1:72 Supermarine Spitfire Aces, Pt.3

Aces from the English Channel to the Italian sky

The ten machines on the sheet take the builder right across the war. It opens with a Mk.I from 1941, goes on through the Mk.VA and Mk.VB used in the offensive years over occupied France, and ends with the Mk.VIII and Mk.IXC from the fighting in the Mediterranean. British, New Zealand, Australian, Norwegian and Canadian squadrons are represented, and with that comes the variety of code letters and personal markings.

Who sat at their controls

You will find here the aircraft that Neville Duke flew in Italy in 1944, and also a later Mk.IXC of a Canadian fighter pilot whose name is tied to the defense of Malta. The island appears in the selection more than once, because the fighting there in 1942 was among the hardest chapters in the service of the whole type.

Printing and handling

The color registration is accurate, the edges are sharp and the white covers even over a dark base, which shows at once on the national insignia. Cut the subjects close to the artwork so that no needless area of carrier film is left on the surface, and transfer them only onto a smoothed and glossy base.

Before you reach for the scissors

Check that your kit matches the version you have chosen. The difference between the wing with machine gun armament and the cannon-armed variant is plain on the surface and cannot be talked away in a small scale. The cowling of the Mk.V and of the Mk.IX differ in the same way.

Finishing the job

Once everything has dried, add a protective coat and light weathering with pigment so that the markings do not look freshly printed. You choose the model according to the variant you want; the sheet contains the markings themselves.