The holy grail that does seem to be a decent 1/48 Mk.IX has been on modellers wants lists for years. The Monogram kit was probably the first stab in this scale and was good for its time but looks very dated now. The rather neat Otaki Mk.VIII (Arii and now Airfix) would have been an excellent kit had they remembered to include the ''gull' section under the wing (a basic error that even Revell forgot in recent times). Then there was the Ocidental kit... it promised much but seemed to go wrong all around the nose. There was then some controversy over whether the kit was corrected in subsequent reissues - some say it was, others it wasn't - either way it appears that the experience left a bitter taste with Ocidental. Meanwhile, rumours have abounded that either Tamiya or Hasegawa were making one etc... of which more anon. And now there's the ICM kit from Ukraine.

There are five sprues moulded in a pale grey plastic and one in clear. Surface detail is very finely recessed (spark erosion process I guess) and looks good. The fuselage is pretty conventional save for the upper and lower portions of the nose which are moulded separate.

One of the biggest gripes I've heard about this kit are the sink marks. On my copy the wheels were very bad (but not worth losing any sleep over - I have plenty of replacements in my spares box). There was some sinkage on the fuselage but a friend of mine commented that it gave the fuselage rippled, "stressed metal" effect - interesting!

Interior detail is impressive, ICM supply a well moulded Merlin engine complete with firewall and engine bearers (very reminiscent of the 1/24 Airfix kit). To show this off you have to cut away the forward portion of the nose but ICM thoughtfully provide some thinly moulded replacement panels. The 14-piece cockpit is also well detailed and there is some convincing sidewall stringers moulded inside the fuselage. The cockpit access door can also be cutaway and replaced with an alternative (and better detailed) part - nice thinking on ICM's part. If you wish to pass-over the engine detail (as I have) then you'll have to fix the upper and lower cowl parts in place and this is where some care is required in getting the parts to line up smoothly.

The wings are moulded full span on the underside with left and right halves on top, with separate wing tips (clipped or normal), ailerons and access gun covers. Further choices include the pointed rudder, alternative tailplanes, two type gun blister for either early or late 'C'' wings, bombs and rockets (with crutches), ventral fuel tank, two chin cowls with the small or larger intakes and parts for either open of closed canopies. ICM also provide some drawings showing the different wing configurations, a handy piece of reference that!

Decals offer six alternative RAF schemes from 126, 132, 144 (Johnny Johnson), 312, 611 Squadrons and the Polish Fighting Team, all dark green/ocean grey/medium sea grey. The decal in my sample were OK, the colours seemed a little suspect, but the Spitfire isn't exactly lacking when it comes to aftermarket sheets. The finishing diagrams are also streets ahead of Ocidental's rather inadequate attempts with the camouflage pattern show in full colour on the back of the box.

My only gripe with the kit so far, as it progresses across my workbench )aside from the sink marks) is that I feel ICM have rather over-gilded the lily at times. The engine detail is a nice touch, but seeing as the nose has to be removed to display all this, I would rather ICM have moulded a complete nose rather than partial one (it wouldn't have made any difference).

At present I'm still working on this kit so check back for reports on how I'm doing, but so far I like - it's certainly much more accomplished and better executed Spit than the Ocidental one, even if ambition sometimes gets the better of the engineering. ICM appear to have captured the delicate nature of the Spit, especially the thinness of the wings and tailplanes.

However, just when it seems modellers are about to settle with the ICM kit, Marco Polo Import in the USA announce that Hasegawa are indeed now going to do a 1/48 Mk.IX Spitfire. Now, it will be interesting to see if they get it right...

Progress Report - Jan 19th 2001
Not much movement, the interior parts have been painted and the fuselage halves are together. Getting the upper nose panel to line up took some patience. The wing are also almost complete, again care was needed in lining these up and there are no locating pins.