Preview: 1/32nd scale Spitfire Mk.Va from Kotare available for pre-order...

Following on from their Mk I & II Spitfires in 32nd scale, Kotare have new information and news that their 1/32nd scale Spitfire Mk.Va is now available for pre-order. We look at the first run extras, markings & new sprues (in CAD) in our preview...

Preview: 1/32nd scale Spitfire Mk.Va from Kotare available for pre-order...

Spitfire Mk.I (Early)

From Kotare

Kit No #K32002

1/32nd scale

142 parts

Three marking choices included from Cartograf.

Price: $109USD 

Kotare website

The Subject: The Spitfire Mk.Va 

Approximately 220 Spitfire Mk.Va were produced from the first half of 1941 as a stop gap measure to counter the new German fighters being encountered like the Fw190 over the English Channel.

Supermarine Spitfire Mk Va, RAF serial R7347, which was brought to the Langley Aeronautical Laboratory at Hampton, Virginia (USA), for comparative testing

In early 1941 an urgent need for improved performance saw the installation of the 1440hp Rolls-Royce Merlin 45 into approximately 100 strengthened Mk.Ia airframes on the Supermarine production line, thereby creating the stop-gap Mk.Va. An additional 120 or so Mk.Ia and Mk.IIa airframes were retrofitted with the Merlin 45 engine creating a total of approximately 220 Spitfire Mk.Va. The Mk.Va saw a significant increase in performance over their donor airframes and featured an improved, deeper, oil cooler with a rounded opening, windscreen de-icing equipment, Martin-Baker canopy hood jettisoning gear, IFF Mk.II (with aerial wires from the tailplanes to the fuselage sides) and were usually equipped with the TR.1133 UHF radio that did not require an external aerial wire. Metal ailerons were being developed at this time but they do not appear to have been fitted to any factory-built Spitfire Mk.Va, only being retrofitted much later in 1941.

Seen in the United States undergoing testing next to a Lockheed P-38 Lightning - Spitfire No. W3119 sitting nose to nose on the ground at Lockheed Air Terminal in Burbank, California

The 8 Browning .303 gun Spitfire Mk.Va was supplanted by the concurrently developed 2 Hispano 20mm cannon and 4 Browning .303 gun armed Mk.Vb from mid-late 1941 onwards. Numerous engine, airframe and armament improvements were made to the Spitfire before production ceased in 1948, by which time over 22000 had been produced in 2-dozen variants with the most notable being the 1030hp Mk.I, 1470hp Mk.V, 1720hp Mk.IX, 2035hp Mk.XIV, the photo-reconnaissance Mk.XI and the navalised Seafire Mk.III. 

Supermarine built Spitfire Mk.Va colour schemes are reasonably straight forward compared to the Mk.Ia. Interior areas were primed with light grey before being painted aluminium, except for the cockpit between frames 8 & 11 which appear to have been painted in “teal-green”, as per their late production Mk.Ia. Note that this is different from the brighter “Supermarine interior green” and paler, greyer, “Grey Green” (of which various colour mixes have additionally been noted) used on later production Supermarine and CBAF built Spitfires. Major internal components supplied by sub-contractors could be delivered in various shades of grey-green or aluminium or even black.

The kit:

Kotare are pleased to announce that K32002 Kotare 1/32 Spitfire Mk.Va is now available for pre-order 

In this kit there are 142 high-quality injection moulded plastic parts with 40 all new tooled parts including: Windscreen with de-icing, hood with Martin-Baker jettison system, fireproof bulkhead, dual-height rudder pedals, instrument panel with rectangle & curved blind flying panels, elevator trimming wheel, ice/snow guard, engine driven undercarriage controls, composite pilot’s seat, IFF Mk.II, port wing fillets with electrical connection door, Mk.V oil cooler, station keeping lamps.

The new parts of the kit...

- Optional Supermarine & CBAF undercarriage doors and engine top cowlings, open & closed cockpit doors, DeHavilland & Rotol propellers, wheels with weighted tyres featuring correct alignment.

This kit includes a 32 page fully illustrated instruction manual is included with this kit.

There are high quality Cartograf decals for three Spitfire Mk.Va's including famous ace Douglas Bader.

1 = Spitfire Mk.Va R7208 FY-G “Liverpool III”, DE Fair, 611 Squadron, July 1941.

2 = Spitfire Mk.Va R7268 KL-M “The Swan”, P/O Page, JW Panter, J Charles, N Orton, Thomas, PMcD Black, C Cookson, 54 Squadron, July 1941.

3 = Spitfire Mk.Va W3185 D-B "Lord Lloyd No.1", Douglas Bader, Tangmere Wing, August 1941.

Pre Order bonuses:

All pre-orders for K32002 Kotare 1/32 Spitfire Mk.Va placed through www.kotare-models.com will receive a beautiful (and highly collectible) Darryl Legg box art print suitable for framing

They will also include kit no#32P001 Kotare 1/32 Spitfire Mk.Ia (Mid/Late), Mk.Va/Vb (Early) 3-Dprint exhaust (value US$12.99) free of charge. 

Note that this offer is exclusively available for pre-orders placed through www.kotare-models.com and only available while stocks last. Shipping is planned for September 2024, Pre-order deposit payment in full with 100% refund available on request up to the actual shipping date.

We will have more about this kit closer to the release date. Check out their website for more information...