1/72 Supermarine Spatfire Biplane

[Brian da Basher]

In 1933 the RAF was seeking replacement fighters for their aging Bristol Bulldogs. All the leading British aircraft manufacturers submitted bids save for the Supermarine Co., who were knee-deep in work on their super-secret Spitfire project. As they faced developmental delays, they accepted an invitation to submit a design as the Air Ministry was not comfortable with the idea of only one or two manufacturers being responsible for the British Isles' fighter defense. Using the fuselage already planned for the forthcoming top-secret fighter and adding an incredibly powerful Rolls-Royce Sir Loin engine that had just been developed from the soon-to-be famous Merlin and adding incredibly cool spats and an enclosed cockpit, the Supermarine Spatfire was born.

This fighter was very heavily armed for its day, boasting four 20 m.m. cannons (two on the engine decking and two in the wing roots) which were synchronized to fire through the propellor arc. The aircraft also had wings of large chord and span which gave it amazing high-altitude capability. The amesome spats were just simply icing on the cake and the Air Ministry placed an order immediately following acceptance trials where the nimble fighter exceeded even the best hopes of its designers.

The stop-gap fighter served with distinction, notably in chasing away German recon "over-flights" during the Munich crisis but achieved its greatest claim to fame during the Battle of Britain in 1940, when a flight of Spatfires intercepted a Luftwaffe bombing raid headed for Glasgow. The Spatfires managed to shoot down half of the attacking He-111s and scared away the others due to the sheer intimidation factor of its spats. When the defeated Germans returned to their base in Norway, the commander, Kapt. Verklummpt was given a royal chewing out by the head of Luftwaffe Bomber Command for his failure. When asked what the cause of the disaster was, Kapt. Verklummpt replied, "It was those Britishers and their verdammmt spats!"

The example pictured here, K7984 survived the war after being used as a photo recon bird and later a squadron hack, and is lovingly preserved in the Imperial War Museum.

1st of 5 pics.

Brian da Basher

[Brian da Basher]

Well, after finishing up my Cabal Bolide Mk. II, I had a Supermarine Spitfire Mk. XXII fuselage left over. I pondered the various possibilities and soon discovered that the bottom wing halves from the 1/48 scale Willow trainer Baz sent me would be a perfect fit. I also had some struts that were included in a bunch of spares philp tossed in with some kits I bought from him and I was off and running! I cut two of the lower wing halves to fit nicely with the wing root stub left over from the Mk. XXII and then I glued together the other halves for the upper wing. My next challenge was to figure out the canopy and "those verdammt spats".

2nd of 5 pics.

Brian da Basher

[Brian da Basher]

Also in that bag o' spares Phil sent were two Spitfire canopies. One I used on my Shorts Stiletto. The canopy was a natural fit and I used the rear quarter of a Corsair drop tank for the fairing behind it. Now I only needed to figure out the spats. I was tempted to use the half-a-drop tank approach but I wanted something a bit sleeker for this build, so I started thinking...

3rd of 5 pics.

Brian da Basher

[Phnx28]

Zounds! The perfect aircraft for no.1435 and the fin letters F, H, C, and everybody's Churchillian favorite: D! :ar:
Seriously, the Spatfire works superbly as a Gladiator substitute or replacement. Perhaps a Sea Spatfire to help along Old Stringbags missions , and maybe later Albacores too?

[Brian da Basher]

I decided to try a new way of fabricating spats. First, I cut a spat-shaped template from a plastic bread bag clip and used it to trace spat halves onto some spare sheet plastic. From there, I cut out four identical spat sides which I glued to the sides of the wheels, clamping the rear ends together for that teardrop shape. Once that had dried, I filled in the gap along the top with putty  and once the putty cured, I smoothed it all over with a coat of Elmer's™ glue to fill in any imperfections. Here's a shot that highlights those spats nicely.

4th of 5 pics.

Brian da Basher

[Brian da Basher]

I then added the wing cannons I'd saved from the Mk. XXII wings, deciding they looked best on the wing roots and over the engine decking. I used Polly-Scale Euro Green and Dark Earth acrylics for the uppers and Tamiya RAF Sky for the undersides. The rudder stripes were hand-painted using artists' acrylics. The decals were left over from an old sheet of W.W. I roundels and the codes were from spares. I rigged this bird with .011 guitar strings and Elmer's™ glue as this photo shows.

5th of 5 pics.

Brian da Basher

[kitnut617]

Now that looks fricking awesome.    

Robert

[John Howling Mouse]

Incredible!  Can only imagine the fuselage paint aft of the wings will be worn down to nothing by this weekend since you'll be "flying" it around your place so much!

Nice job, Brian!  Verrrrrrrrry believable.  

 

[Tophe]

Lovely (despite the spats...  no, I'm joking: lovely with these spats )

[Archibald]

Very cool!!! It look really terrific!!!

[ysi_maniac]

Wonderful, imaginative, plausible, I DO like it

5 stars
         

[B777LR]

Did he mention, he loves spats  

[Alvis 3.1]

Nicely done old chap!


Alvis 3.1

[Gary]

Waddya mean she's not real...

that looks so kewel!

[Chap]

Wonderful! Fantastic work, such an original idea, its Luftwaffe or Japanese counterpart is next right? ^_^

~Steve