Designing a new Spitfire, Airfix style

Welcome to this latest edition of our Workbench blog and all the news, updates and modelling exclusives from the fascinating world of Airfix.

In this, the first regular formal edition of Workbench for 2022, we will be starting this new year of blogs in a manner in which we hope to continue, with our latest model exclusive feature. With the new 2022 Airfix range proving to be something of an embarrassment of modelling riches and includes so many highlight projects which await the Workbench treatment, choosing that first feature for the year was always going to be difficult, but then again, perhaps not. With the first Airfix new tooling announcement for the year catching everyone off guard somewhat and coming the day prior to the previously communicated range announcement date, surely this has to be our first update subject for the year, not to mention the fact that it is our latest ‘Superkit’ new tooling and a continuation of our proud association with Britain’s most famous aircraft type.

We are pleased to confirm that this 173rd edition of Workbench will be a blog celebration of our new 1/24th scale Supermarine Spitfire Mk.IXc model kit and will feature an interview with the kit’s designer, who will give us a fascinating insight into the work of our Product Design Team, but specifically, looking at some of the challenges and triumphs he faced during the development of this new kit. We will also be featuring a selection of exclusive imagery taken straight from the designer’s computer screen, as we provide readers with a visual insight into the early stages of this exciting new project. 

It’s a case of chocks away and power up those engines, as we embark on another year of Airfix Workbench updates.

I designed a Spitfire

The Spitfire model on display at the recent Duxford event was an early sample model and was built using the very first test components from the new 1/24th scale Spitfire Mk.IXc tooling. 

Can you possibly imagine how attention grabbing it must be to be able to claim that you were involved in the design of a Spitfire, one of the most famous aircraft in the history of flight and an aircraft type which is just as widely familiar to huge numbers of people today, as it was when the first aircraft entered Royal Air Force service back in 1938? If you were to hear these words spoken in any social situation, you would undoubtedly immediately stop what you were doing and prepare to interrogate the deliverer of such an incredible statement, however, even though you know you could not be speaking to either R.J Mitchell or Joseph Smith, you could well be in the company of Airfix Senior Product Designer Chris Joy. With Airfix and the Spitfire sharing a close bond which dates back to 1955 and the release of our first aircraft plastic construction kit, many people’s association with the Spitfire began with the building of a model kit and as such, Chris and his design colleagues over the years have done much to promote and preserve the legacy of this iconic aircraft.

As modellers will know only too well, Airfix have a proud reputation of designing and producing various marks of Spitfire kits in several different scales over the years and as a consequence, a number of our product designers both past and present have time ‘on a Spitfire’ in their work logbooks. The very pinnacle of our kit design association with Supermarine’s Type 300 has to be our 1/24th scale ‘Superkits’, with our first large scale Spitfire Mk.Ia appearing back in 1970, to the delight of modellers the world over. This association has been renewed with the launch of the current 2022 range and the confirmation that Chris had been working on a newly tooled 1/24th scale version of the Spitfire Mk.IXc, a development which would be a headline announcement to grace any Airfix range launch.

With the new 1/24th scale Spitfire Mk.IXc being such BIG news for the Airfix range, we thought we would devote this first standard Workbench blog of the year to this exciting new project, bringing readers an insight into the early design phase of this new kit and to look at some of the finer points behind taking on such a high profile project. We have attempted to ask questions we thought readers would be interested to hear the answers to and thanks to Chris, we also have a selection of exclusive images to share with you. Let’s crack straight on and immerse ourselves in all things Airfix Spitfire design for a few pleasant minutes and throw the blog over to our Senior Product Designer Chris Joy.

When did you start this project?

Early stages in the design phase of the new Airfix Spitfire, with the unmistakable profile of this famous fighter split into sections, each one of which will require lots of Chris’ attention in the weeks and months to come.

It will come as no surprise to hear that this type of specialist work can be extremely time consuming and in almost every case, larger scale projects will take a designer much more time to complete. It is also the case that the majority of the Airfix design team will have multiple projects on the go at any one time, with each one at a different stage in its design and development. In the case of the new Spitfire, Chris told us that he opened his first project file back on 5th December 2019 and when compared to his previous Hellcat project in the same scale, the Spitfire took him almost exactly the same length of time, although he was working one day a week less on the Spitfire, due to other commitments.

