Reviews : Tamiya Supermarine Spitfire Mk I Aircraft

I give it 4.5 stars only because I have to start being a little more critical. The kit goes together nearly flawlessly. That being said, I did use a little bit of putty behind the antenna mast. I was surprised to have needed that. The photo etch parts are of superior quality. The decals also actually settled well. The biggest knock on Tamiya is that the decals are too thick and they do not settle into the panel lines. The decals on this kit did settle nicely. Mind you: you WILL need to use a setting solution. I used the Tamiya Mark Fit Strong. But with that, the decals look awesome on the model. the kit comes with masks for the clear parts. And that's nice. But Tamiya still does not pre-cut the masks and that is annoying.

It would be hard to not like this kit. Parts fit is excellent and so well engineered it makes for a trouble free assembly. The cockpit is well detailed with photo etch parts for belts, radiator and oil-cooler screens, and early iron-circle gunsight, rudder pedal straps, rudder-hinge detail, and an antenna wire attachment for the later mast. Separate clear parts for open or closed canopy included along with painting masks. The decals all settled down very well with a convincing decal for the instrument panel. Instructions and illustrations are clear and easy to follow.

Model kits have come a long way in the last 45+ years. This was a fun kit to build.