1:32 Spitfire MkVB (Malta)

The Spitfires that arrived from a carrier deck

Besieged Malta received its fighters in the only way possible: carriers brought them to the western Mediterranean and the aircraft took off from there at almost the limit of their range. The largest of these operations took place in the spring of 1942 and only they made the turnaround on the island possible. Pilots arrived at airfields that were under attack, so the aircraft were often pushed straight into stone pens the moment they touched down.

Malta aircraft have a finish of their own. The original European brown and green scheme was oversprayed in blue-gray shades for flying over the sea, on some aircraft hastily and with visible transitions. At the same time the roundels were shrinking and a number of them lost their yellow outer ring. The three insignia masks match markings simplified in this way, where the crisp edge of the circle decides how convincing the whole model looks.

The box contains

• Two films for the glazing, outside and inside
• Three masks for the circular national insignia
• A version for 1:32 scale
• Without paints and without plastic parts

A multi-color roundel is sprayed from the lightest color to the darkest and smaller cutouts are added to the mask between the coats. With this type it is worth checking in advance whether the model matches the version with clipped wingtips, because the glazing masks do not mind, but the choice of subject does.

Reduced roundels are treacherous in a large scale on one point: their diameter varied from aircraft to aircraft and the film is cut to one size. Before spraying, it is therefore worth trying the cutout dry in the place where it is meant to go.