Birth of a Legend
Supermarine Type 300

Spitfire Prototype

CMR, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Glen Porter

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The prototype Spitfire first flew on the 5th of March 1936 at Eastleigh Airport piloted by Mutt Summers. Most modellers will know this already so I'm not going to go any further with it. What I will say is that this kit is designed to represent that aircraft on that day only, that is, at its first flight.

The three main castings, two fuselage halves and one-piece main wing are beautifully done and highly detailed.

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images:

The fuselage halves are not on casting blocks but have small blocks in several places on the lower edge which will have to be removed along with some flash. There is some interior sidewall detail but I don't think it is terribly accurate, however I don't think this is a major problem as most will not be very visible once the model is complete. There is also some very slight warpage front to back which will also have to be dealt with.

The one-piece wing is attached to its casting block via four slim sprues from the leading edge and wafer thin flash for its whole length which should not be hard to clean up. The wheel wells are suitably deep and the upper surface detail is that of the prototype before it had any armaments fitted. The rest of the parts are on six casting blocks and care will have to be taken while removing them. There is only one vac-formed part but it contains two canopies, in case there is a slip with the scalpel.

The decal sheet, by MPD, cater for this one specific aircraft, K5054 and provides all the markings seen on it at its first flight. There is a bonus set of underwing serials in case you would like to model it at a later time in its short history.

Because this kit is designed as the prototype Spitfire at its first flight, undercarriage covers are not supplied.

For someone like me who has never built an all-resin kit, this looks like an ideal candidate as there are only 24 parts and I don't anticipate any major problems.

Highly Recommended.

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.