Spitfire Ia

[Silver Fox]

I spent most of late 2014 and 2015 building and painting for the IPMS Scale Model World Battle of Britain, display, so much so that to paraphrase Sir Steve Redgrave, 'if I even start using  Dark Green/Dark Earth/Sky, shoot me'. 

 

 Three things  changed that, the upcoming 2020 Anniversary display, buying and reading the Battle of Britain Archive series from Red Kite and the fabulous Fundekkals sheet for the early Spitfire. Realising my stash was BoB free, I bought an Airfix Spitfire Ia and a Tamiya one at a knockdown price. I planned to build both in parallel but the real world go the way as it tends to do.

 

 

 

Compared to the Airfix kit it is up to £15.00 more expensive here in the UK ( though I picked mine up for a mere £4 more) I wondered if it was worth it. In the end,  I will now speak heresy, it a nice kit, not perfect and a little quirky. I expect to get hammered for this view. let me explain. 

The fit is fabulous, I used absolutely no filler anywhere, it is probably the nicest kit I have ever built in that respect. The way the undercarriage is moulded and the covering panels mean the  undercarriage legs with be at the right angle and a lot stronger than the fiddly way Airfix did theirs.

 

On the downside there is no back or head armour provided, both essential for the BoB markings provided. It is also a shame that no two bladed propeller is offered, the rest of the options to make a mid  production Mk I are there but  not a two blader for the very early machines. The flying surfaces  unmodified  are not able to be posed in anything other than straight, unlike the Airfix one where they can be easily animated with no modification. Also, the way the cockpit inserts (which fit beautifully) mean that the canopy can only be pose fully open or fully closed. By moulding the radio aerial with a lump of the fuselage,  you cannot add this vulnerable  sticking out piece of plastic without having to remove and lengthening it, not very modeller friendly. 

 

Finally the way the front armour is a separate piece from the windscreen is trial to fit and in my case my hamfisted modelling allowed paint to seep under it. I much prefer the Airfix way of providing two different windscreens.

I feel like I am damning it with faint praise and using it as an excuse for my shortcomings, I really enjoyed building it but for the price in the UK........

Here she is with the Airfix one I built a month or so ago. The Fundekkels markings are  brilliant and the instruction PDF is a goldmine of information. There are still half a dozen more never been seen in decal form  Mk Ia s I want to build on the sheet, The choice of which kit to buy is still the balance.

 

Thanks for looking

[Gary Brantley]

Very nice work mate!  Excellent model(s)!