Airfix 1/72 Supermarine S.6B

AIRFIX 1:72 SUPERMARINE S.6B

Reviewer: Carlos Giani (contact via SMAKR webmaster)
Kit Review submitted: 10 September 2009

Kit Details:

Airfix 1/72^nd scale Supermarine S.6B (Kit N° 1007 + 1071 ). Apparently produced in England and marketed as "A Humbrol Product".

Aircraft History:

The story of the S.6B begins on 1919, with the Sea Lion I, which was the first Supermarine design to enter the Schneider competition. The first win came with the Sea Lion II, on 1922, which had a 450 HP Napier Lion engine. The Sea Lion III (1923, 550 HP) and the S.4 (1925, 700HP) couldn’t repeat the former success. A further win failed apart until 1927, in Venice, when two all-metal S.5 placed first and second, both having Napier Lion VII engines.

A great step forward was achieved for the 1929 competition, when the S.6 presented a Rolls-Royce motor delivering 1900 HP (an incredible power for those days) and won with a top speed of 528,87 Km/h. Public support was denied for the 1931 race, but thanks to the private financial engagement of Lady Houston (Fanny Lucy Radmall, DBE) Supermarine could keep on working. Time was short and, instead of designing a whole new plane, the S.6 was modified to the S.6B in order to accommodate the improved Rolls-Royce 2350 HP motor. Flying at 547,305 Km/h, the plane won the third race in row for Great Britain, definitely achieving the Schneider Cup for that nation. Later, the S.6B “S-1595”, flow by A.H. Orlebar, established an absolute speed record with 655,8 Km/h, only being superceded later by the superb Macchi-Castoldi MC-72.

The Kit:

This kit is really vintage Airfix, a piece of modeling history, and that’s exactly the reason why I bought it. It is part of a limited edition double-offering to commemorate the 75^th anniversary of the 1931 Schneider Trophy Air Race and the 70^th anniversary of the Spitfire. In fact, the other kit contained in the sturdy tin box is the well-know Spitfire I, another old Airfix kit which, thus, seems to still be one the most accurate Spitfires on the run. Thanks to the acquisition of this set I’m now the proud V.I.P. owner of Airfix Certificate N° 001049 (J.)

The kit consists of just 21 grey styrene parts and one tiny clear cube which is supposed to be a canopy. Included are the torso of a very alien-like John Doe (he remembers me on the Asgards from “Stargate”) and a really small decals sheet. Quality of parts is surprisingly good for a kit that age and that era, with very little flash and soft mold seam lines. The floats, fuselage and wings include some (big) holes prepared for rigging (!).

Instructions:

Four times bigger than the kit, they consist of an A3 sheet folded to 10 x 21 cm. Page one is just a big cover presenting the kit, page two provides you with recommendations and symbols explanation in 12 languages, page three shows construction in 8 steps (for 21 parts!) and, finally, page four presents a 3-view coloring / decaling diagram for one version.

Construction:

I painted the fuselage inner sides silver and glued the halves together. Then I glued the wings and the stabilizers on (one piece each side), and finally glued the cylinder row fairings. Some gaps to fill and sand and…voila, main plane ready!

Now it was time to tackle the floats. Wondering which way would assure the least troubles when filling and sanding the different strut joints, I finally did things the following way:

gluing, filling and sanding the floater halves;
connecting the floats by means of the traverse bars (with the help of a rig);
gluing the rear struts taking care to get the right angle (see photo);
gluing the front struts using the plane as a guide.

When this was ready I filled and sanded the gaps at the bars and struts attaching points to the floats, and later glued the plane to this subassembly, again using different things as a support to get the correct vertical and horizontal orientation. Although filling and sanding the strut joints to the fuselage wasn’t easy (I got a breakage twice!), I think other way around would have been more complicated. Nevertheless, of course each modeler should do things his own way; I’m by no means a really skilled one.

Although some photos of built S.6Bs show dark blue undersides, I followed Airfix recommendation and painted the floats and fuselage undersides/fin Humbrol H14 French blue, and the rest with Humbrol H11 silver. Since I hate rudder decals, I painted the insignia (adding H22 white and H19 red stripes to the French blue). I painted the propeller blades with H56 aluminum and the exhausts with Revell R83 rust. Since I’m too clumsy for rigging I left this off. Although the model doesn’t looks really good, I’m very pleased to have this piece of modeling history in my collection.

Addendum from Richard Stracey: The S6B never had the connecting bars between the floats! Being a pretty old kit I suppose Airfix included them to making the kit easier to build those being the days before superglue. It would be pretty hard to get the floats parallel and in line etc. without the bars. I think I built the floats with the bars and cut them off after the floats were safely attached to the fuselage then added the rigging between the floats. Seawings web site has some useful pictures of the S6B. Another point to watch for the "rivet counters" is the demarcation paint line on the floats are different because of the way the S6B floated. It floated a bit cockeyed because one float contained the fuel and the other didn't!

Colour Schemes:

“S-1595”, overall silver with French blue gloss lower fuselage and floats sections, fin and rudder.

Decals:

All you get are fin flashes (which I didn´t use), small code numbers which are located over the flashes and a couple of white bands located at the fuselage sides behind the cockpit. They performed very well, even without softer.

Overall:

Recommended for collectors. If you want a modern, more accurate S.6B then you need the Pavla offering.

References:

Some photos of finished models on the Web.

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