I really wish I could say that this model conforms to the strict historical standards that you've come to expect in a military model. I really do, although I just can't lie. This MOC is a farce of realism. But hey, at least I'm man enough to admit it. And considerate enough to walk you through my accuracy shortcomings.

First, the size. I began modeling this plane on a plastic model kit. Using a ruler and pocket calculator, I outlined the basics of the MOC in studs. The plastic model kit was at 1:32 scale, a size that makes a pretty good price point for plastic airplanes. I went ahead and doubled that, rounding to the nearest centimeter. So basically, it's a 1:16 scale.

Second, the sources: I used 2 different sources for this model. The first was the plastic kit, which was a Mk IIA, which was used in combat during 1939 and 1940. The other was a beautiful cutaway drawing in my reference book - "Air Combat Legends, Volume 1" - of a Mk IXC, which was introduced in July of 1942. Although there were no major airframe changes made over 7 redesigns, the technology and engineering increased geometrically, making the Mk IX a much more advanced aircraft than the Mk II. Correspondingly, the plane looks like a standard Spitfire, but the details vary greatly. If you want to put a name on it, call it a Mk II/IXC variant.

Features of the Mk IXC that are included here:

• a 4-bladed propeller
• the location of the air intake duct (forward of the wings)
• the 6 gun (2 cannon, 4 machine gun) C-wing setup
• gyro reflector gunsight
• wing-mounted gun cameras

Features of the Mk IXC that are **not** included here:

• the larger 12 exhaust port engine -- the 6 port engine exhaust visible in the model was used in every version of the Spitfire before the Mk IX, it combined the exhaust of 2 adjacent cylinders into one exhaust port; the paired exhaust ports look cooler and fit the scale better anyway
• the bubble canopy, introduced on the Mk IX to improve pilot vision; since I am using a framed canopy, it just wasn't viable to produce a 3-d bezier curve out of Lego
• symmetrical underwing coolers - the newer engine was supercharged, and had its own cooler intake under the port wing, to supplement the main engine cooler under the starboard wing; in earlier versions, the smaller oil cooler was situated under the port wing

The only other thing that is going to confuse the shit out of military historians is the paint job. This model contains paint jobs from 3 different years, and perhaps even a couple complete failures. There are four basic paint sections:

1. The propeller spinner: painted black until 1941, at which time most of them were painted sky blue (a really pale bluish white) - except for special models, which were painted other colors.
2. The recognition band, which appears as a thick white stripe toward the back of the model's fuselage. For starters, this wasn't even introduced until late 1940 (in sky blue), and as far as I can tell, it was never ever painted in white.
3. The main camouflage is the real anachronism, since the dark earth and dark green combo was common only on the Mk I and Mk IIs. By the time of the Mk IX, dark sea grey and dark green was more common. Unfortunately, Lego colors are not very good at reproducing these effects.
4. The underside, you could almost say I got that right. On the first run Mk I and IIs, the underside of the plane was left as unpainted aluminum, which the grey represents well. The Mk Vs were 1/2 black and 1/2 white. In June 1941, they started to paint all undersides sky blue, which the grey also represents well. And then later in 1941, the undersides were painted light sea grey, which Lego light grey was born to represent.

In choosing my color scheme, I went with the green/brown that I've always associated with the Spitfire. Grey as the obvious choice for the underside was prodigous, since I already had all the grey bricks I needed. Dark grey for the tops of the wingtips was a designed to accommodate the difficulties of the wing slope at the tip. White for the recognition band was just a brainfart, brought on by excess smoking of crack.

Two things that have been completely avoided on this model are the squadron markings and the landing gear covers. The landing gear of the early Spitfires included metal plates that covered the strut and half of the wheel, causing the wheel wells to be mostly covered and more aerodynamic when airborne. All of my attempts to simulate this were ridiculously unstable (the model weighs a ton, and is barely supported as you see it here), so they were scrapped. At one time, I also had stickers for the identification markings and the famed British target-looking insignia (called roundels). However, the stickers only gummed up my bricks and started to peel, so I took them off. They added a lot to the model, but in the end were more trouble than they were worth.

With the exception of the issues discussed here, the further details of the models are consistent with the Mk IXC, with accuracy affected only by Lego scale issues. So, enjoy.

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