Airfix Supermarine Spitfire Mk.Vb

Beautiful 1:24 Scale Spitfire Model by Steve Evans

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The British Supermarine Spitfire was the only Allied fighter aircraft of the Second World War to fight in front line service from the beginnings of the conflict, in September 1939, through to the end in August 1945. Post-war, the Spitfire’s service career continued into the 1950s. The basic airframe proved to be extremely adaptable, capable of taking far more powerful engines and far greater loads than its original role as a short-range interceptor had called for. This would lead to 19 marks of Spitfire and 52 sub-variants being produced throughout the Second World War, and beyond.

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The many changes were made in order to fulfill Royal Air Force requirements and to successfully engage in combat with ever-improving enemy aircraft. With the death of the original designer, Reginald J. Mitchell, in June 1937, all variants of the Spitfire were designed by his replacement, Joseph Smith, and a team of engineers and draftsmen.

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Image: Steve Evans

Late in 1940, the RAF predicted that the advent of the pressurized Junkers Ju 86P bomber series over Britain would be the start of a new sustained high altitude bombing offensive by the Luftwaffe, in which case development was put in hand for a pressurized version of the Spitfire, with a new version of the Merlin (the Mk VI). It would take some time to develop the new fighter and an emergency stop-gap measure was needed as soon as possible: this was the Mk V

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Image: Steve Evans

The Mk Vb became the main production version of the Mark Vs. Along with the new Merlin 45 series the B wing was fitted as standard. As production progressed changes were incorporated, some of which became standard on all later Spitfires. Production started with several Mk Ibs which were converted to Mk Vbs by Supermarine. Starting in early 1941 the round section exhaust stacks were changed to a fishtail type, marginally increasing exhaust thrust. Some late production Vbs and Vcs were fitted with six shorter exhaust stacks per side, similar to those of Spitfire IXs and Seafire IIIs; this was originally stipulated as applying specifically to Vb(trop)s. After some initial problems with the original Mk I size oil coolers, a bigger oil cooler was fitted under the port wing; this could be recognized by a deeper housing with a circular entry. From mid-1941 alloy covered ailerons became a universal fitting.

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Image: Steve Evans

A constant flow of modifications was made as production progressed. A “blown” cockpit hood, manufactured by Malcolm, was introduced in an effort to further increase the pilot’s headroom and visibility. Many mid to late production Vbs – and all Vcs – used the modified, improved windscreen assembly with the integral bullet-resistant center panel and flat side screens introduced with the Mk III. Because the rear frame of this windscreen was taller than that of the earlier model the cockpit hoods were not interchangeable and could be distinguished by the wider rear framing on the hood used with the late-style windscreen.

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Image: Steve Evans

Steve Evans: I wonder if you could do anything more iconic than the big scale Spitfire by the equally legendary Airfix? I remember this kit as a kid, it was huge, decorated in Roy Cross’ amazing artwork and I wanted it. Trouble was it was so far out of my pocket-money range that it took nearly 45 years before I got to build one.

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Image: Steve Evans

This kit was originally molded in 1970, that’s 51 years ago! Although this version was a relative newcomer, 2005 to be precise, it still has all the old drawbacks of the original moldings. It’s incredibly crude by today’s standard, with lots of sinkholes in the horrid soft, blue plastic. The detail is poor and it’s mostly raised but where it’s been updated over the years it’s a strange kind of conglomeration of old and not so old.

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Image: Steve Evans

Trying to build it according to the instructions is nigh on impossible because the parts just don’t fit. It comes with a full engine and all the works but its age tells on every build stage, with nothing aligning properly and it’s hard work right from the start.

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Image: Steve Evans

The cockpit is rudimentary by today’s standards, although it was very good at the time. Luckily you can hide most of it with a reasonably well-molded figure. With careful painting, it can be made presentable enough.

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Image: Steve Evans

Given the restrictions of its age, this can be made to look pretty good, especially as we now have a whole range of paints and weathering mediums to call upon, and as long as you’re prepared to do some remedial work along the way, it builds into an impressively sized model of reasonably accurate shape.

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Image: Steve Evans

The decals in this box (from 2007) are also reasonable, at least they work well enough with some persuasion, although there are a large number of aftermarket options available, as well as masking and painting your own of course.

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Image: Steve Evans

I built this one for a good friend of mine, who sadly passed away before it was finished but his family now have the model as a little reminder of him. It’s fitting that its age seems to be in keeping with him and his love of RAF subjects, so I hope you all like it as much as I hoped he would have?

Airfix, Supermarine, Spitfire, Mk.Vb, steve evans, The Florida Pilot, TheFloridaPilot, general aviation news, military aviation news, NASA, Lockheed, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, SpaceX, Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, Elon Musk, F-35A, F-35B, F-35C, B-2 Spirit, B-21 Raider, customaviationart, custom aviation art
Image: Steve Evans

Author Steve Evans was born in 1963 in Cardiff, South Wales, UK. “I’ve had a love of aircraft for as long as I can remember. I trained as an Aircraft Fitter and spent 22 years in the Ministry Of Defence working on all kinds of military aircraft, including Phantoms, Canberra’s and even Spitfires for the BoB Memorial Flight.

Luckily, I’ve also had a separate career in journalism, pursuing my love of model making, writing for Scale Aviation Modeler International (SAMi), Fine Scale Modeler, and now for Valiant Wing Publishing. Steve is semi-retired and loves taking the dog for walks and takes pleasure in, generally, being a “grumpy old man… what more to life is there?”

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