Background

The trouble (at least for me) with pitot tubes as furnished in most aircraft plastic kits is they are normally the last part installed and the first part broken off. I build 1/48th scale aircraft and will replace the kit pitot tube with lengths of aluminum or brass tubing. I use the kit part for the proper dimensions, but do allow at least ½” extra length in the main shaft for a secure mounting within the model’s wing or nose cone.

The Company

The company Master is located in Poland, and the owner is Piotr Czerkasow, who is also a modeler. By vocation he is a mechanical engineer. The product line includes aircraft and naval accessories in several scales.

The products are distributed worldwide, including the United States, with Sprue Brothers being one of the sources.

This volume continues the story of Supermarine Spitfire MK IXs used by Polish pilots in Britain during the years 1944-1946, both in Polish and RAF squadrons and auxiliary units. Information on aircraft and crew losses and officially credited victories is included.

There are over 200 photographs (about half of which have not been published before) and about 30 color profiles (plus top and bottom views for two representative aircraft). In several instances, full color renderings are included alongside period images of the aircraft. Very nice touch.

Wojtek Matusiak, the author who lives in Warsaw, Poland, is a well-known Polish aviation history author. He is a specialist on the Spitfire and has published both in English and Polish.

Whenever you open the box for this set, there are so many parts that you feel like you’re opening a complete resin kit. Altogether, there are 33 resin parts, two photo etch sheets and a clear acetate sheet. It takes six 8” x 6” instruction sheets to show how to put it all together. These instructions appear to be a big improvement over past instruction sheets, because they are less confusing and leave little to be figured out. Only one kit part is utilized, and that is the cockpit floor. And, you only use part of it. There is one other portion of the right fuselage half that gets removed, but that’s it. There’s not a lot of thinning kit parts until they are transparent or major surgery required.