Search the Community

Spitfire Mk.IXc "Beer Delivery" ICM 1:48 A fairly well-known aircraft of WWII, the Supermarine Spitfire was the mainstay of British Fighter Command for the majority of WWII, with the Mk.IX being the most popular (with many) throughout the war, seeing extended periods of production with only minor alterations for the role that it was intended for differentiating between the sub-variants. Originally requested to counter the superiority of the then-new Fw 190, a two-stage supercharged Merlin designated type 61 provided the performance in spades, and the fitting of twin wing-mounted cannons in wing blisters gave it enough punch to take down its diminutive Butcher-Bird prey. In what was no doubt considered good publicity for the war, following D-Day the the Heneger and Constable brewery donated free beer to the troops, however as stretched as the logistics chain was there was no way to transport it across the channel. Spitfire pilots and ground crew came up with the idea to fit beer barrels to the racks on a Spitfires wing, and to transport beer in adapted fuel tanks. Such aircraft often had to return to the UK for "important" duties only to return with their valuable cargo. It even came to be that an offical mod XXX was referred to for these beer mountings.The practice came to an end when Customs stepped in as the Brewery was exporting beer without a licence. Even in Wartime officialdom ruled. It does seem that even though it was not officially done after this point various squadrons continued with the practice! The Model This new tool kit arrives in a rather small box making you think they have boxed the wrong scale kit! however be assured it is the right kit in the box. The moulds from ICM look cgood and crisp. Construction starts with the Merlin Engine as ICM have managed to squeeze a full engine onto the sprues. It should be noted that if you dont want to build your model with the engine covers off then you dont have to add the full engine, though the fact it is there is great. Once the engine (or not) is in the fuselage can be closed up with a few cockpit parts and the area behind the pilots head being added before closing up. The cockpit is now built up with the pilots seat being added to the rear cockpit bulkhead. the fllor is then added joingin up the seat and instrument panel area. Once complete the whole thing is added through the bottom of the fusselage. The engine top cowling is then added along with the front canopy and main aerial. Construction then moves onto the wing. This is convention one part bottom and left/right uppers. The underwing radiators are added and the cannons are added into the bays moulded into the lower wing. The uppers are then added along with the cannon covers (these can be left off as needed). The main fuselage can then be added to the completed wing assembly. The main canopy is then added (this is provided as a one part closed, or two part open affair), followed by the rudder and tailplanes. The ailerons can then be added to the main wing, and under the fuselage the lower engine cowl. The propeller is made up from its four individual blades and added to the front. The main landing gear is then made up with the single piece mainwheel being added to the leg, then the door added on. They can then be added to the model. Last up the all important beer barrels can be made up. They can be made as normal barrels or some which were fitted with an aerodynamic front nose cone as I would imagine the drag from a pair of barrels was considerable! Mounting racks are provided. A centre line beer tank (an ex fuel tank) is also provided to add to the centreline as needed, this also comes with its own rack. Decals A small decal sheet provides marking for two aircraft know to have done these flights, the modeler will have to paint their own invasion stripes. The decals are printed in house by ICM, look to be in register and colour dense. MJ452 No.412 Sqn Royal Canadian Air Force. ML316 No308 (Polish) Sqn Royal Air Force. Conclusion There is something totally British about going to the time and trouble to send beer to fighting troops in the midst of one of the biggest battles on the Western front. It is good to see ICM providing a kit to model this eccentricity of the time, and even if you dont want to model this the kit is a fine example of the Mk.IXc Spitfire. It also seems to be available at a good price point. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

ICM is to release a 1/48th Supermarine Spitfire Mk.XIc "beer delivery" kit - ref. 48060 New tool apply to the beer barrels, not the airframe. Source: http://www.icm.com.ua/news/501-spitfire-mkixc-beer-delivery-wwii-british-fighter.html Box art 3D renders V.P.

Hi folk's,well I did promise an original Matchbox kit to go with my Revell Mk22/24 and had it down to either the Spitfire or Hurricane,due to the age these kit's are now decal's are always a risk when buying them and I've spare Spitfire marking's and none for the Mkii Hurricane.I've ordered the kit from KK so a few day's before it arrives and I'll post sprue shot's hoping for a start after the big Spit is finished.It would be nice to use the kit decal's but I have some D-Day striped scheme's which are just too tempting!

