1/48 Brigade Models SpitfireTr.IX

conversion

by Liam Hourston

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In September 1950, the Irish Department of Defense ordered six Spitfire Tr.IX's to fulfill it's specification 499/502 for an advanced flying training aircraft.  The Irish Air Corps took delivery of these aircraft in 1951 and they were numbered 158-163.  Only twenty Tr.IX's were built and all were modified from standard Spitfire IX's, the main modification being the cockpit moving forward approximately 13 inches to make room for the new rear cockpit.

The Brigade Models conversion depicts machine 158 of the Irish Air Corps with a secondary option for the Royal Netherlands Air Force and the donor kit is the Hasegawa 1/48 Spitfire Mk.IX range of kits.  The conversion kit consists of two fuselage halves, a broad-chord, tall tail, a canopy for the rear cockpit ( closed: you have to use the razor saw for an open canopy) and a small sprue of parts for the rear cockpit excluding, for some reason, the control stick and rudder pedals. The whip antenna is also excluded.  Apparently, the fuselage halves are the full, required length.

Click on images below to see larger images

The detail is good and all parts go together well.  The canopy is a bit thick looking, but a dip in Future will clear it up nicely. Brigade Models can be reached via Mr. K.T. Nunn, proprietor at brigademodels@btopenwold.com .  I found him extremely helpful and when I explained I had kit-bashed a Tr.IX just prior to his release and needed a canopy for the rear cockpit, he sent me THREE!! so I could cut one open!

Finally, just to show it off, there's a pic above of the Brigade conversion/Hasegawa kit (158) with my kit-bashed version (162).  This was built with the aid of my mate Paul  (aka Oggy) using the Airfix kit as a base and Aires cockpit.  For you trivia freaks out there, 162 is currently flying the European War-Bird circuit as ML407, The Grace Spitfire.  Which is good, as 162 started life AS ML407 and is credited with the first enemy shoot-down on D-Day.  Below is a close-up of the Brigade fuselage with the canopy open.

Liam

Photos and text © by Liam Hourston and Oggy