1/48 Special Hobby Seafire Mk 15

Gallery Article by Wlad Franco-Valias on Oct 9 2015

 

      

The Royal Canadian Navy received 35 Seafire Mk XV in 1946 and operated them for a while aboard HMCS Warrior. The Seafire Mk XV handled really poorly on a carrier deck. The rotation of the Griffon engine meant the plane would swing to the right, towards the island on the carrier on take-off. This, and the usual Seafire landing issues kept the Mk XV away from action at the end of WW II. Post war, problems with the supercharger clutch, which caused the engine to lose power under catapult launches, kept it from carrier decks during 1947. It is remarkable we operated them on Warrior. The Seafire Mk XVII corrected many of these vices but that’s another story.

This is a limited run kit and it is very well detailed though also very fiddly. There is almost everything in the box one needs to build a really nice representation of the real item. I read a review which said Special Hobby will use three parts when one will normally do. That seems to be true in this kit and the limitations of their molds mean the majority of parts need work before they will fit nicely. The plastic is also somewhat crumbly so care must be taken when drilling holes in small parts. This all means the kit won’t fall together, nevertheless the level of detail achieved and the treatment of the panel lines as overlapping panels is remarkable. 

When I compared it with the Airfix Mk XVII and reference photos I noticed the wing on the Special Hobby kit sits further back on the fuselage than it should, the nose profile is flatter and the drop tank is slightly short. When compared with the real item, the propeller blades are also wider than they should be. If anyone is wondering it is possible to use the Airfix folded wings in this kit with a little work. I was about to do so when I noticed the huge discrepancy in panel line treatment between the two manufacturers and gave up on the idea. Of note, the main landing gear attachment is tricky and I ended up with the left wing tip higher than the right, and the left main gear toes out slightly. I also had to sand the rear of the moveable part of the canopy to fit, it is also slightly narrower than the fuselage and it won’t fit in the open position.

A nice item in this kit is the photo etched fret which includes the instrument panel with acetate instrument dials, seat belts, and many smaller bits, some of which I didn’t bother with. Revell Germany also markets this same kit, though apparently without the photo etched parts. If you buy this version of the kit, pay no attention to the box photos. The propeller blades were mounted as if they turned counter-clockwise when viewed head-on, and the canopy was glued as if it was on a Bf 109, swinging to the side. Not sure what the builder had in mind.

I made very few modifications to the kit and built it out of the box, with the exception of Master turned brass cannons and a little help from a Hasegawa Spitfire VII for the bomb stabilizer crutches. Since the ailerons come separate and the control column is in two pieces I chose to pose them deflected. I also cut and dropped the elevators and mounted the control column leaning forward as it should in that case. I modified the landing gear selector box for it is molded as if the gear was up. I drilled the exhaust pipes, and trimmed the prop blades to their proper width with a file and tri-grit sanding stick. I also sanded all evidence of the nicely molded external reinforcing skin plates on the fuselage as they were internal on production aircraft. Lastly, the clear light one expects behind the antenna mast on top of the fuselage actually goes underneath, slightly off to the left and just before the end of the wing trailing edge fillet.

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This is the A-frame version in the final two tone grey scheme (CSMA II). The colours used were Tamiya XF-24 (Dark Grey) over XF-19 (Sky Grey). I used the wing-mounted bomb carriers and fuselage drop tank on this one as per a reference photo. The oil stains are done in Tamiya smoke, and oils (burnt umber and Payne’s grey). 

This scheme shows PR 434 while serving with 883 Squadron based in Shearwater as it may have looked after returning from gunnery training at RCAF Rivers in Manitoba. Interestingly all the reference photos I’ve seen show PR 434 to have roundels under the wings instead of the expected VG-AAJ. It also had the call letter ‘J’ under the nose cowling and on the sides of the drop tank, consistent with other Seafires of the squadron.

Main decals came from the Belcher Bits BD 13 sheet. Additional stencils from Arrow Graphics A-11-48 Spitfire “Scribbles”. I took the ‘J’ for the fuel tank from a Sea Fury sheet. The kit decals were used only for the propeller logos. All decals performed really well, though some the roundels from Belcher Bits cracked after drying, either from too much Micro Sol or due to the age of my decal sheet (purchased in the early 2000’s I think).

A very rewarding kit if you have the patience to prepare the parts beforehand, though I’m looking to build something faster next.

Happy Modeling

References:

  • Humphreys, Robert; The Supermarine Spitfire: A Comprehensive Guide for The Modeller. Part 2: Griffon Powered. Bedford: SAM Publications, 2001

  • Martin, Patrick, and Pettipas, Leo. Royal Canadian Navy Aircraft Finish and Markings 1944-1968. Martin Slides, 2007

  • Pettipas, Leo (1987). The Supermarine Seafire in The Royal Canadian Navy. Self-published. Winnipeg, Manitoba. ISBN: 0-9692528-2-X

  • Scutts, Jerry; Spitfire in Action. Carrollton: Squadron Signal Publications, 1980

  • The Military Museums of Calgary – PR 451.

Wlad Franco-Valias

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Photos and text © by Wlad Franco-Valias