Airfix Mossie

It seems the Airfix 1:24th scale Mossie release date has been delayed to November/December 2009, just in time for X-mas. Airfix has a rather chequered reputation these days as a result of producing and re-releasing poor quality kits. This is a far cry from their heyday of the 60's and 70's when whatever they produced was quickly bought by children and young teenagers who accepted without complaint even the most indifferent quality kit.

There's a good chance this BIG Airfix kit will meet the expectations of most scale modelers and not fall into the 'Hopeless' category like their awful Spitfire IX kit in 1:48 scale released a few years ago. Whoever was responsible for this should have had their services terminated!

James Brayshaw has completed for AI the decal artwork for 8 Mossie's which includes a/c from both the European and Pacific theatre. We've been very lucky in getting exclusive access to some material that has allowed us to produce what will be the only accurate RAF/RAAF Mossie decals.

Given the cost of the kit is pretty high our projected sales will be 'lower than the low'. Initially I thought I'd buy 4 kits and build three for clients who wanted a completed model with unique markings (throw away the kit decals!). I've since had second thoughts and declined the work as the thought of having a production line of three kits on the go to be completed within a defined timeframe was just too much. Repetitive production line work isn't my bag. I also felt a little uncomfortable about not having seen the kit; it maybe more of a handful than anybody expects but I hope I'm wrong, don't you?

New Spitfire book

Spitfire aces of Burma and the Pacific by Andrew Thomas is the latest addition to this well known 'aces' series of books from Osprey Publishing. As usual with books in this series, they provide a general overview of the aircraft's operational use in the theatre rather than concentrating only on individual aces as the title of the series implies.

The book contains 96 pages separated into 6 chapters, 4 of which cover the RAAF's use of the Spitfire in the Pacific and the remaining 2 chapters the RAF's use of the Spitfire in India and Burma. The text in each chapter describes the operational use of the Spitfire and includes excerpts from combat reports to give a pilots perspective of aerial combat. There's a good number of bw photos throughout the book that help illustrate the text.

The centre section has 9 pages of full colour 'profiles' that show the array of markings displayed on Spitfires in RAF and RAAF service. The profiles were prepared using an airbrush and paint on illustration board. This is very unusual as most aircraft profile artists long ago swapped the airbrush for sophisticated computer programs that give a photo-realistic look to the image.

On the cover is a dramatic painting showing Flt LT Foster from N0. 54 Squadron shooting down a Mitsubishi 'Dinah' on 6 February, 1943. Although I don't think it detracts from the impact of this beautiful painting, its worth noting that the markings on the Spitfire are somewhat inaccurate. Pacific Spitfires many years ago provided for the very first time details of the camouflage and markings for this historically important aircraft. This was followed by the inclusion of the aircraft in an Aero Imageworks decal which provided even more detail on its appearance. Its a shame the artist didn't buy the decal or join Pacific Spitfires before he put brush to canvas!


The book is fine for someone who knows little if anything about the Spitfires operational use in the Pacific War.

Latest AI decal orders sent out today

If you pre-ordered 'Spitfires in the Antipodes' Part 4, it is in the post this week. More on this popular decal series later.

Spitfire decal ‘controversy’ (storm in a tea cup)

Our 'Spitfires in the Antipodes' Part 3 has certainly caused some comment but for a reason nobody expected. The decal itself has not been the centre of discussion, its all about what was written in the accompanying booklet. As AI customers would know, AI set a new standard in the level of detail and quality of scale model decal instructions. It's gratifying to see many other decal producers and kit producers have followed our lead producing decal instructions that go far beyond a simple (and inaccurate) decal placement diagram!

The decal booklet accompanying 'Spitfires in the Antipodes' Part 3 simply stated the circumstances as they were at the relevant time. A more detailed and comprehensive discussion wasn’t included due to space restrictions in the booklet and secondly, it really wasn’t appropriate. This was after all a booklet accompanying a decal, it was never intended to be a complete history of the squadron and its C.O.

Much of the comment is also making reference to my letter to the editor contribution in an aviation magazine, Flightpath (worth buying btw ;)). Whilst the letter was a ‘full pager’, it isn’t a complete history by any means. The letter and booklet were not written in such a way that hidden meaning can be extracted by ‘reading between the lines’. I’ll go into the details in an article I’m currently preparing for Pacific Spitfires. Given the article will be published soon there’s little point going over the issues here.

'Spitfires in the Antipodes' Part 3 is currently unavailable as I’m concentrating my efforts on new decals. I’ll probably make it available at a later date when time permits.

Websites down

Aero Imageworks, Pacific Spitfires and Antipodean Hawks websites are experiencing technical difficulties. They'll be back up soon.

AI Newsletter sent

The Aero Imageworks newsletter was sent out yesterday with details on how to order our latest release, 'Spitfires in the Antipodes' Pt.4 at a discount price. Part 3 which has created some controversy is no longer available. The contoversy or 'storm in a tea cup' has linked the decal booklet comments with my mailbag contribution on RAAF Spitfires published recently in an aviation magazine.

Part 4 is available at the discount price until 8 June (Queen's B'day).

Wing Masters on Spitfires

Wing Masters is a quality scale model magazine from France (French text). Issue No.70 has something of an Aussie flavour with build articles on CA-12 Boomerang and Wirraway in 1:48 scale.

Of more interest to me was the article on building the Special Hobby Spitfire Vc with an unusual camouflage scheme. The model builder really shows his talent with some nice detail and weathering.



How accurate is the finished model? Have a look here at what purports to be a genuine, colour image of the real aircraft and judge for yourself. Has this photo been 'doctored'? What I find astounding about this photo is not so much the blue tones on the upper surfaces but the use of yellow for the identification letter 'X'. Yellow is the colour of training aircraft and both air and ground crew were very keen to move on from trainers to operational type aircraft. It's the colour they would avoid using if at all possible and yet we see it apparently being used here.


There's also an article on the RAF Spitfires sent to defend the island of Malta during WW2.



Looking at the CA-12 Boomerang article there's something odd about the main wing dihedral. There isn't any, and it just doesn't look right. This could be due to camera lense distortion but I doubt it.