{"id":7781,"date":"2016-06-13T22:11:09","date_gmt":"2016-06-13T20:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/modeltalking.hobbyart.sk\/?p=7781"},"modified":"2019-08-01T15:59:40","modified_gmt":"2019-08-01T13:59:40","slug":"supermarine-seafire-f-xvii-airfix-148","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/modeltalking.hobbyart.sk\/?p=7781","title":{"rendered":"Supermarine Seafire F.XVII, AIRFIX, 1\/48"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"icon-1\"
\nSeafire F.XVII<\/span><\/h1>\n

by Marcel Meres<\/p>\n

\"Supermarine<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Supermarine<\/a>1. Introductory Notes<\/span><\/h2>\n

This Seafire is the first new tooling<\/em> Airfix kit I tried\u00a0out. Interestingly high number of\u00a0parts is the first thing you notice after opening the\u00a0box. This\u00a0is mainly because the kit comes with two complete sets of wings. So it can be built with the wings in\u00a0both normal and folded\u00a0position without any surgery needed. Plane can be built standing on the ground (with weighted wheels) or as\u00a0in flight<\/em>\u00a0with a\u00a0different undercarriage set. Similarly, you can use either\u00a0opened or closed canopy –\u00a0two different clear canopy rear parts\u00a0are offered plus the\u00a0opened door kit part too.<\/p>\n

\"Supermarine<\/a><\/p>\n

The wings can be built with flaps up<\/em> or flaps down<\/em> positions plus all the control\u00a0surfaces are included as separate parts. Moreover there are two different rudder\u00a0lower parts. One with the arresting hook in retracted position while\u00a0the other is lowered with the hook extended. Kit comes with an external auxiliary tank which is\u00a0optional. Another two fixed wing tanks or unguided rockets (8pcs. altogether) can be attached\u00a0under the wings.\u00a0The stand (for in flight<\/em> position) is not included btw. It is available via the Airfix website.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_3748_vyrez_1500\"<\/a><\/p>\n

2. Construction<\/span><\/h2>\n

Frankly it was real joy building this kit. Plane standing on the surface with unfolded wings plus flaps and hook down was chosen from the possibilities offered. Everything came together well, no issues emerged. Only a minimum of overall filling\/sanding was needed – mainly to remedy a few sink marks on the upper wing halves (above the wheel wells). Mr. Surfacer 500 applied by a brush did its work well. One interesting thing is that while comparing three kits in the store each of them had its sink marks in slightly different locations with unequal depth. I picked one with the sink marks least pronounced of course \ud83d\ude00 . And maybe one could buy a kit with no sink marks at all…<\/p>\n

\"Supermarine<\/a><\/p>\n

3. Improvements made<\/span><\/h2>\n

A) Exterior\u00a0details<\/span><\/strong>
\nNo\u00a0aftermarket resin or photoetched parts were used for\u00a0this build. Some small selfmade upgrades were made though.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. First of all, the exhausts were drilled out.<\/li>\n
  2. I also needed\u00a0the small air inlet positioned on the cowling upper side to be hollow – so a\u00a0brand new inlet made of styrene\u00a0was made\u00a0\u00a0instead.<\/li>\n
  3. The main wing trailing edges plus aileron trailing edges\u00a0looked a bit thick to me so they were thinned.<\/li>\n
  4. The original gun\u00a0barrels were cut off and replacements made of syringe needle were placed into pre-drilled holes.<\/li>\n
  5. The lower part of the rudder got the small ring-shaped tie\u00a0made of thin brass wire.<\/li>\n
  6. Probably the most visible addition is the wing flap actuator mechanisms with doors. Each\u00a0actuator arm\u00a0was\u00a0made from the rectangular evergreen rod. One end was rounded\u00a0to fit the flap bracing tube. The\u00a0other end was cut by a small circular saw blade into the proper shape so it can embrace the actuator draw bar end. The draw bar was made of a sewing needle cut into proper length by a\u00a0carborundum cutting disc. The actuator doors were made of two layers of a\u00a0thin styrene sheet (please see the pictures below)<\/li>\n
  7. The radio aerial was added – made of black\u00a0sprue pulled in the heat from a kitchen stove fire.<\/li>\n
  8. Rudder-mounted position light was made as a\u00a0tiny epoxy drop.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \"Wing<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

    The wing flap actuator arm\u00a0was\u00a0made from the rectangular evergreen rod (picture above). See the wing flap actuator with door below.<\/em><\/p>\n

    \"Wing<\/a><\/p>\n

    B) Cockpit details<\/span><\/strong>
    \nThe cockpit was left as it was with only three small changes – the gunsight was slightly modified plus the missing seat pillow and pilot harness were added.<\/p>\n

    Gyro\u00a0gunsight<\/span><\/strong>
    \nThe kit comes\u00a0with\u00a0the gyro\u00a0gunsight (kit\u00a0part C6) molded as a clear part. You can paint the gunsight body (black) and to leave the sun filter glass with\u00a0the reflector plate – molded together\u00a0as one piece – unpainted. This shape was cut off and replaced using two very thin transparent pieces instead. Cyanoacrylate adhesive was used.<\/p>\n

    Seat pillow<\/span><\/strong>
    \nThe seat pillow was made of\u00a0a small ammount of\u00a0milliput shaped in hand. The seat and the seat pillow were airbrushed and patinted separately and then glued together.<\/p>\n