No. 303 Squadron was one of the most storied units of the wartime RAF. Unlike squadrons made up of young, inexperienced, newly-trained British and Commonwealth pilots, 303’s Polish pilots with their combat experience and aggressiveness (it’s fair to say they had an axe to grind with the Germans over the invasion of their homeland) made them a formidable fighting group, and they scored the highest number of kills of any squadron during the Battle of Britain in their Hurricanes (despite joining the battle two months in), before converting to Spitfires in January 1941. Here they are with EN951: Anyway, that’s the background. The kit I’ll be using for this is the new-tool Airfix Mk Vb, which apart from the decals I’ll be building OOB. @stevej60 is very kindly sorting me out with decals, as the Techmod sheet I had in mind now seems to be discontinued. I'm going to have a look at the kit during the weekend. Thanks for looking in.

I've finished - at last ! - two more kits, the Airfix F. Mk. 22 and the SMER Dewoitine D.520, which had been nestling quite comfortably in one of the stash boxes for some time. And they weren't in any hurry on the bench, either. The Smer kit proved to be a bit of a struggle to get it out of the box and into shape - and it shows. The Airfix spit? Well, given the paint job makes it look like it was left outside one bitterly cold morning in January 1947 and the frost on it sparkles in the bright morning sunlight, instead of a nice smooth all over hi speed silver, it hasn't ended up too badly. (I did lose the will to live with the stencils and didn't put them all on) I must have made enough spits, hurricanes, me 109s, Focke Wolfe 190's, mustangs and zeros as a child to not be the slightest bit bothered about making another, but a chance visit to Aldi and some of their £2.99 kits several years ago meant I have a spit to build. It's the Airfix spitfire Mk 22 out of the box, in the box scheme for 603 (City of Edinburgh) squadron spray painted in Hycote BMW titanium silver. Which gave the sparkly bits. I think I should have used Halfords nissan silver, which I did on a previous build and looks a lot more like the finish on the box art for the kit. Oh well, you live and learn. Tamiya X7 red was used for the spinner, oh I do like Tamiya paints, it went on in one coat, fully covered the primer, didn't need a second coat. It was OOB, well except for the seatbelts I hadleft over from something else, and a pair of very lovely quickboost resin exhausts. I finished it in a coat of Xtracrylic gloss varnish for the decals, and then another glossy coat of Xtracrylic varnish. The decals went on like a dream, incidentally. There was also an attempt topaing some panels in varying finishes, but I didn't want to overdo it. Now the Dewoitine D. 520. It's a Smer kit. If that means anything to others, it'll probably mean what I found, so so fit, poor detail, absolute basic cockpit, and a canopy that not even canopy masks could prevent looking like I'd painted it free hand after a lot of Scotland's finest falling down water. The raison d'etre for the build was a magazine article. Which described a build of a Hasegawa D.520 re issued by Hobby 2000, in Free French colours, based in Lebanon in 1942. (Model Airplane International, July 2022 and August 2022) I thought I like this, I wonder if I can do the D.520 I've got like it? You'll see I didn't. Essentially, as far as I can make out, the real aircraft were captured by the Free French when they and other allies re took Lebanon and Syria in 1942. Which may explain why the Cross of Lorraine roundels are added to rather than replace the French roundels. The real plane was painted in a champagne colour, but the nearest I could find to that was a hycote Ford Ivory white colour, which actually doesn't look too different to the paint used in the magazine build. The spinner - described by Smer as off white - was indeed painted off white using the off white paint from the ghost of Kyiv kit. The propellor is interesting. I took the kit propellor off the sprue to paint black, but haven't seen it since I did that. Wherever I put it, I can't find it. Was I going to give up without a propellor? Nope, I did what real modellers did and raided the spares box, and found a propellor that kind of looks like it might be the kit one, but I think it might have come from an airfix spitfire. It looks alright to me, but to others probably stands out like a sore thumb. The attempt at weathering was done using humbrol enamel tan washed over the kit using a brush dipped in turps, I'm not satisfied really but it's a brave attempt, I think. I used a set of Berna decals which contained Cross of Lorraine roundels, and I have to say Berna decals' decals go on like a dream. I didn't need a gloss varnish to put the decals on, the Hycote rattle can paint was very glossy, but I have painted it with a coat of eztracrylic matt varnish. On the bench now is a Yak 11 "Moose" in Austrian Air force livery from RS models.

Hello folks. I am modelling the Tamiya Spitfire Vb in 1/48 with an Aboukir filter and am likely to produce it as EP689, mount of Sqn Ldr Stanislaw Skalski. This is clearly a popular subject with many models on show from a Google search. However, I have a question. Take a look at this image: And also this: I'm heading into dangerous territory here, trying to draw inferences about colour on an 80-year-old black and white image but if you look at the tone of the spinner in comparison to the tine of the colours in the roundel and fin flash, is the spinner really red as one tends to believe? I wonder if it is possibly roundel blue? Am I certifiable? Thanks, Neil

Another lock-down blow-in with another 'Aldi Special' Airfix Mk1 in 1/72nd 😀 Like half the country (it seems) I rediscovered model making during lockdown after something like a 20 year break. After following many threads on here and a few attempts all with these 4.99 kits this is the first that feels like some progress is happening. Still lots to improve though but all good learning. Some obvious innacuracies - the Print Scale decals were pretty bad and I had to make a last-minute change due to half the decals being out of register. I realised too late that the K should be either sky or white (probably the latter) but I didn't have the heart to mask that off and re-paint. This was my first attempt at freehand camo and it's really not tight enough in this scale. I'll mask next time. I totally mis-read how the harness terminates from reference so will do that properly next time. Some things worked though especailly using different varnishes on various panels - some are satin and others matt which makes it look more interesting in-hand.