Pappy121 Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 G'day all, This will be my entry for the Matchbox build. This IMHO was one of Matchbox's best kits. The panel lines are very fine and restrained (as befits a biplane) with almost no input from the infamous 'Matchbox trench digger' The aircrew provided in the kit are also a slightly different pattern to the standard pattern and the only real bad points of the kit is the way the interplane struts are moulded as a pair. Although this will ensure alignment, it means the struts locate into four recessed slots in the upper wing. cheers, Pappy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mmaker Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 Now that looks like an interesting project! I'll wait for more! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Julien (UK) Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 Looks good. The rear observer might need some packing to raise him up, mine did. Dont worry about the struts they work just fine. Julien Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Pappy121 Posted July 25, 2009 Author Share Posted July 25, 2009 G'day all, Well I am off and running. I have decided to make new struts from aerofoil shaped strut material ("Strutz" stock section) so the first order of business was to putty up the slots for the original kit struts in the upper wing. I have also started to rescribe the raised panel lines on the fuselage. I have also assembled the floats. I found that I obtained a better fit by removing the locating pins and giving each mating surface a very light sand with a sanding stick. The upper deck surface (silver) of the floats were a very tight fit. Both of the upper decks needed some slight sanding at their ends to fit into the recess, but otherwise it was pretty painless. cheers, Pappy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Julien (UK) Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 (edited) Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but the raised lines were just that. I think you will find was doped fabric so it had ridges. If I recall the engin colwings and floats were metal. Julien Edited July 25, 2009 by Julien (UK) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Pappy121 Posted July 25, 2009 Author Share Posted July 25, 2009 Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but the raised lines were just that. I think you will find was doped fabric so it had ridges. If I recall the engin colwings and floats were metal. Julien Bugger! Oh well, more work to do, Thanks Julien, at least it is better to find out at the beginning than at the end! cheers, Pappy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Pappy121 Posted September 9, 2009 Author Share Posted September 9, 2009 G'day again, Well, I have been a little distracted of late but I have managed to do a little more on the Seafox. I have painted the crew. These are a different pattern to the standard Matchbox figures, the Mae West and harness details are better rendered. I think that these figures started to pop up in Matchbox kits towards the end of the life of Matchbox. The fuselage seams are done. There are plenty of small but annoying sink marks that required attention. As did the float lower surfaces I also decided to separate the elevators at this stage. they will be attached with a slight sag, and the rudder (which is a separate part) will also be re-attached with a slight off-set. I sanded off the raised stringer detail initially, mistakenly believing that this detail was wrong and deciding to re-scribe it instead. As Julian thoughtfully pointed out, most of the fuselage was fabric covered and the raised details were correct. My next job will be to restore these raised details.... cheers, Pappy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Azgaron Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 Nice work so far Pappy! The figures looks great! Cheers, HÃ¥kan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Thommo Posted September 11, 2009 Share Posted September 11, 2009 G'day again,Well, I have been a little distracted of late but I have managed to do a little more on the Seafox. I have painted the crew. These are a different pattern to the standard Matchbox figures, the Mae West and harness details are better rendered. I think that these figures started to pop up in Matchbox kits towards the end of the life of Matchbox. cheers, Pappy that's the best job i've ever seen on 1/72 scale pilots - fantastic Pappy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Trojan Thunder Posted September 11, 2009 Share Posted September 11, 2009 Nice to see some progress Pappy, I also like the paint work on your pilots :lol: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Pappy121 Posted September 14, 2009 Author Share Posted September 14, 2009 G'day all, Thank you all for the kind words. I have added a couple of better pictures of the aircrew because of the positive response I got last time. The aircrew really need to be painted well because there is bugger all in the way of cockpit detail (and it wouldn't be very visible if there was) so the focus will naturally be the figures in nay case. I have made an attempt at replacing the fine raised detail on the fuselage. It looks a little crude but hopefully it won't be that bad under a coat of paint (or two!), and the detail was replaced using very fine stretched sprue sourced from the kit itself. The lower wings have been attached and the front cabane struts attached. I had attached the rear cabane struts but I Think that these were too short. The resultant sit of the upper wing resulted in a much greater angle of incidence than the lower wing i.e the chord line was at a much steeper angle compared to the angle of the lower wing. I will replace the struts with some scratch built items instead. cheers, Pappy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ross blackford Posted September 14, 2009 Share Posted September 14, 2009 ,Great work Pappy. The Seafox is a beautiful little aeroplane isn't it? And a well known operational history as well. Keep up the good work mate. I'll keep watching this build. :), Ross. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Thommo Posted September 15, 2009 Share Posted September 15, 2009 this is gonna be a real goody i've used stretched sprue to add raised detail too - used it once to put ridges on the body of machine guns on a 1/72 bi-plane Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Pappy121 Posted September 15, 2009 Author Share Posted September 15, 2009 G'day Thommo, Thanks for the encouragement. I agree, sprue has a myriad of uses (and it's cheap too!) but in my case it was used to repair rather than add extra detail. I like the idea of using stretched sprue on machine guns, but I reckon I would be cross-eyed at the end of it! cheers, Pappy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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