Fleet Air Arm Group Build

Nice score Darren.  The String Bag is one of Tamiya's more intricate kits, but it does build up well.  The PE rigging set is highly recommended.

Regards,  Rick

Thanks Rick,

its one that has been on my wish list for a long time and I am really looking forward to building it. I will definately need the PE rigging as I am pants at doing those sorts of jobs  myself!

TANGO 1 wrote:

.......it really is the dog's bollocks.

I love it!

TANGO 1 wrote:

BTW, if any of you fella's plan to build any of the Falklands Harrier's in the future, there is a new 1/48 sheet just out from Xtradecal.......it really is the dog's bollocks.

Mate that sounds great, it's just a pity that there are no decent kits of the SHAR FRS.1 in 1/48 .  I've researched this a lot and I would need to spend a small fortune brining the Airfix or Tamiya kits up to scratch.

Cheers

I know what you mean Darren, but after my first attempt at Airfix's FRS.1 earlier in the year, I recon that I can go one better. My plan will be a big project, but I feel compelled to do it!

I will completely re-scribe the Airfix airframe, do a better job of the intakes by adapting the kit ones, add the neomega resin 'pit with some decent decals! 

With that project and a  a lot of FAA kits in the stash, I will be around here for a long time! 

.............and here I am yet again, throwing myself into the the world's greatest group build!

Tonight, we have progress pics from the secret workshop.......YES! I actually got some modelling done!

I took all the masking tape off my Mk.47 Seafire, stood back and admired the view.......

OK, its far from finished. Far from perfect. But y'know what? I really like it!

TANGO 1 wrote:

OK, its far from finished. Far from perfect. But y'know what? I really like it!

You're not the only one! Excellent work, my friend! That's a lot of masking, and it really looks like you nailed it!

Thanks Mike!

I think it was one of those "Bloody Hell!-It worked!" moments.......

Looking good so far Darren.

Regards,  Rick

Thank-you Rick.

Darren-

Holy cow, that looks AWESOME!  I hope my Mk.46 turns out half as nice as that one.  Seriously, your paint work is top notch!

I worked on the '46 this weekend.  I found that I had quite a step between the wing root and the wing top.  By adding small spacers between the lower front edge of the fuse and the lower wing, it in effect lowered the wing to sit properly with the fuse.  Hard to explain, but here's a couple of pics:

Still looks like a Spit so far Frank .

Regards,  Rick

Dave, Frank-

Thanks Lads!

Frank,

I just caught your pics over on the Spitfire GB-the Mk.46 is looking good! It will be interesting to line up our two birds together when they are done.

Darren the Seafire looks excellent, I' m really glad that you masking worked out so well.  Now we just need a couple of black stripes to complete the paint job.

Frank mind if I ask what cockpit you are using on the Mk.46 and how are you finding it?  Over on the Spitfire GB I'm using the Aires resin pit that came with the kit and the thing is giving me fits.  I've just spent the whole night doing major surgery on the sidewalls with my Dremel just to get the IP to fit .  Ahhh Aires, looks so good, fits soooo bad.

Cheers 

The seafire looks great Darren. I look forward to more.

Leon 

Darren, Leon,

thanks very much lads, its good to know I'm on the home stretch with this one.

I finally got the gloss coat on today, so hopefully on my next day off things will get moving in the weathering and decaling departments. 

darson wrote:

Frank mind if I ask what cockpit you are using on the Mk.46 and how are you finding it?  Over on the Spitfire GB I'm using the Aires resin pit that came with the kit and the thing is giving me fits.  I've just spent the whole night doing major surgery on the sidewalls with my Dremel just to get the IP to fit .  Ahhh Aires, looks so good, fits soooo bad. Cheers

Darren- Thanks for the compliment Darren!  I have actually been using the stock cockpit, slightly upgraded with a little wire and some homemade seatbelts from lead foil and wire, and some detail painting.  Just having someone ask what 'pit it is a huge compliment, thinking it's aftermarket when it's stock kit parts!

