SPA Modeler

S P I T F I R E | Mk.I | “Battle of Britain” | PREFACE

A legend in both history and design.




Why begin with a preface? One: to set the stage. The better the preparation, the smoother the project goes. Two: I have learned a lot about sharing from being a part of the forum here and it is always better to lay out the facts right from the start. I hope at least to provide entertainment amongst the other great projects seen here. The days are shorter and the nights are colder even here in Los Angeles. Time to get busy.

I have never built a Spitfire model. So, I shot the lock off my wallet for 5 USD on a 44 year old kit from Hasegawa. The kit is 1975-80 issue one box with 26 parts on three sprues (two light gray plastic, one clear plastic), with decals for RAF 19 Sqdn. at Duxford or 54 Sqdn. at Hornchurch, 1940. At Rebel Alpha online, I found Xtradecals for an aircraft stationed at RAF Drem in East Lothian, Scotland with the 602.



The Scottish connection is personal as my family is from Lothian and my grandfather was a Lance Corporal in the 1st and 93rd. So, the reason, the “call” if you will, begins to make itself heard, like a piece of music.

• Supermarine Spitfire Mk.Ia
  L1004
  LO.Q/Kedoying
  A. Johnstone, DFC/Squadron Leader
  602 Squadron RAF
  RAF Drem
  East Lothian
  June 1940

The project goal is to show the aircraft in flight. The kit comes with pilot.



Even though this is colorized, the information carried over specific to the Mk.I Spitfire is tremendous—the aircraft cockpit is nicely revealed:


Flying Officer Leonard 'Ace' Haines of No 19 Squadron is pictured at Fowlmere on his Supermarine Spitfire, Mk 1 in September 1940

This will be awesome!!

How could you never have built a Spitfire before?

Oh yes, just be aware that June of 1940 was a period of transition for paint schemes and markings in the RAF Fighter Command. The Black & White undersides were being replaced, but no one particular color had officially been selected yet. Colors seen for the underside at that time could be Duck Egg Blue, Eau de Nil, and Sky. Roundels differing types and sizes may or may not be painted on the undersides of the wings. Spinners are primarily black, but could be red or yellow for Section Leaders. Squadron codes are medium gray, but varied in size with some squadrons using larger sizes than others. Fin flashes also varied in size and style. Hopefully you can find a good photo of the aircraft that you plan to model. Or at least a photos of some squadron aircraft from that time.

And for a little big screen inspiration, not to also mention pretty good uniform reference....

Stikpusher wrote:

How could you never have built a Spitfire before?

Right? Hell I've even built one of those. Looking forward to this.

Kevin, Carlos and Joseph:

Gents, you’re absolutely right! How could I not have built a Spitfire before now? This goes beyond a simple oversight, obviously, and lands squarely in the terrain of just plumb crazy. One of my childhood regrets is not building much from World War 2. I drew a lot of aircraft from WWI and WWII, though. That was always fun. Every school book ended up receiving drawings on the covers. After I wrote this, I had a very strong recall of building a Japanese Zero! I wonder.

The History of the 602 may be found here: https://www.602squadronmuseum.org.uk/index.php

Details

Antenna pole



Wing root



Exhausts

Stikpusher wrote:

How could you never have built a Spitfire before?

He’s not alone in this. I haven’t done one either. Now I have at least 2 or 3 in my stash.

Not to worry, gents. I will be popping a lot of corn here. Here is another Mk.I detail, the pitot-static tube:



Graham Boak, one of our modeling brothers over at Britmodeler, described the purpose of the pitot-static tube:

The device is (I understand) not just a pitot probe but a pitot-static probe. The hole at the front measure one pressure, but there are other holes radially placed further aft, at right-angles to the flow, which measure static pressure. Static pressure will give altitude, but the difference between the pitot and the static will give you speed. It is vitally important that this tube be kept smooth, so it will normally be simply polished metal, and definitely not painted, at least until some way aft of the static holes. The ones I'm familiar with are a silvery metal, presumably aluminium: from what I can see the Spitfire uses copper/bronze but this is a matter of material choice not function.