Supermarine Spitfire Mk.I

Airfix 1/48 scale

Reviewed by Brett Green

Airfix's 1/48 scale Spitfire Mk. Vb will be available online from Squadron.com

The 1990s saw the peak of Airfix excellence with their 1:48 scale English Electric Lightning, Seafire Mk. 46/47 and Spitfire Mk.22/24 kits. These were the equal of anything coming out of Japan at the time, and they have remained the pinnacle of Airfix quality until recently.

Airfix picked up the baton again in 2007 and have been busy releasing new 1:48 scale Spitfire and Seafire kits ever since. The first of this new generation was, appropriately, the Mk.I. That kit was generally nice but had a number of weaknesses including thick wings, chunky clear parts, decals with visible dot-screen effect, and a fuselage that was based on the 1970s-vintage Spitfire Mk.Vb kit. After a short shuffle backwards with their Mk.IXc, Airfix picked up their game significantly with a Spitfire Mk.XII and Seafire Mk.XVII during 2011. These were all-new kits with improved surface features and clever engineering.

Even so, they still hadn’t reached the standard of the Spitfire Mk.24, especially in terms of surface finesse and detail.

Airfix released a 1/48 scale Spitfire PR.XIX in late 2012. This was a brand new kit, and a definite improvement over the previous year’s Mk.XII and Mk.XVII, with finer panel lines and better detail. At last, Airfix had matched, or even slightly bettered, the standard of their 1990s Spitfire Mk.24 and Seafire 46.

In 2014, Airfix clearly exceeded their high earlier water mark with an all-new 1/48 scale Spitfire Mk.Vb. This kit featured crisp and fine recessed panel lines, a high level of detail, many useful options and was also very accurate in ouline and detail.

Now Airfix has answered the prayers of Spitfire-o-philes worldwide with a new 1/48 scale Spitfire Mk.I delivered to the same very high standard.

The new Airfix 1:48 scale Spitfire Mk.I comprises 133 parts in light grey plastic, 17 parts in clear and markings for three aircraft.

Please note that this kit has absolutely no parts in common with the Mk.I released in 2007. That kit was partly based on the 1970s vintage Mk.Vb, whereas this kit is partly based on the gorgeous 2014 Mk.Vb.

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Thumbnail panels:

Moulding quality is very good. The plastic is smooth, and moulding imperfections are few. The most obvious is a faint vertical line on the mid-fuselage at the location of the rear cockpit bulkhead, but this may disappear under a coat of paint.

Surface detail is by way of recessed panel lines. These (and those on the Mk.Vb) are finer than those seen on any of Airfix’s immediate 1:48 scale Spitfire predecessors. Fabric texture on the elevators and rudder is subtle and I like the raised fasteners on the engine cowlings.

This cockpit is also as good as the Mk.V, with new detail parts plus a new lower starboard cockpit sidewall to ensure that it is accurate for this Mark.

It features the correct bottomless floor, with separate parts for the various bulkheads, the seat and an instrument panel with simple but effective raised bezels.

All you really need to add is a set of harness straps, although even that won’t be required if you choose to use the supplied pilot figure.

You may wish to drill out the lightening holes in the seat bulkhead though. A separate pilot’s entry door with moulded-on crowbar is also included.

The exhausts are one piece for each side. The outlets are solid, so a little time with the sharp end of a hobby knife will be required to hollow them out. Three styles of exhaust are offered.

Three propeller and spinner options are included – Rotol, de Havilland and two-bladed fixed-pitch Watts.

The wings are moulded as a full-span lower section plus separate upper wing halves.

These are all-new for the Mk.I, and Airfix even supplies eight .303 gun breeches to be fitted inside the wings. The instructions offer the option for the upper gun covers and the lower cover to be cut away, allowing the guns to be displayed.

The plastic on the inside of the wings are thinner below these covers to make the hack job a bit easier.

Control surfaces are all supplied separately except the flaps, which are moulded closed. This is appropriate, as the the flaps were generally not seen deployed except on approach and while landing. The port and starboard elevators are moulded as a single part so you can't accidentally pose them out of alignment.

The main wheels are bulged and flattened, and keyed to the axles of the undercarriage legs to ensure they sit flat on the ground. A second set of unflattened wheels are supplied for raised undercarriage. The wheel hubs are five-spoke.

The join between the undercarriage legs and the retraction part is a simple but fit with no positive locating points. Reinforcement will be helpful here.

The kit features three styles of separate “saddle” insert on the front fuselage decking for alternative windscreens, although only two options are appropriate for this version. During my build of the zimilar Mk.V, I found the fit was less than perfect in this area, so test-fit thoroughly before commiting to glue.

A one-piece mid and rear canopy piece is supplied for the closed option. If you want to pose the canopy open, Airfix has supplied separate overlapping parts.

Other options include poseable radiator flap, alternative parts for raised or lowered undercarriage, and three styles of aerial mast.

Parts breakdown is conventional, with locating pins and other devices that make this model perfectly appropriate for even less experienced modellers.

Accuracy appears to be very good, as you would expect from an Airfix Spitfire.

Markings

Three marking options are offered – all in Dark Earth and Dark Green. One has a yellow nose, while another sports black and white lower surfaces.

The decals feature perfect registration, rich colours with a the hint of a satin finish.

This is an excellent kit.

Kudos to Airfix for offering a brand new tool 1/48 scale Mk.I considering their previous effort was only as recent as 2007.

Detail is very good, surface textures are crisp and restrained and, having already finished the similar Mk.V last year, there is no reason to expect that ths one won’t be a straightforward build.

This now joins the Airfix Spitfire Mk.Vb as the best of their types in 1/48 scale.

Highly Recommended.

Sample purchased by reviewer from Hannants.

Text and Images Copyright © 2015 by Brett Green
Page Created 30 March, 2014
Last updated 31 March, 2015

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