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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

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

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

Greatings Just arived home from vacation. My last destination was Island VIS i took military toor there and i found RAF monument. Hope you will like this link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/croatia/8529443/Croatian-island-of-Vis-remembers-World-War-Two-role.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/uknews/8526425/Second-World-War-veterans-gather-for-memorial-service-on-the-Croatian-island-of-Vis.html It was Spitfire No 352 squadron. Think i Know what will be my next build . I would like to build one in 1/72 scale, so my question is which brand has best Spitfire in 1/72 ? Thank you !

Hi guys, So if you don't know, despite my name 'The_Lancaster' and my profile being the tail sash from a 306th BG B-17, I don't build aircraft! Armour is my thing as it were as its 9 times out of ten a simple case of building, painting, weathering, getting the tracks on (very basically). Aircraft to me have always been too fiddly to build a bit, paint it, glue it in, repeat. I just like to get the whole thing together then let lose with the airbrush later. However, I just so happened to have a airfix starter set spitfire come across my desk and i thought, what the hell, I'll give one a go (amongst piles of uncompleted and disaster areas of half-built aircraft). And then I finished it! I know right! My first aircraft since I was five! (Sixth Former right now). For the build I dispensed with the pleasantries (I kept the brush but the paints were for the bin) and used a mix of Tamiya Acrylics and Humbrol Enamels. The decals were applied over Klear and then sealed under another coat. Weathering was a simple process of following the panel lines with thinned raw umber oil paint and then wiped away with a dry or dampened brush of thinners in the direction of airflow. I then tackled the exhausts by airbrushing white then black just after the exhausts to create the effects of lead deposits. Though the decal sheet literally was the roundels, codes and tail sashes (missing all stencilling etc.) I'm quite happy still with the appearance of my first aircraft! Thanks for looking! Sam

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

We're waiting for our preferred supplier to get the latest Eduard kits as they will be plenty cheaper than Hannants. We've put them in our future release section with the prices we expect them to be. The kits are the 1/48 Bf109G-4 Profipack and Hellcat Mk I Weekend. The original 1/48 Spitfire Profipack (IXc Late) Profipack has been re-released and we'll be restocking on them too. The 1/72 Spitfire IX triple set (Boys are back in town), I think is out later in the month and it's also in our future release section with provisional price. If you are interested in any of the new kits, please visit the new release section of our website and enter your email in the box provided. If you want more than one of any kit, you will need to let us know that, so we can get extra in. http://www.mjwmodels.co.uk thanks Mike

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

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?

Just trying to get to grips with Flickr, so I thought I would try and share some pictures of my current project Fingers crossed. It's going to have a worn out and faded paint finish, so I have done a bit of pre shading on the panel lines. The old KP wheels are a bit naff, so I found a pair of Aeroclub metal ones, which are a little nicer. I want to have the canopy open, so I set about chopping up the kit part, and found an old vac form replacment.

