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Having got back into modelling a few months ago and slowly progressed an old Novo kit of a Gloster Javelin I figured it was time to start a new kit. As far as I can remember I have never actually built a Spitfire and so, when I was in the model shop getting tape on Friday, and saw the Eduard Spitfire I picked one up. So far, the detail is just brilliant and the parts all just slot together. The difference from the Javelin could not be greater! some sprues and the cockpit tub. 20200111_111739_Film2 by OutcastJoel, on Flickr

The Spitfire is complete! This is the new tool 1/48 Tamiya Spitfire Mk. I. The first completion for 2020, let's hope I can keep up with this pace! Just over four weeks from start to finish. Some oils, exhaust stain and a few water colour pencil marks. I haven't enjoyed a build like this one in a long time. The weathering was kept to a minimum as N3200 only flew once due to it being shot down and crashing on a beach of which the photos are well known. It flies again nowadays. Hope you like it. Cheers, Mick ...and a moody one.

There goes the siren that warns of the air raid There comes the sound of the guns sending flak Out for the scramble, we've got to get airborne Got to get up for the coming attack Well the mojo has taken a godawful battering this year, I've now got projects queueing up to get onto the SoD, (sorry you can't come in in those - they're trainers!), and builds queueing up for stickering on the markings production line that was formerly known as my kitchen. I hoped to relight the fire with an undocumented build as my last two WiP's have stalled, so I quietly sat down in the corner and got on with an Airfix 48th Lightning, which although substantially well on its way also has hit the buffers. How to cure this malaise I ask? (and it is a genuine but not rediculously serious malaise in the scheme of things; I'd been whingeing about shingles and feeling run down in my previous WIPs and blood tests have confirmed virtually a lack, as opposed to a deficiency, in my Vitamin D levels so I've been put on a horse-tablet dose of that for the next 6 months to see if it can lift my mood and stop me feeling so unwell all the time. Oh and because I'm self-employed and work virtually every waking hour, I also got prescribed some regular breaks and holidays so lets start taking them regularly too!) The news that Revell were releasing an Iron Maiden themed boxing of their 1/32 Spitfire II made my eyes light up with joy though. Having been about 5 years too young to see them in their infancy at one of my regular goto teenage pubs, The Ruskin Arms in East Ham, I jumped onto their rollercoaster ride in the early 80's, seeing them at Hammersmith Odeon and Wembley with regularity plus a trip up to Donnington for Monsters of Rock shortly after passing my driving test. OK now I have to see them at the O2, which to me has as much soul and life as Sainsbury's bacon, but it's still Maiden! Now on their last tour the opening song Aces High was accompanied by a 90% scale model of a Spitfire; OK a bit of an ambiguous mark of Spitfire and one that would keep rivet-counters awake all night sweating, but it was a Spitfire. As the on-stage version was what I wanted to model I hatched a plan to use the decals and the Eddie pilot figure (Eddie is the Iron Maiden mascot) from the Revell boxing with the Hobby Boss Spitfire Vb I had in the stash and that had been panned for it's rear fuselage shape issues amongst many others. Now the stage Spit has a 4 blade prop, two early style oil coolers but no radiators, 20mm wing cannon and a frickin' monster as a pilot so I couldn't see how HB's facsimile would detract from the Spittiness of this build, but once I had started building the kit up I looked at Revell's painting instructions and found that the stage Spits didn't have a genuine camo pattern applied (despite well-researched serials and codes), and that has proved too much for me; so I am now decorating this as the Mk 1 from the Aces High single cover. OK I know it's a Vb (sort of) and it's going to be painted as a Mk.I but from this day hence we're not going to speak of this again - got it! http://warbirdsnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/single12_aceshigh_b.jpg Another piece of the jigsaw as to why this is just a fun build with no hang ups is that I am building this as a gift for a friend who I am seeing on 18 December, so timings are tight. Also my buddy is not that much of a plane geek as to notice, despite one of his other besties being an airline pilot (hopefully he doesn't show it to him!). I hadn't planned to run a WIP for this but now that I'm ahead of my schedule I think I can do some mini-updates to show what I've done so far. The boxes and stickers just because we should........ Now I never ever ever ever ever put pilots in my kits, well not since years back, before I discovered Brett Green, then BM and hopefully proper and better modelling, so figure painting is not my forte. I started the construction/painting with the cockpit and with Eddie himself. I am well chuffed with how Eddie came out btw, even if self-praise is feint praise. Although not getting quite the attention my normal 'pits get I'm happy with this for a quick and dirty build. All painted with Tamiya Acrylics and given a Future wash. OK as we're in a rush here's where we're at now. Fuselage is buttoned up, wings attached with "special aeroplane glue" (thank you Taaj), seams sorted, Halfords rattle cans rattled, some black lines to infuriate folk and the first coat of Tamiya Sky for good measure. Anyways 8 days to go and I think we're on track. Anyways it's time to Run to the Hills (or more like climb the carpet hill to Bedfordshire) so until the next one, be good...... Chris

