Airfix Seafire XVII in 1/48th scale.Finished.

Alex Gordon · September 15, 2013

G'day Chums,

I have a little confession to make.I started this,and my Airfix Seafire 46 at the same time as my Seafire XV.I just thought that I'd hang on to it until she was near to completion.

So here we go,the sprues and boxart.

Construction starts with the cockpit.The moulding is crisp and well detailed.

One thing I like about the fuselage is that the detail is within the wall thickness so that the wall looks suitably thin.

Lightening holes drilled out.

Seat suitably reshaped and the handhold cut in.

Apologies for the lousy photography,it will improve.

Edited August 17 by Alex Gordon

bigbadbadge · September 15, 2013

^{Good luck with your build, I was looking at getting one of these at some point, will watch with interest.
All the best
Chris}

SaintsPhil · September 16, 2013

Another good choice, I don't normally build props but I hear good things about these kits so I may try one one day!

Alex Gordon · September 17, 2013

Hello again chums,

Chris,Phil this kit is lovely.Everything fits,all the bells and whistles are there.Money well spent.

I've been chucking the paint about.Bearing in mind discussions elsewhere around BM concerning Spitfire and Seafire interior colour I made a mixture of Humbrols 90 Sky and 78 Cockpit Green to produce something that,to me,resembles the Apple Green that was quoted.This was sprayed on and allowed to dry.The teardrop canopy Spitfires and Seafires in the real world had problems with light reflecting off internal surfaces into the canopy and the remedy for this was to paint the upper area of the cockpit with a non reflective black.

Dead easy,mask off and spray Humbrol 33.Likewise the instrument panel,the seat frame and the spade grip.The compass was brush painted with Humbrol 27 and then the dial touched in with black.The seat cushion was brushed with Humbrol 31 Matt Slate Grey which,when dry,was gently rubbed with a bit of tissue to give a slight,leathery,sheen.

The fuselage was then dryfitted together,no fettling was needed so taping up and liquid gluing ensued.The various cockpit components were fitted up and assembled.

A little drybrushing and picking out of details on the instrument panel later and this is where we are.

More soon,thanks all for looking in.

Edited August 17 by Alex Gordon

Alex Gordon · September 21, 2013

Back again chums,

Having done all the painting and detail work on the cockpit components they were assembled and made ready for installation.I made a seat harness from Tamiya masking tape and used some foil from a pack of Swann Morton blades to make the buckles and other metalwork.With hindsight the various foil bits do look rather large but I'm not going to alter that now and I'm going to invoke the Six Foot Rule.

The fuselage was de-taped and the joints just tickled up with a quick sand and polish to get rid of any faults and the panel lines were scribed in across the joints to make them look like they grew there.I have to say that this is one of the best fitting fuselages I have ever seen,with no gaps or filling needed at all.The cockpit sub assemblies were then fitted and all was left to set.

Canopy masking time.Airfix provide one windscreen and two canopies,one for closed and one for open.I masked off inside and out.I've never been a fan of painting the inside colour on the outside letting it show through,it never seems to look convincing to me so we do it the hard way.

With that done it was time to chuck a bit of paint about again.I decided that in the interests of having an easy life the wheel wells were going to be the same colour as the underside so all the hard to reach when assembled bits were given a slathering while they were still easy to reach.I had also decided that,since it is included,it would be rude not to use the folded wing option.

More soon chums.

Edited August 17 by Alex Gordon

Alex Gordon · September 24, 2013

G'day Chums,

The upper wing surfaces were attached to the fuselage and allowed to set.This gave me a joint that needed no more fettling than the removal of a couple of bubbles of squeezed out melted plastic and a minor bit of scribing to reinstate the panel line.Once set the lower wing surface was attached so as to conform to the fuselage,leaving any resultant gaps in the leading and trailing edges.The downward identification light lenses were fitted beforehand.These were made from appropriate diameter clear sprue, glued in from the inside and sanded and polished to conform with the surrounding surface.Now I don't know if these lenses are supposed to be flat or curved but I'm happy with how they have turned out.

Once the glue had set it was time to address the gaps in the wing edges.

I used my usual method of gluing in suitable diameter stretched sprue from the kit,filling the minor flaws in the leading edge and the rather larger gaps in the trailing edge and in the lower surface fuselage joint.All of this was put aside and allowed to set.

The chosen colour scheme calls for a spot of yellow paint in a place or two so I thought that now would be as good a time as any to do this.

The relevant control surfaces were left on the sprue and any components not intended to be yellow were masked off.The propellor was pushed onto a cocktail stick and the blade tips were sprayed with Humbrol 154 Insignia Yellow.

The control surfaces and the folded wingtips were then sprayed with Humbrol 24 Trainer Yellow.

Back again soon chums.

Edited August 17 by Alex Gordon

Alex Gordon · October 6, 2013

Hello again chums,

A little more done,

The tyres were cleaned up and hung on a cocktail stick ready for a spot of Matt Black paint,as were the propellor and the canopy components.

These were then sprayed with Humbrol 33 Matt Black and set aside to dry.

That done it was time to prepare the wings and fuselage for a spot of Sky.

The wingfold detail is lovely.

My photography does not do the kit justice,the more I see of this boxful the more I like it.The cannon barrel fairings were fitted,the underside identification lights were masked off with circles of Tamiya tape made with the use of my leather punch,which just happens to have one tool that is just the right size, and then a quick wipe down with a drop of White Spirit saw everything ready for paint.

