++++ Seafire MkIb -Finished ++++

[825]

I've finally got almost everything cleared off my workspace and am ready to join in the GB in an attempt to reduce my stash of 30 Seafires and Spitfires. The first to come to the top of the pile is this Admiral boxing of a MkIb with a Vokes filter. I've made an Admiral late Mark Seafire before and it wasn't too bad, but like all Seafires/Spitfires you do have to be careful with the wing/fuselage joint. 

 

 

There are two offerings in the box, a standard aircraft of 885 NAS from HMS Formidable and a one off royal blue scheme. I rather fancy the latter as the standard schemes of Seafires are very similar. 

 

 

the contents are nice, crisply moulded on two sprues. 

 

 

Straightforward instructions over a few pages. 

 

 

Nice nice set of stencils, some etch for the arrestor hook area and a small canopy. But crucially no transfers.

 

 

Luckily, I have these in the stash. Phew. 

 

 

[825]

Some paint on. There may be some additional paint needed on some parts, and I'll add some dry brushing and a wash on the interior parts. 

 

 

Also while doing a stash search in the loft I found another boxing, which does have the transfers in. I'm tempted to build a second as the HMS Formidable aircraft is attractive too. 

[825]

Slowly but surely getting all the bits cleaned up and glued together where necessary. Some fiddly stuff done including strips of plastic card behind the exhaust openings to prevent the exhausts falling through later and the slot in the behind the seat armour opened up (hopefully) slot the seat belt through. 

 

 

 

 

The cockpit is a little fiddly but goes together OK. However, Sword's instructions do leave a lot to be desired and the moulding is a bit weird. There's a head rest on the back of the seat mounting panel and then the instructions suggest a plate with another headrest is glued to the rear as well. I simply slice the headrest off and reaffirmed on the front. Still the belts to go on. 

 

 

 

[825]

Cockpit interior finished , the MkI cockpit is on the right. Seat belts by Eduard. 

 

 

Fuselage joined together. Cockpit left out for the moment and it will be inserted through the bottom once the fuselage is cleaned up. 

 

[825]

The fuselage has firmed up and the seams tidied up and polished. I'll see once there's some paint on whether some filler needed.  The cockpit inserted from underneath and a perfect fit. 

 

 

Wings on and although the lower wing fitted nearly perfectly. However the upper wings were a little less than perfect, a little bit of trimming was needed around the trailing edge and everything is secured down with tape to dry. There will be some filling and sanding needed but hopefully not too much. There is a gap on the upper wing/fuselage joint which should be sorted with some Perfect Plastic Putty. 

 

[825]

Airframe complete sanded down and polished top:

 

 

bottom:

 

 

Now the challenge is what shade of blue?  There's discussion whether it's blue or black and there's no real confirmation of what blue if it is blue. I suspect a colour that's available so possibly roundel blue or similar. I decided to do a trial run of some of the blues in the stash. 

 

 

The colours are left to right Revell 56 - Blue, Humbrol 104 -Oxford Blue, Humbrol 25 -Blue, Tamiya XF4 - Blue, Humbrol 15 - Midnight Blue. The Tamiya looks as if it would be about right in shade but it's shockingly bad for brush painting. It was drying on the brush as soon as It touched the plastic. Hu 15 is not too bad but has a bit of a greenish hue while Hu104 is a touch grey. Both the Revell and Humbrol blues will do the trick. 

 

 

[825]

And here we are after a first quick coat. Dries very quickly despite a bit of Flow Improver. 

 

 

But looks quite quite good to me and once complete should look better under a coat or two of Gloss varnish. 

[stevehnz]

Looking at your samples, is that Hu25 you've gone with, sorry, I couldn't quite figure it out. It looks good whatever.

Steve.

[825]

4 hours ago, stevehnz said:

Looking at your samples, is that Hu25 you've gone with, sorry, I couldn't quite figure it out. It looks good whatever.

Steve.

Yes Steve it's the Humbrol 25 which has gone on well and covers well too.  I've also glossed the vokes filter just to check what it looks like with a Gloss coat and it darkens slightly which I think is where I want to be come transfers. There's a bit of a hiatus at the moment as I am spending a bit of time tidying up the upper wing/fuselage joins. I thought they were fine but as usual a coat of paint reveals that there's some work to do. And on a Spit/Seafire it's  not the easiest joint to work in due to the complex curves. Slowly but surely getting there. 

