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Airfix Spitfire Vb 1/48 NEW tool


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Airfix has another new spitfire which is a winner. I just bought two and the outline seams right on the money and detail is also very good. Bought two from a UK on-line store (because it is still less expensive than buying here in the US even with the added post). I am extremely happy with the completeness and quality of the kit. Kudos for Airfix on this one. It is as good as the PR-XIX and definitely better than the Mk.XII which has some dimensional issues but is a nice kit if that do not bother you. Using the MK.Vb kit (A05125) the Mk.XII can be fixed. After all the Mk.XII was a Mk.Vc airframe with a Griffon engine and a Mk.VIII rudder. I am so impressed with the kit that I plan on ordering two more just for that purpose, and also to build a Vc by using the wing from the Mk.XII. As nice as the Eduard kits are, at more than twice the price they can keep them. I do have one and it is a nice kit but I lucked out and got it for a song. This Airfix kit is a must have for any Spitfire fan. You won't be disappointed. I bought mine fror about $16 each plus about $6.50 post for the two. The kits were bought at Hatton's Model Railways. http://www.ehattons.com/70079/Airfix_A05125_Supermarine_Spitfire_MkVB/StockDetail.aspx And no I do not have any affiliations with them besides being a new customer.

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It looks really nice. The shape of the wings on the otherwise very nice Tamiya 1/48 Spitfires has always put me off them. Airfix seems to have nailed that. I'm going to have to disagree with Brett Green however. The surface detail on this one, while nice, is nowhere near as fine as the detail on the 1990s Spitfire 22/24 kit.

I'm sure we'll see a bunch of aftermarket stuff for this one, and I hope Airfix has tooled up a Vc wing!

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It looks really nice. The shape of the wings on the otherwise very nice Tamiya 1/48 Spitfires has always put me off them. Airfix seems to have nailed that. I'm going to have to disagree with Brett Green however. The surface detail on this one, while nice, is nowhere near as fine as the detail on the 1990s Spitfire 22/24 kit.

I'm sure we'll see a bunch of aftermarket stuff for this one, and I hope Airfix has tooled up a Vc wing!

Not only the wing of the Tamiya Spitfire is wrong but also the length of the fuselage and the position of the cockpit, faults also shared with the SH kits. The new Airfix kit appears spot on .

I also agree with Brett Green the surface detail is as fine as the 22/24 kit , I have them both in my hands as I type this. The new kits detail appears "crisper" if this makes any sense , perhaps a different technique is used in the tooling process ?

Andrew

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Hello Gents, thank you for responding. The "C" wing has already been tooled in the form of the Mk.XII kit. The question is will it fit on this kit? I myself am looking for the Vb because I want to build one from either the 310 or 312 squadrons.

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There is one thing I just noticed while studying the marvelously illustrated instructions. If you look at steps 16 & 18 inserts, It is the first kit that I personally have ever seen which is designed from the get-go to be built with an open canopy. You actually have to REMOVE material from the fuselage/canopy mating area to be able and install a closed canopy. The upper landing gear mount is also amazing and in my opinion overkill unless you intent o build the kit with the gear up and in that case it is also overkill. It is like, if it was intended for this kit to have retractable LG. The way the cockpit area is designed is also amazing. I don't think this kit will require any PE at all with MAYBE the instrument panel if even that. I am not quite sure what color to paint the instrument panel in order to use the decal sheet. Any ideas there? I cant tell if there are any other colors on the instrument decal besides black and red. Can anyone make out any white?

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Hello Gents, thank you for responding. The "C" wing has already been tooled in the form of the Mk.XII kit. The question is will it fit on this kit? I myself am looking for the Vb because I want to build one from either the 310 or 312 squadrons.

I don't think this kit shares anything with the very iffy Mk.XII kit. I'd be shocked if they put those wings with this fuselage. Maybe the same CAD, but not the same tooling. The XII had very fuzzy, indistinct panel lines.

