ij001
Well-known member
Kit - Airfix 1:48
Paint - All enamels
Decals - Kit, Eagle Strike & Aeromaster
Extras - None
Spitfire Mk Vb.
302 (Polish) Squadron.
Operation Rutter (Dieppe rehearsal).
Croydon, July 1942.
Can't say I enjoyed the build, cockpit assembly and installation is far to fiddly and intricate - takes so much time building-up and test fitting that all the joy of the frankly superb detail is simply lost. The attachment of the main gears is an absolute horror - the 'L' shaped cut at the pivot point just inside the well simply doesn't have any residual strength to allow you to later attach the wheels on to the axles and is too thin to drill'n pin. Way too over engineered.
Good points outweigh the bad it has to be said - Superb details, crystal clear canopies (and so many of them), excellent fit of all the main parts and once you've wrestled the cockpit in to the fuselage it looks magnificent.
I've harboured the decals for over twenty years and unfortunately they have suffered - they were produced for one of the Hasegawa boxings of their Spit Vb by Aeromaster in the 1990's and despite very careful storage in the meantime, I lost one squadron code completely and had to make it up from spares. Stripes are all painted & masked, as are the yellow ID panels. The camo is extensively pre & post shaded as a painting experiment, and has come-out quite well, but I still need to work at it.
So that's it - a three-week build and a half-decent model at the end of it, far too many errors to be a 'winner' but looks fine on my 1:48 WWII shelf. Please feel free to make any criticism or comment or ask any questions.
AFN
Ian.
Paint - All enamels
Decals - Kit, Eagle Strike & Aeromaster
Extras - None
Spitfire Mk Vb.
302 (Polish) Squadron.
Operation Rutter (Dieppe rehearsal).
Croydon, July 1942.
Can't say I enjoyed the build, cockpit assembly and installation is far to fiddly and intricate - takes so much time building-up and test fitting that all the joy of the frankly superb detail is simply lost. The attachment of the main gears is an absolute horror - the 'L' shaped cut at the pivot point just inside the well simply doesn't have any residual strength to allow you to later attach the wheels on to the axles and is too thin to drill'n pin. Way too over engineered.
Good points outweigh the bad it has to be said - Superb details, crystal clear canopies (and so many of them), excellent fit of all the main parts and once you've wrestled the cockpit in to the fuselage it looks magnificent.
I've harboured the decals for over twenty years and unfortunately they have suffered - they were produced for one of the Hasegawa boxings of their Spit Vb by Aeromaster in the 1990's and despite very careful storage in the meantime, I lost one squadron code completely and had to make it up from spares. Stripes are all painted & masked, as are the yellow ID panels. The camo is extensively pre & post shaded as a painting experiment, and has come-out quite well, but I still need to work at it.
So that's it - a three-week build and a half-decent model at the end of it, far too many errors to be a 'winner' but looks fine on my 1:48 WWII shelf. Please feel free to make any criticism or comment or ask any questions.
AFN
Ian.