Hi everyone, let me present to you my 1/72-Spitfire Pr. 1G as operated by the PRU in Spring 1941 in St. Eval. Some photos of the construction and photos of the real thing as well as some very helpful discussions can be found in the WIP-thread ( http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235011939-spitfire-pr-1g-172/#comment-2540126 Historical background: The German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau had arrived in the French port of Brest in March 1941 after an Atlantic Operation against convoys. The two ships represented a major threat to British shipping if they would leave port for the Atlantic again, so naturally the British tried to keep a constant eye on them. This was the task of the PRU Spitfires at St. Eval. When the sky was clear, blue Spitfires PR IFs would overfly Brest at high altitude, when the sky was overcast, the pale pink Spitfire Pr IGs would try to sneak in flying just below the clouds where their unusual camouflage would hopefully conceal them. During their stay at Brest, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were harassed by British air attacks and as another Atlantic operation was considered too dangerous, they finally returned to Germany via the famous Channel Dash in February 1943. Autobiographical background: When I started university in the late 1990s, I immediately began to search the university library for anything related to military aviation. This was in no way related to the courses I took, actually, military history was rather frowned upon among the teaching staff and the students. So I kept secret what treasures I hauled from the library, it was a bit like lending out porn or other secreta. However, following a personal passion turned out to be good way to learn how the catalogues and the library worked, something that definitely paid off during my studies. Among the first things I had found was Alfred Price’s “Spitfire at War” which includes both pink Spitfires: the Pr. IG and the FR.IX. These unusual subjects and the stories about the “dicer-missions” of the PRU immediately fascinated me. Nevertheless, I never built a model of a pink Spitfire in these days, because at least the Pr. IG would have been difficult to model without a dedicated kit or a conversion set and decals. Additionally, there were, as always, so many other interesting subjects to build. Much more recently, my interest switched back to WWII aircraft and I discovered that AZ had produced kits for the Pr. IG and the FR. IX. I bought both and finally, decided to do the earlier pink aircraft while the FR. IX will become a standard IX . The model: Ingredients: - kit: AZ Spitfire Pr. IG - additional parts: Airfix Spitfire Mk. I (oil cooler, cockpit door, airscrew and spinner (IIRC) - vac-formed canopy: Falcon -paints: Tamiya (black base and home-mix PRU Pink made from a lot of white and very little hull red) The kit is one of AZ’s earlier short-run Spitfires and the same sprues are used for the whole Mk. I-family, therefore there are some inaccuracies. The only things, that distinguish the Pr. IG-kit from the other Mk. I-kits seems to be the inclusion of a vac-formed canopy with the armored windscreen and the PR-bulges as well as the specific decals. The kit is a short-run product, the cockpit assembly was somewhat unclear and fit is not perfect. On the positive side, however, it looks very much like an accurate Spitfire to me, and it has fine surface detail. R7059 by all likelihood had a Merlin 45 and a circular oil cooler, but the AZ kit only includes the semi-circular cooler of the Mk I. The Airfix Mk. I, however, does include it (or at least the “Mk. I/Mk. IIa”-kit and, I guess, the Mk. Va). The vac-formed canopy by AZ is a bit softly moulded and I did not succeeded in making it fit right. The Falcon canopy looks better, but I couldn’t make it fit either (I am not very experienced with vac-formed canopies and obviously the canopy was designed with a another kit in mind). That is when I decided to build the Spit with an open cockpit although this meant cutting the cockpit door open (another option would have been to insert a pilot figure to show the aircraft taxiing with the canopy open and the door shut). The Airfix kit donated the open cockpit door because it has nice (if a little heavy) detail on the interior side. The airscrew and spinner are also Airfix parts, if I remember correctly. Both kits come with different airscrews and spinners and I tried out several combinations. The cameras: AZ’s instructions indicate a split pair of ventral cameras with both cameras slightly offset from the vertical (e.g. like on the Pr. XI). According to the literature, it seems, however, that the G had two perfectly downwards facing cameras, not to take overlapping high altitude photos like on the Pr. IX, but one camera each for different altitudes plus the oblique camera for very low altitudes. The idea behind this camera outfit was apparently that the Pr. IG always operated just below the cloud base and therefore had to be flexible to adjust to cloud levels at different altitudes. On the model I drilled three holes in the fuselage (two ventral, one on the port side) where I had previously beefed up the fuselage with putty and plastic sheet on the interior. After the model was painted, the holes were painted black and a lens (or glass cover) punched out from thin clear plastic closed the hole and was fixed with Future. On the starboard side, I scribed a small circle to indicate a covered oblique camera window. Painting and weathering: As described in the WIP-thread I tried out a black-basing technique to achieve a slightly patchy, irregular paint scheme. It was fun trying out, but I believe a simple pre-shading with some random patches would have done the same job more quickly. Anyway, the idea was not to create a super-weathered, abandoned wreck, but even if the PRU aircraft were well-cared-of aircraft, they would still be exposed to the elements. The photos also clearly show some fuel, oil and dirt accumulated in the panel lines on the forward fuselage. Oil spills on the bottom of the fuselage seem to have been near inevitable on Spitfires. My interpretation of PRU Pink is an only slightly reddish off-white, which I mixed from white with only very little Tamiya Hull Red. After applying a coat of Future, the kit’s decals were used and they worked fine. Nevertheless, I almost ruined the model at this stage by applying too much Mr. Mark Softer. This turned out fairly aggressive and permanently wrinkled the decals at some points and attacked the paint coat. You can still see some of this effect on the wing roundels. You will see no wing guns on my model. Based on the literature one would expect guns on the Pr. IG, this was one of the features telling it apart from the other PR-Spitfires. However, I could not see any traces of them on the available photos. The gun muzzles were certainly not covered with the red canvas patches familiar on the Spitfire fighters. Maybe the PRU used more permanent covers painted in PRU Pink that do not show on the photos. I just don’t know. So without any further ado, here are the photos. Any comments are welcome.

