Wow, you hit a home run with this one. Your presentation of the build is spectacular. You discussed a couple of things I was impressed with. First, your comment on no engine is spot on. Agreed, an engine would distract the beauty of the Mk 1’s lines and shape. Your discussion of the correction to the wheel wells was helpful. And finally, thank you for emphasizing the importance of proper cleanup. Thank you again. Eric.
thanks Eric, hope it helped - I'm actually building this kit right now, decided to go for it. Fitted a resin pilot and have adjusted the flight controls as well, hope to have a video up eventually! Cheers, Chris
I built the Tamiya mkixc about 2 years ago, my first 1/32 kit in 40 years! I felt like i didn't do it justice and so was excited to order the Kotare and have another go. I'm quite happy not to have the complication of dealing with the engine.
Yes the Tamiya Spits are quite daunting - if you dont get the engine assembly perfect, and I mean perfect, the starboard engine cowling wont fit correctly. The gunbays are also tricky sometimes, they really are quite complex kits while the Kotare Spitfire can be built by almost any level of competence. You're not the first to say, phew, thank Dog below I don't have to spend an inordinate amount of time and energy to build the engine! It should be an option, not default, but there's a lot of car modellers masquerading as aircraft modellers out there.... Having said that, I'd love to build a large scale (1/16 or larger) Merlin engine on its own.
Thanks for confirming that I made the right decision in preordering and buying this kit! I honestly just bought the kit to support Kotaire. I want to see them do well. Thanks for the review!
Glad I could help! Sorry for late reply - trying to answer lots of comments here. I too want to support Kotare as much as possible, hence why I bought two! Cheers Chris
Great stuff Chris, we’ll done and thanks. I saw this up close at last years Telford show, extraordinary kit(s). My own personal favourite, MkVb, my be some way off but it’s coming. For now, I’ll have to make do with an early MkI 😊
You're welcome Tim - yep the Mk Vb is coming I'm sure of it, after the "A" wing variants are done. That will be a money maker for Kotare as the HB version is not that good!
@@beckersmodels yeah Chris, it’s a shame for the Hobby Boss Vb, it’s a good kit to build and the cockpit is awesome but it looks more like a F35 than a Spit 😂.
Thanks for taking the time to produce these reviews Chris. I have a copy of the kit on hold, and it’s exciting to see what’s in the box and how it goes together. Maybe someday I’ll screw up the courage to actually build it. 😂
Yep I've got quite a few of Master Details - including their RAF/RAAF options which are quite good. Sometimes the US ones are a little too long though (6 foot plus height) so watch out for that! Reedoak remains my favourite for aftermarket pilots, but he doesn't do much WW2...
In terms of riveting on the wings, I think I read somewhere that early spitfires had all their rivets filled and smooth over hence no rivet detail on the wings and the tail planes. Later aircraft had flush rivets. it seem to be a sort of complaint when the kit first came out. There was a lack of detail on the wings but obviously Kotare exactly what they’re doing. And that’s what the earlier aircraft would like.
Regarding adding a pilot: I'd argue that this is a field best left to aftermarket, just like the engine. Many may not want one. Then, do you want him piloting the plane, on the ground, in the cockpit, next to the plane? It all depends on the story you want to tell. And a pilot figure really deserves the additional detail that resin or photolithography can provide.
Very good comment and its quite true - the added detail is necessary if you really want to make the model realistic, and yes most modellers dont want to paint a figure either, since its a hobby in and of itself to master!
Hi chris. Good review. Could you solve your "pull out" of the booklet by removing staples? Put them back afterwards of course. In your cons, you forgot the flat on the tail wheel. A second non flat tail wheel would solve it. Thanks Penny, for having us.
YEs I did forget the flat on the tail wheel - and I did mention to Richard Alexander that a separate set of non weighted wheels would be grand, maybe they'll include that in future kitsets for us non-wheels down folks!
