1/48th - Spitfire Mk.IXe by Airfix - released Nov 2025

[Tbolt]

https://uk.airfix.com/products/supermarine-spitfire-mkixe-a05144?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Adam Poultney]

Strange move doing two new spitfires in 1/48 but no new fixed wing aircraft in 1/72. I guess this proves @Denfordwrong about downscaling, following from the 1/24 kit. 

[cherisy]

So these are our Spitfires for this year then.

[Denford]

Delighted to hear it!  With the precedent set, all we need is some 1/48 reduced to 1/72.  Too many to mention, but my first choice would be Sea Fury

[Adam Poultney]

1 minute ago, Denford said:

Delighted to hear it!  With the precedent set, all we need is some 1/48 reduced to 1/72.  Too many to mention, but my first choice would be Sea Fury

If this year is anything to judge by, we'd be lucky to get anything new in 1/72 next year. 

[Tbolt]

We just need them to follow up with some PR Spits to this quality.

[TEXANTOMCAT]

11 minutes ago, Adam Poultney said:

Strange move doing two new spitfires in 1/48 but no new fixed wing aircraft in 1/72. I guess this proves @Denfordwrong about downscaling, following from the 1/24 kit. 

Well he doubted the TR.9 too so I will listen to him next year - anything he says won't happen - will - sort of a reverse Mystic Meg! 

[Christer A]

That rivet detail looks to match what Eduard did for their Mk IX series. I wonder if Airfix are able to mold it with that much finesse?

[Adam Poultney]

6 minutes ago, Christer A said:

That rivet detail looks to match what Eduard did for their Mk IX series. I wonder if Airfix are able to mold it with that much finesse?

That kit is 11 years old, I'd hope Airfix has caught up! The CAD looks good. 

[Giorgio N]

31 minutes ago, Christer A said:

That rivet detail looks to match what Eduard did for their Mk IX series. I wonder if Airfix are able to mold it with that much finesse?

 

Since Airfix want a tenner more for their new IX, it better be superior in some way to the Eduard kit...

[Max Headroom]

My only concern is how they tackle the undercarriage. Their rendition for the I/Vb was rather silly.

 

As for comparison with Eduard, I think the market is big enough for both.

 

Trevor

[Denford]

1 hour ago, TEXANTOMCAT said:

Well he doubted the TR.9 too so I will listen to him next year - anything he says won't happen - will - sort of a reverse Mystic Meg! 

As a keen Bridge player, I'm used to losing as well as winning !  Thank you for your restrained and uncritical reply.  But those who buy will have to be modellers.  A neighbor (father and grandfather both fighter pilots the latter of air rank) who had a 'thrilling' flight wouldn't have bought one because he's not a  modeller and by extension, sales would be limited to modelllers.  However  there's another consideration.  The smooth, unblemished wing could well be suitable for a PR XI.....

I hope this isn't the 'kiss of death' for a PR X1 with lots of interesting markings.

[Adam Poultney]

In the video on youtube going through the range, it is mentioned that this has a slide moulded cowling. A nice feature for sure

[noelh]

. I still have plenty of Eduard in the stash. It would have to much better than Eduard to tempt me. 

 

Now the TR9, well, that's a must 

[TEXANTOMCAT]

19 minutes ago, Denford said:

As a keen Bridge player, I'm used to losing as well as winning !  Thank you for your restrained and uncritical reply.  But those who buy will have to be modellers.  A neighbor (father and grandfather both fighter pilots the latter of air rank) who had a 'thrilling' flight wouldn't have bought one because he's not a  modeller and by extension, sales would be limited to modelllers.  However  there's another consideration.  The smooth, unblemished wing could well be suitable for a PR XI.....

I hope this isn't the 'kiss of death' for a PR X1 with lots of interesting markings.

thank you for your your Mea Culpa.

 

Nooe. After spending £3k on a flight - you just would buy a kit of the aeroplane you flew in (or your family would as present) - who says you have to be a modeller and actually build it?  It’s still a sale for Airfix. 
 

having worked in the warbird flight industry, we could flog ANYTHING to the elated aviator and their entourage after their flight. In fact at one stage we made 50% more per trip on post flight merch. 

 

TT

 

[Phoenix44]

1 hour ago, Adam Poultney said:

That kit is 11 years old, I'd hope Airfix has caught up! The CAD looks good. 

True but I'm not sure there's much you could improve on. The newer Vs are lovely but essentially the same. I'm sure it will sell where there's no Eduard version.  But it won't have PE for the instrument panel and seatbelts or canopy masks like the Profipack Eduard versions and it will cost as much, so I'm really not sure I'd buy one. Now a XII or a highback XIV...

[Tbolt]

47 minutes ago, Giorgio N said:

 

Since Airfix want a tenner more for their new IX, it better be superior in some way to the Eduard kit...

 

They could have started with the Dzus fasteners, but unfortunately they've done them raised like everyone else. Hopefully things like the wheel wells will be simpler construction.

