D-Day Spifire Mk.IXc (Late Version) in 1/48 by Eduard
Because who doesn't love a Spitfire?
As always, a really lovely kit from Eduard's ProfiPack 1/48 scale warbird series. I figured it had been too long since I made a good old Spitfire and had never done one with invasion stripes so chose this scheme, representing ML135 as flown by Canadian RAF volunteer Jerry Billing on D-Day. Sadly ML135 was shot down by flak in July 1944 and Jerry Billing, wounded, narrowly escaped capture but made it back to Allied lines.
Build video here:
https://youtu.be/6xvDGD62-W8
Very nice. I have yet to build an Eduard model but there are several in the stash
Thank you - I always look forward to an Eduard kit; serious issues are rare in my experience and the surface detail is always excellent 🙂
Nice pice of Spitfire. One question: Where the Polish chessboard from Eduard box is?
Best regards Ł.
Thank you Lukasz. In answer to your question, the box art depicts MH712, flown by W/O Henryk Dygala, No. 302 Squadron which has the Polish chessboard marking. However, since MH712 had the late-pattern pointed rudder and I personally prefer the rounded variant, I built this kit as ML135 which had the earler rounded rudder instead. ML135 was flown by a Canadian (Jerry Billing) in No. 401 Squadron and so does not carry the Polish markings. 🙂
Thanks for the clarification. I think you should post it into a group: 100 Years of The Royal Air Force Group Build (should put some tag to the group here, but I have no idea how to do this). I next week I will put there Spitfire piloted by Franciszek Kornicki. Best regards
Beautiful work on this lovely Spitfire, Justin. "Because who doesn’t love a Spitfire?" I couldn't agree more!
Thanks Jeff, nothing else quite like a Spit!
Nice job. Good photos, too.
man you do nice work
Justin, it's an excellent Spitfire. Your posting inspires me to get started on my Eduard kit...
I look forward to seeing it! I’m waiting for my pre-order of the new tool Tamiya Mk.1 in 1/48... ?
Outstanding
Cheers Paul! Appreciated! ?
That/s very nice Justin. The Eduard Spitfires are a lot of fun.
One teensy-weensy minor bit of information for future builds of airplanes with D-Day stripes (did I mention you did yours very well? Yes, you did.) - nobody wasted time re-painting stencil instructions they'd painted over. 🙂
Hi Tom,
Thanks for the tip on D-Day stripes - that certainly sounds like good sense. I know they were also more roughly daubed than the pure straight lines here but hard to effectively replicate in 1/48.
That is one interesting aspect of d-day stripes: in real life they didn’t look that good when viewed up close, but to replicate their defects in 48th scale is hardly practical...perhaps sanding or otherwise “jagging” the edges of the masking tape? Be that as it may, what got me thinking was a Shep Paine diorama on an old Great Scale Modeling depicting a B-24 lead ship in bright polka dot paintjob...in the diorama, the dots are being painted “freehand” by the crew, though they obviously were painted by the modeler with circle templates. I guess it would be way too time consuming to replicate the imperfections of circles painted freehand. The “scale effect”,
If you will. Great Spitfire, I love it!
Inspiring project, Justin!
Regarding your music selection I do recommend a visit at Munich Oktoberfest.
A big fan of German festivals - always a good time! Cheers Johannes
Excellent job on your Spitfire Justin well done, I have had a similar dilemma with D Day stripes ,do you try to recreate the hurriedly painted stripes and risk just looking like you've done a bad job or do them much neater than they would have been...? I'm with you on this one and went for the neat approach ,hey maybe Jerry had a touch of OCD like me !
N.
One can only hope! In reality the reference photos available tend to show them as very slapdash with paint runs all over the place...but the model is also meant to look ‘nice’ ?
Nice job on one of my favorite kits, Justin!
Thanks John. It’s such a stunning kit it almost builds itself!
Well, there is little left to say other than to comment on the appropriate 'stirring music' in the youtube post and to say well done on a brilliant job! Oh, and the RAF100 GB, as Lukasz says, can always cope with another brilliant looking Spit come the final photo-call!
Thanks Paul! Is there a way to link this into the RAF 100 group or does it need a new post? Sorry if it’s a dumb Q...new here!
Justin, This is another nice build by your hands. Very well done !
As for the strips, they look great and yes the real ones didn't look that good (I have a picture somewhere of them being painted on with a mop), its not uncommon for us model guys to build models better looking than actual airplane. The art comes when you can do that, and still make it look realistic. Just like you've done here !
Thank you Terry - means a lot especially the verdict on the overall 'look' 🙂
Very nice. You're pushing me to pull mine out of the stash. But I can't come close to the fantastic job you did.
Another beauty! You do excellent work.
Thank you Greg! Much appreciated! 🙂