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Dear All, Recently bought the fairly recent release from AZ, model number AZ 7633, that variously has it marked as an HF or LF Mk 9 (?) on the box so obviously some confusion here with AZ, plus myself. Based upon the parts the kit is actually for an LF Mk 9c with tear drop canopy and clipped wings but not sure Supermarine ever produced such a beast as I've never seen any photos of a Spit in this configuration. Plus upon checking the Shacklady bible the serial number of TE215 provided with the kit relates to a standard Mk 9 supplied to the South African Air Force. The next down the line, TE216, is shown as an HF Mk 9e with tear drop canopy so now utterly confused and wonder if this kit is a bit wrong! Any advice welcome as the kit itself looks OK to build, but did it ever exist? Kind Regards Colin.

Being a newbie on Britmodeller (love it) re-visiting his youth, I’m just really getting going again on enjoying building model kits. With my Dad passing on, 10 years ago now, at some point we were going through 'his side' of the wardrobe and I found a couple of Airfix kits – one started and one untouched. There was a Westland Lysander, kit no. 02053 (2nd Tool) in the ‘11E’ packaging and a Spitfire Mk IX, kit no. 02081 in the ‘15C’ packaging - looking at the info on the Airfix Tribute Forum (love it), this dates the purchases as 1994 to 2005+. The Lysander had been started with the engine and propeller assembled and painted (paints, brushes, sanding stick in the box) – the propeller shaft ran very sweetly in the engine boss and rotated even with gentle movement through the air – I think there had been a bit of work done to achieve this. The wings were painted ‘on sprue’ and the pilot was also beautifully painted in RAF blue with yellow Mae West and brown flying helmet. I used to build Airfix kits when I was a boy (in the 60’s) and when I held a finished item up for inspection, (in the early days it could be unpainted with ‘transfers’ applied or latterly painted in approximate colours), my Dad would always say – ‘That’s a beezer, son!’ Just what a budding 10-year old modeller liked to hear! (What is a beezer? Being a Dundonian, I only know of the kids’ comic of the same name from DC Thomsons). Well, when I saw this started model, with a beautifully working propeller and a pilot champing at the bit, I just had to finish it, albeit spare time being zero. Over what must have been a couple of years at least, I put the Lysander together, continuing the night/spy mission version as started by Dad. I found that the camo upper surfaces and black undersurfaces already painted needed another coat and thought I would carry on and have a go at painting the canopy framing free-hand – looked OK until I started taking photographs so lesson learned there. I was however happy with how the wheels/tyres turned out and the neatness of boundaries of the different paint colours in general. The exhaust ring turned out a bit more bronze coloured than I expected. The decals were quite brittle and one of the tail flashes subsequently peeled off and disappeared – I replaced with a similar item from a Lancaster decal sheet – trimmed. I finished off with a coat of matt cote to hold it all in place. (First time I’ve done that). Just to go the extra mile, I added an aerial in black thread after looking at a recent ‘Aeroplane’ publication on Lysanders. Also, I found the time to work on the ‘JE-J’ Spitfire IX and have just finished that, after putting too much cement on the spinner which produced a sink mark, many touch ups of the .303 gun port covers and an attempt to remove the decal silvering with a ‘Future’ equivalent – great experience though and good support through tips from others on 'Britmodellers'. Did a photo session with some props bought for my son, now discarded in favour of the ever present i-phone, and created a gentle airstream with a hairdryer that sent the Lysander propeller into action - Lysander just landed and ready to pick up that ‘agent’. So, these are for you, Dad – I hope they are both beezers!