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1/72 Pavla/Octopus Seafire Mk III with Skyfarer Intrusions


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This is my second thread on BritModeller, the first being my long-winded and ultimately ill-fated Introductory thread (there's a lesson or two there).

 

My first horse out of the gate is the Pavla/Octopus 1/72 Seafire Mk III. Seafires had their ups and down, quite literally, on account of their narrow-track undercarriage, resulting in many an unfortunate "mishap" on deck. From what I have been able to gather, the Seafire Mk. III was based on the Mk. V land-based fighter airframe. I could be wrong, though, and will no doubt be corrected quick-smart if I am.

 

Pavla's kit is typical Central European short-run stuff - with two vac-formed canopies (one and a spare), some resin bits as well as the typical soft short-run polystyrene, but no photo etch; much like many of MPM's and the late lamented (because of their brave and highly interesting choices of subject) Classic Airframes kits. The A5 instruction booklet is also highly reminiscent of those from the latter companies (plus Special Hobby, Azur, et alia).

 

The first two snaps in this first post have already appeared in my introductory thread, but I am giving them another outing; the other two are much more recent:

 

1. Pavla/Octopus 1/72 Supermarine Seafire Mk III: RN and Free French Navy markings. Short run kit with resin and vac-formed parts. Panel lines restrained, but the texture of the external surfaces feels rather gritty and will need a bit of polishing (the recently-located micromesh cloths will come in handy here)

 

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2. Close-up of resin parts for Pavla Seafire Mk III. Nice crisp moulding for the most part - the resin wheels are at least 1000 % better than the rather horrible polystyrene parts; lovely resin moulding also on the intakes, exhausts, U/C torque links, cockpit walls...

 

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3. The renowned Brian Taylor's 1/5 Spitfire Mk VIII/IX cowling and spinner set. What's this snap doing in this thread? Not only is it the wrong scale it's the wrong mark, and indeed the wrong forum (it should be on www.rcscalebuilder.com). It appeared on CedB's MPM Mk XI PR Spitfire thread as a juxtaposition of the starboard fuselage part of the 1/72 Pavla/Octopus Seafire with the 1/5 Mk IX bits... And it shows off one of my DIY benches slightly

 

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4. Overview of my DIY reed-tying/modelling bench, populated with (most of) my paint collection and various tools. Gunze and Tamiya on left of shelf; Revell, Humbrol, PollyScale, ModelMaster and White Ensign to the right. This was almost entirely - but not quite - unintentional - it's just how it turned out. And yes, that's three cutting mats (I have a couple more around somewhere, too)

 

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Follow this link to my Flickr account; note that some of them are for my gaze only, so there may be no point in looking for these snaps there

 

The kit comes with a veritable embarrassment o' markings. There are transfers for four aircraft:

1. Seafire L Mk. III NN212, No. 887 NAS, on HMS Indefatigable, British Pacific Fleet, August 1945 (EDSG, DSG, Sky and White);

2. Seafire L. Mk. III NF491, D6oY, 809 Sqaudron FAA, on HMS Stalker. 1944-45 (EDSG, DSG, Sky and Red);

3. Seafire III Serial no. unknown, I.F_12, on Arromanches, 1st Flotille French Navy in Indochine, October 1948 (EDSG, DSG, Sky, Red and Aluminium)

4. Seafire Mk. III PR171, D5oJ, 807 Naval Air Squadron, on HMS Hunter, British East Indies Fleet, early 1945 (EDSG, DSG, Sky, White and Matt Black).

 

At this point I have no particular inclination to make any one of the above aircraft rather than another, so I'll see how the fit takes me. I also don't know which paints I am going to play around with either: I have an embarrassingly large collection of Gunze (aqueous and lacquer), Tamiya, Model Master, Humbrol, Revell, Hannants and White Ensign enamels, Xtracrylix, plus a stack of Alclad II metal paints for bare metal/doped parts.

 

I also have some primers such as Humbrol (various including rattle can), Tamiya, Model Master and - gasp - MIG/AK. I will NOT be using the latter on anything except the odd AFV, and I don't have any Stynylrez - yet. That will change.

 

There are also a small compressor and two airbrushes lurking around, but I haven't actually ever used the dreaded AB, so will be sticking to paint brushes for this build - otherwise the build will simply not happen. Or, I suppose, I could stick it all together without paint, but I can imagine the (totally justifiable) Great Squawking and Clucking were I to attempt to do that. Although it could be quite amusing in a rather nasty sort of way. And end up with me being permanently banned.

