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1/72 seafire XVII conversion


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hiya

 

while waiting for some parts for my other projects I decided to use some spares and kitbash a seafire XVII :-)

 

1st order was to 'de-spite' and airfix spitfire 22 by reshaping the tail - the tail was donated from a sword seafire XV which will be burmese with a different tail:

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will use some spare ki-27 fuel tanks for the wing combat tanks:

 

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the wings are from a sword  spit IX sprue someone gave me. I'm still deciding on the spinner , but here is one I have been working on

 

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The Seafire 17 is the same nose as the Seafire XV, by the sound of it you have a Seafire 15? (for clarity I'll use arabic numbers for the rest)

Assuming the Sword 15 is correct, that will give you a 'good enough' length.

 

Note, the extension is at the rear of the engine bay, so you need to cut at the firewall and remove a section,  as the difference between the engines is the early Griffons (spitfire 12, Seafires 15, 17)and the later 60 series is the 60 series have a two stage supercharger, but the front part is the same, this is from Peter Arnold, who has owned a fair few Spitfires and Seafires...reminds me I must ask again for the actual dimensions.

 

HTH

T

 

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Cheers! thanks for that  info! - spits are still a pretty new thing for me! :-)

 

yea I went with the sword kit as a comparison :-)  will need some tidying up but is looking better, ill have to fill and rescribe the firewall 

 

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Edited by Modelraynz
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Nice project, I'm not a huge Spitfire fan but I do like the Griffon Seafires, be great to follow your XVII conversion.

How are you planning to replicate the curved windscreen assembly, is it in one of the kits?

 

Just for inspiration,

34204920832_86189f8e1e_c.jpgSupermarine Seafire XVII SX336 105-VL by James Thomas, on Flickr

Edited by 71chally
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9 hours ago, 71chally said:

Nice project, I'm not a huge Spitfire fan but I do like the Griffon Seafires, be great to follow your XVII conversion.

How are you planning to replicate the curved windscreen assembly, is it in one of the kits?

 

Just for inspiration,

34204920832_86189f8e1e_c.jpgSupermarine Seafire XVII SX336 105-VL by James Thomas, on Flickr

 With a squadron vac canopy, sharp knife and alot of swearing:D

 

 

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7 hours ago, Cookenbacher said:

I'm a big fan of Spitfire kitbashing and yours is off to a great start.

 Yea theres something very theraputic about kitbashing spits :-) tempted  to do a mk.45  with the spit 22 wings and academy xiv fuselauge 

 

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hiya,

 

some basic work on the cockpit (since it may be enclosed i havent gone all out!)

 

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*been trying to work out if the wing is looking right....separate wingtips are a nightmare to align! (it looks like its drooping a bit to the right.. ill have to matethe fuselauge and wings VERY carefully!! -  but the wing 'gull'? Leading shape is ok?! :mellow: - I always thought

 It just referred to the rear undersides of the wing??

 

 

 

 

DSCN5000.jpg

Edited by Modelraynz
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a few updates:

 

for the Seafire 17 I've attached and puttied the engine and added 'glass' dials to the cockpit:

 

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decided to use the wing left over from the Spitfire mk.22 and mate it to an academy fuselage to create a seafire mk.45 - really like the lines of this one, has a real feeling of speed!

 

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begun construction of the tail:

 

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still need to refine the shape:

 

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Nice work on the 45, although I would have used a spare Sword 14 or Airfix 19 fuselage as the Academy one is...  Vile.  The shapes are way out.

 

I have used the Airfix 19 fuselage for both Spitfire F21s and Seafire 45s, with home cast resin wings using the Ventura F22 wing as a master.  Here's a whiffed "PR21" using said bits.

15844034_1862280620654732_58396825960988

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Hiya

 

Very nice!! Yea that was a toss up: i had the academy fuselauge on hand - i had ordered a airfix 19 but that hassnt shown up yet! :mellow:

 

I can replace the tailplanes, and will compare fuselauges to see how we can proceed 

Edited by Modelraynz
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canopies arrived today :-)

 

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so looking at improving the look of the academy fuselauge - if aligning with a sword XV the curvature of the top part can be made to work if the underside is reduced in depth.... did the seafire have a wider tale than the XV? if not I can cut away the academy tail and shape to get rid of the plump look im thinking...

 

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Great builds, always good to see some Spitfire kitbashing

Correcting the Academy fuselage isn't easy, but judging from what you've done on this model til now it's sure feasible... the question is if it's worth it !

There are two problems on the Academy parts:

1) the rear fuselage is slightly short. This is "easily" corrected by inserting a 1mm spacer at the tail junction point. Have to say though that this problem is not that visible

2) the whole fuselage is "bloated", being too deep and too wide. This problem is mainly visible at the nose, as the tail areas looks correct. In a not so distant past I tried to sort this problem by chopping the fuselage halves at mid height, then removeing material in a wedge shape, more at the front and nothing at the rear. Then I did the same for the width, sanding the fuselage halves more at the front and nothing at the rear. In this way I managed to bring the fuselage back to more correct sections. This of course meant that the spinner was then too big (easily sorted) and that the canopy was too wide (replacing with a Falcon one sorted the problem nicely).

The rocker covers for the Griffon engine are also incorrectly shaped, milliput came to the rescue.

I've seen other approaches to the same problem, in any case it's a lot of work..

 

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Hiya

 

Thanks for info on the academy offering!

 

Yea, its a bit of a toss up:

Was really after a seafire 17, the 45 came as a bit of an afterthought,  while I do like the look of the 45,  I guess Ive to choose between:

 

- Admiral kit $35-40nzd

- airfix xix intended for thai markings (or$25nzd w pp)

- making the academy kit look as least offensive $free

 

I could either continue with the 45 as is, use the airfix xiz fuselaug, and build a thai xiv with all ofthe academy kit....mmm decisions!!

 

 

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On 10/05/2017 at 06:16, Cookenbacher said:

That's some fine kitbashing. Thanks for the Sword XV to Academy XIV fuselage comparison.

 

I'm sure I'll enjoy watching whichever fuselage you decide to go with for the 45.

Cheers ☺ yea i decided  to  go  with  the  airfix  fuselauge! 

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  • 2 weeks later...

HI folks!

 

small update: after a lot of puttying/sanding decided It would save a lot of time and swearing to use a sword XVIe  and reshape the nose (as the short griffon is just slightly shorter than the merlin and easier to get the shape)

 

sword/hase fuselage:

 

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sword seafire XV/ spitfire IX

 

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 for the seafire 45, i'm glad i decided to go with the Airfix xix fuselage - looks quite different, and very sleek! - managed to use the instrument panel and cockpit floor from the build:

 

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Edited by Modelraynz
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1 hour ago, Modelraynz said:

thoughts on wing alignment? :-)

 

comparision.jpg

I'm still very new to scale modelling but my best suggestion would be to maybe experiment with plastic sheet to extend the wing chord to match the edge of the fuselage and hopefully that would work with maybe some scribing here and there as needed.  I saw someone do this with the italeri 1/72 su-27k to correctly shape the area where the canards meet the fuselage. Just my two cents. Hope it helps :)

Edited by TheRazgriz118
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