@@beckersmodels Well done Chris. A bit late for this frame set but the next would be good. I like on ground and in air. I had thought of the possibility of two AC in hangar, one ready to go and one buried in mechanics etc. Incidentally I was just watching the Typhoon legacy channel (rebuilding a tiffie in Canada and they showed a photo of workers in the factory "puttying" over the rivets on the wing. Quite a coincidence with you talking about rivets on models.
It looks overdone in the light, but in actuality is just right. If you're still a bit concerned, one very light pass with a sanding stick will knock it down easily. And yes get one!
Now that's a Spitfire, loved how they captured the wing shape, excellent in depth review. The keyed parts will certainly increase build accuracy - I'll be anxiously awaiting the painting " videos". Speaking of paint schemes, the Spitfire version with half black and white underside, is that an actuall scheme? My next learning kit is a 1/72 , showed the same scheme I thought they were just showing two options in one because of box size. Last the only part I thought looked a bit out of scale , was the ant , although he moved quiet nicely :-) seriously, An epic kit. I won't have the skill set back for at least 6 months, so I will probably wait until I'm sure I can tackle it to buy it, unless you think there is going to be an inventory problem by Kotare . Plus I need to figure out where to get the kit and build the stash cash back up. Thanks again for great review, Cheers from the colonies BOB.
Gday Bob, yep the black and white was the standard paint scheme to help the AA crews over England, but was changed mid Battle...yep you wont have any trouble with construction if you take your time! Cheers Chris
Chris, I’d going to take your suggestion and get the model. Great video! I am going to get a 3d cockpit because the decals on cockpit scare me. What do you think?
I think a one piece cockpit panel like from Redfox/Quinta/Yahu etc will be fine if you're a bit daunted by all the decals on the instrument panel. Nothing is out yet but I'm sure it will be very soon!
So, the "make sure there's no paint on the mating surfaces" thing seems like a weird thing to have to say. I was always taught that paint really farts with glues ability to bond with the plastic, so the surfaces always should be clean anyway. Have I been lied to?
Not a lie its just a lot of modellers will paint parts on the sprue or off and paint the whole part, but not be too concerned about overspray when it comes to mating surfaces. Fit tolerance is really tight here and will only need a small amount of extra thin glue to get going...
First, its not a car model, the kit was designed for the majority of aircraft modellers who like to see an operational aircraft ready for takeoff and enjoy its uncluttered lines. Not all panels have to be opened up and I'm sick of this trend with new kits. Adding an engine adds tremendous cost to tooling particularly one as complex as the Merlin. There will be a resin engine available soon I'm sure, or you could modify the Tamiya later versions.
@@beckersmodels No worries Beck , Im just surprised because they made it even more detailed on the outside than Tamy's 1/32 . And yes , it is an amazing kit, no doubt about that , and apologies if I came across negative , I was just expecting to have the engine as well, because there was a lots of praise and excitement on the pre release. But I get where you are coming from, its all about the the details on the in flight build on this great kit .
what a totally amazing review,loved both parts,one question if i may ,as i as well will be doing mine in flight ,will you be getting another tail wheel ?,sorry for being a pain or a silly question.
Not a silly question at all! No I wont be getting another tail wheel, I'll try to 3D print my own version or if that fails (I'm a complete novice at 3D!) I will just build up the missing bit with a bit of plastic. Its my intention to develop a "wheels up" kit for the Kotare Spitfires, but wait and see if I have the skill to do it...cheers Chris
It's quite something Chris when you consider that with the hundreds and hundreds of Spitfire kits that have been issued over the years, this may be the first one that is near (or actually) 100% accurate in surface detail. A few people have made comments about the texture of the plastic on the wing surface - I can only assume that this too is deliberate as it is different on the gun bay covers, and they indeed would have been a different alloy and thickness. That's a whole other level of care and attention.
Exactly my point - you dont get this level of detail and attention from other kit manufacturers, which is why I'm more than prepared to spend a bit more....thanks for your comments again Phil, always welcome!
