Revell Flt Lft RIF RAF and his Spitsfire Kit First Look

By Michael Benolkin

First Look

A few weeks ago, we looked at one of Revell's reissued aircraft caricature kits from the old days, the Red Baron and His Funfdecker Fokker. That was a spoof of the Fokker Triplane that may not interest some modelers. Oddball kits that are nothing but fun projects appeal to me. Who is going to argue about the accuracy of your Funfdecker?

Well another kit out of that generation (read decades old) tooling is this interesting gem - Flt Lft RIF RAF and his Spitsfire. If this were a real Spitfire, you can be sure that the accuracy crowd would be all over this, but since this is a Spitsfire, we're back on fun territory again.

Molded in green styrene, this kit is presented on four parts trees plus a single clear transparency. You can see from the parts layout that his is not at all a complex kit, but a little time taken in painting and finishing this jewel will really set off the final result.

The kit provides a nice decal sheet to add to the effect including squadron code Y-OY (say that out loud) though you can add your own applicable code like Y-ME, FU-BAR, etc.

Originally released as kit H-192, this kit has also seen kit number 7237 and most recently 1738. The instructions show a previous kit number 1738 as well.

A caricature pilot's head is included that comes complete with a leather flying helmet, goggles, and compulsory pipe.

Markings are provided for a generic Spitsfire, with four kills provided (three Jerries and one wingman).

If you want a fun project to get away from AMS modeling or just to relax for one project, this is one that you've just got to have on your shelf. If you build it up with no paint, it will look pretty cool, but if you take a little time and bring out some of the interesting 'details' molded into the model, this will definitely become an eye-catcher of a model. It is the only decent Spitsfire I know of in this scale (whatever this scale is!).