Dear all; If I may ask your help, please confirm or correct my understanding based on reading the various antenna threads here; Spitfire EN824 (Mk.Vb) manufactured in May 1942 and lost the following month would have had only the IFF wires, tail plane to fuselage. Spitfire MK324 (Mk.IX) manufactured in February 1944 and lost two months later would have had no antenna wires at all. Many thanks. Mark.

Hi all. Next out of the gate after the Raiden is the ubiquitous Spitfire. This one will be a Mk.I built as N3200 from the new Tamiya kit; I couldn't go past the black and white wing undersides. The photos of this one are well know as it crash landed on a beach in Dunkirk on its first mission while on Operation Dynamo. I get to keep the weathering to a minimum on this one as it didn't last too long! Always with the box art. And of course the marking options Previously I'd remove one part at a time when assembling the kit, now I've switched to removing a whole bunch of parts for sub-assemblies. I find that it's a lot faster when it comes to cleanup (minimum with this model), paint and assembly. Who'd a thought? Cockpit first. There's no need for aftermarket here as it's amazing straight from the cardboard. Pics are a bit out of order but you get the idea. My F-35 pilot reckons he'd give it a go. The fit is ridiculously amazing. I've been a bit dubious about the supplied masks from Tamiya. Never fear, a fresh #11 scalpel blade and they fit really well. The A3 camo plans have a good use. Cut them out and you can mark the camo scheme with a water colour pencil over the base colour. Here it's Mr Color Dark Earth. Second colour applied after using Blu-tac sausages to make the camo pattern lines. The green is Mr Color Dark Green and the no walk lines were sprayed and masked before putting colours down. As wasn't happy with the colours so I mixed a 50:50 mix of the earth and green and then dusted it over the topside. The first photo below shows it applied only to the left side and the following photos show the final effect. Gloss coat and then stickers. This is the state it's in at the moment. MIGHT... finish it over the weekend. Hope you like it. Mick

Greetings, During my research for my future Spitfire builds, I decided to compile a chart of all basic, military, 'official' versions from a scale modeler's point of view (based on major external feature differences). main categories are: Merlin ('short-nosed'), Merlin ('long-nosed'), Griffon ('short-nosed') and Griffon ('long-nosed') machines. I would like to hear your opinions if I forgot something, or I have made an error somewhere (e.g. are the Griffon Seafires exactly coupled to their appropriate Spitfire counterparts?) This is far from complete, as the vast Spitfire variants transcend my knowledge, as well as the variant range I intend to build (the reason for making this table in the first place). It will be arranged as an editable open-source, and always available on Google Docs. Edit Oct 2019: I have revised the table, and made it simpler for input (just color the appropriate field green to mark it as a "historically possible". Important notes: This is a simple variants guide, aimed at scale modelers interested at differentiating external features of the Spitfire, or thinking of building some other variant not enclosed in the box without major kit 'surgery'. It is not intended to be THE ultimate chart containing every feature of every Spitfire produced. Performance is also not the part of it, as e.g. You cannot state the power of an engine without specifying the altitude it is recorded, which complicates things immensely... Please refrain from "Oh, this is pointless" type of comments. If You have anything constructive to add, You are more than welcome to do so. And please write Your name in the Contributors section. Please refrain from adding or deleting rows/columns in the table. If You have a suggestion to add a basic, military, 'official' variant, please contact me via PM or e-mail, and I will gladly do so. Please keep it metric to avoid confusion. Any help is more than welcome. Regards, Aleksandar

