1/72 Heller Supermarine Spitfire Mk.XVI

Gallery Article by Jean-Paul Wrona on May 3 2010

Poland Constitution Day

 

For my first submission for ARC, this is a Spitfire Mk.XVI model.  I used the Heller kit which I tried to improve.  I add few accessories : resin item from Hi-Tech, photoetched set from Eduard, undercarriage legs from Aeroclub and some scratch. The decals are from a SP-Decals sheet.

It was a hard project to do (due to my modest skills), started in 2003 or 2004 and only finished in the beginning of 2008.

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About the building, it's my first major attempt for to improve a kit :

  • I rescribed the panel lines,

  • from the Hi-Tech resin transkit, I used the floor, sides walls, back wall, tail's mobile surfaces and wheels,

  • from the Eduard PE set (a zoom set initially dedicated to the Tamiya Spitfire V), I used the instrument panel, the seat with the belts and the armor plate, and few little things,

  • while finishing the model, I lost one undercarriage leg, I had to find in emergency a replacement from Aeroclub Models,

  • Some scratch was also necessary to complete the cockpit detailing and to create a pitot tube and the windshield mirror, the antenna is from stretched sprue.

For the colors, the only option provided by Heller now is for a 349th Sqn. aircraft painted in Dark Green, Dark Grey and Medium Sea Gray (the bare-metal option has disappeared). Not satisfied with it (the letters are too green), I took me some time to find a replacement and I discovered the SP-Decals sheet dedicated to Free Polish Spitfire XVI. The model was painted by brush with Humbrol Enamels. The option chosen depicts the aircraft flown by few famous polish pilots : B. Kaczmarek, A. Gabszewicz, S.Wintorzenc...

I hope you liked it.  Happy modelling.

Jean-Paul Wrona

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Photos and text © by Jean-Paul Wrona