Short History:

When WWII broke out in 1939, Germany relied heavily on the 3.7cm PaK 36 antitank gun. However, this puny weapon was no match for armored vehicles like the French Char B1 or British Matilda II. One solution was to mount the more powerful Skoda 4.7cm PaK(t) gun on the chassis of the Panzer I Ausf. B. This had a double advantage – a more capable antitank weapon was created, and it permitted an extended use of obsolete Panzer I tank chassis. Called the Panzerjäger I, this new vehicle was Germany’s first of many tank destroyer designs. Between March 1940 and February 1941, 202 such Panzerjäger I vehicles were converted in time for service in the Battle of France, in North Africa, and in the invasion of Russia. By the end of 1943, the Panzerjäger I had been phased out. The Skoda 4.7cm PaK(t) gun was mounted in an open-topped Panzer I fighting compartment with its original gun shield still affixed.

Introduction

Soviet aircraft manufacturers, like all the other allied nations during World War II, quickly realized Germany had produced some very potent fighter planes. In response the Soviets produced some classic designs like the Lavochkhin La-7 and the subject of this review, the Yak 3. Resulting from refinements of its predecessors the Yak 7 and 9 series the Yak 3 was lightened and mated with a 1240 hp Klimov engine. The resulting aircraft out climbed and out turned its German opponents at the lower altitudes where most engagements took place in this theater. With a structure built largely of wood, the Yak 3 was a simple, rugged design typical of the Russian approach to military aircraft construction. Over 4000 were built during what Russians called the Great Patriotic War or GPW.

The Spitfire certainly needs no introduction; it’s quite simply one of the most versatile and beautiful propeller driven fighters of all time. Because of that fact there has been no shortage of kit manufactures willing to produce any number of variations of this venerable design. Enter Airfix a name long associated with British aircraft models. This time we get a new release of the Spitfire Mk XII in 1/48 scale. In brief, the Mk XII was powered by the Rolls Royce Griffin engine and as a result sports some cowling bumps and a big prop spinner not seen on other variants. Couple the Griffith engine with clipped wings and you get a Spit designed to fly fast at low altitudes to counter low flying Luftwaffe fight bombers and later, V-1 buzz bombs, but enough of the history, lets have a look.

The Kit

I don’t normally go for installing figures in my models; however, after this one, I may change my stripes and do so more frequently.

First

Thanks to master Details for providing this excellent product to us. It was quite a pleasant diversion from just slappin’ together plastic… and an excellent addition to most WWII British kits!

What You Get

A torso, four different arms, and two legs in resin. And four different heads in white metal, along with an oxygen mask and hose for separate parts. One head with goggles down and no mask, one with goggles up and mask in place, one with mask and goggles in place, and one with mask in place, goggles up. The flight gear is for non-tropical situations, i.e. standard European issue. This is a mid-to-late war flight kit project; not appropriate warmer theaters of operation.

Introduced in the latter half of 1944, the Mk. XVIe variant of Supermarine’s legendary design was optimized for low-altitude operations, featuring a Packard-built Merlin 266 powerplant, clipped wings, teardrop canopy, packing a pair each of 20mm cannon and 12.7mm machine guns, and toting either a pair of 250-lb bombs or a single 500-pounder. The Mk. XVI was the last Merlin-powered Spitfire variant to roll off the assembly line, and saw service with the RAF and a number of other nations into the 1950’s.