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Modelcraft/Frog Blackburn Shark - Finished


AdrianMF

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Hello All,

For a long time I've been pottering along with a Frog-spawn Blackburn Shark in the background of my other projects, and I thought I'd bring it to the front of the bench this weekend. It's the Modelcraft re-pop:

Modelcraft_Frog_Shark_package_zps09e36gg

Modelcraft_Frog_Shark_parts_zpslhrgdgga.

For a spawn, the moulding isn't too bad (although the struts needed a fair bit of un-warping and there are some short shots on the more delicate parts) and the decal sheet is nice, including an extra Canadian example (503). The outer rings of the roundels are a touch too narrow, but I will be using them. If I can find some matching paint I may paint a larger circle before applying them. For reasons that escape me, I have four Frog/spawn Blackburn Sharks and three Westland Wallaces in my stash. Not quite sure how that happened, but it's a good thing I like English inter-war biplanes!

As you can see from the picture above, the cockpit detailing consists of a classic Frog plain floor with some comfy-looking chairs for the pilot and observer

I have already cleaned up the struts and stuck together the wings, and I've replaced the flat moulded-in engine with something a bit more realistic. The wing struts needed a lot of cleaning up and test fitting, and I did it twice before I was happy enough. I'm going for wings folded on this one to hide the tragically thick trailing edges, which I will thin before assembly next time.

Modelcraft_Frog_Shark_prior_zpsoqfmjpfp.

I decided to busy-up the cockpit with some stretched sprue and card. I am working from the pictures of the "Canadian Wings" book on the Shark, which are the only pictures of the interior that I have seen. They show the cockpit of a target towing version, so some of the brackets may be for storing drogues! However, it looks busy now, so that's good enough for me.

Modelcraft_Frog_Shark_cockpit_zps8bi0r0p

Thanks for looking,

Adrian

Edited by AdrianMF
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Nice to see this classic, only the other week I dug mine out to dust off, looked at it and then stuck it back into the shelf! Will be good to see how this turns out, great work so far.

Bob

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in an outbreak of nostalgia I've been thinking about building one of these again, just to see if I can. Neat work on the cockpit!

There are some 'cheap' Sharks on Ebay from Poland by Chematic/Gomix - these are all the old Frog kit presumably ?

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in an outbreak of nostalgia I've been thinking about building one of these again, just to see if I can. Neat work on the cockpit!

There are some 'cheap' Sharks on Ebay from Poland by Chematic/Gomix - these are all the old Frog kit presumably ?

They most likely are and on my expirience well worth picking up I keep adding them to the stash I just need to build the things now :)

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Thanks chaps! Glad to see I will be entertaining you...

Nice to see this classic, only the other week I dug mine out to dust off, looked at it and then stuck it back into the shelf! Will be good to see how this turns out, great work so far.

Bob

I did exactly that with the Frog Beaufort the other day. The wings and tail shapes look good compared to both the Airfix new Beaufighter and the Warpaint plans (and you expect some problems with the undersized cowlings and nacelles), but the fuselage is all over the place! I would like to take it on one day (before Airfix do a new tool), but it will take a lot of cutting and shutting...

in an outbreak of nostalgia I've been thinking about building one of these again, just to see if I can. Neat work on the cockpit!

There are some 'cheap' Sharks on Ebay from Poland by Chematic/Gomix - these are all the old Frog kit presumably ?

Those are all the old Frog kit AFAIK. The big problem with the spawn is not so much the flash (think of it as free plastic card) but the warping on the struts. This is partly because there are an awful lot of parts, moulded at angles to the sprue, jammed into boxes that are a bit too small. You get an awful lot of kit for the money!

Regards,

Adrian

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Hi,

I like Shark very much - I converted mine to Mk III with closed canopy and Bristol engine...

What painting scheme do you want to do? If Canadian one, there are interesing aftermarket decal sets (for Mk II or Mk III):

http://www.canmilair.com/proddetail.asp?prod=113&cat=155

http://www.canmilair.com/proddetail.asp?prod=114&cat=155

http://www.canmilair.com/proddetail.asp?prod=115&cat=155

and for yellow/black stripes with silver floats TT:

http://www.canmilair.com/proddetail.asp?prod=116&cat=155

Best regards

Jerzy-Wojtek

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Thanks Martin and Ant! Jerzy - the Modelcraft decals actually offer a Canadian "503", so I have that option available. I will be doing "652" for this one using the kit decals, which are ready-printed with the number on a blue stripe, and I've already upgraded the Tiger engine.

I have to admit that the yellow and black target tug scheme is very tempting! I have a different float plane scheme in mind for the next one, based on a photo of a Shark being deployed off a beach.

BTW I've yet to see a photo that shows the curved windscreen on the observer's cockpit. I think I will be leaving it off.

Regards,

Adrian

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This is coming along really well. I`d love to model a Shark Mk.III with the enclosed canopy, does anybody do an after market one?

Cheers

Tony

Tony - I haven't come across one, although it is a simple shape. You might get away with a generic donor windscreen so you just have to make the parallel sided cover from scratch.

Just doing some GOOGLE-ing and found this:http://www.airmuseum.ca/mag/0504.htmlWere not RCAF Sharks fitted with a framed canopy?Chris

Chris, the interior pictures on that site are the same as (copied from?) the ones in the "Canadian Wings" book. Later Canadian Sharks had the canopy, I'm guessing the early ones might have been retrofitted after the first Winter!

Adrian, here is mine attempt of Canadian Mk III, which I mentioned above:

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234965858-blackburn-shark-mk-iii-frog/?hl=%2Bblackburn+%2Bshark

This was a scratch conversion. Sometimes I regred this yellow-black one...

Cheers

J-W

Jerzy, that is a lovely piece of work with the new Pegasus engine, the canopy and tons of extra little details. Love it!

Great! A biplane with floats. Watching this.

No floats from me this time (but see Jerzy's link).

Regards,

Adrian

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Hello All,

Grabbed an hour last night and put some paint on. Need some seat belts for the pilot and then I can glue the fuselage together. Gosh, macro photography is so unforgiving.

Modelcraft_Frog_cockpit1_zps6ljmn63r.jpeHello All,

Modelcraft_Frog_cockpit2_zpsth3bayej.jpe

Thanks for looking,

Adrian

Edited by AdrianMF
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Don't go wild on the rigging by the way, the Shark was unusual in that for a biplane it had very few rigging wires. The wings were basically a warren truss design.

Selwyn

I think I counted ten.

Cross brace each side of cabanes. (4)

One inside of the wing fold (2)

Two outside of the wing fold (4)

Regards,

Adrian

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Well the pit looks pretty good on macro so I can only assume it looks even better in the flesh.

Martin

...in the flesh?

I thought it was plastic.

:whistle:

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"I`d love to model a Shark Mk.III with the enclosed canopy, does anybody do an after market one?"

Quick answer Tony ... yes ... kinda.

Pavla does a vac canopy for a Mitsubishi Ki 30 Anne (Hannant's stock no. PAVV72089). It's intended for the AZ kit, but when I saw a photo of it, it's appearance screamed "RCAF Shark" to me. All it appears to need is the removal of the rear-most frame to open the back. I've yet to order one for myself, but eventually intend to, as I also have the Modelcraft edition of the Blackburn (RCAF) Shark. If anyone tries to use this canopy, please feel free to relay your findings on it's compatibility... I'd really like to know.

Scott

Edited by Scott Hemsley
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