ICM

1/48 Spitfire LF.IXe Soviet

Kit Number: 35554

Reviewed by  Paul Bradley, IPMS# 35554

MSRP: $20.95 Imported by Dragon USA www.dragonmodelsusa.com A total of over 1,100 Spitfire IXs were supplied by the British to the Soviets during World War II, and Ukrainian company ICM has chosen to commemorate that fact with this latest release of their Spitfire IX molds. The kit is the standard set of Mk.IX sprues with a new decal sheet featuring one marking option. I was interested in this kit as I had heard so much about it but hadn't seen one in person before. It has been a few years since the ICM Spitfire IX was first released and it has been well documented on the web and in magazine reviews since then, in all its many and varied incarnations. I shall not go into great detail about the accuracy of the kit, this being well documented many times elsewhere. However, I will say that the early molding problems with severe sink marks, short shots and excessive flash appear to have been largely eradicated. My copy had no significant sink marks and no short shots, but light flash covered some areas of a couple of the sprues. It is good that ICM have taken those complaints to heart and worked on the problem. The build was somewhat frustrating as it seems that ICM have broken down the model into as many parts as possible (to enable many different kits to be released), which, as in this case, is often a recipe for poor alignment and fit. Careful trimming of each part is required; even so, I found that poor fit dogged the model. I used filler at most major seams and some minor ones. To compound this, the canopy, while fitting perfectly, is hazy and distorted even after a light sanding and a coat of Future. I'd recommend a vacuform replacement for this. Among the many optional parts was a complete, though underscale, Merlin engine; inserts for the different cannon bay configurations; three sets of wingtips; two rudders; two sets of elevators; bombs, and two (only two??) rockets, yielding many useful spares for the Spitfire fan. As mentioned earlier, the kit commemorates the Spitfire IX in Soviet service, but the new decal sheet has only one option. There is an almost complete lack of history and detail for the given aircraft. Additionally, the decals were off register, patchily printed and lacking in density; I decided not to use them. This was somewhat disappointing, being the raison d'etre of the kit. Forced to turn to my library for more information and optional color schemes, I found that my 12 books specifically dealing with the Spitfire had NO clear photos of Spitfire IXs in Soviet service - not one! The web was similarly disobliging. It would seem that those secretive Soviets shied away from publicizing the aid given to them by the British. And perhaps this explains why ICM only offer one set of markings? So I cobbled together some Israeli Air Force markings instead; luckily, the Israelis used ex-Czech LF.IXe's. Colours are standard RAF and the model depicts an aircraft of 101 Squadron in 1949. Conclusions? In my opinion, the kit is over-engineered and not easy to put together; in that respect, it needs to be treated like a limited-run kit and is one that you'll want to take your time over, rather than rushing for a review. I could have done without the undersized Merlin engine. The dodgy clear parts and useless decals compound the problems. On the plus side, the model is a pretty accurate representation of a Spitfire IX and it has plenty of spares should you decide to do something else with this kit. As a Spitfire IX, I can reservedly recommend this kit, but as a commemoration of the Spitfire in Soviet service, give it a miss.

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