Airfix + Alley Cat 1/48 scale conversion
Supermarine Spitfire Mk.Vc

by Brett Green

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

Here's my latest - the Airfix 1/48 scale Spitfire Mk.Vb transformed into a Mk.Vc using Alley Cat's resin conversion.

The conversion was so new that instructions hadn't even been printed yet, but fortunately the wing cuts are fairly obvious.

Fit is pretty good. I probably could have been a bit more precise with the cutting and saved myself a bit of filling later on, but I can advise that this is a much easier build than the Special Hobby kit.

The Airfix kit itself is superb, with a high level of detail and crisp, subtle surface textures; but the fit of the saddle on the upper cowl is rotten. I wound up having to retrospectively cut out the pilot's door to improve the fit, but I still had to deal with a step at the front of the insert.

The mounts for the gear legs are very authentic but fiddly to install, and the legs are provided with no positive locating positions - they just butt up against the stepped mounts. I used Super Glue and Zip Kicker to snap-freeze them into position.

Apart from that, the detail and engineering is really good - one of Airfix's best 1/48 scale efforts yet, and I would say their best Spitfire to date.

I can also heartily recommend the Alley Cat conversion to any modeller with a bit of resin experience. By the way, there are actually four versions of the conversion available from A2Zee Models - early style with full-width wing tips (as I have used here); early style with clipped wing tips, late style (narrow wing bulge) with full-width wing tips and late style with clipped wing tips.

The model has been finished using Mr Color lacquers in the Testor Aztek A470 airbrush. RAAF 79 Sqn. decals are from Aero Imageworks.

I really enjoyed building this kit, and a detailed article will appear in Issue 43 of Military Illustrated Modeller magazine.

Kit purchased online from Hannants (in fact, I bought two of them!)

Thanks to A2Zee Models for the Alley Cat Spitfire Vc Conversion

Model, Images and Text Copyright © 2014 by Brett Green
Page Created 16 September, 2014
Last Updated 16 September, 2014

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