HOME | DD

Description
Backround: With no doubt the Supermarine Spitfire is the best known british fighter aircraft of wwii. This lean ,fast and agile machine served the british through the whole war and is ofen called the most beautiful of the piston engine fighters. Powered in its early variants by a Merlin engine, the spit-as it was known by its pilots- was able to reach more than 500 km/h. Later versions carried a more powerful griffon engine. Made famous in the battle of britain, it wasnt actually the spitfire which did most of the combat and sorties, it was actually the hawker hurricane which did the most combat as more huricanes were in the squadrons than there were spitfires. It was introduced in 1937 and with is very elegant appearence, pilots liked it immediately. The aircraft had excellent flight characteristics and was very agile. In the batttle of britain it faced its main enemy, the German Messerschmitt bf 109 E. The 109 was put into service at around the same time the spitfire did and it had a powerful daimler benz engine. Both planes had its strengths and weaknesses. The spitfire was better below an altitude of 4000 metres, while the 109 had better performance above 4000 metres. In the battle of britain most airbatlles took place above 4000 metres. The spitfire was faster at low altitude and was more agile as the 109 . The spitfire also had a longer range than the messerschmitt.But the 109 was better armed, with bigger machine guns and 2 heavy 20 mm MGFF machine cannons. Both aircraft had a very small canopy and liquid cooled engines. The 109s engine however had an advantage the merlin engine lacked: a direct injection pump that gave the 109 a decisive advantage in a dive: It could dive away directly while the spitfire had to make a half roll in order to keep the engine running at negative g forces. When compared, no aircraft was in general better than the other. It depended on the pilot which aircraft would emerge victoriuos. Although it was planned that hurricanes should attack bombers and spitfires the escort fighters, there was genrally no such thing, spitfires took on bombers as well as hurricanes took on fighters. The spitfire version used at that time was the spitfire MKI After the battle of britain the spitfire was vastly improoved, the engine was more powerful and it now had 2 Hispano Suiza 20 mm cannons in addittion to its 4 machine guns in the wings. However with the arrival of the new Focke Wulf 190, the spitfire found itself almost completely outclassed as the 190 was extremely heavily armed with up to 4 machine cannons and 2 macine guns and a higher speed and maneuvrability. This made its neccessary that the spitfire was again upgraded to deal with the new opponent. This led to the spitfire Mk IX which was able to more or less even the tables. Also, the engine improoved so that the spitfire now didnt have to make a half roll to pursue opponents in a dive. One of the spitfires disadvantages was, just as in the bf 109, its narrow undercarriage making starts and landing on uneven terrain more difficult. Once in the air the spitfire was however a dream to fly.The canopy offered good visibilty and later version had a bubble canopy. Earlier versions had a 3 bladed prop but with the introduction of the Mk IX all later spitfires carried a 4 bladed propeller. Some spitfires had clipped wings in order to be more agile. The spifire remained in service after wwii in the british army and other allied forces. By that time, the spitfire looked completely different from its earlier versions. Variants like the late war Mk 22 and post war Mk 24 had 5 bladed propellers and had more harder hitting armament of up to 4 cannons. These variants could reach speeds of 750 km/h making them some of the fastest piston engine fighters ever. The durable frame of the spitfire made it quite safe and pilots fell in love with the spitfire. Today, many spitfires still fly at airshows and any are on static display in museums. It remains as one of the biggest icons in aviation history, with more than 20000 beeing built of all versions together. The spitfire was also available in a naval version the supermairne seafire and swimmer equipped spits were also tested.
The most widely produced spitfire was the here seen Mk V which was available in full wing and clipped wing configuration.

The model:
Well, this is an old "friend" I know from my youth(oh god how that sounds: my youth- I am just 18 years old XD), as I had built this model kit in earlier years. However as you can imagine, it looked like crap and I finally bought another one. The kit is from revell, costs 6,99€ and is in 1/72 scale.
Detail: Nice detail for a 1/72 kit. The model is from 1996 and it is one of revells classic model kits from that time. The whole 1/72 wwii fighter series from revell has good detail (no talking about the zvezda and old monogram kits that revell has reissued-these doesnt count)and this one is no exception. While the detail is nice, it isnt perfect, there could have been more
****
Fitting: The fuselage-wing fitting is one of the best I have ever experienced, the wings fit perfectly to the fuselage , it is comparable to hasegawa in that aspect. There is a small gap on the underside fuselage but really, the wing to fuselage fitting marveled be, a really perfect fit
*****
Functions: Standart functions, a movable propeller
****
Decals: The decals are very nice and decals for 2 machines are included(btw, the kit offers to built either a full wing or clipped wing spitfire- I chose the full wing). Despite their age the decals look very nice . There was some "dust" on the decals but once in the water it was away. The decals have the typical revell quality, very nice
*****
Extrapoints: This is an all time classic from revell and one of the best 1/72 spits on the market. It has a very good quality/price ratio and building this kit was very enjoyable
*****
Fazit:This kit is recommended to all model builders. It is suited for beginners as well as experienced builders. A low price and the typical revell quality makes this kit interesting for anyone who looks for a spitfire in 1/72 for a wwii fighter collection. Personally, I would absolutely recommend this kit
*****

