retractable rearwheel.. the doors are open for a PR version.

I'm not sure that wasn't a Typo. Wasn't the Mk VIII the Twin-seater?

Hi Jim Some may have been converted to 2-seaters, but the Mk. VIII was a single-seat fighter and was intended to be the main production version before the "stop-gap" Mk. IX displaced it. All the best Rowan

Not a typo- the Mk.VIII came into service a year or so after the Mk.IX, which had been rushed into service, the Merlin 61 being put into essentially the Mk.V airframe ASAP. Announcement in Japanese: http://www.tamiya.com/japan/hobbyshow/index.htm (the second entry on the scale models list) 1/32 スーパーマリン スピットファイア Mk.VIII

Rowan & Ben - thanks for clarifying that.. I haven't opened any of my Spitfire references for ages so it was off the top of my head I assumed that after they announced the IX that they wouldn't go much further and the VIII would be the least-expected so I put it down to a Typo. Nice to be proved wrong. Still want to see the REALLY late-marks though

Hi all Any Spit with a griffon engine would suite me. tim

But Matchbox did the really late marks back when Adam was a kid.. and they have been reissued by Revell for a great price. I have built one and it was not too bad a build.. Take a bit more work than a Tamigawaer kit, but is that not part of why we build models, the challenge? Oh wait a sec.. ** ponders his almost finished ICM TB3 awaiting a stronger undercarriage..

The VIII wasn't a re-engined V; it was virtually a new airframe, with shorter ailerons, retractable tail wheel, wing fuel tanks, and (initially, at least) extended wingtips. These innovations helped to delay its entry into service, and were included in the later XIV. Right up to 1944, there were plans for it to carry 4 cannon, including the short-barrelled Mk.V Hispano, but it never happened. If the wingtips are included in the new issue, it will give modellers the opportunity to do the high-altitude scheme of Sea Grey Medium over Azure Blue. To expect a Griffon-engined variant, from this kit, is asking a bit much, I fear, since it would need a new firewall/front end, plus a new, larger, fin/rudder combination. I expect to see an electric motor powered version (there's a hole in the fuselage, through which wires can go,) and, possibly, a XVI, since they've supplied an aerial mast on the rudder, and the Russians used the XVI, with old-style H.F. aerials; for a XVI, though, they'll need to make subtle changes to the engine. Edgar

Edgar: In my post I was talking about the IX being little more than a re-engined V. A few photos are up of the Mk.VIII: http://www.hlj.com/product/tam60320