Day 161/20. The Spitfire Mk 22 is complete. TT263

One of my evening lockdown projects was the building of this Spitfire Mk22. At 1:48 scale it is a reasonable size, about 30cm nose to tail.
It is a Mk22 of No 73 Squadron of the Royal Air Force as based after the war in Ta Kali, Malta in 1948.
The Mk22's were very fast and the last mark of Spitfires to be built. Their top speed was 454 mph and a service ceiling of 43,500 feet. The huge 5 bladed propellor was driven by a mammoth 2,050 bhp Rolls Royce Griffon engine. A very different aircraft from the early model Spitfire that flew in the Battle of Britain. The Mk22's were twice as heavy, twice as powerul and could climb 80% faster than those early Mk's. They may look sleek, but they were also deadly 4 x 20mm cannons and almost 1/2 tonne of bombs or rockets under the wings.
For the photographers out there, I lit this with 2 off camera flash units, one at low power illuminating under the wings.