1:72 Spitfire PR Type A/B/E wheel bay FOAM flexibel mask for IBG

An unarmed scout with cameras instead of machine guns

The reconnaissance Spitfires came about right at the beginning of the war out of ordinary production machines. The British found that a fast fighter without armament and without armor would climb higher and outrun anything that could threaten it, so they made a flying camera of it. The A type received a pair of cameras in the wing, the B type a tank behind the pilot in addition for a longer range, and the E type carried an obliquely mounted camera under the wing for photography from low altitude. The machines flew without the standard camouflage, in blue-gray or pinkish shades which were to hide them against the sky, and they brought back photographs of harbors, factories and coastal batteries.

At 1:72 the landing gear bay is small, but all the harder to cover for that. Cut paper will not stay in it and adhesive tape crumples in the narrow space. A foam molding is pressed into the opening, spreads out and holds by itself. The paint then has no way inside, no overspray arises at the edges, and once the work is finished the filling is taken out with the tip of a pair of tweezers.

A practical note

Before inserting it, free the space of the remains of sanding dust, otherwise the grit will be pressed into the paint. Leave the filling in the opening during varnishing as well and pull it out at the very end. The cut matches plastic of the Polish IBG brand.

The photographs these machines brought back were worth their weight in gold: raids were planned from them, hits were verified and new targets were sought. The pilots flew alone, without radio contact and often for several hours over enemy territory. For a builder it is interesting that such an aircraft has no cut-outs for gun barrels and its wing is smooth, so it is precisely the underside of the fuselage that draws attention.