1:32 SPITFIRE VIII

The Mk.VIII that never reached England

The Mk.VIII was originally meant as the main production version with the supercharged Merlin 61 engine, only the urgency of the situation in 1942 sent the simpler Mk.IX into production. Almost all the Mk.VIIIs therefore went overseas. They served in Italy, over Burma, over New Guinea and in Australia, where the Royal Australian Air Force operated them under the designation A58.

Overseas service could be told at first glance from the markings. In Southeast Asia the red center was left out of the roundel so that the machine would not be confused with the Japanese red disc from a distance, and only a blue and white target was left. Over the Pacific white bands on the tail surfaces and light wingtips were added to that. The same airframe thus looked so different in Italy and over Darwin that two display cases do not overlap.

Inside the package lie film for the outside and the inside of the cockpit, a pair of insignia masks and a pair of metal cannon barrels of 20 mm caliber, which on this version project from the leading edge of the wing. The item is prepared for the Tamiya molding.

Advice on the cannons: first widen the hole in the wing with a drill a tenth of a millimeter larger and insert the metal dry. Only when it sits in line with the wing, fix it with a drop of glue.

Tropical machines also carried a bulky filter under the nose, so when building an overseas Mk.VIII that part usually has to be replaced too. The masks do not concern it; they cover only the glazing and the area for the marking, but it pays to think about it in advance when planning the build.