As a general rule of thumb, a small scale kit design project might take around 9 months to complete, something a little more complex or in 1/48th scale perhaps 12 to 14 months and a large and highly detailed project such as the new Spitfire around two years to complete. The time spent on each project is split almost 50-50 between the actual design phase and tooling production/checking, where the designer liaises extremely closely with the toolmaker to ensure the kit is represented exactly as he intended, whilst satisfying the manufacturing technological limitations they must all work to. With the toolmaker possibly having to make numerous modifications and improvements to the tooling before the designer is happy to release it for production, this can be quite a time consuming process.

The Spitfire model we had on show at the Duxford Spitfire: An icon in Airfix launch event was actually the first built sample using the very first test shots from the new tooling and whilst Chris was able to build a model which was perfectly acceptable for the day, he had already instructed the toolmaker to initiate around 190 changes to the tooling design, which he described as being not a bad situation for a kit featuring over 400 parts. Chris will expect to go through this receiving of parts, test build and alteration requirement phase several more times before he is happy to release the tooling for production, with the number of required alterations diminishing significantly with each new iteration of the tooling.

How do you approach a project of this magnitude and what information did you have access to at the start?

Chris told us that he first learned that he would be spending quite a lot of time immersed in all things Spitfire at one of the regular Airfix team development meetings and at first, he was perhaps just a little apprehensive at the prospect. As this is such a famous aircraft, there will be a lot of people out there who have a good level of Spitfire knowledge, so he knew his work would be under the modelling microscope with this project. Despite this, it didn’t take long before he slipped into professional design mode and despite the fame of the subject being covered, it was simply a case of following a process which is extremely familiar to him now.

From a research perspective, he had so much information to hand, that it was quite a challenge to sift through this to concentrate on what he specifically needed for the version of Spitfire he would be designing. Our long association producing Spitfire model kits means that we have a vast archive of information to refer to, not to mention the other designers within the team who have ‘time on the Spitfire’. All this would come into play as Chris set about collating the details he needed, even before the first design plot had been made on his computer.

This collection of design plots form the basic shape of the Spitfire’s famous wing, something Chris knew he would have to master as part of his latest design project. The second picture is really starting to look something like a Spitfire and shows all the sectional detail which will be requiring the designer’s skill and expertise, before the new model can advance to tooling.

Interestingly, Chris told us that unlike many of the recent projects we have covered within Workbench, his new Spitfire design did not begin with the receipt of LIDAR scan data - indeed, Airfix have never actually scanned a Spitfire for this purpose. All Airfix Spitfires have been produced using original drawings and a series of offset tables which perfectly replicate the iconic shape of this aviation classic. It is absolutely fascinating to see our designers working with a series of what appear to be entries in a log book, but are actually mathematical plot instructions for their design software, which they use to build up the shape of whichever subject they are working on. Whilst this literally blows the mind of the novice observer, they seem to get some real professional satisfaction from designing in this manner and actually appear to be excited to be working this way.

On the subject of scanning, Chris informed us that scanning is certainly not the be all and end all from a design perspective and it could even be argued that the industry could become over-reliant on it in some respects. When he started his Airfix career, scan data was not even an option for the first two years and the traditional design process of drawings, research, books and photographs was the way most projects progressed. Bringing this forward to today, those traditional design processes must be preserved, because what if there isn’t an example of your latest subject available to scan, or if the ones on display have been so radically altered during restoration that they are of little use, how else could you proceed? Maintaining these traditional design skills is essential where the scanning of your subject would not be appropriate or possible and also means that there is no restriction on what a designer could turn his attentions to, just as long as enough supporting research material is available.

To end this section, Chris told us that the team conducted an interesting exercise just before Christmas which illustrated this point perfectly. The Corgi team did scan a Spitfire in support of their new 1/72nd scale Spitfire T.9 diecast model project and when they overlayed this scan data on top of Chris’ new Spitfire skeleton model, it was a perfect match - quite impressive really.

Did you have the opportunity to inspect a Spitfire first hand?

