COBI Eurofighter Set 5848

COBI's Eurofighter is a 1:48 model built from 644 blocks, 34.5 cm long, in German Air Force colours. The cockpit opens, the ailerons and wheels move, and the landing gear detaches for display on the included stand with its nameplate. All markings are printed; no stickers.

Four countries, four production lines

The Eurofighter is built by a consortium of Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain, and the work is divided by fixed percentages rather than by who does a job best.

Each partner manufactures particular sections for every aircraft the consortium builds — one country the front fuselage, another the centre section, another the wings — and those sections are then shipped to whichever partner ordered the aeroplane, because each country insisted on its own final assembly line. There are four.

This is why the programme cost what it did and took as long as it did. It is also why it happened at all: no single European country could have funded a fighter of this class alone, and the workshare formula was the price of getting four governments to sign.

The result is one of the most capable fighters in the world, in service since 2003 with around a dozen air forces. Germany has taken delivery in tranches since 2004, with successive modernisation programmes since.

In the COBI range

Set 5843 is the RAF's Typhoon FGR4 in Battle of Britain commemorative markings.

Specifications

Pieces: 644 · Scale: 1:48 · Display stand and nameplate included · No stickers
Model dimensions: 34.5 × 24 × 11.8 cm (13.6 × 9.4 × 4.6 in)