Spitfire Vb/Trop

[AnonymousAA74]

Spitfire MK. Vb/Trop

1:32 HobbyBoss

The Spitfire Mk. Vb/Trop could be identified by the large Vokes air filter fitted under the aircraft nose. The reduced speed of the air to the supercharger had a detrimental effect on the Spitfires performance, but the decreased performance was considered an acceptable price to pay for being able to deploy the Spitfire to the desert theatre of operations. The Mk. Vb/Trop was also fitted with a larger oil tank and desert survival gear behind the pilots’ seat. Many Mk. Vb/Trops were modified by 103 MU (Maintenance Unit) at Abukir, Egypt, where factory fresh Mk Vb’s were brought up to the new desert service standards. These standards included fitting the locally made and much smaller and streamlined ‘Abukir Filters’ to replace the large Vokes type. The Mk. Vb was the first of the Spitfire type which was able to carry the large centre-line slipper tank. The Vb’s gun bays also had hot air piped into them via a tube which protruded into the rearmost exhaust stack, and down through the cowlings into the wings.

The HobbyBoss Mk. Vb/Trop is the logical successor to the previous Mk. Vb release, and brings with it the extra parts to create this tropicalized version, plus some of the nuances of the previous release with regard to accuracy.Presented in a robust box, depicting artwork of a clipped-wing and Vokes-fitted machine, the box interior is compartmented to separate the clear and photo-etch parts from the main sprues. This is a touch from HobbyBoss that I quite like, plus the sprues are individually packaged, which scores top marks for me. I just wish other manufacturers were as quick to do this.

This kit consists of over 250 parts, moulded over nine sprues (with two of these being clear), including a single photo-etch fret containing a further 10 parts, plus a set of rubber main tyres. The main sprues are moulded in a medium grey plastic, and none of the parts seem to suffer from flash, sink marks, seams etc, and ejector pin marks won’t cause any nasty extra work for the modeller.

This kit is a fraction of the cost of the ‘big boy’ Tamiya super-kits, but how does it measure up to them? Let’s take a look at what HobbyBoss do offer us with this release.

Unsurprisingly, construction begins with the cockpit, and it’s here I do see the most obvious inaccuracies. Anyone who knows anything the Spit knows that the fuselage is basically a monocoque tube, with the cockpit sitting fairly and squarely within it. As a result, the cockpit formers should represent this, but they don’t. Instead of these formers being almost oval in shape, the HobbyBoss ones have straight sides which extend down to where the wing meets the fuselage. That is probably the most obvious error to me here. The cockpit walls are separate parts which when fitted, also display this ‘straight down’ attitude that HobbyBoss has taken. The cockpit itself is nicely detailed, but in some areas looks nothing like any Spitfire which I have ever built, and I’ve built a fair few in my time. That headrest looks plain wrong too. You do have a very detailed basis to work upon, and I think with some work and elbow grease, you could make this look much better. Dig out your reference books though. Photo-etch seatbelts and plate armour are included for the Spitfires ‘office’, and a single part instrument panel/former included. A decal for the instrument panel is supplied, but I would ditch this for individual instrument decals from Airscale.

A radio set is included which will be seen through the open and positionable hatch to the rear of the cockpit.

With this release, we get a complete Merlin engine, or at least it’s supposed to be a Merlin. Again, having many reference photos and books which detail the Merlin, I can say that this has only a passing reference to the said engine. The two banks of cylinders no longer look like ‘banks’ and these have a floor between them almost at rocker cover height. That is quite bizarre. The engine crank case head also looks very broad too. If you do wish to display the engine, I would seriously rework it or even replace it with something more realistic from another kit, or aftermarket solution. The engine bulkhead looks a little incorrect to me with the detail supplied. Dig out your references again for this area or failing that, just button up the cowls.

HobbyBoss do supply a reasonable undercarriage for this release, which is more than passable, but the main wheel wells are a little devoid of detail, and the detail moulded onto the inner face of the upper wing which forms the wheel wells, looks ‘odd’.

The lower wing is moulded as a single piece, and the shapes all look correct, including the ‘gull form’ of the rear wing to fuselage joint. Deeply engraved channels in the lower and upper wing parts are designed to be cur through if you wish to make your model have the clipped wing. Clipped wingtips can then be glued into place here. The lower inner centre wing shows more structural ribbing which is supposed to represent the cockpit floor, but as I already mentioned, this concept is simply incorrect and looks wrong.

Thankfully this kit does supply a full complement of wing armament which is more than passable with regards to detail. Ammunition feeds are also supplied, as are the spent chutes. The wing ammunition access panels are moulded in clear plastic, for some odd reason, but you can paint over them and keep them unglued so you can see the weapons. The weapon bay walls aren’t detailed, so you’ll need to do a little work there.

All control surfaces across the Spitfire are separate so you can pose these with minimal extra work, but while looking over the rear stabilisers, you can’t help but be drawn to the strange fact that the lower stabs are metal skinned and riveted, whilst the upper surfaces have a fabric and rib representation! That simply isn’t right, and I can’t help but wonder who would have designed a kit like that. It might come as some comfort to know that the ribbing isn’t too heavy and it would take only a few minutes to smooth these surfaces so you could apply rivets to them so it matches the rest of the airframe.

