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Pegasus Hobbies 1/48 Spitfire Mk.1a


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Hi all,

I recently did a photobuild on Britmodeller here in the UK, using the Pegasus Hobbies 1/48 Spitfire Mk.1a. the reson I did the build is that I spent a lot of time trawing the internet to find build reports of the kit and the outcome was just a single article, which was not that in-depth so I thought I would do one myself. I won't bore you all by reposting the whole build, instead I will just show some photo's of the finished kit with notes about the build.

Firstly can I just point out that this kit will definately not be on the shopping list of most average modellers, it is firmly aimed at the beginner or younger modeller who wished to quickly build a Spitfire to add to there collection until such time as they have gained enough experience to replace it with either the Airfix or Tamiya 1/48 scale offerings. With that said the kit itself is not that bad it's just chunky and basic as you would from a snap-together type kit. When finished it looks like a Spitfire which is all you can hope for, for around £7.00 ($5.00??)

I would say if you are a rivet counter or a purist then this article will not be for you so thanks for reading this far and goodbye!

Anyway enough of the words, here's some pictures. The first three show the aircraft finished but with no weathering. As I said the kit is very basic and I built it straight out of the box, strangly the kit has no radio mast so I had to borrow one from my spares box. the other real problem area are the underwing radiator housings as there are no blamking plates or inserts so they are see-though. I simply cut and painted some plastic card to prevent this.

Complete-01.jpg

Complete-02.jpg

Complete-03.jpg

I fully intended this build to just be basic, by adding the bare minimum and using a simple paint job, but I decided to just add some weathering to finish it all off after I had finished the main paint job, hence the following photo's!

Weathered-03.jpg

Weathered-02.jpg

Weathered-01.jpg

Anyway hope you now have a better knowledge of the kit. All I can add is that it's great fun to build, all the parts fit very well and only a smidge of filler is required to finish the kit and despite it being a Snap-together kit a little bit of glue was used just to secure the wing to fusleage joints and the undercarriage.

Anyway thanks for looking.

Doug.

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When finished it looks like a Spitfire which is all you can hope for, for around £7.00 ($5.00??)

actually more like $12.00 though I recall seeing pegasus aircraft kits at my local hobby shop for $10.00.

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These are splendid kits and fill a void for beginner's now that 21st Century Toys is no more. I bought the spitfire kit and ended up giving it away to a guy here on ARC for his son. However, what was really cool about the kit is that it gave you both waterslide decals and stickers so the beginner/ young-un can choose. What was even cooler is that the instructions came with a short history of both the aircraft represented by the decals and the pilot that flew the bird. So, the kit gets to build a bit of history while learning a bit of history - a win-win situation!

While not for the scale purist by any stretch, this genre of kits is sorely needed in the hobby.

Thanks for sharing your execution of the Pegasus Spitfire!

Stew

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I have to agree wiht your accessment. The Spitfire was one of their first efforts, and like everything else, they get better the more they do. Actually, none of the Pegasus kits are for the 'purist', but their P-51B is much closer.

For $10, retail, they are very nice for kids and novices alike. Also, they make a good platform for modellers wanting to practice scratch details, painting techniques, and etc.

From 3 or 4 feet away, ya can't tell a Pegasus P-51B from Tamiya's.

I like 'em.

Bo Roberts

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Hi All,

I have to agree with you regarding this kit and it's suitability for beginners, I think that it does fill a gap in the market as was commented, not only that it's a really fun build and I think that as modellers progress they seem to sometimes forget the fun element of our hobby, that spark that got us into modelling in the first place. I have to say that I would definately have a go at another Pegasus kit, in fact I already have their Me262 so when I need a bit of fun, guess what kit's going on my work bench?

I have not built a 21st Century kit, but would love to if only I could get readily get hold of them over here. I understand that in the States you can get them at Walmart, who own ASDA here in the U.K but do not stock any of the toy lines you stock. Which is a real shame as I have already said I would just love to have a go at one.

I have to agree with everything you have said and can I just say I am glad you responded as I didn't think anyone was going to even bother, I posted this article over a week ago here in the UK and had no response at all, it's taken you three days and I was getting worried!

Thanks guy's you have really restored my faith in the modelling community, may all your builds be good ones.

Doug

Edited by Douglas skipper
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I thought I was the only one to try to make something out of this kit. I had to borrow some parts from a Revell Spitfire to make it look decent. Prop, exhausts,antenna and pitot masts all came from Revell. Decals were left overs from a Tamiya build.

DSC06870-vi.jpg

DSC06869-vi.jpg

DSC06871-vi.jpg

I had to scribe in the aft edge of the cockpit door and I was most annoyed that gun ports were misaligned. I could have relocated them but I had painted by then and decided that it wasn't worth anymore effort <_<

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From 3 or 4 feet away, ya can't tell a Pegasus P-51B from Tamiya's.

Well that's good! You wouldn't want to get much closer to look at any of my builds anyway! :D

I've been thinking about getting a Pegasus kit just to see what they're like.

<_<

Mike

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I thought I was the only one to try to make something out of this kit. I had to borrow some parts from a Revell Spitfire to make it look decent. Prop, exhausts,antenna and pitot masts all came from Revell. Decals were left overs from a Tamiya build.

DSC06870-vi.jpg

DSC06869-vi.jpg

DSC06871-vi.jpg

I had to scribe in the aft edge of the cockpit door and I was most annoyed that gun ports were misaligned. I could have relocated them but I had painted by then and decided that it wasn't worth anymore effort :)

Looks pretty darn good to me. I've seen other modellers fix the gull shape to the wing as well. You do have the landing gear correct, others have put 'em in on the wrong side and backwards.

As I said, it's good practice for scratch building and paint techniques. But, and this is a big BUT, Pegasus kits are much better now and getting better with every release. Try the P-51B.

Bo Roberts

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Doug,

You may be waiting a long time for the 21st Century kits. One of their dsitributors here in the states (Bad Cat Aviation/Bad Cat Toys) has it on their web site that 21st Century Toys is out of business. So, unless someone else picks up the molds, they are gone forever. WalMart quit selling them (and all models) more than a year ago and only a few online vendors still have then floating around. Generally, the online price is between $12 and $15 USD.

Tis quite a shame. In short, the were molded with no sprues and absolutely no flash. How they did it is anyone's guess. Though the model itself was simple in its' detail, remarkably, the decals were either from Cartograph or Cartograph quality - well worth the listing price alone. Plus, the pilot figures are exceptionally molded and would go well in even the nicest Hasegawa kit. Again, they are worth nearly what the kit alone is worth.

Stew

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Hi Daryl,

Well you made a much better job of it than I did, it looks really good. (my spare parts came from an old Airfix Spitfire Mk.V kit!!

Can I just ask, who's Dark Green did you use?

Bravo.

Doug.

I like the Tamiya acrylics so I picked one of their colors that was closest to what I wanted and added a bit of white and called it good.

Looks pretty darn good to me. I've seen other modellers fix the gull shape to the wing as well. You do have the landing gear correct, others have put 'em in on the wrong side and backwards.

As I said, it's good practice for scratch building and paint techniques. But, and this is a big BUT, Pegasus kits are much better now and getting better with every release. Try the P-51B.

Bo Roberts

Thanks Bo

The landing gear was obviously wrong so I used the Tamiya instruction sheet as a guide and whittled away at the gear until it matched the angles in the instructions.

It had been suggested to me that I try a Pegasus kit to break my slump. Unfortunately I picked their first effort and ended up in a battle with it. I understand that their subsequent efforts are better builds.

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