Seafire FR47

[Girlscanplay2]

Thierry you are doing a fantastic job!! 

 

Very interesting to watch,

 

Teresa 

[thierry laurent]

Thanks for your support!

 

I started working on the cockpit.

 

I purchased the Mk22-24 Mastercasters set as I thought this would be an easy way to save time... MAJOR ERROR!!!!

 

If you want to build a FR47 or even a Mk22-24 and do not have this pit, you should rather start from the Aires pit made for the Tamiya kit!

 

Indeed, both resin sets are modified copies of Tamiya parts but there is a major difference between them: if the dimensions of the Aires parts are comparable to the ones of the Tamiya kit, the Mastercasters ones are clearly underscaled!

 

This is not the first time I observed that sets from this company are a little bit underscaled. This is not a major problem for some sets such as resin wheels. However, for a cockpit, this is another story. I had to dedicate many hours to find a way to solve the problem. I think that the result will be acceptable but this is not normal as finally, modifying and detailing other parts would have asked for far less work...

 

Again, you have been warned... aftermarket does not always mean saving time!

 

The following picture shows what I had to add and I can tell you that this is even worse for the rear bulkhead... I also had to change some details on the IP to get a FR47 one but as this shows there was no major difference between the different marks of Spitfire and Seafire.

 

[Anthony in NZ]

Thierry, your attention to detail is second to none as is your execution of it.  The time and energy gone into this is staggering already and not lost on me at all.  Keep up with the great work it is inspiring to me.

 

Cheers

Anthony

[Starfighter]

Totally agree - great work, Thierry!

[thierry laurent]

Well, it is true that the last Seafire is indeed a topic I'm fond of!

 

The research part of the project is challenging. There are probably multiple reasons. The WW2 marks were far more numerous and hide somewhat the postwar types. There were not many FR47 planes built and they were only used by the FAA during a relatively short period. There is no preserved airframe, just an heavily modified warbird. And last, most people do not realize how this ultimate plane was different in many small details! So, even writers put the focus on the use rather than on the technical specifics.

However, this gives the possibility to get a result that will be uncommon. Just two specific examples:

 

1. I've never seen a kit with the correct control stick as the FR47 used a 'D' ring spade grip type with the Dunlop electric gun firing system uniquely fitted to this last mark. Indeed, previous marks used the common 'O' ring type. This is one of the reasons for which I mentioned earlier it is somewhat risky to use only the technical manuals of older types to rebuild the cockpit!

 

2. And I've neither seen a kit with the correct bomb pylons as again, they were specific...! Unfortunately, I never found sufficiently good pictures or TM views to make fully accurate ones... :-( So, I will not add them.
 

Frankly, it is not the complexity, nor the time required that annoy me. The true frustration was rather the problems I had/have with the Greymatter and Mastercasters sets!!! THIS was an avoidable major loss of time. I guess this is part of the game when we want to work on such topics...

[thierry laurent]

This composite picture shows what I was explaining for the control stick. You've here a comparison between the one of the remaining FR47 and the one of a preserved Mk22 in a museum.

 

Sadly this is one of the very last original specific FR47 elements still existing in the cockpit of the Warbird flying in the US.

 

[BloorwestSiR]

Hi Theirry,

 

You're right about the Mastercasters cockpit being too small.I started fitting the cockpit from a Tamiya kit and found that it was also a bit on the small side. I shimmed mine to get a better fit much as you did. I was able to get the fuselage together and make the cockpit fit from below through the wing opening which made it easier to adjust the fit.

 

 

And I think that's about where I stopped working on mine. 

Carl

[thierry laurent]

Frustrating to say the least...

 

Here's a picture showing what I had to add to get an acceptable result:

 

 

I removed the upper section as this was a way to ease the correction work and in any case I wanted to rebuild it myself.

 

and this picture shows a comparison with the original MkXVI part from the Tamiya kit:

 

 

No comment!

[thierry laurent]

And this picture shows the correction of the shape of the control stick head. Three attempts were required to get an acceptable part! The part was so tiny that it was very difficult to hold it while trying to get a correct shape with pliers! The rough surface was simply made with a very fine copper wire rolled over the brass rod and fixed with a micro drop of CA glue.

 

I still have to add the firing system but at least here we have something looking like the full scale one.

 

[thierry laurent]

I also added some additional structural details in the main landing gear bays. I still have many small other ones to add. The time consuming part yet to be done is the small landing gear door mechanism...

 

The round panel fixed by 16 screws was a bear to make as it was just 1mm larger than my larger punch & die! So, I used a drawing template and a scriber to get two identical disks and scribed the 16 screw heads. This panel is one of the most visible items of the bay so it must be added.

 

I also finalized the cut for the leg and will have to add some small strengthening strips over and along the edge.

 

[thierry laurent]

I saw a small device on the edge of the well of the FR47 on one of rare bad pictures I have showing part of the well. After some research I identified a similar one on the late Spitfires. This is also quite visible and will ask for a little bit of time to be reproduced... I don't know its purpose but I would not be surprised if it was a kind of hydraulically activated door lock.

 

 

The main problem will be the front wall of the well as no picture exists of this area. I also realized that various items were removed from the bay of the warbird. A good example is the heater tube for the ammo compartment. I'll probably copy the front wall from a Mk24. Wait and see.

[Hubert Boillot]

Looks like the PU-resin shrinking devil was hard at work on MC's parts. Most likely also on the RTV molds :-(.

 

Hard to find quality-resin, fluid, enough pot-time, rapid curing and without too much heat generation during the curing. For me, the shrinking % remains the #1 selection criterion. Ditto for the RTV (well #2 really, as I have to find a catalyst compatible with other silicone products we are making (poly-addition vs poly-condensation curing)

 

Great work on that Seafire, Thierry !

 

Hubert

Edited April 3, 2015 by MostlyRacers

[thierry laurent]

Thanks Hubert!

 

Indeed, I'd not be surprised seeing that the retraction problem is an addition of a similar phenomenon for the rubber AND resin in this specific case. Otherwise, I could not understand how the retraction percentage can be so important...

[TimW]

Nice!

[thierry laurent]

Hi,

 

The small device identified in the LG well is indeed an hatch lock. So my guess was correct.

 

I also had a look at the landing gear legs. The kit ones are not acceptable. I saw that some modellers scratched new ones but there is an easier approach. The best ones released are the Tamiya Mk IX/XVI ones. So, I ordered SAC metal copies as there were not a lot of differences with the late Spitfire or Seafire marks. The main change is the scissor position. Another benefit of such legs is the fact they replicate closely the way the full scale ones were fixed in the well. However, this means that you have to find a way to replicate what is in the Tamiya kit and this is far to be easy. Indeed, adding small plastic tabs to ensure the leg has the correct angles is a nightmare! However, with a lot of patience, it is possible to find a way to get a correct result. I'll go back to this later.

 

Last, I also had a look at the seat belts. I finally found a view in the big Shacklady book and this confirmed my feeling: the rear belt is not anymore fixed in the fuselage but right against the seat back. This is logical as the FR47 has a fuel tank and a camera compartment behind the seat bulkhead. So, they had to modify the seat belt tension mechanism.

 

I'll try to publish some other pictures tomorrow.

 

Happy Easter!