Hi folks! Finally received my Montex markings masks so managed to get this finished. It's the Airfix Spitfire XII mashed together with a spare (length corrected) Hasegawa fuselage - I'm not a big fan of the Airfix fuselage as I think it looks too 'plump'. Rudder is a spare from an Eduard IXc, wing chord reduced to match the Eduard planform. Kit box, instructions and decals were destroyed by a leaky roof back in the UK, hence the national markings are from the spares box, codes and serial are by Montex. Thanks for looking! Chris p.s. please forgive the dust - it's hard to avoid it in the desert! P.P.S. links updated to Imgur in the wake of the photobucket debacle

Two at once... Aussie spits coming up. (for the next 10 years, at my building speed) I'm building these for a customer and am enjoying the build so far. Personally, the Eduard spit kit might be one of my favorite kits to build. images hosting images hosting images hosting images hosting Thanks for looking!

Here's my 1/32 Revell Spitfire. I finished off the build late last week. It was a great kit which went together nicely. Really pleased with how it came out and especially the paint. Brushed with @HATAKA OFFICIALRed Line paints. Weathered lightly with Flory Wash and Tamiya Weathering Sets. Plenty of little errors across the model, but I'm pretty chuffed with how it came out in the end. Enjoy

Hi all This is my new finish build: an Eduard Spitfire MkIXc I can't back on the quality of this kit I have made some mistake due to a bad read of notice I use the wrong wing and I forced to use the long air intake I forgot to glue a part in the wheels bay. This part is use to glue the wheel leg on the wheel bay. I spent some swearwords when I try to add the legs But except these little problem, it is a superb kit for the one of the most beautifull plane of entire WWII And another pics in the link bellow Supermarine Spitfire MkIXc

Hi folk's well you knew a few Spitfire's would make it here! I'm going to give Revel's re-vamped 1/32 kit a go

Hi guys, as said in the chat thread picked this up at tank fest for a pretty penny. Not sure which one I'm going to make so many choices!! Only planning on making the one but time will tell... While my other build, Zulu, is in dry dock at the moment and the 109 nearly done I'm going to turn my hand to this and see how well I can butcher it Joss

Evening all My entry will be this Spitfire Vb OOB . It will be the black one 111 Sq Thanks for allowing this in Hopefully won't disappoint Martin H

Supermarine Spitfire Mk. IXc Detail Sets 1:32 Eduard As with the resin sets reviewed HERE, Eduard are really going to town on the Revell 1:32 Spitfire Mk.IXc with the releases of these four etched sets and a set of masks. 32-407 – Exterior set. Whilst not the largest single sheet set, its contents do cover some interesting areas. Namely the main undercarriage bays, with new sides, (which will require some very careful rolling to get to the correct shape), rood sections, which includes the bulge, which you will have to shape with a ball to get it looking right. The radiator faces and rear flaps are also included, along with the actuators, and several brackets, pipework and scissor link for each main leg. 32-408 – Flaps. This set consists of the flaps and their associated bay within the wing. The kit plastic will need to be carefully thinned before adding the bay sections which also include all the ribs. The flaps themselves also include the ribs, and will require a length of 1mm plastic or brass rod. Inserts are included for he ends of the flap bays and the flap down indicators on the top wing need to be cut out and replaced with PE parts that included the linkages and rod that cause the indicator flap to be pushed up. 32-912 – Interior set. Contained on two sheets of relief etched brass, on half the size again as the other, one is unpainted whilst one comes pre-painted. The unpainted sheet contains items such as the a complete replacement seat, with additional side plate and frontal detail, new and replacement fittings for the cockpit floor, foot pedals and additional fittings, wiring, bulkhead attachments and armour. The access door is completely replaced with a PE part folded to shape and fitted with the locking mechanism and crow bar. The gunsight and mounting frame is also replaced with a piece of film acting as the reflector glass. The fixed and moving sections of the canopy are provided with new frames and a quite complex handle. For those that don’t want the whole interior set, there is a smaller Zoom set which only contains the pre-painted sheet. The pre-painted sheet provides the modeller with a variety of coloured knobs and levers, new auxiliary instrument panels, new sidewall fittings, and new throttle box; the main instrument panels are also pre-painted complete with the instrument faces on the backplate. A little dab of aqua clear will give them the appearance of glass fronts. Zoom Set 33-173 – Seatbelts. This small single sheet contains the shoulder belts and lap straps for one model. They are pre-painted and etched in the new steel that Eduard seem to love these days. Very easy to use, but not always easy to get to lay down like cloth straps would do. Conclusion Eduard have really gone to town on this kit, although while there are several sets, apart from the interior and flaps, there doesn’t appear to be that many parts on each sheet. At least the modeller is able to dictate how much detail they would like to add and only buy the sets they need, but Eduard do appear to be giving less value for money lately. Review sample courtesy of

