KOTARE 1/32 Spitfire Mk.1a (Mid) review 

I suspect the night/white split paint scheme allowed for easier identification by friendly air defense spotters on the ground, during action over British home turf.

Excellent review as always Peter. I can see the dilemma for Kotare it’s a new company who’s legacy is Wingnut wings. We have to remember that all the years of development and design created no revenue for the company. So the investors will require a product that hit the shelves as quickly as possible and sells. Hopefully this very well produced kit will supply the company with the revenue it requires to develop more products in the rather saturated 1/32 WWII market. Wishing success to Kotare.

Hi , guys I will be buying this kit . I don't know how to put this but from a young boy I made model aircraft kits , my father was a aircraft engineer, I followed in his foot steps and I specialised in aviation structure . Many years later I moved to the Isle of Wight where my parents had retired and found myself working for Airframe assemblies who produce spitfire airframes . I was contracted to build a pair of wings for MK1a X 4650 , KLA crashed in 1940 north Yorkshire . I will do my kit in those markings . Thank you for your review love the channel, the hobby has moved on so much since I was a boy , just getting back into it again.

Made for modellers. Beautiful quality. Take my money. The legacy of WNW lives. No doubt there will be an aftermarket resin engine.

Hi Peter, my spouse and I actually liked the artwork on the box. And we’re both HS art teachers. Go figure? I guess Beauty truly is in the eyes of the beholder! Excellent review for a kit I did preorder. I haven’t looked at it closely yet, because I have enough on the bench and that can be dangerous if you know what I mean. I agree based on your assessment, that it looks to be about a 9 out of 10. I think I bought the kit to support former WN employees more than anything. Thanks for the review and great content you provide your subscribers. 👍🏾

Thanks Peter. Very glad that you’ve returned in strength. Thoroughly reviewed.

WNW needed to depict engines because in most cases they were partially or completely uncowled. As someone who (generally) doesn't build the engine unless he has to, the lack of one in a Spit is no big deal. What is a big deal is the moulded-on detail in a model that's at the Tamiya price-point. This kit was on my wish-list, but no longer.

Hi Peter great in-depth review and hats off to Clive for letting you open the bags so we can get a good look at a really nice kit, so much detail beautiful cockpit set up, don't know about the rigging never done that so would love to get one to make later on as l'm still in the foothills of model making 😅 hope to see more kits from them so l wish them every success as l think this is what our hobby needs, be nice if it could be under a £100 and maybe have the engine as a extra part you buy from Kotare

A fair analysis and agreeable overall mark in my view. I agree with the points made. For a first up kit its not perfect but its still amazing. Any serious kit maker must buy it or at least be tempted. The price is an issue but Kotare have to start the cash flowing from day 1 to be sustainable. Think of it as a donation to great model kit making. I'm sure most of the high end kit makers would think its a fantastic effort and would be very envious and worried about this new competitor. I think the implication here is what might be coming down the track and what their fifth and sixth kits will be like in about 12 to 18 months time. Maybe way better than most.

I don't do 1/32 any more (standardized on 1/48) but did like the kit, especially how they did the instructions. Kotare did put in a lot of detail that you either will not see or will do so with some difficulty. But at least you know it is there! I understand the criticism concerning the lack of an engine. Well, there is no perfect kit...yet. Perhaps Kotare ran out of budget. Thanks for the review, Peter.

Very much appreciate your review. This is the second review of this kit I’ve watched and I’m actually glad I didn’t preorder. Very underwhelmed and disappointed that in 1/32 the lack of any real surface detailing on the wings and fuselage. This kit could have been so much more.

Great inbox, stuning kit that Spitfire with lots of History, thanks for sharing. Greetings from Portugal 🤗

Excellent, very thorough review. I like the art work, it has a serenity about it.

Hi , from Florida, Peter , well it looks to be a good kit but I , truly love the AIRFIX 1/24 and Tamiya 1/32 spit is actually better kits . But I'll buy this to add it to my stash .

