Here is my Spitfire Vc in RAAF
markings built from the Airfix Seafire IIIc / Spitfire Vc kit. I bought the kit
because I wanted a Seafire IIIc for my FAA collection, buying it about a month
before Special Hobby announced their own IIIc / Vc offering !
The kit contains the parts from
the Airfix Vb kit a 1970’s vintage offering with raised panel lines, and a new
sprue with the C type wing and rear under fuselage insert. The new parts feature
recessed panel lines but are quite thick and chunky. Reviews of the kit are
mixed, some claim the accuracy of the shape is superior to the more recent
tamigawa kits, others warn of poor fit and engineering.
Undeterred I eagerly started by
cutting out the rear under fuselage for the seafire insert, and this is where
everything went wrong. Following the instructions I cut along the appropriate
panel lines and then offered up the insert, to my horror I seemed to have cut
out a section that was twice as big as needed ! After checking with the
instructions I had cut in the correct place, I test fitted the insert again –
same result it vanished without a trace in a hole that was way too large.
After much gnashing of teeth
(and several large Brandy’s later) I had a plan, back in went the bits of
fuselage I had cut out, I was going to make a Vc instead. The box cover shows a
Vc in an attractive RAAF scheme of foliage green, this was the one for me. A
brief visit to the Hannants website yielded the Aeromaster Aussie spitfire decal
sheet plus some Ultracast resin goodies to get me started.
Click on
images below to see larger images
I started by re-scribing the
raised fuselage panel lines using first a needle to score a guide line then an
Olfa ‘P’ cutter to create the new recessed ones. The cockpit detail is not
too bad the only additions I made were some Eduard RAF harnesses, but to be
honest, the canopy is fairly thick so the detail cannot really be seen anyway.
I then grappled with the
generally poor fit of the kit using plenty of filler and much sanding to gain an
acceptable result. The wing to fuselage joint is pretty vague partly due to the
separate flaps offered by the kit and perhaps due to my lack of skill. I’m
still not convinced I have achieved the correct dihedral which is why I
haven’t taken any head on shots !
The Aeromaster sheet calls up a
camouflaged scheme for this aircraft but the Hyperscale article deduces a
foliage green scheme. I sided with the hypothesis presented in the article and
went with foliage green and
New Guinea
theatre identification markings in white, using Humbrol enamels and Xtracrylix
acrylics.
The end result is better than I
expected, and was certainly a good test build in preparation for the Airfix
Tornado & Sea Harriers in my stash – both of which need re-scribing !
Mark Ryemill
Click on
images below to see larger images
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