Thoughts on Trumpeter's 1:48 Seafang. Note: Note intended as a kit review. Rather, it's just an overview of some of the aspects of the kit.
What a finely moulded model kit. It's going to be a tremendously easy kit to Whiff and get to look
really good. It is beautifully moulded and the fit is very precise.
The spinner is the same diameter as Airfix Seafire F.XVIII and Mk.XII. The contrarotating spinner is geared and functional. The contour may be a bit pointy, but photographs show some rather pointed spinners on some Seafangs. The prop blades have no twist whatsoever and are spinning butter knives, they need replaced. I wish the Barracuda resin Seafire prop set included a spinner. Roy?? I'm sure his Spitfire Mk.22 set will work great on the Spiteful. But there is a rumor the older Airfix long nose Griffons have a smaller spinner diameter than the newer short nose Griffon engined kits.
The nose has virtually the same taper as the Airfix kits above when viewed from the top. The rocker covers, however, have both a serious inward taper at the nose when viewed from the top and a pronounced drop at the front when viewed at the side. They also are flat across the top surfaces rather than dropping inwards towards the cowling. As a result, when viewed from the direct side, the rocker covers at the front do not rise above the contour of the nose like the prototype does. The rocker covers do not blend into the fuselage at the aft end on the kit; they should. A set of replacement covers would do wonders to bulk out the nose to proper contour. A resin set of exhausts is recommended to all but those with the most steady of hands on a drill.
Edit: The rocker cover error might be because of the choice to integrate the rocker covers with the fuselage piece. If the front 1/4 of the rocker covers had the proper height of contour, a slide mould would have been needed.
I have not entirely bought into the arguement the wing chord is wrong and the wing is malpositioned. The leading edge starts half way through the length of the 5th exhaust pipe; the kit follows this. Photographs of a Seafang show bird droppings running down the leading side of the port door towards the ground. The stripe of bird dobby is aft of the trailing edge of the wing; if the wing ended 1/4 to 1/3 of the way through the door as others have suggested, the yuck would be on the wing. The kit
might have this aspect better than what reviews suggest. Is it completely correct? No. It's a bit too narrow. Key word: bit.
When viewed from above, the fuselage begins to taper inwards toward the midline right at Frame 5. All my other Spitfire kits keep their width until after the cockpit.
The canopy is moulded closed. Given the simplification the toolmaker chose over the resin prototypes for the cockpit, it is just as well. The cockpit leaves questions. I do, however, think they got the depth quite close to prototype. The instrument panel is a joke.
All in all, I'm pretty glad to have the couple that arrived today especially since they were discounted to $US 11.99 each. I hope the resin companies jump in to dealing with the prop, the rockers, and the exhausts. As to the cockpit and the other shape issues...meh.
With that, it will look a lot better to use a proper Americanism.
Or, one could leave the kit as-is, slap on a smart set of tip tanks, put it in New Zealand markings, or Khemed, or Saudi Arabia, or...or...or....or... and have a great time building something uncommon for the display tray.
(Mods....if there is a better spot for this, please let me know. I'll copy/paste it there happily. Thanks.)
Cheers,
Dr. Daryl