Gallery: Airfix 1:72 Supermarine Spitfire Mk. IA

Brand: Airfix

Scale: 1/72

Kit No: A010718

Tooling Date: 1999

Completed: 2023

Engraved Panel Lines: Yes

Available For Purchase: Sold

Another Father's Day gift from my "babies" (not so baby anymore). Another great kit. A lot of fun to build. Not too long on fine detail but for the scale pretty impressive. Decided to not do any additional riveting detail on this: just wanted to cut some time off the build. I am posting the build log of this model. You can read about it here ... Airfix 1:72 Supermarine Spitfire Mk. IA (Pt.1)

Gallery: Airfix 1:72 F4F-4 Wildcat "Guadalcanal"

Brand: Airfix

Scale: 1/72

Kit No: A02070A

Tooling Date: 2015

Completed: 2023

Engraved Panel Lines: Yes

Available For Purchase: Sold

This was a really nice kit. Love what Airfix is doing with their 1/72 scale kits these days. The kit came with some nicely engraved panel lines and the major rivets were provided, however I added additional riveting for the extra detail. I would be curious to see it without them though. Was pretty happy with the weathering and the decals went down like butter!

Gallery: Academy 1:72 USAF F-16A

Brand: Academy

Scale: 1/72

Kit No: 12444

Tooling Date: 1976

Completed: 2023

Engraved Panel Lines: Yes

Available For Purchase: Sold 

 

Build Log: Airfix 1:72 Supermarine Spitfire Mk. IA (Pt.3)

 

After the cockpit was completed, the fuselage was assembled. This went together beautifully, using putty only on the leading edged of the wings and the upper fuselage seams. The wing root join was near perfect.

I wanted to try out my AK Extreme Metal. After laying down the Alclad II Gloss Black Base I sprayed a layer of AK 479 Aluminum. After the base and metallic layers were in place, I sprayed down a coat of AK 11859 US Interior Yellow Green as the primer applied at the factory.

Build Log: Airfix 1:72 Supermarine Spitfire Mk. IA (Pt.2)

 

As usual I began with the cockpit. The first thing I did was drilled out the holes on the frame that the pilot's seat attached to. I bought a set of Micro drills and they have proven to be a godsend, particularly when working on 1:72 scale aircraft. 

Everything was then based with a coat of Stynylrez black acrylic primer and lightly gone over with AK Interactive's Gen3 AK11859 US Interior Yellow Green. These were light coats intended to allow the dark undercoat to create lowlights and shadows.

Build Log: Airfix 1:72 Supermarine Spitfire Mk. IA (Pt.1)

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Brand: Airfix

Scale: 1/72

Kit No: A01071B

Tooling Date: 2010

Completed: 2023

Engraved Panel Lines: Yes

I got this kit just this year as a Father's Day gift from my beautiful daughters. It's a realtively new tool (for us old timers) and is commensurate with Airfix's newer offerings, which is a good thing. While I don't strive for historical accuracy I cannot say how "accurate" it is. But authenticity is important to me and there is enough detail, and the shape and silhouette easily identify it as a Spitfire. 

Additionally, the instructions are quite simple and easy to read, with the painting and decal instructions provided on the rear of the box. 

Build Log: Academy 1:72 P-51D Mustang (Pt.1)

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Brand: Academy

Scale: 1/72

Kit No: 2132

Tooling Date: 1993

Completed: ???

Engraved Panel Lines: Yes

Several years ago, I purchased Academy's 1/72 scale P-51D Mustang from our local model store. The seat, stick, and radio equipment had already been assembled (but not painted) making the cockpit more than half complete when I got it. But I got it for 50% off so ... no complaints! It ended up on the buried in my stash and languished there. After a recent move, my stash was turned over and it made it's way to the surface.  

Gallery: Airfix 1:72 F4F-4 Wildcat "Operation Torch"

Brand: Airfix

Scale: 1/72

Kit No: A02070A

Tooling Date: 2015

Completed: 2023

Engraved Panel Lines: Yes

Available For Purchase: Yes - Etsy 

This was a really nice kit. Love what Airfix is doing with their 1/72 scale kits these days. The kit came with some nicely engraved panel lines and the major rivets were provided, however I added additional riveting for the extra detail. I would be curious to see it without them though. Was pretty happy with the weathering and the decals went down like butter!

Gallery: Academy 1:72 scale P-51B Mustang

Brand: Academy

Scale: 1/72

Kit No: 1667 / FA168

Tooling Date: 1999

Completed: 2019

Engraved Panel Lines: Yes

Available For Purchase: Not at this time.

I built this for a group build on the Flory Models, modeling community forum. Turned out to be a great little kit. The only modifications I made were to swap out the kit canopy for an after-market vacuum formed canopy, and instead of using the provided invasion stripe decals, painted my own. Otherwise, as with most of my builds it was pretty much straight out of the box. In my opinion this is still one of the best builds I have ever completed.