1/72 Airfix Supermarine Spitfire IIA

Gallery Article by Guy Wilson on Oct 30 2012

 

 

Hello readers, here are a few images of my Airfix Spitfire in 1/72nd scale. This is the "new tool" boxing and provides parts for both the Mk1 and MkIIA versions.  Like many, I am very fond of the Spitfire in all of it's guises but the aircraft that fought in the Battle of Britain depict the quintessential vision of a Spitfire in my eyes.  I opted for the dark green, dark earth over sky scheme of the IIA to re-create my favourite version.

 

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I am most impressed by the fit of this little model.  Airfix have done a lovely job.  Detail is more than adequate straight out of the box with cockpit sidewall detail, seat and instrument panel all neatly represented.  There is even a pilot figure although he sits in the typical Airfix "hands in lap" pose.  I was ready to paint the model in short order as I built the kit straight out of the box with no aftermarket.  I used Xtracrylics for the upper camo and a small pot of sky that I discovered in my stash for the undersurfaces.  I was happy to use the kit supplied decals and Airfix are to be congratulated as they settled down nicely even though they appeared a little on the thick side.  There is a substantial array of stencil data on the decal sheet to compliment the main markings.  I have read one or two comments regarding the depth of Airfix's panel lines and truth be told, they are quite bold.  I decided not to highlight the panel lines to help them blend in a little better. 

I then had fun adding some weathering with chalk pastels and LifeColor weathering pigments for the exhaust staining.

With the model complete it was time to take some photos.  I like to try to depict models in a realistic setting where possible so the first thing to do was select a background.  I chose a landscape taken at RAF Duxford during an airshow, printed it onto an A4 sheet of paper then pasted it to a flat board.  I plopped the model onto a short length of plywood then propped the backdrop up behind and waited for the sun to shine.  I must admit I find it quite difficult to make a small model look authentic so I resorted to some software trickery and made a few of the images look old. (I even blew on the propellor gently to make it turn)

Thanks for having a look. I hope you enjoyed the result of my endeavours as much as I enjoyed the build.

Guy

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Photos and text © by Guy Wilson