Kotare 32002 1/32 Spitfire Mk.Va

142 high-quality injection molded plastic parts - 35cm wingspan – 40 all new tooled parts include windscreen with de-icing, hood with Martin-Baker jettison system, fireproof bulkhead, dual-height rudder pedals, instrument panel with rectangle & curved blind flying panels, elevator trimming wheel, ice/snow guard, engine driven undercarriage controls, composite pilot’s seat with and without Sutton Type K harness detail, IFF Mk.II, port wing fillets with electrical connection door, Mk.V oil cooler fairings, station keeping lamps - Optional Supermarine & CBAF undercarriage doors and engine top cowlings, open & closed cockpit doors - DeHavilland & Rotol propellers, Wheels with weighted tires featuring correct alignment, 28 page fully illustrated instruction manual, High quality Cartograf decals for 3 Spitfire Mk.Va including famous ace Douglas Bader.

The legendary Supermarine “Spitfire” is undoubtedly one of the most famous, and perhaps the most beautiful, aircraft of all time. Designed from 1934 under the guidance of Supermarine Aviation Works’ chief designer Reginald Mitchell, Joseph Smith and “Alf” Faddy, the prototype first flew on 5 March 1936. It was immediately obvious that it was something very special and an initial production order was placed in early June 1936.

The Supermarine-built 1030hp Rolls-Royce Merlin II/III powered, 8 Browning .303” machine gun armed, Spitfire Mk.I entered service from mid-May 1938. The rear fuselage was adorned with raised rivets for ease of construction while the main planes and front of the fuselage were flush riveted, puttied/filler primed and sanded smooth for improved performance. Numerous improvements were introduced throughout production. Some Mk.I were armed with 2 Hispano 20mm cannons which proved to be so unreliable that they were withdrawn from service in early September 1940. The problems were solved later that year, and when it was reintroduced with an additional 4 Browning .303” guns it was designated the Spitfire Mk.Ib (“B” wing), at which time the 8 Browning .303” gun armed aircraft was re-designated the Mk.Ia (“A” wing).

The CBAF (Castle Bromwich Aircraft Factory) built 1150hp Rolls-Royce Merlin XII powered Spitfire Mk.IIa/b featured many of the later Mk.I improvements with the key difference being the 1150hp Rolls-Royce Merlin XII engine which had a Coffman (explosive) cartridge starter system and its associated bulged fairing at the front of the starboard engine cowling.

A 1390hp Rolls-Royce Merlin XX powered Spitfire Mk.III prototype had been in development since January 1940 which incorporated numerous improvements implemented throughout Mk.I/II production and introduced many new innovations. In early 1941 an urgent need for improved performance saw the installation of the 1440hp Rolls-Royce Merlin 45 into 93 late production Mk.Ia airframes on the Supermarine production line, thereby creating the stop-gap Mk.Va. An additional 82 Mk.Ia and 35 Mk.IIa airframes were retrofitted with the Merlin 45 engine creating a total of 211 Spitfire Mk.Va. They were all fitted with windscreen de-icing equipment, Martin-Baker canopy hood jettisoning gear, IFF Mk.II (with aerial wires from the tailplanes to the fuselage sides) and were usually equipped with the TR.1133 UHF radio that did not require an external aerial wire. Metal ailerons were being developed at this time but do not appear to have been fitted to factory-built Spitfire Mk.Va, only being retrofitted much later in 1941.

The 8 Browning .303 gun Spitfire Mk.Va was superseded by the cannon armed Mk.Vb from mid-late 1941 onwards with the remaining Mk.Va mostly relegated to training units over the next 6 months. Numerous engine, airframe and armament improvements continued to be made before production ceased in 1948, by which time over 22000 Spitfires had been produced in 2-dozen variants with the most notable being the 1030hp Mk.I, 1470hp Mk.Vb, 1720hp Mk.IX, 2035hp Mk.XIV, the photo-reconnaissance Mk.XI and the navalised Seafire Mk.III. 

Supermarine-built Spitfire Mk.Va colour schemes are reasonably straight forward compared to the Mk.I. Interior areas were primed with light grey before being painted aluminium, except for the cockpit between frames 8 & 11 which were painted grey-green as found on their late production Mk.Ia. Note that this grey-green was different from the brighter “Supermarine interior green” seen on earlier aircraft and the paler, greyer, “Grey Green” (of which various colour shades have additionally been noted) used on later production, and CBAF built, aircraft (including converted Mk.Va). Major internal components supplied by sub-contractors could be delivered in various shades of grey-green or aluminium or even black.

Upper surfaces were painted Dark Earth and Dark Green applied with a hard demarcation line in the A camouflage pattern. The undersides (including the wheel wells, undercarriage legs and wheel hubs) were finished with “Sky Type S” which appears to have been sprayed on, leaving a soft demarcation line along the sides of the fuselage. After completion, a very pale Sky, almost white, colour was used to paint the spinner and a band around the rear of the fuselage at MU (Maintenance Units) before being issued to operational squadrons. Night (black) was reintroduced for the underside of the port wing from late November 1940 until late April 1941 but no Mk.Va appear to have been finished this way at the factory, although Mk.Va converted from earlier production Mk.Ia/IIa might have had Night applied at their units, before being overpainted again with “Sky Type S” after late April 1941. Sub-assemblies were usually supplied pre-painted so a single aircraft could exhibit a variety of shades, and sometimes the camouflage pattern would not match perfectly from one sub-assembly/component to the next. The fabric covered rudder, elevator and ailerons were undercoated in red-brown dope before being painted and occasionally appear paler than the adjacent camouflaged metal parts. Converted Spitfire Mk.Va would exhibit the characteristics of their Supermarine-built Mk.Ia and CBAF built Mk.IIa airframes unless they had been extensively repainted. Aircraft serving after mid-August 1941 would have received the new “Day Fighter” camouflage scheme of Dark Green and Ocean Grey (or mixed grey) upper surfaces with Medium Sea Grey undersides. Additionally, extensive weathering and re-painting (hand brushed as well as sprayed) also helped ensure that a wide variety of tonal differences could be seen. While we have tried our best with our paint suggestions, there is no doubt many will disagree with us. Which is OK.