Some Soviet Spitfires - Float Spitfire & Some WIP Added

[McGreig]

I've had a bit of a modelling block recently - haven't completed anything new for about a year and a half. An odd side effect of this is that, when I'm not building myself, I don't like looking at other people's builds. Logically, you would think that looking at other modellers' work might provided the inspiration to break the modelling block but it doesn't seem to work like that. Hence, number of posts in last year - 13!

I eventually decided that the two main problems were too many unfinished projects and too much clutter and so a large number of damaged kits awaiting repair, half built kits that I'd lost enthusiasm for and incomplete kits that were being kept for the proverbial spares box were binned (Hey, it's my model - I can do what I want with it, and that includes throwing it away!)

The surviving unfinished kits were then sorted into those that could be completed relatively quickly and the others which were put into a couple of storage boxes and moved out of sight.

Which brings us, eventually, to the Spitfires. One unexpected result of the sorting and de-cluttering was that the "could be completed relatively quickly" group included ten Spitfires. Now, all my kits are built - even the what-ifs - with a view to being included in the Soviet Aircraft SIG display and I have no idea why I started so many Spitfires. Yes, the Russians received approximately 1,330 Spitfires (mostly Mk.IX, but also 143 MkVb, a couple of early PR machines and approximately 50 non-airworthy Mk.Vb for spare parts) but they were mostly left in standard RAF colours with red stars painted over the British markings and don't obviously form the basis for a particularly interesting collection. But this is whiff-world after all - - -



So, first up is a Mk.Vc painted in the colours of Lt Col Dolgushin's La-7 from the 156 IAP. This colour scheme was inspired by a Bader's Bus Company profile and was originally intended (I think) for the Profiles GB, which is a good indication of the glacial speed of my modelling these days.



In reality, the USSR did not receive any Mk.Vc Spitfires and lend lease aircraft were rarely repainted into Soviet colours (although there were exceptions), but this was too attractive a scheme to miss.



The kit is the much maligned Airfix Mk.Vc. Yes, the wing is too thick and is a modern engraved tooling while the fuselage is the old Vb fuselage with raised line detailing. However, judicious scraping and sanding to sharpen the trailing edge improves the appearance significantly and the thickness of the wing is not immediately apparent from normal viewing angles. They still haven't quite got the ailerons right but the upper hinge line isn't as badly out as it is on the original Vb and there is no strange kink at the wing root where the wing meets the fuselage. Also, the fuselage has engraved detailing where it matters - around the engine cowling and access door  -  and isn't marred by the excessively deep lines that disfigure the new Airfix Mk.I.



In fact, the only thing that I really didn't like about the original boxing of the Vc was the rather blobby canopy which had replaced the original Vb moulding.

However, if you get the newer boxing (A02040, "Made in India", "Supermarine Spitfire" all in yellow) you will find that, not only is the original canopy restored but that you also get all the parts necessary to convert the kit to a Seafire IIc. This is not mentioned anywhere on the box or instructions and is presumably a result of the mould having been modified for the Airfix Club Seafire kit.

[McGreig]

The second completed Spitfire is another Airfix Vc, this time finished in a winter scheme.



Apart from it being a Vc, the whiff here is in the colour scheme - as far as I know, Soviet Spitfires were not painted in white winter schemes. I've certainly not seen any pictures of winter camouflaged Spitfires and it seems unlikely that there would have been any.



For one thing, the first Soviet Spitfires became operational in Spring 1943, just before the Soviet Summer offensive which changed the war decisively into one of Soviet advance and German retreat and also saw the Soviets begin to establish air superiority. From this point the use of defensive winter camouflage seems to have been a lot less common.



Secondly, with the exception of the 26 and 27 Guards Fighter Regiments which formed part of the Leningrad Air Defence system, Soviet Spitfires were mostly issued to PVO interceptor regiments tasked with defending cities and industrial targets well behind the front line where white winter camouflage would not have been particularly useful or necessary.

[McGreig]

The third completed Spitfire is a Mk.VII. This is built to represent a one-off machine supplied to the USSR for trials and tested at NII-VVS (The Air Force Research Institute). In reality, the Soviets did not receive any Mk.VIIs but the did receive two HF Mk.IX which were actually tested at NII. (NII also tested several other one-off aircraft such as the Typhoon, Mosquito, C-46, and Stirling.)



