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Supermarine Spitfire Mk.I/II Photo Archive Number 26 ISBN: 9781908757401 Wingleader Publications The Spitfire was the champion of the Battle of Britain along with the Hurricane and a few other less well-known players, and it’s an aircraft with an amazing reputation that started from the disappointing Supermarine Type 224. The gull-winged oddity was the grandfather of the Spitfire, and despite losing out to the biplane Gloster Gladiator, designer R J Mitchell was spurred on to go back to the drawing board and create a more modern, technologically advanced, and therefore risky design. This was the Type 300, and it was an all-metal construction with an incredibly thin elliptical wing that became legendary, although it didn’t leave much space for fuel, a situation that was further worsened by the Air Ministry’s insistence that four .303 machine guns were to be installed in each wing, rather than the three originally envisaged. It was a very well-sorted aircraft from the outset, so quickly entered service with the RAF in 1938 in small but growing numbers. With the clouds of war accumulating, the Ministry issued more orders, and it became a battle to build sufficient airframes to fulfil demand in time for the outbreak and early days of war from September 1939 onwards into the Battle of Britain. By the time war broke out, the restrictive straight sided canopy had been replaced by a “blown” hood to give the pilot more visibility, although a few with the old canopy still lingered. The title Mk.Ia was given retrospectively to differentiate between the cannon-winged Mk.Ib that was instigated after the .303s were found somewhat lacking compared to the 20mm cannon armament of their main opposition at the time, the Bf.109. As is usual in wartime, the designers could never rest on their laurels with an airframe like the Spitfire, as it had significant potential for development, a process that lasted throughout the whole of WWII, and included many changes to the Merlin engine, then the installation of the more powerful Griffon engine, as well as the removal of the spine of the fuselage and creation of a bubble canopy to improve the pilot’s situational awareness. Its immediate successor was the Mk.II with a new Mk.XII Merlin, followed by the Mk.V that had yet another more powerful Merlin fitted, which returned the fright of the earlier marks’ first encounters with Fw.190s by a similar increase in performance of an outwardly almost identical Spitfire. This twenty-sixth volume in the series returns to the early Spitfire, revisiting the Mk.I and then covering later Mk.IIs that the author didn’t have enough content to justify a full book to itself, whilst trying not to rehash old photos and information on the original Photo Archive that detailed the Mk.I from prototype to the Battle of Britain. As such, this has been designated a Special Edition that is a companion to the initial Photo Archive #1, which is still available and can be purchased here if you’ve not already got one. You may recognise the name of the author of this edition, as Richard Alexander is one of the people behind Kotare models, who have uncoincidentally recently released a spitfire kit in 1:32. The profiles have been penned by his colleague Ronny Bar, who is well-known in the hobby. Some of the photos are staged and are of official origins of course, but there are also a large number of candid shots, very few of which are in colour due to the era, and a small number are of battle-damaged aircraft with holes in their rear end for the most part, one upended on the airfield after a difficult landing and possibly over-zealous application of the brakes. There are also several photos of the pilots in and around their cockpits, some of whom didn’t make it through the war. This edition is also unusual because of its Reference Guide that fills the rear pages of the overall 72 leaves, helping the modeller navigate the minefield of subtle differences between the early Spitfire Mk.I and Mk.IIs, many of which are enlarged portions of photos that are accompanied by informative captions specific to the elements under discussion. A visually impressive book with plenty of reading material into the bargain that will have you coming back to it again and again. It will be of use whether you have #1 or not, although it will probably result in more sales of the earlier volume. There are a growing number of Spitfire volumes of various marks in the Photo Archive series, which will build into an invaluable reference for Spitfire modellers. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Hi all Being fortunate enough to live in the same city as the head office of Kotare Models, I received my pre-order delivery last Thursday evening. Decided, despite many other models on the bench, to move this one to the top - might even get it finished this year (since the birth of my daughter 8.5 years ago I've started many, finished 2....). Has been a pleasurable build so far, nothing out of the ordinary with putting it together. Only thing I have struck is very tight tolerances - so those familiar with Wingnut Wings will know to keep gluing surfaces free of paint. I used thin strips of Tamiya tape to mask areas that would be glued (bulkheads-to-floor for example). Spent a few hours painting, masking, then painting again. Not so sure on some of the colour call-outs - but knowing the people behind the model I'm sure the references and call-outs are accurate - just can't personally bring myself to paint the pilots armour plate black for example. Modelling is a lot about perception I guess (looks like a Spitfire, smells like, etc, etc - in my mind, early Spits have always been green-ish...). Anyway, here is where I'm at so far with the cockpit - a few things still to add, flat coat to apply overall and gloss details to be added to instrument panel. Also still to tension the cables (although I did debate the point of them given the limited visibility - used 0.2 braided fishing line coloured with a silver sharpie - slightly too large but it was either that or .1 which seemed a bit thin...). I've also assembled the wings, wheels, tailplane and fettled some other minor parts ready for final assembly. Cockpit painted with Tamiya paints, some mixed to the Kotare Models guidelines, some not. SMS Silver used for the fuselage. Mig/Ammo and Vallejo paints used for the details. Citadel washes used to cover up my mistakes... Changing cameras... Just goes to show how we can't trust colour images (let alone black and white war time images) for colour accuracy - same lighting, two cameras - one Canon, one FujiFilm - yet the tones, shadows, colour cast, etc, are completely different. Hence I model for enjoyment and don't fret too much about the colour shades and the correct number of rivets! Cheers Bob

Next Kotare Models (link) kit project may be a 1/32nd de Havilland DH.103 Hornet or/and Sea Hornet. Source: https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/hyperscale/a-bit-of-a-surprise-from-tuesday-s-ipms-meeting-he-t531675.html V.P.

Hi All After being chastised (quite rightly, too) in another thread it seems that some of us would like to throw our hat in the ring for a Wish List from the newly announced Kotare Models company, so here goes. www.kotare-models.com Heres what we know so far: They are made up of some of the key players from the now-defunct Wingnut Wings. This company had a reputation for extremely high quality …. Wait…wait … I’m gonna say it … kitsets (!). They seem to be producing in 1/32 scale (at least for the time being) 2 images posted to their home page seem to indicate a subject hint of some kind. And that’s about it so far. So what would you really like to see boxed in high quality in 1/32 scale? And/or What do you think the subject images could indicate? Although this is meant as a fun post, try to keep within limits of what you would actually like to build and what you think would actually make some money for the company in order to stay in business. Everyone’s opinion is valid, so no arguing please. Over to you