Brian Lane's Spitfire 1A

[null_null981707818191]

“Another Spitfire…” I hear you say. Well, yes, but why not? It’s great to build a kit that’s well-engineered and familiar from time to time, and especially if the latest ‘livery’ is that of a well-known pilot – in this case, Sq Ldr Brian Lane who led 19 Squadron – based at Fowlmere and part of the Duxford ‘Wing’, during the Battle of Britain.

The latest iteration of the 1/72 scale Airfix model – A01071C – holds no surprises, and so the modeller can focus on tweaks and (hopefully) improvements on the last Spitfire build (and let’s face it, some of us do build quite a few Spitfires…). It was largely OOB – I did cut up the canopy with a razor-saw and then use a Blown Sliding Hood from Barracuda so I could pose the cockpit open with the pilot sitting waiting to take-off.

The cockpit detail is actually quite good for the scale (and price) and as it’s mostly hidden once it’s put together, I can’t really see the point of after-market additions that are invisible!

I did add a few figures around the aircraft to enliven the pictures of course.

The book is well worth obtaining and reading if you’re at all interested in the Battle of Britain. It contains some photographs which confirm the kit’s livery. The apparently outsize fuselage roundels are confirmed in several of the photographs, and the relatively undersized under-wing roundels are similarly pictured. One decal that is missing is the lightning-bolt shattered swastika which Sq Ldr Lane had on the side of his aircraft – again confirmed by one of the photographs in the book – but I suppose not viable for Airfix to include.

As is my wont, the aircraft was brush-painted using Vallejo Model Air acrylics, and the aerial was AK Super-Thin rigging line. The Dark Earth/Dark Green combo was obviously correct, but the kit colour call-out for the undersides was for Humbrol Birch Green – I thought that Vallejo Eau de Nil was a pretty good match. The pictures in the book are monochrome, but I’ve no reason to doubt the recommendation that P9386 could have had a yellow spinner – and I think it looks the part anyway!

I thoroughly enjoyed building the kit and it’s always interesting to build something that has real history, as homage to one of the very brave men who fought in the Battle of Britain. Thanks for taking a look!

[SD45elect2000]

I’m not finished building Spitfires either. How many is enough? I don’t think there is an answer.

 

Randall

[Hangartime]

Looks the part definitely. 

I've seen more than my share of colour debates but there's a good article here that covers why the odd spinner on BoB RAF aircraft was a lighter colour.

http://www.clubhyper.com/reference/brianlanespinnercolorjh_1.htm

[null_null981707818191]

An interesting article about light coloured spinners - thanks for posting the link HT - but I'm not going to repaint it!

And Randall, you are so right!

[Dominic Thomas]

Good quality finish, well done. 
There’s always a gem in your models. Here, the wings and moustache on the officer are really good. 
As an aside, I thought the yellow nose was supposed to be on the aircraft, not the pilot 🤣

[null_null981707818191]

Thanks Dominic! Perhaps a red nose might be more appropriate for the officer on the tarmac...

[john redman]

I'd have been very worried about friendly fire being in an RAF aircraft sporting a yellow spinner...