For anyone that thinks a 117 part count is low for a 1/32 aircraft, I reckon the fantastic mouldings do away with the need for maybe 30-40 additional separate parts, maybe more. Your point about this being the first kit from a small new producer is spot on Peter - let's judge them after 5 kits (although not 5 versions of this one!).

buen video ! actualmente todavia conservo este mismo modelo de airfix 1/24 KL-B Kiwi un gran saludo .

I was a bit dubious about it due to the price until I watched it being built. Then I decided it was worth the investment.

I did get the Alert from You two. Working Naked with Super Glue didn't go well. It was educational.

Nice review, Peter! When I saw this up on the scheduled I was like "pretty sure he said he cancelled this?!", makes sense you have loaned it from someone else! I agree for the time being (purely because I haven't got my kit yet as I didn't order direct) with your views on the kit itself; I enjoy the fact it has a small parts count and looks a simple build that with some super research and direction you can detail up if you please. I personally am not that bothered it doesn't have an engine in the box, I think as a new company they had to keep the cost to a certain figure to get cash behind the bar so to speak, and they've put their time and effort into the research and the design. I do however wish they had made an engine for this and sold it as a separate that you could buy, so that those who want one could have done so for an extra cost of £25-30 or so. I imagine too we won't know the true "value" of this kit until a few have been built and we see if it all fits together like a Wingnut/Tamiya kit. I've seen a few clumsy comparisons on RU-vid for this kit to the 1/24 Airfix Spit Mk.IXc and I don't think they're valid, as the only competition you have for a Mk.I in 1/32 is the Revell/Hobby 2000 kit which retails at £38 but is a little clunky compared to this kit. I personally cannot wait for my kit to come through the door, and had already pre-bought a mask set for the DW-K markings so that I can spray them rather than have decals. Think it'll probably hit my bench as soon as it comes, and then I shall follow it up with the Hobby 2000 1/32 Bf109E-4 so they can sit side-by-side on my shelf! All the best, Peter, and look forward to a champagne rant coming soon!

The name plates say mark 1/2 so I guess another version will be on the way. Planes are not my thing but it looks a very detailed kit which will be relatively easy to build.

Brilliant review Peter. The instructions are 10/10 with all that research material. I fully agree on the artwork, why is the wing blocking the fuselage!! everything felt very WnW. Like you I cancelled the it was clear there was no engine. but my big take away from this is we have a new top quality manufacturer, once we are passed another Spitfire what is next? its sure to be something to look forward to. Thanks for the very kind words Peter I am on the mend and will put an update out soon. looking forward to you harrier thoughts 👍🏻

Prayer for Jason. Great review, Peter.. Bravo!

Thanks for the review Peter! I personally think that the box art is fantastic, it has this realistic, gritty feeling about it, I personally love it because to me this painting looks very life-like

I'm underwhelmed by this kit, it seems expensive for the price. The interior looks very nice, but I'd rather have separate parts and pre-paint them where needed. Also, the exterior detail seems lacking to me. For roughly the same price you can get the 1/24 Airfix Spitfire with all the engine detail and bigger scale which seems much more attractive to me. Oh well, just my two pennies worth. Cheers, Peter.

Great review Peter, thanks. I think the black and white undersides were an ID marking. I like the box artwork it’s quite atmospheric. I think you have to give them credit for establishing their own identity. Somewhere I saw the artwork for their future Mk.V. It was a head-on view which I think looked stunning. This seems like a £70-80 kit to me but I wish them well and hope it sells like hotcakes.

Thanks for your video review.

Another great video review of a fantastic kit. It is a shame there's no engine with the kit. I will stick with the Airfix 1/24 as you get the engine, etc. Enjoy your Easter weekend.

The black and white wing sections on the early spitfire were for early war identification purposes and not for nighttime flights

The lack of crow bar on this model is correct. It wasn’t introduced until later. I don’t think the flare chutes should be there either.

