(Another) 1/72 Supermarine S.6b - Frog this time

[cmatthewbacon]

No sea with this one:

There's one serious shape issue, but I think the fix is relatively straightforward. The rear float struts meet on the centreline, which means that they aren't in a plane with the font ones, and the floats aren't parallel with the fuselage thrust line, which they should be. If I were doing another, I'd drill new fixing points more or less at the wing root, and flex the rear struts outward. A real replica would have better fairings at the upper strut attachment points, as well...

I used Mr Metal Color aluminium for this - what a mistake that was! The blinking stuff is still leaking aluminium powder everywhere, to the point where I daren't touch it, even WITH a glosscote over the top. I've lost count of how many times I've cleaned the blue - which also lifted from the plastic when I removed the masking. I think the only way to use the Metal Color is for pure bare metal finishes - buff the heck out of it, then seal with a gloss coat, and you just MIGHT get away with it...

I also had to build a "canopy" since there wasn't one in my kit, and the decals fragmented as soon as they hit the water, so these are home printed on white decal paper...

Overall, though, it's a very nice little kit, and the shape is way better than the Airfix one...

bestest,

M.

[Doug Rogers]

Nice job Matt. That's interesting about the rear strut location point on the underneath of the fuselage, as the Airfix one has exactly the same issue. The kit would have the two rear struts actually meet, as in a large triangle, but on the real thing, as you say they should be exactly in line with the front ones which locate much further out. I ended up cutting a couple of mm off the top of the strut and located them further out with some wire locating pins.

The Frog kit looks more detailed with the balance horns and seperate control surfaces.

Edited August 9, 2009 by Doug Rogers