1:48 SPITFIRE Mk IX

The Mk IX as an emergency answer that lasted

When the Focke-Wulf 190 appeared over the Channel, the British Mk IX was originally meant as a stopgap: a Merlin with a two-stage supercharger and intercooling was fitted into the airframe of the fifth version. The stopgap worked so well that it became one of the most numerous forms of the whole type and served from 1942 to the end of the war, and in many units long afterwards. The recognition marks are the exhaust arrangement and the deeper nose.

A marking that can be weathered

A frontline machine had its roundels faded by the sun, scraped during refueling and in places oversprayed during a change of markings. A sprayed area takes all of that, because it is ordinary paint: it can be gone over with abrasive, stippled with a lighter shade and dry-brushed across. The carrier film of a decal, by contrast, resists and reveals a white edge with every scratch.

What the envelope contains

• a pair of masking parts for the canopy, one from outside and one from inside
• one set of masks for the roundels
• a printed sheet with the marking of the machine
• pliable film which leaves no trace on the clear plastic once lifted

Recommendation for the work

A machine with changed markings looks convincing when the old roundel can be sensed under the new one. It is enough to spray the first marking, dust it with a thin coat of the base color and lay the second mask down with a slight offset. The cut-outs correspond to the cockpit of the kit from Eduard. The offcuts will serve to cover the gunsight.