Blackburn Shark Mk.II, Eastern Express, 1/72

[Serge Tkach]

Hello, dear friends and colleagues!

 

Let me present my yet another model Blackburn Shark Mk.II by Eastern Express.

 

This kit is the repack of the "old school" Frog model. The kit offers wide choice of varieties – with floats, on wheeled chassis, with folded wing or in-flight configuration – and leaves you rather pleasantly impressed. For its time the model seems quite respectable and can be transformed into a perfect replica if you give it a certain effort. As far as I know, this model of Shark aircraft hasn’t got any alternatives nowadays.

 

The main drawbacks are the following: horrible engine which you must change undoubtedly, empty cockpit (though this feature is characteristic for all models of that time) and wrong number of ribs on the wings which can be seen while imitating the sagging of canvas. I managed to deal with the first two problems but the last one was resolved only partially – I didn’t have neither energy nor desire to remake the whole wing.

 

The model has been made out of the box and materials at hand such as plastic sheets, wire of different gauge, fishing line, cotton buds tubes, hand-made sprues. From aftermarket I used only the Вrengun sight for the tail gun. The model was totally rejointed, riveted, remade the engine, added a cockpit interior, detailed the wings and fuselage. Cross-bracings and aerials are made of fishing line, guns – of wire and a drawn cotton buds tube, navigation lights – of drawn colourful party picks. All in all, the building produced positive impression and turned out to be useful experience for me.  

 

Colouring – enamel and acrylic paints Revell, Humbrol and Tamiya, lacquers Tamiya. I tried to highlight the sagging of canvas with paints and some graphite chips, so part of ribs and primary wing structures are merely hand-drawn. Accentuation of jointing – Tamiya panel line wash, oil paints. Toning – oil and water-color pencils. So, nothing out of the ordinary.         

Decals from the kit turned out to be of very high quality in spite of their age. I liked working with them, they are thin, very good to attach and don’t flake while masking.

 

The result is the torpedo bomber 820 Naval Squadron K8471/652 from HMS Courageous air group as in 1937.

 

Pleasant viewing!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for watching!

Edited December 6, 2018 by Serge Tkach

[stevehnz]

That is just stunning Serge, I have an EE Shark kit & I know how much work you've done to work magic like that. Bravo.  

Steve. 

[Neil.C]

Beautiful model!

[pdsvidioman]

Agreed, a beautiful model. The hard work is very obvious. Well done !. Paul

[Bullbasket]

There is a saying in the UK about turning a sow's ear into a silk purse, meaning taking something not very good, and making it into something brilliant. You've done just that. Excellent job.

 

John.

[Mitch K]

What a stunning result! Your work is absolutely superb.

[hacker]

would like to know where you got your interior information

 

Hacker

[Unfinished project]

That’s absolutely amazing a museum quality piece of work 👍

[MarkSH]

I have one of these to do, if I can achieve a fraction of the quality displayed in your build I will be a very happy modeler! Top notch work and well done!!

[Courageous]

What they all said. This is the first model of the 'Shark' built and looks fab. I have the older offering in the stash, so one day....

 

 

Stuart

[Spitfire31]

Impressively exacting work, and a beautiful finish.

 

Kind regards,

 

Joachim

 

 

[Selwyn]

1 hour ago, hacker said:

would like to know where you got your interior information

 

Hacker

There were a few interior shots floating around on the internet that I copied and have somewhere.

 

Selwyn

[Serge Tkach]

Colleagues, thank you so much for your comments and kind words!

 

2 hours ago, hacker said:

would like to know where you got your interior information

 

Hacker

Hacker,

 

here are some pictures, that I used:

 

 

[fatalbert]

What a beauty,It would look excellent parked next to a Swordfish.

[JamesP]

Beautiful work. I've always admired the Frog kit as a great example of what they could do well. I have one in the stash just for the building of it as I'm not particularly interested in the aircraft or period.

[Baldy]

Serge that is an absolutely stunning model, particularly in mind of the basic starting point. Exquisite detailing and beautiful paintwork. Simply stunning!!

 

Cheers

 

Malcolm

[Herb]

Sweet build! Nothing better than seeing a humble kit like this one transformed into a real scale model!

 

Thanks for sharing!

[JackG]

Really amazing work 'modernizing' this old kit.  👍

 

regards,

Jack

[Buzby061]

Amazing work, especially considering the age of the moulds. 

 

I made the Frog version years ago & can guarantee it wasn’t a patch on yours. 

 

Pete

[BristolBlue]

No wonder you have not attacked the Beaufort yet (hint hint!)).  That is unbelievable and your joke “out of the box with a few bits” is hilarious.  Over last week a few stunning “British brute biplanes” on here but this surely has to be a contender for build of the year!!  Magnificent.  

[dogsbody]

Wow!

 

It's hard to imagine that you've built that excellent model out of that old kit and that it's 1/72! Beautiful.

 

Those interior pictures are from this book:

 

 

 

 

Chris

[ColinChipmunkfan]

That is a superb finish from a very old kit, well done Serge

[adey m]

Absolutely beautiful and a joy to behold, you are a master modeller Serge and a magician to turn a 50 year old FROG into such a masterpiece.

 

Regards, adey

[theskits62]

That would be fantastic if it were 1/32, add to that the fact its an old mould (and 1/72) and its out of this world. Brilliant !

[Artie]

I've ran out of words. Bye.