ICM 1/48th Spitfire Mk VII
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Background
I’ll be upfront by saying that I’m no Spitfire expert but
from what I see of ICM’s 1/48 Spitfire Mk VII (Model Kit No. 48062),
if there is a good kit of a high altitude Spit, this is the one to have
in your collection.
Before looking at the kit, just a note about the Mk VII. This was the
second high altitude version of the famous Supermarine Spitfire fighter,
the first being the Mk VI which most crews didn’t like all that
much. The main differences between these two Marks, which both had pressurized
cabins, is that the VII had the new two-stage Merlin 61 engine (some later
VII’s had the Merlin 71) and a sturdier airframe, not that it can
be seen in a model, naturally. Also, the VII had a canopy hood that opened
by sliding it back (similar to the non-pressurized versions) whereas the
VI had a canopy that was clamped to shut it. A notable difference between
the high altitude Spits and those that flew in the lower atmosphere is
that the VII had pointed wingtips and a retractable tail wheel. Various
sources indicate that only 140 of the Mk. VII’s were built.
The Kit
Okay, as for the kit…. ICM doesn’t do things fancy but it
does them right. The box has a nice piece of artwork on its top and a
three-view color drawing on the bottom panel. The instruction sheet is
a simple affair showing 13 steps printed on a single sheet folded in half.
There are also drawings of the various sprue trees although two small
sprues containing two different tailplanes that came with the kit aren’t
shown; perhaps they aren’t needed. I’ll find that out when
building the kit soon. Another, smaller sheet shows the placement of decals
plus three views of the typical Mk VII. Something that I think is odd
is that the main instruction sheet refers only to Model Master paints
while the other sheet refers only to Humbrol paints. Hmmmm…
The decal sheet is simple and allows the building of one of two Mk VII’s
-- one flown by Sqn. Ldr. James O’Meara, OC 1431 Sqn, Colerne, March
1944 and Flg. Off. W. Hibbert, 124 Sqn. Bradwell Bay in June 1944. Both
have medium sea gray topsides and matt azure blue undersides however the
latter has D-Day zebra stripes on the fuselage and upper and lower wings.
All of the sprue trees are in one plastic bag and once that’s
opened, it’s easy to see this is a nicely molded kit. The only place
I saw flash is where the ailerons will fit up against the upper wings.
Sink marks are absent. Ejector marks are in out of the way places that
won’t be seen in the end. Detail is crisp and one can tell it should
be a pleasure to build this kit. Detail in the cockpit area is nice too
and one can easily cut open the entry door on the left side if that’s
what you want to do. Some of the pieces are so fine (such as engine mounting
frames B12 and B13) that I feel I will have to be on my best behavior
when building this kit to avoid bending or breaking them.
An odd thing is that while other manufacturers somehow note on their
instruction sheets which pieces on the sprues you don’t need by
X-ing them out or placing a tinted box over those elements, ICM simply
chooses not to show unnecessary pieces on the sprues illustrated on the
instruction sheet. That’s fine but I wonder why ICM then put in
two sprues of different tail planes when they aren’t shown in the
instructions and you‘re supposed to use the tailplane elements from
the D sprue. Somehow, though, I think I’ll be able to live with
this situation.
The pieces are white styrene and a small sprue of clear styrene has
a windshield plus a two-piece canopy so it can be displayed open or a
one-piece for building a Spit with a closed canopy. Again, detail on the
white styrene is very nice.
A number of pieces permit you to build the kit in quite an open configuration
and, considering the engine is made up of no less than two dozen pieces,
I feel it’s a shame to button up this kit. You can build the kit
with open gun bays too, if you want although the detail there seems pretty
basic. I might keep my gun bays shut. The cockpit has 15 pieces so once
more, you can see you can have fun building this kit in an open configuration.
About the only thing that I’m worried about is the wingtips--they’re
separate pieces that glue onto the ends of the wings. I once had another
kit like that and those wingtips took a lot of work to make them blend
into the rest of the wings. So, we’ll have to see how these work
out in the end.
About the only optional part that I note is a slipper tank which can
be positioned on the underside of the fuselage if you want.
Conclusion
As I noted, some sprue trees have a number of extra pieces, such as
bombs, bomb racks, rockets and rocket rails but these are clearly for
other versions. Still, you can add these to your spare parts box and you
just might be able to use them sometime down the road on another kit.
Thanks to Testors for the review
kit.
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