 

I am kicking off with this model since I promised CedB and Procopius a while ago that I would start with a 1/72 scale subject in their honour given that they put up with a lot of (well, incessant) PM-ing when I first popped up like a veritable weasel on this site. Nigel Heath also gets guernsey in this respect too - and he also happens to be a 1/72 scale gentleman. Me? My plastic model collection is mostly 1/48, 1/35, 1/32 and 1/24 - I have about five or six 1/72 models (maybe a few more). I was working on a Hasegawa 1/72 Fw 190 A7 with Eduard etch a few years ago, but since Procopius doesn't like German WWII aircraft, I decided no to start with that one; it is probably over halfway done, with everything closed up.

 

There won't be any more for a while, so consider this to be something of a placeholder - and it does at least give me something of an anchor, modelling-wise. I am still working slowly and (apparently) patiently away at finishing off my workbenches in my workshop so that I can get on with all my stalled projects - including my modelling. At this stage, however, I can't stop working away at the shop for a bit of impatient modelling.

 

I think that that is enough gas-bagging from me for the time being, in any case.

 

Cheers,

Alex.

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And he's off! Well, nearly... Great to see the workshop / shed set up ready to go and a WiP started here Alex.

When you're ready, we'll be waiting!

:popcorn:

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You were right, you did get something wrong.

One of the options which you said was "Free French" is, according to the instructions on page 13, "Supermarine Seafire III ( serial number unknown ) of the 1st Flotille of the French Navy, as flown, in October 1948, from the carrier Arromanches during the conflict in the then French Indochine."

The Anchor on the French Roundel is a bit of a give away as well

Gondor

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Thanks, chaps! Being a short run kit and reading about Ced's nightmare time with, well, pretty well all of the Short-run kits that he's done, I hold no illusions about this kit. Happily, I do have a Dremel (two in fact) and a Minicraft and transformer (well, two in fact: no you aren't seeing double, that's FOUR mini-drills, and yes I'm weird, and you CAN have too many drills).

 

Of particular "interest" is the pilot access door, of which more in due course (Mr PC will know exactly what I mean by this).

 

Confession time: this will be the first short-run kit of mine to actually be worked o seriously, although I have started on the Classic Airframes 1/48 fabric-winged Hurricane (cut the wheel well of its pouring slab, and painted it with a brush). I have also tinkered with resin-copying of my parts, see my Introductory thread. And filled an entire 1/72 Fw. 190 cockpit with PE, although that can't really be put in quite the same class as a short-run kit.

 

Since the fumes from the "really really safe" water-soluble high-build epoxy primer are triggering asthma if I stay in the shed exposed to them for too long, so I won't be hanging about too long in there while the fumes persist. Strangely, the "unsafe-ish" (only if you drink it) "ordinary" epoxy resin doesn't noticeably* affect my chest at all. Very weird and strange.

 

Cheers,

Alex.

 

* What the xylene solvent might be doing to the lung tissue is another bucket o' snakes entirely

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Hello Gondor44,

Egregious mistake corrected, orcs slain. In my defence, although it should have rung an alarm bell, I did get the French Navy details (mostly) right in "option 3" (see above).

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Good luck with this curates egg. I recently completed one after struggling with it for far too long. I does hold promise, but it is also a tease.

My experience:

- gave up on the resin cockpit and scratch built the visible parts. One would have to thin both the fuselage and resin parts to paper-thin dimensions.

- attempted to introduce dihedral with limited success, also thinned the trailing edges as much as possible.

- removed as much under-wing material as possible to create the 'gull wing' appearance.

- thinned the surface relief rendition of the strengthening areas aft of the cockpit and fuselage strips, catapault spools.

Other than that, a typical short run kit that requires 'some modelling experience'. Love Pavla's subjects, hate their fussy, over-complicated construction.

There has to be a better way to a Seafire III in 1/72. I hear the Sword kit is probably it.

Here are some quick hand-held snaps to give you some idea and encouragement. Also, from the Pavla website, a well executed model well photographed. And a good build review.

KE

Edited by styreno
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Hello KE,

Thank you for the encouragement and warnings! Yours is a lovely model :). I'm not sure about the spinner position on the top photo on the Pavla website, though - it looks as though it has slipped down a bit.

I have my one eye on those rather protuberant bits of external framing too. The cockpit door issue that I alluded to is related exactly to the thickness of the plastic plus the additional resin. I will have a good think about this - I have enough of the right sort of materials in hand, but ye Dremel et alia seem on face value to be quicker. I'll bear your dire warning in mind.

I would go and choose a "fun" subject for my first "public appearance". Oh well, so be it. Thinking cap on.

Cheers and thanks,

Alex.

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I've seen what you have had to do with your MPM relative, Ced - at least you got the fuselage to close up; in the end!

By the way, I thought that I smelled something funny...

Cheers,

Alex.

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Hi Alex :)

Yes, it's a shame that a lot of interesting subjects are only available in short run kits... but I guess that's part of the 'fun'. I've never had to sand an interior though - yet!