Description
Backround: With no doubt the Supermarine Spitfire is the best known british fighter aircraft of wwii. This lean ,fast and agile machine served the british through the whole war and is ofen called the most beautiful of the piston engine fighters. Powered in its early variants by a Merlin engine, the spit-as it was known by its pilots- was able to reach more than 500 km/h. Later versions carried a more powerful griffon engine. Made famous in the battle of britain, it wasnt actually the spitfire which did most of the combat and sorties, it was actually the hawker hurricane which did the most combat as more huricanes were in the squadrons than there were spitfires. It was introduced in 1937 and with is very elegant appearence, pilots liked it immediately. The aircraft had excellent flight characteristics and was very agile. In the batttle of britain it faced its main enemy, the German Messerschmitt bf 109 E. The 109 was put into service at around the same time the spitfire did and it had a powerful daimler benz engine. Both planes had its strengths and weaknesses. The spitfire was better below an altitude of 4000 metres, while the 109 had better performance above 4000 metres. In the battle of britain most airbatlles took place above 4000 metres. The spitfire was faster at low altitude and was more agile as the 109 . The spitfire also had a longer range than the messerschmitt.But the 109 was better armed, with bigger machine guns and 2 heavy 20 mm MGFF machine cannons. Both aircraft had a very small canopy and liquid cooled engines. The 109s engine however had an advantage the merlin engine lacked: a direct injection pump that gave the 109 a decisive advantage in a dive: It could dive away directly while the spitfire had to make a half roll in order to keep the engine running at negative g forces. When compared, no aircraft was in general better than the other. It depended on the pilot which aircraft would emerge victoriuos. Although it was planned that hurricanes should attack bombers and spitfires the escort fighters, there was genrally no such thing, spitfires took on bombers as well as hurricanes took on fighters. The spitfire version used at that time was the spitfire MKI After the battle of britain the spitfire was vastly improoved, the engine was more powerful and it now had 2 Hispano Suiza 20 mm cannons in addittion to its 4 machine guns in the wings. However with the arrival of the new Focke Wulf 190, the spitfire found itself almost completely outclassed as the 190 was extremely heavily armed with up to 4 machine cannons and 2 macine guns and a higher speed and maneuvrability. This made its neccessary that the spitfire was again upgraded to deal with the new opponent. This led to the spitfire Mk IX which was able to more or less even the tables. Also, the engine improoved so that the spitfire now didnt have to make a half roll to pursue opponents in a dive. One of the spitfires disadvantages was, just as in the bf 109, its narrow undercarriage making starts and landing on uneven terrain more difficult. Once in the air the spitfire was however a dream to fly.The canopy offered good visibilty and later version had a bubble canopy. Earlier versions had a 3 bladed prop but with the introduction of the Mk IX all later spitfires carried a 4 bladed propeller. Some spitfires had clipped wings in order to be more agile. The spifire remained in service after wwii in the british army and other allied forces. By that time, the spitfire looked completely different from its earlier versions. Variants like the late war Mk 22 and post war Mk 24 had 5 bladed propellers and had more harder hitting armament of up to 4 cannons. These variants could reach speeds of 750 km/h making them some of the fastest piston engine fighters ever. The durable frame of the spitfire made it quite safe and pilots fell in love with the spitfire. Today, many spitfires still fly at airshows and any are on static display in museums. It remains as one of the biggest icons in aviation history, with more than 20000 beeing built of all versions together. The spitfire was also available in a naval version the supermairne seafire and swimmer equipped spits were also tested.
The most widely produced spitfire was the here seen Mk V which was available in full wing and clipped wing configuration.

The model:
Well, this is an old "friend" I know from my youth(oh god how that sounds: my youth- I am just 18 years old XD), as I had built this model kit in earlier years. However as you can imagine, it looked like crap and I finally bought another one. The kit is from revell, costs 6,99€ and is in 1/72 scale.
Detail: Nice detail for a 1/72 kit. The model is from 1996 and it is one of revells classic model kits from that time. The whole 1/72 wwii fighter series from revell has good detail (no talking about the zvezda and old monogram kits that revell has reissued-these doesnt count)and this one is no exception. While the detail is nice, it isnt perfect, there could have been more
****
Fitting: The fuselage-wing fitting is one of the best I have ever experienced, the wings fit perfectly to the fuselage , it is comparable to hasegawa in that aspect. There is a small gap on the underside fuselage but really, the wing to fuselage fitting marveled be, a really perfect fit
*****
Functions: Standart functions, a movable propeller
****
Decals: The decals are very nice and decals for 2 machines are included(btw, the kit offers to built either a full wing or clipped wing spitfire- I chose the full wing). Despite their age the decals look very nice . There was some "dust" on the decals but once in the water it was away. The decals have the typical revell quality, very nice
*****
Extrapoints: This is an all time classic from revell and one of the best 1/72 spits on the market. It has a very good quality/price ratio and building this kit was very enjoyable
*****
Fazit:This kit is recommended to all model builders. It is suited for beginners as well as experienced builders. A low price and the typical revell quality makes this kit interesting for anyone who looks for a spitfire in 1/72 for a wwii fighter collection. Personally, I would absolutely recommend this kit
*****