3 coats of Humbrol 90 Sky was then sprayed onto the underside surfaces separated by about 10 minute intervals giving a reasonably rapid completion time but making a decent depth of finish.Bearing in mind that I was at the same stage with my XV and FR 46 so going around all 3 airframes in turn gave enough time for paint to dry sufficiently ready for the next coat.

This was set aside overnight to dry properly.

More soon chums,thanks for looking in.

Edited August 17 by Alex Gordon

Av8fan · October 6, 2013

How did I miss this?

I have this kit as well, and I am looking forward to starting it. Very nice work.

Thanks for posting. I will be following along.

SaintsPhil · October 6, 2013

This is looking really good, hopefully it'll make it into gallery by the end of GB

Alex Gordon · October 8, 2013

Back again chums,

Av8fan,go ahead and build.This kit is lovely.One of the most enjoyable builds I've done for a while.

Phil,she was finished on Sunday,I've just got to keep up the progress posts.

Having unmasked the inside of the windscreen there was the armoured glass to fit.This is a flat item that was coaxed into position and fixed in place with a drop of Johnsons Klear applied by capillary action and a hairy stick.

The underside was masked off with a combination of Tamiya tape and the humble but ever useful Coop carrier bag.

The cockpit was then filled with dry tissue paper (bog roll actually 'cos that's all there is at my gaff) and a quick wipe down again with white spirit left her ready for the first upperside colour.

Humbrol 123 Extra Dark Sea Grey was airbrushed on and once again it is drying time we are waiting on.

More soon chums.

Edited August 17 by Alex Gordon

Col. · October 8, 2013

Lovely work Alex but...

The cockpit was then filled with dry tissue paper (bog roll actually 'cos that's all there is at my end)

...perhaps you might want to reword that slightly

SaintsPhil · October 9, 2013

Lovely work Alex but...

...perhaps you might want to reword that slightly

I thought just the same thing! At least you've painted it grey not brown....

Alex Gordon · October 9, 2013

Col,Phil,post edited appropriately

Miggers · October 9, 2013

A few tips mate(having built one of these little darlings) if I may.

1.Thin the radiator baths all round,speshly at the frontsThey're chunky to say the least.

2.Use the "closed" sliding hood section of the canopy even if you're doing it open.

The "open" one is a pig to fit over the spine and into the slide tracks.

3.Use the "flying tyres" and add your own weight flats to them,the flattened ones are a

bit too flat(only at the bottoms though )

4.I see you're doing SX273,so use the four spoke wheel hubs

5.Doing the wings folded?,slightly angle both ailerons upwards rather than one up one down.

6.Lastly here's some reference pics to spur you on old boy :

http://spitfiresite.com/photos/galleries/seafire-xvii-sx336/index.htm

Edited October 9, 2013 by Miggers

Col. · October 9, 2013

Col,Phil,post edited appropriately

Spoilsport!

Alex Gordon · October 10, 2013

Hello again chums,

Miggers old chum,good to hear from you.Keep watching this one,you'll recognise most of what you see.

A bit more done,the green portion of the camouflage scheme for a start.The masking was the other part of the set up I made for my XV build,waste not want not.

The paint used was Humbrol 224 Dark Slate Grey with a drop or two of 35 Gloss Varnish to take the edge off the matt finish for the benefit of the decals later on.Suitably thinned with white spirit the paint was airbrushed on in 2 light coats and came up rather well I thought.

Masking off.Now this really is starting to look like something special.

Undercarriage components ready for silver paint.

And,surprise surprise,painted.Humbrol 27002 Polished Aluminium.

The exhaust stacks were hollowed out appropriately and then superglued to a cocktail stick for painting.Lousy photo alert,still haven't quite got the hang of the camera yet.

These were given a couple of sprayed coats of Humbrol 27003 Polished Steel and allowed to dry.A quick polish up with a bit of bog roll (not just for masking cockpits you know) and then a very light misting of Humbrol 72 Matt Khaki Drill came next,just to take the edge off the shine and make them look a little bit used.I forgot to photograph the end result so you'll have to take my word for it that they look rather good.

More soon chums,thanks for looking in.

Edited August 17 by Alex Gordon

Alex Gordon · October 11, 2013

G'day chums,

Final assembly awaits.Here are all the goodies stacked up together ready for the magic moment

We are all set to arrange and fit the radiator and oil cooler housings when

we discover their somewhat chunky proportions.A scraping with the sharp edge of a scalpel blade ensued,front edge of the housing and rear,to a more believable thickness followed by a hairy stickful of Sky paint and the result was well worth the effort.

The matrix faces were given a tickle with a spot of pencil lead to put a discrete but visible touch to the raised detail.Looks lousy and overdone in the photo but viewed down a dark tunnel actually makes no difference at all unless using a torch.

Miggers old chum,thanks for the heads up on the chunkiness issue but I beat you to it.

So we'll try again for the ready to assemble piccie shall we?

And after sub assembly assembly (John Finnemore fans might enjoy that one)

A brush painted coat of Vallejo Matt Varnish unified the finish,hiding any signs of decal carrier film and odd traces of glossiness that I had left behind.This was followed by a spot of not too discernible exhaust staining and oil streaking.I'm not very good at weathering,one of these days maybe,so I tend to go for the less is more idea on the basis that I can always add to it at a later date when I have half a clue what I'm doing.

So,here we are chums,The finished article