Airfix 1/48th scale Spitfire MkI - work in progress Options

[John]

Right, I was pleasantly surprised by the postie delivering one of these this morning and as a result everything else is now on hold while I delve into the box. First impressions – very nice indeed!

The box itself is the first one I’ve seen that begins to stamp something of Hornby’s mark on the Airfix brand. Not only does it have the Hornby logo but it also features a sticker assuring us that it was “Packed in the UK” and a new style of Flying Hours token.



The instructions follow the well established house style and have a separate, nicely printed colour camouflage and markings guide.

The new fuselage parts are nicely tooled and are obviously based on the old MkVb parts, but they’re not exactly the same. There’s less interior detail moulded on the cockpit sides and the locating pins are in slightly different locations. Interestingly the fuselage has the cutting guides for the arrestor hook panel moulded in – I wonder if this means the new fuselage moulding will replace the older Vb moulding in the Seafire III/Spitfire Vc kit?



The new wings feature very fine engraved detail and separate flaps. I’ve never been convinced of the benefit of this in Spitfire kits but its there if that’s what’s important to you.



Minor parts are obviously influenced by the older kits, especially the interior which can trace its origins back to the Vb kit. There are both MkI/II and V oil coolers, so from the box I reckon you can build a I, II, Va or XIII.





Decals are well printed and in register. I’ve had my trusty magnifier on them and they seem to be a bit different from the usual Airfix practice in that they seem to me to be half-tone litho printed, rather than screen printed. When I first looked at the kit this morning I thought the codes and fuselage band for the 118 Sqdn MkII had been printed in the same colour but on careful examination the bank looks to be a light blue, so a good match for BS381:1930 Sky Blue.

There are 2 clear sprues in the kit, which I haven’t opened yet, but one contains a delightful teardrop canopy!

I’ll do some comparisons with the Tamiya MkI as the build progresses but first impressions are very good indeed.

John