The Kit
There’s a decent Here Now in box review on this kit from Paul K.
This kit came out about 6 months after Tamiya`s bench mark Spitfire and many people did wonder what Hobby Boss were playing at as they were never going to be able to compete with Tamiya`s offering. What was different with this kit is firstly it was a Mk.Vb (the Trop version has subsequently been released).Tamiya`s Mk IX, VIII or XVI are all based around a similar airframe so allowing these various versions to be produced from a base mould. The Mk.Vb is very different and is unlikely to be produced by Tamiya so Hobby Boss are on to a winner here but the biggest difference is the price, the Hobbyboss kit is just over a third of the price of a Tamiya MK.IX and even better value when compared to the MK.XVI and this can`t be ignored especially in the current financial climate. OK so let’s look at the kit, it’s not as refined or detailed as the Tamiya kit and there are some questions about its accuracy in some areas but in general it looks good. The surface detail is nice, there is an engine, the cockpit looks reasonably accurate and the decals cover two different schemes (a green/grey aircraft and a brown/green aircraft) but in the end there is only one way to tell how good it is and that’s to build it so let’s get on with it.
Construction
The plan for this build is to keep it nice and simple and straight from the box apart from the paint job as I fancy something a bit different from the box offering of green and grey/brown aircraft and I happened to have some decals for a USAAF aircraft left over from the decals I used for my Tamiya Mk.XVIe build but more on the scheme later. Basic plan is to have everything closed up as if the aircraft is ready to go. Main reason for this is time but to be honest the engine and cockpit detail aren’t up to Tamiya’s level so it may look a bit ‘wanting’ if I left everything open and sat the finished model next to a Tamiya Spitfire.
Let’s start with the engine; this is quite good and all the parts seem to be there to make it look like a Merlin. It is slightly undersized as the cowls are a lot thicker than Tamiya’s so the engine has to be down sized to fit behind them. The detail is OK and a little bit of extra `plumbing` and `wiring` along with some weathering would really bring it to life. With my intension not to have it on show it was given a coat of black and that was it – oh so simple!!
The rear engine bulkhead was glued in place along with the left and right hand engine cowls, the fit of these is very good and no filler is required. The interior of the engine compartment along with the cockpit side wall were given a coating of interior green. The engine area was left as is then but the cockpit wall had there details picked out with a combination of washes and dry brushing.
