1/48 - Supermarine Spitfire Tr.9 by Airfix - released

[Work In Progress]

On 1/23/2025 at 11:14 AM, TEXANTOMCAT said:

I suspect that Airfix didn't catch this difference or perhaps they weren't mithered as the Grace/Melton mod wasnt done by Vickers or in service so really should be a TR.9(mod) and they perhaps wanted to kit the original airframe of which many examples (original or single seat modded to 2 seat) exist and a surprising number of schemes too.

 

it may seem pedantic, in which case apologies, but people do tend to search out information from these threads long into the future so it may be worth correcting a misunderstanding.

 

Just for the historical record, there are no "original" Spitfire trainers, as opposed to "single seat modded to 2 seat". Every Spitfire two-seat rainer, including those sold by Vickers from MT818/G-AIDN onwards, was a conversion of an existing single-seat fighter which Vickers had bought back from the surplus market. 

 

The distinction intended is, I imagine, between the Spitfire trainers which were converted from single-seaters by Vickers and re-sold in that form between 1946 and 1951, versus Spitfires converted by other parties in later years.  

[TEXANTOMCAT]

Thanks for the clarification albeit 3 months later 🙂 though I suspect people knew  what I meant -  I was specifically discussing the Grace/ Melton canopy modification vs  Vickers Mod. 
 

the latter was done by the manufacturer, the former by warbird restorers- 

 

in the context of ‘original’ I meant factory modded examples instead of examples which were never OEM/factory modified and have been changed since in civilian ownership.

 

in any event and the main thrust of the post was that Airfix haven’t  so far noted the canopy difference ( I was in contact with one of their subcontractors on exactly that point a few months ago)

 

my point is there are a lot of schemes out there to choose from but the canopy is a limiting factor to modelling at least three airframes I can think of 

 

cheers 

 

TT

Edited April 9 by TEXANTOMCAT

[352nd Fighter Group]

Spitfire PT462 (G-CTIX) ARC Duxford 

Former New Zealand Spitfire TR Mk IX ZK-WDQ now with Ultimate warbird Flights Sywell 

Spitfire ML407 G-LFIX Grace Family/ Ultimate warbird Flights Sywell 

 

 

Edited April 9 by 352nd Fighter Group
Edit

[TEXANTOMCAT]

15 minutes ago, 352nd Fighter Group said:

Spitfire PT462 (G-CTIX) ARC Duxford 

Former New Zealand Spitfire TR Mk IX ZK-WDQ now with Ultimate warbird Flights Sywell 

Spitfire ML407 G-LFIX Grace Family/ Ultimate warbird Flights Sywell 

 

Thanks 352 🫡

[Stephen]

There's a build review of the kit in the June issue of the Airfix magazine.

[352nd Fighter Group]

1 hour ago, Stephen said:

There's a build review of the kit in the June issue of the Airfix magazine.

 Is there a Link 

[Tbolt]

32 minutes ago, 352nd Fighter Group said:

 Is there a Link 

 

https://www.keymodelworld.com/airfix-model-world

 

https://www.keymodelworld.com/airfix-model-world/latest-issue

 

 

[wellsprop]

https://www.keymodelworld.com/article/airfix-148-new-tool-spitfire-tr9-full-build?utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwY2xjawKH8-tleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHg-Cpy0GmsOou4T3WT6vTEaOzU8LRzh2zuh-dFmMZeKA_3yanlTNFoAUi7Vh_aem_Yo09b-Les11PTVaatlehnw

 

I'm going to build a Battle of Britain Film Tr.9

[Homebee]

Xtradecals - ref. X48259 - Supermarine Spitfire Tr.9

Source: https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/X48259

• Supermarine Spitfire T.9, HS539, '4', of Royal Indian Air Force, based at Ambala Air Base, India, 1948.
• Supermarine Spitfire T.9, '158', of 'A Flight', Irish Air Corps, based at FTS Baldonnel, Ireland, 1960.
• Supermarine Spitfire TR.9, BS147, 'H-99', of Royal Netherlands Air Force, Netherlands, 1948.
• Supermarine Spitfire T.9, SM520, 'KJ.I', of Boultbee Flight Academy, based at Goodwood Aerodrome, UK, 2022.
• Supermarine Spitfire T.9, PV202,'5R.H', of Aerial Collective, based at RAF Duxford, UK, 2024.

 

V.P.

 

 

[352nd Fighter Group]

I have found a Typo it should  Spitfire TR.9 PV202 G-CCCA   not PV208 

[Tbolt]

8 minutes ago, 352nd Fighter Group said:

I have found a Typo it should  Spitfire TR.9 PV202 G-CCCA   not PV208 

 

Oops, they didn't proof read that one did they? I would drop Hannants a message to left them no the sheet doesn't match the instructions.

[keithjs]

4 minutes ago, Tbolt said:

 

Oops, they didn't proof read that one did they? I would drop Hannants a message to left them no the sheet doesn't match the instructions.

 

Mmm, it wouldn't be the first time....🙄

[SeventySecond]

Disappointed that MJ627 or any of the current Biggin Hill two seat Spitfires are not included, but being optimistic Hannants may issue a sheet 2 or somebody else will will do it.

 

 

[Graham Boak]

They are two-seat Spitfires but not T.9s.  Does the Airfix kit allow for options that would suit?

[Grey Beema]

As it’s G-ILDA I want to build (SM520), I’m happy with that set…

[Work In Progress]

The current Biggin Hill two-seater fleet (unless there have been recent changes that I've not noticed) consists of:

• MJ627, a T.9 converted by Vickers and delivered to the Irish Air Corps in 1951, so you can make that one out of the kit. In fact it went into service as IAC 158, which is on the Xtradecal sheet, so you can do it twice if you want.
• TE308, a T.9 converted by Vickers for Egypt but which never went there for some reason, but later went to Ireland as IAC 163 so you can make that one out of the kit. 