I'm sorry to hear your Asthma is playing up. I suppose it's typical of the 'un-tested' replacements we're getting for 'dangerous' substances. You can just imagine the conversation, can't you?

"We suggest you ban 'x' because it causes irritation of the lung when you breathe it in over long periods. Our suggested replacement is 'y'"

"But doesn't that cause immediate irritation for Asthma sufferers?"

"Well yes, it does do that..."

Ripples of Monty Python's 'Dinsdale' sketch - "He was a violent man, but fair..."

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Good luck with that, anyone who takes on a Pavla kit has my respect.

Pavla got out of the full kit game a few years ago to concentrate on their resin and vac form canopy lines. As a veteran of two or three Pavla kits, I breathed a small sigh of relief when they got out of full kits.

That Seafire was one of their better efforts as I recall.

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I have done the SH 1/48 Seafire III BPF Markings - (not quite finished) and I'm just about to attack the SH Seafire II which I think I might do in Torch markings and did a BoB Spitfires flown by FAA Pilots build - so I like my Seafires and Spitfires. I did think of cross knitting the Octopus cockpit into another 1/72nd fuselage but never got around to it. As I said before good luck with this kit, I'm using you as my inspiration to go and finish it..

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This looks like it will be an interesting build.

Supermarine and naval-what could be better? :)

Hope it's ok to watch along.

All best regards

Tony

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I paid another visit to the lock-up this morning and extracted the rolls of plans for my current radio-control aircraft builds (purely to put in the brand new spot that I have for them ;). At the same time I grabbed the wee beastie seen at the top of the snap here:

1. Pavla Seafire Mk III canopy and fuselage, next to the Brian Taylor Mk VIII/IX Spitfire canopy*: both canopies are vacuum-formed

26210752482_fe5b268bc5_b.jpg

Follow this link to my Flickr account. Take a ball of string with you.

The blue card backdrop gets another outing - first one since my Intro thread! I did a quick bit of test fitting of the cockpit sidewalls after putting on yet another coat of resin primer this arvo**: they don't look like fun at all. In fact, it looks like the Dremel and the scratch-building, oh dear. This really isn't me about to start on this yet, truly, by the way.

KE is right about the lack of gull-wing in the ventral wing root surfaces, not that I doubted him - a bit flatter than I was expecting, even. Nothing that the Perma-Grit rifflers won't fix in a hurry, however.

Cheers,

Alex.

* Without its frames - they have to be made from scratch, as does the rear section (a doddle)

** Only one more coat to go! Hooray!

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Hmmm...multiquote isn't as hard as it looks when you're using a decent sized monitor and a "real" computer - on the iPad it's a nightmare. It does have an annoying quirk on Safari, but that is due no doubt to Safari itself and its poor support for recent changes to various scripting languages (Javascript/ECMAscript and HTML5 being the most noticeable). But don't get me started on that.

Good luck with that, anyone who takes on a Pavla kit has my respect.

Pavla got out of the full kit game a few years ago to concentrate on their resin and vac form canopy lines. As a veteran of two or three Pavla kits, I breathed a small sigh of relief when they got out of full kits.

That Seafire was one of their better efforts as I recall.


Hello upnorth - interesting :). It will be even more interesting to see how much respect you have left for me by the time that I've "finished" - or this kit has finished me!

I have done the SH 1/48 Seafire III BPF Markings - (not quite finished) and I'm just about to attack the SH Seafire II which I think I might do in Torch markings and did a BoB Spitfires flown by FAA Pilots build - so I like my Seafires and Spitfires. I did think of cross knitting the Octopus cockpit into another 1/72nd fuselage but never got around to it. As I said before good luck with this kit, I'm using you as my inspiration to go and finish it..


Hello Grey, um...see my comment to upnorth's post above! And as I have said, it won't be an immediate start, despite some evidence to the contrary; I am just getting my ducks in a row. Quack. Now there's an opportunity for an "emoticon" if every there was one - but sadly, it doesn't exist here - yet.

This looks like it will be an interesting build.
Supermarine and naval-what could be better? :)
Hope it's ok to watch along.

All best regards
Tony


Hello Tony, of course you may! The more the merrier! Two great combinations in the Spitfire and Royal Navy :).

Welcome to the thread, everyone! :D

I'm going to use a trick for the fuselage that Brett Green showed on Hyperscale (I think) many years ago regarding short-run kits and their conspicuous lack of locating pins: using carefully-placed (and bent or curved) strips of plastic card to make location tabs.

Cheers,

Alex.

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Hi Alex, I'll be following along with interest. Already I've concluded that no Pavla kits should enter my stash (wouldn't it be good if you could just block unwanted listings on ebay to prevent even the merest hint of temptation?), but I wish you the best of luck wrangling with this octopus.

Cheers, Chris

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Hi Alex :)

Yes, it's a shame that a lot of interesting subjects are only available in short run kits... but I guess that's part of the 'fun'. I've never had to sand an interior though - yet!

