ICM

1/48 Spitfire Mk VII

Kit Number: 48062

Reviewed by  Jim Fox, IPMS# 37353

MSRP: $22.95 The kit comes molded in two different grays, which I will refer to as "light" and "medium". The parts trees will allow you to build not only the VII variant, but the VIII and IX variants of the Spitfire as well. In the box you get 7 gray part trees and well as one clear parts tree. All are clearly labeled with tree letters and part numbers, making for easy finding when removing the parts from the trees.

One thing that was disturbing to me on this kit was the both the amount of flash and sink marks. As you can see below, several areas on the wings and fuselage needed to be filled, sanded and rescribed. I opted out on several of the underside areas, knowing they wouldn't be so easily seen. Despite the cockpit not being made of resin, I found the parts to be very adequate and well detailed. Not much needed to be done other than painting, wash and some highlighting to make for a great out-of-the-box cockpit. After the interior was painted, the fuselage halves were assembled. I opted out of building the engine after reading several reviews on the internet as well as posts on various forums saying the engine assembly would not fit the fuselage assembly. Once the fuselage halves are joined, it was time to slide the cockpit assembly up through the bottom. Be advised that the cockpit assembly is a little too wide for the fuselage assembly and some trimming and sanding work will be required to make it so the fuselage halves don't "bow out" causing problems later when it's time for the wing assembly. (A lesson I learned too late). There are some gap/fit issues when assembling the nose of the aircraft, as evident in the photo here. For part E15 to properly fit on top of the nose, I ended up splitting it lengthwise down the center. Once assembled to the fuselage halves, there as a gap at the top of the nose as if there would have been two separate fuselage halves. I suspect some of this gap issue (although not all) has to do with the cockpit assembly being too wide. The other problem I had with the nose of the aircraft was when part D10 got added; there was a giant gap between the fuselage halves and the bottom D10 part (as seen here). The gap had to be filled with plastic strips, puttied and sanded flush, and rescribed. The canopy is another area of this kit that needs a little help. The clear pieces on this ICM kit are not as clear as you would find on other manufacturers' kits. A coat of Future did clear this up a bit, but still not 100%. The rear portion of the canopy aft of the sliding bubble portion is a little to long for the opening on the fuselage, so either the canopy will need to be adjusted or the fuselage. The windscreen needs a little test fitting and tweaking as well. In the end I filled the smaller gaps with white glue and used a Q-tip once the glue was dry to smooth the glue out. The kit comes with two decal options; Spitfire Mk VII, MD120, NX-0 from the 131 Squadron in March 1944 at Colerne. Aircraft was flown by James Joseph 'Orange' O'meara. Spitfire Mk VII, ON-W from the 124 Squadron in June 1944 at Bradwell The decals in my opinion are a little on the thick side. The only spot I really had issues with decals were on the top wing surfaces where the roundels cover the bumped up surface (sorry, don't know the technical terms for the bumped areas). Despite a couple coats of Future and a dull coating, the edges of the decals can still be seen in some places. One inaccuracy on the decal instruction sheet is the placement of the small flags under the canopy. Reference photos show the flags located under the windscreen on each side of the fuselage rather than under the sliding portion (closed position) of the canopy. On my version I followed the instructions and found out later about the correct location. Despite its sink marks, gaps and fit issues. The ICM Spitfire Mk VII right out of the box will give you a decent representation of the Spitfire Mk VII High Altitude Fighter. No this kit isn't a Tamiya or a Hasegawa kit, but it can be built into a decent looking Spitfire by a modeler of all experience.

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