Boys
and girls (there are girls that build models, I’ve seen them!) I
usually never build a kit twice. I’ve always been a “lets do something
new” kinda guy but the Airfix Spitfire/Seafire's always seem to keep showing
up at the top of the build list…
It
has to be the way they were able to produce sooo many variants from just a
single mold. The basic molds that were first released allowed a modeler to make
the Seafire FR/47 or the FR/46. Add some little things like a five bladed prop
and you can build a Spitfire Mk.21 or 24. Kit bash the heck out of the thing and
you can do any late model spitfire you like… Just watch your references!
Seriously, this kit is the be-all, end-all if you want to go off of the beaten
path and just do an un-kitted Spit.
On
with the build. Airfix re-released this mold with specific parts to make the
F.21 or F.24 Spitfire. Built out of the box, you get recessed panel lines, a
decent cockpit (replace the seat, trust me on this one…) Wing trailing edges
that you can cut a steak with and best of all, a Griffon engine-nosed bird that
truly looks the part. All I did was replace the seat with one from Ultracast
(without the belts, those were added from the Lion’s Roar WW2 British
seatbelts etched set) and the rest of the cockpit just slid into place… After
painting the cockpit British interior green and picking out the details with
either light grey, silver red or green.
The
fit of the fuselage to wings is very, very good. I always use Mr. Surfacer on
dried joins (to get them juuuust right, don’t-cha-know.) but the overall joins
in this kit require little more then token light sanding to make a great join.
The flaps come ready to drop and the detail, while limited, is acceptable. The
tail planes are easy to remove and reposition, and the rudder is separate. The
rudder comes in two pieces but not the way you think… A top and bottom as
opposed to left and right sides. Strange, true but in the Seafire kits, a
stinger tail hook gets added to the tail.
Click on
images below to see larger images
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With
a little bit of work, the wings can be done up as “C” wings, “D” wings
or “E” wings. The parts included only allow a “C” out of the box but the
cannon bay covers are easy to manipulate and change due to the fact that the
plastic is medium soft-ish. I tried this with an “extra” set of wings from
the FR.47 Seafire (same molds, remember?) and had little problem using a razor
blade to gently slice the bulges off the wings. Just be careful. The exhausts
are the only real suspect parts of the whole kit. In most cases, tubular
exhausts were the norm and these are included (just drill them out if your
daring) but some reference photos I have show a covering over them much like a
P-51d. Also, the shape and diameter look a little off but, close enough for the
girls I know…
Speaking
of girls, this one needed war paint and pretty markings. The instructions are
typical Airfix and do show you a four-view with the camo markings. Paint
instructions only give Humbrol colors so get out your color reference charts and
do the conversions if your using Testors Model Master paints like I did. I’m
usually a Vallejo paint man but I needed some time with Enamels and TMM makes
such great British colors… For everyone’s reference, I used RAF Dark Green
and Dark Sea Grey on the top and Medium Sea Grey on the bottom. The black and
white stripes were airbrushed first and masked with Tamiya tape. Strange thing
though, the stripes are included in the decals but the sizes looked way off.
Again, in photo references, the stripes looked bigger so I painted them
consistent with Suez or Normandy markings.
About
the decals… Please use but with a grain of salt and this cautious warning:
Carefully trim away everything you don’t need. All marking on this model are
from the Airfix sheet and are usable… Mostly. For the identification letters,
I trimmed them right down to the ink. They work great with a dash of Microsol.
The roundels can quite often be out of register (mine were) but in some cases,
the problem can be trimmed out with a sharp Exacto blade. Although color density
is usually good with Airfix, beware of putting things like the roundels down
over stripes – there isn’t a decal out there that is THAT opaque. Again,
with a little Microsol/set the decals literally disappear.
Final
words: Total build time was about 30-35 hours. Well worth the effort. If you
have the time, please compare the shape of this build to an earlier Seafire
FR.47 that I did for this site. You’ll see the similarities right away.
Hank
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