Fairey Firefly AS Mk 7
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For our in-box preview of this kit visit here
Special Hobby continue to produce some exciting new projects in various scales and this was one such subject that is good to see in any scale. What do you actually get then? Well in the top opening box, with good box top artwork, you will find seven sprues moulded in the usual soapy medium dark grey-coloured plastic and a single clear one, some vac-formed canopies and eight nicely cast resin parts. Detail is restrained recessed panel lines with just a few rivets around such places as the elevator to fin fillet. Topping this lot off are a set of instructions in the new style from Special Hobby as well as a pair of decal sheets covering all of the individual stencils and markings. Colour call-outs are made to the Gunze-Sangyo Aqueous and Mr Color ranges, as well as by naming each colour.
Construction
Starting in the cockpit there is a reasonable representation of the pilot's office with pretty much everything in there apart from seat belt harness, so I found an Eduard set of generic British seat belts and used them. Some of the small plastic parts are a little clunky and this is most likely due to the production nature of this model. That said once assembled and painted I applied the instrument decal and it all looked quite pleasing. Lots of the details are added to the inside sidewalls and I was surprised that there was no resin used here at all. Once the simple rear cockpit is assembled and a set of seat belts added I closed up the fuselage and it fitted as advertised. I did find that the drop-in tailhook section needed a little trimming to get it to sit correctly. First of the resin parts used are the exhausts and these were a tight fit, so I did a little sanding of the plastic to get a better fit. Sealing up the fuselage needed the intake/radiator under the nose as well as adding the cowl flap in this area. This was not the best of fits and needed some sanding to get it all lined up. Straightaway you are assembling the flying surfaces and they all worked well although I did attach the wing tip lights and landing light with superglue then sanded them back to the profile of the wing. As with most limited-run kits the trailing edges of the wings and elevators need some thinning down to look in scale and this kit was no exception. I did find that the fit of the wings to fuselage was poor and some judicious sanding was needed to get the two together without the outer wings being forced downwards. All of the undercarriage is well catered for with some reasonable main wheel bays in resin. A large tail hook linkage is set into the underside along with the actual hook and this was a tight fit. Several small resin and plastic parts adorn the fuselage and once the propellor, which is multi-part is assembled and added, the model is just about ready for the clear canopies. I found that the pilot's, which was from the original kit, worked well but the vac-formed part, whilst being clear, lacked definition of the frames and was not the best fitting part. I used several coats of Mr Surfacer 500 Black to fill in around the edges to try to get it to look right. Once done this one was off to paint.
Colour Options
There are three choices of markings with slight variations on the position of the demarcation between the upper Extra Dark Sea Grey and the underside Sky. I used the suggested Mr Colour paints and they were faultless in application being very easy to spray once thinned with cellulose thinners. Masking of the yellow band on the spinner of the example I chose was a pain and it would have been nice to have this as a decal. After a coat of my usual clear concoction I applied the decals and they were very thin and slightly translucent, although this was not an issue as the roundels went over a solid colour. A little Mr Mark Setter solution had them all sitting tightly over the underlying detail and then some weathering could be applied with the application of Tamiya dark wash.
Conclusion
In essence this is a model which needs to be treated as a limited run kit and as long as you are aware of this then there should be nothing to catch you out. I spent a little too long on this model messing about with a large crack which appeared from the left forward wing root to the base of the canopy and this caused me to have to do some filling and sanding, which was a pain. I am not sure if it was as a result of the fuselage being over stressed because of the tight joints or something else. In the end we have a 1/48th scale Firefly AS Mk 7 that looks so much different to the normal smooth canopy and streamlined nose of the earlier marks. This is one of the first 1/48 scale Special Hobby kits I have made and have to say that they did a commendable job, I just wish they would include some seat belts.
Recommended to builders who have a few limited run kits under their belts.
Our thanks to Special Hobby (www.cmkkits.com) for the review samples. UK modellers can obtain this kit from Hannants.
