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Way back in September after finishing the MiG-3 and struggling with the two Resin Yak-1's I decided that I wanted something simpler and easier to build so I decided to build three Spitfires, two Hobbyboss Spitfires (Mk Vb and Mk V Trop) and the Revell Mk I/II. Cheap and cheerful kits that would not tax my brain too much I thought and so far this has proved to be correct, as is my usual style I have waited until I have have got really "into" the build before starting a build thread so I am quite a way into the first kit already, any lessons learned will be applied to the rest. First up is the Mk Vb, and this was the Edgars summing up of the kit, sadly he will not be able to pass judgment on the build, or point me in the right direction when I go wrong, below are his thoughts on the kit At last, I have a (paid for by me) sample, and a deeper appraisal will follow, but I've checked the main parts against the Cox drawings of the Mk.I (same basic dimensions as the V, remember,) and the fuselage, in width, length, and height, matches the drawings exactly. The wings are 1-2mm over-wide on the chord, and the span comes to within a (minute) fraction of 36'10". Tailplanes are 1-2mm undersized, while the elevators and rudder match the drawings within the thickness of a line in places. While the kit shows that it comes from the same source as the Trumpeter kit, the rivet detail is far more restrained, though the cross-section, at frame 5, is too angular at the "corners," so some judicious sanding there will be needed. Sure to infuriate some, the cross-section of the fuselage is curved at the sides, not slab-sided like the Hasegawa kit. Edgar And compared to the Hasagawa kit This was my appraisal, on another thread, which asked for a comparison with the Hasegawa kit:- Hasegawa all raised panel lines; Hobbyboss engraved. Hasegawa cockpit (apart from too-wide seat) a pleasure to work with; Hobbyboss, unfortunately, somewhat fictional, plus a seat too short front-to-back. Hasegawa fuselage slab-sided at fuel tanks; Hobbyboss slightly curved; both have a too-square cross-section at the firewall. Hasegawa has no engine; Hobbyboss has an engine which doesn't resemble any Merlin I've seen. Hasegawa wheel wells like frying pans; Hobbyboss straightsided; both kits have wrongly-shaped underside cannon blisters, with Hobbyboss worse of the two. Hasegawa fuselage slightly narrow aft of cockpit; Hobbyboss fuselage matches Cox's drawings in length, height & width. Hasegawa has no armament; Hobbyboss has full gun complement, and an under-fuselage bomb, which would be better dropped. Hasegawa no radio; Hobbyboss radio + tray + poseable hatch. Hasegawa fixed control surfaces & flaps; Hobbyboss has separate surfaces & flaps. Hasegawa choice of internal, or external, armoured windscreen; Hobbyboss external only, and the (separate) armour appears to thin, and wrongly-shaped. Hasegawa's propellor (choice of blades & spinners) looks more realistic than the Hobbyboss effort. Hobbyboss has fictional "ribbing" on the tailplane upper surfaces, but they're nowhere near as prominent as on the 1/24 Trumpeter kit, so can be sanded smooth quite easily. Hobbyboss has finely-done rivet detail, all engraved, when the V had raised rivet heads aft of the cockpit. Difficult to choose between decal sheets; Hobbyboss's red appears over-bright, but their Sky is closer than most other companies' efforts. Edgar At the time this was enough to persuade me to buy both of the Hobbyboss kits despite having quite a few Hasegawa kits in the loft. So now on to the kit, this is what you get, as usual the box top appears first. And the contents of the box And the instructions which so far are very clear and easy to follow. Cheers Dennis