Spitfires with Stars and Stripes

[Vlad]

But not at the same time! 😁 (apologies if you were expecting Spitfires in USAAF service)

 

Some time ago I found an Eduard 1/72 Spitfire Mk IX "The Longest Day" dual combo in a local bookstore that also deals some kits. I snapped it up since I knew these Eduard kits were fantastic and I didn't have any Mk IXs in my collection. I really wanted a D-Day striped Spitfire, but also dreaded the masking and painting. I knew for sure I couldn't stomach two, so I scrounged up some spare decals and built one straight away as a IXe in Soviet service. It's slightly fictitious, in that the number "51" on the side was just what I had lying around, but the rest of the markings are based on known aircraft. After a long time and many detours, my build craving looped back around to Spitfires and I mustered the courage to do the stripes. I picked Mk IXc "ZD-C" from the Eduard decal options in the box. Long story short, these kits really are amazing in every way, definitely more on the wish list (an VIII and a XVI).

 

Now that both are finished, I decided to photograph and upload them together. Two kits from the same box that ended up very different indeed, but I am pretty happy with both. I'm less happy with my photography in this case but I'm still tweaking setup. The amount of white on both of these really wasn't helping!

 

Thanks for looking!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Steve27752]

They have both turned out very well.

[wellsprop]

Stunning, great work  I love a Mk IX in D-Day stripes!

[RidgeRunner]

Nice! I like the Riskie

 

Martin

 

 

[jhutchi]

Clever title and great builds. That ix looks excellent 

[Vinnie]

Lovely pair of Spitfires, Vlad.

[Tim R-T-C]

Lovely work. The VVS model looks stunning.

[F-32]

Lovely couple of builds, very nicely done

[jackroadkill]

Those are very nice!  Well done for getting the underwing roundels to conform so well - that's a particular Achilles' heel of mine.

[John Masters]

Superbly done.  A winning pair...

[SAT69]

Very smart looking set of Spitfires. I think I like the Russian one best. Maybe it's because I don't recall ever seeing a Spit' in Russian colors and it looks good in them.

[Vlad]

Thank you gents! Nice to see the Red Stars appreciated, I agree they do seem to fit Spitfire very well.

 

2 hours ago, jackroadkill said:

Those are very nice!  Well done for getting the underwing roundels to conform so well - that's a particular Achilles' heel of mine.

Is that because of the small bulge just behind the spent shell casing opening? In fairness I didn't do much there, Eduard decals are among the highest quality I have ever used and they always settle very nicely. All I did was drown them in DecalFix and leave them alone overnight, then punch the opening out with a sarp blade tip.

 

1 hour ago, SAT69 said:

Very smart looking set of Spitfires. I think I like the Russian one best. Maybe it's because I don't recall ever seeing a Spit' in Russian colors and it looks good in them.

They had a bunch of Vbs delived that were used in the Kuban theater, and later some IXes. There's a particularly striking Vb often interpreted (though actual accuracy debatable) with a lightning/arrow pattern on the side:

 

[jackroadkill]

28 minutes ago, Vlad said:

Is that because of the small bulge just behind the spent shell casing opening? In fairness I didn't do much there, Eduard decals are among the highest quality I have ever used and they always settle very nicely. All I did was drown them in DecalFix and leave them alone overnight, then punch the opening out with a sarp blade tip.

Yes, that's the one.  I tried that with some Kits World decals and failed.  I mean, they were on, but not much more than that.

[Wulfman]

Lovely Spitfires, excellent build and finish on both !

 

Wulfman