Mk V Spitfire
By Walt Moore
The Airfix Mk V Spitfire kit had both white metal and photo-etched brass for detailing. The kit offers parts for both the Mk V B/C and the Trop! Most of the brass went inside and much of it cannot be seen, but was educational installing it. The plastic molding was very light in surface detail. What was there, was raised. So I scribed along the raised detail to pick up the panel lines once airbrushed. The fit of basic parts was fair and I filled the seams adjoining point gaps with super glue, sanding for smoothness.
All of the white metal parts were duplicates of the plastic; the metal prop and spinner are DeHavilland, and the plastic is Rotol. The decals are poor quality, so I made up my own from two sources.
Since I wanted a 4thFG “bird”, I used a background color (Sky Type “S”) before camouflage was applied, and covered the spaces with dry transfers of the squadron and a/c letters I wanted. Otherwise, I used stash box leftovers. After the Slate Grey and Euro Dk. Green (Testor’s Enamel) were sprayed on, I pulled the dry transfers off with Scotch tape. The result is good for if you are after standardized lettering.
The model turns out okay with some “cleaning up” and a good paint job.