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Post-war Barracuda


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After much wrestling with plastic and filler, and a build that felt, at times, like it was never going to end, I am finally able to post up a few pics of my Barracuda - another Fleet Air Arm favourite of mine with its strange looks and dubious performance.

This is the "Hi Tech" boxing of the Special Hobby kit, with some extra bits from the Brengun (formerly Griffon) set.

The build followed a fairly typical course for a Special Hobby kit, in that the interior bulkheads were all a little too wide and lots of dry fitting was needed before committing to glue. The biggest difficulty I encountered was the fit of the port wing. From above it was raked forward at more of an angle than the starboard wing, and from ahead it was a mm or two lower. A plasticard shim, lots of filler and round after round of sanding and smoothing eventually resulted in wings that looked symmetrical - to me at least...

I didn't like the look of the kit spinner so blunted one from a Seafire XV and used that instead.

For the markings I decided to go with a post war scheme as I think it suits the aircraft and I haven't seen this kit in the EDSG over Sky before. The upper surfaces should, I think, be quite liberally festooned with various white stencil markings that I didn't have.... 

I ran out of steam a bit towards the end of this one - this shows in the wingtip nav lights which are only painted, and let the finished model down a bit; the underside is a bit too clean and the prop should probably be a bit weathered too...

The markings are intended to show a machine from 815 NAS at Eglinton.

And so to the pictures, and thanks for looking,

Nick.

image image image

 

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Very nice job on this kit.  I like the choice of the post war scheme, it makes the kit look a bit more streamline and efficient.  The job you did on the canopy is spotless and the weathering looks perfect!

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Very, very nice ‘Cuda. I just finished the Special Hobby 1/72 kit and your build is an interesting contrast with my more heavily weathered version.

 

I’ve not posted a RFI yet, but pics of my Barracuda can be seen here

 

 

- Bill

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On 9/16/2019 at 5:45 PM, 28ZComeback said:

You won the wrestling match my friend!  I love the subtle shading. 

Many thanks - I know Special Hobby kits are tricky, but this one did feel like a battle!

 

On 9/16/2019 at 9:47 PM, RMCS said:

Lovley 

 

On 9/16/2019 at 10:37 PM, jenko said:

Top notch.

Thank you gents - your kind comments are much appreciated.

 

On 9/16/2019 at 11:31 PM, Buzby061 said:

Looks good in that scheme. Well, as good as an aircraft that the word ungainly could have been coined for can. 

 

Pete

Thanks Pete - I agree - beautiful she aint! But with the gear up, from certain angles and with eyes half closed a Barracuda can look.....quite sleek? Like many out there, I'm sure, it's the ugliness that turns out to be one of the big attractions!

 

On 9/17/2019 at 12:59 AM, billn53 said:

Very, very nice ‘Cuda. I just finished the Special Hobby 1/72 kit and your build is an interesting contrast with my more heavily weathered version.

 

I’ve not posted a RFI yet, but pics of my Barracuda can be seen here

 

 

- Bill

Hi Bill,

I've really enjoyed following your build. First, I wish I could say I only took 3 weeks to build mine - it turned out to be months! Secondly, as I mentioned in your build thread, I sense that SH took more care with the 1:72 version - it does seem more detailed. And thirdly, yours is a great build. I love the weathering and will try and copy some of your techniques in future...

 

On 9/17/2019 at 4:44 AM, Gary Brantley said:

Cool 'Cuda!  :thumbsup:

Thanks Gary!

 

On 9/17/2019 at 5:01 AM, stevehnz said:

I liking, that scheme really suits the Barracuda & your weathering brings it out nicely.

Steve.

Many thanks Steve, I agree that the post-war scheme seems to suit the aeroplane well - and is something a bit different. I think I've seen a photo of a Swordfish in EDSG over Sky somewhere - I might have to try that one day...!!!

 

Cheers,

Nick.

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As qouted by Michael Veitch in one of his books (either 'Flak' or 'Fly', I can't remember which) to the tune of 'As Time Goes By':

The Barracuda two

Will be the death of you

On that you can rely

No matter what their Lordships say

It still can't fly

 

Nice work on one of those almost but quite ugly aircraft that the FAA seemed to find somewhere. Good to see a post war scheme on one as well.

 

DennisTheBear

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On ‎9‎/‎16‎/‎2019 at 2:11 PM, Nickthebrief said:

I haven't seen this kit in the EDSG over Sky before

No indeed, and one of the hitches for mine is the markings - where did you find yours?

 

Lovely kit, and nice grass too,

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Very nice work, mate!    👍

 

I have the new 1:72 Special Hobby 'Cuda in the stash, and I figured I'd convert it so the wings were folded. Then I looked at some photos of actual Barracudas with the wings folded, and decided that I was either insane or silly. Probably both. I imagine it took a special breed of engineer to work in the Fairey Folding Wing Works.

