Jump to content

AZ 1/72 Supermarine Attacker F.1


Recommended Posts

My entry for this GB will be the 1/72 AZ kit of the Supermarine Attacker F.1

I chose this kit among the many of FAA subjects I have in the stash becase I wanted to build something relatively quickly straight from the box. Most other kits have been planned with various modifications, but I had nothing in mind for this, so I grabbed the box from the stash and started looking at it. The subject is quite intriguing: a jet aircraft with a tailwheel is not something very common ! Of course we all know that this is in a sense the last development of the Spitfire/Seafire line, through the Spiteful/Seafang of which uses the wing. Let's say that Supermarine designers have had better days....

Small note about the kit: it came in my hands thanks to the market section of this same forum, where I bought it with other kits from a fellow Britmodeller !

Boxtop here:

13072013104_zpsa5e359ae.jpg

What can I say, the box is not bad ! Not on par with the artworks appearing on other brands but still quite nice IMHO.

Let's now see what's inside the box:

13072013105_zpsd6fb5ea4.jpg

2 sprues of medium grey plastic, a small clear sprue for the canopy and a single resin piece for the cockpit and the seat.

The plastic shows some very delicate engraved details, with panel lines and a few rivets:

13072013106_zps74e086e6.jpg

13072013107_zps83f2efb9.jpg

The surface detail is quite nice, howeve there's a bit of flash. Yes, I know it's a short run, but other manufacturers can do better. It should be said that the same AZ is now dong some much better kits and this is one of their earlier efforts.

The pictures above are also not a great effort, as they were taken using a mobile phone. Fortunately Yesterday I got a new camera and the following pictures will be of better quality !

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And let's start with some pictures of the assembly process !

First thing I noticed was that the intakes were not great and totally missed the boundary layer ingestion plates. The original plan was to build this straight from the box, but why stop there if a quick 20 minute job can make quite a difference ? So it was that I started modifying the intakes, using pictures from various websites as reference.

Here's what I did: first was to add some plastirod bits:

IMG_0011_zps9cfb113b.jpg

These were then trimmed to size:

IMG_0014_zpse020acb3.jpg

A new intake wall was cut from 0.25 mm thick plasticard and glued on top:

IMG_0015_zps9efbcd92.jpg

Finally, a wedge was added on the lip

IMG_0016_zpsb44d20b5.jpg

This wedge should actually go further down the intake, but this can not really be seen in the model.

Now the intake parts are drying, so started to prime the cockpit part and paint it with Vallejo German Grey

IMG_0008_zps0f0dd15c.jpg

I'm not sure the seat really is the right shape, but It will do the job....

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice work!

I thought this kit was the Frog moulding with some extras but it doesn't seem like it. Did the Frog version have its own moulded in pilot?

Keep it going!!

Bob

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Glad you guys like the choice of subject ! Hope to be able to do a decent job of it...

The kit fortunately is not related to the Frog mould but it's a brand new one. Yes, the Frog kit had the pilot moulded with the fuselage, and I have vague memories of the Landing gear inserted in a slot in the wing. We are a bit more demanding today.... :lol:

Little done yesterday, just adding some paint on the intake parts and gluing the intake splitter plates onto the fuselage. This picture shows the effect of the work I've done:

f63d3064-5556-4a1d-8ed2-98b7b4511331_zps

IMHO the effect is now a bit better than what AZ proposed.

No picture yet, but another thing I've done is to glue the wing halves together. And here one thing happened that reminded me that with short runs everything should be checked 3 or 4 times before gluing: one wing is thicker than the other !

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Some very little progress: more bits have been painted in the cockpit. In particular the seat and the instrument panel. I've also added a couple of levers in the throttle area.

IMG_0033_zpsa85bf4fb.jpg

IMG_0034_zps98de616f.jpg

I vaguely remembered that some early postwar FAA aircrafts had blue seatbelts and for this reason I decided to paint the ones of the Attacker in this colour. At least adds some variety to an otherwise very drab cockpit....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am starting to hate this kit ! The fuselage halves do not align well, with one being slightly wider than the other. The tailhook recess is only vaguely defined, the small parts look worse every time I look at them.. wonder if the original owner (from which I bought the kit second hand) had realised all of this and sold the kit for a very good reason.... still, I've started and I'll finish ! Pictures to follow later....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am starting to hate this kit ! The fuselage halves do not align well, with one being slightly wider than the other. The tailhook recess is only vaguely defined, the small parts look worse every time I look at them.. wonder if the original owner (from which I bought the kit second hand) had realised all of this and sold the kit for a very good reason.... still, I've started and I'll finish ! Pictures to follow later....

The CMR kit is looking better all the time, and it's not so expensive. I'm sure you'll get through it and have a fine model at the end! :)

Cheers,

Bill

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looks like there are similarities with my scimitar in terms of construction and design.

You mean with the Xtrakit one ? I have that in the stash, not sure if I'm looking forward to the buy I'll build it...

