AdrianMF Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 (edited) Hello All, For a long time I've been pottering along with a Frog-spawn Blackburn Shark in the background of my other projects, and I thought I'd bring it to the front of the bench this weekend. It's the Modelcraft re-pop: For a spawn, the moulding isn't too bad (although the struts needed a fair bit of un-warping and there are some short shots on the more delicate parts) and the decal sheet is nice, including an extra Canadian example (503). The outer rings of the roundels are a touch too narrow, but I will be using them. If I can find some matching paint I may paint a larger circle before applying them. For reasons that escape me, I have four Frog/spawn Blackburn Sharks and three Westland Wallaces in my stash. Not quite sure how that happened, but it's a good thing I like English inter-war biplanes! As you can see from the picture above, the cockpit detailing consists of a classic Frog plain floor with some comfy-looking chairs for the pilot and observer I have already cleaned up the struts and stuck together the wings, and I've replaced the flat moulded-in engine with something a bit more realistic. The wing struts needed a lot of cleaning up and test fitting, and I did it twice before I was happy enough. I'm going for wings folded on this one to hide the tragically thick trailing edges, which I will thin before assembly next time. I decided to busy-up the cockpit with some stretched sprue and card. I am working from the pictures of the "Canadian Wings" book on the Shark, which are the only pictures of the interior that I have seen. They show the cockpit of a target towing version, so some of the brackets may be for storing drogues! However, it looks busy now, so that's good enough for me. Thanks for looking, Adrian Edited September 27, 2015 by AdrianMF 16 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robvulcan Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 I will be watching this Adrian love anything Frog related and this is a classic 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moaning dolphin Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 Nice to see this classic, only the other week I dug mine out to dust off, looked at it and then stuck it back into the shelf! Will be good to see how this turns out, great work so far. Bob 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevej60 Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 Great subject Adrian,will be interested to see how this turn's out,does'nt look a bad kit despite it's origin's.great start on the cockpit. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FalkeEins Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 in an outbreak of nostalgia I've been thinking about building one of these again, just to see if I can. Neat work on the cockpit! There are some 'cheap' Sharks on Ebay from Poland by Chematic/Gomix - these are all the old Frog kit presumably ? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seahawk Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 You're not missing anything on the struts: they are pretty curly on my Frog originals. Congrats on finding some interior detail shots: shall be watching with interest. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robvulcan Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 in an outbreak of nostalgia I've been thinking about building one of these again, just to see if I can. Neat work on the cockpit! There are some 'cheap' Sharks on Ebay from Poland by Chematic/Gomix - these are all the old Frog kit presumably ? They most likely are and on my expirience well worth picking up I keep adding them to the stash I just need to build the things now 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted September 1, 2015 Author Share Posted September 1, 2015 Thanks chaps! Glad to see I will be entertaining you... Nice to see this classic, only the other week I dug mine out to dust off, looked at it and then stuck it back into the shelf! Will be good to see how this turns out, great work so far. Bob I did exactly that with the Frog Beaufort the other day. The wings and tail shapes look good compared to both the Airfix new Beaufighter and the Warpaint plans (and you expect some problems with the undersized cowlings and nacelles), but the fuselage is all over the place! I would like to take it on one day (before Airfix do a new tool), but it will take a lot of cutting and shutting... in an outbreak of nostalgia I've been thinking about building one of these again, just to see if I can. Neat work on the cockpit! There are some 'cheap' Sharks on Ebay from Poland by Chematic/Gomix - these are all the old Frog kit presumably ? Those are all the old Frog kit AFAIK. The big problem with the spawn is not so much the flash (think of it as free plastic card) but the warping on the struts. This is partly because there are an awful lot of parts, moulded at angles to the sprue, jammed into boxes that are a bit too small. You get an awful lot of kit for the money! Regards, Adrian 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 A great start on a model that cannot be anything other that cool! Martin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWM Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 Hi, I like Shark very much - I converted mine to Mk III with closed canopy and Bristol engine... What painting scheme do you want to do? If Canadian one, there are interesing aftermarket decal sets (for Mk II or Mk III): http://www.canmilair.com/proddetail.asp?prod=113&cat=155 http://www.canmilair.com/proddetail.asp?prod=114&cat=155 http://www.canmilair.com/proddetail.asp?prod=115&cat=155 and for yellow/black stripes with silver floats TT: http://www.canmilair.com/proddetail.asp?prod=116&cat=155 Best regards Jerzy-Wojtek 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AntPhillips Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 As Martin says, just the subject matter makes it cool and the cockpit detailing you've added is superb. I just wish we had this and the Fairey III family in 1/48 scale. