No aircraft collection is complete without a Spitfire or three!

[Markh-75]

A year ago my wife picked up an Airfix Spitfire Mk 1a, and a Hurricane from Lidl's, they had them in their mad 'first come first serve' Black Friday events. I have mainly US aircraft in my collection, but I now also have British aircraft flown by the USAAF, this was in the early part of the USAAF's pilgrimage to the ETO, they didnt quite have the aircraft they wanted yet so they used aircraft loaned to them by the RAF to fill the gap. This theme is what I'm concentrating on for now and I wondered how I was going to add a spitfire to my USAAF aircraft collection! One of my favourite Fighter groups is the 4th Fg USAAF. Many of their pilots trained with the RAF in Canada and were then posted to the RAF in Britain; the USAAF wasnt yet in the European war but some of the American pilots wanted to help. They became pilots of the three RAF Eagle Squadrons, 71 Sqdn, 121 Sqdn and 133 Sqdn.

When the USAAF arrived in Britain in 1942 the pilots of the three Eagle squadrons we transferred to the USAAF Fighter Command. Pilots from 71 Sqdn moved to the 334th Fighter Squadron; Pilots of RAF 121 Sqdn moved to the 335th Fighter Group and the pilots of RAF 133 Sqdn moved to the 336th Fighter Squadron, all squadrons of the 4th Fighter Group at Debden, Essex. This is how I was able to make one Spitfire in RAF markings and the other two squadrons in USAAF markings, the USAAF was short of aircraft in the beginning and were allowed to take the Spitfires they had flown with the RAF; The Americans Loved the Spitfires!

 

My spitfires start with an Airfix Spitfire Mk. 1a which I bought markings for another squadron for as RAF 71 Sqdn. This Spitfire is the aircraft of P/O Bill Dunn, 'the first ace of the Eagle squadrons'. It was a delight to build! Went together beautifully, lots of very nice panel and surface features and looked great when complete, came with a good quantity of stencil markings which I used along with the Eagle Cal decals. (quite appropriately named too!). This was also the squadron that James Goodson flew with, 71 Sqdn in RAF and pilots from this squadron were transferred to the 334th Fs, 4th Fg in USAAF.

 

 

 

 

The next Spitfire was an Italeri Mk. Vb and I used the decals that were in the box for this. Earlier attempts (years ago) at making Italeri kits was troublesome and I thought, 'well, you can't go wrong with a Spitfire', I was right, this was another little kit that went together very nicely! Its painted in former 121sqdn RAF colours (which had changed from the dark Earth/brown and the green, to Grey and Green but with markings for the 335th Fs, 4th Fg. marked (AV-*-D).

 

 

This next Spitfire is a Revell kit of a Mk. Vb. It was one of the nicest Revell kits I've ever made, went together very nicely, no vices, no disasters. It was the Spitfire flown by 2nd Lt. Don Gentile, and known as 'Buckeye Don'. Its painted in former 133 RAF Sqdn colours but with Printscale decals with markings (MD-*-T) of the 336th Fs, again, of the 4th Fg.

 

 

My final Spitfire was a model I got free because the seller hadn't bothered to pack it properly, it came loose in a padded bag along with the box that was folded flat in beside it, some parts were a bit deformed and had to be clamped for a few days to flatten them out. It was a very basic little kit by PMModels, and had traces where glue had been used previously, sold as a new kit, I knew it was second hand. It was so basic that the wings were one piece each and had no landing gear wells(I set about marking them out and then using my Dremel, I cut them out as deep as I dared), the canopy was quite mis-shaped and I had to file it smooth and try to paint the canopy lines on it the best I could, I finally coated it with some Klear, there's no cockpit detail. In the end the seller refunded me and told me to keep it, I had certain misgivings about building it until one day I thought, 'what the heck' and assembled it anyway. I did the best I could do with it and saved it. Its a Spitfire Mk. Vc (Tropical), in desert colours of the 308th Fs, 31st Fighter Group which was the second fighter group to arrive in Britain; although the first to have come from USA and not from the RAF, but was soon posted to North Africa for Operation Torch, it was flown by Major William Daley.