The powerful software used provides the designer with incredible flexibility and almost unlimited viewing options, including the ability to reveal and conceal detail, making work on smaller parts much more user friendly.

Unfortunately, the majority of the design phase for the new Spitfire tooling took place during the pandemic restrictions, so Chris didn’t have the opportunity to see a restored Spitfire at close quarters, but hopefully, that memorable experience is still to come for him. The amount of research material he had available and the design experience possessed by the entire Airfix team actually meant that the Spitfire proved to be the ideal lock-down design project and one he could throw himself into without having to delay for necessary supporting information.

With his links to this high profile project and knowing that many Spitfire owners and operators are themselves either active modellers or have Airfix experience, it probably won’t be too long before Chris has the opportunity to enjoy a ‘real’ Spitfire tour.

Our next question was a bit of a monster. From a project perspective, what proved to be the most challenging, the most time consuming, the most frustrating and the most rewarding aspects of the design?

As you might well imagine, Chris took a large intake of breath at this point, as he considered his answers, particularly because this work is behind him now and he is already on with a new project. On the question of most challenging, Chris said that this was definitely the design of the Merlin engine. Again, the Merlin is such a famous design and one which is familiar to so many people, but around 50 different variants of the engine were built and Chris had to be absolutely certain that his research included information on the correct version of the Merlin he needed for the mark of Spitfire he was designing. This was all the more pressing as the engine was both highly detailed and could be displayed with panels removed, should the modeller so desire.

As the scale Merlin engine provided many a challenge for Chris during the design stage, we had to include several screenshots of the feature, just to give you some idea of its complexity. Although at quite an advanced stage, it isn’t difficult to appreciate how difficult a task this must have been. 

The most time consuming aspect of the design was correctly modelling the iconic shapes associated with the Spitfire and adding all of the surfacing detail. Trying to accurately replicate the subtle undulations of the fighter’s stressed skin can be a long and arduous process, with this and other surfacing detailing work, such as riveting, taking up to three months of a designer’s attention. Chris described how replicating surfacing detail is just a case of being really organised and as this fits in with his character, he actually quite enjoys this stage of the work.

At this point, most other designer interviews include their general dislike of working for days on rivet detailing, but Chris is a little different. In his view, the model design only starts to come to life after the riveting detail has been applied, giving the project character for arguably the first time and in this case, it certainly started looking like a Spitfire after the surfacing work had been completed.

The most frustrating part of the design work turned out to be the entire lower wing design, which Chris said contained so much detail and design information, that every time he had to save, update and refresh his computer, it took an absolute age to process the data. At this point, we joked with Chris about launching a crowdfunding campaign to get him a more powerful computer and he said that we would all get our new kits a bit quicker if we did. He added, ‘Seriously though, we are always after more powerful machines to work on, but whatever the impressive specifications of any computer set up, it is human nature that the designer will push it to its absolute limits during the design process’.

Moving on to the subject of the most rewarding aspect, Chris said this had to be the public/modeller reaction to the kit’s announcement, which has been incredibly positive. Every designer wants to design a beautifully accurate representation of the vehicle/aircraft they are working on, but more than this, they want people to enjoy the experience of building it. Many of the design nuances incorporated into this kit’s design are intended to open up the internal detail of the world’s most famous fighter, staying faithful to the scale shapes and thicknesses of the real aircraft, whilst at the same time giving full consideration to the manufacturing tolerances model kit designers have to embrace at all times. Redesigning the undercarriage legs to make them as realistic as possible, whilst at the same time endowing them with inherent strength was a design highlight for Chris, changing them to a single piece design after consultation with the rest of the team.

The Spitfire Mk.IX is arguably the definitive fighting variant of the Spitfire, one which pilots described as being the most enjoyable to fly and considered by many as the pinnacle of Spitfire design and development. Chris was hoping that his Spitfire would be viewed in a similar light, only in a scale kit sense.

We asked Chris if there was anything he recalls as being particularly memorable from his time designing the BIG Spitfire?

Quite a busy image, this screengrab shows the detail positioning work completed by Chris and whilst this looks nothing like what we would expect from a 1/24th scale Spitfire model kit, to a designer, this is organisation and a schedule of sectional works which need to be completed. 

