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A Seafire landed in my home. Magnus in our club initiated a Ventura Group Build and donated kits to anyone who wanted to join. I wasn't going to do it but ended up with a Seafire. |
| (Model finished 2024) |
| With a feeling of slight horror, I open the box to find this. There is a lot of plastic to grind away. |
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I've heard that Ventura's kits are not the easiest to build but are accurate, so I set out looking for building tips.
Unfortunately I found this: "After checking the kits against reliable measurements I found that the Seafire XV and XVII are indeed very accurate. The Spitfire IX and the Seafire 47 however are not." The plastic was rock hard which was good in a way. OK it was a bit difficult to grind, but had no problems with the plastic getting too hot and wanting to melt. |
| An afternoon's work and one wing is done. |
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The instructions tells me to ad a cockpit bulkhead from plastic card using the templates below. The problem is that they didn't add these to the instructions. But sometimes my weird ideas work. The cockpit sides are completely lacking in detail (unless you count the casting runners I sanded away. I had a Spitfire laying around so I tried to make a silicone mould of the cockpit sides. I then smeared the moulds full of Tamiya putty and clamped the mould to the body side. |
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The result was better than expected. Add a little paint and with the hood in place nothing is visible anyway. Strangely it isn't very challenging. It only need more work than a normal plastic kit with all work of remove excess plastic and lot of dry fitting. But I found this build to be very relaxing as you need to "go down" in tempo to get a good fit. A motor tool is really helpful building it. I just started on a Spitfire from Sword and that kit also need lot of dry fitting and adjustments of parts. |
| It's starting to look like an aeroplane. |
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Actually it is a nice kit when one accept it's shortcomings. What isn't good is the instructions. I had to search for pictures on the net to be able to get the propeller together. The grey stabilizers came with the kit but I decided to replace the guns with some from the Sword Spitfire. |
| Next will be the radiators and also to decide if it should carry anything under the wings. I was planning for rockets but looking through the spare part box show that I only have seven complete rockets. Now I'm thinking of using the fuel tanks instead. |
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Sometime I wonder how my brain works. Something just dawned to me. Adding the Spitfires I am building (2xMk14+aMk19) sums up to my Seafire. With my Spitfire ready for paint it is time to drag the Seafire to the same point. Then it is time for another Spitfire. |
| Finally it is standing on its legs and I thought that I could start colouring it. But no. Need hatches for the rear wheel and they are not supplied in the kit. |
| I had some scare about the vac canopy but I managed to get it in place without to much problems. Masking it was another matter. Details was a bit fuzzy so it was slightly hard to mask it. But in the end I got some colour on it. |
| I wasn't sure if I should opt for the stripes, but it look a bit bland so I brought out a roll of masking tape. |
| Decals is in the work |
| But my choice of using the wing tanks made it hard. Now on to the small texts. |
| Finally I can declare it ready. |
| In the end I am glad that I opted for the black and white stipes. |
| Stockholm December 30, 2024 |  |
No updates |
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