ICM 1/48 Spitfire XVI

[BombTaxi]

Hi chaps

Just wondering in anyone had done one of these, I've seen the Lifelike decal sheets for them and fancy doing about 5 I'm also tempted as they seem fairly cheap for 1/48, always useful when you're new to the scale. Are they any good?

Cheers

Rich

 

[Airframes]

All ,of the ICM kits are excellent, and generally regarded as the best Spit kits, certainly in this scale, and, until the Tamiya 1/32nd scale kits arrived, in any scale.
However, they can be a bit tricky to assemble, mainly around the nose, and the wing to fuselage fit. I think they were designed to be built with either the engine displayed, using the separate cowlings as diorama 'dressing', or omitting the engine if cowlings closed.
They take a bit of work, but nothing too difficult - have a look at my thread and Crimea River's thread in the Commonwealth Group Builds, where you will see what is required on the MkIX and MkVIII, both basically the same kit. The low back MkXVI is the same, apart from the fuselage of course.

 

[Wurger]

I agree with Terry's opinion here.

 

[BombTaxi]

Thanks very much both. Added to wishlist 8)

 

[Crimea_River]

Go for it Rich.

ICM offer great value with tons of optional parts. In the past they've been known for leaving whole trees out of boxes but this has improved over the years. Plastic tends to be quite soft and you may see warpage. Decals tend to be quite thick but the ones I got with my MkIX had a nice look to them except for the stencils. My decals didn't react at all to Solvaset.

These kits don't snap together like Tam or Has ones but take your time, do lots of dryfitting and aligning and you'll end up with a great looking model.

 

[BombTaxi]

I'll be buying the aftermarket Lifelike decals anyway, seeing the sheets made me want to get the kit.

 

[Airframes]

I agree with Andy. I've just received the ICM Bf109F kit, which in the reviews form a few years back, came out very well, but there were areas which were 'slated' a bit. One of these was the surface of the port top wing, which apparently was pitted. In my example, there's a whole new sprue with the wings, in a different coloured plastic, so looks like ICM are taking notice.
Also, the Spitfire kits had been reported, in the past as having some warped parts, but I didn't have any problems with mine. Great little kits, at a good price, and well worth the small amount of extra effort to get them built - make superb models.