Background

The Spitfire needs no introduction, but perhaps it's worth adding a word or two about Kotare. The company rose phoenix-like from the ashes after the tragic demise of Wingnut Wings, who totally transformed the market for WWI aircraft kits with their stunning quality 1:32 models.

Whilst Kotare is a completely new company with no connection to WNW, it's also based in New Zealand and draws on the talents of many of the team who did so much to make WNW the incredible success that it was. So, some of the styling will be familiar to fans of WNW kits - and what's unchanged is the team's clear commitment to exceptional quality, accuracy and detail.

However, the new company's first project has marked a clear break with the former WNW range in one respect, by turning to WWII and one of the most iconic fighters of all time, the Supermarine Spitfire. In the process Kotare have filled a clear gap in the crowded market by modelling the earliest variants to the highest mainstream standards.

The Kit

Kotare's 1:32 Spitfire arrives in a very classy and sturdy top-opening box, with all the runners bagged individually for protection in transit. Everything in my kit was in perfect condition. The kit comprises:

110 x grey styrene parts (plus 18 unused

11 x clear styrene parts (plus 1 not needed)

Decals for 3 x colour schemes  

The moulding is faultless in my example, as you'd hope with a modern mainstream new-tool kit. There's no flash or sink marks, and the designers look to have been able to keep ejection pins safely out of sight. Most are very shallow, but there are a few raised stubs on the reverse side of some parts, such as the lower cockpit sides, which will be quick and easy to remove.

The surface finish is superb, with crisp panel lines, plus a faithful rendition of the lapped panels, with beautifully delicate raised rivets in some areas and subtle flush rivets in others. The fabric-covered control surfaces are depicted realistically taught as you'd find on a well maintained airframe, with lightly modelled rib tapes and stitching.

Basic construction is a little different to most kits, with separate wing-root fillets and rear fuselage spine, along with all the nose panels, so for once I'm not going to include a general test-fit of the airframe parts in the review. Suffice to say, though, all the mouldings look absolutely straight and true, not least because of the extensive internal "ribs", so I don't foresee any difficulties. Once I've published this review I'll start a full build, so watch out for that when I post it separately.

A Few Details

Construction begins conventionally enough with the cockpit, which is beautifully detailed with over 30 parts. The exact number depends on whether you're modelling a pre-war or wartime aircraft, so there are several options including the armour plate fitted for rear protection from May 1940 onwards. The kit includes alternative seats moulded with and without a Sutton harness, giving you the option to install aftermarket seatbelts if you wish.

The instrument panel crisply detailed and is supplied with no less than 23 individual decals for the instrument faces etc., so it should look excellent when finished and "glazed" with drops of varnish. There are also a further 20 or so decal placards for the rest of the cockpit, so the finished "office" will look very comprehensively detailed straight from the box. 

Turning to the wings, the earliest colour scheme requires the removal of the gun-heating hot air outlets on the underside, so blanking plates are provided to go behind the filler. The other thing you'll need to do is trim away the heating ducts behind the radiator - which is not such an easy task to do neatly, so it's a shame Kotare didn't supply these as separate parts.

The machine guns are supplied with and without flash suppressors, and those which protrude from the wings are slide-moulded for a hollowed-out look. I'll check to see if the latter can be installed after the wings are completed and painted. A neat touch for pre-war aircraft is the inclusion of an optional external gun camera to mount on the starboard wing. The model can be built with either a ring and bead or reflector gunsight.

The undercarriage is simple and sturdy, and the mainwheels are weighted to give the finished model  a realistic sit. The hubs are crisply detailed and the tyres have Dunlop text on the sidewalls. The tailwheel is very straightforward, with the wheel moulded integrally with the leg.

The wheel wells are boxed in and neatly detailed with the internal structure, and a couple of decal placards are provided to complete things. 

The kit offers both a wooden 2-bladed Watts propeller and the later 3-bladed de Havilland unit,  along with two styles of exhausts. Even the exhausts are provided with decals - something I've never found before in a kit.

Something I've never seen reproduced in a Spitfire kit before is the exposed fuel tank ahead of the cockpit as seen on the earliest airframes.

Rounding everything off is a set of superb quality clear parts,  with three canopy-style options - an unarmoured windscreen and a flat hood, an unarmoured windscreen with a bulged hood, and finally an armoured windscreen and a bulged hood. The canopies can all be modelled closed or open, and there are closed and open cockpit doors provided to match. 

Instructions & Decals

The instructions are produced to the same high standard as the rest of the kit. The 28-page A4 booklet is printed in colour on top-quality stock and is beautifully illustrated with stylish and clear shaded diagrams. Just like with the old Wingnut Wings instructions, Kotare really take things to a level above what you find as standard from other manufacturers, combining concise assembly text with very useful reference photos and notes. I know many of us love to build up a library of reference books but, honestly, Kotare have provided everything you need here in the kit - and the format of including the references at each stage works brilliantly because they've actually highlighted a lot of details that I might well have otherwise missed.

Kotare provide colour matches for Tamiya and Humbrol model paints, plus Federal and British Standards where applicable. Overall, the instructions and the reference notes in them are so good, they will be well worth keeping for future use.

The kit includes decals for three colour schemes that span the Spitfire's early career with an attractive selection of camouflage and markings:

A. Spitfire Mk.I, s/n K9795, "White 19", 19 Sqn., October 1938

B. Spitfire Mk.I, s/n K9798, "WZ-L", 19 Sqn., May 1939

C. Spitfire Mk.Ia, s/n L1065, "PR-E", 609 Sqn., August 1940

The decals are custom-printed by Cartograf to their usual top quality. The colours look excellent and the glossy items are printed with pin-sharp registration and without any excess carrier film unless it's used to group elements. 

Conclusion

Kotare's Spitfire Mk.I is a superb kit and this particular boxing is especially versatile because it seems to include all the parts for their first release of the Mk.Ia, plus it provides addition parts for the early-production airframes. It's beautifully engineered to pack in masses of detail without resorting to a high parts count, so it's well suited for modellers of most abilities; relative beginners should find the  construction straightforward (apart from trimming away the gun-heating ducting for the pre-war machines), but the instructions also highlight refinements and extras that can be added by experienced modellers to take the kit to an even higher level of detail.

As Mal Mayfield always says, "You can't have too many Spitfires!", and although there are plenty of Spitfire kits available, Kotare's really is something a bit special. It's a kit that simply cries out "Build me!" and I can hardly wait to get started! I thoroughly recommend it for anyone looking to add a 1:32 Spitfire Mk.I to their collection.

Kit #K32004 is available now worldwide from Kotare - Price: $109.00

Its usual UK price is between £90-£100, but I spotted a real bargain and purchased my kit from Jadlam Models for just £69.99 - a steal at that price!

Please remember, when contacting retailers or manufacturers, to mention that you saw their products highlighted here - on AEROSCALE