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Eduard "Aussie 8" Spitfire Mk VIII 8OTU RAAF


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Hi,

 

Following a successful refurbishment of a RAAF Me 109F in Desert Scheme (I'll post this later), I decided to continue using the Sovereign Colourcoats paints I had out to finish a RAAF Spitfire VIII. The mid stone from Sovereign is the best match I've found for the colour chip in the RAF museum book. Previously I've used Humbrol, Gunze and Testors and none were fully satisfactory though I found the Testors one the previous best.

 

Most (if not all) the original Mk VIII's delivered to the RAAF were originally finished in Desert Scheme but most were repainted to replace the mid stone with Foliage Green prior to operations with the allocated unit. The few aircraft I've seen which retained Desert Scheme were used by non operational units, mainly OTU's. The only identified aircraft which operated in a front line unit is covered in the Aussie 8 decal sheet however this is from 54 Sqdn RAF which I'll likely do later (A58-466 ZP H, Dick Due's aircraft has been documented a number of times as being in Desert Scheme, but this is most unlikely based on the dark colour band going through the cockpit). Most of the aircraft in the back room units were in generic schemes except for A58-464 from 8OTU based at Parkes NSW. This aircraft had the white tail and leading edges specified by RAAF marking instructions at the time for IFF though it wasn't really necessary for this airframe.

 

There is a top view photo of this aircraft in the Eduard book which shows extensive overpaints to cover the RAF roundels and serial. I've been kindly sent a couple of additional photos of this aircraft by @Magpie22. Peter Malone theorizes the overpaints were Light Earth replacing the mid stone and RAAF Dark Earth (which is a very similar colour to RAF Dark Earth). Member @Ed Russell thought the mid stone overpaint would have been a Mid Stone paint match using available paints. I've decided to go down the Light Earth path - You pays your money and you take your chances.

 

The model is pretty much out of box from the Aussie 8 boxing which contains resin block pattern wheels and an extensive etch set. The only addition is the Falcon vac canopy to allow the canopy to be slid back. The decals are a mixture of DK, Red Roo and Eduard stencils.

 

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Cheers

 

Michael

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