Hello again.
Unusual one this a
Spitfire floatplane! Some of you out there may be wondering if this is one of
those strange models where someone gets bits from other kits and sticks them
together just to see what they can come up with. But this was a real plane
commissioned by the Air Ministry during WWII. At the start of the war the first
aircraft were originally designed to operate from Nordic Fjords to counter
German fighters, and because of the lack of runways a floatplane fighter seemed
the obvious choice. Two prototypes were produced by Supermarine by converting
existing Spitfires, however before trials could begin Norway fell to the Germans
and the idea was scrapped. However in 1942 the interest in a Spitfire floatplane
was rekindled by the need for a fighter to be able to operate in the tropics
from small sheltered lagoons, again because of the lack of viable runways on
most of the little islands. So a tropical Spitfire VB (on which this model is
based W3760) was converted by Supermarine and tested at Southampton England.
This prototype performed very well, with the floats not hampering speed nor
agility to any large degree. Not surprising really as the Spit's original design
was based on the Schneider (hope I spelled that right) Cup winning Supermarine
floatplane! Six conversion sets were sent to Africa for combat evaluation but
only three saw active duty, the aircraft performed very well and I believe that
this type was the fastest floatplane of the war? But these were the only
aircraft produced because the idea was again shelved for one reason or another.
Incidentally the Japanese came to the same conclusion and converted Zero's to do
the same job, although the type was produced in far greater numbers than the
Spit.
Click on
images below to see larger images
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Right history lesson
over, the kit is basically a PM Tropical Spitfire with the addition of floats, a
4 bladed prop, longer spinner and ventral stabiliser (which you have to cut
and splice into the existing tail). These kits are made in Turkey and as a
result aren't brilliant, with allot of moulding flash and defects in the
mouldings themselves. However the kit is easy to put together and they do cover
some really interesting aircraft which I love. The plane is painted in the usual
RAF colours with dark grey and dark green above, but the bottom is in Humbrol
Trainer Yellow with the aircraft being a prototype and I presume to stop it
getting shot down by some allied AA gunner who doesn't recognise it? My only
major gripe is the transfers which are terrible, professional modellers may wish
to use aftermarket ones. Hope you enjoy it see you soon.
Regards
Oliver
P.S. I put lead tyre
weights in the front of the floats to hold it down!!!!!
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