Supermarine Seafire FR47 - 1/72 Rare Plane Vacform +++ Completed +++

[trickyrich]

those old Humbrol Authentic's were fantastic for their day. I know that colour Sky well as my father used it a number of times on different models and I may have as well though I don't really remember.

 

She looks so much better with a little bit of colour on her.  

[Bonhoff]

 

Masked her up with a mix of Tamiya Vinyl Tape for Curves and normal Tamiya tape ready for spraying.

 

 

And here's the tin of EDSG - Apparently for "Master Modellers"

 

Not sure why I've got it then...

 

And after all that masking what did I do? Decide not to spray it and use a nice new flat hairy stick instead.

 

 

This is after only one coat! - Got to love the coverage of old paints, bit more touching up to do still.

 

 

And on to canopies - This is the one from the SH kit, sits on the fuselage quite nicely but the screen doesn't join up to the rear portion too well and I'm not too sure how to solve that problem

 

 

And this is the Rareplane one cut out and trimmed.

 

Decisions decisions.

 

IanJ

 

 

[stevehnz]

Hi Ian , just caught up with this, I'm impressed with your effort, that is looking brilliant. My only Rareplanes was a Vindicator done in FAA colours about 40 years ago, more in stock though. For a canopy, Falcon do a Seafire 47 one in their #41 Spitfire special set, you might ask if someone on here has one they could spare?

Steve.

[Bonhoff]

 

Decalling has started - Not sure if I'm going to go mad and put on all the stencils yet.

 

Starting to look like a Seafire now.

 

IanJ

[JOCKNEY]

Hi Ian

Great progress, not much more to do and you have got this one in the bag and hopefully the gallery !

cheers Pat

[Bonhoff]

Not going to be done in time, spent Saturday at Flying Legends and then Mrs Bonhoff suggested a trip to Skegvegas today. Wasn't going to say no. Just landed back at home and I'd rather not rush things to get it into the gallery with 2 hours to go.

 

Will hopefully complete it this week but well done to all those who managed their builds in time and commiserations to those like me who didn't make it.

 

IanJ 

[Bonhoff]

Well, whaddya know - I managed to fit the vacform canopy, scratchbuild a pitot tube, use the exhausts, tailhook and arrester wire guard from the SH kit parts, touch up the paint, colour in the ID lights underneath and take some rough pictures for the gallery.

 

Why do I always leave things so late? 

 

 

IanJ

[stevehnz]

Nothing like a bit of pressure to concentrate the mind. Looks good.

Steve.

[JOCKNEY]

Outstanding Ian, well done mate

 

Now that you're a Vacform Master, when can we expect to see the next one ? 

 

cheers Pat

[trickyrich]

Well done Ian, you made it on time and with a VacForm model as well! 

 

There's a dark art to building these, I've done a few and it's not a place I really want to go to again! I won't say from observing it was an easy build but you made it look a lot less scary that it was, well done.

 

I hope you enjoyed the build and it wasn't too scary, it was great to follow and to have you along.

[Bonhoff]

Thanks Guys,

 

Only real problems I had were the discovery that it wasn't quite to scale, dropping it and the fact that the Sky paint, which I'd applied by airbrush, absorbed Klear like there was no tomorrow - I avoided silvering only by the liberal use of Micro-Sol, I also wish I'd spent a bit more time thinning down the tailplanes.

 

@JOCKNEY - It depends if I can find a GB that a Supermarine Spiteful would be eligible for, otherwise it'll just have to wait its turn to be built, I don't have any other vacforms - yet....

 

To those who are a bit nervous about trying such things, they aren't that difficult, the only thing to consider is whether the spares box is up to the task.

 

Thanks to all for the encouragement along the way.

 

IanJ