Spitfire Mk.VIII
Weekend Edition

Eduard, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Graham Carter

The original Eduard 1/72 Supermarine Spitfire release was in late 2016 with the late version of the Mark IX. It was well-received due to its level of detail, fit and accuracy as well as the good range of schemes provided. It was followed by a large number of releases of the Mks. IX, VIII and XVI family, all based on the same or similar sets of sprues as the kit contains an enormous number of alternate parts to cover these variants both in Profipack and  Weekend Edition which respectively offered more detail (in the form of masks, coloured PE and more schemes) and fewer optional schemes, but with the same parts.

The Mk VIII made its separate appearance in 2017 and has been released in several versions with different decal choices and varying accessories. 

The kit comes in an enormous box which does mean the parts have rattled around quite a bit in transit, although no damage appears to have been done as each sprue is packed in its own bag. These boxes could easily have been 2/3 the size, but are both strong and top opening. I fitted six completed 1/72 Spitfires inside the bottom of the box with plenty of room for padding. This one comes with a great illustration of a US marked aircraft in the desert scheme over Italy in late 1943, jousting with a Bf109.

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Those of you who have seen these splendid kits before will be familiar with mass of finely moulded parts (over 150 of them) including all relevant rudder shapes, wing-tips, cockpit details, tanks and weapons and the famous ‘pinwheel’ for the transparencies in different styles and catering for open and closed positions. The parts are beautifully moulded in  dark grey plastic with no sign of short-shots or flash beyond a wisp of a seam that will be doddle to remove with a blade or sanding stick. Sprue gates are minimal. Each sprue comes in a resealable clear sleeve.

The review kit is the Weekend Edition and so does not contain the masks for the canopies or a PE set for all the small parts such as radiator innards, belts and instrument panel. These are provided as perfectly good decals, even one for the compass.

 Numerous resin and PE accessory sets are available for these kits, some by Eduard themselves but quite honestly, I can’t see the need as the parts are so finely done; oh, alright, maybe the u/c doors look better in etch!

Your spares box will benefit enormously from the unused parts and this does raise the issue of the care you will need to take in sorting out exactly which parts are needed for the model you are building. Fortunately the instructions are very clear about the parts to be unused - there are 84(!) parts indicated as not to be used! I would be very tempted to remove these extras from the sprues when I started to avoid future confusion.

I thought it was a good idea to do the wheels and tyres as separate parts to both allow different hub types and to make painting easier, saves that awkward masking or hand-painting job. Undercarriage legs are also set at the correct side and forward angles to add accuracy.

The A4 stapled instruction booklets illustrate each step with coloured line-drawings and the schemes are shown in four views and colour. The kit include a stencil placement diagram, again in four views – very thorough.

Markings

Colours are indicated clearly at each step and are given in Mission Model, Gunze Aqueous and Mr. Color on a table below the parts map on page 2.

The four decal choices are illustrated with four-view drawings in colour and a nice variety there are. As usual they are beautifully printed, glossy, thin and perfectly in register.

A separate sheet contains a mass of stencilling for one aircraft. The four choices are :-

1. MT648, of S/Ldr John Gasson, 92 Sqn RAF, Italy, 1945 in Dark Green/ Ocean Grey over Medium Sea Grey with a red spinner and white fin top,

2. unknown serial, of Ist Lt Leland Molland, 308th FS, Italy in late 1943 early 1944 in the desert scheme of Dark Earth/ Mid Stone over Azure Blue with a red spinner and yellow wing stripes with a cartoon character on the port nose,

3. A58-606 of S/Ldr Bruce Watson , 457 Sqn RAAF at Labuan, Borneo August 1945 in Dark Green/ Ocean Grey over Medium Sea Grey with a great shark mouth on the nose, provide as a decal in three parts, and

4. A58-379 of F/Lt Ernest Glaser, 549 Sqn RAAF at Strauss Airstrip in Australia, September 1944 in bare metal with aluminium doped control surfaces and yellow spinner with a cartoon buccaneer under the port canopy.

It is great to see yet another iteration of this terrific kit in the ‘One True Scale’ and it come throughly recommended to the Spitfire addict, and who isn’t?

Thanks to Eduard for the sample

Review Text & Images Copyright © 2022 by Graham Carter
Images Copyright © 2022 by Brett Green
Page Created 4 August, 2022
Last updated 4 August, 2022

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