Special Hobby 1/48 Supermarine Spitfire Mk.VC ‘Overseas Jockeys’
Reviewed by Zac Yates
Scale: 1/48
Item #: SH 48195
Price: €26.00 direct from Special Hobby. Also available through quality hobby retailers worldwide.
Contents: nine styrene sprues (eight grey and one clear); five resin parts; five decal options.Background:The Supermarine Spitfire achieved immortality during the Battle of Britain but the aircraft’s story by no means ended with the summer of 1940. Further development, including the fitment of the 1440hp Merlin 45 engine, resulted in the Mk.V which was initially produced by converting Mk.I and Mk.II airframes. The type was intended as a stop-gap while the pressurised Mk.VI was developed to counter the Luftwaffe’s high-altitude Junkers Ju-86P. Dedicated production followed with differently-armed sub-models being distinguished by suffixes to the Mark number: Va, Vb and Vc, the latter being the subject of this kit.
Compared to the other variants the Mk.Vc had additional armour plating, a new windscreen design and a further strengthened fuselage structure. The key difference however was the Type C or “Universal” wing: this normally featured one belt-fed 20mm Hispano cannon and two .303 Browning machineguns per side but had provision for an additional cannon to be fitted.
Possibly the version most familiar to enthusiasts is the Mk.Vc (trop), a modification of the base airframe featuring air filters for the carburettor to improve serviceability in dusty and sandy climates. These aircraft had large, distinctive Vokes chin filters or the bulbous Aboukir variant and saw widespread service in the Mediterranean, Africa and the Pacific. Many examples also sported clipped wings to improve roll rates.
Throughout 1941 the Mk.V in its various forms became the mainstay of Fighter Command, however the advent of the Focke-Wulf Fw-190 revealed shortcomings which were addressed by the development of the Mk.IX and Mk.VIII variants with their two-stage Merlins.
The Royal Air Force and Royal Australian Air Force were the only production customers for this variant but several air arms inherited Mk.Vcs from RAF squadrons as they were replaced with the Mk.IX. The RAF Museum calls it “one of the most successful 'stop-gaps' ever introduced into Royal Air Force Service”. Today half a dozen examples fly as warbirds with a further handful on museum display or awaiting restoration.
Special Hobby’s modelFirst issued in 2008, Special Hobby’s 1/48 Spitfire Mk.V family of kits (which also covers Seafires) is now at eleven boxings, plus others released by Revell and Italeri. ‘Overseas Jockeys’ is the tenth boxing, released in 2018. Due to the use of common sprues there are fifteen parts labelled as not for use in the instructions, which are in colour and comprise 11 numbered steps.
The plastic parts are, despite the mould’s age, state of the art: panel lines are finely recessed with restrained representations of fasteners, as well as some representation of lapped panels and the raised cover over the fuselage fuel tank. Unlike some other Special Hobby kits this reviewer has seen recently, the fuselage and wing parts feature locating tabs and slots (the wing tips are butt-joins, however). Separate ailerons and rudder are provided while all the elevators and flaps are moulded in place.
Three different sizes of “slipper”-type belly fuel tank are provided. The instructions mention two are optional for the first camouflage scheme but give no indication which should be used beyond part H1 or H3 – check your references as these two parts are very similarly sized! A choice of five-spoke or covered wheel hubs are provided, the former being used for three of the markings options. Another option provided is for the propeller: complete assemblies for both De Havilland and Rotol types are supplied and again the instructions note which unit is applicable to which subject.
The cockpit is well detailed for the scale.
A colour decal is provided for the instrument panel (which has raised detail) and several finely-moulded photo-etch parts are provided for a very complete harness as well as rudder pedal straps and other small cockpit parts. The instrument panel and seat assemblies are sandwiched in sections of sidewall which are then trapped between the fuselage halves. An interesting mistake in the instructions is that while a separate cockpit access door is provided and shown to be fitted in the open position, the sliding canopy is shown as closed.
As for the clear parts, they are commendably clear and transparent but the fixed rear portion of the canopy appears to be misshapen with one side moulded at an angle instead of being parallel to the other side. Both the gunsight and rear-view mirror are clear parts and are among several small parts that will require careful removal both from the sprue and from ejector pins. Clipped wing tips are also moulded clear however none of the subjects depicted use these.
The resin parts comprise the smaller Aboukir tropical carburettor filter, a pair of three-stack exhausts and a pair of six-stack exhausts. The exhausts are gorgeous moulds that utterly consign the styrene parts to the spares box – while there are no welds moulded on the stacks, the openings are all drilled with incredibly thin walls. The casting blocks on all parts should be easy to remove and clean up.
Instructions and Markings:The instruction sheet is up to Special Hobby's usual excellent standards:
The kit features five marking options with a great variety of schemes:
1. AB174/RF-Q “Qowca” (“Cuckoo”), 303 “Kosciuszko” Squadron Royal Air Force, Kirton-in-Lindsey, August 1942. The instructions state this machine was the first Mk.Vc flown by the famed 303 and later 313 Sqns, and relates it was flown by several Poles in the squadron notably Pilot Officer Antoni Glowacki who achieved a probable Fw.190 and 1/3 He.111 in it on 19 August 1942. This action appears to be the inspiration for the box art and the aircraft is in the classic Day Fighter scheme of Ocean Grey and Dark Green over Medium Sea Grey. This is the scheme for which an auxiliary fuel tank is applicable.
2. BS295/CR-C, No.1 Fighter Wing Royal Australian Air Force, RAAF Strauss, Northern Territory, Australia, March 1943. This was Clive “Killer” Caldwell’s personal aircraft in which (according to the instructions) he “claimed most of his seven” victories over Japanese aircraft. This example wears Earth Brown and Foliage Green camouflage over Sky Blue and has the large Vokes tropical filter fitted.
3. VF-R (serial unknown), 5th Fighter Squadron, 52nd Fighter Group United States Army Air Force, Corsica, Autumn 1943. Flown by Lieutenant John Anderson, this aircraft has a “field mod” carb intake filter (provided as a two-PE-part assembly) but the biggest draw is the unusual Mid Stone, Dark Earth and Dark Green over Azure Blue scheme.
4. AR524/White 4, GC 1/7 ‘Provence’ Armee de l’Air (328 Sqn RAF), Djidjelli-Taher, Algeria, early 1944. This is another Day Fighter scheme but the French roundels make for a surprisingly colourful subject. Again, the Vokes filter is fitted.
5. MH592/G, 1 (Fighter) Sqn NOVJ (National Liberation Army of Yugoslavia)/352 “Yugoslav” Sqn RAF. This example uses the Aboukir carb filter, according to the blurb possibly the only Yugoslav Spitfire to do so, as well as the six-per-side exhaust stacks more common to the later two-stage Merlin-equipped Spitfires such as the Mk.IX. Pilot Squadron Leader Hinko Soic, commanding officer of the rather lengthy-named unit, claimed one enemy aircraft destroyed in this Spitfire which wears the standard desert camouflage of Mid Stone and Dark Earth over Azure Blue.
DecalsThis sheet wears the Cartograph name and it is to their usual standard: thin decals with minimal carrier film, are of good quality and feature readable (and numerous) stencils. To this reviewer’s moderately-trained eye the colours look pretty good and the designs appear accurate to photographs of the original aircraft.
Summary:While some may feel the kit has been surpassed by Eduard’s offering introduced in 2021, the level of detail provided (and the optional extra parts) make this kit excellent value for money and this reviewer is very excited to get to work.
Verdict:Highly recommended!
Review sample kindly supplied by Special Hobby. Please support the businesses that support your Forum.
