John1

Wow, what a great resource. I had no idea there were so many subtle changes to the IX during its production life. Almost as involved as the Bf-109G series. Any idea which cowling(s) are included in the Tamiya kit?

Thanks very much! Regarding the codes - all of the other profiles I've seen show them in black, as do the Techmod and Revel decals. I'll have to dive into this further. Out of curiosity, anyone know of any other aftermarket decal sets that offer UF-Q with red codes? Regards, John

Thank you very much. Just goes to show my complete lack of knowledge about these aircraft. Didn't even know there was an early vrs late version .IX. I need to start reading up!

I'm thinking about jumping into the Tamiya .IX in the near future. Looks like there is no official tweak list for this kit here on LSP. Shall I assume it's perfect? Any issues I should be aware of? I know nothing about Spitfires, so any info would be much appreciated. I do know that Barracuda offers "corrected" cannon bulges so I'm assuming that at minimum, there may be an issue in that area? Thank you in advance, John

I'm pretty excited about this. I've been getting a bit stressed as my Mossie build winds down because I don't have anything in the queue. This fulfills all of my criteria for a build - an attractive aircraft, a unique, "odd-ball" paint scheme, a base kit that is of high quality but still allows for multiple upgrades and a subject that forces me to push my limits from a modeling perspective. In this case, it will be replicating a weathered NMF. I've never done this before (my Korean War F-51D was painted overall aluminum) so this is going to be interesting for sure. Shogg

This series of books are fast become the best resource out there on a given subject. Certainly they are the most cost-effective. I found their book on the Mosquito fighter versions to be absolutely invaluable during my latest build.

Thanks for all the helpful information guys. Graham - that's a very interesting picture you posted. My only question would be when it was taken? As I understand it, the RAF started doing this either very late in the war or early post-war. Still would really like to get some info on whether UF-Q had clipped wings or not. I know nothing at Spitfires. Would the serial number allow this question to be answered?

Thanks for the info guys. It’s a tough call but I’m leaning towards the panels being left in their original colors, if nothing else than for the fact that they would have needed something to act as an anti-glare panel and the easiest solution would be to simply leave those components painted. I’d still love to know why the squadron would have invested all that time and effort to strip off the paint from this aircraft. Very late war, maybe, but supposedly the picture above was taken in 44. Makes no sense. A few other questions - I saw a model of this aircraft and it had clipped wi

In my quest for what will be my next build, I've been thinking about the Tamiya Spit IX. Problem is that I'm just not a fan of the standard Ocean Grey / Dark Green or the standard Desert scheme. While surfing the net, I came across this Spitfire, based in Italy in 1944: I think that might be a good subject. Only question is on the finish. Some references show all over NMF (or painted silver, I have no idea): While others show NMF with a couple of panels in original paintwork. Of the two options, I really like this version. The nose panels reall

I built up the Dragon kit ages ago. Despite a ton of hard work, to be honest, it's just not worth it if you are even close to being a "rivet counter". The panel lines are massive, all the small parts are lacking detail and (I don't recall the specific) there was some issue about the shape of the windscreen. We are so overdue for a decent D/H Huey. Here is my take on the Dragon kit:

So you have first-hand knowledge of this upcoming kit? If so, can you at least share with the class whether or not the upcoming kit is an aircraft or armor?

My flight home to PVD had at best a quarter of the seats filled. Granted it was a small EMB-145 but I think this was the first time in a decade or so that my plane hasn't been full or close to full. On the plus side they are again serving snacks and soft drinks. Asked the FA for a beer, she told me she wished they'd start allowing them to sell booze, with all the stress this year, it would probably be a good thing for all concerned. Hope by this time next year, we are all in better shape.

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Every aircraft ever built except for the UH-1H Huey. After that, having set the bar so high it could never be surpassed, they exit the plastic model aircraft business and focus exclusively on 1/4 scale "Hello Kitty" subjects.

That is some truly wonderful work. Just a random question, that I'm guessing no one has an answer to - if the Ju-88 was going on a one-way mission, would they not have stripped out all the radios and other high-value components out of the cockpit during the conversion process?