@@beckersmodels I've dipped into this again and thinking about your comment re 'everything open' modellers should be in the minority, I agree with you because really those modellers are diorama modellers rather than aircraft modellers.
I got excited when I heard about this but there was one reason that I baulked at a pre-order and it's still causing me to wonder if I should or not. It isn't the lack of an engine, the decals for the cockpit or the way it it designed to be posed. It's the price. After watching this review I'm still excited but I still wonder is this kit worth paying three times (depending on where you get it) as much as you would pay for the Revell Mk I kit at the same scale? Is this kit three times as good as the Revel kit?
Good point Steve and I must admit I dont get that much sticker shock anymore, but it is an expensive kit compared to say the Revell, which costs about $60-70AUD here. I've had the REvell kit before, and it needs A LOT of accuracising to get it anywhere near the Kotare kit, especially in the cockpit, but also externally, with poor rivet and panel line details. I spent about the same amount on aftermarket resin on mine as I did on the kit, but eventually just sold the whole lot away as it was going to be too much work. This way, Ive got a lovely Out of the Box option with almost zero effort but a fantastic finished result - and I'm more than happy to pay for that. So yes, I would rather have this kit than 3 Revell Spitfires...but not everyone is as pedantic when it comes to detail and fit etc, so I can understand the concern when it comes to price. Cheers Chris
For me it came down to "You get what you pay for." I've heard a lot of criticism of Airfix, Revel (!!) and Italeri, and a lot of folks saying things like "We're modellers! We make things fit if they're really crappy! We're stupid old fools and won't change our ways!" Well, I'm old now but I want to spend my money getting quality stuff; I'm not 11 years old any more and happy to get my next kit with all it's defects that won't get fixed because I haven't got the skills or knowledge yet. And now I'm old, and very happy to have paid as much as I did for this model. Three times as good as the Revel kit? Don't know. Wouldn't buy the Revel kit.
Here comes "that old guy". When I was a kid EVERY airplane kit had a pilot. There were no exceptions. Every kit. Started in the fifties. We had Monogram, Aurora and Revell. The rich kids had others. That is all.
I'm an old guy in young body - I expected every aircraft model to have a pilot, flight stand and wheels up display, but was shocked to find only a few reboxed old kits did so, and the trend was wheels down, everything open like heart surgery... I'm with Paul Budzik on this, that all aircraft kits should be wheels up as standard, and then if you want to go wheels down, you have an additional kitset that has the landing gear and engine and other parts that you then insert/modify the standard kit with....
@@beckersmodels - it seems so obvious when you put it that way. The models and their designers had mostly kids in mind then and personally I want to see some of these new genius Zoomers building kits, bashing kits, creating altogether new and different craft...and putting the gear up.
Personally, few things are as frustrating as patiently assembling and painting a part of the model only to realise later than it's entirely invisible, without cutting out panels that aren't intended to be removed, and thus are a complete waste of time, paint and plastic. Why not do a "with internals and removable panels" or, "without, just the external profile only", variants?
That's been Paul Budziks contention for awhile - kits should be provided in two boxings, a basic non-opening panels version external profile only that has the cutouts in relief if you want to expose the detail that is then purchasable in an advanced boxing (internal parts, engines, weapons bays, wheel wells etc). Kotare are moving towards this which I applaud...
I wish Tamiya had made a simpler version in 1/32, without the engine and other parts, couldhave been a lot cheaper...but then again I dont care too much about the price - this is a super cheap hobby!
You are of course correct, the Spitfire’s were not made beautifully they made fast. There’s a documentary that compares how the Nazis built and how we built, massive difference however we got them in the sky and they serviceable easily and quickly both England and France. Thing is I have yet to see a model built with the errors…..?? I am going to set you a challenge at some stage to build without mentioning Tamiya!! Now you need a nickname I feel something around the Professor and we need a ‘thing’ for you…….around I’m right, do it properly, they make it so follow it! You know lol Also maybe we viewers could develop a Build It Bingo game to play as we watch along!! Lol. Gosh I’m on fire today! Love ya mate! 😮 Bob England
Still the cheapest hobby out there - I contend that a $400 1/200 battleship is literally the cheapest kit you can get. Hundreds and hundreds of hours to complete - that's like $1 an hour in entertainment - where can you do that? This kit will take about 20-40 hours to finish depending on your skill level or desire - that's still $5-10 an hour, cheaper than a movie or anything else out there.... I really dont get people's obsession with cost of models...its bloody cheap as!
