Revell Germany 1/48 Seafire Mk XV, new kit or re-release?

[Spitfires Forever]

Just saw the kit advertised, had no idea it was in the works. Is this a new kit or the old Hobby Craft kit? Anybody know anything about it?

cheers

[Adam Maas]

Rebox of the Special Hobby kit, totally unrelated to the HobbyCraft kit. Great detail, but the wing is too far back so it looks a little bob-tailed.

Best option for an XV remains cross-kitting the Airfix XII and XVII (Note if you get the Heritage conversion set, you can also build an XVII from the combo as it comes with two wings, and the wing is the primary donation to the XII to make an XV, the Heritage set includes all the other bits needed).

The HobbyCraft is nicely shaped, but very basic in detail. And the decals are awful.

Edited March 7, 2013 by Adam Maas

[Bruce Archer]

Rebox of the Special Hobby kit, totally unrelated to the HobbyCraft kit. Great detail, but the wing is too far back so it looks a little bob-tailed.

Best option for an XV remains cross-kitting the Airfix XII and XVII (Note if you get the Heritage conversion set, you can also build an XVII from the combo as it comes with two wings, and the wing is the primary donation to the XII to make an XV, the Heritage set includes all the other bits needed).

The HobbyCraft is nicely shaped, but very basic in detail. And the decals are awful.

Hi!

I can confirm the conversion being easy, it is VERY easy. You just need to determine which F.15 you wish to build. I just completed one for the IPMS Canada's R/T. And if you had the wing, and rudders it is cheaper than the Special Hobby kit. You could probably buy both the Mk.XII and Seafire F.17 for less!

Bruce

[Spitfires Forever]

Rebox of the Special Hobby kit, totally unrelated to the HobbyCraft kit. Great detail, but the wing is too far back so it looks a little bob-tailed.

Best option for an XV remains cross-kitting the Airfix XII and XVII (Note if you get the Heritage conversion set, you can also build an XVII from the combo as it comes with two wings, and the wing is the primary donation to the XII to make an XV, the Heritage set includes all the other bits needed).

The HobbyCraft is nicely shaped, but very basic in detail. And the decals are awful.

I have built the HC kit and it was not impressive, especially around the canopy area. Looks like cross kitting is the way to go. I am surprised that SH is licensing their moulds to RG as well as ICM. Thanks for answering my questions mate.

All the best.

[Adam Maas]

I have built the HC kit and it was not impressive, especially around the canopy area. Looks like cross kitting is the way to go. I am surprised that SH is licensing their moulds to RG as well as ICM. Thanks for answering my questions mate.

All the best.

RoG does a lot of reboxing, typically they are MPM, Hasegawa or ICM molds. SH, being an MPM brand, is covered under MPM's business with Revell.

[Troy Smith]

The HobbyCraft is nicely shaped, but very basic in detail. And the decals are awful.

The original HC decals are junk, but the later 'Black Stripe' on right hand of box issues are rated as excellent.

HTH

T

[Max Headroom]

I built the Hobbycraft one years ago - now junked.

Many details were freely exchangeable with the Airfix Vb if you get my meaning. Yes the canopy was carp but I replaced it with the Airfix equivalent and it was a perfect fit. Other mods were filling in the fabric detail of the ailerons, scribing the wing fold and beefing up the bulges above the exhausts. Stickes were replaced too.

IMHO it's a much maligned kit and needs less

correction to make an accurate replica than the Hasegawa/RoG Spit IX. If you see one for sale don't be afraid!

Trevor

Edited March 7, 2013 by Max Headroom

[Steven Eisenman]

The SH kit has nice options. You can have either a fuselage hook or a tail sting hook. There are two different rudder arrangements for the fuselage hook.

The fuselage hook insert has issues and needs to be sanded down as it stands too proud of the fuselage.

The fit of the clear parts is poor, as is the fit of the ailerons.

As for the wing location, to me it seems to be in the same place as the Airfix Seafire XVII.

But, builds into a nice representation of the XV.

[Troy Smith]

HI

saw this kit in the 3 for2 Revell offer on Modelzone, and was curious about what decals were offered.

An image search Turned up Mark Marples review on Mainly Military Modelling

http://z15.invisionfree.com/Mainly_Military/index.php?act=Post&CODE=08&f=35&t=3694&p=22172281&st=0

I'm pasting in my posting, as may be of interest to folks here, plus that Seafire pic is real right click job..

The Decals....