"Qu'il avoit cainte Escalibor, la meillor espee qui fust, qu'ele trenche fer come fust." [For at his belt hung Excalibur, the finest sword that there was, which sliced through iron as through wood.] -- Chrétien de Troyes, Perceval, le Conte du Graal (c.1190) thene he drewe his swerd Excalibur but it was so bryght in his enemyes eyen that it gaf light lyke xxx torchys [Then he drew his sword Excalibur, but it was so bright in his enemies' eyes, that it shone like thirty torches.] -- Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur, Book I, Chapter IX The name of it said the lady is Excalibur that is as moche say as cut stele ["The name of it," said the lady, "is Excalibur, that is as much to say as Cut-steel."] -- Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur, Book II, Chapter III "The flash of the Spitfire's wing, then, through the misty glare of the summer sky, was the first flash of a sharpened sword; they would fight, they would hold out." -- Vincent Sheean, Between the Thunder and the Sun On 18 August 1940, the day on which losses in the Battle of Britain were highest for both sides, the Stukas of Luftflotte 3 were detailed to strike south coast targets in England: the Coastal Command stations RAF Thorney Island and RAF Ford; the RDF station at Poling; and the Fleet Air Arm in Gosport. Poling aside, none of these targets were essential to the air defence of Great Britain, but as a prelude to invasion, the destruction or attrition of the Fleet Air Arm and Coastal Command would be essential to the success of Operation Sea Lion -- assuming, of course, that the British didn't just give up after a week or two of the Luftwaffe pounding the home islands. Over a hundred Ju87s from StG77 and StG3, the largest concentration of dive bombers to attack Britain so far, were escorted by over a hundred 109s from JG27 and JG53 and preceded by a frie jagd of fifty more from JG2 to sweep aside the RAF. Hard-pressed already, 10 and 11 Groups scrambled sixty-eight Spitfires and Hurricanes to meet the enemy, though through misappreciation on the part of the controllers, the fighters were mostly out of position initially. The eleven Spitfires of 234 Squadron were directed to intercept the enemy south of the Isle of Wight. I/StG3, on its way to Gosport, was protected by close escorts and a twenty-five strong top cover, both supplied by I/JG27's Bf109Es. The jagdgeschwader's gruppenkommodore, Major Eduard Neumann, leading the close escort, heard garbled radio calls from his top cover above, as 234 came into action against more than twice their number of Bf109s. Outnumbered, but not outmatched, 234 had at its disposal two of the Battle of Britain's leading RAF aces: twenty-year-old Robert "Bob" Doe (14 and 2 shared between 7 August and 7 October 1940) and twenty-two-year-old Paterson "Pat" Hughes (14 and 3 shared, from 8 July to 7 September 1940), who betwixt the two of them shot down three 109s out of six from I and II JG27 brought down by the squadron's Spitfires, while Hurricanes from 601 (County of London) Squadron and Spitfires from 602 (City of Glasgow) Squadron and 152 (Hyderabad) Squadron tore into the Stukas. It was a bad moment for the Luftwaffe on a long day. For my next trick, I'll be building some Spitfires, because I think things tend to go a little better in the world as a whole when I do, and right now, I think we can all agree it needs the help. I have an idea of which specific Battle of Britain Spitfires I'd like to do, but don't have the decals, so will make a final determination closer to H-Hour, as it were. In any case it's almost inconceivable that I'll finish these puppies up before I leave for England with @Cookenbacher on 1 November, and thence to Telford with noted raconteur @CedB and the wise and mysterious @Navy Bird. So perhaps I'll get lucky on the decal front. In any case, we all know the new but getting older Airfix Spitfire I. I experimented earlier this year with using a syringe to fill the panel lines, but ultimately decided it wasn't worth it; the way I paint, the panel lines don't look all that deep anyhoo. Despite their age and the fact that Airfix has probably sold a cool billion of these kits, the latest issue of the Spitfire is still pretty devoid of flash save on one part: The starboard landing gear leg. The flash around the mounting point was quite thick and required careful carving to get it into shape; this was true for both kits. Close enough, I hope. Tonight I had just enough time to drill out the holes for the locating pins on the fuselage to save on heartache later, remove the fuselage pieces from the sprues, and begin, almost imperceptibly, work on the cockpit. Eleven days until I leave for Albion. Looking forward to seeing you.

