After my tank adventure, I’m happy to slip back into something more “comfortable”. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy the tank, but it took me way out of my comfort zone so I’m ready for a nice easy build. A few months ago I was asked to build a pre Battle of Britain Spit in Dunkirk markings, that being one with the black and white undersides. I figured now was a good time to drag out the Tamiya Mk.I which I’ve had my stash for quite a while. They don’t get much easier build-wise. The kit is typical Tamiya with nice detail out of the box with a low parts count. This truly is the quintessential shake and bake kit. This one will get some PE seatbelts and Airscale intrument dials, that’s it. Montex masks will take care of the roundels.
It will be in the 92 Squadron markings of the first Spitfire Ace, Robert Stanford Tuck, particularly N3249 GRP. On May 23, 1940 during the evacuation of Dunkirk, he shot down 3 Bf109’s, then two bombers on the following day. He managed 28 kills before being downed by ground fire and Pow’ed in January of 1942.
I started with the cockpit. It’s nice out of the box. I normally drop in a resin seat, but this time I opted to add some Eduard Photoetch belts I had in the stash. I used XF-71 Cockpit Green cut with a touch of XF-19 Sky Grey. I used XF-64 Red Brown mixed with a touch of XF-7 Red to depict the plastic SRBP (Synthetic Resin Bonded Paper) seat. These were apparently fitted to Spits from mid May of 1940 onwards. I could have gone metal I suppose, but I wanted it to stand out.
The kit instrument is awesome. It’s nicely three dimensional, which is way better than any PE replacement. The dials are blank and perfect for Airscale instrument decals. I love these.
Everything fits like a glove.
I added a few decal placards to spruce it up.
I cut open the pilot door. I can’t say I’ve ever “not” done this on a Spitfire.
I glued the fuselage and test fitted the wings. Like a glove.
Just finished that kit a month or so ago. It really is a nice simple but detailed kit. Those dials look fantastic! I was scratching a bit of white with a toothpick…had I known.
Kdog, those dial decals do work great. Sprue Brothers carries them. They come in all scales and you can get Luftwaffe, Allied, RAF and Japanese. I bought a few of each. Here’s the link. .
Love these early Spits. Great job so far, as always. I also love the black/white underside. That’s how I did mine a year or two ago, and I think it’s a pretty cool look.
Max, Indeed I was working on the Hasegawa N1K1. The prop hub went missing (no idea where it went) so had to shelve it for now. It’s impossible to get replacement parts from Hasegawa, so I’m waiting on a cheap one to show up on ebay. No luck yet.
