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Supermarine Spitfire Mk.Ia "Special Markings" (KPM0276) 1:72 Kovozávody Prostějov 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 a bit of a damp squib in the shape of the 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 numbers. With the clouds of war accumulating, the Ministry issued more orders and it became a battle to create enough to fulfil demand in time for the outbreak and early days of war from September 1939 onwards. By then, the restrictive straight sided canopy had been replaced by a “blown” hood to give the pilot more visibility, although a few with the old canopy still lingered.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. The Kit This is a new 2021 boxing in KP's line of Spitfire kits from 2016. As is usual, they have produced a number of boxings that vary in decals and parts, giving the modeller plenty of choice which one(s) to get. The kit arrives in a small end-opening box, and inside are three sprues in grey styrene, a clear sprue, decal sheet and A5 instruction booklet, with the decal options printed in colour on the back of the box. Detail is excellent for the scale, and clever engineering has resulted in a modular kit that can squeeze additional versions from the plastic just by swapping out some of the parts. There are plenty of unused parts on the sprues including other set of wings, different props, spinners, masts, a chin intake filter; and exhausts which suggest different marks can be made from this kit, or you will have a fair few spare parts. Construction begins with the cockpit, the front bulkhead gets its instrument panel, with the instruments being provided as decals. The seat back and head armour attaches to the rear bulkhead and this is fitted to the floor members. The control column is added followed by the seat. Belts are supplied as decals. At the front of each fuselage half blanking plates go in for the exhausts and then the cockpit can go in the and halves be closed up. Moving onto the wings the left and right uppers can be added to the single part lower wing making sure the small parts for the wheels wells go in first. The radiator and oil coolers go on. The wing can now be fitted to the fuselage and at the rear the tail surfaces and rudder are fitted, along with the tail wheel. The main gear can be built up and added along with the chin intake and prop. On top the canopy and aerial mast is added. Markings There are four decal options in the box, From the box you can build one of the following: Decals are printed in-house and have good registration, colour density and sharpness, with a very thin carrier film cut close to the printing. Conclusion Another great release from KP with excellent detail, and plenty of choices. Recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Hello, this is the new release Kovozávody Preostejov Lavochkin La-5FN in markings of the Slovak Uprising, 1944. I had high expectations following the release of Kovozávody Preostejov's Mustang series, however, this kit looks as if it's been produced by a different manufacturer. There are no locating aids, some flesh present and heavy sprue gates. Having said that, the kit goes together without any major issues. Kovozávody Preostejov have done the 'open canopy' option in a very unusual way, providing both clear hoods (that slide over each other) as one massive piece. You will need to paint the underlying canopy rails from the inside - not an easy task. This is still a very welcome new release as it's the only modern, up-to-date tool of an La-5FN. Here's how mine turned out, built from the box: All photographs by Wolfgang Rabel, IGM Cars & Bikes. Thanks for looking!