... or perhaps this should be called "The Spitfire that almost was."
Hi all
It's long been my ambition to build a model of the Spitfire in it's pre-Prototype form. Of course, strictly speaking, it wasn't actually called a Spitfire at that stage - it was the Supermarine Type 300. The inspiration for my build comes from a drawing by Harry Robinson based on the best information of how Reginald Mitchell's fighter appeared in January 1935.
The list of changes between the design at that stage and the form in which it flew just over a year later includes:
A shorter rear fuselage with a different cross-section, plus a tighter cockpit canopy.
The horizontal tail is set lower - this was moved up (along with the fuselage being lengthened) for the prototype because wind-tunnel tests predicted poor spinning characteristics.
A slightly different shaped wing with less dihedral.
A different exhaust and cooling system, so the classic Spitfire underwing radiators are missing, but there's a retractable radiator under the fuselage.
An armament of 4 x Browning .303s and light bombs.
I'll be using the new Airfix Spitfire Mk 1 as a basis for the project - but there'll be some radical surgery involved and (obviously) this isn't going to be a quick build - even by my notorious standards!
I'll post updates as when I make progress...
All the best
Rowan
