The Supermarine Spitfire Part 1 (Merlin-powered) - A Complete Guide To The Famous Fighter, by Richard A. Franks (Valiant Wings 2018)
Valiant Wings Publishing’s twelfth title in the well-established Airframe & Miniature series is “The Supermarine Spitfire Part 1 (Merlin-powered) - A Complete Guide To The Famous Fighter” by Richard A. Franks.
The Spitfire is probably one of the most popular aircraft modelling subjects around. This latest book goes some way towards unpicking the bewildering choices of variants and schemes that apply to the Merlin-powered versions.
The twelfth book in the much-acclaimed “Airframe & Miniature” series contains 240 pages, packed with vital information that no active modeller and Spitfire enthusiast should be without.
It contains:
- 40+ pages of technical information
- 20+ pages of walk-around images and technical diagrams
- 5+ pages of camouflage and markings
- 25+ pages of model builts and modelling information
- 200+ photographs including wartime images
- Colour side views and four-views by Richard J. Caruana
- 95+ 3D isometric views of all variants by Jacek Jackiewicz
- Specially commissioned extensive full kit builds by Libor Jekl, Steve A. Evans& Dani Zamarbide
- Specially commissioned front cover artwork by Jerry Boucher
- A bonus set of 1/48 scale plans by Jacek Jackiewicz
The book is sewn bound on glossy paper and includes hundrends of photographs, diagrams and profiles, the modern pictures being in colour, while the contemporary content is black and white. It is written by Richard A Franks, with profiles by Richard J Caruana, and models by a group of fine modellers. Volume 1 deals with the earlier Merlin engine variants, from the prototype up to the XVI, with everything in between, including the Seafires that used Merlin engines and the modified Photo-Reconnaissance variants. The pages are broken down into the Airframe section that deals with the real aircraft, and the miniature section that covers the scale models and has a number of builds, plus a host of photographic detail that will be of great help to the modeller.
The breakdown of Contents is as follows:
Airframe Chapters
1. Evolution - Mk.I to V
2. Evolution - Mk.VI to IX/XVI
3. Evolution - Photo-Reconnaissance
4. Evolution - Seafire
5. Camouflage & Markings and Colour Profiles
Miniature Chapters
6. Spitfire (Merlin-powered) Kits
7. Building a Selection
8. Building a Collection
9. In Detail: The Supermarine Spitfire & Seafire
Engine, Propeller, Cowls
Oil, Fuel, Coolant, Oxygen, Hydraulic
Cockpit & Canopy
Radio
Mid & Aft Fuselage
Tail
Wings
Undercarriage
Armament, Ordnance & Drop Tanks
Camera
Access Panels
Miscellaneous
Appendices
I. Kit List
II. Accessories and Mask List
III. Decal List
IV. Bibliography
1:48 Scale plans fold-out (equivalent to 8 pages)
The scale plans are nicely thought out and fold out sideways with the left-hand edge captive to the inside cover, and with isometric drawings by Wojciech Sankowski that pick out the differences & details between variants and sub-variants.
Some pages (as page 100) will be of special interest to Greek modelers and friends of old Hellenic Air Force airplanes, with some nice color profiles of the LF MkIX MH558 “MΥΣΤΡΑΣ” (photo, left) flown by Lt George Smyrniotopoulos, 1947 and LF MkXVI “White 3”. There is also accompanying text describing the greek Spitfires from MkVb to the later versions.
Chapter 6 (15 pages) has a look through all the Spitfire kits that you can find in most popular scales and gives the author’s assessment of them, with photos of the box art and contents.
In Chapter 7 (16 pages) we find the builds by Libor Jekl, Steve A. Evans and Dani Zamarbide are all first-rate too, with two in 1:72, and one each in 1:48 and 1:32.
Chapter 8 (Building a collection) is perhaps the most valuable and useful of all: The artwork of Wojciech Sankowski (more than 95 three-D isometric views) shows us the differences between each variant.
When you visit Valiant's website using the links here, don't forget the free downloadable 48 pages of content (as a PDF file) that they have prepared for you, as it will give you a good idea of the quality of the rest of the book. It includes additional text and photos, plus a huge expansion on the available kits and accessories so that it didn't take up too many paper pages of the book, squeezing out the more interesting stuff.
ISBN: 978-0-9957773-5-4. RRP £19.95 per copy + postage and packing. Mail orders via the Valiant Wings website, www.valiant-wings.co.uk, by ‘phone on 01234 273434 (+44 1234 273434 if calling from outside the UK) or by writing to:
Valiant Wings Publishing, 8 West Grove, Βedford, MK40 4BT, UK
The Supermarine Spitfire Part 1 (Merlin-powered) - A Complete Guide To The Famous Fighter by Richard A. Franks is also available from specialist bookshops and certain hobby retailers. If you plan to build any model of Merlin-powered Spitfire or you need a one-source reference, do not miss this book. Highly recommended!
