Pacific Coast Models' 1/32 scale
Spitfire Mk.XVI

by Leo Stevenson

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This is my Supermarine Spitfire Mk XVI as flown by Flt.Lt Raymond Baxter (1922-2006) in 602 (City of Glasgow) Squadron, Royal Auxiliary Air Force, based at Ludham, Norfolk.

It is shown as it appeared during a daring daylight raid on the Shell-Mex building in The Hague, The Netherlands, on the 18th March 1945 as part of Operation Big Ben, the aim of which was the destruction of the V1 and V2 headquarters and facilities there.

Some of you may remember Raymond Baxter as the presenter of the BBC TV programme ‘Tomorrow’s World’ for a number of years.

He also presented many other programmes on technology and also on air shows over the years. Most memorably, his comments during the maiden flight of Concorde are now a part of its glorious history.

This kit is an adaptation of the Pacific Coast Models Spitfire Mk.IXe kit that I think is no longer available; at least it doesn’t on their website when I last checked. The main changes I made to the kit included the blunt ended wings, the addition of scratch-built bomb racks, and the addition of all the relevant markings.

The excellent 250 and 500 bombs are from MDC - www.modeldesignconstruction.co.uk. The roundels and fin flashes are from the kit’s own decals, but the ‘sky’ coloured decals for the squadron coding are from Xtradecals set (number X32023) and the aircraft numbers are from the set by Ventura Letters (number V3270).

The squadron badge seen on this aircraft was adapted, via Photoshop CS5, from the Squadron’s main formal badge, and it was printed using my Epson R3000 printer onto ‘Expert’s Choice’ clear decal film, which was applied over a white badge shape that had been painted and masked off to receive it. All these extra decals were bought from Hannants – www.hannants.co.uk .

His wife’s name ‘Sylvia’ was hand-painted onto the fuselage with artist’s oil paint.

Although I'm not a Spitfire expert I did my best based on the information I could glean from various sources, including talking to a very knowledgeable and now elderly Spitfire pilot who flew an aircraft very similar to this one during the war.

Also, the excellent book called ‘Operation Big Ben’ by Craig Cabell and Graham A Thomas, with a forward by Raymond Baxter, was very helpful too.

Finally, my mother is Dutch, and so her memories of the war and her perspective on it as someone who lived under the occupation have also been a very interesting background to this little project in a sort of subliminal way.

www.leostevenson.com

www.leojubilee.co.uk

Model and Text Copyright © 2013 by Leo Stevenson
Page Created 7 May, 2013
Last Updated 7 May, 2013

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