 

 

 

The transfer of 31st Fg to North Africa, left the 4th Fg on its own until more Fighter Groups arrived in Britain, It was till quite early in the days of the USAAF in Britain and in Europe. I have seen a few pictures on model boxes that picture an aircraft of the 4th Fg in the desert. This is in fact incorrect; the 4th did NOT go to North Africa but stayed in Britain.

 

 

I do still have another spitfire to build; my daughter gave it to me for Christmas and its another desert Spitfire, the recent Airfix one! That'll look a treat!😉

[neil5208]

Nice collection got the Eduard mkIV to do in a similar way

[Markh-75]

I had an Eduard; had it about finished and dropped it, it wasnt saveable after it hit the floor; I was gutted, I'd spent ages on it! You will have quite a few spare parts after building the Eduard Spitfire, mine came with a choice of wheels and cockpit parts, canopies.

Although I managed to get the straight lines (decals) on the wings on the Spitfires they were troublesome, needed a lot of coaxing and cajoling to get straight and stay straight, now I use a permanent ink pen and just draw them on. The lines on the desert Spitfire didnt work out, I had to mask off and paint them on in the end. I found that with long thin straight lines that if they have a branch to the side, I take a bit of it off but leave enough to know where it was and put it on separately later. Its hard enough trying to get long straight decals on without them having bits that stick out from them.

Thanks for your feedback😉

[Wulfman]

A great gaggle of Spitfires, I bought the PM one but rejected it as beyond redemption , so well done on that one !

The Airfix VC is a very nice kit.

 

Wulfman

Edited April 14, 2022 by Wulfman

[Whistlekiller]

Nice work, particularly on salvaging the notorious PM effort. I currently have thirty-eight Spitires/Seafires/Spitefuls/Seafangs/224s stashed or on order in 1:72, eleven of which are now complete. They represent all marks (some more than once) aside from a PR.Mk.IV which I will eventually hunt down or modify from another kit. I'd heartily recommend Airfix (modern moulds), AZ, Sword, Eduard, KPM, Xtrakit, CMR and Special Hobby for the bulk of these and Brengun for the floatplane versions. Two of the candidates are more of a challenge, the Pegasus Spiteful and the Rareplanes 224 but well worth the struggle! 😎😎😎😎

Edited April 15, 2022 by Whistlekiller

[Markh-75]

10 hours ago, Wulfman said:

A great gaggle of Spitfires, I bought the PM one but rejected it as beyond redemption , so well done on that one !

The Airfix VC is a very nice kit.

 

Wulfman

 

51 minutes ago, Whistlekiller said:

Nice work, particularly on salvaging the notorious PM effort. I currently have thirty-eight Spitires/Seafires/Spitefuls/Seafangs/224s stashed or on order in 1:72, eleven of which are now complete. They represent all marks (some more than once) aside from a PR.Mk.IV which I will eventually hunt down or modify from another kit. I'd heartily recommend Airfix (modern moulds), AZ, Sword, Eduard, KPM, Xtrakit, CMR and Special Hobby for the bulk of these and Brengun for the floatplane versions. Two of the candidates are more of a challenge, the Pegasus Spiteful and the Rareplanes 224 but well worth the struggle! 😎😎😎😎

Thank you chaps, at first the PM was a struggle of wills; a big part said 'build it, save it, do your best', the other part said, 'just put it back in the bag and leave it'. I'm glad I was able to carry on with it and see it through, the modeller part of me said, 'its not that bad, might not be your best but its quite presentable', I dont throw models out unless the build is beyond redemption, completely and totally. I have two models that are rather poor quality, yet to complete but I'm waiting just now, once I know and can congratulate myself on all the others I will build them, its out of the question right now as I need more time and experience, modelling also builds up patience and experience.