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I was very disappointed in that kit. The dimensional accuracy on that kit was way off. I have just ordered the re-tooled Mk-I kit which I have not yet seen but am aware it has been around for a while now. If it is half as good as this kit but just as accurate I will be very happy with it. I myself have always been a fan of the ICM M.IX kit even with the narrow spine. With a new vac canopy for the Eduard kit and an insert it is an easy fix to widen the back spine. I know that the aft fuselage is a bit "droopy" but that can only be noticed if the airplane is held in a horizontal position and is completely invisible when in the sitting position. Heck it could even be fixed with the back end from this kit grafted unto the front of the ICM kit if someone desired. even kitbashing the two kits would be less expensive than one Eduard kit.

Edited by Otto
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I just pulled out one of my ICM kits and also the Airfix Mk.XII. The ICM and the Mk.V can almost be glued together how close they are. It also demonstrates where the mistake is on the ICM kit and it is the simplest fix in the world. It is just in the tail itself where the one angled, semi vertical panel line is. If you cut on that line on the ICM kit and pivot the tail up a couple of degrees the problem is fixed. The problem is not in the aft fuselage as has been stated in some past threads only in the tail. The aft fuse only has to be widened in the spine joining seam by a thin wedge to widen it by about 1mm (.040") and than the new Vac canopy. Rob Taurus has some of the best of those. Heck there are plenty of spare ones from the Airfix Mk.V kit for that matter, you pretty much get six canopies in this kit. On the other hand the Airfix Mk.XII would need some major surgery. The best thing to do on that kit is to use the Mk.V fuse from the fire wall back. In mating all these components, I think I have discovered the only fault with this kit. It is in the mating panel line of the upper wing to the fuse. The position of the fillet "jog" is in the wrong place. It should be well behind the spar panel line and not in front of it as it is in this kit. But I can live with this mistake. The firewall line the fillet jog and the spar all line up in this kit. Only the firewall and the spar should and the fillet "jog" should be well behind. This mistake would be a simple fix with a simple re-scribe after gluing the wing on and filling the seam. This is one of the FEW things which is right on the Mk.XII kit. This would also be the only reason the Mk.XII "C" wing would not be a simple drop in to make this kit a Vc.

BTW; I just ordered two more kits on top of one Mk.I and one more PR.XIX which is also a beautiful kit.. I must now have 25-30 1/48 spits in my stash.

Edited by Otto
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even kitbashing the two kits would be less expensive than one Eduard kit.

To me that's like driving 25 miles to save 3 cents a gallon on gas. I'd rather spend the extra money on the Eduard kit and get everything I need in one box with no cutting, no fuss, no muss.

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Since lining up the ICM and Airfix kits and seeing the simple problem with the ICM kit that kitbasing statement is redundant. Only a simple fix on the ICM kit. "no kitbashing required here" I have bought some of my ICM kits for as little as $7 most of them an average of $11. 1/3 of the Eduard kit.. I like Eduard kits just can't afford them. The only way they are affordable if ordered right from the Czech republic from one of the WWW hobby shops. I use hobbyshop.cz for all my Eduard and other Czech needs. Same as I order all of my ICM, Zvezda and such from the Ukraine.

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I picked up one of these last week from Hannants. Indeed a VERY nice tooling and probably the best early mark Merlin powered Spitfire kit out there now in 1/48 IMHO. I was a bit surprised Airfix put this many resources into a new tool Mk V considering their Mk I/II tooling obviously had some hallmarks taken from the old raised panel line Mk V they did decades ago (and the recessed panel line Mk IX with which the Mk I shares molds, hence some short cuts with the cockpit parts). So I was pretty much expecting to see the Mk I tooling with a b wing. But given how they raised their own bar with the Mk XII (which I still like even if it has some flaws) and the Mk XIX, I am glad they went this route.

It pretty much has rendered their Mk I/II tooling from the Humbrol Airfix period obsolete and I can envision them doing a backdate on this in a year or two (if not sooner) to give us the best BoB era Spitfire of them all in 1/48. I may not wait that long though as I have an unbuilt Mk I/II kit in my stash and may do some parts swapping to get what I need. I would also love to try my hand at doing an early marque Seafire as well with this kit.

