Spitfire HF VII by Italeri in 1/72

Found this kit in the giftshop of the RCAF museum in Trenton Ontario. Loved the paint scheme of PRU blue under with Medium Sea Grey over, the D-Day stripes, the "B" Roundels, the extended high altitude wings. Had to have it.

Kit turned out to be a bit of a pig in terms of fit (not totally dealt with, I'll admit) and the seemingly detailed seat supports bizarrely put the seat back smack in the middle of the cockpit.

Once I decided to pose it in flight, closing the cockpit and sticking a pilot in mitigated the sketchy cockpit.

After losing the propeller blades (painting them in advance while working on another kit), I thought about raiding another Spit kit, but then thought I would try the "in-flight" pose. Found a set of "wheels up" landing gear from spares. Too bad I had already hacked open the tailwheel bay.

Tried a plain circle of clear plastic for the prop, but then I saw Roland Sachsenhofer's wonderful in-flight Mustang https://imodeler.com/2019/10/a-second-mustang-ridden-thoroughbred-in-british-colors/ and was inspired to try a similar effect (not quite as convincing as his).

Used a Tamiya rattle can of US Intermediate Blue for PRU, and Tamiya's Medium Sea Grey.

Kit decals were a bit thick, but sturdy with good colour and register. Lots of stencils. Four options.

Flt.Lt. W. Hibbert, 124 Squadron, Bradwell Bay, UK, June '44.

Included a picture of a Spit IX for comparison to the standard wing.

Now having a lovely flying aircraft, I needed a stand, but I couldn't bring myself to drill holes in the lovely underside detail to accommodate the tab of the stand arm, or (shudder) glue it permanently on.

So I'm not sure where the idea came from, but I had an old classic Airfix "U" stand, and realized I could cut the tab off, glue on a magnet, drop some metal in the model and "voila" (as we Canucks say in our other official language).

See the next article for more on the stand!

7 additional images. Click to enlarge.