AIRFIX SPITFIRE

New, re-tooled 1:72 Spitfire kit is impressive

The Spitfire cockpit interior has been painted and weathered before the fuselage is assembled.

It's exactly 20years since I last built an aircraft kit, but as soon as I opened the box of this re-tooled Spitfire Mk1a, it seemed like only yesterday. I used to fairly knock these kits out in my youth, with some of the models providing memorable experiences of the assembly, painting and mounting of the finished article. Indeed, an Airfix Javelin dominated the top of my bookshelf for years and I can still clearly remember the pride I felt after super-detailing the cockpit interior of an F15. Coincidentally, the last aircraft kit that I built was also a Spitfire, albeit a Tamiya 1:48 scale version (a MkVb I think). I had no airbrush then, my tool kit was very small and I seem to remember building it on a rickety Victorian writing bureau in my student digs near Wigan, with the smell of tube cement and enamel paints stinking out the room.

Anyways, this new Airfix tooling is lightyears ahead of the older kits, with razor sharp relief, hardly any flash and plenty of fine detail, including cockpit interior fittings and a decal for the various dials and switches. Indeed, the cockpit sub-assembly is quite a mini marvel and the only thing I've deemed necessary to add is a set of harnesses cut from masking tape, which will be painted once the glue has set.

Can't wait to start putting the rest of the kit together...