Edited by Jay Chladek
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The Eduard weekend Spitfire IX kit is availible for the same price as the new Airfix kit, don't know where this idea it is expensive comes from.

Not sure what your comment about the "fillet jog" is about , but the new Airfix wing and the Eduard MkIX wing are virtually interchangeable , since these are the best two 1/48 Spitfires on the market I would expect them to be right.

Andrew

Edited by andrewj
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Hello Gents, thank you for responding. The "C" wing has already been tooled in the form of the Mk.XII kit. The question is will it fit on this kit? I myself am looking for the Vb because I want to build one from either the 310 or 312 squadrons.

You could give it a go, but as far as I know there's no lineage between the design of this one and the Mk.XII kit. The instrument decals do have white, I'd paint the kit panel an off-black if you want a little contrast.

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You could give it a go, but as far as I know there's no lineage between the design of this one and the Mk.XII kit. The instrument decals do have white, I'd paint the kit panel an off-black if you want a little contrast.

From what I have read, the Mk.XII was based on the Mk.Vc with a Mk. VIII tail assembly. It has been written that most of the Mk.XII were built on Mk.V airframes and a few were built on Mk.IX airframes. At least that is what I have read in all the books i have on the spit and that is quite a few. The nose on the Mk.XII is very shirt. Mutch shorter than the rest of the Griphon powered spits. It is about as long as the Mk.IX nose.I just realized you said "kit" not the real aircraft. OK I can understand that. The Mk.XII kit has also been discontinued from what I understand.This might mean something good (we can only hope).

Edited by Otto
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From what I have read, the Mk.XII was based on the Mk.Vc with a Mk. VIII tail assembly. It has been written that most of the Mk.XII were built on Mk.V airframes and a few were built on Mk.IX airframes. At least that is what I have read in all the books i have on the spit and that is quite a few. The nose on the Mk.XII is very shirt. Mutch shorter than the rest of the Griphon powered spits. It is about as long as the Mk.IX nose.I just realized you said "kit" not the real aircraft. OK I can understand that. The Mk.XII kit has also been discontinued from what I understand.This might mean something good (we can only hope).

What I meant was that there is little lineage between the design of the two kits in terms of shared data, I think the Vb was started from ground up as all new.

The Mk.XII hasn't been discontinued, it's still current:

http://www.airfix.com/supermarine-spitfire-mkxii-1-48.html

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I attempted to order one yesterday from Hattons and was told it was discontinued that they can't get it for me. I ordered two more Mk.5bs, one PR.XIX and one Mk.I from them and wanted the Mk.XII also with the discontinued repply.I wanted one just for the C wing to make a Vc. To make a good Mk.XII is an easy kitbash.I guess I can rob a wing from one of my junk Hasegawa kits. The wing is about the only thing that is good on that kit. The Tamiya kit has even that wrong.

Edited by Otto
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I attempted to order one yesterday from Hattons and was told it was discontinued that they can't get it for me. I ordered two more Mk.5bs, one PR.XIX and one Mk.I from them and wanted the Mk.XII also with the discontinued repply.I wanted one just for the C wing to make a Vc. To make a good Mk.XII is an easy kitbash.I guess I can rob a wing from one of my junk Hasegawa kits. The wing is about the only thing that is good on that kit. The Tamiya kit has even that wrong.

It will be difficult to fit the MkXII wing to the MkVb fuselage , as the root shapes are slightly different. The Eduard wing , however, is an almost perfect fit for the Airfix Vb.

Andrew

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The Eduard weekend Spitfire IX kit is availible for the same price as the new Airfix kit, don't know where this idea it is expensive comes from.