Anyway, thanks all for your support ! I'm not giving up and work is progressing. Fixing the cockpit in place required a lot of trial and error. When I was somewhat happy about the position, I glued it in place using CA glue. This is not ideal really as gets brittle over time and 2-part epoxy is better. Not having any, I deciced to use the CA glue and then added some silicon. The flexible silicon should keep the tub in place in case the model falls.

IMG_0037_zps04597b57.jpg

Moving to the rear of the fuselage, I built walls for the tailwheel well. I think that the well is not wide enough, but I'll live with it... The tailhook also needed some work. Instead of following the kit recesses, I got rid of these and cut through the plastic until I achieved the shape I wanted. The hook was then glued on a bit of plasticard together with those parts of fuselage along which it sits. This block will then be glued inside the full depth recess I made.

IMG_0041_zps161e59eb.jpg

The picture also shows how hard it is to align the panel lines: if I align the front fuselage, the rear is misaligned. A lot of work will be needed to sort the panel lines after closing the fuselage !

What was I saying about the small parts ? Have a look at wheels and landing gear legs:

IMG_0039_zps29df5847.jpg

And the part representing the end of the engine:

IMG_0040_zps97f59854.jpg

Yes, I know, it's a short run.... however other short runs are much better ! Being a modeler that follows internet discussions and read the news, I know that AZ has improved massively over the last couple of years, however if I had built this as my first AZ kit I'd have been put off this brand for ever !!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Must say that I'm doing more at the bench today that I have over the last 2 months....

more progress: glued the fuselage halves together ! I'll wait for a good few hours before checking the result, as I want the glue to grip as well as possible. I've arranged clamps to try and keep not only the halves attached, but also to try and compress the half that was wider, so that it should get back to the correct size. This means there'll be a lot of tension in the plastic while gluing.

Here's what the model look like at the moment:

IMG_0042_zpsd9f92b2f.jpg

The picture shows first of all how messy my bench is at the moment ! Some of you might notice the sprue at the top with a couple of Sea Harrier outriggers... this is a model I started a while ago to be finished in Indian markings, so not related to this GB... but I should have waited and built that one in FAA markings, would have been easier than building the Attacker !

The small clamps used in number in this build, are a recent addition to my tools and were bought at a local supermarket for Euro 2 the pack of 6. They have quite a strong spring and the adjustable bits at the end make them very useful. I can see me using them more and more, especially if I keep building kits like this...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

While it's true that recently I've dedicated more time to the Kfir for the Splendid Cats GB, I've not forgotten this one !

Here it is at the moment, after the intake lips and the wings have been fitted:

IMG_0197_zps52d6c60f.jpg

The fit of the wing was not good and the wings are thicker than the root moulded on the fuselage. Maybe it's been my mistake, maybe I had to thin the wings more by sanding, but in any case the result is not great. A lot of filling will be needed !

The intake lips too didn't fit well and also required a lot of clean-up of the inner surfaces.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Quick update with no picture: I've spent the whole of Sunday (or better, all the time between the many motorbike races on the telly) to build up the wing-fuselage joint with various types of filler. A very, very tedious job that is however starting to pay off.... the fit of the tailplanes will likely be similar unfortunately.

Patrick, be ready for some hard work the day you'll start this kit !

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Quick update with no picture: I've spent the whole of Sunday (or better, all the time between the many motorbike races on the telly) to build up the wing-fuselage joint with various types of filler. A very, very tedious job that is however starting to pay off.... the fit of the tailplanes will likely be similar unfortunately.

Patrick, be ready for some hard work the day you'll start this kit !

Hi

When I have to fill the gap between wing and fuselage I use cyano because it is drying faster than the common fillers.

Hard work : I am used to doing some as at the moment I am turning around an RS Model P-38G with many seams.

Patrick

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Finally the top wing-fuselage joints are sorted ! It took a few days a lot of filler but it's done !

IMG_0269_zpsbe8a793e.jpg

IMG_0270_zpsddcfe24a.jpg

I had to use mainly milliput as the wing roots were thicker than the part moulded on the fuselage. Of course all the sanding resulted in the loss of all the fine panel lines and rivets that AZ had scribed on the kit surfaces, but I'd rather loose some surface detail and have a decent joint.

Tailplanes will be next. I drilled holes in the fuselage ready to accept the steel pins I inserted in the horizontal tailplanes. I hope in this way to help the alignment of the parts, parts that are supposed to be butt-joined only

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm now considering starting my own filler production company, might be cheaper in the long run ! :lol:

More filler was needed for the tailplanes, anyway there are now properly faired in and the canopy has been glued too:

IMG_0287_zps3b7e0d4b.jpg

Next step will be to spray a good coat of primer. I'm sure this will reveal more filling is required somewhere....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

First coat of Sky is on ! Of course before getting there I've had to do more filling as not only I had to touch-up some junctions filled before but the canopy was an awful fit too.

The paint I chose to use was an old jar of gunze sky. The first coat went on a treat, very smooth even if the paint was several year old.

Pictures to follow....

Edited by Giorgio N
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ho, ho, ho Giorgio, it's starting to look good. With a week to go do you think you are going to make it?

Colin

We're all rooting for you, Giorgio! Hope you can finish in time, I love the Attacker!

Cheers,

Bill

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...