Spitfire Mk.VIII
"in RAAF Service" Parts One & Two

Czech Master Resin, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Glen Porter

CMR's 1/72 scale Spitfire Mk.VIII in RAAF Service is available online from Squadron.com

By the time Australia began to receive deliveries of Mk. VIII Spitfires in the second half of the Pacific war, most, but not all, of the aerial opposition had disappeared. Consequently, most of the victories shown on these aircraft were scored on other types and in other theaters.

CMR kit numbers 179 and 180 have been eagerly awaited by most Australian modeller for quite some time. The reason is that CMR seem to be the only ones to get the Supermarine Spitfire totally correct in every aspect with perhaps the exception of Xtrakit with their recent Mk. XII. Part of the reason is that when CMR want some research done on a subject, they go to the relevant experts.

In this case, those experts are Peter Malone, Steve Mackenzie, Dick Hourigan, Frank Smith and Ed Russell, five of the most knowledgeable people in the world on Aussie Spitfire Mk. VIIIs. Between them, they have supplied the colour and markings information for the markings in these two kits.

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These two Spitfire Mk. VIII kits feature the same accuracy and detail as the host of other CMR Spitfires we have reviewed here on HyperScale to date. I therefore won't go into the detail in this one but just let any prospective customers go to the Review section and choose any of the CMR Spitfires and know that this kit has the same advantages. The resin, as with the others, is extremely well done with heaps of detail but care will have to be taken as some of it is very, very fine and some casting block will have to be removed.

The partially pre-coloured Eduard PE fret is for the Mk. VIII only and is slightly different to those for the Mk. IX / XVI and others.

Marking for kit number 179 are as follows:

• BQ-C, 451 (Australian) Sqn, Gragnano Italy, 1944 finished in the Temperate Land Scheme of Dark Earth, Dark Green on the upper surfaces and Medium Sea Grey below. This aircraft has a red spinner. It is nice to see this otherwise neglected Squadron covered here.

• TS-M, 549 Squadron RAF based at Darwin in 1944 finished in overall Foliage Green upper surfaces and Sky Blue lowers with a bright green spinner. There is some dispute over this interpretation, but it is certainly a unique scheme for a Spitfire.

• DL-W, 54 Sqn. RAF, Darwin 1944, finished in desert colours of Middle Stone, Dark Earth and Azure Blue. This has interesting RAF fuselage markings with the red simply overpainted with white.

• UP-F of 79 Sqn. RAAF finished in RAF Dark Earth, RAAF Foliage Green on the upper surface and Azue Blue underneath. Bright Green spinner and white theatre markings on the tail and wing leading edges. This aircraft has traditionally been depicted in a spurious two-tone green scheme with a pink elephant marking, but these colours are much more likely.

• RG-V flown by WGCDR Bobby Gibbes in the famous “Shark Mouth” markings. Finished in Ocean Grey and Dark Green over Medium Sea Grey with a red spinner and white theatre markings on the wing leading edges and a narrow fuselage band.

Markings for kit number 180 are as follows:

• BQ-K, MT952 of 451 (Australian) Squadron RAF, Southern France, 1944. It is in the standard Day Fighter Scheme of Dark Green, Ocean Grey over Medium Sea Grey with a Red spinner, Yellow head-on recognition stripes on the outer wings and no Sky fuselage band.

• ZF-Z, A58-379 of 549 Squadron RAF, Darwin, 1945, flown by Sqn.Ldr. D Glaser. This aircraft is in over-all bare aluminium with a Black anti-glare panel. The illustration shows the spinner and cannons in Yellow but they may have been Pale Blue, some other colour or left unpainted.

• ZF-K, A58-403 also of 459 Squadron RAF and is in the same scheme as A58-379 above with the same cautions.

• Gp.Capt. Clive Caldwell's well known CR-C, A58-484. It is in Foliage Green, RAF Dark Earth over Azure Blue with a White spinner, fuselage band and full width wing leading edge stripe. Codes are called out as RAAF Sky Blue.

• One of the later Mk. VIIIs which came to Australia in the standard RAF Day Fighter Scheme of Dark Green, Ocean Grey over Medium Sea Grey and were left in that scheme for operations. It is TS-V, A58-482 (JG655) of 548 Squadron RAF, Darwin 1944. It was flown by Sqd.Ldr. D. Glaser and possibly had Blue spinner and guns, Sky fuselage band and codes in RAAF Sky Blue with a Black border.

The main decal sheets are by Tally Ho! The first is a complete stencil sheet but unlike other CMR Spitfire kits, there is no placement/instruction sheet to go with it. The other has all the markings for the five aircraft covered but apparently there were some errors in it and a correction sheet has been supplied. Unfortunately, the codes for CR-C and TS-V which were done in, I think, Medium Sea Grey on the main sheet but should have been RAAF Sky Blue, are printed on the correction sheet in what looks to me like SKY type S. I'm not sure what to do about this and I think it is the only error in an otherwise magnificent kit. The decals otherwise look really good and should be a joy to use.
 

The ultimate Aussie Mk. VIII Spitfire? Certainly, no other company has come close to it and for those of you who would prefer markings of a different nationality I'm sure they will follow if they haven't already been done.

Highly Recommended.

Thanks to CMR for the review sample

CMR Models are available online from Hannants in the UK,
Red Roo Models in Australia and quality specialist model retailers worldwide.

Text Copyright © 2008 by Glen Porter
Images and comments on kit no. 179 markings Copyright © 2008 by Brett Green
This Page Created on 8 April 2008
Last updated 9 April, 2008

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