rsanz

If you want a 1/24 Fokker Triplane the very best one is the Meng kitset. Their 1/32 version is very good as well, but not quite as good as their 1/24 (which I consider the best Dr.I model in any scale). The Merit 1/24 Fokker Triplane kitset, by comparison, is very basic and inaccurate.

You're quite correct of course. Try one of the real email addresses here: https://www.kotare-models.com/about

These are all from genuine WWII colour photos. Rear deck is a different green from the camouflage Dark Green. Even if it's just an illusion caused by the canopy, that same appearance should really be what we're aiming to recreate in miniature.

Amazingly realistic build and photography. Also love the grass groundwork base. Is it something available commercially?

This...

Some more Life photos of Finucane with BM124 (without the chalked on "Queen...Solate" name or the heraldic shield). You can see the style of underwing cannon magazine fairings. And lots(!) of other detaails. https://artsandculture.google.com/search?q=Finucane

Here's a (26 Squadron?) Mk.Vb with a slipper tank sometime around D-Day. So it's quite feasible Checkett's Mk.Vc also had one.

Yes and no. It depends. Here's some WWII colour film on YouTube showing Czech Mk.Vb and Mk.Vc Spitfires with "fishtail" exhausts and there appears to be a mixture of "black" and "orange". https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BwCrK1p4P48 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mFUt5GB1Jrc&pp=ygUUc3BpdGZpcmUgY29sb3IgY3plY2g%3D

Possibly a bit too late to be of any help, but here's a colour photo showing the colour of the exhaust staining on the nacelle of Mk.I R5868 on 4 May 1944. R5868 nacelle More colour photos here...

The Mk.IX kit must have a different fuselage (it had a longer nose) and different (c) wings and a bunch of other differences from the Mk.IIa. Surely that would make it far less suitable a starting point than the Mk.IIa if you're trying to make a Mk.Va?

During WWI the German port & starboard colours (they were often painted on components) were reversed from what we have now. Maybe the Germans didn't conform with the "standard" colours until much later...at least for aircraft?

Very nice progress and great detailing. Note that for a Mk.I operating before late 1941, the oxygen hose was attached to the pilot's mask and plugged into a round fitting with a triangle base high up on the front starboard side of the cockpit (on part B13). But what you're doing would almost certainly correct for very late production Mk.I AR213 later in its life.

In my personal opinion these books from Wingleader fit your criteria well. You can download sample pages. https://wingleader.co.uk/books/spitfire-mk1-wpa1/ https://wingleader.co.uk/books/spitfirespecial/ https://wingleader.co.uk/books/spitfiremkvwpa6/

Interestingly, despite what some people may say on the internet, they made around 220 Spitfire Mk.Va (including new builds and conversions).

I'll be brief because I really don't want to derail Shoggz's thread any further (sorry Shoggz), and it really doesn't matter to him because there is no doubt what type of undercarriage control was in the aircraft he's building. There's quite a lot of proof showing the hand pump undercarriage control in Mk.I Spitfires made after the first 160-ish airframes but this is all I can think of right now. -K9964 w/n 179 completed May 1939, captured August 1940 and quite well photographed by the Germans for a capture report published in Luftwissen B9#2 1942. -An early N serial aircraft photographed in early 1940 (Kotare instructions page 12 https://www.kotare-models.com/products/k32001-132-spitfire-mkia-mid) -Archeological relics from Spitfires N3200, P9372 and P9374 (built between November 1939 and February 1940). All subsequently rebuilt. The May 1940 Pilot's notes also illustrate the later style engine driven controls, which had only just been introduced on production aircraft that month, although there is much text on the use of both types of control. Sorry again Shoggz.