Previous thread about the 1/48th low back Supermarine Spifire F.R. Mk.XIVe - ref. A05135 being closed See also - https://www.airfix.com/uk-en/supermarine-spitfire-fr-mk-xiv.html Here's a new one with fresh news. Source: https://www.airfix.com/uk-en/news/workbench/telford-airfix-trophy-winner-and-a-griffons-growl V.P.

I'm not able to post reviews but the first part of this wip will be a review so if any moderators would like to move it to the review section then please feel free! For anyone who has built the excellent recent MkV, this boxing is very similar with many shared parts but also a few key differences. And for anyone who has built the rather disappointing Airfix Mki/ia/iia kit of a couple of years ago this is miles ahead in terms of detail and finesse. One of the very interesting things about this boxing is that it contains many items that allow you to build a pre-war spit and far more satisfyingly than the previous release. As you can see from this page of the instructions, there is a whole separate lower starboard sidewall and undercarriage lever for the pre-war option (option 'C' in the instructions). This could also allow for quite a nice and easy build of a prototype without too much additional work. You can see these parts below: And alongside the undercarriage lever is the early style pitot which is a very welcome addition: Another very visible difference with the pre-war Spitfire is the lack of headrest and seat armour which is also addressed in the instructions:

Airfix is to release in 2014 a new tool 1/48th Supermarine Spitfire Mk.Vb kit ref.A05125 Source: http://www.airfix.com/shop/new-for-2014/148-scale-military-aircraft/a05125-supermarine-spitfire-mkvb-148/ V.P.

I didn't initially have plans to do a WIP as virtually on the day that Revell released their Iron Maiden boxing of their MkII Spit, my good buddy Mark told me that Iron Maiden bassist Steve Harris was playing a gig in Colchester with his side project British Lion. Now the gig was on December 19th and as Mark is very good buddies with Steve I knew I'd be invited along for a meet up and a chat. Last time British Lion toured Colchester I organised a trip down to Merville Barracks for Steve where he was well hosted and entertained by 2 PARA's Corporal's Mess before the gig, but with 19/12 being after stand down and the start of Christmas block leave I had to come up with another idea to help him remember Colchester and hopefully come back again in the next couple of years. The catch, well I had about 3 weeks to complete this if I was going to be able to present it at the gig. There was a very brief WIP once I realised that I was on course to complete this on time....... Anyways without further ado I present you with the Aces High Spitfire, ably piloted by no other than Eddie!!! You may notice a tiny speck of brass on the armoured windscreen frame, this is my nod to the spent cartridge case embedded there on the original cover of the Aces High Single and for our Sea-Hat friends following is not "the golden rivet"!!!! https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTDrm9AsqCcSq2xTtRFHa7YkV6v8_73XEoApLvl__REjeDaARhH&s Anyways, here's the good home that the model went off to.....