I believe the thread hit its maximum size so was automatically locked. I have had a few PM's. If you don't like the thread don't subscribe. For those who enjoyed the melting pot...knock yourself out HERE IS THE LINK TO THE 1ST THREAD WITH LOTS OF QUESTIONS, ANSWERS and PHOTOS - START here TIP: search from Google, enter the search parameters followed by site:www.britmodeller.com

Have the Revell 1/32 Mk .IIa in the stash for a while and am now inspired to build Tom Hardy's Spitfire from the movie Dunkirk. From what I can see the serial number is R9612. Having done a bit of digging around on t'aircraft with 'LC' belonged to the Station Flight at RAF Feltwell, and looking at Feltwells history this did not include Spitifes ! So to the questions: 1. Is the Spit in the film a Mk.I or Mk.II ? 2. Would adding the Barracuda Studios backdate for a Mk.I be needed ? 3. The LC looks grey to my eye not sky, but what size ? 36" ? 4. What size for the serial number R9612 ? Anything else you can think of to make it look like the one in the movie even though it may not be historically accurate. Many thanks Paul

Spitfire IXe Gun Bays (648334) 1:48 Eduard Brassin Eduard are slowly working their way through all the Spitfire variants in 1:48 and they are great kits. The gun bays are not open on the kits however. This set includes twenty two resin parts, and a PE Sheet. The set gives you two complete wing gun bays, with the guns and ammunition boxes plus the surrounding structure and new panels for the top. Some surgery is needed to open up the top of the wing, but that is fairly simple. Conclusion The kit parts are good enough if you want the wing all closed up, but this resin replacement is just so much better in terms of crisply moulded detail that it has to be worthy of consideration for the detail hungry modeller who wants to open up the gunbays Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

This photo appeared on Facebook and the last line of the inscription is giving me fits trying to figure out what it says: 127. WING. WING COMMANDER FLYING Please Advise the Wing of the "Arrival of this Bxxxxx… "? of the "Delivery of this xxxxxx … "? of the "Officer of Unit Canteen… "? 127 Wing was an RCAF Spitfire Wing. I figure it would have to a very straightforward message to the groundcrew loading or unloading the tank, to show who owned the cargo and who was to be contacted upon arrival..., or delivery..., or something else. Does anybody have a better quality image of this shot, and/or do you know what this last line says?

