1:72 Supermarine Spitfire Mk.22 Photoetched parts instrument panel for Airfix ex Modell-Hobby /AFX

The last face of a legend, with the Griffon engine

The version designated Mk.22 had nothing in common with the machine of the Battle of Britain but its pedigree. Under the cowling worked a mighty Rolls-Royce Griffon, the propeller was given five blades, the fuselage spine was lowered and over the pilot arched a molded teardrop canopy with a view in every direction. So that a machine with such power would remain controllable at all, it was given a markedly enlarged vertical tail.

It reached squadron service only after the fighting in Europe had ended, so it won no combat laurels. It served the main part of its career with the reserve squadrons of the Royal Air Force, where it lasted into the early 1950s before jets pushed it out. Some airframes found a second home abroad, and a few examples in private hands have kept their airworthiness to this day.

Working with thin metal

Photo-etched components are usually supplied flat and some have to be folded before fitting. A bending tool helps, but in tight quarters two razor blades or the edge of a steel rule will do. Bend slowly and always toward the etched score line, otherwise the metal will tear at the fold.

Spraying or transferring

The postwar national insignia have clean geometric shapes which spray easily through a mask and with no risk of silvering. Serial numbers with sharp serifs, on the other hand, are exactly the case where a printed film does the better job; cutting such lettering into a self-adhesive mask would mean working with bridges thinner than a hair.