Hasegawa 1/72 Spitfire HF Mk.VII - by Adrian Davies - New York

This is the Hasegawa Mk.IX kit converted to a HF Mk.VII. Which when you get down to it is a pretty straightforward conversion. To the basic kit I added:

Cooper Details' 1/72nd Spitfire cockpit.
Cooper Details' Spitfire Mk.IX Propeller and spinner.
Barracudacals' Spitfire Mk.IX part one decal sheet.
Eduard's etched brass set.
Master's turned brass cannon barrels.
Quickboost's Spitfire exhausts.

As well as all these goodies I also: Scratch built the pressure bulkhead behind the pilot, moved his compass, added the plumbing for the pressurization system, and scratch built a seat. (I realize that the seat I built may a little too bucket seatish to truly represent the spitfire's seat. But I figured that by the time it was painted, covered in seatbelts and deep inside the cockpit that the discrepancy would not be so apparent). To the exterior I added: New canopy rails, an intake for the pressurization system, a new aerial mast and various other aerials, a pitot, and a new rudder actuator. I also filled and re scribed some of the wing panels, some to correct the kit and also to add the leading edge fuel tanks that were used on the Mk.VII. Finally the shell ejector slots were all hollowed out and opened up.

The rear portion of the canopy took a little bit of effort, the original Hasegawa part, although deep enough, shows the strut behind the pilots headrest as an exterior frame line. The Falcon canopy for the HF.VII shows it the same. The only canopy I could find that shows the correct single molding is the one from the CMR Spitfire series. A quick email to Rob at West Coast Hobbies and he was kind enough to send me a couple of canopies. They fitted like a dream. So I used the windscreen from the kit and the sliding and rear parts from the CMR kit. Rob has told me that he has them for sale, and if anyone out there cares enough to want one to please just drop him a line.

Painted in Custom Mixes of Tamiya acrylics, and weathered using washes of Humbrol enamels. The Invasion stripes were tricky, but they do make a Spitfire look racy.

My constant guide during the making of this model was Roy's chapter in How To Build Tamiya's 1:32 Spitfire. In fact if you go by parts count, it would be fair to say that the title of this model should be: Various parts and decals from Roy Sutherland all held together by a Hasegawa Spitfire.

I'm not too worried about the flaps being down. I like the look of them and very much enjoyed the challenge of building them. Let's just say that I've already paid the station commander the 5/- fine, and leave it at that.

BarracudaStudios products used:
BC72004 Spitfire Mk. IX Series - Part 1