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Vintage Revell Spitfire Mk.2 Box Art


fishplanebeer

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I'm in the process of selling this kit along with the Revell Bf109E as well and only just noticed the box art details.

 

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I'm not sure who drew the picture but they seem to have been a wee bit mixed up with the details as it seems to have the pole aerial, bead for the ring and bead gun sight and most curious of all the very early twin pronged pitot tube. All completely wrong of course for a Mk.2 but I'm surprised that they included what are fairly obscure details so they must have done some interesting research, even if they got a bit confused.

 

I remember building this kit in my early years and I'm sure it had the "East India Squadron" legend as part of the decal sheet but this got dropped fairly quickly so my example doesn't  have it sadly.

 

Happy memories!

 

Regards

Colin.

 

 

 

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49 minutes ago, politicni komisar said:

These are my fond memories. I built it in 1975 somewhere my sixth kit.

 

Samo

Back 10 years from that for me. At the time it was this or the Airfix JE-J mk.IX. This always felt and looked like a proper Spitfire and only much more recently did we find out about it’s shortcomings. 150% cost of a series 1 Airfix kit so a bit of thinking for a small boy to find that extra shilling (‘Bob’). 

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Spitfire Mk IIa P7665 YT-L
https://www.worldwarphotos.info/gallery/uk/raf/spitfire5/spitfire-mk-iia-p7665-no-65-sqn-tangmere/

.. and the author of the painting probably "intermixed" this Spitfire with this Mk-I one ;)
Look at the pitot style
https://www.asisbiz.com/il2/Spitfire/RAF-65Sqn-YT/pages/Spitfire-MkIa-RAF-65Sqn-YTL-K9906-photo-taken-by-Patrick-Hayes-KIA-July-7-1940-01.html

Edited by epozar
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3 hours ago, viscount806x said:

Back 10 years from that for me. At the time it was this or the Airfix JE-J mk.IX. This always felt and looked like a proper Spitfire and only much more recently did we find out about it’s shortcomings. 150% cost of a series 1 Airfix kit so a bit of thinking for a small boy to find that extra shilling (‘Bob’). 

There was the FROG Spitfire II as well, which came in between cost-wise at 2/6. I'm not sure if it was any more accurate though.

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The FROG kit was sold as a II up to 1968, then became a ia/Va when the surface detail was cleaned up and it was reissued in a bag in 1969. That was a little before my time as a modeller, the first FROG Spitfire I bought was the XIV with the V-1 (which also had a poor canopy). A friend of mine did buy me a Revell Spitfire as a birthday present, but as we were about 7, I doubt it was malicious 😀.

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Wow, I never realised that the Frog kit was that old as I only ever saw it in a plastic bag with the carboard header in the mid-60's. This probably explains why it was so awful even by mid-6o's standards compared with the Airfix and Revell kits.

 

Regards

Colin.

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The Frog kit had no wheel wells, like their other early kits the undercarriage legs just plugged into the wings and the outline of the well was marked by a raised line. The Revell kit was reissued in their Collector's Series with three decal options and a two blade propeller that supposedly allowed it to be built as one of the first batch of Mk Is. Those were the days!

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It's interesting that in the Collector's Series the decal sheet included the East India Squadron legend again which had been dropped for some reason in some of the earlier boxings, such as one I'm selling. However I definitely recall it being there when I built the kit back in the 60's and I'm pretty sure the box art was the same.

 

Regards

Colin.

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To be fair to Frog they did issue the Spitfire VIII/IX which at the time was considered to be the best Spitfire kit in 72nd scale and quite sought, especially after Frog went bust, and I remember them selling for quite high prices at one of the IPMS shows at Stoneleigh - ah, the good old days!

 

Regards

Colin.

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The Frog Spitfire was the first kit I attempted to paint - Humbrol gloss paint to the rescue and marked as QV@K. I was 9. I recall taking a liberty and painting the spinner red.

Mine came from their double 'Battle of Britain' set with a Ju88 and a wall-mounted frame. Very collectable now. 

 

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/frog-f511-supermarine-spitfire-mkia-and-junkers-ju88--1170334

 

Happy times - isn't nostalgia great? :wink:

 

SD

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On the matter of artwork it’s fair to say that back in the early 60’s there was a far greater amount of artistic license or perhaps ignorance when it came to box tops. In fairness there was not the mountain of information available that we have today thanks substantially to the internet effect. My data was either from a collection of Airfix magazines, a couple of good books and the local library. 
 

So given the lack of resources I am going to give those artists a pass. They produced some inspirational pictures for my 11 year old self and many happy hours. A small part of me is still desperate to paint a Mustang in red paint :D

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I do recall the Frog equivalent of the Dog Fight Doubles which were issued as part of the official merchandise for the BoB film release. The subjects were not exactly accurate for the conflict but they came with a plastic frame in which you could mount the box top picture. As you say they are pretty pricey these days and strictly for Frog collectors only.

 

Regards

Colin.

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