Other rib and fabric representation for the moveable surfaces looks very good and you should be more than happy with that.

The exterior of the model looks very good, and yes, we do have those rivets. You either love them or hate them. I would prefer not to have them as I would be able to add my own flush riveting to the model, but if you think the rivets a little heavy, airbrush some Mr Surfacer over the model and rub the model back to plastic. This should lessen the depth of the rivets. Panel lines are neatly and subtly engraved and look good, as do the variety of other access ports and the various fasteners.

The overall external shape of the Spitfire looks to have been well captured too, which is the most important aspect of this model. If you are willing to ride with that, then you’ll have to fettle those areas which are imagineered.

Two clear sprues are supplied. One of these holds the various wing access panels for the guns, plus any wingtip lights etc. The other sprue contains the canopy parts. Again, here is where something perhaps troubles me. The rear canopy profile looks a little broad, indicating that perhaps the fuselage profile at that point isn’t quite right. The sliding hood also looks different to what I would expect, and the forward windscreen sloping pace looks too steep. An armoured external windscreen is supplied, but this is very thin in comparison with how it should look. The clear parts are well moulded and have a good level of clarity.

The single photo etch fret contains the seatbelts, headrest armour and an intake screen. The parts are protected by an adhesive clear backing. Etch quality is good too.

A pair of rubber tyres are given for the main landing gear, and these are well moulded, but with a visible seam running around the circumference. The wheels aren’t ‘weighted’ either, so perhaps it might be best to replace these tyres with an aftermarket solution.

The instruction sheet is clearly printed with black and white line drawings, and 15 constructional sequences. Various options for ‘Trop A’ and ‘Trop B’ are clearly defined and easy to follow. Paint references are given throughout construction is Mr Hobby reference codes.

Two decal sheets are included, with one of these carrying national and unit/squadron codes, while the other sheet contains the various stencils. The decals are relatively thin in comparison to some other Eastern manufacturers, while printing is both in solid and authentic colour, with perfect registration. Carrier film edging does exist, but it isn’t too bad. The decals also have a satin/gloss finish to them.

A full colour, glossy colour scheme sheet, roughly A3 in size and printed on both faces, is supplied. Scheme depiction is excellent and paint colour references are given in Mr Hobby, Vallejo, Model Master, Tamiya and Humbrol.

Markings for two machines are supplied. These are:

• Spitfire Mk.Vb/Trop, AB502, IR-G, Wing Commander Ian R Gleed, early 1943

• Spitfire Mk.Vb/Trop, BR195, AN-t, No.247 Sqn, Sicily, early 1943

Conclusion

This Spitfire release is far from perfect, with some issues than can either be forgotten about by hiding them, such as the engine, or fixed up, such as the stabiliser ribbing. The cockpit is an issue which can indeed be worked upon to bring a better compromise. You can buy aftermarket solutions for the cockpit, such as those made by Eduard, but if I am totally realistic about this kit, I don’t think, for the price, that it’s too bad a release. It looks like a Spitfire, and at a fraction of the cost of the Tamiya kit, you have more than a good starting point from which to build your Mk.Vb/Trop.

Review sample courtesy of

[Pilgrim_UK]

Cheers for the review.

[davidelvy]

A nice, balanced review.

[Tim T]

An excellent review. Like you say, you pays your money and takes your choice. The cockpit does concern me but how long will it be before someone does a resin replacement? Even with the cost of that, you are still some way short of the cost of the Tamiya offering. I am tempted to break scale for one of these.

[AnonymousAA74]

It is a good kit Tim. You can't fix the Merlin engine, so you would need either some aftermarket solution, or zip up the cowls.

The cockpit could be made more viable with the Eduard set HERE if you are willing to forgive the wall shape.

I don't think it's a bad kit for the price, and it won't stop me building it further down the line.

[Gary C]

The other sprue contains the canopy parts. Again, here is where something perhaps troubles me. The rear canopy profile looks a little broad, indicating that perhaps the fuselage profile at that point isn’t quite right. The sliding hood also looks different to what I would expect, and the forward windscreen sloping pace looks too steep. An armoured external windscreen is supplied, but this is very thin in comparison with how it should look. The clear parts are well moulded and have a good level of clarity.

It's the cross section of the windscreen that throws every thing else out. The windscreen on the real thing is flat sided with an arch joining the two like this...

On the HB kit the cross section of the windscreen is more akin to a hoop with a continuous curve all the way around...

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.p...amp;hl=spitfire

It's carried over into the cross section of the hood which is also too blown making the whole thing look very bug eyed.

[AnonymousAA74]

It's the cross section of the windscreen that throws every thing else out. The windscreen on the real thing is flat sided with an arch joining the two like this...

On the HB kit the cross section of the windscreen is more akin to a hoop with a continuous curve all the way around...

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.p...amp;hl=spitfire

It's carried over into the cross section of the hood which is also too blown making the whole thing look very bug eyed.

Nice photo! Thanks for that. It does show where the canopy issues stem from.

I forgot to add the clear sprues to the review, plus when I try to edit the review and add them, I'm told 'too many pics'. So here they are: