1:48 Spitfire Mk.IXe - Landing Flaps for Airfix

The flap that plastic cannot do

The Supermarine Spitfire Mk.IX came about as a quick answer to the German Focke-Wulf Fw 190, when the two-stage Merlin 61 slipped into the airframe of the fifth version. The letter e at the end of the designation means the late wing with the armament moved closer to the fuselage, that is two cannons and two heavy machine guns. In that form the Spitfire flew over Normandy and over Germany until the end of the war.

Thinness as the whole point

On this aircraft the landing flap is a plain panel that drops down through a large angle. In 1:48 that panel scales to 0.1 mm at the trailing edge, and that is exactly the figure an injection mold cannot reach. A plastic part therefore always looks like a little plank. Etched sheet brings the thinness with it, and on top of that it carries an etched relief of ribs and lightening holes on both faces, something a mold could not reproduce at all.

Where the point of the work ends

The thinness is paid for in labor. The wing has to be cut open, the space for the bay hollowed out and the edges trued up, and that step cannot be undone. If you are building a model with the flaps raised, the set gives you nothing that will be seen. On an aircraft standing on the ground with the flap lowered, on the other hand, this single part does more for the overall impression than three cockpit sets together.

Before cutting, prepare the inner walls of the bay as well, because an empty space under a lowered panel looks even worse than a thick plastic part. The set is built for a particular Airfix kit. The model, paints and tools are not part of the delivery.