For me, this kit was a perseverance project. I actually considered throwing it away without finishing it when I was about midway through. This is my story.

I bought the kit a few years ago when I wanted a late-war Spitfire; I had three Spitfire Mk Is in my collection. The Eduard kit was what I found, and it looked promising. Eduard has a reputation for fine, high-precision products, including photo-etch add-ons, masks, and full kits. Those extras that you get in a “ProfiPACK” edition (as opposed to their simpler “Weekend Edition” series) ironically kept me from trying to build the model for a while, though. Sometimes (most of the time!) I just don’t want to mess with anything too complicated. But recently I have been on a Normandy jag, especially the British Army in Normandy, completing some Plastic Soldier Company vehicles, an Airfix Typhoon, as well as all the landing craft I might have had on the shelf. The only project that remained undone in this department was this Spitfire, so I determined to give it a go. At first, I was having a great time with it, and it was all so well manufactured that it didn’t feel very hard. “Why have I have been afraid of this kit!?” I asked myself, getting excited about moving to the one other Eduard ProfiPack kit I have…

The first (and only) sign of trouble arose when it came time to attach the fuselage to the wings. It wasn’t that it kind of didn’t fit — it was way, way off. It wasn’t small gaps, it was whole millimeters away from joining like it was supposed to. I had to cut away part of the fuselage inner walls, and even then it didn’t quite work. That was when I thought I might as well just toss it all out. Knowing Eduard’s reputation, I was baffled. So I looked up a number of kit reviews online. Everyone sang the praises of the kit’s beautiful precision, but I did finally find a video review of the build (not just the box and parts) that said getting the fuselage and the wings together was “finicky.” Feeling somewhat validated, I decided to carry on. It took clamps, lots of putty and lots of sanding to get it even passable, but somehow it worked. (You just can’t look too closely at the wing roots.)

Yes, and I even really like the plane and would do another Eduard kit. The details and the lines are really fine — not that I have totally done it justice here, mind you. As I look back on it, I think what it might come down to, at least in part, is that the kit’s very precision is exacting and unforgiving. For it to work perfectly, I have to make sure I do every step just right, and often I don’t. (Or maybe this kit’s fuselage design is bonkers…) I do know for a fact that I had one of the wings ever so slightly off kilter. Wouldn’t matter with most kits. I think every kit I have made has at least one mistake built into it; that’s the nature of the hobby, and for me it’s part of what keeps it interesting.