The Unofficial Airfix Modellers' Forum

Slow progress on this. Too busy at the moment with real world stuff.
I did manage to get the main components assembled though:



A bit more filling and sanding should see her ready for primer. I think a canopy from the spares box might be my best option as the vac ones supplied with the kit look very undersized.
I am away on holiday next week so can't see me finishing this one before the deadline but I will be happy if I can get it to the painting stage.

Getting there....

Cheers Daz.

I managed to get the Seafire primed yesterday and applied a couple of coats of sky on the undersides today.



I hope to get that masked off later & apply the grey. The U/C is a weak point on this kit. Both doors have sink marks whilst the legs look too thin.

I have found a canopy that will fit better than the one supplied too.
Will be offline for a few days holiday now. See you soon.

Looking great, O_T. Keep it going!

regards,

Martin

I managed to get the Extra Dark Sea Grey on last night. I used Xtracrylix paint.



I have just masked off the camo pattern with white-tak & masking tape and am just about to apply the dark slate grey (or a snear as I can get!). Wish me luck as I have never used this method before.

Nearly there O_T, looks good.


David.

Thanks David. Masking removed and here she is:



I am pretty pleased with that & will use White-tac again.
I used Tamiya XF73 JGSDF Dark Green for the Dark Slate Grey. It looks a pretty good match and fortunately my friend Cosmic has the biggest range of Tamiya paints on Teesside! Cheers mate.

I will leave that to dry for a few hours before putting a coat of Klear on. I will work on the prop & U\C in the meantime.

Very neat camouflage OT.

Nice finish O_T, I have never that method before- will try it out on the Lancaster GB next year.


David.

lancfan wrote:Nice finish O_T, I have never that method before- will try it out on the Lancaster GB next year.


David.

Give it a go David. I must say that I was a little sceptical but it turned out really well. It was a little tedious placing the masking tape to fill the gaps so next time I will try using Copydex, that should speed things up.

Anyway, it's going to be close but I might just complete this Seafire on time. I have started to decal with mixed results. The under-wing roundels are placed over some bumps and one of them broke up a little.



The other side is not so bad.



The upper wing roundels are just settling down after a soak in MicroSol but look good. If I had more time I would have placed some white discs down first as some of the colour has dulled. I guess we live & learn!

Anyway, she is up on her legs. The tail hook paint is drying, prop is just about ready but I still need to source some exhaust stacks. Off to the spares box now.



More soon I hope.

Decals all done:



I love these markings.
Prop next then wheels & exhausts.

Looking good!

Those lumps and bumps are such a pain in the ass when it comes to applying decals!

Finished Just in time.



Better images tomorrow.

Very nice, O_T!

DazDaMan wrote:Very nice, O_T!

Cheers Daz. It may yet get a dull coat & some weathering but I didn't want to do anything last night as the Klear was still drying.
I might try to rig up a bomb rack & ordnance at some point in the future as these Seafires were used exclusively for ground attack in Indochina.

Anyway, I proved it could be built.
Would I do anything different, plenty. A very frustrating build & confusing kit. For example the under-carriage legs are truly awful miscast soft plastic will barely enough strength to hold the kit up. I set the arrester hook down to give the kit more support! . The wheels that are added to the legs are lovely by contrast.

Also the lack of a bomb for the French Navy version is peculiar as bombing was their main role. A resin bomb & rack would have been nice especially as there are some lovely resin cockpit parts that can never be seen!