RAAF No.452 Squadron Spitfire Mk.VIII - 1/48 ICM

[mark.au]

I finished this one a month or so ago but only got around to the glamour pics today.  The ICM kit isn't the best Spitfire Mk.VIII kit by a long shot, but I still quite like it and it builds up well enough once its idiosyncrasies are known and managed. 

 

Here's the WIP.

 

 

TL;DR

Built mostly out of the box but some angst over the markings and paint scheme, plus scratch built the bomb carriers and a photo which is possibly/probably of the subject aircraft taking off on what would turn out to be its last sortie.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lt. Norman Cullen was killed in this aircraft on 10 July 1945.  He was last seen pulling out from his bombing run on enemy targets in the vicinity of Tawao, Northern Borneo, it's assumed he was hit by ground fire. This was the final offensive sortie RAAF 452 Squadron undertook in the war.

 

Cheers.

 

 

 

 

Edited December 18, 2022 by mark.au

[bigbadbadge]

Lovely job Mark a wonderful look Spitfire, the old ICM kits build up very nicely  with some TLC, love those chipping effects underneath the wing leading edges and the subtle  effects.

Great work as always

Chris

[Retired Bob]

Superb Spitfire Mark, love the restrained wear a and weathering.  Never tried an ICM Spitfire. 

[AliGauld]

Another beautiful Spitfire.

Can't have too many of those, especially in this quality.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

[jackroadkill]

Lovely job on this, Mark.  Another proof that the ICM Spit can be beaten into shape, given enough wallops from a sufficiently-sized stick.

[Spitfire31]

Very attractive looking Spitfire with a superb finish. I especially noticed the outlines of hatches and joints marked on the white of the roundels – very convincing!

 

Drooping elevators would have been the final touch in the convincing department… 😉

 

Kind regards,

 

Joachim

[Ngantek]

Well done creating a believable texture on such a dark colour (colourblindness makes it look black to me, but the shading clearly gives it texture). Beautifully sharp work as always. Extra kudos for surviving the ICM (I had assumed it was the eduard in the wip!)

Andy

 

[Winded Penguin]

5 hours ago, AliGauld said:

Another beautiful Spitfire.

Can't have too many of those, especially in this quality.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

Actually I was just going to post a comment, but having started to read through what other people posted, these are also my thoughts 👍

[mark.au]

10 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

the old ICM kits build up very nicely  with some TLC,

9 hours ago, Retired Bob said:

Never tried an ICM Spitfire. 

 

You should!  They aren’t perfect but there’s something about them (other than price) that makes them fun to build.

 

7 hours ago, jackroadkill said:

Another proof that the ICM Spit can be beaten into shape, given enough wallops from a sufficiently-sized stick.

 

Nothing the Ukrainians do is easy.

 

5 hours ago, Spitfire31 said:

Drooping elevators would have been the final touch in the convincing department… 😉

 

Ah, yes, an egregious oversight… 😂.  This one had been parked correctly with control surfaces neutral.

 

2 hours ago, Ngantek said:

a believable texture on such a dark colour (colourblindness makes it look black to me, but the shading clearly gives it texture).

 

It’s a bit tricky on a darkish colour to get that, thanks for noticing, I was happy in the end though it took so back and forth to get there.

 

2 hours ago, Ngantek said:

(I had assumed it was the eduard in the wip!)

High praise indeed! 
 

Thank you for all the comments.

 

Cheers.

[Retired Bob]

2 hours ago, mark.au said:

You should!  They aren’t perfect but there’s something about them (other than price) that makes them fun to build.

I have a stack of Eduard Spitfires, from the early Mk.I through to the Mk.XVI so at present I'm trying not to buy anymore kits of any subject.  My stash is way too big already. 🙄

[k5054nz]

That is very, very pretty! How nice would it be to see a flying example in Foliage Green?

