1:48 Spitfire Mk VC

The universal wing, the most numerous Spitfire

The Mk V version stood in the middle of the whole family tree: more than six thousand examples built, a Merlin 45 engine and for the first time the wing designated by the letter C, which was called universal. Into one and the same spar it was possible to fit eight machine guns, four twenty millimeter cannon, or the commoner combination of two cannon and four machine guns. Machines in tropical trim with a bulky dust filter under the nose served over Malta and in North Africa, where American aircraft carriers brought them in 1942 and where they took off straight from the deck. This version was also the first taken over by American squadrons in Europe, and Australian units used it to beat off raids over Darwin.

The scope of the set

The cockpit is covered from the outer and the inner side and with it a pair of national insignia. The shapes are based on the moldings of the Airfix company; on another kit the frames need not match.

A thin layer, a low step

Every coat leaves a small step at the edge of the film behind it, and its height equals the thickness of the paint applied. The difference between two heavy passes and five translucent ones is visible on the finished frame even with the naked eye. Thin more, therefore, than seems sensible, and build up the coverage patiently in layers; the last of them should only even out the shade, not create it. Spray square from above, so that the mist is not pushed against the edge from the side. A greater distance of the nozzle from the part helps too, because a coarser mist beds down on the edge more softly. Anyone who hurries will know it by the sharp line that a sanding sponge later catches on.