There is no chance not to built another one Spitfire. Eduard has fulfilled one of my old wishes – a very early Spit with Watts two-blade propeller and the "flat" canopy in 1/48 scale. For me, it was always interesting how this Golden Era airplane has turned into an Mk.22/24 beast. Accidentally, I've got the "Spitfire Story" box a few days before the official release, so it begins...

Dmitry, this is a very welcome WIP to many of us. This kit will surely be a success, despite two other very good kits of the MK.I also being available in the quarter scale niche. Yours is the first I see being built and it is looking very nice, no doubt it will turn out a beautiful model, as your work usually is. Thanks for sharing!

@holzhamer Thanks Pedro! I was hoping that there will be some conversion kit for the Tamiya's Mk.Ia, which is a great kit, but Eduard did it faster.

Hi Dmitry @starfar! What a great choice! I saw the excellent cockpit at apic above,then the plane was alredt primed: what a progress!
Those sink marks are found here and there at many kits can be so annoying. I've heard that all it takes is for the molds to be separated when adequately cool; then, no sink marks will be present.
Waiting for your painting!

Awesome choice of kits, Dmitry (@starfar). I had seen the advertisements for this kit and had wanted to see what it looked like. The sinkmarks are disappointing. I am building a Tamiya kit that had some rather large sinkmarks, which I had never had on a Tamiya kit. The presence of several sinkmarks on the kit I think confirms Spiros is right and my kit just came out of the mold too quickly. The location of the sinkmarks doesn't look too bad, but sinkmarks across a row or two of raised rivets on this kit would be daunting to fix. In any case, the cockpit looks great and I'm looking forward to seeing paint and decals on the rest of the plane.

It definitely looks like Eduard has robbed Tamiya of their lunch money with this kit. Mine's on the way and I can't wait to see it. Like you, Dmitry, I definitely want to do the early early one among my choices.

I'm not sure of the number of Spitfires that had the hand-pumped landing gear, but from the many comments by RAF pilots about it in memoirs, etc., I'm pretty sure it was more than the first 200.

This definitely looks like the "definitive" Spitfire I. Thanks for the inspiration. Now hurry up, mail and don't let That Guy slow you down.

Thank you for your comments, mates!

So it looks like Eduard team was in the hurry getting the sprues out of the molds to pack and send this before the August 1st. Fortunately, there is no sink marks on the fuselage parts, where it could be a real problem taking into account rivets and other small details.

@tcinla Thanks Tom! The reason I was curios about that hand pump because you can build only one early Mk.I out of the two because of different fuselage parts in this dual-combo box. So the second one definitely should be for the BoB. Also, I would wait for your review of this kit. Let's call it "accidentally", but I've ordered another one "Spitfire story" box.

@j-healy I couldn't agree more, John – exhausts parts on the VIII/IX are over-engineered.

The paint job has started. Black and white fast recognition pattern is on the way.

Dimitry, if you want an extra of the early birds, Eduard does offer "overtrees" when they release a kit. For non-members this is usually offered for a month or so, and for "BFC" members they are available as long as stock lasts, so do not fear - it is possible to get one without having to buy the dual-box. I like your pre-black paint a lot!