1:48 SPITFIRE MK.IXE WITH GERMANY FUELS - ISRAELIAN AF

Spitfire Mk.IXe with German drop tanks, 1:48 (AML)

An accessory set in cast resin in 1:48 scale for models of the fighter Supermarine Spitfire Mk.IXe in the service of the Israeli Air Force. It concentrates on drop tanks of German manufacture, which differ in shape and in their attachment from the British tanks normally supplied in kits. It is an aftermarket accessory, not an aircraft kit.

The real subject

The Spitfire LF Mk.IXe was a late production mark of the well-known British fighter with a Merlin with a two-stage supercharger, with clipped wingtips for low and medium altitudes and with a revised layout of the armament in the wing. After the Second World War, machines of this mark reached a number of further operators. The Israeli Air Force operated them from the end of the 1940s and, to extend their range, reached for stocks of drop tanks of German origin, because British tanks were not available. It is exactly this detail that makes an otherwise ordinary Spitfire a machine that looks different at first glance.

Building tips

Wash the resin castings in warm soapy water, cut the casting blocks off with a saw and level the seating face on abrasive paper laid on glass. It is bonded with super glue, as ordinary plastic cement will not hold. It is practical to paint the tanks separately from the model and to fit them at the end. When hanging them, watch that both are the same distance from the center line of the fuselage and parallel to the longitudinal axis; that is checked best by looking at the model from the front with it standing on a flat board.

Who the set is for

• Modelers of postwar Spitfires in 1:48 scale
• Those who build machines outside the usual British schemes
• Modelers with experience of resin accessories
• Builders who care about the right shape of the external stores

The set is an accessory for a plastic model. The model, glue and paints are not included in the package.