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Fairey Firefly F.5 - recommendations for a decent kit?


bootneck

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I fancy building a postwar Fairey Firefly, either the Mk.4; Mk.5 or AS.6 but I don't know what is available or the quality of the detail out there.  Can anyone please recommend a nice, detailed, kit of this aircraft?   I don't yet know what scale to go for, or the material, therefore I could do with some info as to what would be classed as detailed and a good build.  Obviously it would need to be something that is available in the market place and not something which is long OOP etc.

 

Thanks in advance for any helpful information.

 

Mike

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Thanks, I have just checked and there doesn't appear to be many kits available of the 4 or 5.  Following on from your comment about Special Hobby, I have just checked a review by @Mike  and the Special Hobby Fairey Firefly Mk.4/5 Korean War seems to be the only available option.  Unless anyone knows of any other decent kits of this version then I'll probably go for that one.

 

cheers,
Mike

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Special Hobby did early and late Fireflies in 1/72 scale- the two late version boxings  are linked below. I have both and they are very nice, externally and internally. Only real issue, and IIRC was corrected in a build here on BM a while back, was the fact that SH depicted the division between the lower and upper cowlings as being smooth with a panel line separating the sections, which on the real airplane there was a crease between the two panels, which did not have the same cross section- sort of like the fuselage on a C-46 or C-97. hard to describe, but easy to see in photos of the actual airplane. The Airfix kit, which is OOP but can be found on auctions sites, got this feature correct, but is not nearly as detailed as the SH kits. I was planning to remove that section from my Airfix kit and graft it onto my SH Mk 5 kit, as that is the only late variant I wish to model. SH also did the MK1 in 1/72, but you stated you were not interested in that version. I recall @tonyot did a couple of Fireflies in 1/72 scale, and you could look for his WIP and RFI posts for details. The SH Mk 5 builder also explained how he corrected the inaccurate cowling contours, so you could do a search for it. Hope this helps until somebody who knows more than I (That's just about everybody else!)  joins the discussion.

Mike

 

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/special-hobby-sh72066-fairey-firefly-tt-mk4--195453

 

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/special-hobby-sh72031-fairey-firefly-mkiv-v--112252

 

The Airfix kit:

https://www.ebay.com/p/24012048347 

 

Here are some photos I found that show the crease and difference in cross section between the upper and lower cowlings- subtle to be sure, but really makes a difference in the appearance of the finished model. (Not sure if those exhausts are correct, as the Griffon used in the restoration might have been from a Shackleton that had different cylinder heads and exhaust stacks.)

http://aircraftwalkaround.hobbyvista.com/firefly/firefly_04.jpg

http://aircraftwalkaround.hobbyvista.com/firefly/firefly_05.jpg

http://aircraftwalkaround.hobbyvista.com/firefly/firefly_06.jpg

http://aircraftwalkaround.hobbyvista.com/firefly/firefly_03.jpg

http://aircraftwalkaround.hobbyvista.com/firefly/firefly_01.jpg

https://www.net-maquettes.com/pictures/fairey-firefly-mk-6-walkaround/#gallery[photonic-flickr-set-1]/10356552823/

Edited by 72modeler
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Hello Mike,

 

thank you, those references are really interesting and should be useful.   I will have a search for any WiPs that are out there.

 

cheers,
Mike

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I built the TT.4 a while back, and a huge error from Special Hobby was the complete lack of the carburettor intake on the underside of the fuselage. I had to scab it on. This is a really prominent feature - I can't believe that SH missed it, especially when they included it in the box art. My RFI is here (along with the FR.1).

 

Cheers,

Bill

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