Barracuda Studios have released a series of resin superdetailing sets designed for Revell’s recent largescale Spitfire Mk.IX. The pattern-making and casting is everything we’ve come to expect from Roy Sutherland - i.e. faultless, with some jaw-dropping detail!

Spitfire Mk. IX Seat with Backpad & Armour

BR32336 - Spitfire Mk. IX Seat with Backpad & Armour - Price: $7.95
There just two parts to this set - the seat itself, complete with delicate mounting brackets, and the armour plate. Care will be needed removing the casting plinths, because the parts are cast to scale thickness. The base of the seat is probably going to be the trickiest, because of the indentation in the seat pan for the small compressed air bottle used to inflate the emergency life raft - get too enthusiastic and you’ll risk sanding right through. Otherwise, everything else looks very straightforward to prepare, but because the back armour is correctly thin, you may need to warm it gently to ensure it’s perfectly flat.

The seat is crisply detailed back and front, and the texture of the backpad is beautifully done, with a very convincing “lived in” (or should that be “sat against”?) look. Beyond enlarging the holes in the Revell fuselage frame to accept the resin brackets, you just need to trim the base of kit's seat frame to allow the armour plate to fit, so this should be quite a suitable upgrade set for anyone new to working with resin parts.

The set comes with a small sheet of instructions with a step-by-step guide to preparing and painting the parts. There are full-colour photos to help you Instructions.

Spitfire Mk. IX Cockpit Door

BR32338 - Spitfire Mk. IX Cockpit Door - Price: $4.95
If you’ve spent time detailing a model Spitfire’s cockpit, as likely as not you’ll want to show off the interior by posing the entry door open. Barracuda Studios’ resin version is quite superb, cast almost wafer thin (unlike the overly thick items usually included in kits) with some exquisite detail on the release mechanism and the holders for the crowbar. The crowbar itself is separate crowbar - which not only makes painting much easier, but allows you the option of matching many period photos of Spitfires in service where the crowbar is missing.

Once again, Roy has provided a neat of instructions, with a colour reference photo of a full-sized door along with a comparison shot of the finished resin version. There's no modifcation to the Revell kit indicated in the instruction, so this will be an ideal set for newcomers to resin upgrades.

Spitfire Mk. IX Cockpit Snapshot Upgrade

BR32339 - Spitfire Mk. IX Cockpit Snapshot Upgrade - Price: $15.95
This set will completely transform the Revell cockpit (it may also be adapted to work with the PCM kit) by providing a mass of beautifully detailed new parts that include the lower sidewalls, the throttle and undercarriage retraction control, gunsight and spare bulbs, control column, compass, oxygen supply, canopy lock and more.

The casting is impeccable, but many of the parts are small and delicate, so removing them from their plinths will require real care to avoid damaging them.

Also included is a comprehensive set of decal placards and instrument faces, plus a short length of soft wire for the electrical cables on the control column.

Once again the instructions are excellent. Printed on two sides this time, with colour photos of the parts along with reference shots. The photos show where you’ll need to do a little minor surgery to the Revell kit and add a few items such as hydraulic lines from scratch.

Due to its complexity and the delicacy of some of the parts, this isn’t a set that will be suitable for beginners or anyone who’s impatient or ham-fisted. Built and painted carefully, though, the end result should look amazing.

Conclusion

Roy Sutherland is without doubt one of the finest pattern-makers in our hobby, and these latest sets are everything we've come to expect from him. Roy’s detailing is simply jaw-dropping, and these are the kind of detail sets that make you want to buy the kit they're intended for, simply so that you can use them! Highly recommended.

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