[PatG]

Not trying to be too picky but the test shots show the perspex to be quite thick for this scale and the exhausts are also molded solid which seems rather odd.

 

Pat.

[Tbolt]

5 minutes ago, PatG said:

Not trying to be too picky but the test shots show the perspex to be quite thick for this scale and the exhausts are also molded solid which seems rather odd.

 

Pat.

 

They've used a slide mold where it matters the most, I guess they didn't want to increase the price of thr kit by using one on the exhausts as well. The thing I noticed that looks a little thick is the trailing edge of the wing, unfortunately that's where they made the join by the looks of it.

 

[Phoenix44]

35 minutes ago, TEXANTOMCAT said:

thank you for your your Mea Culpa.

 

Nooe. After spending £3k on a flight - you just would buy a kit of the aeroplane you flew in (or your family would as present) - who says you have to be a modeller and actually build it?  It’s still a sale for Airfix. 
 

having worked in the warbird flight industry, we could flog ANYTHING to the elated aviator and their entourage after their flight. In fact at one stage we made 50% more per trip on post flight merch. 

 

TT

 

I'm sure but it's still a very small market. Say 2 flights/day for the 180 days it's reasonable weather? That's 360 potential customers.  Say 25% buy the kit and that's 90 sales/year per aircraft. Long way to go to get to 10,000 units that way. If it's only 10% buy the kit that's 36/year. 

[VMA131Marine]

1 hour ago, Giorgio N said:

 

Since Airfix want a tenner more for their new IX, it better be superior in some way to the Eduard kit...

Not necessarily, the Airfix kit will be available in a lot of places that the Eduard kit isn’t. Street and mail order prices will also be lower.

[Giorgio N]

1 minute ago, VMA131Marine said:

Not necessarily, the Airfix kit will be available in a lot of places that the Eduard kit isn’t. Street and mail order prices will also be lower.

 

The same applies to Eduard: I based my comparison on Hannants prices, that are generally high. Eduard 1/48 Spits can be found for much less. I've seen them for €14...

Said that, I'm sure that the market is large enough for this kit to find its space, it's a Spitfire!

[Gordon J]

Yesterday in the Airfix speculation thread I jokingly commented that seeing as the 2024 Catalogue seemed to have a Spitfire variant on every other page then this year's release will be a Spitfire.

 

And here we are.

 

It'll be a lovely kit but tonight I am feeling like I don't want to hear about Airfix releasing a Spitifire. 😐

[Stephen]

Spitfire and Bf109 sales pay for other stuff. 

[TEXANTOMCAT]

1 hour ago, Phoenix44 said:

I'm sure but it's still a very small market. Say 2 flights/day for the 180 days it's reasonable weather? That's 360 potential customers.  Say 25% buy the kit and that's 90 sales/year per aircraft. Long way to go to get to 10,000 units that way. If it's only 10% buy the kit that's 36/year. 

2 flights a day? You’re joking? 1.5-2 an hour more like - (most flights are 20mins brakes off to brakes on) -6 days a week for some operators too and BHH are running 4 aircraft- Sywell will soon have 2, Boultbee (Spitfires.com) have 2 and Aerial Collective  2- and they’re booked up for months. PLUS all those who have already flown in them.

these are slick operations with a healthy profit margin and a ready market. If you can afford 3k plus a flight you’ll buy a model too. 
 

lets use your 180 days which seems fair- To let them have lunch and a pee and a slower turnaround and give them the weekend off so say 6 flights per day x 5 so that’s 30 a week. Fair enough.

 

multiply that by 10* aircraft across operators that’s  300 flights a week. 
 

but using your days 6 flights a day x 10 aircraft … then multiply that by 180 days and you’re over  10000 people per year. 
 

I’m going to be fair again and halve it  in case that’s too generous and they won’t be operating at max capacity - some will be down for maintenance some might not operate every day the weather may be bad. 
 

thats 5000 people who have flown-  25% spend 1% of their flight cost on a kit. That’s 1000+ kits right there…. 

*EDIT- I forgot Aero Legends with another 2 two seaters so that’s 12 ! can’t be mithered to do the maths above again 

 

Spitfires.com note they flew 1000 spitfire flights last season  on their website so 500 per aircraft

 

500 x 12 Spits = 6000 flights across the U.K. approx +\-

 

note also that BHH were flying yesterday in mid Jan! 

 

 

Now these post flight sales are a bonus on TOP of those who simply want to buy the kit as a modeller or who fancy completing their Spitfire collection.  Plus all those people who have previously flown in one (and there are a LOT now) 

someone at Airfix thinks it’s viable obviously plus there will be a load of shared CAD from the IX to make the project somewhat cheaper. 
 

so @Phoenix44 your maths maybe a bit out- you’re not alone unless you have some knowledge of the ‘trade’ people don’t realise what a large scale concern the operators actually run ! 🙂

 

Edited January 14 by TEXANTOMCAT