1/48 Airfix Spitfire Mk. 24

by Hank Gruben

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Boys and girls (there are girls that build models, I’ve seen them!) I usually never build a kit twice. I’ve always been a “lets do something new” kinda guy but the Airfix Spitfire/Seafire's always seem to keep showing up at the top of the build list…

It has to be the way they were able to produce sooo many variants from just a single mold. The basic molds that were first released allowed a modeler to make the Seafire FR/47 or the FR/46. Add some little things like a five bladed prop and you can build a Spitfire Mk.21 or 24. Kit bash the heck out of the thing and you can do any late model spitfire you like… Just watch your references! Seriously, this kit is the be-all, end-all if you want to go off of the beaten path and just do an un-kitted Spit.

On with the build. Airfix re-released this mold with specific parts to make the F.21 or F.24 Spitfire. Built out of the box, you get recessed panel lines, a decent cockpit (replace the seat, trust me on this one…) Wing trailing edges that you can cut a steak with and best of all, a Griffon engine-nosed bird that truly looks the part. All I did was replace the seat with one from Ultracast (without the belts, those were added from the Lion’s Roar WW2 British seatbelts etched set) and the rest of the cockpit just slid into place… After painting the cockpit British interior green and picking out the details with either light grey, silver red or green.

The fit of the fuselage to wings is very, very good. I always use Mr. Surfacer on dried joins (to get them juuuust right, don’t-cha-know.) but the overall joins in this kit require little more then token light sanding to make a great join. The flaps come ready to drop and the detail, while limited, is acceptable. The tail planes are easy to remove and reposition, and the rudder is separate. The rudder comes in two pieces but not the way you think… A top and bottom as opposed to left and right sides. Strange, true but in the Seafire kits, a stinger tail hook gets added to the tail.

Click on images below to see larger images

With a little bit of work, the wings can be done up as “C” wings, “D” wings or “E” wings. The parts included only allow a “C” out of the box but the cannon bay covers are easy to manipulate and change due to the fact that the plastic is medium soft-ish. I tried this with an “extra” set of wings from the FR.47 Seafire (same molds, remember?) and had little problem using a razor blade to gently slice the bulges off the wings. Just be careful. The exhausts are the only real suspect parts of the whole kit. In most cases, tubular exhausts were the norm and these are included (just drill them out if your daring) but some reference photos I have show a covering over them much like a P-51d. Also, the shape and diameter look a little off but, close enough for the girls I know…

Speaking of girls, this one needed war paint and pretty markings. The instructions are typical Airfix and do show you a four-view with the camo markings. Paint instructions only give Humbrol colors so get out your color reference charts and do the conversions if your using Testors Model Master paints like I did. I’m usually a Vallejo paint man but I needed some time with Enamels and TMM makes such great British colors… For everyone’s reference, I used RAF Dark Green and Dark Sea Grey on the top and Medium Sea Grey on the bottom. The black and white stripes were airbrushed first and masked with Tamiya tape. Strange thing though, the stripes are included in the decals but the sizes looked way off. Again, in photo references, the stripes looked bigger so I painted them consistent with Suez or Normandy markings.

About the decals… Please use but with a grain of salt and this cautious warning: Carefully trim away everything you don’t need. All marking on this model are from the Airfix sheet and are usable… Mostly. For the identification letters, I trimmed them right down to the ink. They work great with a dash of Microsol. The roundels can quite often be out of register (mine were) but in some cases, the problem can be trimmed out with a sharp Exacto blade. Although color density is usually good with Airfix, beware of putting things like the roundels down over stripes – there isn’t a decal out there that is THAT opaque. Again, with a little Microsol/set the decals literally disappear.

Final words: Total build time was about 30-35 hours. Well worth the effort. If you have the time, please compare the shape of this build to an earlier Seafire FR.47 that I did for this site. You’ll see the similarities right away.

Hank

Photos and text © by Hank Gruben