Rob, it is a real, full size model of a Spitfire. The TV programme two weeks ago showed James May wanting to produce a 1:1 scale kit of an Airfix Spitfire, so he went to a company who make full-size glass fibre replicas, and asked them to make one the way kits were manufactured. The programme has been posted by V2, from You Tube, on the forum here. Worth watching.
I think it would be cheaper to use panel bonding adhesive on it instead of glue. It's what they use to use on Corvettes to bond the body panels together.