1:32 Spitfire Mk. I/II in Polish service

When the Poles changed over to Spitfires

The Polish squadrons exchanged their Hurricanes for Spitfires at the turn of 1940 and 1941. The Mk I version still had an angular framed canopy and eight-gun armament, while the Mk II added to that a Merlin XII engine and a cartridge starter, whose housing created a prominent bulge on the left side of the engine cowling. It is in such small things that the two early versions are told apart, and it is precisely those that a model in this scale has to render convincingly.

Frames, discs and insignia

The early canopies are made up of flat and slightly bulged panes separated by prominent frames, so they can be masked panel by panel without much trouble. The set usually adds to that circles for the national insignia and shapes for the wheel discs, where sprayed paint looks markedly better than an applied print.

Before you reach for the airbrush

Sand the canopy molding dry with a fine sponge and polish it before masking, because after spraying you will no longer get to it. Lay the films slightly ahead of the edge of the frame and trim the surplus off right on the model with a new blade. Choose a matte paint in the shade of the cockpit interior for the first pass and move to the external camouflage tone only with the second coat. That creates the correct impression that the frame is a different color on each side, as it was on the real aircraft.

Early schemes and their charm

Aircraft from the first years of the war wore a combination of dark upper shades and an unusually arranged underside, the like of which was never repeated later. For a builder it is a rewarding theme, because a finished model stands out from the later machines at first glance.