Thanks for your kind words chaps, very much appreciated😉👍

[Vulcanicity]

A lovely collection and tribute to the early days of the USAAF fighters in Europe (plus Mediterranean!)

[Whistlekiller]

1 hour ago, Markh-75 said:

 

Thank you chaps, at first the PM was a struggle of wills; a big part said 'build it, save it, do your best', the other part said, 'just put it back in the bag and leave it'. I'm glad I was able to carry on with it and see it through, the modeller part of me said, 'its not that bad, might not be your best but its quite presentable', I dont throw models out unless the build is beyond redemption, completely and totally. I have two models that are rather poor quality, yet to complete but I'm waiting just now, once I know and can congratulate myself on all the others I will build them, its out of the question right now as I need more time and experience, modelling also builds up patience and experience.

Thanks for your kind words chaps, very much appreciated😉👍

Mark, the only Spitfire model I’ve given up

on is an M News Mk.XII which I took a chance on for reasons of completion. I wasn’t too upset at this as I didn’t pay much and it has proved useful for spare bits and bobs for others. In the end I called it quits and went for the CMR Mk.XII which, while a little pricey is a lovely kit, once you get used to the resin side of things.

 

Keep an eye out for the upcoming KPM PR.Mk.XI as there’ll be this USAAF service version available. 👍

Edited April 15, 2022 by Whistlekiller

[Markh-75]

22 minutes ago, Whistlekiller said:

Mark, the only Spitfire model I’ve given up

on is an M News Mk.XII which I took a chance on for reasons of completion. I wasn’t too upset at this as I didn’t pay much and it has proved useful for spare bits and bobs for others. In the end I called it quits and went for the CMR Mk.XII which, while a little pricey is a lovely kit, once you get used to the resin side of things.

 

Keep an eye out for the upcoming KPM PR.Mk.XI as there’ll be this USAAF service version available. 👍

Ahh! That IS good news, I will look out for that! Looks excellent and just what I’m after! Thank you for this!👍😉 I’d love a PR (Photo Joe) version, it will go very nicely with the F 5 and PR Mosquito I have in Diecast!😀 I’m also on the lookout for a P51 PR version! (I think it’s an F6). Cheers

[Whistlekiller]

22 minutes ago, Markh-75 said:

Ahh! That IS good news, I will look out for that! Looks excellent and just what I’m after! Thank you for this!👍😉 I’d love a PR (Photo Joe) version, it will go very nicely with the F 5 and PR Mosquito I have in Diecast!😀 I’m also on the lookout for a P51 PR version! (I think it’s an F6). Cheers

Here's another with USAAF options. AZ Mk.IX. I've built a couple of these and they go together well.

 

 

(Edit) Mark….that’s AZ7392. You can find them on eBay at the moment for reasonable money. 👍

Edited April 15, 2022 by Whistlekiller

[stevehnz]

Nice line up Mark, even the PM one came up ok & I know what a distinctly ordinary kit it is. The others are crackers, a great tribute to those who came & answered the call against fascism.

Steve.

[Markh-75]

Thanks Steve, Modelling Mojo is a bit dry right now, so I appreciate every bit of feedback on my builds from You and from Everyone!

I have had a bit of a boost today though; I bought this!  

 

I also put the above Spitfire from earlier on my Wishlist in Hannants webpage; I'm going to Norfolk and Suffolk in June so I will be taking a trip into Lowestoft to see Hannants shop, hopefully by then it will be available!

 

I never throw a model out unless its under extreme circumstances, even then I just chuck the deformed and useless bits and keep the rest for spares! I bought a kit of a Wildcat Fish seaplane and when I opened the box I found that the wing roots on the fuselage halves are not the same, one is 5mm higher than the other! That's just gonna look, well,   I ordered an Academy kit of a Wildcat so with this I'll do a "Scratch & Match" with the kit and bits I kept! That'll be unusual but nice! I like the unusual and I like variations on certain themes!

 

Thank you Everyone!😀