Smer Hi-Tech 1/72 Supermarine Spitfire Mk.Vb

SMER Hi-Tech (Heller) 1/72 SPITFIRE MK.VB

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Reviewer: Myself (braithy@bigpond.com)

The spitfire is arguably the most famous of all fighters from the World War II era, where it featured heavily in the resulting outcome of the Battle of Britain and in almost every theatre of that War, including the Pacific and North Africa. The Mk.V Spitfire was introduced in the period of 1941-1942 and was manufactured in three basic versions, the VA, VB and VC. The Mk.VB version was armed with two 20-mm cannons and four 7.7-mm Browning machine guns and was the most numerically spitfire variant with almost 4,000 of the type built.

It should come as no surprise to reveal that the Spitfire was the very first model I ever (co-)built at the tender age of 5! It was a 1/48 or 1/32 (I remember it being huge) of origin unknown. Naturally, it has long been out of my model collection for number of years now through wear and tear and all the common youngster craze of "zooming" it across the lounge room - it barely lasted half a dozen years. While my kit collection grew and my skills were honed in the meantime, I did not replace or otherwise build another Spitfire until more than 20 years later and no one could believe that I didn't have a spitty in my expanding collection (not out of any intention, it's just the way the dice has fallen)! I finally picked up this version rather cheaply and have since found out that it's probably a reboxing of Heller's kit from sometime ago.

This kit comes packaged in a small box emblazoned with Smer's "Hi-Tech" marketing strategy, with 35 light grey injection mold parts and 3 clear. The parts are free from all but the most minor amount of flash and contain finely raised panel lines. The instructions are laid out in a mini booklet with clear assembly steps, brief history and specification statistics, decalling diagram and painting diagram - external colours being shown in Humbrol numbers/names. Unfortunately there are no progressive colour instructions for internal and other detail.

The cockpit detail is excellent, it includes an accurately molded Bakelite seat, instrument panel with raised dials/knobs and rudder pedals, spade-grip trim stick, reflector gunsight, structural bulkhead and regulator to place behind the seat. There is also some sidewall raised detail, all making a great effort in this scale. There's even a rear-view mirror to place on the canopy later in the construction. In the absence of any painting instruction, I painted the cockpit in interior green for the British WW2 era plus darker seat colour and black headrest.

Construction is basically smooth sailing and aside from some blatent inaccuracies, this could be one of the nicest kits in this scale for the Spitfire Vb. The canopy is three-piece and is a little challenging to get it to sit nice and comfortably in the allocated positions, but allows for it to be displayed open if desired. The exact mold of the canopy overall looks just about spot on (a common misdemeanour in many other spitfire kits of this scale). However, a few small holes need to be filled, especially under the wing - I assume these are there for the benefit of other Spitfire versions and annoyingly, the instructions don't tell you this. While I made a wheels-down model, it occurred to me that you might be missing the small main wheel covers that would be placed over the hole where you put your mainwheel struts into. I couldn't see these in the kit, so another gap will require putty if you build a wheels-up model.

After a problem free construction I could see clearly where the kit falls down. The tail fin is a bit too broad and needs to be trimmed to give a better depiction. I'm not convinced the exhaust manifolds are correctly depicted, they seem just a shade out of position and seemingly too large when compared against reference material. But the real let down is the wing, while it captures the distinctive gull shape rather well in planform, from side-on and particularly, head-on, you can see that the bending of the wing is way out of whack, so much so that there is no dihedral at the wingtips. You can depict a clipped-wing version in this kit because the tips are attached separately, making it more difficult to get the correct outward slant. For this the kit is noticeably marred by anyone who has an eye for Spitfire detail.

Options for the kit include an open cockpit, moveable propellor, clipped wing and also a tropical version - a Vokes option is included the box. The undercarriage fits on quite nicely and these are excellent as far as accuracy and ease of assembly are concerned.

Decals and colour schemes allow for a choice of two versions to be replicated, both Vb's, one being a camouflaged dark green/dark earth with medium grey undersides (the instruction sheet says Humbrol 30 for all colours!! Should be 30, 29 and 145 respectively) and duck egg bands piloted by Wg.Cdr Robert Standford who scored 29 victories in the war (complete with a decal depicting about 23 miniature swastikas to place in front of the cockpit) - and the other being displayed on the back of the box in a dark-green/sea-grey camouflage scheme with light grey undersides and sky blue banding/serial numbers flown by PO Fejfar (again wrong Humbrol # where it states 24 for the sky blue - which is trainer yellow - should be 23 Duck egg blue).

It makes for a very nice and sharp little kit and one which would be ideal for the beginners to hone their skills on. Unfortunately the problems in accuracies pointed out above let the kit down, otherwise it would be highly recommended. In finished form it looks outstanding on my model shelf and captures the unique Spitfire lines (side-on) very well. It's a shame those other parts ruin what would otherwise be a fantastic little kit - I only hope that no Spitfire buff comes in and ruins it by immediately noticing the flaws!

In the Box reviews: Italeri 1/72 Spitfire Mk Vb

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