I’ve got another model aeroplane on the table today. Back to Allied powers this time, with an RAF Supermarine Spitfire MkVc. It’s a 1:72 scale kit from Airfix, and is one of their beginner sets, so it was a pretty quick build and and quite a bit lighter on detail in some areas. At this scale, that doesn’t bother me so much, and gets me to the part that I like the most, which is the painting.
The MKV Spitfire was one of the most used variants of Spitfire, and in its basic iteration was essentially an upgraded MKI/MkII Spitfire with a more powerful engine. It was a stopgap measure to improve performance while a more thoroughly upgraded iteration (the MKVI, which was not really needed in the end) was developed.
It saw action in all the Allied theatres, from Europe, the Med and North Africa, to the Asian theatre of operations. Its presence in Malta is for me, the most interesting, as they spent a lot of time tweaking the camouflage patterns to get something suitable to that mixed over sea and land combat role. I’ve a list of about 16 confirmed and speculative paint schemes (sadly, with the combat so heated at the time, accurate records of colour schemes weren’t kept, leading to lots of discussion about what was and wasn’t used).
I’m hoping to work my way through that list at some point, but for now, this MkV is painted in the standard temperate scheme used over Europe from 1941, when the green and brown pattern famous from the Battle of Britain was no longer considered suitable.
Considering how simple a kit it was to put together, I’m really happy with the end result. Here are some photos! I hope you like it!
I’ll have some more work updates for next week’s post. For now, it’s enough to say things are progressing nicely and I’m approaching announcement time!
Until then, take care!