Special Hobby continue to produce some exciting new projects in various scales and this was one such subject that is good to see in any scale. What do you actually get then? Well in the top opening box, with good box top artwork, you will find seven sprues moulded in the usual soapy medium dark grey-coloured plastic and a single clear one, some vac-formed canopies and eight nicely cast resin parts. Detail is restrained recessed panel lines with just a few rivets around such places as the elevator to fin fillet. Topping this lot off are a set of instructions in the new style from Special Hobby as well as a pair of decal sheets covering all of the individual stencils and markings. Colour call-outs are made to the Gunze-Sangyo Aqueous and Mr Color ranges, as well as by naming each colour.
Construction
Starting in the cockpit there is a reasonable representation of the pilot's office with pretty much everything in there apart from seat belt harness, so I found an Eduard set of generic British seat belts and used them. Some of the small plastic parts are a little clunky and this is most likely due to the production nature of this model. That said once assembled and painted I applied the instrument decal and it all looked quite pleasing. Lots of the details are added to the inside sidewalls and I was surprised that there was no resin used here at all. Once the simple rear cockpit is assembled and a set of seat belts added I closed up the fuselage and it fitted as advertised. I did find that the drop-in tailhook section needed a little trimming to get it to sit correctly. First of the resin parts used are the exhausts and these were a tight fit, so I did a little sanding of the plastic to get a better fit. Sealing up the fuselage needed the intake/radiator under the nose as well as adding the cowl flap in this area. This was not the best of fits and needed some sanding to get it all lined up. Straightaway you are assembling the flying surfaces and they all worked well although I did attach the wing tip lights and landing light with superglue then sanded them back to the profile of the wing. As with most limited-run kits the trailing edges of the wings and elevators need some thinning down to look in scale and this kit was no exception. I did find that the fit of the wings to fuselage was poor and some judicious sanding was needed to get the two together without the outer wings being forced downwards. All of the undercarriage is well catered for with some reasonable main wheel bays in resin. A large tail hook linkage is set into the underside along with the actual hook and this was a tight fit. Several small resin and plastic parts adorn the fuselage and once the propellor, which is multi-part is assembled and added, the model is just about ready for the clear canopies. I found that the pilot's, which was from the original kit, worked well but the vac-formed part, whilst being clear, lacked definition of the frames and was not the best fitting part. I used several coats of Mr Surfacer 500 Black to fill in around the edges to try to get it to look right. Once done this one was off to paint.
Colour Options
There are three choices of markings with slight variations on the position of the demarcation between the upper Extra Dark Sea Grey and the underside Sky. I used the suggested Mr Colour paints and they were faultless in application being very easy to spray once thinned with cellulose thinners. Masking of the yellow band on the spinner of the example I chose was a pain and it would have been nice to have this as a decal. After a coat of my usual clear concoction I applied the decals and they were very thin and slightly translucent, although this was not an issue as the roundels went over a solid colour. A little Mr Mark Setter solution had them all sitting tightly over the underlying detail and then some weathering could be applied with the application of Tamiya dark wash.
Conclusion
In essence this is a model which needs to be treated as a limited run kit and as long as you are aware of this then there should be nothing to catch you out. I spent a little too long on this model messing about with a large crack which appeared from the left forward wing root to the base of the canopy and this caused me to have to do some filling and sanding, which was a pain. I am not sure if it was as a result of the fuselage being over stressed because of the tight joints or something else. In the end we have a 1/48th scale Firefly AS Mk 7 that looks so much different to the normal smooth canopy and streamlined nose of the earlier marks. This is one of the first 1/48 scale Special Hobby kits I have made and have to say that they did a commendable job, I just wish they would include some seat belts.
Recommended to builders who have a few limited run kits under their belts.
Our thanks to Special Hobby (www.cmkkits.com) for the review samples. UK modellers can obtain this kit from Hannants.
