ICM Spitfire LF.IXE 1/48 Soviet VVS

[tinleeds]

One week holiday was so productive. Build is done! one box less   The model is very good in assembly, and even my crooked hands could not spoil it much   

More photos here..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 27, 2019 by tinleeds

[fubar57]

Very nice. A rarely modelled subject. 

[Troy Smith]

hmm, going to an individual image and the right clicking "copy image address" 

 

 

Neat work,  I'd suggest the wheel wells were the underside colour,   especially after the VVS repaint

 

By VVS repaint, it seems that VVS Spitfires post war got repainted into the above colours, 

this maybe of some background interest

 

the VVS used Spitfire in PVO (Voyska protivovozdushnoy oboronystrany,) units, which were for  Air Defense Forces,  by the end of the war  and up until 1947!

IIRC Spitfire IX equipped something like 27 out of 81 PVO squadrons in 1945..   they had  about 1200 Spitfire IX's 

 

see https://forum.warthunder.com/index.php?/topic/86024-what-happened-to-the-1200-soviet-spitfire-ix39s/

some usual misinformation, but this looks correct, which you might find interesting.

 

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Quote

 

Most of the ~1200 Spitfire's delivered to the Soviet Union were used by the air defence forces (the PVO). The Spitfire with its turbocharged Merlin enjoyed high altitude performance that the indigenous Yakovlev and Lavochkin types could just not achieve, which is why the Soviets acquired the type to begin with (as the MiG-3 clearly could not be improved/developed to meet requirements satisfactorily). By 1944 it was the PVO's main type and would remain so until at least 1947.

 

Thus those Soviet Spitfire's were used more for interceptions and most often of high-altitude reconnaissance & bomber Axis aircraft. They didn't see much of where most of the Soviet's air war was fought; at low altitude and above the battlefield. Although these PVO-flown Spitfire's did often encounter German fighters and there were even some PVO Spitfire aces, their operations were not at the level of continual intensity that the regular Soviet red air force (the VVS) saw.

 

The VVS did however receive some of those ~1200 Spitfires IX's delivered. They were used mostly in the more high-altitude air war against the Finnish air force in Karelia.

 

And as for the opinion of Soviet pilots; Spitfire's initially had gained an unfortunate reputation amongst the Soviets for fragility. This was due to the VVS experience with using some Mk V's during air battles over the Kuban isthmus, where the undercarriage struggled to withstand the rigours of Soviet frontal airfields (and some were lost in accidents). Those VVS pilots also took some time adjusting to the wing-mounted machine guns & their convergence. And an adjustment was needed for just flying a fighter optimised more for the higher-altitude battles over the English channel and occupied France and it took them a month or so to really get accustomed to how to fight the German 109's in Spitfires. Plus; these Mk V's were second-hand and obsolescent against the latest 109's fielded by the Luftwaffe anyway.

However; the Soviets in both the VVS and PVO held the later delivered Mk IX Spitfire's in very high esteem. These Mk IX's were always operated from higher quality Soviet airfields than those suffered by the Mk V's in the Kuban battles. The Soviets didn't just appreciate the MK IX's strong all-round performance and agility, they also liked it's acceptable reliability & ease of maintenance and it's ergonomics and operating range. The Mk IX Spitfire was definitely as popular with it's Soviet pilots as it was with it's British Empire and USAAF pilots.

 

 

 

hope of interest.  One point, it was harder for Soviet correspondents and photographers to get to PVO units which were not in the frontline, and so photos are quite rare,  I've only seen a handful of shots of VVS Spitfire IX's

 

HTH

T

PS https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235042027-russian-spitfire-colors/

 

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235024728-russian-spitfires/

 

 

http://massimotessitori.altervista.org/sovietwarplanes/board/index.php?topic=1683.0

 

Finally, what Spitfire look like in Cyrillic Спитфайр  

 

 

 

[RMCS]

Excellent 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Great looking VVS Spitfire 

[Kitchen Modeller]

It's a very nice model - I really like the scheme - consider getting a flickr account for easier photo posting... 

[Spitfire31]

Great looking Spitfire in an unusual scheme!

 

I doubt that the Russians repainted the crowbar red, though… 😉  I'm also skeptical regarding the aerial wire. Or did the British downgrade the Mk V and Mk IX radios from the standard VHF sets back to the Mk I and II HF sets? 

 

Excellent and convincing finish and weathering!

 

Kind regards,

 

Joachim

[tinleeds]

Thanks Troy for your help and information. I didn't finde any photos of this particulare skin just drawing. But I really like it and this enough for me   

 

 

And Spitfire31 I not shure about radio as well  

On behalf of all the people of the USSR, once again thank you and your countries for their assistance during the Second World War. 👍 🤝  

Ivan.

Edited February 2, 2019 by tinleeds

[John Masters]

Beautifully done.  Does it come in 1/72nd?

[Troy Smith]

1 hour ago, tinleeds said:

I didn't finde any photos of this particulare skin just drawing.

I think the profile is drawn from a plane in the background of a photo, in Red Stars in the Sky 4,  mine is not to hand to check.  It's a tiny shot, and hard to make out the details, but the lightning bolt insignia is seen on another VVS Spitfire, though still in British colours.

 

But,  the VVS repaints post war are confirmed, and this maybe of interest, buried in the Sovietwarplanes site

http://massimotessitori.altervista.org/sovietwarplanes/board/index.php?topic=1031.msg17703#msg17703

 

from 

http://soviet-aces-1936-53.ru/books/books7/index.htm

which is in Russian but I know @tinleeds is Russian,  maybe of interest.

 

Given the sheer amount of Spitfires the VVS received, (about 1,500 total) I'm always hoping more images will surface, along with more VVS Hurricanes (nearly 3,000 went to the Soviet Union!) 

 

cheers

T

[tinleeds]

Thanks @Troy Smith . Hurricane in Soviet skin also in my plan 👍 

[Troy Smith]

5 minutes ago, tinleeds said:

Thanks @Troy Smith . Hurricane in Soviet skin also in my plan 👍 

 

If you need information, let me know, I have made a few postings in the past on this subject!   There are some good threads on this on the Massimo Tessitori Soviet Warplanes site

Have a look here

http://massimotessitori.altervista.org/sovietwarplanes/board/index.php?board=50.0

 

If you are working in 1/48th the hardest thing is finding a base kit, nearly all the VVS photos are of Mk.IIb versions, and there is no available kit of this in 1/48th,  there is the Hasegawa kit, but it's quite hard to find these days.

 

cheers

Troy