Here's my Airfix 1/48 Spitfire FR XIVe, completed as a 402 Squadron (RCAF) machine, March, 1945. As I understand it, 402 was one of two Squadron's to operate the "bubbletop" before the end of the war in Europe. I found the Airfix kit to be good, but required careful assembly and a fair amount of shimming. The paints I used are Tamiya acrylic, weathering with Humbrol enamels and pastels, and the decals are a mix of XtraDecal codes, Aviaeology serials, and Barracuda stencils. I'm quite happy with the result, and I hope you like, Colin Link to my accompanying "Highback" build - https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235064455-148-spitfire-f-xive-highback-402-squadron-rcaf-march-1945/

Hi all here is my Tamiya Spitfire MK1a (61119) I finished this back May/June and only just got round to posting here I decided before starting this kit that I wanted to do something different and try new things I finished it as a 19 Squadron spit serial N3200 code QV using Topnotch Cammo and insignia Masks ( a first for me ) Ive tried to replicate it as close as possible when it was lost on operations on 26th May 1940 having been shot down but not before it brought down a Junkers Ju87 Tamiya paints used throughout the build figures from Tamiya and ICM (another first in doing figures) Thanks for looking and enjoy Happy modelling Photo credit unknown

Here's my 1/48 Spitfire Mk XIVe highback completed as 'Blackie' MacConnell's mount at the end of the war. I believe he was flying this aircraft when he downed an Arado AR-234 in April, 1945. It started life as an Airfix PR XIX, and was modified extensively to become a Mk XIVe. Decals are from XtraDecal, and Aviaeology stencils. Paints are Tamiya acrylic's, with weathering using Humbrol enamels and pastel chalk. Hope you like, Colin Build log -

Special Hobby is to release in 2020 a combi box 1/48th Supermarine Spitfire Mk.XII vs Fieseler Fi-103 V-1 kit - ref. SH48192 Source: http://www.specialhobby.net/2019/12/sh48192-spitfire-mkxii-contra-v-1.html Box art V.P.

This misty morning at Lelystad Airport, G-IRTY, the Silver Spitfire started her final leg on the tour around the world. Luckily, at around noon the fog cleared and a soft winter sun came through. After final checks were completed, engine start for the last leg. The escort on the way out of Dutch airspace was provided by Trusty Rusty, a P-51D twoseater. Heading out to the runway Take-off run And a well-appreciated farewell fly-by.

AZmodel is to re-release a limited edition of its 1/72nd Supermarine Spitfire Mk.22 "Post War Spitfire" kit - ref. AZ7640 Source: http://www.modelarovo.cz/novinky-kp-az-plastikova-zima-2019/ Box art V.P.

Here's another model I finished today, one of my many Spitfires. Looks like this one fell into the wrong hands, that or the paintshop guys are the world's worst (or perhaps best) spies

With the Typhoon finally done its time to pick the next build. I recently listed my entire stash (who's size is a well kept secret) to ScaleMates. One of the nice things about that is I now have some statistics. It turns out the most popular kit in my stash is ..... Spitfire - 9 kits of different models. I looked up my work room stash and noticed a pair of Spitfires - a Fujimi one and an ICM. A double-build came to mind but when I open the kits and cleaned them up it became very clear that these are way too different to allow that. The Fujimi is a 80' era, ~20 so parts, very crude and simple and rumor has it it's not even 1/48. The ICM on the other parts has probably the most detailed 1/48 spitfire out there with lots of parts and options. So, it won't be a double-build but I will try to start them together and see how it goes. You can follow up on the Fujimi build here. The ICM kit is quite detailed: It's also heavily covered with mold grease. I soaked it for a while but think I need to re-do that.