The decal sheet is in perfect register and very clean and crisp, printed in Italy, there is one decal for a spinner which may prove very tricky and may be worth painting instead

The markings....

There are 2 schemes but both are the same style

1 – no 806 NAS HMS Glory, British Pacific Fleet, Sep 1946
2 – no 801 NAS HMS Implacable, British Pacific Fleet, Dec 1945

Now some careful research is needed here, as both schemes are included on the Special hobby boxing but... the markings on the decal placement are not quite the same

Hi Mark
ran across this review from an image search
Note, this is the Modelzone 3 for 2 offer on Revell kits, but if you look in the 3 for 2 section, it's not there, I found by searching 'seafire'...I digress

Looks like RoG have cocked up the roundels, making the centres too large, as this rather dramatic photo of one of the options shows!



I'm amazed that RoG didn't include a French option, given their widepsread distribution in Europe, including France I presume?

The opinion in the kit is it's overall pretty good, but can be tricky, and the ailerons can sit in too deep.
There are some comment over on Britmodller, incluing the usual Spitfire/Seafire bunfight about accuracy, possibly the wing is a litle too far back. My SH Seafires are not easily accessible to check this right now.
this may be of help
http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.p...-or-re-release/

The SH kit has nice options. You can have either a fuselage hook or a tail sting hook. There are two different rudder arrangements for the fuselage hook.

The fuselage hook insert has issues and needs to be sanded down as it stands too proud of the fuselage.

The fit of the clear parts is poor, as is the fit of the ailerons.

As for the wing location, to me it seems to be in the same place as the Airfix Seafire XVII.

But, builds into a nice representation of the XV.

The spare rudder means if you so desired and got a cheap Airfix XII kit, and the leftover wings from the XVII kits [has two sets] you could do another Seafire XV. The denavalised Burmese ones are neat...

hope of interest

cheers
Troy

PS there is an interesting thread by Andrew Jones comparing various 1/48th Griffon Spitfires/Seafires

this is the short nose Griffon posting,

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234935782-griffon-spitfires-compared/#entry1258407

Seems the SH kit has the wing a little to far back. I'm including this link as threads get 'lost' so cross links can be handy.

Edited March 9, 2013 by Troy Smith

[Max Headroom]

Re the French marking option (lack of). Unless there is a sting tail option included then that's correct.

Not seen the sprues so can anyone confirm?

Trevir

[Work In Progress]

As Steven Eisenman said above...

The SH kit has nice options. You can have either a fuselage hook or a tail sting hook. There are two different rudder arrangements for the fuselage hook.

[Tim T]

SH do a boxing with French markings. I have it in the stash and very nice they are too.

[Mozzy19]

I've built SH's Mk III and in the process of building the Mk XV, and I must say the Mk XV is much nicer, although as said above the canopy doesn't fit very well. Speaking of canopies, have you seen the way they posed it on the side of the box. They clearly forgot it wasn't an Me 109...

[Troy Smith]

OK, in the Mainly Miltary link there are sprue shots. It has both rudders.

I know that Special Hobby do a French Navy boxing.

My point about the French markings [or lack of] is that Revell in Europe have a very wide distribution netwrok, they are the brand you will find in department stores and toy shops, as opposed to specialist model shops.[the only place to find the SH kit]

.

Just having the BPF options is a bit dull really, to then cock-up the roundels means unless you get the Revell boxing cheap enough that aftermarket decals are an option , [or you have spares] then it's worth getting the SH boxing for the serious modeller.

You would have thought it would have been worth including the French option if only for the French market, and really, how much more does it cost to make a bigger decal sheet.

The radical option would have been to to do markings NOT in either SH kit, Canadian, Burmese or that all black FAA one..

cheers

T

[Adam Maas]

I am surprised that Revell doesn't offer French or Canadian markings. They do tend to do so, given their availability in France and the ever-popularity of Canadian subjects (RoG tends to offer an RCAF markings option on most kits where that's a viable option).

[Adam Maas]

The SH kit has nice options. You can have either a fuselage hook or a tail sting hook. There are two different rudder arrangements for the fuselage hook.

The fuselage hook insert has issues and needs to be sanded down as it stands too proud of the fuselage.

The fit of the clear parts is poor, as is the fit of the ailerons.

As for the wing location, to me it seems to be in the same place as the Airfix Seafire XVII.

But, builds into a nice representation of the XV.

The SH XV wing is 2-3mm back from the Airfix XVII, as shown in the Griffon Spitfires Compared thread (further down all the single-stage Griffons are compared): http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234935782-griffon-spitfires-compared/