His answer to this one was quite surprising, but on reflection, for a man which such a wealth of Airfix design experience behind him, it perhaps shouldn’t have been. Chris told us that the thing which stayed with him most vividly from working on this kit is the admiration he gained for the men and women who designed, built, maintained and flew these magnificent machines and how watching films and documentary programmes featuring Spitfires has taken on an entirely new meaning for him. Our interpretation of this is that having spent so much time with the Spitfire, it must feel like he is a part of this story and how his work on this new kit will not only help to preserve the enduring legacy of the Spitfire, but also leave a model which will have a big place in the history of Airfix and our continuing association with this magnificent aircraft.

Now for the million dollar question -  How did designing the Spitfire compare with your work on the Hellcat?

Chris had no hesitation in telling us that the Spitfire felt like a very different project to work on than the Hellcat, not least of which was the fact that the design team only had two major variants of the Hellcat to choose from, when deciding which one to replicate. The Spitfire is a very different beast and with so much specialist information available for him to access, he found it a little more challenging to be confident he was looking at the correct detail references he needed for the variant of Spitfire he was working on - at first, he found he was regularly double checking every aspect of the design work, until he became more familiar with the Spitfire Mk.IX.

Design complexity - this represents just one of the Spitfire’s radiators and some of the work to replicate it accurately. With shape, sectional and surfacing detail included, it would be interesting to know how long it took Chris to get to this stage.

Now that’s a Spitfire, however, in these views, you can clearly see the individual frame and rib detail which accounted for a year of Chris’ work life.

With surfacing detail completed, the new Spitfire is starting to look like something very special and a beautiful representation of the world’s most famous fighting aeroplane.

Once again, the subject of the Spitfire’s Merlin engine reared its head and how Chris was happy to tell us that the Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp engine of the Hellcat was SO much easier to design. Being a huge radial design, Chris was able to simply replicate large sections of the engine whilst designing the Hellcat, but had no such luxury with the Spitfire’s iconic engine. Indeed as a whole, the rugged and rather chunky Hellcat was much easier to scale down and replicate in kit form than the sleek and cultured Spitfire, which proved to be a far trickier process from a design perspective.

Chris told us that after his experience designing the Hellcat, he had little trepidation in tackling the Spitfire and how in basic terms, he follows exactly the same processes no matter what the subject matter, or the scale in which you are working. The only real difference is that with larger scale, the sections of work are more involved and take longer to complete.

Do you still have work to do on the Spitfire, or have you already moved on?

To those of us who enjoy building model kits, this is possibly one of the questions we are most interested in hearing the answer to, as we think it must be difficult to let go of a project you have invested so much time in and move on to do exactly the same thing again, just on a different subject. Chris told us that the situation is not quite as cut and dried as we might think, because even though he is now working on a completely new project (he didn’t elaborate, unfortunately), he still hasn’t relinquished his Spitfire duties. The built sample model on display at the recent Duxford event was constructed using only the first test frames from the new model tooling and modifications are being made as we write. A new set of component frames will be sent to Chris once the toolmaker had completed the required alterations, where the process of building and checking will take place once more, hopefully resulting in a much reduced list of required modifications being sent back to the toolmaker.

This fascinating series of images show how Chris perfected the shape of the Spitfire’s port side cowling, before taking the panel section and gradually incorporating all the surface detail. It is quite sobering to think that this is just one small section of this impressive new model.

This next series of images show the Spitfire shape we are all so familiar with, but even from these design screenshots, it is easy to see just how much details has been packed into our latest ‘Superkit’. 

In order to support the work of the toolmaker and to ensure the development of the new Spitfire stays on track, Chris told us that when any Spitfire project update becomes available, he will stop working on his current project and concentrate on the Spitfire exclusively. With the process of receiving new parts, assembling and checking, then reporting back to the toolmaker having to take place at least four or five times for a project of this magnitude, Chris still has quite a lot of work to do on the Spitfire, before it can be released for production and he can look forward to gauging the views of modellers all over the world.         

As a designer, how do you move on from something as all-consuming as producing a new 1/24th scale Spitfire Mk.IX kit?

