Sumatran Strike Seafire

[Col.]

A while ago I floated the idea of doing a Supermarine Seafire for this GB and with my entry in the 60s NATO Vs Warpac GB almost finished I got bored waiting for paint to dry and rather than touch any of the many stalled projects littering the peripheries of the workbench decided, aided in no small part by a pile of Seafire references lying close to hand and being glanced through as bedtime reading, to start something new

 

 

NN460 H6-Z features as a profile in a couple of my books and they seem to agree for the most part with a couple of minor differences in the details. Looks nice doesn't it? Think I'll have a crack at building it with this;

 

 

With only a month and a half remaining of the GB I'm unlikely to finish it given my slow speed of typical progress but sod it, here we are now, a new challenge  

 

Edited November 15, 2018 by Col.

[Col.]

"Wait you fool," I hear you cry, "that profile shows a Seafire III but your kit is a Seafire II! What are you thinking man!?!" Well the main difference between the two kits is a tree of wing parts; the II kit has a plain wing while the III kit features the wingfold lines scribed into it. The II kit was also cheaper at both normal retail and at a model show when I bought the second copy for a bargain 10 pounds  I don't think the minor differences in shape to the undercarriage wells and scribing in the wingfold lines are beyond me. Famous last words perhaps? We'll see  I also need to source some decals or paint on the majority of the markings to make this one happen. Hopefully this is again within my skill set.

So I made a start last night. After cleaning off a little flash I painted the spinner in Humbrol Hu100 enamel as it was the closest match to the red used for the national markings in the decal sheet and while not perfect the only red that will be used from the decal sheet is the fin flash a long way from the spinner so a minor difference shouldn't be obvious. The back-plate was also painted silver with some Hu56

 

 

The aforementioned wing got a little attention as well around the undercarriage bay parts. Everything need a little bit of attention to encourage a good fit but nothing too serious.

 

 

Last task for the evening was to go at the cockpit frame with a small drillbit to open up the lightening holes that are represented only by shallow depressions on the kit part.

 

 

[modelling minion]

Nice choice Col, Seafire's are always good and when combined with East Indies Fleet markings makes a winning combination.

[trickyrich]

welcome aboard Col, a wee bit late but at least you showed up. 

 

An interesting choice you've made and a nice one as well. I don't know this model at all, Special Hobby can turn out some really nice models when they try, it'll be interesting to follow this one. 

 

This build should be smooth sailing or should we say flying for you, you've made a nice start already. Look forward to seeing her in the gallery.

[Col.]

Thanks lads

 

11 hours ago, modelling minion said:

Nice choice Col, Seafire's are always good and when combined with East Indies Fleet markings makes a winning combination.

Always liked the Seafire more than the standard Spitfire so here's a great excuse to add another to the collection and, as you say, in a cool set of markings  

9 hours ago, trickyrich said:

welcome aboard Col, a wee bit late but at least you showed up. 

 

An interesting choice you've made and a nice one as well. I don't know this model at all, Special Hobby can turn out some really nice models when they try, it'll be interesting to follow this one. 

 

This build should be smooth sailing or should we say flying for you, you've made a nice start already. Look forward to seeing her in the gallery.

Aye better late than never. Then again my gran once said I'd be late to my own funeral. To which I replied I sincerely hoped so  

 

Got a little more time to this one last night and while most of that was spent going through the reference pile some plastic was fettled. Cleaned up the propeller and got it painted along with the black section of the spinner and then drilled some holes in the seat after cleaning that up a little as well;

 

 

Also started to assemble the cockpit interior with the seat mounting frame and armour plates fitted;

 

 

The slot in the head armour for the seatbelts to pass through had to be opened up as that, like the lightening holes, was only moulded as a shallow depression.

 

 

Edited November 16, 2018 by Col.

[Rabbit Leader]

That is a nice subject Col and having just seen this year’s lovely Spitfire big screen doco I’m more than a little interested to follow your progress. I agree, the East Indiess schemes do look lovely on these Seafires, so good luck getting this one finished in time. 

 

Cheees.. Dave 

[Grey Beema]

I like the SH kits and have built a number of their kits.  I have built two Seafires a MkIII and a MkII from them and they are really pleasant to build.  You may want to consider putting tabs in to make it easier to align some parts (having said that I don't remember needing to do that in the Seafire).  Remember to check out cannon bulges and exhausts to make sure you have the right options..

