Spitfire Mk Vc, AA963, Tested by USAAF and USN, 1943-44

The Subject

Spitfire AA963 was sent to the US for testing by the USAAF at Wright-Patterson and the USN at Patuxent River NAS.  Pax River is about 6 miles from my home, as the crow flies, and one of my last duty stations.  During its limited career, sometime in early 1943, it received a repaint in Olive Drab with Medium Green blotches on the upper surfaces, and Neutral Gray on the lower surfaces.  Post war it was scrapped, unfortunately.

The Model

This is the Classic Airframes 1/48 scale kit, the sprue layout is reminiscent of Eduard moldings and it contained Eduard photo etch and decals.  I purchased this kit because it had the markings I wanted which meant I did not have to buy any aftermarket decals.  

Construction was straightforward and not difficult at all, but not like a modern Eduard kit.  This kit is more old school in that basic modeling skills were certainly necessary.  Some filling and re-scribing was needed, but nothing extraordinary.

Given that 1/48 scale is not a scale I’m comfortable with, my first impression was it had too much detail, and too many minor details that should be visible.  Given this was meant to be part of a Club display, with no eyes getting close enough to assess level of detail, I decided to build this like I would a 1/72 kit other than using the PE seat belts.  Painting is freehand but the Medium Green could have a tighter edge.  Decals went on nicely and were no trouble at all.

Summary

Group builds like this one helped to keep the Club active during the pandemic.  We would meet virtually, via zoom, and share progress on our builds and it kept us together.  We did 2 other major group builds like this during the pandemic, and when we were able to start going to shows/contests again, these were the basis for our Club display table.