Spitfire mkVc trop, 20th group of 51 Stormo, Italian Cobelligerant Air Force, Lecce-Galatina, Italy, end of 1944 - Eduard profipack 1/48
First project of 2026, built during a Spitfire double build.
Kit is the Eduard 1/48 , the sEcond Eduard Spit I've built and there is nothing I cant'add about it that hasn't already been written: the kit is wonderful, maybe just a little over engineered.
This aircraft belonged to the 20th group of the 51st Stormo of the Regia Aeronautica (you can see their famous black cat logo on the tail), one of the really few units flying the Spitfire alongside the allies in the Italian Cobelligerant air force after the italian armistice. The MkV received by the italian army were heavily used planes, refurbished after their long use in the jugoslav air force. They had been repainted from the british maintenance unit just before being delivered to italian air force, and many of them received additional painting from the italian ground units, so there have been a long and inconclusive debate about their liveries. A color video from the imperial war museum of London shows them in early 1945 in the standard grey/green camo,, while most books about them (like ''Spitfire italiani'' by Alegi) and some pictures of mid 1944 suggest that they were delivered in a tropical scheme. I went with the latter choice, expecially after seeing the only 2 b/w existent pictures of ''20-1'', the plane I've built.
I've used the nice decal sheet from 'Exotic decals' for the Spitfires in italian service, and added the pilot and dog figures painted by a talented friend of mine.
All airbrushed with vallejo model air, weathering done with vallejo pigments, artist pencils and abteilung oil.
Thanks for watching, and critics are really welcome!