Because it is a one-off machine I have assumed that it would have been supplied in standard British colours with the red stars applied over the British markings. I've used a bit of artistic licence here, applying the stars directly on top of the British roundels in a similar fashion to the stars applied directly over US markings on some early lend lease P-39s and A-20s. In reality, I don't think that I've ever seen a photo of a British lend lease aircraft where the RAF markings haven't been painted out, however crudely, in camouflage colours.



The model is the Italeri Mk.VII. Which brings me to - - -

One of the things that completing the Spitfires has reminded me of is that a lot of what is posted on the Internet masquerading as fact is actually prejudice and personal opinion. Particularly in the case of the 1/72 Italeri Spitfires! Take, for example, the following series of quotations from a well known modelling site (not this one!): "the Italeri horror", "the accuracy of the original kit is quite bad", "there's no wing-fuselage fairing" and "the Italeri is IMHO rubbish"

Sorry Teuchters but, to use a Classical Latin saying, if ye believe that, ye're awa' wi the faeries! The Italeri Mk. V is probably the best out-of-the-box Mk.V from a mainsteam manufacturer.



I can't put it better than this quote from Britmodeller: "I really don't understand the extreme terms of criticism applied to the Italeri Spitfire Mk.V. It isn't perfect, sure. It needs a new prop, but is hardly alone in that. It lacks the panel line for the wing/fuselage fairing (oh dear). The radiator has to be taken off and the sides squeezed together before being reglued. It helps to space out the engine cowling with a piece of microstrip, perhaps. Really advanced modelling? However, its overall size, shape and lines are those of a Spitfire. It fits together at least as well as the old Airfix, has far superior internal and external detail, and doesn't need a rescribed aileron or reworked leading edge. Nor does it have that very odd kink up at the root. Or heavy panel lines"



The Italeri Mk.IX (on which their Mk.VII is based) is a slightly different story, but it is still a nice kit. These are the main issues with it and how I resolved them (or not!):

Width of nose: It's a bit too narrow but this is an easy fix - insert a strip of plastic card between the halves of the engine cowling. I based the width on the Airfix Mk.IX as the Mk.VII may well be displayed with some of these and I want them to look as consistent as possible.

Length - well, it's too short, but by how much? I've seen suggestions that it's short by 2mm, but this seems too much - it's longer than the Airfix or Itlaeri Mk.Vs and only a fraction shorter than the CMR Mk.IX trainer. Within acceptable limits, I feel, and best ignored.

Wings - there is a teardrop shaped engraved line where the wheel bulge goes on late/postwar Mk.IXs. This is easy to fill and sand smooth. Also the fairings over the cannon breeches are too long. Again, shortening these with a bit of trimming and sanding is easy.

Wing root fairing - contrary to some claims, this is not missing and the shape of the wing root is fine. However, what is missing is any depiction of the panel line delineating the upper edge of the fairing. Now, if you look at real Spitfires (or photos of wartime aircraft) you will see that sometimes this panel line sticks out like the proverbial sore thumb and sometimes it's pretty much invisible. If I was just going to build Italeri Spitfires, I would simply ignore this issue. However, as the Mk.VII may well be displayed alongside kits where the panel line is obvious, I decided to add it in the interests of consistency. There are various ways of doing this. My way was to take a piece of very thin stretched sprue, lay it along the line of the upper fairing edge, seal it in with a wash of liquid cement and gently sand it down after it had set. It's visible in a couple of the photos (but only if you look really hard!)

Underwing radiators - these are not sharp enough at the edges and have slightly sloping rather than perpendicular sides. In theory, you could cut these off, squeeze the edges together and re-cement them on to the wing. I practice, I almost ruined the wing attempting this before deciding to leave well alone! It's an acceptable error in my view and, in any case, it's on the under-surface of the wing, so you can't see it under normal conditions - - -

Flat sides to the forward fuselage - the finished model looks OK to me - ignore this.

[McGreig]

Number four is a Mk.IX of the 27 Guards Air Defence Regiment. This Regiment was based at Leningrad, as one of the few front line Spitfire units, and the aircraft has been painted for a Victory air display and flypast in the immediate post-war period.



In reality, although there a photos of red Yak-3s, La-7s and Yak-15s, I've never seen any red Spitfires (or other lend lease fighter for that matter).

