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Vintage Wings of Canada performed a test flight of their recently restored Spitfire Mk.IX, in markings of 442 Squadron RCAF. She flew without issues this morning at 9:30am. I now have two Spitfires (and a Mk.XIV crated in storage), a Mustang, two Hurricanes a P-40 and a Swordfish (among other aircraft) within two hours driving distance. This was the restoration project that was started in Comox, BC. Richard

Here's my entry into the GB: It looks like Revell removed the original Matchbox copyright and logos getting the mould here: I'm painting to deviate a bit from the instructions in the hope that it'll make assembly easier, particularly around the wing root area. As for AM, I'm going to throw a bit at it, mostly some leftover Tamiya bits and new belts. Carl

Hello all, Thought I'd kick the year off be posting a couple of images of this tribute to Edgar Brooks. I began this build during the GB but stalled when I got distracted. During the holidays I have been able to re-visit it and finally finish my tribute to Edgar. Better late than never. Hope you enjoy the end result. I had hoped to be able to display the model all buttoned up but the intake under the nose does n't want to come off anymore. I managed to batter the kit stencils into submission but chickened out with the larger markings which were masked and painted. sluggo kindly provided the masks which worked beautifully, thanks Randy. The cannon are metal items and fitted perfectly. Really a top notch product. Also, the wheels are resin items from Barracuda studios. Excellent product and heartily recommended. The finish is Tamiya AS whizz can with a coat of clear gloss lacquer over it from Montana Gold spray cans. I then toned that down in places with Valejo satin varnish before weathering with various mediums from Games Workshop inks through water colour pencils to pastel chalks. I finally gave up trying to use Photobucket and reverted to Joomeo but it's a while since I use that site so hope the images show up for everyone. Any comments, good or bad, are most welcome. Cheers.

Takka!Takka! Takka! Takka! After finishing my FR IX, I guess I couldn't stay away. So here's my next Spitfire build. As most have probably guessed, this will be MH434 from the film Battle of Britain. I'll be using the fundekäls sheet for the markings. The biggest hurdle I had was that I had previously assembled most of the wing. In doing so, I used the wrong cannon fairing bulges. To replicate the look of the .303 armed MK II Spitfire, the cannon barrels and their fairings were removed. This meant I had to remove them from my wing. I decided to try and cut them off with a small razor saw. This worked out better than I thought and I managed to get both fairings removed without damaging any of the detail on the surrounding panels. Next were the leading edge inserts. I used sprue from the kit to plug the openings. Then I sanded them to their approximate shape. The inserts were then attached to the wings and the final shaping will be done once they're dry. I also filled in the holes in the wing panels with sheet styrene. Carl

Hi fellow GBers (feels good to say that) At last I can actually join in since my Tamiya MkXVI landed this morning. I've only just opened the box so it's early days but I'm thrilled to be on board. Cheers.

Here's my entry into this GB. The PRU pink Spitfires have certainly been an eye-catching scheme over the years. When I first thought about doing one, I wasn't sure about the shade of pink. Edgar was very helpful in figuring that out. I'll be starting with the Tamiya IXc kit: The contents are a bit jumbled as I had to mix it with another kit to get under the 25% completion limit. For extras, I'll be using some Barracuda resin bits, RB rad screens and Ad Astra paint masks for the markings. Carl

Ok, Ok, Ok, I caved.... Granted with all my other irons in the fire this may take a while, so I am grateful for the Dec 31 end date. ...It may take every bit of it. The box: The goodies inside: The conceptual drawing: I actually did a thumbnail sketch probably 2 years ago, then did the above colored rendering. I will be making the majority of this up as I go along, but at this point here is the basic concept and list of mods. Reno styled Unlimited Racer, based on the Spitfire. Rolls Royce Griffon engine with modified Shackleton Contra-rotating propellers Boil off system for engine cooling and oil cooling. Cockpit moved aft and modified bubble canopy and windscreen. Filled and smoothed wings and fuselage. Modified landing gear. I have been dying to build this, and this is the perfect excuse to do it.

http://www.jonbius.com/edgar-brooks-spitfire-notes/ Cheers, D.B.

