1:72 SPITFIRE Mk I

A frame narrower than a blade: the Spitfire Mk.I in small

The first production form of the Spitfire entered the squadrons at the close of 1938 with a Merlin II engine and eight Browning machine guns in the wings. It was precisely these machines that flew the Battle of Britain in its first phase, still with a two-blade wooden propeller on the oldest examples and with the flat side panel of the canopy. The Mk.I is therefore a type on which small things matter most to a modeler.

The set deals with the glazing from the outer side, adds one set of national insignia masks and supplementary decals. The cut fits the moldings from the Tamiya box.

The sliding section of the canopy is barely a centimeter long in this scale and the frames work out at less than three tenths of a millimeter. That is less than the thickness of an ordinary modeling blade, so measuring tape out by hand here is more of a pious wish. Pre-cut film gets round this problem, because the shape was created on a plotter and not under a ruler.

With the size goes the question of where to invest time. On a small model it is precisely the glazing and the markings that swallow the most hours, because both have to be accurate to a tenth of a millimeter, otherwise the eye spots it at once. Panel lines or riveting, by contrast, forgive far more in this format. Anyone who wants to spend evenings over a Spitfire detailing the cockpit will reach straight for a bigger model. Anyone who wants a whole squadron on the shelf stays here, and a masking set saves him the most tiresome part of the work.

• One set of glazing masks for the outer side.
• One set of national insignia masks.
• Supplementary decals for small markings.

A model of the fighter is not included; this is an accessory for the build.