From the instructions: "Designed by the legendary R.J Mitchell, the Spitfire first flew on 5th March 1936. The RAF received the first of its Spitfires in July 1938, with nine Squadrons being operational when war was declared in September 1939. Seeing only limited action until the Battle of Britain in Summer 1940, the Spitfire cemented its position through this conflict as as the most famous aircraft of all time. Through a combination of clever design, such as the elliptical wings, as well as the power of the Rolls Royce Merlin engine, the Spitfire proved to be the best fighter in the skies over England in 1940.

While the Hurricane served in greater numbers, it was the elegant Spitfire that captured the imagination of the British public."

THE KIT

Three sprues of light grey and clear plastic come inside Airfix's standard red box. The box is small enough to avoid the parts from rattling, but big enough to carry all the parts. Parts were flash free, and the plastic was on the softish side. Sprue gates are thick, but the soft plastic makes cutting the parts off the sprues an easy task.

There's a single decal option provided, Spitfire Mk.I GRoU N3290 during the Battle of France. Airfix's Ju 87B-1 also provides a Battle of France option, so this Spitfire would make a good company to the Stuka.

CONSTRUCTION

The kit is simple, and with not many parts. I began by painting the cockpit parts and fuselage halves in Interior Green (Revell 48 Sea Green). There┤s a decal for the instrument panel, so I painted the plain part with black, and then applied the decal. While I left the decal to fully cure, I built up the propeller, which is formed by the propeller proper, the nose cone, and the base of it. All these parts were painted black (Revell 08 Matt Black).

Back to the cockpit, I matt varnished the instrument panel to protect the decal, and then built up the cockpit. Once that was done, I glued it to one fuselage half, together with the Oxygen bottle. At this stage, you must glue the propeller, which is able to spin if you┤re careful enough. However, that would mean the propeller would interfere in the painting stage, so I left it off until later. I then glued both fuselage halves. This assembly had a small gap that was filled with CA, and was later sanded off.

While the fuselage was drying, I began working on the wings and landing gear. The painting scheme for this Spitfire had one wing half in white, and the other in black. I glued the wings together, and painted the landing gear doors in the aforementioned colours. The inside of the gear doors were painted in aluminium, while the tyres were painted in RLM 66. I then glued the wings, horizontal stabilizers and rudder to the fuselage. I also glued all the external details (oil cooler etc...) to the wing.

COLORS & MARKINGS

I painted the upper surfaces with Revell Aqua acrylics 68 RAF Dark Green and 82 RAF Dark Earth. The lower surfaces were painted in white and black. Landing gear wells were painted in aluminium. I also painted the machinegun fabric red covers with red paint.

I glossed the model to prepare the surface for the decals. I applied them and then brushed over them some Microsol to make the decals conform into the panel lines and bumps of the wings. After letting the decals cure overnight, I matt coated the aircraft.

I glued the landing gear, antennae mast and propeller, completing this build.

Francisco Santoro

10 November 2022

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