Hello Everyone! Here in the UK we have been remembering the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. I had wanted to finish this build by 15th September, but the fates denied me that pleasure. Not to worry though, I got there two days later! This is one of my tribute builds to salute "The Few" and one man who's story that never fails to touch my heart and inspire me. This is my build of Flying Officer Geoffrey Wellum's Spitfire Mk.Ia, K9998. For those of you who might not know, Geoffrey Wellum DFC was the youngest fighter pilot in the RAF during the Battle of Britain. He was eighteen years old. He flew all the way through the battle and then onto the siege of Malta in 1942. He published his memoir "First Light" when he was 80 years old and it has widely become known as one of the must-read accounts of the battle. I have wanted to build Geoff's 92 Sqn Mk.I a for ages! With the 75th anniversary this year, it seems quite appropriate to dust off Revell's 1/32 Spitfire. M.II. I did a little backdating and a lot of research and I think I have got this one right. We all have our views about this kit, for me it's wonderful. It's a model of a Spitfire! That's all I need! With the kit, I also used Barracuda resin, Eduard PE and Xtradecal codes to make K9998 as there is no sheet with these markings currently available. I used Mr. Hobby RAF Earth/ RAF Dark Green for upper surfaces and Tamiya Sky for the under surfaces. I enjoyed this build immensely and will certainly build another one of these kits in the future, I think they are great! I hope you enjoy my tribute to the "The Few". Geoff Wellum once said: "If you remember one of us, then you must remember all of us"

Just an observation on my part, but I've been looking over Revell's Spitfire II and noted the mold inserts in the wing. There are inserts for the gun ports, the upper wing blisters, and one which would allow for the Vb or Vc cannon bulges. With new parts for the cannon, a Vokes or even Aboukir filter, a wing radiator, and a canopy they have got a Vb Trop. The wing blister could be tailored for Vb or eliminated for Vc. Additionally, for a Vc, the three piece gear leg assembly could accommodate the change in the gear's rake with the substitution of a single part. Like I said, it is just an observation on my part

According to the instructions Part 40 is to be fitted to the starboard cockpit. I can't find any evidence of a device like this on Spitfires. However, it resembles the radio wave tuner which was, to the best of my knowledge, only fitted on Seafires. Is this just a slip-up by Revell or am I missing a piece of the puzzle?

While meandering the net I stumbled onto these Spitfire drawings. http://www.geocities.jp/yoyuso/spit1a/spit1ae.html The drawings were created by Jumpei Temma , an exceptionally skilled modeler and artist. What I found noteworthy was the how well they match the Revell 1/32 Spitfire II. Just curious if these drawing had any role in the kit's design?

I've just recently gotten back into creating aircraft profiles, more for fun and to get work off my mind. I know this site hosts quite a few really talented artists and historians and I would be really grateful if you all wouldn't mind giving a critique. It would really help me to keep getting better. http://bad-rabbit-design.deviantart.com/gallery/ My thanks in advance to all.

Hi all, I'm beginning this thread to spur me into action in the proper scale again. Although I've got a couple of larger scale projects on the back burner my most recent modelling has been in other scales. I have many of you to thank for this sudden re-kindling of desire. As we all know, there are a multitude of threads here on LSP that make the mouth water and can't help but inspire the viewer. I'm obviously not immune because I've felt compelled to begin a new project only days after completeing my last model. The creative juices are flowing and I've dilligently saved as many threads as I could to my favourites so that I can refer to them for ideas and techniques. My plan for this build is still rather fluid and I'm fluctuating between a war weary bird or a show bird depending on who's thread I've just been looking at. Most recently I've been inspired by Chuck Sawyer and his P-38 show bird so at this point in time I'm swaying towards a restored Spitfire with a smidge of weathering plus a pilot on board. Next time I look at Warbird's Spitfire build I'll probably revert back to building a war horse again. There are a couple of parameters that I'm set on though. I will definitely be doing some modifications to the Revell kit and it will definitely have a pilot on board. Some of the detail on the Revell model does n't sit well with me personally so I'll be attempting to get the thing to look more the way I want it plus, the addition of a pilot figure is a way of reducing the amount of detail I'll need to add inside the cockpit. So, that's where I'm at. A statement of intent so to speak. I'll probably be calling on you guys for alot of help and advice so I hope you'll keep popping in to keep me on the straight and narrow. Bye for now.

These were two of the finest kits i have ever built. They are beautiful kits. They are both built straight from the box with the exeption of belts in the hurricane. The undersides and earth were airbrushed but the green was brush painted. That was a pain. The Tamiya paints airbrush beautifully , but not so good on the brush painting side i n my experience. I wish i could take better photos , they really dont do the complete models justice. My only small bugbear was the undercarriage on the spitfire. They could have been mounted better. Cue the Battle of Britain music!

