Hasegawa, 1:48 Scale, Supermarine Spitfire Mk.Vb (Trop)

This is one of those kits that was removed from the infamous, "Shelf of Doom!". Those shelves are like opinions, and everybody's got one...(Among other things...;)

   "Shelf of Doom", "Bin of Shame", as model builders, we all possess one somewhere near or about our workbench.  Usually they are inhabited by kits that started out with much excitement and fanfare, only to have interest lost or something go horribly wrong with hopes dashed. It doesn't matter how a kit becomes a resident upon "The Shelf".  Fact is, there usually are more than one.  This is the tale of one of those forlorn castaways.

I started this build YEARS ago. Too many to actually put a number on to be honest. I'd venture to guess in the double digits at least. I'm not sure why it even went there? It's not a horrible kit by any means, and since it's banishment to said "SoD", many kits of the type have been released that FAR surpass it. Still, those newer releases had nothing to do with it, and I guess it was more losing interest, than any other.

I was cleaning my model building area and got to the "SoD". Many times while tidying up, I would be faced with making a decision of either tossing a kit, or saving it. "I'm finally gonna build that Spitfire one of these days...and today is that day!" is pretty much what happened with this model. I had all the parts, instructions and decals so...why not? And that's how she came to be, pushed across the finish line at the last seconds on 2023, and the first of 2024. (By the way, does she qualify at a 2023 build, or a "First of 2024" effort?)

Model went together well, typical for that era with Hasegawa kits. I built her OOB, even using the kit decals which reacted beautifully to the usual setting solutions, aided by Walther's Solveaset, to make sure. She is painted using MRP, in the Desert Air Force scheme of Dark Earth and Middle Stone, over Azure Blue undersides. Flory Washes, thinned oils, weathering pencils and pastel chalk make up the weathering. Infini Aero Rigging was used for the antenna aerial.

Markings are those for Major Robert Levine, 4th Fighter Squadron, 52nd Fighter Group, Tunisia, in June 1943.

Thanks again for reading this wildly elongated post, (WAY more than my usual few scant words). Now it's back to pick another, "SoD" project, and refurbish another kit, instead of tossing them. I'm thinking and Accurate Miniature A-36 which has been sitting longer than THIS model, and refinishing a Tamiya F2A-2, "Buffalo". These and just building models trying to thin the herd before I kick the bucket!

I hope everyone enjoyed a great New Year, and now it's onto the next!

Freddie from Palm Beach - So many models, so little time!

8 additional images. Click to enlarge.