Scale Plastic & Rail

1:32 HobbyBoss Spitfire Mk. Vb Trop Part 2

HobbyBoss 1:32 Spitfire MK.Vb Trop (Continued)

Undercarriage
The main oleos look nice enough, and I see no reason why they shouldn't support the kit's weight. If you want aftermarket legs, G-Factor only make a set in brass for the MkIX at present, and I do not know if they will fit or if there are material differences between the V and IX here.

 

The landing gear doors look nice, although you may want to tone down the rivets on the outer surface.

The roof of the wheel wells are moulded on to the underside of the wing tops, and the detail looks quite close to the real thing, if a little over-sized.

The wheel hubs are two part and although nicely moulded, there seems to be a heart shaped pattern is incorrect. The tyres are 'rubber', which some love, some really dislike. Personally, I would go for Barracuda's 5 slot wheels instead. When you compare the two, you can see what I mean about the heart shape, hopefully:

Roy Sutherland's wheels – spot on!

Note a number of MkVb Trops are seen with wheel covers on the hubs. These are not provided in the kit, but I think the Tamiya kit has them, so you if you ask nicely you should be able to get them from a fellow modeller? Alternatively, Grey Matter Figures make these in resin, but I have not seen them first hand.

Tail wheels are tough little fellows, because they are often replaced on museum specimens, and close-up shots in war time pics are rare. The oleo looks very good to me, but I have not matched the tail wheel to plans as such, so I can only say it looks 'fine' to my eye.
 

Spinner
The kit comes with the Rotol prop, and its more pointy spinner. In the Aero Detail book there are drawings of two types of prop blade, but I have not been able to confirm this against plans from Rotol. The blades themselves look a little thinner than those I see in pictures, but I am not sure on this one.

Good view of Rotol blades on this MkVc in Tunisia. © IWM (TR 1030)

Comparing the kit blades to the picture above, they don't look right. If it was me, I would use those incorporated in an update set made by Exito Models of Poland, which at present I have only found for sale on eBay; the set also includes corrected horizontal stabilizers. Another alternative is to use Grey Matter Figures' Rotol props and spinner here.
 

Markings: IR-G
Markings for two aircraft are provided in the kit, illustrated on big glossy fold out sheet. The first is for Ian Gleed, one of the most famous pilots of the North African campaign. If you want to research him, much has been written about Gleed.

Gleed's aircraft is a good one because it was extensively photographed, but that also means you have to get it right. The canopy issue means that is unfortunately a non-starter, but looking beyond that, I will examine what you need for an accurate Gleed Spitfire.

The decals look thin and crisp, and the Figaro cartoon character looks very good. Gleed's last mount had Figaro swishing a swastika complete with DAK style palm tree, which I have managed to uncover in the Imperial War Museum archives.

Wing Commander Gleed in his Spitfire Mk VB Tunisia April 1943. © IWM (CM 5005)

Darker paws aside, HobbyBoss' Figaro is a pretty good rendition I think.

There has been quite a bit of debate about the colour of the codes, but a reasonable guess says dark blue with white surround, which is what HobbyBoss have gone for. The letters look ok, but are maybe a little thin? I have yet to form an opinion on this. Since the walk lines are visible, I would go with full stencilling.

Gleed in flight off Djerba Island © IWM (CNA 816)

Gleed's aircraft clearly had the wooden tips (no lights visible) so you will need to cover over the kit lights – simple enough with some putty etc. It also has the variation of Aboukir filter not provided in the kit ie step in cowling, but straight back to the filter itself, so again you either ignore this or make a different aircraft, and if this bothers you, chances are you are not going to build it as a Trop in the first place.

Gleed flying over the Tunisian coast after escorting light bombers on a sortie to Mareth, 23 March 1943; Aboukir variation clearly visible. © IWM (CNA 821)

You can also just see in the pictures, below, that this Spitfire had the unshrouded 20mm cannons, so Master Model's barrels should be used here.

The angled chin bulge again; note size of codes and unshrouded Hispano cannons. © IWM (CNA 818)

Image from Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection LC-USW33-022632-C DLC

Finally, by the beginning of 1941 Spitfires had VHF radios fitted, which means the aerial mast on Gleed's Spitfire should not have the small triangular tab, so this needs to be removed from part A2. There are also no signs of IFF aerials, so no wires from fuselage to tip of tailplanes.

Gleed's Spitfire has similar aerial mast to this, but without IFF wires. Image from Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection C19 LC-USW33-000802-C DLC

Markings: AN-T
This aircraft is shown with the 90 gallon slipper tank fitted, and larger Vokes filter. I don't know if it ever had the tank fitted, but if the aircraft was ferried by air to the theatre, then it probably used one for the journey. However, the most important thing here is that BR195 AN-T was a MkVc, not a MkVb. I found the aircraft in the IWM archives quite easily, so it is disappointing that HobbyBoss make this mistake.

The Spitfire MkVc of Flight Lt W H Pentland No 417 Squadron, RCAF, awaiting start up. Extra cannon stub denoting Vc is visible. © IWM (TR 823)

A close-up of AN-T, highlighting windshield with internal armoured glass. © IWM (TR 872)

The bottom line is you need completely different wings to make a Vc, for example those made by Grey Matter Figures, but I do not know if they fit, and this conversion would not be for a beginner.

Check out MORE images of this kit here. Click to enlarge:

 

So What Do We Think?

If I had to sum this kit up in one word, it would be "frustration"! The basic shape is very good indeed, bar the squareness at the firewall. The tailplane error is embarrassing, but an easy fix. Many other issues are similarly simple to fix with either some basic modelling or some aftermarket accessories. I have tried my best to point out the solutions to these as I have gone along.

However, it remains that the early style canopy is a glaring error and, for the time being at least, one which has not been addressed by the aftermarket companies. As such, you cannot build this kit as an accurate MkVb Trop in my view, unless you are happy to let this issue slide. Personally, I am afraid I cannot – in part because the rest of the kit is actually quite good.

If you build it straight out of the box, it will look a decent representation of the classic Trop, but it will not stand up to close scrutiny for reasons already outlined. It depends on what degree of accuracy you are looking for.

For my part, I will throw lots of aftermarket at it, and try to source replacement parts from the initial kit, to build it as an earlier 'regular' MkV, because the base kit is too good to waste.

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank Edgar Brooks for his assistance in writing this review. Mr Brooks is a leading authority on the Spitfire, and his guidance and technical expertise were invaluable. I could not have completed this review without him.

References:

• Aero Detail #8: Vickers Supermarine Spitfire I - V
• Modellers Datafile #3 - The Supermarine Spitfire – A Comprehensive Guide For The Modeller Part I - Merlin Powered by Robert Humphreys
• Monografie Lotnicze #38 – Supermarine Spitfire by Alfred Price
• Osprey Aces #16 Spitfire Mark V Aces 1941-45 by Alfred Price
• Osprey Aces #98 Spitfire Aces of North Africa and Italy by Andrew Thomas
• Squadron Signal #39 Spitfire In Action

With thanks to Creative Hobbies for the review sample. To purchase this kit directly, click THIS link.

Nicholas Mayhew