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The Kit…
This kit is a direct follow on from Tamiya`s excellent Mk.IX. As a Mk.VIII the actual differences in the airframe are minimal, the most noticeable being the retractable tail wheel, and as such this kit did not receive the hype that the Mk.IX`s release did. I initially did not intend to buy this kit but isn’t it amazing what a set of decals/masks can be responsible for!! In this case the offending item was a set of Montex masks that I picked up through A2zee models that covered a RAAF aircraft with a leaping Jaguar through the fuselage roundel – I was sold!! I had already been gathering a lot of aftermarket bits for a future detailed Mk.IX build (see above) after my out of the box build for SMN so these were side tracked into this build as they were common – well I hope they are !!!
Well on with the build. I will not go into the same detail as the two MK.IX builds as much of the build sequence is the same for obvious reasons but will concentrate on those areas that differ.
My plan for this build was to go that bit extra from that provided in the box, not that a build from the box is not impressive in its own right but there is so much opportunity to do that little bit extra to really make this kit stand out even more than it does already.
The Build…
In this case I decided to start with the engine and the cockpit as these two areas offer the modeller the most opportunities to add extra detail. The engine goes together like a dream and I added the Barracuda engine rockers with the `Rolls Royce` markings on them – a Merlin just needs that Rolls Royce marking on it !! I also used the Eduard detail set combined with a lot of wire to get that busy feeling to the engine and mount – it’s not strictly accurate as it was quite difficult to pick out were all the pipes run but I’m reasonably happy with the result. As this was to be a well worn aircraft I `dirtied` up the engine area with a combination of washes and Mig pigments along with chipping of the frame and propeller assembly.
