1:32 SPITFIRE IX

The Mk.IX that squared the account with the Focke-Wulf

When the Fw 190A appeared over the Channel in the autumn of 1941, British squadrons lost their superiority overnight. The answer was the Spitfire Mk.IX: the older airframe with the two-stage supercharged Merlin 61 engine. No. 64 Squadron at Hornchurch got the first machines in June 1942 and the difference was noticeable at once above six kilometers, where the previous version had run out of breath.

Squadron marking at that time followed a fixed key: two letters belonged to the squadron, the third to the particular machine, and the roundel was painted between them. A light blue band encircled the rear part of the fuselage and the propeller spinner got the same color, so that the ground defense could tell its own fighter from a captured one. The Mk.IX served this way from British airfields through Italy to Normandy, and in each of those areas it looked a little different.

The set contains glazing masks for both sides, three masks for the national insignia, decals and a pair of metal barrels for the 20 mm Hispano cannons, which project ahead of the leading edge on the wing. The target kit is the molding from Tamiya.

A note on the metal: leave the thin barrels until the end of the build. They bend easily while the model is handled and straightening them back without unsticking them is no longer possible.

British fighters have unusually divided glazing in this scale: besides the sliding section there is a fixed windscreen with a frame, side triangles and a rear armor plate. The set divides these areas into separate pieces of film, so the cockpit can be closed only after spraying and the inside stays clean.