I was 12 when the 1/24 Spitfire MK.1a launched the new range in 1970. I built it with all the innocence and enthusiasm a pre-teen model nut could muster and it was a production that fairly stunned the hobby back in the day and made quite an impression on me as well.
Now, some 50 odd years later, I've felt a growing wish to re-visit the kit and build another one in the same vein - simple, straightforward and with no additions. A 1993 boxing was snagged a couple of years ago and immediately took root in the loft, where it's stayed until yesterday.
The catalyst for starting it was another 1/24 Airfix Spitfire; a pre-production sample of the forthcoming IXc I completed on Sunday just gone for the November issue of Airfix Model World (out Thursday 6 October).
You'd maybe think that 200+ build stages of this epic kit would leave me 'all Spitfired out' but instead, it's prompted a soirée back into the grandaddy of the line.
A Montex Mask set is the only concession to modernity as the 1993 decal sheet was water damaged when I received it.
So it begins...
The clear lenses of the IP were added in anticipation of finishing paint.
The pilot was ruthlessly Berna Clamped and left overnight to contemplate his appalling lack of co-operation...
At first I thought 'leave out the engine and just close it all up; until I remembered that the exhausts need something more tangible than air to cling too...doh! It's a shame to take the money...
That big 'ole seat is...big! A session of clean up awaits before the lab grade isopropyl comes out to clean it all down prior to paint.
That's it for the minute - time for some nosebag before heading back to the modelling bunker.
TTFN
Steve