Lads I've just received the Sept issue of Military in Scale and aside from being chock full of styrene goodness as usual there is a magnificent buildup article on a FAA Corsair.  I highly recommend picking this issue up if you can as the guy has done a brilliant job.

Cheers 

Hi Frank,

Thanks for the nice comments guys.

The model is a 1/48 conversion using the Aeroclub conversion kit. The conversion recommends the use of a Spitfire or Seafire kit with a 'C' wing which means either the Airfix Spitfire VB/C cum Seafire II/IIIC, or the Hobbycraft Seafire XV or the Hasegawa Spitfire IXC. I think ICM did a 'C' wing Spit as well. The conv kit contains injection parts for the two fuselage halves, prop blades and spinner, two radiators and an assortment of white metal parts for the cockpit sting hook and undercarriage plus two vacform canopies.

I initially opted to use the Airfix kit because the 'C' Wing is an additional moulding and leaves a complete Spit VB if the 'C' wing is "liberated". That turned out to be a bad move. The VC wing has one radiator (port) and an oil cooler (starboard) so requires a fair bit of effort to get two radiators to fit it. Then I found the fit of the wing to the conversion fuselage was, to say the least, a pretty poor fit that would require lots of extra effort.

So plan 'B': I tried the Hobbycraft Seafire XV wings. Rads are correct so no effort there and the fit was very good. I did need some filler, but the wings matched up to the wing root with only a small gap and required minimal effort to get the right fit. I used a crude jig to get the dihedral set and after that it was plain sailing.

The cockpit interior of the conversion parts is a bit basic with some white metal additions but no instructions on where to locate them other than "refer to the donor kit". I added some wire and PE seat harness from an Airwaves set and left it at that. A nice resin interior would have been ideal but it's not all that easily seen unless the canopy is open - hence I opted to leave it closed!

I had two starboard white metal oleos so had to get a replacement from Aeroclub which was no problem. I used Xtracolor enamels for the finish and the decals came from various Modeldecal sheets.

The model finished up looking the part so I was pleased with it and it now resides in the pilot's study at his home. The total build was about 40-45 hours over 10 weeks.

Richard

Finally had some time to mask and paint.  And I wish I hadn't...

I lighted the grey a bit too much, at least in my opinion.  And I'm not sure that the green is the correct shade-MM acrylic doesn't have an exact match so I came as close on the FS number as I could and ended up with Euro Dark Green.  Same on the grey-I used Gunship Grey (an exact FS match, but lightened it).  Then I fought with the airbrush (and it won).  After it's all said and done, I'm weighing my options:

1.  Future, oil wash, flat coat and then chalk pastels to darken the grey and maybe lighten the green-heavy weathered look.

2.  Start over but start with green this time and then shoot the grey.

3.  Just give it up, reprime and paint it blue and build it as a U.S. Navy Hellcat-however, if I do this, I won't have a reason to get the upcoming Eduard release....

4.  Fill the thing with a tube of model cement and relive one of my favorite childhood activities involving models & matches....

Anyway, any and all thoughts & critics are welcome & encouraged.

Bob, I vote for #4 simply because I think we all have a similar childhood memory just be sure to take lots of pictures (and don't do it inside the house like I did ) 

Seriously though I think if you did the wash and pastels you should be able to find the right tone.  My spitfire for the sitfire build had similar issues and  found that even after the future went on that the colours appeared darker.  You can always strip it later if it doesn't turn out.

Bob, go with Option #1, although if you decide on Option #4 I'd love to see the video .

Regards,  Rick

Bob I have Brett Green's Modelling the F4U Corsair and he used the technique of an oil wash to change the colors on his Corsair and the results were amazing.  I'll lookup the details when I get home tonight.

Cheers

Thanks Darren-much appriciated.

Based on the responses, I'm wondering if there would be a cable pay-per-view market for option 4!

bobbaily wrote:

Based on the responses, I'm wondering if there would be a cable pay-per-view market for option 4!

Well a YouTube video at the very least

Here are the pics I was talking about earlier, the first one is the base coat and the second is with a thin wash of Raw Umber oil paint straight over the top.

Cheers