British Thoroughbred

Spitfire Mk.IX

Part 3

Eagle Strike Productions
 

Reviewed by Rodger Kelly

Eagle Strike's 1/48 British Thoroughbred Part 3 is available online from Squadron.com

Sheet 48061, recently released from Eagle Strike Productions covers the Supermarine Spitfire Mk IXC.  Markings are provided for four different aircraft in the RAF Temperate Land Scheme of Ocean Grey and Dark Green upper surfaces over Medium Sea Grey lower surfaces with Sky spinner, rear fuselage band and yellow wing leading edges.  The individual aircraft and their markings are:

• MJ783 WX-F as flown by Group Captain Aleksander Gabzewicz, the Commanding Officer of 131 Wing, 2nd Tactical Air Force, France 1944.  The aircraft still bears the remnants of the black and white 'D Day' markings under the rear fuselage and wears the red and white flag of Poland on the sides of the nose.

• MH934 HN-C of 93 Squadron RAF, as flown by Warrant Officer Bobby Bunting, an Aussie and member of the RAAF who achieved three confirmed kills in this aircraft.  Bunting's personal markings are included on the sheet as is individual aircraft letter 'C' for the lower engine cowling.  This last marking is supplied as a one-piece decal of a black 'C' on a white block background as well as separate white block and letter 'C' in case of register problems.  The placement sheet advises that the spinner could have been black as illustrated on page 40 of the Osprey book Late Mark Spitfire Aces.

• BS451 RF-M 'Joan' as flown by Squadron Leader Jan Falkowski, the Commanding Officer of 303 Squadron, Northolt in June of 1943.  Two 'Joan' decals are supplied in case the dark green of the camouflage bleeds through the first decal.  Polish flags and individual insignia are also supplied.

• ML296 DU-N of 312 Squadron, Lympne, 1944 as flown by Flight Lieutenant Otto Smik.  Small Czech insignia, kill markings and individual insignia are included.

Type C1 fuselage roundels are included for each option.  The fuselage code letters and the roundels are included as a one part decal (with the exception of the second option as there is doubt about their placement on the right hand side).  The red centre of the roundel is supplied separately in case of register problems. 

Two sets of Type B (upper wing), Type C (lower wing) and fin flashes are provided with the red centres of the Type Cs supplied as separate decals.  A single complete set of stencil data is also provided. 

The placement guide is A-4 in size and shows left hand side colour profiles of each option, a plan view of the topsides and scrap views of the wing under surfaces.  There is a further three-view drawing that shows the stencil data placement. 

The decals have been printed by Cartograf.  Even though they supply alternatives, everything on my sample sheet is in perfect register.   

The decals and placement sheet come packed in a clear plastic zip-loc bag.

The suggested kit is the Hasegawa Mk IX. 

A nice sheet from Eagle Strike. 

Recommended.

Thanks to AeroMaster / Eagle Strike Products for the review sets

On-line sales are available from the AeroMaster Products / Eagle Strike Productions web site.

Review TextCopyright © 2003 by Rodger Kelly
This Page Created on 11 December, 2003
Last updated 11 December, 2003

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