1/48 Spitfire Mk. XII.

This is the Airfix kit from around 10 years ago. This kit and the Seafire XVII were the first 1/48 Spitfires designed by Airfix under Hornby's management.

I built this one straight from the box for the most part. I only added Eduard seatbelts after opening the slot in the pilot's head armor to accept the shoulder harness. I also used an instrument panel decal from an Airfix Spitfire 22/24 kit. The kit is very well designed and went together with no fuss. One oddity is the way Airfix handles the open canopy option. They have you cut away a part of the rear fuselage and install a single clear part that has the rear part of the canopy molded with the sliding section over it. No thanks. After building 26 1/48 Spitfires over the years, I know what a Spitfire cockpit looks like and modeled this one closed. The parts provided for the closed option fit perfectly.

There was a lot of discussion about this kit's panel lines when it came out. Some thought them to be too deep. I get it that they're not as petite as some other kits, but they just don't bother me. In my opinion they look fine under paint.

I painted the model with Xtracolor and Humbrol enamels. I weathered it very lightly. I used Victory Model's “Aces of the Empire” decal sheet for the main markings. Stencils are from the kit and Barracuda. The kit decals were stiff, matte, and didn't want to leave the backing paper. As stated above, I only used a few unique stencils from the kit sheet. Those few were encased in a couple layers of Future to prevent silvering. If you're interested in the construction/painting, I did a build log on the Work in Progress section.

This was really an enjoyable project and I have no idea why the kit sat in the stash for probably 7-8 years. I bought it at the same time with the Seafire XVII which I built immediately. I guess it needed to age…. Thanks for looking and happy modeling!

11 additional images. Click to enlarge.