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John Healy
151 articles

D-Day +5. 1/48 Spitfire IXc

June 11, 2014 · in Aviation · · 19 · 2K

Admiring all of your great D-Day builds made me realize that I only have one D-Day aircraft in the collection. Work kept me from posting it until today. It is an Mk.VIII converted into a "faux" Mk. IX. I replaced the kit's pointed rudder with a spare standard rudder from a Hasegawa Mk. VII kit. It was finished with Humbrol enamels and Eaglestrike decals.

The things we used to have to do to get a Mk. IX before the great Eduard kit was released!

Reader reactions:
4  Awesome

4 additional images. Click to enlarge.


19 responses

  1. Nice, crisp and symmetrical invasion stripes...wish I could do that (sigh).

  2. Very sharp John.

  3. Good one John, 602 Squadron markings (City of Glasgow)?

  4. said on June 12, 2014

    very nice John ! Thanks !

  5. Never to late John,a very nice looking Spit.
    Well done sir.

  6. Those good ole Otaki/Arii kits do build quite nicely. As a kid If I remember correctly they were one of the first kit manufactures with engraved panel lines and this would be in the 70's. I remember building a few of them. Easy and simple. You did a nice job on the Spit. And honestly didn't know this variant was available from Otaki. Well done.

  7. Thanks Chuck. The kit was issued with markings for two RAF Med based a/c and one RAAF SWP bird. Airfix later released it with SEAC markings, and I think it still available from Arri boxed with the original Otaki schemes. It really isn't a bad kit, it just lacks cockpit detail and it's missing the underwing gull effect.

  8. Looks cool, John, very nice Spitfire, and you certainly did a good job on those stripes.

  9. Nice to see the old Otaki kit again. Apart from the lack of the gull wing shape on the belly, it was the most accurate MkIX kit available for many years.

  10. John,
    Those old Otaki kits were and still are pretty nice kits. What lacks in detail makes up for by being pretty accurate and make up into very nice models. Yours is certainly a tribute to a good old kit and a very good modeler. Looks great

  11. Well done John. Looks really good. I remember these very well & built several. Just think of all the trouble we had to build a decent Mk.IX. The Otaki kit was one of the first with engraved panel lines, dimensionally pretty accurate, fitted together well & responded well to some TLC. What's not to like?

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