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Last Updated: Nov 17th, 2009 - 17:02:08 |
At long last we have a new kit of the Spitfire IX in 1/48th scale, and a rather nice one at that. Occidental in Portugal are responsible for the basic mould, which has now appeared in an MPM box with a few resin additions. You may have read elsewhere that Occidental made an awful mess of this Spitfire’s nose, and so they have — the cowling, upper and lower, bears little resemblance to the real aircraft. MPM have partially dealt with this, by providing a new resin lower cowling (do check that your kit has this additional part — the review sample, from the initial production run, originally came without it). To what extent you wish to correct the upper cowling is a personal matter, as it doesn’t look TOO bad; and it is moulded as a separate part, so replacement with one of the available resin bits or home-made modification is relatively easy.
Otherwise we have a rather neat and well-detailed Spitfire. MPM have added in lots of resin parts to cover most of the Spitfire IX variations — alternative gun panel bulges for the upper wing, 3 extra wheel hub sets, clipped wing tips, early style carburettor intake, late-type pointed rudder, and Mk V-style horizontal tailplanes. Other options are dealt with by the basic kit parts. The instructions guide you through which parts are appropriate for which of the 5 decal sheet options, four RAF and one Israeli. The resin rudder and tailplanes are a good deal better than the plastic alternatives, with more restrained and accurate surface detail. Note also that the kit provides torque links for the undercarriage, not a feature of all Mk IXs. All this means you have to think carefully exactly which aircraft you intend to model, do a bit of research, and plan construction accordingly!
A reasonable cockpit interior is provided, but many people will want to improve on this area with Eduard or other etched parts (sets designed for the Tamiya Mk V should fit, and are largely appropriate). The 3-part canopy means that extra work on the interior can be exposed to view. The rest of the airframe is straightforward, and test runs suggest everything fits OK (I haven’t yet built the kit!). Other optional parts are the centre-line and underwing bomb racks + bombs. The bęte noir of Spitfire kits, the complex underwing shape where fuselage and wing meet, is accurately depicted.
To finish off the model, a superb Cartograf decal sheet includes all stencils, and markings for the 5 aircraft mentioned earlier. Both Czech and Polish RAF squadrons are represented, one of them a Tunisian-based 145 Sqn machine in Dark Earth/Middle Stone/Azure Blue. I would strongly recommend reference to the Ventura book on Israeli Spitfires if you plan to build the final option — decals and colour scheme details look OK, but there is an alarming suggestion that one hand paints the small serial under the tailplanes! Who forgot the artwork for the decals, then?
So we have a flawed but useful addition to the available 1/48th Spitfire kits, not Tamiya quality by any means but much better than the average short run kit (such as other MPM kits in this scale!). Not entirely accurate from the box, the corrections are pretty simple for any competent modeller. Certainly the best way to make a 1/48th Mk IX, and with lots of conversion potential (PRXI, F.Mk VIII and others spring to mind). I’d be interested to hear comments from readers who have actually built the kit, preferably before I make a start on mine! (And yes, the Russians used Mk IXs, so I have some nice schemes lined up ?.)
To complement this kit (and the Occidental version), Aeroclub have released two detail/ conversion sets. These contain a complete new nose, spinner and prop, plus white metal tailwheel of the correct size, exhausts, and a late-style carburettor intake. The Mk XVI set also has a new upper rear fuselage and bubble canopy. The injection moulded parts are in Aeroclub’s new pale grey plastic, finely moulded and with crisp detail. Very highly recommended, the best and easiest way to correct the base kits.
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