AIRFIX 1:48 SPITFIRE MK.VC
'In The Box Review'

 

Reviewer: Johnathon Mock  (taken from rec.models.scale newsgroup)

Thud on the doormat today and a set of final production shots for the Airfix Spitfire Vc had arrived. As a summary for those who may not know - or keep forgetting - this kit is a mod of their existing Spitfire Vb. The kit retains *all* the Spitfire Vb parts but with four new sprues containing new wings and other parts for the Vc and Seafire III variants. In fact, the kit will enable knowledgeable modellers to make and Seafire I and II versions as well - not bad for under a tenner!

Of the four new sprues, these are moulded in a medium grey plastic and feature recessed panel lines with a matt textured plastic - these have been using the spark erosion process in Chain and have the same look and finish as the Bucc, Jag and SHAR FA.2 (which were, incidentally tooled by Occidental). For modellers wondering why Airfix didn't use beryllium copper tooling for these parts, the answer is (A) cost and (B) it's being used to update an old kit so it's perhaps not as crucial as say an all-new kit.

What do you get? Brand new under wing (with scallops) and upper wing halves. Flaps and gun panels are all separate as are the wing tips and Airfix provide four versions - two clipped, standard and extended. Other parts included a new spinner, four-blade prop, a-frame hook, strengthened u/c legs, disc wheels and six-stack exhaust for the Seafire, longer carburettor, Aboukir filter, chin and cannon barrels for the Spit, all to be used on conjunction with other parts from the existing kit. No doubt modellers will seize on what Airfix have *not* included and these include the strengthening plates fore the Seafire fuselage (care to explain how to injection mould something that thin fellahs?). Cest la vie...

One word of caution concerns the sprue attachment points on some of the larger parts - these are a little hefty in places, but nothing that a pair of clippers of a heavy craft knife can't cure, but I mention them now because some no doubt moan about them.

Decals will cover the following:

(A) Vc of 79 Sqn RAAF in green/light blue with white tail and "Down With Everything" glamour girl artwork. This features the Volkes filter and standard wing tips.

(B) Vc of No 2 Sqn/7 Wing SAAF in dark earth/mid stone/azure blue desert camo. This aircraft also features the Volkes filters but with four cannons.

(C) No.103 MU RAF in desert camo with the four bladed prop and extended wing tips.

(D) Seafire III in dark slate grey/extra dark sea grey/sky with BPF roundel-and-bar. This aircraft is also featured on Gavin Macleod's excellent box art showing said Seafire approaching HMS Indefatigable.

Kit should be out in April [2002] and retail for under ten pounds in the UK. The latest issue of Scale Aircraft Modelling (SAM) features an advanced review of this kit by editor Neil Robinson.

To answer a few final questions (A) yes the kit still has raised detail on the fuselage, so you'll have to rescribe this if you're that troubled by it, and (B) dunno, I've not tried mating the wing to a Tamiya Spit yet.

 

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