ICM 1/48 Spitfire Mk. VIII - by Pip Moss - Lincoln, Massachusetts

In the cockpit I added instrument faces from ProModeler and replaced the kit seat with one from Ultracast. I also used Ultracast elevators, wing tips and propeller blades. ICM did a pretty good job providing the parts particular to the Mk. VIII including the large intake, the shortened ailerons and the late style horizontal tails. It also has the gear doors for a retracting tail wheel, but only provides the non-retracting wheel assembly, so I robbed one from a Hasegawa kit which I’m building as an early version Mk. IX. The four-spoke wheels also came from the Hasegawa kit since I’ll be using five-spoke wheels for the Mk. IX. I chose not to try to correct the pinched fuselage contour behind the canopy, but I did shorten the main landing gear struts about 1.5 mm. for a better sit.

For camouflage colors I used Model Master enamel Medium Sea Grey and Dark Green, and Aeromaster enamel Dark Earth. I used markings from BaracudaCals sheet 48008 to replicate UM-C (MT982) of 152 Squadron RAF, Sinthe Airstrip, Burma, 1945. I was immediately attracted to the leaping panther graphic as well as the white codes, stripes and spinner. The sheet provides the tail stripes, but I painted them along with those on the wings. The decals behaved beautifully and looked great, but I did deviate from the instructions in two areas: First, after extensive online queries and conversations, I learned that these Spitfires were almost certainly given total repaints in theater, so the camouflage on the wings was not disrupted by painted-over roundels in Dark Earth. Second, the sheet provides a panther for the starboard side. An extant photograph of this plane, however, shows conclusively that the panther was not applied to the starboard side, so I deleted it and re-spaced the markings to replicate the photograph (which can be found on Page 24 of Osprey Aircraft of the Aces No. 5).

BarracudaStudios products used:
BC48008 Spitfire Mk. VIII - Part 1 - 1/48 Scale