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Eduard 1/144 Spitfire Mk.IXc

By Matt Bittner

The Kit

Since the history of the Spitfire is well known, and there isn't much to the Eduard 1/144 Spitfire Mk.IXc, this article will be brief.

Like the previous release of the Mk.IXe, there isn't much to this kit, and there is no cockpit out-of-the-box. Where the 'c' release is different from the 'e' release is the usual. The different rudder on the fuselage along with the 'c' wing. Everything else is the same between the two Spitfire releases.

Since there is no cockpit, the fuselage halves are assembled and then the horizontal tail surfaces glued on. Following that the one-piece wing is attached along with the clear canopy (since there is no cockpit, there's no reason to do anything else but glue the canopy on now - unless you plan on using either Eduard's photoetch cockpit set or Brengun's set, and in which case you'll probably want to use Brengun's vacuum formed canopy replacements). Once those pieces are dry, and the supplied masks applied to the canopy, then turn the model over and add the wing underside's radiators. Now your kit is ready to paint.

After painting, you'll want to attach the landing gear (in which case the oleo scissors are removed from the main landing gear), glue the separate exhausts to the fuselage, and finally glue the prop to the front and back of the spinner, then glue that assembly to the fuselage. Now your 1/144 Spitfire Mk.IXc is complete.

The Eduard decals are for four aircraft (but five marking options):

• Spitfire LF Mk.IXc, MJ586, flown by Pierre Clostermann, No. 602 Squadron, Longues sur Mer airfield, July 7, 1944 (D-Day stripes, Dark Green and Dark Sea Gray on top with Light Grey on the undersides)
• Spitfire HF Mk.IXc, MJ296, flown by Otto Smik, No. 312 Squadron, North Weald AB, Late August, 1944 (Dark Green and Dark Sea Gray on top with Light Grey on the undersides)
• Spitfire LF Mk.IXc, MJ250, No. 601 Suqadron, Italy, Summer, 1944 (Dark Green and Dark Sea Gray on the top of the nose only, the rest of the aircraft in natural metal)
• Spitfire LF Mk.IXc, ML135, flown by Jerry Billing, No. 401 Squadron, Tangmere AB, June 7, 1944 (D-Day stripes, Dark Green and Dark Sea Gray on top with Light Grey on the undersides)
• Spitfire LF Mk.IXc, ML135, flown by Jerry Billing, No. 401 Squadron, France, July 1, 1944 (the difference between the markings for this and the one above includes the removal of the D-Day stripes from the top of the wings and the addition of the name 'Dorothy' to the port fuselage side, under the cockpit)

The decals appear in register and should work well with the rest of the model.

Conclusion

Since there isn't much to this kit, and if you don't plan on adding any of the aftermarket cockpit sets, the Eduard 1/144 Spitfire Mk.IXc could very well be a weekend build. The most difficult part of the build will be masking and spraying the typical RAF WW2 camouflage.

My thanks to Eduard for sending this for review.