Hi peter i will start by saying that i have never owned or built a wingnut wings kit,but i have to say that this kit looks a bit disappointing from all the hype that it has generated from the point of ,should i purchase this rather wonderful modelling experience ,as one would have expected going by previous high class models designed and engineered by most of the team who produced the wingnut wings kits,for the purchasing price of approximately £100,i would have expected all the detail that the kit shows, and very well done it looks, but there is virtually no modelling to be done in the cockpit from what i have seen by watching videos or magazine articles ,that same £100,could buy you the Airfix 1/24 scale fully detailed kit as you would expect,and have most of the parts to fit as per a model,go the other end of the scale you can purchase the Revell 1/32 scale spitfire for approx £35 and get an engine included ,admittedly the cheapest kit is not the best ,but having built it myself and many others have also built it on their video blogs ,none have said it is a bad kit quite the reverse,perhaps we are expecting to much,i don’t know, but i do feel a bit disappointed in this product,will i purchase this kit?i don’t know but it will have to wait behind the Airfix kit and some other more exciting looking builds,great video peter and very well done.

Nice model. With no engine, I might have to pass, unless the aftermarket people come through.

Instruction "book" looks brilliant. The cockpit and surface detail look excellent. I dont miss an engine. Of the numerous kits I've built in my 56 years...one had a purposely exposed engine. I wish them success, I'm just not interested in early Mk Spits.

Peter, thanks for the great review, and thanks to Clive--NOT of India--for the subject for you to review! The two items of most doubt to you, the box art and the lack of engine, did not impact me nearly as unfavorably. And, I'm betting that with a first, 'phoenix-like' effort, costs had to be an issue. A proper, Wingnut Wings-like treatment of the engine & bay would have to have been several orders of magnitude more costly for Kotare. And, with what effect on sale? Revell is in business, Wingnut Wings ain't, and Tamiya's engined WWII 1/32 kits are trending toward $200 in the U.S. Always a tough commercial decision... Just one person's opinion here, but I think Supermarine, and its fabricators, knew precisely how to achieve fit & aerodynamic finish in production. I always thought that the reason the fuel tank cover stood proud of the surrounding panels was because it was armor (aluminium?), and therefore substantially thicker. The urgencies of war production in those fraught months meant one could not even slow production lines to redesign the supporting framework in order to "hide" the extra thickness--not for an extra two mph, and certainly not for aesthetics. BTW, Inconel exhausts on Spitfires and Hurricanes meant that rust was never going to be an issue. Burn-out eventually, yes, but not rust. A point long missed by many modelers.

Lots of reviews on Yt really praise the kit considering the surface detail....and I donť see it. I would go with Tamiya in 1/32. Eduard in 1/48 has better surface detail (excellent imho). The lack of engine is also sad. But I would like to see another model from Kotare and hope for best. I´ve bought Takom Apache 1/35 instead, which is awesome :)

Yes, DWK with the Exhaust sanded as was done.

Hi I have the same problem with superglue, only have to take the top off before I start to sneeze and suffer from the hay-fever symptoms. I have found a solution that works for me by using Bob Smith odorless glue both in thin and medium types . A bit expensive but worth every penny Give it a try

Inconel "inco" alloys are still used on aero engines in 2024 😊

Your neighbour seems to have started up his Heinkel III

Looks like a beautiful kit, I for one not bothered about having the engine included.

This looks like a great kitset, as they would say in NZ. The no engine bit. The problem here is that they are a new company at some point they have to get the ball rolling and get some cash flow coming through the door. How much more time and money would be soaked up for developing and designing the engine. Look at the complexity of an engine, it’s not a 5 minute job, some engines are worth a kit on their own. If your Airfix, Tamiya or have the deep pockets of Peter Jackson (worth $1.5 billion according to Forbes) you can spend extra time on the engines. Tamiya and Airfix have hundreds of other products to sell while this extra work is done. Kotare have nothing else to sell, this is their first product. I think the first few models won’t have engines but in the future if successful they will come. On other note Dunkirk was a good movie the different time elements was weird but understandable, however someone needs to sit Christopher Nolan down and tell him to stop it with this time nonsense because his next film Tenet was just bloody confusing 😂. Nolan’s next film Oppenheimer which will be released this year looks good though.