 

Good luck with your Seafire - it will come out really terrific I'm sure..

 

 

[Col.]

43 minutes ago, Rabbit Leader said:

That is a nice subject Col and having just seen this year’s lovely Spitfire big screen doco I’m more than a little interested to follow your progress. I agree, the East Indiess schemes do look lovely on these Seafires, so good luck getting this one finished in time. 

 

Cheees.. Dave 

Thank you Dave. I've not seen the film yet but have it on my Christmas list as every comment I've read or heard about it has been positive.

16 minutes ago, Grey Beema said:

I like the SH kits and have built a number of their kits.  I have built two Seafires a MkIII and a MkII from them and they are really pleasant to build.  You may want to consider putting tabs in to make it easier to align some parts (having said that I don't remember needing to do that in the Seafire).  Remember to check out cannon bulges and exhausts to make sure you have the right options..

 

Good luck with your Seafire - it will come out really terrific I'm sure..

Thank you GB. Although some of the parts have needed a little extra attention to promote good fit but nothing excessive so far. The cannon bulges took a bit of research and indeed some fitting but happy with them now.

On the subject of which, here's where we are at the moment;

 

 

 

Plenty bits are getting painted and the wings are well underway. The seat had the flare rack added to its front then painted up using a mix of Humbrol's Hu29 and 73 to represent the plastic seat while all the cockpit internals had a coat of Hu88 then heavily dry-brushed with Hu78 to impart some depth to the moulded detail and the rear section painted silver with Hu56

 

[trickyrich]

she looks to be going together quite quickly. Are those lower side panels still on the sprue?

[Col.]

8 hours ago, trickyrich said:

she looks to be going together quite quickly. Are those lower side panels still on the sprue?

Yes I've been leaving parts in place as long as possible to assist with painting them and trying to resist the temptation to add loads of extra detail that will slow this project and never be seen again. Although some extras I couldn't resist making;

 

 

Some flares for the seat rack (There should be 8 but I miscounted and added 7. At least they aren't rivets, right?) The three bulbs for the gunsight on the right hand sidewall are made from short cuttings of clear heat-stretched plastic with a little brass paint around their base. On the left sidewall I've started adding a couple bits associated with the radio gear. Below the instrument panel there's some extra wiring from 5amp fuse wire. That's about half way through the additions I want to make.

Edited November 20, 2018 by Col.

[trickyrich]

nice! 

[Col.]

Spent last night concentrating my efforts on the instrument panel bulkhead and treating it as a sort of small model in its own right. Added the compass under the main instrument panel using a combination of the etched brass mount supplied with the kit and a small length of plastic rod topped with the round bezel that also came from the brass fret. Special Hobby would have the modeller use the two metal parts with a piece of film as a rather flat representation of the bulky compass. To the right of the compass I also added the fuel tank selector levers panel and the primer pump handle; the former from a cutting of thin plastic sheet with a couple slots cut into it and the levers added from the same thin sheet and the latter using a short length of heat-stretched plastic rod that had its end flared slightly by pressing against the blub of my desk lamp then painted brass. Having painted the instrument panel a base coat of Humbrol Hu33 flat black I then dry-brushed the details to highlight them using Hu32 then Hu106 before filling in the instrument faces with gloss white;

 

 

Having left the white paint to dry overnight I got up early this morning and painted the instrument faces gloss black, left it about 20 minutes, then carefully picked at the black paint with the tip of a scalpel blade to reveal the white paint underneath;

 

 

Please excuse the crap photographs but this is pushing the limits of my 'phone camera.

Next up is to make something out of the kit supplied etched brass seatbelts;

 

 

 

 

[Col.]

Got the seatbelts in place so fitted the seat to its frame;

 

 

As you can see I've also glued the forward bulkheads to the right hand sidewall but the paintwork will need some repair work  

 

[trickyrich]

gee that's nice work on the IP Col!   That's a clever idea, I will have to remember the one.

[Col.]

On 11/23/2018 at 9:23 PM, trickyrich said:

gee that's nice work on the IP Col!   That's a clever idea, I will have to remember the one.