PJ Production is one of the lower quality aftermarket options. I'd go Aerobonus/Aires or even a spare Tamiya pilot from their 1/32 kits, or maybe Master Details from the US.
It looks a great kit, but - BUT - aren't Kotare being a wee bit cheap here? Screwing the 'in-flight' team with no pilot/second set of no-weight wheels, and screwing the 'at rest' team with no engine? It seems whatever you want to do with the kit, you miss out somewhat.
Inverse of cheap. It costs money and valuable development time (when no cashflow is coming in) to tool extras like that - they are making these at a price point to recoup the initial investment cost. This is a very very small company going up against the big guns. They could have done this in 1/72 or 1/144 at much much lower risk, but wanted to stick with manscale because its a big niche that no one has filled...
I did apologise at the start of each video that they would be long because I wanted to go over as many aspects of the model that I thought would be relevant - including all the building tips and improvements to help modellers, but also to compare the kit to the Tamiya Spits and other points. I normally hate really long RU-vid videos of this ilk, but I also made them in chapter form so you could skip ahead to the bits you really wanted to watch - I didnt expect anybody to watch the whole thing. Sorry for providing too much content for you Tonk - maybe go watch the Kardashians instead?
Beautiful kit. Really tempting to get one, although I am not a massive spitfire fan and I already have an ICM 1/48 one sitting in stash. And of course another kit that fails to support the handful of people who like in-flight models. I don't understand why is it so hard to throw in a small handful of extra parts for closed landing gear. We already have kits with full internal frame, highly detailed cockpit, engine, gun pods, etc.... of which 90% is not going to be visible anyway. But closed landing gear? Nah... That's just a waste of time. Are those wheel wells deep enough? I haven't seen a kit yet, where the wheel would actually fit in place as it should in real life. They're always shallower, or the wheels are bigger than they should be. It's quite annoying as I would love to have the full wheel being used as it can give more support to the covers.
Thats true, but not when theres a step just near the clean up point - hard to get a basic hobby knife in there, I used one of the Hasegawa Trytool 1mm chisels to get at it, which not every modeller will have in their toolbox.
Yep I agree, and I gave Richard at Kotare that advice when I spoke to him about this review, because I feel with other major quality manufacturers doing the same, it would be much appreciated by modellers to include a canopy mask set.
My only comment in what appears to be an excellent kit is their are no separate inner wing flaps, they've been moulded into the wing, yes we have separate outer ailerons etc but surprised there are no separate landing flaps. I guess this was due to the fact that in 99% percent of cases when the aircraft is on the ground the flaps are flush with the wing.
You hit it on the head Mark for the reason without the molded down flaps - because almost every other Spitfire kit out there (except an old Airfix 1/48 moulding and the superlative Tamiya Spits in 1/32) are all down flaps up...you only see Spitfires flaps down when on landing approach...which funnily enough is an inflight diorama I want to do one day!
I was a bit eager in my initial comment as towards the end of your review you mention the very same thing I said about the inner flaps being always up when the aircraft is at rest. I designed a book on the Spitfire written by the late Dr Alfred Price a number of years back and all the pics of the aircraft through all marks show flaps up when at rest - apart from one - the very first production Spitfire K9787. On the same page is the first Spitfire written off K9792, which flipped on landing due to a fractured axle stub. Whilst its on its back the inner flaps are down as for landing and they show much detail.
Aurora produced the Universal Monsters (2 bucks per kit) including Wolfman, Dracula, the Mummy, the Creature From the Black Lagoon and Frankenstein's Monster. In addition they did a 1954 accurate Godzilla (the best!). Plus a zillion planes and their rivets were huge.
