Spitfire Mk.XVI

Eduard ProfiPACK, 1/48 scale

Reviewed by Brett Green

The Spitfire Mk.XVI was the same as the Mk.IX in most respects except for the engine, a Merlin 266.

This engine was based on the two-stage Merlin 66, and was originally intended for Canadian Mosquito production. When it was decided to keep Canadian Mosquitos on single-stage engines, the Merlin 266 was diverted to Spitfire production, resulting in the Mk.XVI.

All Mk XVI aircraft produced were of the Low-Altitude Fighter (LF) variety. This was not determined by the length of the wings (clipped wings were fitted to most LF Spitfires), but by the engine, whose supercharger had been optimised for low-altitude operation.

Because of a slightly taller intercooler and rearranged accessories on the Packard Merlins a new, bulged upper cowling was introduced and also appeared on late production IXs.

It would appear that few if any wartime Spitfire Mk.XVIs entered service with the rear fuselage fuel tank.

Armament for most Mk XVIs consisted of 2 × 20 mm Hispano II cannon - each with 120 rpg - and 2 × .50 calibre Browning machine guns - each with 250 rpg. 1 × 500 lb (227 kg) bomb could be carried underneath the centre rack, and 1 × 250 lb (114 kg) bomb could be slung under each wing. Some production aircraft had rear fuselage fuel tanks in addition to the main tank which allowed it to fly approximately as far as the Spitfire Mk VIII.

Problems with the licence-built engines limited introduction to front-line squadrons for several months.

An alteration of the wheel geometry required the introduction of an additional bulge above each main wheel well. This feature was mainly seen on later Spitfire Mk.XVIs.

A total of 1,054 Mk XVIs were built by Castle Bromwich.*

* Historical background based on Wikipedia entry and information from Bob Sikkel and Edgar Brooks.

Eduard first released the Spitfire Mk.XVI as a Dual Combo Limited Edition package back in mid 2015.

A single bubbletop in the ProfiPACK series followed in early 2016.

After being out of production for some time, this ProfiPACK Edition has been re-released.

As far as I can tell, the only difference between this new release and the initial edition is that Eduard has supplied both early and late Mk.XVI wings this time around.

Eduard's 1/48 scale Spitfire Mk.IXe comprises 218 parts in grey coloured plastic, 11 parts in clear, one colour photo-etched fret, a self-adhesive die-cut masking sheet and markings for five aircraft.

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This boxing provides the low-back fuselage.

The fuselage sprue includes two rear bulkheads - one with head armour and one without.

The sprue also includes the appropriate set of three-spoke wheels.

As usual, the wing and fuselage are provided without inserts - no unnatural joins to fill with these models! The outboard narrow gun bulges and the new wheel well bumps are moulded direct to the top wing halves, with the appropriate shell ejector ports are similarly moulded in place on the bottom of the wings.

The wheel wells feature a counterpart bump with rivet outlines on the inside as well.

A second wing sprue with the early version, more typical of wartime aircraft, without the wheel bump, is also supplied.

A colour photo-etched fret for the Mk.XVI is also included. This appears to be identical to the 2015 version.

Options applicable to this package are bombs and either clipped or full-length wing tips.

The clear parts are thin and free from distortion.

The kit is otherwise similar to the Spitfire Mk.IXc Late Version. For a detailed review of this kit and images of all the parts, just follow this link.

Markings

Markings are supplied for five nicely varied aircraft.

Everything is in register on the large Eduard-printed sheet and colours look good.

A second decal sheet supplies stencil markings for the low back Mk.XVI. This includes yellow chop lines for the bubbletop canopy.

A small third errata sheet is also included.

Eduard has re-released their bubbletop Spitfire XVI in the ProfiPACK edition and added a set of early E wings to the package.

As it did originally, this Spitfire delivers all the same fantastic attributes of its Mk.VIII and Mk.IX predecessors - accurate dimensions, impressive detail, and useful options.

Highly Recommended.

Thanks to Eduard for the sample

Review Text Copyright © 2015 by Brett Green
Page Created 9 November, 2021
Last updated 10 November, 2021

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