[825]

A couple of coats of paint on now. I'm still not 100% happy with wing/ fuselage seams and will tidy them up. Once everything is satisfactory I'll give a couple of coats of gloss varnish. 

 

 

Admiral's solution for the arrestor hook is an etch to be added to the underside. It'll need a fair bit of fettling to roll it and get it to fit. How I'll fold the hook, I've no idea. 

 

[825]

I've finished the main paint coat and cleaned up any seams, etc. . So time for a first coat of Kleer. I'm imagining the real,aircraft was kept pretty clean and glossy but first I need a smooth coat for the transfers as although a nice colour and easy to apply the Humbrol matt blue has quite a rough finish. I'll add a couple of coats and then maybe polish it up to get a smooth finish. 

 

 

[Edge]

You are probably aware, but just in case.....

 

That blue Seafire was flown by Duncan Hamilton (as mentioned on the box colour profile). He went on to be a successful & larger than life racing driver, wining Le Mans in 1953, driving a Jaguar C Type.

 

01-duncan-hamilton-gentleman-driver by Gavin Edgerton, on Flickr

 

Edge

 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Your Seafire is looking grand, I'm really liking the color. If memory serves the 1b was a Vb with a tail hook and launch hooks(spools). No wing fold, & three blade prop. The later IIIc had the four blade prop from the Mk.IX. 

[825]

Ready for the transfers. I found a second boxing so I'll use the transfers from that. 

 

 

A fairly comprehensive stencil sheet is supplied but all ive used is the wing walkways which took a fair time to get on. They tended to stick and not move. Then once patted down they moved!  A couple broke and needed gentle teasing to get back together. I put the trestle guides on the underside but they effectively disappeared into the dark paint. I won't use any of the others as they won't be seen. I've added some of the roundels and the lightning stripes. Looking quite good and really quite different. 

 

[825]

The rest of the transfers on. Now to get on with the rest of the build and finish it off. 

 

[825]

Another coat of Klear and I started to affix the arrestor hook. It was a serious pain, a flat piece of etch. Bending the hook part using tweezers was simple enough but then to shape the flat triangle to something that resembles the lovely curves of the Seafire's rear underside was a challenge. I rolled it with a paintbrush handle over a table napkin and that managed to get most of the bend but not 100%. I used cyano to get it into place and once solid filed the edges down somewhat but the biggest challenge was the end where the points at the top of the triangle stuck out just a little but were very sharp. So it took a few swipes with a file and then polished back to some degree of smoothness. So I went from this:

 

 

to this:

 

 

The paint will need glossed up but it reasonable looking albeit not perfect. I think this is one of these places where plastic rather than etch would have been better. The aerial mast is also etch and although really well formed it lacks a 3D feel and look to it. 

[825]

Undercarriage and pitot on, as well as some more Klear on the arrestor hook. 

 

 

Model Seafire's undercarriages are quite fragile, as the real one's were as well, but this fixed very positively following a little work with a drill bit in the locating hole. It's also quite strong. Now ready for the last few bits, the prop is complete but the cannons are pretty poor. You can see them sitting in front of the plane below. According to some sources the aircraft didn't have any cannons but I suspect it didn't have a straight leading edge but a set of cannon stubs. I'll see if I can find a pair somewhere else. 

 

[stevehnz]

Looking good, I think that blue is right on the button.

Steve.

[Cookenbacher]

Yes, the blue looks fantastic.

[825]

14 hours ago, stevehnz said:

Looking good, I think that blue is right on the button.

Steve.

 

7 hours ago, Cookenbacher said:

Yes, the blue looks fantastic.

Thanks Steve and Cookie. Irrespective of whether it's correct or not once it was glossed up it's a lovely shade of royal blue. Humbrol paints don't always get a good press these days but this one has behaved extremely well. 

[825]

Nearly done. The canopy is masked and on, as well as all the other bits. Mind you the radio mast has fallen off. 

 

 

Just to paint the canopy (and put the radio mast back on) and we'll be done. 

Edited June 9, 2020 by 825
Wrong photo

[825]

Some interior colour on the canopy frame. As usual revealed some gaps but really quite small. I've filled them with a little bit of PVA and will touch up with some more interior grey green before the final coat or two of blue. 

 

[stevehnz]

16 hours ago, 825 said:

Mind you the radio mast has fallen off. 

Isn't it just a rite of passage?  That is looking good, even without its aerial.   

Steve.

[825]

Canopy unmasked and aerial mast reattached. So this is now finished and will be gallery bound soon. 

 

[825]

All done, and in the gallery.