Pete Roberts

Sadly I can't see Airfix doing a Spitfire Mk I or Mk Vb - they have already done them in 1/24. If they are to do another Spitfire, perhaps a XVI would be easiest using parts from their Mk IX. The Mk VIII needs new wings (wing root tanks and outboard signalling lights, though the later were apparently not on all Mk VIIIs) and the fuselage has the downward amber light in a different position and retractable tail wheel, so a few more changes needed.

It has to be accurate now!

Yep, thanks, know that. My 'sad' comment related to the V-P, who was talking smelly brown stuff, and was probably full of it as well. It got me quite annoyed, and still does, that someone can lay claim to stuff they never did. It was Barlow's weapon, I believe, that was described as having been finished in primer red, but it seems the finish of these could vary. Perhaps a result of the rushed job to get them all ready.

Had a school vice principal from many (many, many) years ago who claimed he'd done flying training with Barlow, and that Barlow had written to him just prior to the Dam's Raid. The V-P reckoned he'd gone on to fly Vultee Vengeances in the Pacific and described how they almost went over the vertical. I checked out his war record several years later. He was in admin. He had hounded to be sent to the Pacific, got his wish, then hounded for a medal when he returned. Quite sad really... Apologies if this has taken the thread off track.

Ooops, sorry, should have been posted in Aviation Discussion and Research Mods, can you please move?

For those wanting to research Spitfires, this website has been around for ages: http://www.airhistory.org.uk/spitfire/production.html We now also have this: http://www.airhistory.org.uk/Hurricane/home.html Heavenly...

There are some curly questions in that quiz - I have to admit a few of my answers were not made with a lot of confidence!

Wingleader have put together a Dambuster quiz. I managed 15/20. How well do you know the Dambusters?

I thought this had already been done? Pretty basic kit though IIRC

I'm not sure I want to see their b***s ......

Do you see much difference between 1/32 and 1/35 scales? Difficult I suppose unless you have a single subject in both scales.

Excellent suggestion!

I can - a Spitfire Mk I to the same standard as the Mk IX...

This kit is best completed as a Mk I. The surface detail is some of the best you I will find for a Spitfire Mk I. Unfortunately, several issues. Lack of contour in the belly to rear main wing join, exhaust slots are too large and in the wrong place, the cowl panels finish short of the nose, the wing is a little short in span and too wide in chord, and the control surfaces have fictitious detail to allow them to be operable. There are no walls to the wheel wells and the interior of the radiators lack detail. The cockpit should not have a floor, and also lacks a lot of detail. The sliding canopy has a clumsy over scale slide attachment, and the groove along which it is supposed to slide is over scale. To name just a few….. However, if you want a cheap Spitfire Mk I to build and just sit it on a shelf to admire, this is a pretty good candidate - IMHO, it looks the goods to the casual observer. Personally, I’m not a fan of the later Hasegawa or Revell 1/32 early Spitfires. I am not sure why you would want to be scribing panel lines as this kit already has engraved panel lines. I’m not aware of any AM specifically for this kit, but as others have said above, most of the 1/32 AM for early Spitfires should fit, or be capable of wrangling to fit. I built this kit not long after it was released, thanks to a very generous uncle and Christmas, and recall it was a very pleasant build, but you know what they say about memory….

Nicely illustrated Mozzie. 1A, the slotted type manifold, was on the first Hurricanes, but was generally replaced by the 'Triple ejector nozzle outlet' type, though some Hurricanes retained their original exhausts. My knowledge of Hurricanes at the moment stops at the end of the Battle of Britain, so not sure thereafter.

From the sprue shots I have seen, the 'round' type are the earlier exhausts, seen on Mk I Hurricanes and also Mk I Spitfires, sometimes also called 'orange slice' because the trailing exhaust is round but the forward two have a crescent shape. The fishtail exhausts are the later type. I have no idea when they came into use - may be worth a Google search, or a check of any references you have, for images of the exhausts. All the better if you can also get a serial number to tie in with the exhaust type, to give some idea as to when a change over may have occurred.

The leading edge of the wing farings is also a little different, due to the nose change.

I'm just finishing off a manuscript relating to the Battle of Britain and have covered some of the changes to the Spitfire Mk I. I am tossing up about including this, but how far does one go? There is a multitude of changes across Spitfire production, some of which were applied to existing aircraft and some that were not. It is mind boggling. I think I have adopted a new mantra now - it's only a model....

Just got word that Kotare have added a new product - 3D printed exhausts for later Mk Ia (mid and late), II and Va/b (mid and late) aircraft, also applicable to some Hurricanes. https://www.kotare-models.com/

No spell check in those days... Then again, that can also be a good thing!

Fundekals have pretty good research and are pretty reliable, though they did miss the inscription “The East India Fund Flight” on YT-J. I suspect they would be good with something like the upper surface scheme.

The best analysis of Spitfire Mk I upper surface camouflage was done by Ted Hooton which was published in ‘Scale Aircraft Modelling’ Vol 5 No 2 Nov 1982. He states that even serial Spitfire Mk Is had A scheme while odd had B scheme, with the following exceptions: K9787-K9882 K9888-K9891 N3160-N3203 N3264-N3295 P9557-P9565 R6751-R6780 R6799-R6800 R6804-R6818 R6829-R6840 R6879- (possibly R6880, or R6903) Edit: Note the demarcation between upper and lower surface camouflage at the nose changed. it began with a slight over lap of upper over lower, up until late February 1940, but changed to a demarcation along the lower side of the nose cowl panels (Late February 1940, between P9305 and P9339) Edit: Curiously, Hurricane Mk Is tend to be the opposite, with A scheme usually seen on odd serial aircraft and B scheme usually seen on even serial aircraft.

Thank you for posting these. I still have memories of visiting this hangar in 2022. I am sure when I first looked in through the door at this collection, I stopped breathing for a moment. One of the most amazing collection of aircraft I have ever seen.

So are they actually doing passenger flights in these? Edit - YES! https://www.omaka.org.nz/anson And only NZ$990 per person for 1.5 hours of joy, not bad, especially when you live just across the ditch. Sounds like you’ll be making the trip Max

I am a bit confused. A post above says the early patches were red and applied with clear dope, but that quoted here suggests they were applied with red dope. Was it both?