Here's my Spit, which I began over two years ago, with an extended break in between... (The WIP is here) This was a kit of firsts for me: My first camo paint job My first use of aftermarket decals, resin, and photo etch parts It would be no surprise for me to report that it was a well engineered kit and any fit problems I may have experienced were of my own doing... Further, I was delighted for the most part with the resin parts, especially the engine rocker covers, the pilot seat, and the cockpit hatch... I am not sure I would purchase the cockpit add-ons, other than the photo etched control panel... The Barracuda Cast decals (stickers) were really quite excellent and settled onto the craft better than any decals I've used; however, they are tender and must be used a bit more carefully than OOB decals... Finally the Gator masks I used for the camo paint job were excellent too... I would grade my build performance from two different perspectives: From the perspective of the top builders on this site, I give myself a B-/C+, because so many of the Spits contain far more extras than I could imagine adding, plus they are far cleaner builds than mine... From my own personal capabilities and experiences, I give myself an A-/B+ for stretching myself on a build further beyond where I have ever been before... much of that stretching was a result of following so many excellent builds on this site... I really love epic builds and this was one for sure...

Shot this a couple of months ago at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry... nice "in-flight" display bearing down on a Stuka just in front of it... seeing it psyched me up to finish off my Tammy kit... They also have a captured U-Boat down in the basement... went on board... pretty cool...

I have followed with a lot of interest the comments on Revell's new Spitfire Mk.II here on LSP. I think it is great that we have this kit, especially at the fantastic price it is. The oob kit looks pretty good to me... A lot has been said about the kit, but kits are made to be built, so here goes! I am not a specialist on the Spitfire, I just like the looks and history of the aircraft. And the sound it makes! I'll be imitating the sound throughout the build! Some of you might have great knowledge on the Spitfire, so feel free to suggest modifications. See it as an experiment: if I'm able to do the suggested modifications, I will. I like the list Edgard Brooks made in LSP Discussion, so I'll focus on that, but if you have info, ideas or photos of details, please post them! I hope this LSP assisted build will work... I'm building another one oob, so it'll be cool to see the difference in the end results. First step: cockpit. I found a few photos online of the Mk.II cockpit and some of them are quite different (huh?). So where do I need to ad details? This is what I have so far: I've added a few bars and some lines on the side wall, but that's it so far. Part of the cockpit detail is molded on the fuselage. This is what it looks like when they are together: The seat: I'll have to get some seatbelts for it though... I like the opened-up details of the oval part! No need to get a drill out! And this is what everything looks like so far when put together: Not bad ! Now, what to add? I'm looking forward to your feedback and suggestions! Nic

Just saw over on The Modelling News pics of the new sets Roy has for the Revell Spitfire: http://www.themodellingnews.com/2014/08/meticulously-making-your-mustang-or.html#more Scroll down the page as they are after the Mustang seats. Carl

Hi everyone, Here's a question for the aficionados. Is it accurate to depict a stressed skin effect on a Spitfire? In particular I'm thinking of Revell's new Mk.IIa. I have seen images of renovated airframes that do show some "oil canning" on the fuselage but wonder if that is a process of the rejuvination rather than original manufacture (i.e, is modern rivetting stronger than wartime rivetting making the aluminium skin tight on the bulkheads etc). http://www.airliners.net/photo/Supermarine-349-Spitfire/2453899/L/&sid=3b68eaae50797bde04629bc02d157554 http://www.airliners.net/photo/Supermarine-300-Spitfire/2198713/L/&sid=3b68eaae50797bde04629bc02d157554 Grateful for any insight, cheers.

Wanted to let everyone know we will soon release two new EagleParts for the new Revell 1/32 Spitfire Mk IIa kit: EagleParts 70-32 - Rotol spinner and prop EagleParts 71-31 - Corrected oil cooler These parts will help to accurize your model. Check our website for updates and photos that will be posted soon. Happy Modeling, Judy and Team Eagle

Some pics of the aircraft exhibits preserved in the Aviation museum at ta' Qali airfield at Malta.

I've had quite a bit of spare building time while sorting out the AFV F-16, so I thought it would be best to put to some use on this project. Originally, the plan had been to do a sort of production line build on a number of Tamiya Spitfire kits at the same time. I figured I would have the paint out and it would just be easier to do them all at once. Castle Bromwich on my workbench. I was going to do an HF VII, FR IX in PRU Pink, an Mk IX as used in the Battle of Britain film, an RCAF FR IX,the PR XI and finally a XIV. I sort of came to my senses and decided that might be a bit too much at once. So I scaled back and am just doing the PR XI: I have two sets of the Ali Cat conversion set so don't worry, I have the correct decals. The MH434 build I'll start in the regulat WiP section. The first step I did was to start filling in most of the panel lines and all the rivet detail on the wings. I used Mr.Surfacer 500 and a small piece of brass as a putty knife to spread it out as best as I could. Here's after wet sanding off the excess. Fortunately, there were only a couple of places that needed a second coat.