I'm sorry to hear your Asthma is playing up. I suppose it's typical of the 'un-tested' replacements we're getting for 'dangerous' substances. You can just imagine the conversation, can't you?

"We suggest you ban 'x' because it causes irritation of the lung when you breathe it in over long periods. Our suggested replacement is 'y'"

"But doesn't that cause immediate irritation for Asthma sufferers?"

"Well yes, it does do that..."

Ripples of Monty Python's 'Dinsdale' sketch - "He was a violent man, but fair..."

Hello Ced,

I'm not quite sure how I missed your post, Ced - my humble apologies. I can blame it on the resin fumes! The wearing of the Heavy Duty Snout Protector should have been been mandatory, but I had the - admittedly really, really stupid - stiff-neced opinion that as the stuff was "safe", I shouldn't need the mask, despite the direct, empirical, incontrovertible evidence <sigh>. Daft as a brush.

Good ol' Python - an application for almost every situation: and even if there isn't, one can put one in anyway. I know I do. I have to say that I shuddered at the likely veracity of your projected conversation, but with the added "Not as many asthma sufferers as people likely to get lung cancer, so do it anyway" coda (technical musical term).

It is going to take a lot of time and research (money) for many producers of surface coatings (and many, many other products) to catch up with "safety" legislation. Unless some geniuses happen upon almost-magical solutions soon, this twilight (dawn - or dusk?) situation will persist for quite a while. And with the current helter-skelter race to the cheapest as possibly cheap bottom, that is likely to be an indeterminate length of time. Having said that, however, Badger and their Stynylrez may be an example of said genius(es) (until we find out exactly what nasties lurk therein, then have to start all over again, like Sysiphus...).

While I appreciate the attempts to prevent us all from an excruciating and untimely death - like my poor young nephew recently - I wonder if there is a blanket outbreak of too many tails wagging too many dogs.

I guess in the end it means accepting change: something that for some weird reason human beings en masse seem singularly ill-equipped for.

Hmmm...

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Hi Alex, I'll be following along with interest. Already I've concluded that no Pavla kits should enter my stash (wouldn't it be good if you could just block unwanted listings on ebay to prevent even the merest hint of temptation?), but I wish you the best of luck wrangling with this octopus.

Cheers, Chris

Hello Chris,

If I hadn't read Mr Green's Hyperscale review, it wouldn't have entered my collection, either. That goes for 95 % of my collection, in fact; Terry Ashely and Cookie Sewell being the bait-offerers by which my AFV collection grew to similar unseemly proportions.

I don't do FleaBay very much, strangely (well, only to flog stuff), so I guess that I'm spared that. I have also stopped reading product reviews and announcements, for reason of my sanity. All else is sheer will-power, of which I am, unhappily, not over-endowed, which makes it a bit of a struggle.

Thank you for your kind wishes regarding the Fearsome Beaked Mollusc. I have several handy pairs of beak clippers and tentacle removers, so we will see how far they get me. Better hope that it's not the blue-ringed variety, however...

Cheers,

Alex.

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This should be interesting...

I have a Ventura Seafire in the stash so will be paying particular attention to this one...

Hello Leonl,

It should be "interesting" indeed - especially for me!

Cheers,

Alex.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thank you, Nigel :). While looking at your and Ced's respective current threads, I have become rather disturbingly aware of a rather large and fearsome blood-sucking flea in my nice little paradise. To whit: I haven't allowed room for an airbrushing hood. Anywhere.

This is quite annoying, and leaves me feeling a bit like Mr Silly*.

I am probably going to have to rearrange my cunningly - I really mean serendipitously - arranged paint drawers into two Large and Rather Wobbly Towers. Not pleased.

I am currently waiting for a suitable break in the warm weather to finish off my remaining benchtop with a particularly finnicky water-based polyurethane paint. People think that the AK primers are nasty? They ain't got nuffin' on this one (but for possibly different reasons). Next reasonably cool day appears to be Saturday so I am getting on with other things elsewhere (including research into a new boat that isn't a box with a stick, just in case I ever get bored).

Cheers,

Alex.

* To quote the Raven from Discworld.

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Watching with interest...

I've had my eye on the Pavla kit as it's the only option for a 1/72 Seafire III in HMS Indefatigable markings (ASFAIK, anyway).

My Grandad served on the Indefatigable when she was out in the Pacific and I've wanted a Seafire in the correct markings to compliment the model of the ship I have on the bench (if I ever finish it!)

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I shall join in watching this thread, I started mine many years ago but like a few others have not got around to completing it. Beautiful resin but could fit the cockpit in so that is where it ended, it seems to be a common thread running through all my Pavla builds. Good luck on this and if you succeed I may just have to get my kit back off the doom shelf!

Bob

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