Finished- 1/72 Matchbox Supermarine Stranraer

Bondo -  That is a Super Fantastic build of a Matchbox kit. Wow , you never cease to amaze me with your attention to detail.  The guns are Top Notch ~ well worth the wait....

Also what a splendid day in SF, the sky was never that blue when I was there. Gray and overcast was the weather I saw  ....

Well done Captain Bill, superb results!  I love seeing the photos of your finished work, looks like photos of the real AC.  One question- is there a patch of non-matching paint on the upper starboard wing, near the leading edge is it just a play of light?

Again, superb work, love the pics.

Bondo,

Beautiful, beautiful and beautiful! I absolutely love seeing your builds and this one is no exception... exquisite in shape and craftsmanship.

The background really adds to the pictures... I just want to hop in and fly away.

Excellent Build Bill .  Thanks for sharing.

Regards,  Rick

Devil Dawg wrote:

Beautiful build, Bondoman! Just one question - what the heck is a "Stranraer"? All I can find through Google is that it's a town in Scotland. Is that what this bird is named after?

Great work! and in 1/72nd as well...phew!

K7295 was one of the first batch of seventeen built K7287 to K7303

Looked up the Stranraer and amazingly a Canadian built one remained in service until 1963 when it was owned by Pacific Western Airlines.  They were phased out of active service in Britain in October 1943 K7303 being the last to serve with 240 Squadron RAF. They transferred to Catalinas in the November of '43.

Apparently the Stranraer was used to set up a flying boat base at Wig Bay Stranraer in 1937

The plane before the Stranraer was the Scapa and the one that followed it was the Sunderland  so maybe Supermarine were just working through towns with an S !

Thank you all. The Sunderland is a product of the Short Brothers in Belfast tho..

Yes Supermarine seems to like the alliterative.

• Supermarine Scapa
• Supermarine Scylla
• Supermarine Sea Eagle
• Supermarine Sea King
• Supermarine Sea Lion I
• Supermarine Sea Lion II
• Supermarine Sea Otter
• Supermarine Sea Urchin
• Supermarine Seagull (1921)
• Supermarine Seagull (1948)
• Supermarine Seal
• Supermarine Seamew
• Supermarine Southampton
• Supermarine Stranraer
• Supermarine Swan

This particular machine is a Coastal Command one, and Stranraer Scotland was a major RAF seaplane base. It is akin to the earlier really big ones named after bases: Felixstowe for example.

This linkie shows the extent of the system:

http://www.fleetairarmarchive.net/Aircraft/Airstations/FAAAirStationsHomepage.htm

The Stranraer was the last RAF biplane seaplane, and a good one. This was a classic Matchbox kit, molded in brown, dark green and a wildly bright green.

I'm currently building the superb Revell version of this kit also.

In planning my final 'attack' I have discovered (and progressed to fitting) 2x 1/24 Airfix electric motors into the engine cowlings......! :-)