We thought this might be Chris’ opportunity to say something like, Please, give me a break and let me work on a small starter set project, for goodness sake, after finishing his Spitfire, but that didn’t prove to be the case. What he actually said was that he has no strong feelings on this subject either way and is more than happy to take on anything the development manager decides to send his way. Each new project is a design challenge in its own right and provides the opportunity to both hone existing skills and to learn new ones along the way. Whilst it is unlikely that a designer would ever be asked to undertake consecutive 1/24th scale projects for Airfix, it isn’t beyond the realms of fantasy and it certainly wouldn’t be a problem for Chris if he was asked to do just that.

The design software can also be used to produce these appealing computer rendered screenshots, which afford us a much cleared understanding of the detail Chris has managed to incorporate into his latest kit design.  

He did also describe how the Airfix design team share an extremely close bond and how every single project benefits from the many years of combined knowledge and experience this team possesses. Chris told us that every designer greatly values the ability to not only have their work assessed by their colleagues, but also to receive their advice and suggestions on what might work more effectively at any stage of any design project. This closeness also dictates that there are never any issues when it comes to the allocation of new projects, with every designer knowing they have the same chance of working on any of the new projects available as everybody else.

In the fascinating world of product design, variety really is the preserve of the industry professional, as working on different subjects in different scales requires slightly different processes to be utilised, something which really does help a designer to stay current in all aspects of their craft. On a practical level, it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to have a designer move from one 1/24th scale new tooling project straight on to another, allowing them a break probably benefitting them from a design freshness perspective.

Our final question in these types of interview always has to be, Is there anything you would particularly like to design in the future, either during your time with Airfix or from a wider professional perspective.

Not all the detail Chris had to replicate was on the outside of his Spitfire design, as illustrated by this image of a scale Spitfire pilot’s office.

The rest of the Airfix team will be comforted to know that all of Chris’ suggestions came from within the world of modelling, which is a relief, but when he has so many impressive aviation subject projects behind him (Hellcat, Avro Vulcan B2, new Spitfire), his answers may surprise some readers. At first, he informed us that he would quite like to design a tank, because it seemed like quite a boxy thing and he wanted to experience what challenges a project such as this would present. After a little more thought, Chris said that he would really like to work on some space subject matter, as he has a genuine interest in this field and space exploration seems to be making a real comeback at the moment. Designing something NASA related would be both enjoyable and that little bit different, and for him, providing a little more personal attachment, from an interest point of view.

Before we end this interview which we hope readers will have found both interesting and enlightening, Chris really wanted us to reaffirm the important fact that the new Spitfire tooling project and indeed any new model joining the Airfix range is a real collective effort from the Airfix design team. Any project which makes it through to kit production does so because of the help and support of every member of this fantastic team, from the designers themselves, to our researcher, development manager and head of brand. Even though Chris may be the lead designer on the new 1/24th scale Supermarine Spitfire Mk.IXc project, he knows that he couldn’t have made it to this stage without the help of his colleagues. As a brand, we really are so lucky to have this group with us.

Although Chris still has work to do on his Spitfire before it can be released for production, a project of this magnitude dictated the early production and release of the iconic box artwork which will grace the packaging of the initial kit release. 

We would like to extend our sincere thanks to Chris for taking the time to give us this insight into his new Spitfire design travails, and for providing us with a selection of images which whilst fascinating to look at, can in no way reflect the amount of work Chris had to do in getting them to the various stages they illustrate. Thank goodness all we have to do is build the kits and not design them - we best leave that task to the experts!

That’s where we are going to leave this latest ‘New 1/24th scale Spitfire’ edition of our Workbench blog, but we will be back as usual next Friday with more modelling news, updates and exclusive imagery from the wonderful world of Airfix. If you have any comments in connection with the blog, or would like to suggest a subject you would like to see covered in a future edition, please do drop us a quick line using our workbench@airfix.com e-mail address. The entire Workbench team would be delighted to hear from you.

To catch up with all the latest Airfix news, the Airfix Forum is always full of lively debate and you may also enjoy checking in with our various official social media sites, with the main Airfix website being the conduit for all activities.

Thank you for your continued support of our Airfix Workbench blog.

The Airfix Workbench Team