Spitfire Mk.IXc Late Version ProfiPACK (8281) 1:48 Eduard A fairly well-known aircraft of WWII, the Supermarine Spitfire was the mainstay of British Fighter Command for the majority of WWII, with the Mk.IX being the most popular (with many) throughout the war, seeing extended periods of production with only minor alterations for the role that it was intended for differentiating between the sub-variants. Originally requested to counter the superiority of the then-new Fw.190, a two-stage supercharged Merlin designated type 61 provided the performance in spades, and the fitting of twin wing-mounted cannons in wing blisters gave it enough punch to take down its diminutive Butcher-Bird prey. The Kit Eduard's range of Spitfire kits expanded almost as quickly as their Bf.109 range did, and is of comparable quality in terms of detail and buildability. As usual with the Profipak editions, you get the kit, some extras and a generous decal sheet. Inside the standard Profipak boxing are five sprues in a medium grey stryrene, a circular clear sprue in its own ziplok bag, a sheet of yellow kabuki tape masking material pre-cut to shape, and a nickel plated sheet of Photo-Etch (PE) brass with some parts pre-printed for the instrument panel. The instruction booklet is glossy and printed in colour, with the rear pages showing the decal options that are included in the box. There are two decal sheets included in the box, again supplied in their own re-sealable bag to keep them fresh and safe from damage. There are a number of parts that will stay in the box after construction is completed, such as a set of lower wings, tail fins, landing gear and clipped wingtips. Anyone that's an inveterate Spitfire fiddler will welcome the spares. Construction begins with the cockpit – no surprises there then. The sidewalls with their equipment are built up, and the rear frames are fitted into grooves , with the lower 'pit floor and control lines under the pilot's feet. His seat is nicely detailed with a PE or styrene armour panel behind it, and a flare rack under the front lip, plus a pair of pre-painted harnesses to keep the pilot from headbutting the gunsight in the event of a sudden stop. The control column is made of three parts and includes a linkage, with the other controls built up from PE and styrene parts, plus of course the lamination of the main instrument panel, into which the gunsight and compass fit. The completed assembly fits into the slot at the front of the sidewall, and the rudder pedals slot in from below just forward of the instrument panel frame. The opposite sidewall secures the assembly and gives it strength until it is fitted in between the two fuselage halves along with a firewall spacer part and the spinner backplate. At the rear a socket for the tailwheel is trapped between the halves, and the wingroot leading edges are added from separate parts that fit very well, from memory. The Eduard Spit includes a short spar in the lower wing for strength, which also includes a short portion of the gear bay walls, the rest being added from short sections that are installed around the opening. A choice of two upper wing halves are offered, with either a single narrow blister or a wide one, depending on which markings options you are going for. The wingtips and ailerons are separate, and are added later in the build for whatever reason, as are the radiator housings on the underside of the wing, the chin intake, and the lower nose cowling. The radiator baths have movable rear sections to allow The fuselage and wings can be mated now, and the cowling added around the top of the engine compartment, after you have built up the fishtail exhausts, which by the way have hollow tips due to some clever slide-moulding. The tail has a separate rudder and elevators that fit to the fins. The landing gear is next, and they can be built raised or lowered, the latter achieved by cutting off the tab at the end of the leg. Very little is said about how to achieve raised gear, but a little trial and error will soon result in a solution if you're not lucky enough to find out via a quick search. The tail wheel is supplied on a long rod that slots inside the fuselage and connects with the socket that was glued in place at time of the fuselage closure. The prop is provided as a single part, and is sandwiched by the front and rear spinner parts for attachment to the nose during the final stages, which also includes the single cannon barrels with the outer ports glazed over with a clear dome on most of the markings options. Canopy The canopy is supplied with separate windscreen part with a choice of rear-view mirrors, and either a complete canopy and rear section in one part, or separate parts if you want to display the cockpit open. Markings We are treated to six markings options in this kit, the decals for which are printed in-house by Eduard and are in good register, are sharp, and appear to have good colour density. Even the difficult Polish chequerboard is dead on, and the instrument panel is highly detailed, using grey for the instruments, rather than white that a great many decals use.. The options out of the box are as follows: LF Mk.IX MH712 flown by W.O. Henryk Dygala, No.302 Squadron, Summer/autumn 1944 - grey/green over light grey, with invasion stripes on the underside only. HF Mk.IX MJ296 flown by F.Lt. Otto Smik, No.312 Squadron, North Wealdon, late August 1944 - grey/green over light grey. LF Mk.IX MJ586 flown by Pierre Clostermann, No.602 Squadron, Longues sur Mer, July 7th 1944 - grey/green over light grey, with invasion stripes on the underside only. LF Mk.IX MJ250 No.601 Squadron, Italy, summer 1944 - overall bare metal/aluminium with - grey/green upper cowling and fuel tank panels. LF Mk.IXc ML135 flown by Jerry Billing, No.401 Squadron, Tangmere, June 7th 1944 - grey/green over light grey, with invasion stripes. LF Mk.IXc ML135 flown by Jerry Billing, No.401 Squadron, Tangmere, July 1st 1944 - grey/green over light grey, with invasion stripes on undersides, topside black on upper fuselage still visible. You'll need your masking skills for the majority of these options, as no invasion stripe decals are included, but from personal experience with other manufacturers, they seldom fit well anyway, so no great loss. Conclusion A welcome re-release of a cracking kit from those nice folks at Eduard. If you missed out on it the first time round, then now is your chance to pick it up this time. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

I got my mojo back! The last kit I produced (new Airfix 1/72 Wildcat) was at the start of the year. I since got married, went on honeymoon and got a promotion at work Coming back to modelling, I just didn't have the motivation to start a build. I did however try to build an Arii Cesna 172 in order to get my mojo back, but it did the opposite and destroyed it. Anyway when I finished that kit with all it's white paint, I felt like a nice camo finish build could get me motivated. I've had this kit in the stash for a while, and decided to build it. The Airfix IX isn't the best IX there is, but it builds nice, and even though there are no cockpit or wheel well details, I decided to build OOB - with the exception of a canopy mirror scavenged from my spares box, foil seat belts and a custom underwing aerial. I brush painted the kit with Humbrol acrylics, and sprayed gloss followed by matt Tamiya TS-80. Anyway, hope you like looking at some new pics of a much-before-seen subject. Cheers Jimmy

Hello there! This is my latest build that I wanted to share with you. I hope you like it. KIT: 1/48 Hasegawa Spitfire Mk.IX After market items: Eduard RAF Seat Harness. Decals: Hasegawa/Italeri Paints: Tamiya acrylics. Weathering: AK Interactive washes.

