Sam

THE

First Looks

• Tamiya 1/48 Spitire Mk.1 (2018)
  
  
  • Dora Wings 1/72 Bellanca CH/J-300
  
  
  
  

see page 42

December 2018 WORLD’S BEST MODEL NEWSPAPER ‘FREE’ http://www.sampublications.com

SPITFIRE MK.1First look at Tamiya 1/48 Spitfire Mk.1 (2018)

Iyears ago. At that time this was hailed as the best Spitire on the market and to be fair today it still t is hard to believe but Tamiya irst introduced a Mk.1 Spitire to their 1/48 scale range 25

holds up well against far newer kits. But being second best is obviously not good enough for

Tamiya as at the Japan Model & Hobby show in Tokyo on the 28-30th September they revealed an all new tool Mk.1 Spitire. At

that time it was expected that this would be a 2019 release but much to our surprise, a full production boxing arrived in

the oice just one month later. confronted by the normal high On opening the box you are

quality plastic with ine recessed and raised details. The attachment points on most parts, are on the lat joining edge of the part. This means

that you will have a little more cleaning up to do, to remove the runner attachment stub. But this

also means that you will not loose any of the ine engraved detail.the fuselage halves, which have The irst thing I noticed was

large cut out’s that cover the whole cockpit area. My irst thought was that this was so they could produce the later Spitire marks

with a bubble top canopy in the future. In fact this combined with a choice canopies is so you can

correctly show the canopy in the fully open position. Normally most manufacturers just give you the separate canopy but when

positioned open this means that the canopy sits too high. By producing a cockpit section with a slightly

thinner proile (Though inaccurate) the canopy will now sit in the correct position. This is the irst of a number of innovative engineering

choices, my favourite of which concerns the undercarriage. I have always found that setting

the correct angles of the Spitires thin legs is a bit of a challenge. But with this kit, both undercarriage legs are moulded along with a

spar, which means any guesswork is completely removed. Another beneit is that this leads to a far

more rigid assembly, which should stand up well to moving your model to shows, or even my wife’s dusting!As well as a set of canopy masks

you also have a set of grey thicker vinyl self adhesive pieces, these supply the raised panels itted to the sides of the front cowlings on

very early Mk.1. They also supply the thin oval surround seen on the port side of the canopy though

personally I will probably just leave the raised clear oval as this feature barely visible in photos. Other early features supplied

include a ring and bead site and the pole type aerial mast, it is just a shame the very early two bladed

propeller was not included as well.cockpit and the undercarriage bays is truly outstanding and The detail supplied in both the

the only aftermarket I will add is some Airscale placards and a little wire. A nicely moulded pilot

igure is supplied and a nice touch is that the etched fret supplies not only the normal seat belts but also a shorter set that realistically

attaches the pilot to his seat. the mesh for the radiators, two styles of gun sight as well This fret also includes all

• 
  
  
  
  1. Supermarine Spitire Mk.1, 1939. A very early inish with
     camoulage “A Scheme” with • 2. Supermarine Spitire Mk.1,
     “Operation Dynamo “(Dunkirk)
  
  
  
  

camoulage pattern used on the black(Port) and white (starboard).

• 
  
  
  
  3. Supermarine Spitire Mk.1, P9495, DW-K, 610 Squadron,
  
  
  
  

42 • DECEMBER 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

FIRST LOOK!

AIRFIX ANNOUNCE NEW 1/24 F6F-5 HELLCAT!

WWW.SAMPUBLICATIONS.COM

Airix BIG News

W

e had been promised

a big announcement

at 11 AM on the

irst day of Telford!

And Airix certainly delivered

on that promise with the

announcement of a 1/24 Scale

Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat. This

has been developed by the same

team who produced the Typhoon,

so the surface detail looks very

good with a nice representation

of the lapped fuselage panels and

if storage space of such a large kit

may not prove much of a problem

because the model includes a nice

representation of the parallel to

the fuselage wing fold used on the

Hellcat, Wildcat and Avenger.

If you do show the wings spread,

you can display the gun bays opened

up. The kit will include both US

Navy and Fleet Air Arm and French

options and will be available in

the second quarter of 2019.

Dragon Lady

from the East

A

FV Club have announced

they are going to

produce a U-2C, this

type has been overlooked for

far too many years with this,

the irst new tool of the type

since the 1960s when Hawk

released their version which

is still occasionally available

under the Testor’s label.

The new AFV club kit will

be the most detailed of any

U-2 released to date with a

detailed camera package and

alternative clear window layouts.

An especially nice touch is the

inclusion of the fabric sunshade,

which does allow for a number of

interesting diorama possibilities.

The initial boxing will supply

markings for the Nationalist

Chinese Air Force of Taiwan,

but I am sure a USAF boxing

will not be far behind and

of course, many U-2s in the

early years did not carry any

markings at all! Look out for

this new release early in 2019.

TELFORD SPECIAL

Tall Tales from Iran

I

f you have never heard of SAEQEH-80

I would not be surprised, over the

last 15 years the Iranians have been

developing what they are calling the irst

indigenous designed jet ighter. Though

many observers are suggesting that they

are just modernising their existing 1970

era F-5Es with up dated avionics and twin

tails. AFV Club have announced they

will be modernising their existing

1/48 Scale F-5E tooling in a similar

fashion to represent the Saqeh-80.

The kit will include markings for

a number of schemes this aircraft/

aircrafts have been seen in to date.

Modellers Dataile • 32

WWW.SAMPUBLICATIONS.COM • DECEMBER 2018 • 35