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1/48 Special Hobby Firefly Mk 1


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Am going to have a crack at the Special Hobby Firefly. The Mk 1 boxing took my fancy a few years ago at a swap and sell and it has a RNZN piloted aircraft as an option in the box.

 

 Over the past 12 months I grabbed the Barracuda prop, wheels, Master Model barrels and a few barracuda vacuform canopies (ok more than few). I also picked up the Eduard Steel Seatbelts although there are for the Trumpeter kit, not that it should make a difference

 

Firefly-Mk-1-01.jpg

 

A pleasant few hours snipping and gluing and I have the basis of the cockpit. It looks pretty good in bare plastic

 

Firefly-Mk-1-02.jpg

 

And A few hours more and we have a finished cockpit from the box bar the Eduard Steel belts (for the Trumpeter kit). Detail is certainly acceptable. The instructions are a little vague although cmkkits.com has some build pictures that help and there's nothing that will challenge most people.

 

Firefly-Mk-1-03.jpg

Edited by Calum
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I don’t have the slightest idea why, but ever since I saw this plane, I’ve had a secret love for it. It wasn’t really remarkable that I can tell, but it just ticks some serious boxes in the aesthetics department. Is that odd?

 

Cracking work on the cockpit. You’ve done a good job of making it look lived in, but not war weary. The seatbelts really help to set it off. 

 

Can’t wait to see more!

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I built one recently.  BPF version for me.  It is a good kit and rewards careful building.  One suggestion, modify the really nice resin exhaust so that you can insert them from the outside of the fuselage later in the build.  I didn't and found them awkward to work around and nearly broke them a couple of times..

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On 4/4/2019 at 4:49 PM, Grey Beema said:

I built one recently.  BPF version for me.  It is a good kit and rewards careful building.  One suggestion, modify the really nice resin exhaust so that you can insert them from the outside of the fuselage later in the build.  I didn't and found them awkward to work around and nearly broke them a couple of times..

Too late :D
 


 

I've managed to get the main parts together. Fit was better than I expected but there was as till bit of filling and sanding to get some of the inserts sorted out.

 

I fitted the air scoops on each side of the nose even though these aren't mentioned in the kit.

 

I had some vac form canopies to pose the front and rear cockpits open. However the vac forms are for the grand phoenix kits and the front one doesn't fit correctly over the fuselage behind the cockpit. So I've decided to use the kit clear parts and do closed cockpits. 

 

The fit of the clear parts to the fuselage isn't that bad, although I did to do a fair bit of sanding and dry fitting to get a good fit. The worst bit is that the clear part for variant I'm building is quite a bit larger than the fuselage. Hence I'm in the process of using filler to try and build up the fuselage to match the contours of the clear parts.

 

Firefly-Mk-1-04.jpg

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  • 3 weeks later...

Replacement Canopy received, thanks a heap Chris. 

 

Fit of the clear parts isn't the best being a bit larger than the fuselage.Still when you start a Special Hobby kit you know you'll have to use the sanding tools  This is also one of those kits that you really want a mask set for, unfortunately I didn't have one so had to resort to some old school masking techniques..

 

I think it's just about ready for paint

 

Firefly-Mk-1-05.jpg

Firefly-Mk-1-06.jpg
 

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Paints on. I used Tamiya XF22 German Grey for the Dark Slate Grey and lightened Mr Color Extra Dark Sea Grey (EDSG) for the EDSG. My Color Duck Egg Green and Sky was used for the underside.

 

I'm assuming these got a bit grubby when based on the ship so I've used a RB productions Splatter Airbrush Stencil and a piece of ripped Scotchbrite to messy up the surfaces.  I've also started the weathering process with some oil washer and coloured pencils.

 

Firefly-Mk-1-07.jpg

 

Firefly-Mk-1-08.jpg

Edited by Calum
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Hello Calum,

Really good and FAST build !!

Mine is about to be finished, so there was a plastic interior in your ??

Grey, you, me and maybe @Christer A it's a Firebox's season !!

Sincerely.

CC

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On 5/3/2019 at 9:17 PM, corsaircorp said:

Hello Calum,

Really good and FAST build !!

Mine is about to be finished, so there was a plastic interior in your ??

Grey, you, me and maybe @Christer A it's a Firebox's season !!

Sincerely.

CC

Yeah mine had a plastic interior. well detailed as well

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I’ve got the Trumpeter version but was able to pickup the AZ Model for 15 bucks in Phoenix(what a steal), so that’s in the future for me.  I’ll be watching this build!

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8 hours ago, Beazer said:

I’ve got the Trumpeter version but was able to pickup the AZ Model for 15 bucks in Phoenix(what a steal), so that’s in the future for me.  I’ll be watching this build!

More Firebox !! it's a good news !!

 

8 hours ago, Calum said:

Yeah mine had a plastic interior. well detailed as well

Goood, should be easier too, or let's say far less sanding ??

 

Sincerely.

CC

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Decals on and Flat coated.

 

Decals were from the kit except for the fuselage roundels (these had a weird bit of printing on the yellow ring) .

 

Apart from that, the kit decals performed really well conforming to the detail with an application of Micro Sol.

 

Flat coat was SMS

 

Firefly-Mk-1-09.jpg

 

Firefly-Mk-1-10.jpg

 

Firefly-Mk-1-11.jpg

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I agree with my colleagues- very, very nice build so far! I think the early Fireflies were the bee's knees! There's something abut TSS on an airplane that makes it special....even a British taxi would look good in those colors! BTW, I think you nailed the colors and the weathering- can't wait to see her on her undercart! (Going to use aftermarket  wheels?)

Mike

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Hello Calum,

Both the AZ and the Grnd Phoenix have very bad rendition of the wheels.

Don't know for the SH one !

But I used the Barracuda ones.

Great painting and decalling !

Congratulations !! 

CC

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  • 2 weeks later...

I always hate having to permanently affix the clear parts prior to painting - something always gets in there. And this was no exception.

 

The left had side of the front cockpit has a weird smear on the inside that wasn't there when I glued it in, and one of the clear sections on the Right side of the rear canopy also has a mark on the inside. There is no way I was going to get the clear parts off without ruining the paint work. 

 

A couple of things went through my mind at this stage, I did consider "Anders-ing it" (binning it  ) but as I'm really happy with the weathering and the paintwork in general I have decided to just move on and accept it.

 

I used a few of the new AK weathering pencils for weathering. I've been using coloured pencils for weathering for ages but figured I've give these a go to see if they any different.

 

To be honest they aren't any different from the pencils I've been using (they are reasonably good quality ones) but if you don't have a pencils set the AK ones aren't ridiculously priced so are probably worth the outlay.

 

Firefly-Mk-1-12.jpg

 

Firefly-Mk-1-13.jpg


 

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