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted September 1, 2015 Author Share Posted September 1, 2015 Thanks Martin and Ant! Jerzy - the Modelcraft decals actually offer a Canadian "503", so I have that option available. I will be doing "652" for this one using the kit decals, which are ready-printed with the number on a blue stripe, and I've already upgraded the Tiger engine. I have to admit that the yellow and black target tug scheme is very tempting! I have a different float plane scheme in mind for the next one, based on a photo of a Shark being deployed off a beach. BTW I've yet to see a photo that shows the curved windscreen on the observer's cockpit. I think I will be leaving it off. Regards, Adrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyot Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 This is coming along really well. I`d love to model a Shark Mk.III with the enclosed canopy, does anybody do an after market one? Cheers Tony 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogsbody Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 Just doing some GOOGLE-ing and found this: http://www.airmuseum.ca/mag/0504.html Were not RCAF Sharks fitted with a framed canopy? Chris 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWM Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 Adrian, here is mine attempt of Canadian Mk III, which I mentioned above: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234965858-blackburn-shark-mk-iii-frog/?hl=%2Bblackburn+%2Bshark This was a scratch conversion. Sometimes I regred this yellow-black one... Cheers J-W 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMC Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 Great! A biplane with floats. Watching this. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted September 1, 2015 Author Share Posted September 1, 2015 This is coming along really well. I`d love to model a Shark Mk.III with the enclosed canopy, does anybody do an after market one? Cheers Tony Tony - I haven't come across one, although it is a simple shape. You might get away with a generic donor windscreen so you just have to make the parallel sided cover from scratch. Just doing some GOOGLE-ing and found this:http://www.airmuseum.ca/mag/0504.htmlWere not RCAF Sharks fitted with a framed canopy?Chris Chris, the interior pictures on that site are the same as (copied from?) the ones in the "Canadian Wings" book. Later Canadian Sharks had the canopy, I'm guessing the early ones might have been retrofitted after the first Winter! Adrian, here is mine attempt of Canadian Mk III, which I mentioned above: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234965858-blackburn-shark-mk-iii-frog/?hl=%2Bblackburn+%2Bshark This was a scratch conversion. Sometimes I regred this yellow-black one... Cheers J-W Jerzy, that is a lovely piece of work with the new Pegasus engine, the canopy and tons of extra little details. Love it! Great! A biplane with floats. Watching this. No floats from me this time (but see Jerzy's link). Regards, Adrian 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted September 2, 2015 Author Share Posted September 2, 2015 (edited) Hello All, Grabbed an hour last night and put some paint on. Need some seat belts for the pilot and then I can glue the fuselage together. Gosh, macro photography is so unforgiving. Hello All, Thanks for looking, Adrian Edited September 2, 2015 by AdrianMF 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 Well the pit looks pretty good on macro so I can only assume it looks even better in the flesh. Martin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selwyn Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 Don't go wild on the rigging by the way, the Shark was unusual in that for a biplane it had very few rigging wires. The wings were basically a warren truss design. Selwyn 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted September 2, 2015 Author Share Posted September 2, 2015 Don't go wild on the rigging by the way, the Shark was unusual in that for a biplane it had very few rigging wires. The wings were basically a warren truss design. Selwyn I think I counted ten. Cross brace each side of cabanes. (4) One inside of the wing fold (2) Two outside of the wing fold (4) Regards, Adrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selwyn Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 I think I counted ten. Cross brace each side of cabanes. (4) One inside of the wing fold (2) Two outside of the wing fold (4) Regards, Adrian Think you are about right on this! Selwyn 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sten Ekedahl Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 Well the pit looks pretty good on macro so I can only assume it looks even better in the flesh. Martin ...in the flesh? I thought it was plastic. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robvulcan Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 Very nice pit 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Hemsley Posted September 3, 2015 Share Posted September 3, 2015 (edited) "I`d love to model a Shark Mk.III with the enclosed canopy, does anybody do an after market one?" Quick answer Tony ... yes ... kinda. Pavla does a vac canopy for a Mitsubishi Ki 30 Anne (Hannant's stock no. PAVV72089). It's intended for the AZ kit, but when I saw a photo of it, it's appearance screamed "RCAF Shark" to me. All it appears to need is the removal of the rear-most frame to open the back. I've yet to order one for myself, but eventually intend to, as I also have the Modelcraft edition of the Blackburn (RCAF) Shark. If anyone tries to use this canopy, please feel free to relay your findings on it's compatibility... I'd really like to know. Scott Edited September 3, 2015 by Scott Hemsley 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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