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Seafire III 1/72


Bedders

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3 hours ago, Bedders said:

undercarriage legs attached (though still quite wobbly).

This is how you know you've completed a genuine Sword kit.

 

That looks great Justin, very inspiring. Like Simon, I just finished a Seafire book (They Gave Me a Seafire), and can't wait to get started on one.

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On 03/12/2017 at 1:33 PM, Beard said:

It's looking most excellent. Having recently read 'Seafire: The Spitfire that went to sea' and watching your build has made me want to do another Seafire.

Thanks very much Simon. That's a good read, and one which inspired me to do this model in fact.

On 03/12/2017 at 4:47 PM, Cookenbacher said:

This is how you know you've completed a genuine Sword kit.

 

That looks great Justin, very inspiring. Like Simon, I just finished a Seafire book (They Gave Me a Seafire), and can't wait to get started on one.

Phew, that's a relief about the legs Cookie. It's not just me then! I've also been toying around with a Sword XIV recently (more on that story anon), so it's useful to know it's congenital with Sword kits.

 

And I also thought, as I was labouring away at the undercarriage, that it's easy to understand why there were so many Seafire accidents.  It's totally unsuited to the rigours of aircraft carrier work, and it makes my admiration for those who flew (and landed) these machines all the greater. But I think that pilots loved them when they were airborne. This came across well in Brown's book, and I'd like to have go at Crossley's account too. Maybe something for the Christmas stocking...

 

Justin

Edited by Bedders
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Hi Justin,

 

Been following for a while, but only now had the change to take my time reading from the start of the thread.

I really love the attention to detail, I'm sure many are inspired by it. Your model is coming along nicely.

 

I'm also quite interested in how you converted the 1/72 Airfix Spitfire 22 into that beautiful Seafire 47 in your opening thread. I'd very much like to attempt it.

 

Cheers

Jimmy

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Thanks for the kind words Jimmy. For the 47 there's a WIP on BM but it became a victim of the Photobucket debacle so the photos can't be seen. When I get a moment I'll reconnect them through village.photo which I now use. I did it a little while back on my P-51B build so not too hard to do.

 

Justin

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Nearly there folks. Final varnish on this morning. Call me old-fashioned, but after trying out Alclad Klear Matte on my P-51B recently, and which still hasn't dried after about 6 weeks, I reverted to a good old reliable mix of Humbrol enamel Satin and Matt.

 

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The canopy was a slightly tricky fit (though no need for the spanners/pliers in the background luckily), and my eyes are finding it ever harder to pick out the framing, but it looks broadly OK.

 

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The varnish was preceded by a cautious attempt at weathering: a silver pencil for the paint chipping, an oil pin-wash and restrained streaking under the fuselage centre section, and some graphite pencil around the back of the exhausts. That was about as much as I would dare.

 

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For the wing-root wear I used this photo of unrestored Spitfire Mark I R6915 as a guide.

 

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You can tell it's near the end - I'm slowly running out of bits to stick on. I made an attempt at attaching the undercarriage and it dried pretty solid in the end. But I was unhappy with the forward rake of it - it looked too upright like a Mark I Spitfire, and didn't have enough slant for the Mark Vc & later variation. So I tweaked the openings under the wings slightly to allow more of an angle, and will stick them in again once the varnish is dry. 

 

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Quite happy with how this is turning out.

 

Justin

Edited by Bedders
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Thanks very much Cookie (though I've been looking at your Corsairs with much envy...). The canopy is the original Sword item, trimmed at the back to suit the built-up cockpit walls. I considered doing the cockpit half-open withba vacform sliding section. But in the intersts of time, and having decided early on not to open the cockpit door, I went with the stock canopy in the end.

 

Justin

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That’s looking superb.  I am in the middle of a series of 1/48 Griffon Seafires (46 done, 47 in progress, plans/parts sorted for 45, XV, XVII & Seafang kits in stash).  Perhaps I should extend my series further back after seeing this...!

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