My
Spitfire VII was built using ICM's kit, using as much of the kit components
as possible. The only aftermarket items used in this is a resin seat from Ultracast.
Decals are from Victory Production's Spitfire Aces of The Empire sheet.
In this case I chose the markings of Wing Commander Peter Brothers of Culmhead
Wing, formed from Nos. 131 and 616 Squadrons. Interestingly enough, the sheet
provides 3 different marking schemes - the one shown here, a more subdued stripe
scheme with the top of the wings and the upper half of the fuselage overpainted,
or the third scheme, which has the VII's high-altitude wingtips replaced with
standard Mk.IX wingips and a crudely painted ocean gray/dark green Type "A"
scheme, with widely feathered demarcations.
Click
on images below to see larger images
|
|
|
While many
builders consider the ICM kit to be one of the most accurate Spitfire kits out
in the market, yet lacking in quality, I built this with the aim of replacing
as little as possible. The wingtips, for example, are considered to be a poor
fit and better done as an aftermarket item. Being cheap, I opted to pound the
wingtips into submission with layers of Milliput, Mr Surfacer, CA glue, judiciuous
sanding and rescribing. I'd have to say that the wingtips are my point of pride
in this model. The gun patches are made from Tamiya tape, cut into little squares
and painted Testor's British Crimson (I forget the FS number, but I can look
it up for you guys if you need it).
This is
my second ICM Spitfire, and my fifth one built to date. I'm a huge Spitfire
fan with a whole lot of Spitfire kits in the stash, but I space them out for
variety. Since the majority of my marks are the ICM kit, it looks like I'll
be kept busy for a very long time!
Tom
|
|