The major improvements in the design were the strengthened wing spar and fuselage allowing full flight envelope, maximum weights, and full performance. All XVIII were rear view (bubble canopy), but the primary visual difference were full span wings and a broad chord rudder. The rudder is slightly bigger than the standard XIV rudder and was retrofitted to some Mk XIVe rear view models, so look for the clipped wing and/or serial number to confirm. All had the “e” wing gun configuration of two 20mm cannons and two .50 cal machine guns. While the first few were built to F Mk XVIII standard, most were completed as FR Mk XVIII with PR Mk XIX camera installations in the fuselage, being one oblique (left or right) and two downward facing cameras. 

TZ233/T was assigned to 208 Squadron in Palestine in 1947. When Isreal declared independence she immediately went to war with her Arab neighbors, including Egypt.  This created a unique situation in which all belligerents, and the Brits trying maintain peace, were flying variants of the Spitfire. During the confusion in the air engagements were inevitable, some British fighters were flying without ammunition making them very vulnerable!

On one such occasion, British Spitfires were flying a reconnaissance mission over Arab bases, Isreali Spitfires engaged and shot down one of the unarmed British, who then responded with armed Spitfires engaging and shooting down an Isreali Spitfire. In the midst of the fighting, Egyptian Spitfires were also shot down along with some destroyed on the ground.

British Spitfires were painted in a different Desert Scheme from Egypt and Isreal, being Dark Earth and Light Slate Grey over Medium Sea Grey. Other aircraft in Palestine wore this same camouflage scheme and all retained the Yellow leading edge and Red spinner identification markings.

The Model

This is an early MPM kit, the sprue gates are thick and the plastic very hard but with lots of flash. The kit has nice decals for standard Day Fighter Scheme subjects and also includes a photo etch fret for some details in the cockpit and wheel wells. A vac canopy is provided, but only the one, so mistakes are not allowed!

I didn’t use the etch fret nor the vac canopy, instead I got my details from the Academy Spitfire XIV kit. That kit has great details but is grossly inaccurate in shape, I pick them up at shows for a fiver and then use the details to tart up other kits; cheaper than buying an aftermarket set. The canopy came from my spares box, it was originally from a Fujimi XIVe kit.

The other details, like the landing gear, exhausts and prop were just not usable being thick blobs with lots of flash. So again I used the Academy details, but for the prop I sued an Aeroclub metal prop I had picked up and the exhausts needed to be round, not fishtail, so I used a Quickboost set.

I boxed in the landing gear to make it look better, and filled and sanded the kit for quite some time. Eventually it took me about 4 years start to finish to fix, find, and fix again all the details.

Paint is Tamiya XF-83 Medium Sea Grey for the undersides, XF-25 Light Sea Grey for the Light Slate Grey and Vallejo 921 “English Uniform” for the Dark Earth, all airbrushed.

Decals are from the AZModels kit, which I got simply because the decals for the subject I wanted were included. They went on just fine with Micro set/sol.

Summary

Ultimately this came out looking good, but I think I’d rather start with the AZModel kit next time. I wouldn’t lose as much surface detail and overall it would likely come out nicer.

Thanks for looking…