This is the second attempt at building this kit. The reputation it has for being a difficult kit to build is fully deserved. I cannot honestly say that I enjoyed this build - it was a chore.

Assembling the cockpit and getting the fuselage halves together was a pain. From reading Tom Cleaver's build on Modeling Madness, I knew that the fit was very precise, so I was careful to sand off all debris from the sprue attachment points. I still had difficulty getting the fuselage to close up. I did attach the sidewalls to the fuselage halves before attaching the various parts, which helped a little.

The external colors are Tamiya, XF-83 Medium Sea Gray 2 (RAF) on the bottom, and XF-82 Ocean Gray 2 (RAF) and XF-81 Dark Green 2 (RAF) on the top. As with my last few RAF builds, the camouflage was freehanded.

The decals came from the kit. They went on rather easily with Microset, but when I was attaching the last few parts after decaling, the black rectangle on the rear of the port wing came off. Also, as I was attaching the parts, I learned that it would have been much easier to attach the tail wheel before assembling the fuselage halves.

I have several Eduard Spitfires in the stash. The only other kits of these marks that are reasonably available are the Hasegawa ones, and I have trouble with those as well. That said, it will probably be a while before I start another Eduard.

Page last updated June 15, 2023.