Looks good, especially the Instruction book, but requires a bit too much extra work for my liking. That "badly fitting cover over the fuel tank was thick alloy "deflection armour", which is why it looked badly fitting. There was no room inside for any armour.

Surely the loose item in the first bag was the carburretor air intake, not the oil cooler.

Shouldn't there be riveting on the wings and fuselage like the Tamiya 1/32 Spitfire's do? Just looks very bare. I do wish it had an engine as well. What a missed opportunity.

When is the review going up Peter? I just ordered this one as well.

New to channel, can I ask why all the lamps? Do you have these all on when building?

It was if you attack downward over land use the black side. Went to flat white not Sky Battle of Brittin. Went Black and white too just white. Call Signs are white nor gray. P 51 airplanes were blue got the paint from the Wasp intermediate blue. Looks green new. LOL

90p per piece of plastic then? Holy moly!

Great review , Wow no engine , no gun bays , no ammo belts , no removable gun bay panels , no canopy mask , no PE , very disappointing , its like they stoped at the cock pit and yes it's way to expensive for the missing guns and engine details . I think for the 100 pounds , you are paying for the comprehensive wing nut wings style reference booklet instructions, the accurate floor and cockpit detail but once buttoned up you can't really see this detail as scale is 1/32, unlike the Airfix much bigger 1/24 scale where you can see the internal details. You are also paying for the accurate, panel lines raised and flush rivets. The Airfix D Day operation overlord with new mouldings 2022 version 1/24, is the best all rounder spitfire and priced reasonably and is affordable for most people where as this Kotare cost much more than the bigger 1/24 Airfix version . That big colour Kotare reference instruction booklet that is excellent , Im thinking is pushing the price the kit to unaffordable territory and bad value . I just don't see the value at 100 pounds. If I want a buttoned up spit where you can't see internals, I would just get the 25 pound 1/32 scale revell kit that also comes with no engine and add the raised rivets at the tail end and replicate flush rivets save 80 pounds .

It's nice , just a bit boring subject for a kit (slightly overdone theme😅)

Keep missing the notifications...sigh. Get well SOON Jason!

👍👍👍

Shame no wheels up option straight out the box.

Some Yellow Submarine shit. That was lovely. LOL

1556? That's also the year Anne Hathaway was born (Shakespeare's missus)

Ground crew would sand the exhaust, Some times either way is good, LOL

Firstly, I love the channel and your content. I have watched a few reviews about this kit. I feel that if this kit were say a Hobby Boss or Revell kit, you guys would have ripped it apart. No engine or gun compartment detail, for the price, come on. I would rather buy the Revell MK II.

Ah has Kotare made a 1/32 spitfire, I'd not noticed....

I cancelled mine, I saw a review and while it was positive it was compared to the new Airfix 1/24 and was lacking in detail, things like no engine. I may buy it if the price drops in future, and as I already have the Airfix 1/24 I couldn't justify it right now, especially for the price of £90+ I could buy at least 2 great quality kits with some aftermarket into the bargain.

.....красивый набор,но уровень комплекта средний......

To expensive for wot you get £60-£70 tops all its worth

Too much for what you get. Bought the Airfix 1:24 for around the same price

Again a review misses the stabilizers. Absolutely totally devoid of a single rivet impression. Looked at the real thing and yessir it does have visible rivetting. Very let down at the sparsness of skin detail. Molded in oxy tanks? Thought this was going to be the new hot one in 1/32. And ANOTHER DW-K. Oh man.....

Nine and a half was being charming. it was not . Can't say Nine and a half laughing. LOL

Trying to save this Spitfire is pain full it sucks don't it. LOL

Another two small Airifix Did. No reason to buy it. LOL

Underwhelming really nothing special in my book

I saw the kit at Telford 2022 and thought Meh 🫤 Now I see it from the box and I’m yeah whatever. It’s not that impressive. You’re going to pay out £100 + for an average looking kit. For the extra £30 or so you’ll get a more refined and better detailed kit from Tamiya. Or like someone else has said about the 1/48 Eduard kits. Sorry not sorry but the kit is overpriced and overhyped.