Hobby Master 1/72 Spitfire HF.VIII A58-602 (Cdr RH Gibbes 457 Sqn RAAF 1945)

The Spitfire Mk. VIII was going to use the larger Merlin engines so the airframe of the earlier Mk. V had to be redesigned. This kept the new mark from entering service until June 1943. The Mk. VIII was produced in 3 versions; the standard fighter F.VIII with the 1,560 hp Merlin 61; the high altitude fighter HF.VIII with the 1,655hp Merlin 70 and the low altitude fighter LF.VIII with the 1,705 hp Merlin 66. The Mk. VIII was going to be the answer to the Fw-190.

The Spitfire Mk VIII was developed from the high altitude Mk VII. The Mk VIII had 3 variants; the HF High Flying, LF Low Flying and the F were the standard version. There were 1,652 Mk VIIIs built with a large number being sent to the Mediterranean, Eastern Front as well as India, Burma and Australia. RAAF Spitfire A-58-602 was built as an HF.VIII for the RAF with serial MV133. It arrived in Australia on October 25, 1944 but didn’t reach 457 Squadron until January 23, 1945 and was flown by Wing Commander H. R. Gibbes who ended the war with 10 ¼ victories and 14 probables.

Features

• 1/48 scale pre-finished. 
• Die-cast metal with a minimum of plastic. 
• Professionally painted. 
• All markings pad applied for superb results. 
• Canopy slides open. Comes with a pilot that can be removed. 
• Comes with display stand. 
• Landing gear is fully retractable and can be displayed up or down. 
• Propeller is metal. 
• Extremely sought after by collectors.