I'm tryng to follow suite and post most of the finished model pictures here. You can follow the build here: Comments are welcomed Ran

With the Typhoon finally done its time to pick the next build. I recently listed my entire stash (who's size is a well kept secret) to ScaleMates .One of the nice things about that is I now have some statistics. It turns out the most popular kit in my stash is ..... Spitfire - 9 kits of different models. I looked up my work room stash and noticed a pair of Spitfires - a Fujimi one and an ICM. A double-build came to mind but when I open the kits and cleaned them up it became very clear that these are way too different to allow that. The Fujimi is a 80' era, ~20 so parts, very crude and simple and rumor has it it's not even 1/48. The ICM on the other parts has probably the most detailed 1/48 spitfire out there with lots of parts and options. So, it won't be a double-build but I will try to start them together and see how it goes. You can follow up on the ICM build here.  The Fujumi is VERY simple:

A question for those in the know - when was the yellow ring added to the C type roundel (to make it a C1) on the upper surface of the wings? And was it added to the lower surface roundels at the same time. Specifically I'm interested in Spitfire Mk XIVe's (highback and bubble) prior to VE day. The Extradecal sheet I have shows a C type on upper and lower wings, and the Airfix decals for the Spit XIVe show the C1 type in both positions. The Airfix markings are for a post VE day aircraft but I'm wondering if the would be applicable to pre VE day aircraft. Thanks, Colin

I'm trying something new for my Spit XIVe build in 1/48. For the rear view mirror, I used my punch set to punch out a disc from a Cheeto's bag (Ya - this is the reason I had that, sure) and attached the shiny mylar side to the scratch built mirror with Zap-a-gap. Looks good to me! There you go, when you build a Spit or Hurricane, you need putty, paint and Cheeto's!

Hi Folks, I started this back in March as a Britmodeller newbie and having been completely distracted by the FROG Group Build, I've finally finished it. Spitfire PR Mk.XIX RM643/Z based at RAF Benson, the home of British WW2 photographic reconnaissance. A few bits of info about the kit and the AM parts used in the build; 1/72 Airfix Spitfire PRXIX Rob Taurus replacement canopy Pavla resin cockpit Aires Quickboost spinner/prop blades and exhaust Barracuda door and crowbar Xtracolor PRU Blue gloss enamel paint, airbrushed on Xtradecal transfers set Barracuda stencils Winsor & Newton matt acrylic varnish to finish The kit has come in for a fair amount of criticism over the years, but I think Airfix captured the lines of one of the best looking Spits fairly well. Obvious errors that I think are noticeable are the fairings over the Griffon engines rocker covers are too narrow, this is especially noticeable when the model sits on the shelf next to my old Fujimi Mk.XIV and the u/c legs that are too raked too far forward. There are other accuracy niggles, but I overall enjoyed the build and think it looks OK. Hope you like it. For those who want more, the build thread is here; Thanks for looking.

Hi. I’m sorry if this has been asked before - I *have* tried searching but haven’t come up with anything. I’m hoping to build a small diorama in 1:48, of a Spitfire(s) being resupplied. BOB era. I’ve come up with the Airfix 3-way bowser, figures and Mk1/2 aircraft. BUT I’m at a blank when it comes to the resupply for the 303s. Firstly - history. We’re the guns refilled using pre-filled ammo boxes, or were belts fed into the ones in the wings? Secondly - I know I’ll need to mess about with the original kits to open up the panels to the gun bays - and pertinently find a supply of the actual ammo belts/containers. I’ve seen some gun bay detail kits are available, but.. ammo? So any suggestions for both issues would be very greatly appreciated. I’ve just started modelling again after more than 40 years, and things have changed somewhat! I’ve only vague memories of the Airfix 1:24 Spitfire Mk1a I made way back then, but do remember there was some detail in the fun bays. Short of buying one literally for reference, I’m out of ideas for narrowing down research as there’s so much to filter!