 

Cheers,

Bill

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On 9/18/2019 at 1:14 PM, DennisTheBear said:

As qouted by Michael Veitch in one of his books (either 'Flak' or 'Fly', I can't remember which) to the tune of 'As Time Goes By':

The Barracuda two

Will be the death of you

On that you can rely

No matter what their Lordships say

It still can't fly

 

Nice work on one of those almost but quite ugly aircraft that the FAA seemed to find somewhere. Good to see a post war scheme on one as well.

 

DennisTheBear

Many thanks Dennis. Those of us who love aeroplanes and dream of being a pilot should be thankful we weren't around when their Lordships might have given us a go in a Barra, I think. I suspect, but don't know, that it is responsible for the death of far more of its crew than the enemy ever were....

I am very excited, though, that the Fleet Air Arm Museum are building one up from the wrecks of two or three - it will be amazing to see one "in the flesh".

Nick.

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21 hours ago, 72modeler said:

Wow- just now discovered your RFI- can't top but agree with the comments made by all the others!

Mike

Thank you Mike.

20 hours ago, Bangseat said:

Very nice! An original and educational choice to do post war - I'd always assumed they'd pushed all the Barracudas into the sea the day after VJ day! 

Many thanks. Some of the many strange aspects of the Barracuda include that, despite being, arguably, one of the worst aeroplanes in the FAA's inventory, it served in greater numbers than any other type, but no intact example was ever preserved, and that it did indeed linger on in service for quite a while after the war's end - primarily in the torpedo training role I think.

16 hours ago, pigsty said:

No indeed, and one of the hitches for mine is the markings - where did you find yours?

 

Lovely kit, and nice grass too,

The markings were mainly cobbled together from various after-market generic letter and number sets. The dinghy lanyard came with the kit, and I cut it and repositioned it slightly to resemble the later, more angled course it takes down the rear fuselage. The underwing serials (which I haven't shown in the photos) I did have to commission as I didn't have any of the correct size (or the basic skills to print my own...) - not cheap, but hopefully I now have a supply that will last me a lifetime! As I mentioned in my original post, there should be lots of white stencils, particularly on the upper wings, but I didn't want to use spares as I thought they would be highly legible against the EDSG background and it would look silly if the wording wasn't right....

The grass is printed onto a purpose made baseboard - produced by Coastal Kits - they are very good and I can take no credit for it!

14 hours ago, tonyot said:

Gorgeous job Nick,...... top notch mate,

Cheers

             Tony

 

14 hours ago, Navy Bird said:

Very nice work, mate!    👍

 

I have the new 1:72 Special Hobby 'Cuda in the stash, and I figured I'd convert it so the wings were folded. Then I looked at some photos of actual Barracudas with the wings folded, and decided that I was either insane or silly. Probably both. I imagine it took a special breed of engineer to work in the Fairey Folding Wing Works.

 

Cheers,

Bill

Now then, this is getting serious! Praise from Tony and Bill is praise indeed! Many thanks, gents, for your kind words - they are much appreciated.

I would suggest that there is a special category of ugly for a Barra with the wings folded - isn't "the Baron" in the process of just such a thing? It certainly isn't a simple wing fold. To my eye, these planes were made to fly and so I always build them in the "wings spread" state, rather than folded for the convenience of mere storage - but I can see the attraction - it is a very interesting feature of many types - and admire much of the work that goes into folding wings... (And haven't we established, long ago, Bill that you are indeed insane and capable of much silliness???!!!)

 

5 hours ago, Terry1954 said:

Very nice Barracuda Nick. She looks good in the post war scheme as you say. I'm hoping maybe I'll see this in a forthcoming show soon? I'll be at Bovington and Telford next.

 

Terry

Many thanks Terry. I definitely can't make Bovington and am undecided about Telford this year... I hope you will get to see it at some point though.

 

5 hours ago, matti64 said:

Looks great Nick, A colour scheme that you  don't often see but one which really suits the Barracuda. Sounds like you had a quite a struggle with the wings, but mastered the whole thing.

 

Thanks very much. The wings were a royal PITA - well the port one was, anyway! It was difficult to describe and photograph the struggle but there is a bit of a build review at www.ipmssalisbury.co.uk - it's in the latest newsletter under the "Club Stuff" tag...

 

3 hours ago, Baldy said:

Not often one can call the Barracuda beautiful but it looks really nice in those markings. Lovely build and finish Nick with very convincing weathering.

 

Cheers

 

Malcolm

Many thanks Malcolm. The underside is really too clean - but the top did seem to arrive at that "used but not knackered" state which I was hoping for...

3 hours ago, mark.au said:

That’s really very, very good.  Congratulations.

Thanks Mark - very kind of you.

All your responses are very much appreciated - I shall try and post up a couple more models before too long!

Cheers,

Nick.

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Nice job on a very difficult kit.  I built it several years ago, and it took a while. It resided on my shelf of doom off and on for months.  Yours looks good in that scheme. 

Edited by FAAFAN
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