History

The Spitfire is perhaps one of the most famous fighters to emerge from World War II, combining performance, development potential, versatility, and beauty in one airframe. I cannot imagine a modeler who does not know the basic history of the type, so I won’t repeat it here. The Mk. VIII represented by this kit was an upgrade from earlier models, which gave improved performance. Developed from the Mk. VII, the Mk. VIII featured a 1710 HP Merlin 63 or 66 engine, and all were fitted with the Vokes tropical filter. While most had the standard elliptical wingtips, some had the extended wingtips for high altitude use. A few were also equipped with “bubble” canopies. Most Mk. VIIIs were used in the Middle East or with the RAAF in the Far East against the Japanese, where they were superior to every Japanese fighter encountered.

Master Model of Poland produces small brass parts for detailing models, be they aircraft or ships. They have parts for aircraft in 1/32, 1/35, 1/48, 1/72, and 1/144, mostly pitot tubes, refueling probes and gun barrels.

These are 4 20mm gun barrels for Japanese WW2 fighters. I had a 1/144 Platz N1K2 “George” on the shelf, which I built for a review about 4 years ago. I selected it for the upgrade.

Removal and Replacement

Removal was a simple job. I used sprue cutters and cut the guns off the wing, as close as I could to the leading edge. The kit has fairings at the base of each gun, but I fixed that later. Once I got the plastic guns removed, I used a sanding stick to flatten the base of the kit fairings. This gave me a clean surface to drill into. The instructions call for a .4mm drill. Looking at my .4mm drill and the guns, I downgraded the drill to a .25mm. The hole was still just a little large, but .25mm is about the smallest drill I’ve got.

Hauler has been making photoetched sets in multiple scales including my favorite, 1/72^nd. This set is about as easy of a PE set as you can get. It contains 6 grills (4 of one style and 2 of another) and 15 manhole covers (5 each of 3 styles one of these is square). They literally are just cut from the fret and add to your diorama.

As such no instructions are needed but there actually was a set included with mine. Turns out it is for one of their Typhoon sets. Whoops.

I have been unable to track down what countries the manhole covers are from but pretty sure they are from Europe and should look good in a WWII setting. If anyone can find a location that fits please post the info.

All in all, a nice and easy to use accessory that will liven up that street scene.

Thanks to Hauler and IPMS/USA for the review kit.