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)

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. 

Gallery: Academy Spitfire Mk.XIVc

If I actually had anyone following this blog I'd apologize for long delay between posts ... but I don't so no one will have noticed. Whew ...

After my experience with the Academy 1:72 FW 190A I had a taste for WWII and was pumped to work on some more Academy kits. So I did ... A Stuka, Spitfire, Zero and a Warhawk.

Technique: Rotary Engines

Rotary engines give a modeler an opportunity to really show off his detail work. I have not done one yet myself, but have just recently received a 1:48 scale North American T-6 Texan which has a rotary engine, so this became a relevant topic for me .

I am very excited to get started on it. I found a couple of video tutorials on the subject. I have not yet reviewed them all but will as a I get closer to building the Texan.

Playlist Home: Technique: Rotary Engines

Number of Videos: 4

Duration of Playlist: approx. 40 mins

Attributions

PLASMO - plastic models
Luftangreifer