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

1/72 Eduard Supermarine Spitfire Mk.IX first CAD picture: https://www.facebook.com/161026690575664/photos/a.909009385777387.1073741841.161026690575664/909012812443711/?type=3&theater

ICM is to release a 1/48th Supermarine Spitfire Mk.XIc "beer delivery" kit - ref. 48060 It's reported to be a new tool kit. Source: http://www.icm.com.ua/news/501-spitfire-mkixc-beer-delivery-wwii-british-fighter.html Box art 3D renders V.P.

Hello, I have been musing with starting a Mk.IV Spitfire, namely BS491 used by No. 542 Sqn RAF at Gibraltar in 1943. I have some questions regarding this particular bird: What would be different inside from standard Mk.I/Mk.V cockpit Wing reinforcement strips - use them or remove them from kit? Antennae wires - which ones to use, if any? The mast is clearly visible on photos Kit instructions suggest it was overall PRU blue, while "On Target Profile No.8 - Photo recce Spitfires" states it was an "Unidentified Dark blue, possibly Dark Mediterranean blue"? Please take a look at photos I have managed to find (below), and give me any opinion on these matters? source: Site du 350ieme Squadron

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, All In January 2017 I decided to restart old Revell's Spitfire Mk. 22/24 kit, which I started around a year earlier, but gave up temporarily due to its poor fit and lack of detail - and the most important, lack of idea, how to paint it. This time however it was most of all to be an exercise in rescribing, scratch-building and riveting (using RB tool and must say it was fun) - did this all for the very first time in such a large scale, so didn't want to spoil any better or more expensive kit... Therefore added here some more details: upgraded wheel wells and new landing gear covers, SAC gear legs, resin wheels, formation lights, Eduard's seat belts and dashboard, CMK's resin gunsight. This is really a vintage kit and it shows. The workshop thread is here: I was hoping to get a result, which would look nice in the second row on my shelf, in Southern Rhodesian markings. Have I won? Well, she's not perfect, please judge yourself - I hope you like it Best regards Hubert (The prop'n'spinner are "bluetacked" only and moved a bit during the photo session... sorry for that).

Hello, I have been musing with starting a Mk.XVI Spitfire, namely "Rongotea" - s/n TB675 used by No. 485 Sqn RNZAF at Lind (Germany) in 1945. I have some questions regarding this particular bird: What were the colors of the spinner? I have seen all possible combinations of red (or black) with white (or yellow) so far. Was this bird used operationally with this colorful spinner and all the emblems? Please take a look at photos I have managed to find (below), and give me any opinion on these matters? source: Key Publishing Ltd Aviation Forums

The model I packed away ≈ 15 years ago. A quick image history to catch up to the present state of construction. My first use of MR. PAINT The test color came out much lighter. I guess due to the lack of primer. Camera color looks off between photos, I will investigate. My own masks... Not too shabby, although I'm always tense while taking off the masking tape.