Dear fellow Britmodellers, here's my 1/72 Eduard Spitfire IXc built from the 'Profi Pack'. I chose markings for UF-Q, No. 601 Squadron, Royal Air Force, Fano, Italy, November 1944, as I wanted a change in color to my armada of green/grey Spitfires. I painted with Alclad 'High Speed Silver', which does not resemble the quality of Alclad's Aluminium lacquers; it left a rather grainy looking surface, and is reluctant to masking, as it easliy pulls off with Tamiya Tape (something that's never ever happened with Alclad lacquers before). So, while it may not be my best model, I'm happy to have it finished! Thanks for your interest. All photographs: Wolfgang Rabel, IGM Cars & Bikes. With best wishes from rainy Vienna! Roman

Hi All, I just thougt I'd share my most recent build with you all. This is Airfix's old (ish) tooling of Wing Commander Douglas Bader's Supermarine Spitfire mk.Va. It was one of their special charity boxings. It was a pretty fun build, although not the most accurate of Spitfire kits - it's certainly has some shape issues around the cockpit! Although the wings on look good. I'd build another of these old kits - but I'd have to fix that windscreen. It was (badly) painted with a paintbrush and Humbrol Acrylics and Humbrol Spray clears. I think is will be the last time I use Humbrol's acrylic paints for anything other than detail painting. Overall I'm reasonably happy with it - It's only my 2nd finished 1/48 kit in the last 10 years. Thanks for Looking! Stuart

It was only recently that I came back to plastic models since my childhood as I have my own children now and they are into planes. I've built a few of late and I really needed somewhere to stick them (as well as their bedroom ceiling) and as I have never made a diorama before, I felt it was about time I gave it a try so here goes. Bear with me as it may take me some time as I work full time and have 2 young boys to entertain. I value opinion at any level so please feel free to comment good or bad. The theme is a generic WW2 fighter base/Airfield around early summer 1941 and is going to be as much about developing different techniques and processes as I go along. Hope you enjoy how this progresses. Deano

Hi, gents. I'm building a Tamiya Spitfire Mk1. It's got some nice interior detailing, but unfortunately it's got a horrendous canopy which is distorted and thick. Are there any after market solutions? I've had a bit of a google, but so far the only option seems to be the squadron vacuum formed canopy which is already parted for displaying in the open position. I'd rather keep the canopy closed. Any advice appreciated. Cheers.

The latest batch of Eduard kits have turned up today and we have them and very nice discounted prices! In fact they are all over 20% off UK RRP! We have the Israeli Spitfire IXe Ltd Ed kit, SE.5a (Hispano engine) Profipack, P-39K/N Airacobra Weekend all in 1/48 and the 1/72 Fokker Dr.1 Profipack. http://mjwmodels .co.uk thanks Mike

My poor poor winterized Harrier hit a big snag recently, so much in fact that Ii put it back in the box for a while. To cheer me up a little, I decided to have a deeper look into my Christmas gift: 31 different decal options, but only 2 complete set of kits. I really hope that Eduard will offer more Overtrees soon! First, I thought that I should do one of the Grey Nurses, since I do have a thing for Sharkmouths... And I definitely want to do a brown/green one, and a desert one with the blue/light blue roundels and one green one with bomb racks... So, instead of botching Bobby Gibbes rather spiffy looking machines I decided to start with this to learn how to build an Eduard Spitfire. Pictures to follow! //Christer

Spitfire Mk.VIII Top Cowl 1:72 Eduard Eduard produced a resin upper cowling for their Mk. IX and Mk. XVI kits, so it's no surprise that a Mk. VIII version has found its way into the catalogue too. While not an essential upgrade, the new part is helpful if you don't fancy dealing with the seam caused by the division of the kit part into separate port and starboard halves. The part is well made and will be handy if you wish to finish your model with an exposed engine. Conclusion There's nothing much wrong with Eduard's small scale Spitfire kits, but even the best can be improved on. Naturally Eduard themselves have provided the means to enhance their kit, and with a host of resin and photo etched parts (reviewed elsewhere), this new range of kits and accessories is shaping up to be one of the premier modelling projects for fans of WWII subjects. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of