Thanks Rich. It's one I've used a few times now and always happy with the results. Works equally well on moulded detail or plain dials  

 

Confession time gang. Please don't judge me too harshly as I know fine well I'm weak-willed and easily led but for only £7.99 delivered and I need all the help I can get to have any chance of finishing this one on time...

 

 

 

 

[modelling minion]

Very nice work on the cockpit Col, very nice indeed.

The way you did the instruments is very convincing, might try that myself in the future.

Nice decal sheet too, looks like you might need more Seafire's so as to make proper use of it  .

[Davek72]

Looking very cool Col.

 

Cheers

 

Dave

[Col.]

12 hours ago, modelling minion said:

Very nice work on the cockpit Col, very nice indeed.

The way you did the instruments is very convincing, might try that myself in the future.

Nice decal sheet too, looks like you might need more Seafire's so as to make proper use of it  .

Thank you Craig, hopefully you can find the instrument technique useful in future projects, sadly a little late for your lovely Beaufighter but it looks as if you'll be on to the next project soon  

With only two other 48th scale early Seafire kits in the stash I'll have to add more and ensure I've not wasted money on a decal sheet that will only get used once  

11 hours ago, Davek72 said:

Looking very cool Col.

Cheers

Dave

Thank you Dave. Alas I'll need to speed up if this one is going to get finished within the GB timescale as I was hoping to be done with the cockpit by now but keep finding other bits to add or tinker with

[Biggles87]

Nice work on the IP, I've tried that method but it's never been as convincing as yours. Why did you choose not to  use the etched panel?

 

John

[Seahawk]

17 hours ago, Col. said:

Confession time gang. Please don't judge me too harshly as I know fine well I'm weak-willed and easily led but for only £7.99 delivered and I need all the help I can get to have any chance of finishing this one on time...

 

 

 

 

I see Xtradecal give you the option of not using the pale blue roundel centres on the EIF aircraft.  Please take it: I have never seen a single photograph of a FAA aircraft using the two-tone blue roundels.  Artwork, alas, is a different matter.

[Col.]

7 hours ago, Biggles87 said:

Nice work on the IP, I've tried that method but it's never been as convincing as yours. Why did you choose not to  use the etched panel?

John

Thank you John. I'm using enamels but have never tried it with any other paint types so don't know if that would make a difference to the process and its results?

I felt the etched parts and film offered no advantage over using the plastic parts and would only result in more work.

3 hours ago, Seahawk said:

I see Xtradecal give you the option of not using the pale blue roundel centres on the EIF aircraft.  Please take it: I have never seen a single photograph of a FAA aircraft using the two-tone blue roundels.  Artwork, alas, is a different matter.

There's two possible options for using those particular roundels on the Xtradecal sheet but only one set and the separate pale blue centres, something I was somewhat disappointed by at first, I'd rather a decal sheet that gives a number of options also provided sufficient decals to cover all those options. This may, however, prove to be better than including a set of incorrect and therefore useless roundels. Now that you mention it I can't recall seeing a Seafire photographed with pale blue rounder centers- plenty RAF Spitfires but no Fleet Air Arm machines  

[Col.]

Please excuse the lack of updates but my modelling time has been in short supply and therefore progress was even slower that my usual pace  Thursday and Friday evenings, however, gifted me some time so this happened...

 

 

 

 

Hopefully the fuselage halves will close over all this now  

[trickyrich]

gosh that cockpits going to look really nice.....just a pity most of it will be hidden hen she's closed up.

[Col.]

7 hours ago, trickyrich said:

gosh that cockpits going to look really nice.....just a pity most of it will be hidden hen she's closed up.

Thank you Rich. While working on the kit parts I was mindfull of just how little might be seen once the model is complete so reined in my enthusiasm to add too many pointless and soon to be invisible extra bits. The canopy and cockpit door will be open so at least that'll help the view  

The fuselage halves did go together after a short series of brief skirmishes throughout the day so here, along with some other ancillary components that were put together, is where progress has reached;

 

 

Time to break out the files and the Wet and Dry sandpaper...

Edited December 1, 2018 by Col.

[Col.]

Round two of the filling and sanding cycle sees me getting the worst of the seams almost tamed but I suspect daubing some paint on will reveal more work is required

 

 

 

As you can see the hook area insert wasn't seamless either and is taking some attention to blend in. Alas I suspect more work will be required around there when the wing is fitted but we'll find out soon as that's the next task.