Greetings everyone! This is a build that I started late last summer. My builds usually take a while due to family stuff and my own a.d.d. but this one is taking a little longer since we moved recently and the holidays. Anyhow, this will be my version of Tamiya's Supermarine Spitfire mk IXc. I originally intended to build it straight oob but that didn't last long. I've added a resin seat and cockpit upgrade as well as the cockpit door from Barracuda and will be dressing her in Eagle Cal decals. I'll be doing the Polish fighting team scheme in honor of my Polish wife! If my updates are a little slow please bear with me, I build slow. The Barracuda control column next to the kit part The Barracuda seat next to the kit part

Hi all, back again after a bit of a hiatus on this board as I've not been building LSP but Routemaster buses and Gerry Anderson models the last few months However, just before Xmas I began the next stage in my series of builds of "Aircraft my Father Fixed". Up to now I've built mostly the aircraft my Father worked on while in Burma in the latter half of WWII while attached to 5 Squadron. So far thats been a Hurricane IIc in 1:32 along with 2 P47 D Thunderbolts in bubbletop and razorback configurations in 1:48 (hence why they havn't appeared here!) I did begin a conversion of the Hobbyboss Spitfire Vb Trop to a Vc Trop using Grey Matter Figures resin wings, but managed to ruin them beyond recovery so gave that up earlier in the year. Before 5 Sqn in Burma, my Dad was with 81 Squadron from their entry into Operation Torch at Gibraltar Oct '42 up until Sicily had been pacified in Oct-Nov1943 whereupon he was transferred to Cairo en-route to India and 5 Squadron. Funnily enough, 81 Squadron followed his his wake a couple of weeks later and ended up based 5 miles down the road in India, re-equipping with Spitfire VIII, hence why I have a Christmas dinner menu from 81 Sqn in 1943: Anyway, back to Tunisia in the spring/summer of 1943. Up to that point, the squadron had been equipped with Spitfire Vb Trop and Vc Trop (hence my earlier abortive attempt to convert the Hobbyboss Vb Trop to a Vc Trop), however these were beginnign to be outmatched by the German aircraft. The Tropical filters used on the V series had an unfortunate side-effect of reducing overall performance of the engine. So in May '43 81 Sqn started receiving Spitfire IXs. At this point they were based in Tunisia at Souk-el-Khemis airfield and subsequently moved to other airfields in the general vicinity. From reading Alan Peart's book "From North Africa to the Arakan" you get to see that conditions on these airfields were basic to say the least. So I want to try to capture a snapshot of the activity of the groundcrew in these conditions in my diorama. So to begin with, the model - you've all seen plenty of sprue shots so I won't bother here, but at least here is the box: For the base I'm using a 300x300 wooden base supplied by one of my IPMS Farnborough colleagues from his website: http://www.ema-heritage.com/displaybases.html That should give enough space for the aircraft and some activity around it. Speaking of which, the donor kits for figures, materials etc include this lot: Yes I know there is 1:35 scale figures in there but my Dad was only 5' 5" tall, so they'll be okay On th eleft you can see some of the ValueGear stuff that I used in my Hurricane diorama earlier in the year. This stuff is superb, huge variety and excellent casting and detail. I picked up a set of crates as well which you can see in the glass ashtray in the top left. Above that is the IconAir accumulator trolley I built originally for the Hobbyboss build. I've added a small engine on the top of it to represent the generator that was fitted to many of them. This was sourced from the US Maintenance Yard kit from the compressor you can see at the bottom right of the box top picture. For the Spitfire I've got a collection of Decals for the inside and outside that will allow me to represent EN204 FL-L: (from the Osprey book "Spitfire Aces of North Africa and Italy) Note how the original "E" lettering has been badly overpainted to turn it into a "L" Here are the decals I'll use: There is a huge amount of aftermarket stuff for this kit and here is a selection of what I may or may not be using: There are wheels, seat, large cannon wing covers, cockpit door with seperate crowbar (not to be painted red!!), Cockpit upgrade set, cockpit stbd sidewall, "cloth" seatbelts PE Toolbox by Aber (just like the one I have in the Hurricane dio) and finally the PE set for the Hobbyboss Vb, but which contains some very useful bits for this build, eg the PE radio hatch door which will be used elsewhere on this build!