Hobby Boss Spitfire Vb

EP312/D-K, Wing Commander Dereck Kain, Edku, Egypt, 1944

This is a model I completed back in April 2011.  I purchased the Hobby Boss kit not knowing the goods or others regarding accuracy, fit, detail, et cetera.  As with most Hobby Boss kits, this one had some things not quite right.  

I approached the build from the perspective of a learning experience.  My objective was to correct where possible (er, within my skills), and expand my weathering abilities just a bit.

The Subject

W/C Kain served with the RAF beginning in 1935; flying missions over France, Dunkirk and during the Battle of Britain.  He was commander of 229 Squadron over Malta and 127 Squadron in the Western Desert.  Ultimately he transferred to the RNZAF in 1944 and was Station Chief at RAF Edku, Egypt.

During his assignment in Egypt, Ju-86P high altitude reconnaissance aircraft overflew the Nile Delta region.  The RAF was routinely attempting to intercept these aircraft and heavily modified Spitfire Vb and IX were used.  Ultimately through weight reduction, drag reduction and engine performance increases one of the modified Spitfires was able to intercept and engage a Ju-86P.  This ended their reconnaissance flights as the danger was now too great.

Spitfire Vb EP312 is one of those modified aircraft.  The modifications known to have been done are:

• Aboukir tropical filter
• Engine improvements, to include separate exhaust ejector stubs
• Very smooth paint, near gloss

This particular aircraft was probably used mainly to escort the more modified Spitfire, which usually also had the radio and IFF removed, only 2x .50 caliber guns with limited ammunition, and no paint.  It was one of these, Spitfire IX MA504, that W/C Kain flew to 47,000 feet (the subject of a future build!).

The Model

As mentioned above, this kit has issues like most Hobby Boss kits in the Easy Build range.  In this case, they are:

• Poor cockpit detail (not an issue for me)
• Cockpit canopy too high in profile
• No main landing gear doors (!?)
• Prop is inaccurate for any Spitfire

I corrected the prop via the Quickboost Rotol prop and the main landing gear doors came from a donor Revell Vb kit.  I also replaced the landing gear and wheels with resin ones from my spares box (CMR Seafire III kit).  The Aboukir filter came from the Italeri Mk Vb kit, and the exhausts came from the Italeri Mk IX kit (a good source of spares).

I chose not to replace the canopy.  It turns out most of my spares didn't fit very well and looked worse than just using the kit canopy.  I even attempted a vac canopy, but that would have revealed the inadequate cockpit so I stuck with the kit.

The scheme is standard Western Desert for 1944: Temperate Land Scheme above with Azure Blue undersides.  For the pain I used Humbrol 29 for the Dark Earth, followed by Humbrol 116 for the Dark Green.   There is no real good match for Azure Blue, so I used Model Master Azure Blue but with about 10 drops of deep red added; it seems to put just the right amount of red into the Azure to give it that purple caste most out-of-the -bottle paints lack.

I used Ad Astra Masks for the D-K lettering.  I had to paint these instead of using decals because 1) no decals are available; and 2) they are non-standard.  They worked wonderfully and I'm continually looking for projects that can take advantage of these masks.

At the time of building I was not aware the subject should be so glossy.  So I attempted some weathering (which it should NOT have) and while it was okay, I knew I had to improve.

It was still an easy build, fairly quick and very enjoyable.  Will I build another Hobby Boss Spitfire?  Probably not, given I spent the equivalent of the kit in upgrades to get it acceptable, albeit not accurate.

Thanks for reading...