[mark.au]

1 hour ago, k5054nz said:

How nice would it be to see a flying example in Foliage Green?

 

That would be awesome!

 

1 hour ago, Retired Bob said:

I have a stack of Eduard Spitfires, from the early Mk.I through to the Mk.XVI so at present I'm trying not to buy anymore kits of any subject.  My stash is way too big already. 🙄

 

Well, yes, but you know the correct number (CN) of unbuilt kits in one's stash is found by the following formula;

 

CN = n+1

[RichieW]

I've never seen a green Spitfire before. Very happy to have seen your model. It looks beautiful, great photography too. 👏👏👏

 

Richie

[Dave Klaatu]

Nice looking build- well done!

[kapam]

Absolutely beautiful Spitfire!

The all-over foliage green and subtle paint chipping are perfectly done.

Congratulations!

👏👏

[Maginot]

Nice work, cobber. She's come up a treat.

[wellsprop]

Very smart weathering! Having built this kit too, I agree it's not the best, but you've made it look brilliant

[Dunny]

Mark,

 

A lovely finish and most interesting WIP. I think you've done a great job of navigating the intricacies of the colour scheme and the end result is superb!

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

[Fritag]

Lovely finish on a scheme that's new to me, and the WIP was fascinating.

[Winded Penguin]

11 hours ago, mark.au said:

 

That would be awesome!

 

 

Well, yes, but you know the correct number (CN) of unbuilt kits in one's stash is found by the following formula;

 

CN = n+1

That's the same formula for bicycles in our house 😆

[Terry1954]

Another great build. I've often wondered what the ICM Spitfires are like to build. Seems like they can come out pretty damned good (with your magic applied that is!).

 

Terry

[georgeusa]

A Spit in Aussie colors.  I've always liked the foliage green camo scheme.  It looks classic.  Nicely built and finished.  Thanks for sharing.  Shame about the history of the aircraft and pilot.  The most nervous people I ever saw were those deployed on missions with only weeks away from being sent back home.  They just knew their luck would run out prior to leaving the combat zone.  Unfortunately for some, their luck did run out.  Thanks for sharing.

[MACALAIN]

On 18/12/2022 at 10:05, bigbadbadge said:

Lovely job Mark a wonderful look Spitfire, the old ICM kits build up very nicely  with some TLC, love those chipping effects underneath the wing leading edges and the subtle  effects.

Great work as always

Chris

Well done.

 

Alain

[mark.au]

On 19/12/2022 at 11:34, RichieW said:

I've never seen a green Spitfire before. Very happy to have seen your model.

 

On 19/12/2022 at 13:55, kapam said:

Absolutely beautiful Spitfire!

The all-over foliage green…

 

19 hours ago, Fritag said:

Lovely finish on a scheme that's new to me, and the WIP was fascinating.

 

11 hours ago, georgeusa said:

Spit in Aussie colors.  I've always liked the foliage green camo scheme.  It looks classic.

The scheme was relatively new to me, too.  I started off the project wanting to do a green and brown with white theatre markings and ended up with an all green bird!  But I like it a lot now, the all green is striking in and of itself.  
 

11 hours ago, georgeusa said:

Shame about the history of the aircraft and pilot.  The most nervous people I ever saw were those deployed on missions with only weeks away from being sent back home.  They just knew their luck would run out prior to leaving the combat zone.

 

The final choice of airframe was because the story - the sadness of it as well as the heroic stoicism in continuing to risk everything when the end is so clearly close.  
 

16 hours ago, Terry1954 said:

Another great build. I've often wondered what the ICM Spitfires are like to build. Seems like they can come out pretty damned good (with your magic applied that is!).

 

Terry

 

22 hours ago, wellsprop said:

Very smart weathering! Having built this kit too, I agree it's not the best, but you've made it look brilliant

 

That ol’ ICM is a character, that’s for sure!

 

Many thanks for the comments and likes, all very much appreciated.

 

Cheers.