“Land of the Morning Calm”

CMR Seafire FR.47

Vickers-Supermarine Seafire FR.47, VP459, 179/P, 800 Squadron, HMS Triumph, 1950

Introduction

I’d longed for a Seafire FR.47 for years; I was tempted to get the old vacform by Rareplanes but kept putting it off.  Mainly due to cost as it was a rare kit to find but also because the other Rareplanes kit I’d built back in the early ‘90’s didn’t come out too well; which somewhat scared me off vacs for a while (but that's another story as they say).  I was not aware of the Ventura kit from down under until recently, when Jays began re-releasing them.  

So when CMR released their resin kit I was very interested.  While the price was steep, I was willing to buy, but had no experience with resin kits.  So, off I went to find a low cost CMR on sale somewhere to gain some experience.  I found them at WestCoastHobbys, lower cost than eBay and much lower than the US distributer.  After a few builds were behind me I purchased the FR.47 and this year decided it was time to actually make it.  I had some good stock of accurate paints and the kit came with the exact scheme I wanted.  Plus, my local club decided to acknowledge the 60^th anniversary of the Korean War with a theme for November, "Land of the Morning Calm".

The Aircraft

When the North Koreans invaded the South HMS Triumph was operating in the western Pacific. Her, along with some US carriers were quickly dispatched to Korean waters to provide air support to the UN forces retreating down the peninsula. 

800 Squadron was onboard with the last embarked Seafire squadron and provided escort to her Firefly strike aircraft as well as providing some light strike capability as required. Additionally she received tasking to escort B-29s as they bombed targets in the north.

It was on one of these early B-29 escort missions that B-29 gunners fired on their escorts – they looked too much like the attacking Yak-9’s – that the FAA began applying Night/White identification stripes to the wings and empennage. 

By late Fall, 1950, the air wing was tired and needed relieving. HMS Triumph returned to England where 800 Squadron proceeded to trade in her Seafires for another Supermarine product, the Attacker.

Reference:  Spitfire the History, Squadron in Action, Warpaint Series No. 20, On Target Profiles 5

The Model

CMR make just about every Mark of the Spitfire and Seafire in 72nd scale, from the prototypes (both variations of K5054) through to both the Spiteful and Seafang. If one wants a very accurate model of their subject, CMR can provide it; however the buyer must know that accuracy comes with a price. CMR kits are expensive but in my opinion are well worth it. The detail is exceptional and even my feeble attempts are made to look that much better.

After cleaning up the resin by removing the parts from the pour-stubs and washing them with liquid hand soap I was ready to paint.  Generally I use an airbrush and shot everything with interior grey-green (albeit I use Tamiya XF-21 Sky as it looks more "scale") and then painted the night/black areas with Mr Color Midnight Blue.  I feel this color has that bluish tinge to it that Night should have, plus it is more of a dark gray color, so I use it for props and other areas calling for Night.

I bent all the PE for the cockpit into the right shapes, really a simple affair and it came out so well I almost went against my own policy of never opening up the cockpit.  I drilled out the prop shaft location at the nose to ensure my contra-props would spin, more on that later...

The fuselage went together very easily, requiring almost no filler.  One reason I like these resin kits is that I can use a strong solvent like acetone to smooth seams after filling and it doesn't affect the resin or detail.  The wing was test fitted and as I've found with CMR kits don't glue the lower fuselage seam until the wing is on because it may need some sanding or fitting of a spacer to make it fit just right.  This kit was no different as the forward fuselage between the leading edge of the wing and the nose didn't quite fit properly.  If I closed up the seam then there was a wide gap at the wing roots forward; if I eliminated the wing root gaps there was a gap under the nose.

So after studying drawings and photos it was obvious the wing roots should have no gaps and the nose should have not gap either; meaning a slight V-shaped gap existed with the pointy end of the "V" was forward.  After getting everything aligned I ran some super glue and made it all permanent.  Then filled in the "V" with plasticard and filler.

To allow my props to be removed and also to spin (young hands always want to spin the prop!) I always glue a sheet of plastic about an inch from the nose inside the fuselage.  As mentioned earlier I also drill out the prop shaft location and before I put the wings on I glue a tube that can take a rod, usually a 16th inch rod into a 8th inch tube with a 16th inch inner diameter (of course).  Unfortunately the contra-prop meant I needed another tube with an 8th inch inner diameter.  Unfortunately I had nothing with a small enough outer diameter to fit inside the Seafire's nose, so off to the hardware store.  Eventually I found a brass sleeve for something or other related to plumbing that was perfect.

The CMR kit comes with a choice of either individual blades for the spinners or fully build up props/spinners.  I'm not real good at prop alignment so I decided to use the ones CMR build up for me.  After cleaning the flash off they look okay, but could be better.  I may build those spares up someday and swap them out; easy enough since I make my props removable and able to spin!  

After priming and minor cleanup of imperfections I shot the entire model with Humbrol 90. This is actually an older tin of Super Enamel that is a very good match to Sky. Newer tins produced by Hornby are not quite the same color, unfortunately. So I use my Humbrol 90 sparingly...

I then masked off the areas for the stripes, shot the white and then removed all the tape to let the paint cure for a week. Next weekend I masked the stripes and lower surfaces and with a mix I found on the internet for Tamiya paints, I shot the Extra Dark Sea Grey (EDSG). That mix, by the way, is: "to 50 parts of XF24 dark gray, add 6 parts XF2 white and 3 parts XF8 flat blue." It looks right to my eye, not having that greenish tinge some paint makers insist is EDSG or the very dark gray that is near to a version of Night.

After all the paint had cured well, a good week, I decided to use a technique a member of my club swears by: spit. Okay, what that really means is an old cotton t-shirt rubbed on the surface with some spit to moisten it. There's just enough friction to buff the paint up to a nice satin finish without affecting the detail or wearing through the paint. It was smooth enough not to require any Future/Klear as an undercoat to the decals!

The kit decals were very thin and went on with Micro-Set (blue label) followed by a quick dash of Micro-Sol (red label) after they'd dried to ensure they settled completely down into the recessed panel lines. Remaining details were put on and the final piece remained: THE VAC CANOPY. My nemesis...

I tackled the canopy by trimming it down to what appeared to be the canopy frame outer mold line. First using very coarse sanding sticks and progressing down to fine until I was taking almost nothing off with each swipe. I then tried a dry fit and to my disbelief it fit the first time! Perfect. Painted the framing with Night, used a wooden pick to clean the edges, then painted the EDSG. Dipped it in Future/Klear to make the clear canopy really pop. On it went with Gator Grip -- I love this stuff as it dries quick and clear. A quick drill for the whip antennae, which is just a short piece of invisible thread, and she was done.

All-in-all about 30 hours of modeling spread over 3 months. I'm pleased and it enjoys a place of honor, at the front and at eye level.

Thanks for looking...