“So many Spitfires…so little time…” or at least that’s the way seems to die-hard modeling fans of Supermarine’s legendary fighter. Of all of the kits offered in 1/48^th scale, Tamiya’s varied offerings of the Mk V are among the most popular with competitive and serious modelers. Excellent accuracy, detail, and general engineering of the kit put it in an elite class of quarter-scale Spitfires.

If Tamiya’s outstanding kit weren’t enough, those folks from Aires just had to take things a step further with their recent release of a cockpit set for Tamiya’s Mk V’s. Boy, do they deliver! Eight crisply-cast chunks of resin, a fret of top-notch photoetch, and a small sheet of acetate with instrument faces and gunsight glass to raise a high bar even higher.

The de Havilland Mosquito really needs no introduction, beyond the fact that it was one of the most versatile aeroplanes ever built, fulfilling an amazing variety of roles with air forces and civilian organizations across the globe from 1941 until the mid-sixties.

This new kit from Airfix continues a tradition dating back to the early 1970's for large-scale kits, starting with their still-relevant Spitfire I. Rumour has it that Airfix even considered a 1/24 Mosquito back in the early 1980's, but decided to use their research to create a 1/48 kit instead, one that is also still relevant despite newer, more detailed (but not always as accurate) and always more expensive rivals. A couple of years ago, wistful thinking had the newly-reborn Airfix resurrecting those plans, and Lo and Behold! they have.