Andrew

Neither do I. And the Airfix Mk XII is one of the very worst mainstream kits released in recent memory, right down there with the AM B-25, and you could even stoop to compare it to the AZ models Ki-48 or the very worst of Trumpeter/HB... The ICM Mk IX is only marginally better, but equally dreadful once you know more about it. Spencer Pollard called it a "Basket of curate's eggs"...

I built this Airfix Mk XII after putting many tubes of putty of correction into it, and I still trashed it to scavenge the spinning spinner part (to put on the P.R. XIX) soon after I finished it... After all this effort, it was just too embarrassing to own (when I found out the cockpit opening was nearly 3 inches too wide)...:

P9275603_zps1f108bee.jpg

The ICM Spitfire does looks better overall, but in some ways it is even worse: The landing gear openings, gear spacing and the upper rear fuselage cross-section do not have any likeness to the real thing... Here on the left is the Hasegawa wing (mosty fairly accurate, except that the cannons are too wide apart): You can see where the ICM kit falls apart in the wheel well size and the gear's spacing, which is obviously too narrow on built ups ICMs...

P1144269_zps1be64795.jpg

Obviously high quality/high precison stuff here...

The ICM canopy is also too bubbly and pinched at the rear... With the Eduard Mk IX kit available for around $20, weekend or overtrees, I don't even know why mentionning ICM Spitfires is even necessary... Other issues: On Special Hobby, Tamiya and the Airfix Mk XII Spitfires, the inner trailing edge corners fall way too far back into the rear perpex, when they shoud line up near the front. Often overlooked is that the Tamiya Spitfires Mk Vs have a way too broad cowling, which looks awful, while the ICMs cowls are way too narrow.

The new Airfix Mk Vs is by a wide margin the ony serious choice for Mk Vs, in the same way that the Eduard kit is for the Mk IXs. With such excellent and inexpensive kits now available, why waste precious build time on whatever third rate approximations were offered before?

Robertson

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The Eduard weekend Spitfire IX kit is availible for the same price as the new Airfix kit, don't know where this idea it is expensive comes from.

Andrew

Neither do I. And the Airfix Mk XII is one of the very worst mainstream kits released in recent memory, right down there with the AM B-25, and you could even stoop to compare it to the AZ models Ki-48 or the very worst of Trumpeter/HB... The ICM Mk IX is only marginally better, but equally dreadful once you know more about it. Spencer Pollard called it a "Basket of curate's eggs"...

I built this Airfix Mk XII after putting many tubes of putty of correction into it, and I still trashed it to scavenge the spinning spinner part (to put on the P.R. XIX) soon after I finished it... After all this effort, it was just too embarrassing to own (when I found out the cockpit opening was nearly 3 inches too wide)...:

P9275603_zps1f108bee.jpg

The ICM Spitfire does looks better overall, but in some ways it is even worse: The landing gear openings, gear spacing and the upper rear fuselage cross-section do not have any likeness to the real thing... Here on the left is the Hasegawa wing (mosty fairly accurate, except that the cannons are too wide apart): You can see where the ICM kit falls apart in the wheel well size and the gear's spacing, which is obviously too narrow on built ups ICMs...

P1144269_zps1be64795.jpg

Obviously high quality/high precison stuff here...

The ICM canopy is also too bubbly and pinched at the rear... With the Eduard Mk IX kit available for around $20, weekend or overtrees, I don't even know why mentionning ICM Spitfires is even necessary... Other issues: On Special Hobby, Tamiya and the Airfix Mk XII Spitfires, the inner trailing edge corners fall way too far back into the rear perpex, when they shoud line up near the front. Often overlooked is that the Tamiya Spitfires Mk Vs have a way too broad cowling, which looks awful, while the ICMs cowls are way too narrow.

The new Airfix Mk Vs is by a wide margin the ony serious choice for Mk Vs, in the same way that the Eduard kit is for the Mk IXs. With such excellent and inexpensive kits now available, why waste precious build time on whatever third rate approximations were offered before?

