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The Spitfire Mk.IX was the second most widely used variant after the Mk.V. It served with a variety of countries in most theatres during the Second World War, and remains one of the iconic fighter aircraft of all time.

Even so, we still do not have a completely accurate and buildable 1/48 scale Spitfire Mk.IX. ICM's 1/48 scale kit probably comes the closest straight from the box, but it is a complex and ill-fitting model mainly due to its full (but slightly underscale) engine detail.

Hasegawa's 1/48 scale Spitfire VIII and IX family was therefore eagerly anticipated. These kits certainly lived up to Hasegawa's reputation for fine, crisp surface features and good detail. However, it is generally accepted that the rear fuselage is too short with some further compound problems due to this dimensional error. These additional problems include misplaced panel lines. but more importantly, the taper of the lower fuselage line from the cockpit to the rudder is too pronounced. The spinner is also far too long, presumably to help compensate for the short overall fuselage length.

Bruce Archer conducted a detailed comparison between Spitfire Mk.IX kits in 1/48 scale shortly after Hasegawa's initial Spitfire IX release in 2001. His conclusion was that there was no easy fix to the Hasegawa fuselage dimensional problems.

And so the modelling community noisily divided into two camps. Some modellers accepted that the Hasegawa Spitfire IX still looked okay, was nicely detailed and was easy to build; while others thought that the error was noticeable and rendered the kit unacceptable. Many modellers acknowledged the problem but built the kit anyway.

There was never any "right" or "wrong" to these different positions, but for those modellers who are concerned by these discrepancies, Aeroclub has a solution.