Airfix Spitfire Mk I/IIa (kit #A02010)
Spitfire Mk I K9794, WZ-T, 19 Squadron RAF, Duxford, August 1938
This is the new tooling of the Mk I from Airfix, their second issue with the bits to make either an early Mk I, late Mk Ia or the IIa. I completed this kit back in 2011 as part of an Airfix Group Build, and secondly to respond to a fellow modeler who had attempted to build the kit but was frustrated and felt it was an awful mess.
This was my second build of this kit, the other being the earlier Mk Ia release (A01071A) that I'd modified to the Mk IIa using 3D-Kits upgrade set.
The Subject
During the Munich crisis of 1938 19 Squadron prepared for a potential war by toning down the national markings -- specifically the roundels -- to the National Marking I consisting of the Red/Blue roundel in 4 positions on the top of the wings and sides of the fuselage. Additionally, the undersides were painted Night/White, but due to balance concerns the ailerons and elevators remained Aluminum Dope.
K9794 was from the original production batch, the 8th Spitfire produced (not including the prototype). According to Morgan & Shacklady, K9794 was assigned to 19 Squadron immediately after production on 18 August 1938; it crashed on landing 10 January 1939 and was subsequently struck off charge 18 April 1939.
K9794 was delivered, and probably operated its entire career, with a Merlin II engine fitted with the two blade fixed pitch propeller. It had the original pole radio aerial mast for the HF TR9D radio.
The Model
Quite a bit has already been written about this kit. While very accurate in shape and having very good detail for this scale, the main detraction are the very deep and wide panel lines. If brush painting the model (as will most of Airfix's target buyers for this kit) the panel lines get filled and ultimately are not as noticeable. I'm a bit ham-fisted when it comes to sanding and filling so don't mind the deep panel lines, given the soft plastic. If it were a harder plastic I'd like the panel lines to be less deep/wide. And…there be a definite difference between the three types of "panel lines": 1) control surface gaps, 2) removable panels, and 3) skin joints. They should all be small in this scale, with the largest being the first and the near invisible on the last.
The kit goes together fairly straightforward, however admittedly the cockpit frames are a bit too large for the insides of the fuselage. My solution, used on every Spitfire model I build, is to start with the tail and work forward using liquid poly cement. For this kit I prepped the interior and completed the cockpit items as two separate pieces, instead of one per the instructions (step 1).
After gluing the seat and rear frame in, I then fit the fuselage to the wings (NO GLUE!) to ensure the fit is right, shimming as needed. This kit needs none.
I then fit the front instrument panel/frame into the fuselage and clamp the fuselage to ensure it fits properly. If the instrument panel/frame is too wide, I sand it a bit to make it fit. An improper fit will cause the whole fuselage to distort, actually making it not only wider at the top (requiring filler) but too narrow at the wing roots, requiring more filler at the wings, or if too wide will eliminate the proper dihedral of the wings. This kit really needs no filler, however due to the too wide frames the wing uppers are pushed out, causing a "flat" or no dihedral.
This next photo is of the fuselage with cockpit glued but the fuselage only dry fitted to the wings. Notice the lack of dihedral and leading edge openings due to distortion.
The solution is to sand the fuselage wing root carefully until it fits.
No seams and no loss of detail.
The remainder of construction was straight forward and very easy. Instead of using the decals from the kit, which depict K9794 in a transitory state with only a single roundel, I decided to use some spare decals from my CMR Mk I kit that represented a more typical scheme. Paints used were Humbrol enamels, Hu29 for Dark Earth, Hu116 for Dark Green for the upper surface camouflage. The other colors were black, white and aluminum paints from my paint shelf.
Summary
This is a great kit that represents the early Merlin a-winged Spitfires. Out of the box many variants and schemes can be made (I plan to do most of them!) and with just a modicum of aftermarket nearly all variants of the a-winged Spitfire can be done.
My only niggle is the lack of gun blast deflectors for the outer most guns. Very prominent on the Spitfire Mk I in 1938 and early 1939, only the Tamiya Mk I shows this feature properly.
Thanks for looking...
This was my second build of this kit, the other being the earlier Mk Ia release (A01071A) that I'd modified to the Mk IIa using 3D-Kits upgrade set.
The Subject
During the Munich crisis of 1938 19 Squadron prepared for a potential war by toning down the national markings -- specifically the roundels -- to the National Marking I consisting of the Red/Blue roundel in 4 positions on the top of the wings and sides of the fuselage. Additionally, the undersides were painted Night/White, but due to balance concerns the ailerons and elevators remained Aluminum Dope.
K9794 was from the original production batch, the 8th Spitfire produced (not including the prototype). According to Morgan & Shacklady, K9794 was assigned to 19 Squadron immediately after production on 18 August 1938; it crashed on landing 10 January 1939 and was subsequently struck off charge 18 April 1939.
K9794 was delivered, and probably operated its entire career, with a Merlin II engine fitted with the two blade fixed pitch propeller. It had the original pole radio aerial mast for the HF TR9D radio.
The Model
Quite a bit has already been written about this kit. While very accurate in shape and having very good detail for this scale, the main detraction are the very deep and wide panel lines. If brush painting the model (as will most of Airfix's target buyers for this kit) the panel lines get filled and ultimately are not as noticeable. I'm a bit ham-fisted when it comes to sanding and filling so don't mind the deep panel lines, given the soft plastic. If it were a harder plastic I'd like the panel lines to be less deep/wide. And…there be a definite difference between the three types of "panel lines": 1) control surface gaps, 2) removable panels, and 3) skin joints. They should all be small in this scale, with the largest being the first and the near invisible on the last.
The kit goes together fairly straightforward, however admittedly the cockpit frames are a bit too large for the insides of the fuselage. My solution, used on every Spitfire model I build, is to start with the tail and work forward using liquid poly cement. For this kit I prepped the interior and completed the cockpit items as two separate pieces, instead of one per the instructions (step 1).
After gluing the seat and rear frame in, I then fit the fuselage to the wings (NO GLUE!) to ensure the fit is right, shimming as needed. This kit needs none.
I then fit the front instrument panel/frame into the fuselage and clamp the fuselage to ensure it fits properly. If the instrument panel/frame is too wide, I sand it a bit to make it fit. An improper fit will cause the whole fuselage to distort, actually making it not only wider at the top (requiring filler) but too narrow at the wing roots, requiring more filler at the wings, or if too wide will eliminate the proper dihedral of the wings. This kit really needs no filler, however due to the too wide frames the wing uppers are pushed out, causing a "flat" or no dihedral.
This next photo is of the fuselage with cockpit glued but the fuselage only dry fitted to the wings. Notice the lack of dihedral and leading edge openings due to distortion.
The solution is to sand the fuselage wing root carefully until it fits.
Perfect! Glue it up and prime.
No seams and no loss of detail.
The remainder of construction was straight forward and very easy. Instead of using the decals from the kit, which depict K9794 in a transitory state with only a single roundel, I decided to use some spare decals from my CMR Mk I kit that represented a more typical scheme. Paints used were Humbrol enamels, Hu29 for Dark Earth, Hu116 for Dark Green for the upper surface camouflage. The other colors were black, white and aluminum paints from my paint shelf.
Summary
This is a great kit that represents the early Merlin a-winged Spitfires. Out of the box many variants and schemes can be made (I plan to do most of them!) and with just a modicum of aftermarket nearly all variants of the a-winged Spitfire can be done.
My only niggle is the lack of gun blast deflectors for the outer most guns. Very prominent on the Spitfire Mk I in 1938 and early 1939, only the Tamiya Mk I shows this feature properly.
Thanks for looking...
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