Both of these are in the Vickers canopy configuration, as is the third aircraft, which is:

• MT818, the original T.8, converted by Vickers, which will require light modification from the kit as discussed above.

 

 

Edited May 29 by Work In Progress

[Irish 251]

4 hours ago, Graham Boak said:

They are two-seat Spitfires but not T.9s.  Does the Airfix kit allow for options that would suit?

 

MJ627 is also an ex-Irish Air Corps Tr. 9 so the kit should work OK for it.

[PeterR]

6 hours ago, SeventySecond said:

Disappointed that MJ627 or any of the current Biggin Hill two seat Spitfires are not included, but being optimistic Hannants may issue a sheet 2 or somebody else will will do it.

 

 

Agree - hopefully other AM decals will cover them

[Work In Progress]

Seems daft taking up so much of the physical area of the Xtradecal sheet with two identical sets of RAF roundels and fin flashes when they could have knocked it back to one set and used the space for extra codes, serials and any small individual markings on the currently extant aircraft. Especially since the kit will come with perfectly serviceable Cartograph-printed roundels and fin flashes.

[rhamilton007]

On 5/28/2025 at 8:03 PM, Homebee said:

Xtradecals - ref. X48259 - Supermarine Spitfire Tr.9

Source: https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/X48259

 

• Supermarine Spitfire T.9, '158', of 'A Flight', Irish Air Corps, based at FTS Baldonnel, Ireland, 1960.

 

 

The roundels on the Irish Air Corp appear to be too big on both the fuselage and wings when looking at reference photo's - especially the fuselage,

 

Cheers

 

On 5/28/2025 at 8:03 PM, Homebee said:

 

V.P.

 

 

 

[Rabbit Leader]

1 hour ago, Work In Progress said:

Seems daft taking up so much of the physical area of the Xtradecal sheet with two identical sets of RAF roundels and fin flashes when they could have knocked it back to one set and used the space for extra codes, serials and any small individual markings on the currently extant aircraft. Especially since the kit will come with perfectly serviceable Cartograph-printed roundels and fin flashes.

Standard procedure for Xtradecal I’m afraid. I pointed this out on a 1/72 Mosquito B.XVI sheet where they provide national insignia for all the options, rather than adding squadron codes and serials for more / all of the PPF squadrons. We know the kits national insignia will be ‘perfect’ so why duplicate these over and over and over again. 
 

Cheers.. Dave 

[The wooksta V2.0]

The reason for this was explained to me by Colin at Freightdog.  Many customers want a complete set of markings for any given option, rather than have to buy another sheet to get roundels, etc.  Modeldecal went too far the other way.  I mean, you got loads of badges, squadron markings, etc, but had to buy another sheet for roundels, another for serials and another for letters, and yet another for numbers.  

 

It amazes me how modellers can spend a huge amount of wadge on a kit and then be incredibly mean on aftermarket.  I'd be happy with one set of national markings and a load of codes/serials as they're always a pain to make up.  

[Work In Progress]

I take the point: as someone who often ends up tackling very old kits with 50 year old unusable decal sheets which may well have been not very good even when new. So sometimes I'm thinking (as right now) "I can buy a helpful aftermarket sheet that will go on this old Monogram / Airfix / Revell kit but I wish it included everything that was on the original kit sheet, including stencils".  And even not very long ago, standard kit decals from Airfix and Monogram and Hasegawa and Tamiya could be pretty poor, with bad roundel colours and nasty printing. So there was a lot to be said for ensuring the basics were included on aftermarket sheets.

 

But when Airfix is providing base decals every bit as well printed as aftermarket ones, and for a subject as ubiquitous as a Mark IX Spitfire, it still seems a bit of a cop-out to fill up a sheet with CTRL-C / CTRL-V stuff like this. However, let's hope someone else does a little sheet to fill in for the other currently active aircraft that could be made from the kit.  Serials are pretty easy to accommodate, but there are some idiosyncratic squadron code styles out there so generic sets will not necessarily do for those, plus these aircraft do tend to have sponsor markings and other little touches which are really hard or impossible to fill from the spares box. 

Edited May 30 by Work In Progress

[The wooksta V2.0]

Early Hornby decals in the Airfix kits were terrible.  It was only when they outsourced to Cartograf that the quality skyrocketed.  Some of the later Humbrol ones were nicely designed, as they had Dick Ward as a consultant, but were printed so badly by Heller that they were effectively worthless.

 

I'll also add another of my pet gripes about aftermarket decals - repetition of the same subject ad bleeding nauseum.  There's a RN Mosquito that's been done four times on four separate sheets, for example, or 4 Sqn's RS679 UP-A on three sheets.  Oh, and aftermarket sheets giving the kit markings - one of the Eagle Strike Mosquito sheets gave RS625 NE-D when you already got it in the Tamiya kit.  People who buy aftermarket sheets do not want the kit options, else why would they buy them?

 

I'll get me coat...

[352nd Fighter Group]

Hopefully Xtradecal will Provide some more Spitfire T.9 decals in the future 

 

Spitfire Mk IXT NH341 ‘Elizabeth Aero Legends

 

Spitfire Mk IXT MJ444 Aero Legends

 

Spitfire T.9 – MJ627 BHHH

 

SPITFIRE T.9 – TE308 BHHH

 

Spitfire T.9 – MJ772 Now in the Netherlands

 

SPITFIRE TR9 - ML295  Spitfires.com

 

SPITFIRE TR9 - BS410  Spitfires.com