Hello,
I thought it might be of interest to share some photos and thoughts on Airfix’s newly released Spitfire Mk.VC.
The boxart, reminiscent of the old Roy Cross work, is certainly exciting, featuring a pair of USAAF Spits strafing a DAK column. Adam Tooby is doing some great work in CGI for Airfix and this I think is one his best to date.
Inside the box are 4 sprues, one clear and some really nice decals. The one thing that really surprised me were the optional extras. We get clipped and unclipped wings, standard carburettor intake and undernose cowling, tropical Vokes filter, 4 20mm cannon, De Haviland and Rotol props and spinners, exhausts and a long range slipper tank. Most of these, especially the wings and carb, are not used in this boxing. So another version will probably hit the shelves next year. Of course, what this means is that it opens up lots of finishing options and at less than £10 is an absolute bargain.
Detail is nice, panel lines are neatly done and it looks like they’ve gotten the gull wing right.
The fuselage and wings match up with the plan drawings in Osprey’s Spitfire Mk.V Aces book.
Marking options are for two desert camouflaged aircraft. A USAAF Spit from 307th FS based in Algeria, and a four cannon armed 2 Sqn SAAF based in Italy.
A nice touch from Airfix was calling out mixes for the overpainted wing roundels on the USAAF aircraft.
So, first impressions are good. Everything looks right, it’s well detailed for the scale and all those extra parts! Of course the proof will be in the building and I plan on getting started very soon. I’m optimistic and plan on grabbing a few more.
Hope this little unboxing was of interest.
Take care
Stephen
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Looks like an impressive little kit Stephen and nice amount of parts for details…
And I do like those US decals for it. 
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Thanks John.
I think this one’s got a lot of promise. I’m going to do it in those US markings. It looks very cool with the shark teeth! Be interesting to see what else they do with it.
In the meantime I’m going to have a look in my decal folder. Pretty sure I have Xtradecals Spitfire set that had some VC’s. For the price I’m grabbing a couple more!
It’s much better than their last attempt. When they put a new, but poorly designed, C wing in the old VB kit.
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Made a start this afternoon.
Cleaned up the cockpit interior parts and prepped for some paint. Flash is virtually non-existant.
Ignore the paint on the rear fuselage. That’s just a test to check my jar of Tamiya interior green was still ok.
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Got two of these to have a bash at in the coming weeks wonder if Airfix will give us a new tooled Vc in 1 48 scale in the future 
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I think we probably will. I remember reading something a while ago that Airfix were planning on issuing new tools of all the major Spitfire variants in both scales.
I’m hopeful for a Seafire III too.
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The interior detail looks very good… Just thinking what it would be like in 1/48… I might be tempted into my 2nd flying thing if they do 
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It looks very nice, but I don’t think it really shows well on the photos.
Got the base paints on just after I took the photo. A wash and dry brush should bring it all out.
I’m fully expecting a 1/48 at some point in the next year or so. I’ve got Revells rebox of the Special Hobby but I have heard it’s a bit of a fiddly kit.
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Got the special hobby seafire yet to start it yet tackling the Eduard Spitfires at present
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Eduards Spits are supposed to be very good. Only ever done a couple of their WW1 aircraft, they were nice and trouble free. Been looking at getting their 1/72 Mk.VIII.
Did a little more work today. Fitted the wheel well inserts and detail painting of the company cockpit. All going very well so far. The circular inserts need some careful adjusting to line up correctly. I think Airfix could have keyed those parts in better, but it’s not a huge issue.
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Hi, glad to see this is still going better than the Airfix “Tiger” - more of a 
than a 
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Thanks Matthew.
So far it’s been trouble free. The only glued parts so far are those inserts. Luckily they fit snugly between the wing halves and don’t cause any fit problems. I did worry that they would force the wings apart, but the fit is perfect. Dry fitting everything hasn’t revealed any problems, so fingers crossed.
Good luck with your Tiger, it’s getting there and all the work will be worth it.
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Looking good so far Stephen
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Thanks Anthony.
Should be able to get the fuselage closed up tomorrow.
@phantom_phanatic Mine is on it’s way in the post right now, I’ve cleared a corner of the modelling table especially for this one! Glad to see that Airfix seems to have crammed in all of the extras in the same boxing, I have planned to do an Italian Vc complete with filter and all from the recent Xtradecal sheet but seeing that it is possible to do other versions as well I might go for a more standard RAF fighter.
Magnus
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Stephen,
A very good review of this kit and some excellent pictures too. Nice parts count and decals the added clear parts are a bonus. For me the box art puts this one over the top and the very reason I bought many of the kits I did back in the day. Looking forward to seeing this one come together.
Thanks for sharing and taking the time to let the rest of us know about this wing thingy.
~ Eddy 
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Thanks Eddy and Magnus. Will be looking forward to seeing your build Magnus. Always interesting to see one in some different colours. I thought I had that is sheet in my stash, but it was the VB sheet.
Managed a little bit of work today.
Got the wings cleaned up and assembled. The trailing edges, especially on the tips are very thin and need nothing more than a swipe with a sanding stick. Well done Airfix.
I painted the wheel wells in Vallejo Azure blue. Not sure if this is accurate or not. I based my choice on this colour photo, which shows desert VC’s with blue legs and wheel hubs.
Also got a little more work done on the cockpit. Seat belts are made from painted paper and got the instrument panel decal on.
Thanks for looking and a Happy Christmas!
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Looks like a nice kit, Stephen. Hoping to get one when/if Airfix release a RAAF boxing 
maybe sometime next year.
Following along with interest.
PS if only Airfix would release new tool kits of the major variants of the Spit in 1/24 as well
Welcome aboard Russell. I have to admit I was a bit disappointed that Airfix didn’t include RAAF markings, rather than 2 desert schemes. But, we’ll wait and see what they do with it.
It would be nice if they did some new tool 1/24 Spitfires to the standard of the Hellcat and Typhoon. I did pick up the VB kit a couple of years ago very cheaply. A discount book store over here called The Works, sometime gets kits in. They also have a loyalty points system and I used that against the kit, ended up paying less than £10 for it!
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£10 hey? That’s a good price in anyone’s budget…
Still, I’ve heard said that their 1/24 MK V kit is a cobbling together of the MK I and some later tooled additions… 
With modern tech and some clever design I believe, Airfix could bring out a new 1/24 kit that would cover all three of the major variants (I, V and IX)
And given the rumour that Airfix’s plan is to bring new tooling of the major variants in 1/72 and 1/48 to market, why not 1/24 as well 
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