1:32 Spitfire MK VIII

Spitfires of the Australian No. 79 Squadron

The British fighter reached the Pacific by a roundabout route: Australia needed a modern type to defend its northern coast and got it in the form of a version intended for high altitude, adapted for the tropics with a large air filter under the nose. It was machines like these that flew with No. 79 Squadron of the Royal Australian Air Force, and this sheet in 1:32 scale is devoted to them.

The first aircraft carried the name Hava Go Jo and the pilot Smithells flew it; the second was given the name Avagrog, that is a playful reversal of the Australian invitation to have a grog. The humor of this unit found its way onto other machines as well and is part of why Australian Spitfires are more popular among modelers than their European counterparts.

Tropical camouflage and its pitfalls

The camouflage of machines in this region tended to be heavily bleached by the sun and during a build it is often shaded unevenly. That makes applying decals harder, though: on an unevenly matte base the film holds differently and the difference shows. The solution is to apply gloss varnish only after all the color transitions are finished and to settle the motif onto that, whether it is roundels or the name on the nose.

Australian roundels differ from British ones in their inner fill and are crucial to the overall impression of a model, so they deserve the same attention as the personal names of both machines. In the large scale they stay sharp and legible even after a top coat. Anyone building a whole series of machines of this squadron will appreciate that the individual sheets can be combined with no difference in the shade of the printing.