Spitfire LF Mk.IXe
In Czech and Israeli Service

CMR, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Glen Porter

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This new Czech Master Resin kit must be the ultimate 1/72 scale Spitfire Mk IX. Options abound.

Included in the kit are the options of clipped or standard “E” wing, long or short cord rudder, bombs or two types of drop-tanks, one-piece or multi-piece prop, optional mirrors, tail wheel, rudder peddles, wheel centres and armament set-up.

As with any resin kit, there are some casting blocks to be removed and possibly some warpage to be fixed but that will vary from kit to kit. All the resin parts in my sample are beautifully cast with very refined panel detail.

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The cockpit is a mixture of resin for the larger parts and photo etched metal for the rest. The PE fret from Eduard, is a mixture of pre-painted instrument panel and its frame, seat belts and many but not all of the other controls, and non pre-coloured for the cockpit side-walls, undercarriage doors, wheel centres, seat back armour and radiator faces. Care will have to be taken when painting some of these details to avoid painting the pre-coloured parts.

The main decal sheet by Stanislav Mach, as I stated above, has markings for fifteen Mk IX Es. Two of them are Israeli, one silver over-all and the other is the well known black and red scheme. The other thirteen are all Czech in various colour schemes but many of them are the same plane just re-painted in a different scheme and in fact the two Israelis are also depicted in Czech colours. The decals them selves look extremely good. Perfect register, good colour density and minimum carrier film is the norm with these. The other sheet by “Tally Ho!” is the stencils only and there is enough for two aircraft which should be enough considering that there's only one kit in the box. Doh! This stencil sheet is also accompanied by standard “Tally Ho!” instructions done in blue-print style.

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Lastly, there are four pages of black and white photos of the MK IX E in the Aviation Museum in Prague-Kbely, Czech Republic.

In summary, this is an out standing kit but be warned, it will required some experience with multi-media kits. Given that, an excellent model will result.

Highly Recommended for the modeller with the know-how.

Thanks to CMR for the review sample

CMR Models are available online from Hannants in the UK,
NKR Models in Australia and quality specialist model retailers worldwide.