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Admiral Seafire Mk 1b


fishplanebeer

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Dear All,

 

Have just come across a Seafire 1b 72nd scale kit for sale and it's made by a company I've never had any experience of called Admiral so just wondered if anyone can shed any light on it or the general quality of their offerings.

 

I'm interested in it but not if it's of poor quality.

 

Regards

Colin.

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Admiral is related to AZ models and this seems to be the same as the Spitfire boxings from them.

 

It is always worth looking on Scalemates for questons like this - see here:

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/admiral-adm7207-supermarine-seafire-mkib--136811

 

And there's this chap's review:

http://www.ascalecanadian.com/2011/04/admiral-172-seafire-mk-ib-vokes.html

 

Mark

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Admiral is a brand used by AZ for a number of naval aircraft so you can expect the same kind of quality. In particular the Seafire Ib is based on their old short-run mould of the Spitfire VB, with the addition of a couple of PE parts for the arrestor hook. You can see the parts here (may not be the same box but the parts will be the same)

 

https://www.super-hobby.com/products/Supermarine-Seafire-Mk.Ib-Vokes.html

 

These were short run kits, that require some preparation work to fit. Depending on the wear of the mould, this preparation work may be quick and painless or more involving. Detail is decent but everything is quite "soft" and panel lines are recessed.

Are they of good quality ? In terms of mould finesse these can't compete with mainstream kits so if you're not used to short-runs you'll probably not like this one. If you have some experience with these kits then it's OK, not as good as some more modern short-runs but sure better than other stuff.

I should repeat that this is based on the OLD short run kit, it is not related to the more recent KP kits, also made by AZ.

 

A general thought: IMHO a Seafire Ib can be built quite easily from a Spit Vb kit. The problem is that most VB kits do not offer the windscreen with the internal armour and of course do not include decals for a Seafire.

 

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Having built the kit, I would echo what Giorgio has said. The older AZ/Admiral kits are a bit of a challenge but can produce nice models with patience. I have noticed that AZ/KP get a bit of stick because they are not Eduard or Special Hobby, but they are prolific and seem to take risks with interesting subjects. 

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Builds into a nice Seafire. 

 

resized_06119e0d-4a49-400a-a387-71e32976

 

Build thread here shows the build as well as trials and tribulations. As said above it is a relatively short run kit so needs a bit of care to build but nothing out of the ordinary. 

 

Admiral kits of Seafires are nice. 

 

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If you can find one and the price isn't too steep, the all resin CMR Seafire 1b is a very, very nice kit!, but a decent model can be had by using the donor Mk Vb of choice and a little scratchbuilding and/or aftermarket bits. IIRC, Airkit did a sprue that had all kinds of Spitfire detail/conversion parts, and the Seafire bits might have been included- I have one, but don't recall everytrhing that was on it, but do remember extended wingtips, wide upper cannon blisters, Hispano cannon, oil coolers, exhausts, Rotol and DH props, for sure. Sword did a Seafire II, and though it is said to have some dimension issues, the Seafire bits would be usable, I would think, for the 1b.

Mike

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