1:32 Spitfire MkVB Trop

Where a printed sheet wins

You can tell the tropical fit at a glance by the bulky filter under the nose, which drew air through a dust element. Aircraft modified this way served over North Africa and Malta, where an ordinary intake duct would have taken in more sand than air within a few hours. The filter cost the aircraft something in speed, but it lengthened the life of the engine.

An honest admission in favor of the decal

A mask is not the answer to everything and it would be unfair to claim otherwise. The serial number under the tail, squadron code letters with thin strokes or small warning captions by the filler points have details finer than the width of a cutting tip. They cannot be cut from film, and even if they could, the paint would run under such narrow bridges. Those elements belong to a printed sheet and there is no substitute for it.

The division of labor is therefore clear. Large unbroken shapes, that is the roundels, the recognition bands and the canopy framing, are sprayed. Anything meant to carry legible lettering or hairline rules is done with decals. A model built this way has crisp insignia and yet does not lose the technical captions on which the credibility of the whole thing rests.

The cockpit of the Mk V

On this version the canopy has a fixed windscreen with a flat front pane and a sliding section with several panels. The frames are fairly narrow, and it is precisely their even width along the whole length that makes the finished cockpit either the ornament of the model or its weakest point. Films laid on dry reveal any mismatch before it comes to paint.

Box contents

• A set of films for the canopy from both viewpoints
• Three insignia ready for spraying
• Paints, decals and the model are not included