Spitfire Mk.I K9099, No.65 "East India" Sqn - Tamiya 1/72

[RainierHooker]

Quick little four-evening build of a Tamiya Spitfire Mk.I 1/72 scale kit that I received in a club gift exchange. I decided to build it as an early production Mk.Ia after scrounging through my spare decal bin.

 

IMG_4830 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr

 

IMG_4854 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr

 

Spitfire Mk.Ia Serial K9099 wasn’t even two months old when she was photographed already looking well worn in a lineup of other No.65 “East India” Squadron machines in May of 1939, wearing the code FZ-O. Apparently she had an early stroke of bad luck as apparently she had her oil cooler fairing and pitot tube replaced with black-painted parts and a yet un-repainted port forward wing root fillet.

 

K9099 ended her existence in another stroke of bad luck when, recoded YT-O, she was shot down by a Bf. 109 over Bazinghen, Pas-de-Calais with the loss of her pilot, Sgt Michael Keymer, on August 22nd 1940.

 

IMG_4849 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr

 

IMG_4852 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr

 

IMG_4847 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr

 

IMG_4839 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr

 

IMG_4853 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr

 

The model was built mostly out of the box with an added Eduard seat harness and brake lines from fine wire. I also replaced the later style gunsight with the early ring style one, and scratch built the idiosyncratic early style pitot tube and antenna aerial. Prewar markings were put together with a mix of spare decals from the bin. Paints were mostly Vallejo acrylics.

Edited January 21, 2022 by RainierHooker

[Wulfman]

Very nice job on the Spit, fine work !

 

Wulfman