Opinions? Whats the best looking spitfire kit out there of any variant? Yellow Aircraft Mk XIV? Pica Spifire. Top Flite? Others?

I like the top flite kit myself. other than the non scale tail section it seems to be a very good kit however it is also a little on the heavy side

Best Spitfire kit, I will be building the Top Flite Spit myself this winter but, have you seen Mick Reeves exact scale Spits? They look sweet!
I have no idea which is the best! [:-]

I have seen a few built, and of them the one I'm planning to buy myself is the Mick Reeves 1/6 scale kit.

I guess it depends on your requirements. The Topflite is possibly the best flying (I haven't flown one but they do compromise on scale looks for flying qualities - I have the Thunderbolt and Mustang and they are compromised in many areas for forgiving handling). If I was given a Topflite kit I'd happily build it and fly it, but I don't think I'd want to spend much overall on it - not because it's bad in any way, just because I'd rather spend the money on a more accurate Spit since the word "Pedant" doesn't even begin to describe me .

On the subject purely of looks, I suppose it depends how well you know Spitfires? If you know Spitfires well then many kits have "features" which really jump out. The Spitfire is a shape which doesn't tolerate being changed.

It's hard to compare kits without bashing them (at least I find that anyway) so I apologise in advance for a seemingly negative tone, but if we go on the basis on taking a perfect scale Spitfire replica and noting all the deviations from scale then I guess we'd have something like:

Topflite: Canopy too small, nose wrong shape, tail surfaces too big, undercarriage set too far apart, belly scallops omitted.

Yellow: Belly scallops omitted (possibly more? that's all I know about)

Mick Reeves: The most accurate as far as I'm aware, but the wooden fuselage builts very tail heavy and even the new epoxy glass fuselages are still a lot of work - probably the toughest build

Pica: Undercarriage too far apart, and uses completely wrong geometry, folding straight out in front of the main spar instead of folding rearwards with rake and pintle on the retract units. It's also built from 1/4" balsa sheet sides so it's flat sided in section and not eliptical sectioned as per the real thing. The overall outline isn't too bad apparently, but the nose is too long by almost an inch which spoils the proportions a bit and I believe it has a flat belly too.

Then there are the options of just buying scale plans and laser cut parts, such as Brian Taylor's offerings, which are pretty much bang on the money scale wise but challenging builds too.

I'd be happy to receive input from others about Spitfire kits though, and am happy to be corrected anywhere that appears wrong.

None of the kits really look that bad so they'd all make something that looks like a Spitfire in the air. Your choice I guess will depend upon the effort and money you want to expend on it and what you judge to be good enough The Topflite ones benefit from quite possibly the best instruction manuals going which is great for newcomers to fairly complex builds, and the Mick Reeves and Brian Taylor offerings are IMO the best representations of Spitfires (and I know people with both and they do fly very well also ). Infact I know a guy on his 3rd Mick Reeves Spitfire, such is his love for them

http://www.clarkindustries.on.ca/

Yak

I forgot about that one - it's VERY nice

Wow! The Mick Reeves Spit is very good looking and very realistic. Just had to Google it. I was surprised to find a lot of flying footage of these versions on Youtube. Not a fan of the fun-fly and 3D style take-offs people often showcase though.

You are probably referring to the 1/6 PICA Spitfire. The 1/5 scale Spit, although still "sport scale", has a better undercarriage geometry and looks the part when finished. The most obvious departure from true scale is the omission of the rather characteristic "gull wing" in the rear centre section of the wing. This is a pet peeve of Spitfire aficionados, but most people won't notice. The Yellow Aircraft Spitfire also has this deviation from scale. Unfortunately the PICA range of kits are not produced anymore.

As always, in the end it is down to the skills of the builder whether or not any of the kits mentioned in theis thread will result in a convincing scale model of the Spitfire. IMHO the Brian Taylor Spitfire plans are still the ones to beat as far as scale accuracy is concerned.

Excellent information here, folks. I really appreciate it. I am not only interested in appearance. Flyability for the less than expert pilot is important for me. The giant scales are too much for me too, size and expense.

Any comments on the Royal / Marutaka Spitfire?

I have 2 Royal kits in the box waiting to be built a ME109,and a FW190 A8 there both nice looking kits but there full of wood blocks to carve and sand they also go for a ton of cash at places like ebay,really more than there worth.
I am preparing to build the FW this winter and thinking I might recut the kit with new wood fresh wood most of it is hard and stiff from sitting in a box for so long.
as for the spitfire the TF is a nice build they come out a little heavy,if you glass them, mine is about 11lbs balanced with 1lb4oz of lead in the nose.
glassed and painted all the insignias and markings.
powered by a pumped OS91fs

The Royal spitfire is alot more accurate then top flite but has some issues which cause problems. It uses a solid nose in which the engine is side mounted and is sticking out in the breeze. This does not look good but an OS AX 55 might work well. Will come out tail heavy just like every other spitfire. Quite a handful to build, Royal assumes you know how to build and supplies no aids. Plans are available on Ebay quite often and you can use a Top Flite canopy. It will build a very light airframe. In realistic terms, the Top Flite is the only real choice in a Spitfire that is available and does the job for a reasonable amount of money.

Thanks for the Royal comments. "Quite a handful to build" is not a negative for me. I am on a mission to collect some Royal kits and would certainly buy a Spitfire if/when I find one; or two. Whatever I eventually build, a RCV engine is definitely an engine I will consider and not just for aesthetics.

Here's a TopFlite Spitfire with the RCV 90 engine. I did not do any mods to improve the outline. That would have been a bit much for a fisrt build.

Scott

saramos - where did you get you pilot? Great looking plane.

He's a Century Jets 1/7 WW-II british unpainted pilot, part number W2BF7NP. It was the only full body 1/7 scale pilot I could find. It really needed a lot of work. The casting was really really rough and a bit heavy. I did a lot of grinding to hollow him out and smooth a lot of the rough texture.

Scott