Matchbox 1/72 Fairey Seafox

MATCHBOX 1:72 FAIREY SEAFOX

Reviewer: Carlos Giani (carlos_giani2002@yahoo.de)
Kit Review submitted: 4 May 2008

Kit Details:

Aircraft History:

By means of the requirement S.11/32 for a light, ship-boarded reconnaissance airplane for the Fleet Air Army in the interwar period, Fairey responded with the Seafox, an elegant biplane which could allocate the observer/radio operator in an enclosed cabin, while the pilot inherited a traditional, open cockpit. The fuselage was an all-metal, monocoque construction - very modern for its days, while the wings and tailplanes were fabric-covered.

The proposed engine was a sleeve-valve 500HP Bristol Aquila but, for reasons unknown it was substituted by the 395HP Napier Rapier, a 16 cylinder H-design (the forerunner of the famous Napier Sabre). Therefore, the Seafox was always underpowered, needing a very long run for take-off. Otherwise, it was robust, relatively maneuverable and easy to fly. The first operational planes were delivered in 1937, and the type stayed in service till 1942.

The Kit:

This is a kit from the early 80´s, having been reissued by Revell (under the Matchbox banner) a couple of times. In a small, by no means oversized (competitors: take note!) sturdy top-opening box you get two sprues with some 40 light grey styrene parts and a small transparencies sprue with 3 clear, rather thick parts. There’s only a bit of flash here and there, injection quality is good and there are no trenches, the (scarce) surface details being raised. A comprehensive decals sheet completes the offering, everything being unbagged.

Instructions:

Two A-4 sheets folded in a typical absurd Revell-sequence, with the usual multilingual recommendations, symbols explanation and paint-mixing chemical school on page one, sprues layout and the first 4 construction steps on page two, steps 5 to 16 on the next two pages, painting/decaling 4-view diagrams for two versions on pages five and six, and more warnings on the last two pages in most living languages, only Esperanto and Klingon being missing. The instructions are clear enough for everybody, but detail painting is sparse, since this instructions are not the original Matchbox ones (remember them having that great detail painting information?).

Construction:

With my builds of the last months having been rather difficult kits, this time I wanted something easy and solid, and my choice fell on two Matchbox and one Airfix kit (reviews about a Sea Harrier and a F-105G will follow soon). Construction of the Seafox starts with the non-existent cockpit. All you get are two very generic L-shaped seats and two pilots, plus one machine gun. I added a floor made of styrene card, and substituted the seats with two Aeroclub 1930´s ones (set V055). I painted the interior light grey and decide to place the machine gun in the retracted position, which requires the adding of a small covering on top of the rear fuselage. The vertical fin is molded integrally with the fuselage halves. Super detailing makes no sense, since you really can’t see much of the inside.

I then moved to the wings, and I totally agree with Richard Stracey's review that it is easier to start gluing the lower wings to the fuselage, using the upper wing as a guide for the correct dihedral. After a couple of filling and sanding sessions at the wings roots, I built a simple rig with balsa wood and glued the main struts to the upper wing, letting them dry through being sustained in the rig and using the holes in the lower wings as a guide. The next day I filled / sanded the joins struts / upper wing and later glued this to the lower wing, again using the rig. The last step was to add the fuselage struts. The tailplanes were also then glued, using some drops of superglue to fix them at the right angle.

I then built the floaters, each one consisting of three parts and, after the inevitable filling and sanding was done and using another rig, I assembled the floaters / struts unit, left it overnight to dry and super-glued it to the rest of the plane the next day. The last step was to add the clear parts. I masked where necessary and prepared for painting.

I must confess that I was lazy and opted for the all-aluminium version, and I wanted a rather dark, “used” look and choose to use Humbrol H56. For some reason the paint performed very bad, so that the surface looks “grainy” and rough. I left it as it was, applied some Johnson´s panacea and then applied the decals, which performed superb. Finally I sealed everything with clear gloss. The result was just acceptable (my fault).

Versions:

1) Seafox N° 765, Naval Air Squadron, Lee-on-Solent, GB 1940. The Revell colors are an approximation to the usual dark sea grey / slate grey on top with light grey undersides. In the Humbrol range this could be H27 / H102 and H64 (or HB7 / HB8 and HB6 in the authentic oldies).

2) Seafox N° 713, Naval Air Squadron, Mediterranean theatre, 1939, overall aluminium.

Decals:

Printed by Revell, they are absolutely top-quality, good in register and dense in color. Some stenciling is also present. They performed very well, needing no softer.

Overall Recommendation:

A simple, easy to build solid kit, great for AMS or for a quick project, which can turn out into a little beauty. It’s the only contender in the injection field. Recommended without warranty, considering that I’m a fan of Matchbox kits.

References:

Nil

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