The kit is the Airfix Mk.IX. It seems to be generally agreed that this kit is too long, has too great a wing chord, has no cockpit detail, hasn't got the ailerons right (although the problem is on the underside this time), and has engraved detail which doesn't distinguish between panel lines and control surfaces. However, unlike its Italeri cousin, there are few comments of the "foul Airfix caricature of a Spitfire" variety. Instead, much more sensibly, it seems to be generally accepted that, despite its flaws, the Airfix Mk.IX is the best Mk.IX from a major manufacturer and that its errors are within acceptable limits.



The kit is built pretty much from the box except for the removal of the wing bulges above the wheel well and the addition of some cockpit detail (which you can't see anyway).

[McGreig]

Next, we have a bit of an imposter. This isn't a new model, as it was done over two years ago for the Let It Snow GB. However, it fits this thread and a lot of members probably won't have seen it before.

It started off as the old Matchbox kit and was modified with plastic card and a Falcon canopy.



The back story is as follows.

From 1939 onwards, the Soviet Union developed and tested a variety of ramjets, pulse jets and rockets for use as boosters on piston engined fighters (including the I-153 and I-207 biplanes!). In 1946 the first of V.N. Chelomey's D-10 pulse jets were cleared for flight and were fitted initially to an La-7 fighter.



At that time the USSR also had a considerable number of Mk. IX Spitfires - 687 of the 1337 Spitfires delivered under lend lease were only delivered in 1945 . These had largely been used for high altitude interception of reconnaissance aircraft and the air defence of cities away from the front line and many were in almost "as new" condition. As contemporary Soviet fighters were not particularly suited for the high altitude interception role, it was decided to retain the Spitfires and to include them in the booster tests.

Consequently at least one aircraft was fitted with D-10 pulse jets and it was intended to fly this in formation with the similarly equipped La-7 at the annual 7 November parade and flypast in 1946. Unfortunately the flypast was cancelled due to bad weather and by 1947 the pulse jet booster programme had been abandoned as the boost of the pulse jets was found to be outweighed by the increased drag and reduced manoeuverability.



And the truth is - well, everything about Soviet booster testing is true except that they were never tested on Spitfires or any other Western-supplied fighter, although B-25s were used for pulse jet and turbojet testing. Spitfires were used for other tests - there are photos of a Mk.V on a catapult like a Hurricat!

Also, the information on the numbers of Spitfires delivered to the USSR and their use is, broadly, correct and the November 1946 flypast really was cancelled because of the weather (but, in 1947 - although the programme had already been cancelled - a formation of pulse jet boosted La-9s did take part).

[NARSES2]

Now that's a really nice way to break a modelling block  Some nice builds there

[PR19_Kit]

(Hey, it's my model - I can do what I want with it, and that includes throwing it away!)

Now THAT'S an attitude I can relate to!  

Cracking models BTW, especially the red one.

[Army of One]

Some great builds there......I like the first one....loosely based on a La5/7 scheme....?? It's great....!!

[bearmatt]

Smells like whiffies nomination here. Great job! 

[Cobra]

These are Superb like your Paint & Decal schemes! Makes me a Wee bit Jealous you could do such a Superb job on so many Spits!  Keep up the Great Work Dan

[Jay-Jay]

  Fantastic ! I've got some MkV and Mk IX on my bench and was looking for one Russian Spit... These ones just put my imagination ablaze ! 
I particularly loved the one with ramjets.... Note that Russian developed rocket boosted Fighters that might be a another good idea (but I suspect that you already think about it  )

[dumaniac]

nice collection of spits

[McGreig]

Thanks for the positive comments - it's good to be finishing things again.

I like the first one....loosely based on a La5/7 scheme....??

Yes it is a direct copy of Dolgushin's La-7. I was going to use my Aeromaster La-7 decals on this but common sense prevailed and I masked and painted the red and white tail and sourced the other decals from odd sheets, so that I can still build the real La-7

I particularly loved the one with ramjets.... Note that Russian developed rocket boosted Fighters that might be a another good idea (but I suspect that you already think about it  )

I've thought about it unsuccessfully!! A few years ago I started two Soviet P-40s. One was a pulse jet testbed like the Spitfire and the other was to be rocket assisted. The pulse jet model was finished but the rocket version was one of the kits that I got rid of (see post1). However, now that you've mentioned it, I might try with a Spitfire - - - -

[Doc Yo]

 Very nice colelction of builds, Sir-I'm partial to the jet boosted one as well.

[Joe C-P]

Comrade, a most excellent collection of glorious Communist engineering, improving on the decadent Western aircraft.