ICM Spitfire Mk. IX in 1/48 scale, by Tony Prince
OK, I accept that I'm a Spitfire enthusiast. That said, it follows that I have bought & made just about every brand of Spitfire kit in 1/48 almost as soon as they hit the hobby shop. This was my third ICM Spitfire & in this instance I attempted to correct the moulding & shape anomalies which I had come across in the previous attempts. Apart from filling sink marks in the wings, I attended to a few other concerns. I widened the fuselage & cowling by ! mm as I felt it was too skinny, replaced the undercarriage as the wheels & oleos were poorly moulded. The windscreen was exchanged for an Academy one. I also found a better shaped spinner; all from the spares box. I've done this one dirty & scruffy as they worked hard in Italy.
Hope you like it.
Tony,
I like everything about this model. The scheme, weathering, and just about everything else about it. How could anyone not like a Spitfire no matter what mark.
In your opinion what kit is the best 1/48 MK V and MK IX.
This makes me want to do a USA Spitfire.
Hi Frank, I guess we all have different expectations, standards & levels of satisfaction. determined by our experience & skills. For me, if we stick to 'out of box' builds the choice is without doubt the Eduard Mk IX (superb) followed by the Hasegawa & ICM, which both need a little bit of work. For the Mk V I'd go for the Tamiya kit, wit some slight reservations mainly about wing chord, then the Hasegawa Mk V. Both the Vs are 'b' versions & I have not been satisfied with any Vc produced to date. I,ve built a few Mk VIIIs too, using the Hasegawa kit (lengthened a bit) & been happy with the result as well. Tamiya also do Mks I & II which are OK too.
Cheers,
Tony
Thank you to you and Seamus for the info on the particular Sptfire model kits. I value both of your opinions which will guide me on my next Spit build. Thank you both and again Tony, a marvelous build.
Agree with the above. Airfix is about to realease a new-mould 1/48 Spitfire MkVb this year, and I find it funny that every major company keeps tolling the "B" model, while there is such an obvious potential in doing a Mk. VC in 1/48 scale.
Well Frank, that is kind of a loaded question when it comes to 1/48 Spitfires. By far, it is kind of a toss up between Tamiya & Hasegawa when it comes to the Mk.V. Both are very good representations of a Mk.V with Tamiya getting the edge with ease of assembly and Hasegawa getting the edge for crisper detail. As far as the Mk.IX, Eduard hands down, every other offering of the Mk.IX has some sort of shape/contour problems, with the Hasegawa offering having less than the Occidental. Hope this helps you decide.
Without a doubt, the Eduard Spitfire IX series is the best 1/48 kit. I've just finished a third one - all three done without any filler anywhere. The surface detail is outstanding. The kit is a bit more fiddly than I would have done with it (the exhausts and the multi-part wheel-wells where the additional detail isn't very visible). They now have the early and late Mk.IXc versions out, with the IXe/highback XVI next. They're the most expensive 1/48 Spitfire kit but "every penny is on the screen" as we say in Hollywood. Get the profipack kits which have all the aftermarket you would use. The Weekend Kit is good if you have lots of Spitfire decals in the stash.
Finally, a model company has gotten all the details of this airplane right. It stands head and shoulders above any and all other 1/48 Spitfire kits, the Gold Standard of Spitfires.
Oh, and Eduard's doing a Vc later this year.
That looks great Tony. I always think roundels when I think of Spitfire, so it is nice to see different markings. I know that there are Russian, Turkish, Yugoslavian decals as well, so there is no limit to the builds ahead for you! The weathering fits the Mediterranean conditions. Very nice.
Apogogies for the technical log surfacing alongside your article for a while... fixed now 🙂
Just about perfect in my view. Nice work, Tony.
Very nice Tony.
A well built and finished Spitfire, nice and dusty as set for Italy.
Well done Tony
Gotta love a Spitfire in anyway shape or form. Yours looks great. Nice overall finish.
I've got an ICM kit in the stash that I have been wanting to do in IAF markings. Your correction tips are greatly appreciated. Any others I should know about?
There are as many opinions about Spitfires as there are rivets in the airframe. You'll appreciate that here in England we have something of a special relationship with this aircraft, so we always like to see a clean build with attention to detail, and for me this doesn't necessarily mean stuffing it full of aftermarket items, pretty though they may be; You've done a lovely job here.
This scheme is always nice to see for a change, and the US callout is interesting too. As it happens, I've just visitied a site that had photo of a Spitfire captured by the Germans, set out in Luftwaffe markings, and further, on a 'fantasy aircraft schemes' site, a Spitfire in Romanian colours and markings, which looks first-rate!
Very nice work. I particularly like that you got the "overpainting" of the upper wing insignia, since most people miss that. It was also common to overpaint the fin flash in Dark Earth, but not every airplane had that done, so check photos where available. But the wing was definitely done as you have done with every one, and 98% of modelers miss that.
Nice, funny how the ICM kits were lambasted when they first came out, but that slowly changed. I remember getting one when they came out and was impressed. Especially when I took wing and fuselage halves of my Hasegawa MkIX and compared the ICM halves. I found very little difference.
Actually, the fuselage halves are quite different, since the ICM has the proper proportions, rather than the too-long nose and too-short rear fuselage of the Hasegawa kit.
Very nice looking Spitfire, Tony, and a little different, too.
ICM Spitfires have always been fiddly with the engine being a tad too big and the plastic being little brittle, the early boxes were c**p and you could get them for a song. They also had short shots galore, some kits had a lot of release agents or with props and landing gear that weren't props and gear. I still like them and Tony your build is proof.
Two thumbs up
Yes I agree the early ICM kits had some serious quality control issues, but it was great to see them improve and now regarded as one of the better 1/48th Spitfire kits out there? One of their Spit kits had a few RAF figures included in the box. They were some of the finest figure castings I'd seen.