This project was started purely in a hurry - I was grabbing kits to take to our club bring and build event and one happened to be a recon model which suited a Britmodeller GB running at the time.
The model is one of the SEAC Spitfire low back XIV models, in recon configuration. It comes with decals for SM888 based in India and later Malaya with 28th Squadron or NH926 which appeared post war, but has clipped wings on all profiles I have found, so I decided to stick with SM888 to avoid model surgery.
For anyone who has not come across one of the F-Toys kits, it is what is known as a Gashapon model made in Japan. Primarily aimed at the domestic Japanese market, these models sit somewhere between a standard kit and a pre-finished diecast collectable. They come with similar level of detail to a good kit, they are pre-coloured (detailed exteriors and basic interior colours) but require assembly, they can be push fitted but work best with cement and decals are provided for most of the markings, often with a couple of variations possible. To make them more fun, they are most often purchased in 'blind boxes' apparently from candy vending machines (the boxings actually include chewing gum, I've not yet tried any, never sure of the vintage), which tell you the selection they come from, but not specifically which kit is in the box and most ranges include a bonus scheme or two which are not shown on the packaging.
This model is from a few years back, 'Versus 6' collection which includes the Spitfire and an Me-163. The F-Toys range is very extensive and includes a great many WW2 types as well as jets and helicopters. Most of these aircraft have never been made available in kit form in 144th, so for scale collectors these Gashapons are of great interest. They are not available from any commercial sellers outside Japan, so you have the option to buy an entire retail box of these (for about £40 before postage, in which you get ten kits - the nine officially listed and one of two bonus models, although contents may occasionally vary) for the very short availability window following release, or to buy individually at great markup from eBay sellers.
This incidentally was part of a collection that my wife picked up from a vendor a couple of years ago that I have slowly started pilfering or trading for other kits!
Built up quite quickly, this model has a rather lower quality finish than most of the more recent releases. The camo doesn't flow between wings and fuselage and the white stripes are too translucent. The camera ports are represented by rather naff silver circles so I decided to have a shot at drilling those out.
Fortunately my rather drastic approach worked fine, filled in with a dab of glue.
A full repaint in AK 3G Dark Earth and Revell Dark Green (68) followed.
Careful masking needed for the while stripes
Decals applied. Unfortunately the F-Toys decals are very thick and never conform well to panel lines. Fortunately the decals were quite small and didn't cover too many lines and surfaces.
Some flat varnish and reasonably heavy weathering to represent the hard worked South Asian based aircraft finished off the Spitfire. The Albion truck is from Ray Rimes 3d printed models - I went with a sandy colour based on some photos of trucks in India at this time which had been diverted from North Africa. The figures are from Heroes Models Italy, the lovely shirtless tropical crew.