Hello, This is the HobbyBoss Spitfire Vb trop. The main issue with the kit was the windscreen that is not suitable for a tropical version. I grabbed one from the Revell 1/32 Spitfire IXc (I will later convert it into a PR XI). Also the seat, wheels, side door,propeller and guns have been replaced by after market parts. This aircaft was fittted with a internal mirror, not often seen on Spitfires. Hope you like it. Cheers. The actual aircraft (June 1943)

I finished this model two days ago. It represents one to the aircraft that was delivered to the then Partisan Yugoslav War Air Force. Here's the picture . Enjoy.

Hi All This is my first post here, so welcome, Mates Some time ago I decided to restart Revell's Spitfire Mk. 22, which I started around a year ago, but gave up temporarily due to its poor fit and lack of detail - and the most important, lack of idea, how to paint it. This time it is most of all an exercise in riveting (using RB tool and must say it is fun) - doing this for the very first time, so didn't want to spoil any better or more expensive kit... Anyway, going to add here some more details from the scratch: upgrade wheel wells and gear covers, add formation lights - this is really a vintage kit and it shows. In the end I hope to get a result, which will look nice in the second row on my shelf in Southern Rhodesian markings. That's how she looks like now: filed almost smooth, riveted, with some new panel lines, new position lights, drilled out exhaust stacks, upgraded cockpit, wheel wells ... In search of references I decided to buy a book about Rhodesian late mark Spitfires (Malloch's Spitfire: The Story and Restoration of PK350, by Nick Meikle), describing the restoration of Malloch's Spitfire F Mk.22. What a wonderful book, I tell you. There are several photos and drawings showing the camouflage of Rhodesian Spitfires after the delivery in 1951. They have been repainted from High Speed Silver to something, what is called here as High Altitude Blue. Have already found information somewhere in the archives of this Forum, that Humbrol 28 (and therefore Gunze H311) would be a match, but I'm looking at these colors in the Web and don't see any blue hue. What do you think, Mates - will glossy light ghost grey be a better match? Best regards Hubert

Hello all, I've been working on and off on this one for the past few months and I've decided to call it done. Admittedly, it's not the greatest rendition of a Spitfire the world has ever seen. I did it primarily as a practice piece to get back into the feel of working with inks, which I have not worked with in a very long time though used to regularly. I also used it to practice working in a monotone style. I'm reasonably pleased with it as an exercise considering how long it's been since I've worked routinely with ink as a primary medium. It's on paper and about 90% ink with touches of acrylic paint and coloured pencil in the mix. It takes up the bulk of an A4 sheet of paper: For comparison, here's a photo I took of a Spitfire that I used as a basis for the piece: Any and all comments are welcomed.

Hello, I have a simple question regarding exhaust pipes (both fish-tail and round), on long-nose Merlin spits (VII/VIII/IX/XVI). Were exhaust pipes from these "Long-nose Merlins" identical to Mk.XII, Mk.XIV, or maybe even both of these Griffon variants? Aleksandar

Hi everyone, I'm John. I've looked on this site on and off for a couple years. Why? Well after about a 40 plus years gap, I've returned to make a few military models in 1/144 and 1/72, and as a surprise I got a 1/72 Spitfire (resin, based on a Boultbee Flight Academy Spitfire that flies in local over my garden quite often). After plastic modelling back in early seventies, I moved on to R/c planes then helicopters. That then got stopped as I started target shooting and after starting my apprenticeship got my Firearms certificate. So now 40 years later it's time to consider early retirement and get back to modelling. Something my wife has just promoted again with the Spitfire kit. Resin with metal parts it looks a challenge, and the biggest issue at the moment is what colours to paint inside and out etc. So, lots of site searching and probably lots of questions as well, so sympathy for you all as I ask questions that I probably shouldn't. Can't wait ( only excuse is time use, as I still work full time at the moment, but will force the model into it) . Thank you in advance