Supermarine Swift F4 - World Speed Record holder in 1953 - 1/72 Airfix FR5/Alley Cat conversion

[John R]

This was produced from the Airfix FR5 and the Alley Cat conversion kit from which you could make an F2 or the F4 which captured the World Airspeed Record at 735mph in 1953.

You get new top wing surfaces (see edit below), smaller fin and new tailplanes. A new canopy rear section is also supplied but I could not make it match the Airfix front section and so used the original canopy suitably masked.

All we know of the original colour is that it was 'light blue' so I chose the nearest match to the only colour photo I have seen, taken when it appeared at Farnborough. I used Humbrol Aircraft Blue which was unfortunately matt and finished with Klear to give the gloss. This was a nightmare. I don't know if I chose the wrong option or if it was sheer incompetence but it just wouldn't come right. I cannot believe how good it looks in the photos. The real thing is rubbish. If I did another one I might have gone for Humbrol's Sea Blue which is gloss.

An interesting problem arose with the WK198 decals on the underside of the wing. They overlap the gear doors so I photcopied the decals and used the copies to make templates for cutting the decals to the shape of the each wing and its door. The problem was that the decals for the doors were too big ! How did that happen? Well some comparison between the doors supplied for the 'gear down' version and those for the 'gear up' revealed that those for the former are shorter. It's all explained here

 

In the past there has been discussion as to whether ot not the tip of the nose was red, black or blue as in some photos it looks all black and in others it looks a paler colour. My theory is that in the 'black and white days ' there were two types of film, orthochromatic and panchromatic. With the former reds appear as black so if some pictures were taken using one type and some with the other this would explain the difference so I went for the red nose.

Hope you like it

John

Edit Feb 2022: I built it with the wing as supplied. I now believe that it is incorrect. I think that Alleycat created it by filling in the leading edge between the root and the the 'dog tooth'. There is an explanation here.

 

 

 

 

 

Seen here with its rival, the MK 3 Hunter which established the previous record of 727mph

 

[keith in the uk]

Nice work John , both look  spot on , good choice of subject too .

[RMCS]

Fantastic 

[Wulfman]

Great looking models! How about a record breaking Meteor in yellow.

 

Wulfman

[John R]

This one? Actually it wasn't the yellow one that broke the record.

John

 

[F-32]

That's superb work, both of them look really great

[Wulfman]

I stand corrected ,  great job on the Meteor too.

 

Wulfman

[Mr T]

Very good model, I built the F. 2 for the 'Year I Was Born' Group Build and it was a largely enjoyable build. I have the F.7 still to do. 

[John R]

Did you manage to get the rear portion of the canopy to fit satisfactorily?

I am in the process of building an F7

John