Has anyone had any experience of AZ Models? Or, more specifically, their
1/48 Spitfire XI.Any comments?
Hmmm....that box shows a PRU unit Spit which may have bulges/camera ports not seen on the regular Spit. If it is an accurate PRU Spit it would also be missing all it's guns. You can see what appears to be a camera port in the fuselage roundel and there should be others either in the lower wing surfaces or in the belly depending on the PRU variant.
was there a variant with 2 mg's? i thought i read that but it could be crs.
I seem to remember reading of at least one version that retained a couple of guns too but in most cases they were all removed in an effort to coax a few more MPH out of the planes. Speed was their only real defence and every ounce of weight saving was vital to their survival.
i'm sure the vast majority were weaponless and some of the mission accounts i've read were exciting, to understate. one poor guy had 7-8 109's on his ass for 35 minutes, the swiss cheesed his tail and rear fuselage but he got home, drenched in sweat to make a no wheels landing, bounced into a blenheim and ended up upside down in a drainage ditch. i huess it was a 3 camera plane and he only had one when he landed that wasn't shot to shit. he was later told it had bad film! talk about a bad day. anyway, i seem to remember that it was the very early birds with 2 guns and a short ammo load. that sound right? may have been during the bob. wish i could find the reference but this place ain't got no semblance of order.
Snip
I think you could be right in so far as it was *some* of the early PRU Spits that carried a couple of guns, it rings bells with me.
I am a volunteer beta-tester for a computer flight sim of the BoB period and one of the guys just recently did a re-paint of the 3D model in PRU Green and it looks very sweet indeed.
Here is a link to the forum thread and there are lots of pics and info contained within the three pages.
The situation with regards to early PR Spitfires was very confused. PR Spitfires had their own mark designations based on letters rather than numbers. They ranged from PR Type A through to PR Type G, which caused no end of confusion when armament suffixes were introduced on the fighter versions. Eventually, the early PR vesions were given a parallel numerical designation scheme but that *still* caused problems. Hardly surpising as there were now PR.V, PR.VI and PR.VII - mark numbers which had already been issued to fighter variants. Some were designated PR.IV, when the "Mk.IV" slot was already taken by the prototype Griffon Spitfire that later because the Mk.XX and even later the Mk.XII. Confused? You ain't seen nothin' yet! ;-)
The simplest explanation of early PR designations that I have seen is at
The later PR versions were no less confusing. The PR.XI was produced in two versions - one with a Mk.V rear fuselage and rounded rudder, the other with a Mk.VIII rear fuselage and pointed rudder. The PR.X related to the PR.XI in the same manner as the Mk.VIII related to the Mk.IX. The X was the preferred design, with the XI being a stopgap that ended up being built in greater quantities. The PR.X also had the pressure cabin from the Mk.VII. See... I *told* you it gets confusing.
There was also a PR.XIII. While every Spitfire from the Mk.VII upwards had had a two-stage Merlin, the PR.XIII went back to a single-stage Merlin. These aircraft were converted from Mk.VB production and the prototype, L1004, had originally been built before the war as a Mk.I ! The PR.XIII was another armed recce version - both cannons were deleted but the four machine guns were retained. (L1004 had a rather interesting life. Built as a Mk.I, it was converted to a Mk.Va, later to prototype PR.XIII standard and finally became the Seafire L.IIIc prototype.)
Even the introduction of the "definitive" PR Spifire, the Griffon-engined PR.XIX, wasn't as simple as could be expected. The PR.XIX was built in early and late versions, without and with a pressure cabin respectively.
thanks, great stuff.
huh? thanks enzo. i knew it wasn't simple. brit motorbike makers learned from the ac makers how to obfuscate.
Thanks for that great info Enzo.
Enzo, I don't know if you've tried to track down any info about AZ Models. The thread quite quickly deviated from your original question. I couldn't find a whole lot on the web, but there is an in-box preview of their 1/72 Breda 27 that includes the following:
"This is the first (AZ 7201) in an injection moulded extension to the line of Czech resin kits under the Legato banner. The resin parts included have the Legato logo on them. The PE parts are Eduard and the decals Tallyho. These are both of recognised and well-known quality. The instructions are by H-Models and are very similar to RS Model kits, also a small Czech producer."
...which probably translates to mixed media, nice surface detail and a fair amount of work to build it.
Interestingly, the Hannants list of future releases includes three Spitfires in 1/48 from Legato: a PR Mk.IX, a PR Mk. X/XI, and a MK.XI UTI two-seater (Russian). Although Legato produces resin kits, Hannants lists these as injection molded. Dunno how these will relate to the AZ Spit.
HTH Pip Moss
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