Great pair of broadcasts Chris. 100% agree that more planes should be wheels up. But as a counter on this, as this is a high price kit, and yes engineering is probably one of the best, it has been designed for static display, so you can understand those who are miffed to have no engine. If they provided one, added the extra $ into the kit price, no moaning minis then. Also if you do build in flight, it’d be cool to have the Merlin with an engine stand to display separately. As for the 1/48 Airfix bashing, you should try the Anson and Buccaneer might surprise you. If the Gannet lives up to their promotional photos, even you’ll be tempted to do wheels down, with bifold wings. Keep up the great work.
Thanks Mark. I really like the new 1/48 Airfix stuff in terms of design and detail - don't get me wrong - for example the new Walrus - but Airfix quality control is what lets it down. Short shot sprues, badly packaged parts, and too much variability from kit to kit - I've been burnt too many times to trust them. Maybe the new 1/24 Spit run (which is all made in house and looks fantastic) will turn this around, but I'm very sceptical of their ability to create quality product. And yes I'd do a Gannet wings folded too!
Not just trying to develop a kit, trying to develop a viable company with the most sales of their sole kit, in order to be profitable. Lest, we forget, Wingnut Wings produced complex, superbly detailed kits, and is now defunct...
Hi mate two really nice videos before and after the fact, you have single handed just made me buy one of these stupendous spitfire kits,well done mate.
Hi Penny! Who's a good girl, then? Got me a couple of Tamiya tanks to do before I get to my Spit and feeling a little intimidated by it. But, one step at a time, just suck it up, bear down and soldier on, you won't know if you don't try .... sigh....
@@beckersmodels Yeh, it's a bit like joining the SAS. Just get harder, mate! Don't be a pussy! ...... sort of ...... Thanks, Mr Becker, from across the ditch.
What a great review, thank you! I honestly think this is the standard for kit reviews. It's great to see how detailed parts are on the sprue, but seeing how the kit actually fits together and where any problems might arise is very beneficial for anyone interested in purchasing a kit. I agree with everything you've said about this kit. I'm not a huge Spitfire fan, but I pre-ordered this kit when it was announced because I think Kotare has a great approach to making kits and I wanted to support them. I hope they succeed, and release many more kits in the future. As more of a Luftwaffe guy myself I'd be really looking forward to their take on a 109 or 190!
You're very welcome - and well done on supporting Kotare! I'd love to see a new tool Dora 190 done in a similar style. It seems that Border/Zukei Mora etc are all going down the road of "full interior with everything opened up" and ignoring those of us who want the airframe intact....
Agreed, it seems some companies think 1/32 needs gimmicks to sell. I prefer Kotares approach, and like you said if the modeler wants an engine, or access hatch opened that's what aftermarket is for. I'd love a 190D or A, I've got vanilla modeling tastes, so a Kotare P-51, P-47, etc especially with flush rivets and stressed skin would be welcomed by me!
Thanks for the reviews of this kit, Chris. I love the way they’ve done the wing fillets - it reflects how the actual aircraft wing joins on to the body much better than the usual ‘fillet is part of the body to help align the wing’, leading to that big seam on the outboard edge. Looks like a really great kit. And glad you’ve got your energy back, mate - keep recovering.
Thanks Jason - yes they've definitely paid attention to how the aircraft actually goes together, instead of "just another kit release". Energy levels are rising, but still having trouble sitting down for long periods of time - this review wiped me out!
Thanks for this very in-depth review! Super helpful and honest. I’ve been on the fence about getting it and comparing it to Tamiya but being Kiwi and this being Kiwi owned company and the level of detail and quality, it’s a no brainer.
Thanks! The Tamiya kit is a whole different ball game in my opinion, in fact they good have made it a lot less complicated for less cost without the engine and gun bays etc, which is why their 1/48 tooling is done that way! Cheers, Chris
