[Cruver Collecter]

Over on the UK site I noticed that there was quite a bit of interest in the Spirit of Kent Spitfire by Gemini Aces. Most of the discussions really seem to point to how spot on the model was. Well, I spent a little time going over the pictures of the model on that site and found couple of errors that seem to have been missed on the model. The first error, and I think this may have been discussed on this site, is that the frame work on the canopy wind screen is incorrect. I imagine you could touch this up with some paint, but if frame work is not actually part of the mold, well not sure how good this would come off (Still a possible fix though.). The second error stood out pretty quick for me. The wing on this model (Spitfire Mk IXe) has e type Wing which had the main cannon armament shifted to the outboard position. Well, if you look at the cannon bay cover on the upper portion of the wing you can see were the error is made. The raised blister should be in line with the armament and not the faired over mounting. Found a few references that pretty much confirmed this error and one of them read a such " The panels over "e"-type cannon bays had the blister moved outwards and rearwards, it was also a little taller as the cannon breech was moved to a thinner section of the wing.." Unfortunately I cannot see any fix for this error on the model. Nice looking model over all, but does have a couple of errors that seemed to have been missed.

[11SQNLDR]

I have got one of these beauties on the way, worked out at $70 US delivered from the UK. Not cheap but destined to become one of the more collectable 1/72 Spits IMHO.

Some nice shots of it on the Twin Plane site too.

PM me if anyone is interested, there are 2 left from this dealer & they won't last long i'm sure!

[Cruver Collecter]

Here are a couple of shots that better show were the errors on the Spitfire are.

Canopy.




Cannon bay panel. Marking in red is approximately where it should be.
Positioning could probably be even a little further back.

[Cruver Collecter]

Curious if there are any forum members that have tried to correct the wind screen on their Gemini Aces Spitfire?

[planejunky]

Originally Posted by Cruver Collecter

Curious if there are any forum members that have tried to correct the wind screen on their Gemini Aces Spitfire?

I did!

[Cruver Collecter]

Originally Posted by planejunky

I did!

Nice looking work. Does the canopy have molded framework and is just not painted or did you just do a really nice touch up to the canopy by painting one in?

[hworth18]

Unfortunately, the canopy issue has been there from day one and for some unknown reason, Gemini has refused to fix it... Other than that, (and the wing issue, which is a mold issue but to be honest, I don't expect Gemini to retool a wing just for a variant) the Gemini Spitfire is about as good as you can get in 1/72 scale..

[Cruver Collecter]

Originally Posted by hworth18

Unfortunately, the canopy issue has been there from day one and for some unknown reason, Gemini has refused to fix it... Other than that, (and the wing issue, which is a mold issue but to be honest, I don't expect Gemini to retool a wing just for a variant) the Gemini Spitfire is about as good as you can get in 1/72 scale..

Odd that they would stick with a canopy that is that far off. I wouldn't expect a company to retool a wing for just one run, but might expect them to go with an aircraft that matches the mold they currently have. I was also surprised no one over in the UK picked up on this.

[hworth18]

Originally Posted by Cruver Collecter

Odd that they would stick with a canopy that is that far off. I wouldn't expect a company to retool a wing for just one run, but might expect them to go with an aircraft that matches the mold they currently have. I was also surprised no one over in the UK picked up on this.

I think that if you'll read the Gemini thread on the UK forum (and here), these issues have been hashed/rehashed over many times and everyones probably just tired of talking about it..

[Cruver Collecter]

Originally Posted by hworth18

I think that if you'll read the Gemini thread on the UK forum (and here), these issues have been hashed/rehashed over many times and everyones probably just tired of talking about it..

Not so sure, before posting my findings over there I was pretty thorough going over the thread with regards to the Spirit of Kent Spitfire wing issue. Wing type was mentioned, but not the deficiency. If I had not asked the question with regards to the canopy, I would have not been able to see the fix that planejunky pulled off. After seeing the results he was able to achieve made me seriously interested in picking up the Gabreski's Spitfire. Did a little further research and found that Squadron makes a canopy mask that may just make it a little easier to correct the canopy issue. So apologize if you consider this unnecessary rehash, but it do prove fruitful for me with the photos planejunky provided of his work. I like to reach out for all possible resources prior to engaging in a mod (No sence duplicating effort if somebody has already come up with an workable answer). Shoot I was totally unimpressed with the Gemini Aces Bf 109F and in most part because of its out of scale antenna mast. Found a workable fix and even have a another of their Bf 109Fs on the way, and already have a replacement antenna fabricated. Similar situation involved with the Dragon Bf 109Gs with regards to their out of place stabilizers. So to be honest, I usually bring up issues to see if somebody may have a workable solution to improve accuracy of these nice looking display models.