Airfix Supermarine Seafire Sneak Preview

Review by: Geoff Coughlin

Our thanks to Airfix for supplying our review sample. Get this impressive kit here now at: www.airfix.com

A useful reference and something to get you in the mood!

A bit of background…

The F.XVII was the first of the Seafire variants to feature a cut-down rear fuselage and distinctive tear-drop style canopy, distinguishing it from previous marks of Seafire. Based closely on the preceding Seafire XV, the F.XVII also featured a reinforced main undercarriage that used longer oleos and a lower rebound ratio (very useful on pitching decks!).

This went some way towards taming the deck behaviour of the Mk.XV, which had resulted in a number of accidents on deck. These changes reduced the chances of the propeller tips striking the deck during landings.

Due to reinforcements in the wings, a heavier weapon load was also able to be carried, with both fuel tanks and rockets becoming an option for under the wings. A total of 232 of this variant were produced, with the majority being built by Westland. It remained on front line duty until the early 1950s, whereupon it was relegated to training duties before being retired.

Today a number still survive, including the SX336 that you can see departing Old Warden at a recent air show.

Introduction

“If you hadn’t seen the box, you’d think this was a Tamiya kit”, so said Ian, one of the guys at Tuesday’s model club meet who’d managed to secure this new Airfix kit.

People often say things like that, but just take a look and you’ll see that Ian is spot on in his assessment – this is a cracker!

“I want it! I want to build one…” says SMN‘s Les Venus, so you can look forward to his build in the near future – one to watch for sure.

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