Robertson

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Neither do I. And the Airfix Mk XII is one of the very worst mainstream kits released in recent memory, right down there with the AM B-25, and you could even stoop to compare it to the AZ models Ki-48 or the very worst of Trumpeter/HB... The ICM Mk IX is only marginally better, but equally dreadful once you know more about it. Spencer Pollard called it a "Basket of curate's eggs"...

I built this Airfix Mk XII after putting many tubes of putty of correction into it, and I still trashed it to scavenge the spinning spinner part (to put on the P.R. XIX) soon after I finished it... After all this effort, it was just too embarrassing to own (when I found out the cockpit opening was nearly 3 inches too wide)...:

P9275603_zps1f108bee.jpg

The ICM Spitfire does looks better overall, but in some ways it is even worse: The landing gear openings, gear spacing and the upper rear fuselage cross-section do not have any likeness to the real thing... Here on the left is the Hasegawa wing (mosty fairly accurate, except that the cannons are too wide apart): You can see where the ICM kit falls apart in the wheel well size and the gear's spacing, which is obviously too narrow on built ups ICMs...

P1144269_zps1be64795.jpg

Obviously high quality/high precison stuff here...

The ICM canopy is also too bubbly and pinched at the rear... With the Eduard Mk IX kit available for around $20, weekend or overtrees, I don't even know why mentionning ICM Spitfires is even necessary... Other issues: On Special Hobby, Tamiya and the Airfix Mk XII Spitfires, the inner trailing edge corners fall way too far back into the rear perpex, when they shoud line up near the front. Often overlooked is that the Tamiya Spitfires Mk Vs have a way too broad cowling, which looks awful, while the ICMs cowls are way too narrow.

The new Airfix Mk Vs is by a wide margin the ony serious choice for Mk Vs, in the same way that the Eduard kit is for the Mk IXs. With such excellent and inexpensive kits now available, why waste precious build time on whatever third rate approximations were offered before?

Robertson

Not sure where you hail from but must not be the US. The Eduard kit is way overpriced here and overtrees are unavailable at a reasonable price. The reason I will not support Eduard is because when you go on their website to order something like the overtrees, the price given is jacked by 20 sometimes 25% once you log in as being from the US. There is one price for the rest of the world and another for the US. I am very aware of the ICM problems and they are just too simple to fix to even worry about. I own maybe 12 or more of them and am quite proficient at making them accurate. I do own an Edard kit which was bought just to have and compare. Since the Aiirfix Mk.Vb can be had for about $16 and the ICM for about $9, there is no contest. For all practical purposes overtrees are not available here in the US in the same way as they are in the EU. Eduard can keep their kits and I will stick to Airfix and ICM.

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3 inches? OMG that's almost 1.5mm! I can see now why it's "one of the very worst mainstream kits released in recent memory". :bandhead2:/>

LOL :yahoo:/> guess someone has not seen an Academy corsair which is about 10" too wide. I think Acadamy thought that the Corsair had a Lazy-boy reclainer for a seat. But I must agree the Mk.XII is a horrible kit considering it is so modern. It follows the Hobbyboss Trumpeter ideology of kit design. "put in as much detail as you can which you can't see anyway, but nevermind the external shape or dimensions"Airfix of all companies should be ashaimed for that one.

Edited by Otto
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Which Corsair is that?

In terms of the Airfix Spitfire XII I think the fractionally deep fuselage was the main thing but not incurable. In the pantheon of Spitfire kits and their assorted errors, it's not "horrible" and in the upper echelon for accuracy

When you start adding up the flaws in others. Depends on how red pen you want to get.

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Not sure where you hail from but must not be the US. The Eduard kit is way overpriced here and overtrees are unavailable at a reasonable price

As far as I'm aware we *do* have this thing in the US called "the internet". No one forces you to buy only from within the four walls of the USA. If I find something for sale for a good price, I buy it. I really don't care where it comes from. And postage isn't usually any more of an issue than it is shipping something within the US. If you're limiting yourself like that then crying about it, it's *entirely* your own fault. You can find some wicked good deals on stuff from overseas.

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