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Mark Housley
23 articles

Supermarine Scimitar

March 25, 2014 · in Aviation · · 28 · 4.2K

"You Dont see many of these at the model shows" its the Extrakit Supermarine .

And the reason you dont see many of them is it is a complete PIG to build the first thing i noticed at the start of the build was that one half of the fuselage pieces was around 3mm longer than the other one, the fix was to fill and sand the shorter one to match the longer one which actually turned out better than i thought it would once this was done and some re-scribing here and there it was time to fit the wings and tail planes these are just simple butt joints that need a something more adding to give some strength to the joints so i drilled and fitted some brass rods to the wings and tail planes drilled holes in the fuselage joint areas and glued all together, at this point i took my brain out of my head and for some reason glued the under-wing pylons in place DOH what was i thinking i forgot that the underside of the wings have the aircraft numbers in big bloody black characters that go under the pylons i did try to get them off but it was obvious they were well and truly stuck on, Ah well i will cross that bridge when i come to it.

So once all the masking was done to the cockpit and wheel wells i sprayed the whole thing with Alclad's White primer gave it a slight going over with micro-mesh sanding cloth 6000/8000 i then sprayed the undersides with Mr Hobby Aqueous gloss white let that dry for a day then masked the white areas off ready for the Extra Dark Sea Grey, i can't remember if i pre-shded or not i probably would have once all done and dry on with the Gloss coat and then the Decals these were ok if a little on the thin side but went on ok apart from the underwing serials i had to cut and mach them up it took a little time to do but i got there in the end with out to much swearing.

Not much left to do im on the home straight i fitted the undercarriage without any problems but when i went to fit the underwing fuel tanks i found the undercarriage doors and leg were just to close to the pylon but i had glued the pylons on the pr-marked outlines, so i made a the decision to leave off the tanks i looked on line and there is plenty of images
of Scimitars without underwing tanks attached.

It was at this point that i started to think that the EDSG was a little to dark for the scale and i wish i had used the lighter Dark Sea Grey, well theres not much i could do now ( or could be bothered to do ) so i decided to live with it

Ok Guys hope you like it
Cheers

Reader reactions:
14  Awesome

5 additional images. Click to enlarge.


28 responses

  1. Cool build mate ,I'll have to call round for a looksee.
    N.

  2. An interesting prototype and clean build. Good job!

    • Thanks Dmitry, im not sure if this is the prototype or not i know its not very accurate, i just didn't want to spend £80 on the Czech Master Resin kit which is so nice when built up so i did the best i could with this one
      cheers Dmitry
      Mark

  3. Another great build Mark. Your models stick out in Headlines. Great work.

    • Thanks Gregor, my photography is getting a bit better now i have had a bit of practice. i just wish i could have pulled back a little when taking the top Headline photo then i would have got it all in.
      Cheers Gregor
      Mark

  4. Although it was a pig to build, you did a great job. Very nice model of a beautiful plane. Hope Airfix will do a kit in 1:48.

    • Thank You Nikola, oh yes please a new tool 1/48 Scimitar from Airfix would be Fantastic they have done the Swift so you never know your wish may come true.
      Cheers Nikola
      Mark

  5. A silk purse from a sow`s ear Mark, you done a nice job there mate.
    Well done sir.

    • thanks Simon, Well mate i dont know about the silk purse part maybe a Hessian bag, This model kinda reminded me of a time when i was talking to an old guy about some old long in the tooth model that he was going to attempt and i was saying that no matter what you did to it, it was c**p unbuildable and that you couldn't polish a turd and his response to me was your right you can't polish a turd but you can roll it in glitter and once i stopped laughing i realised it was probably going to look like a shinny piece of Sh*t but in the end it wasn't tooo bad just like the Extrakit scimitar but definitely not recommended to anybody with a short fuse

      thanks Simon

      Mark

  6. Nice clean build, great effort on the panel lines.

  7. Great results!
    As one who habitually "wrestles the pig", I applaud your perseverance. At least your efforts are photogenic-something I can't always say.

    • Thanks Bryan, I dont always Win!

      I dont know what it is but sometimes i feel an attraction to forgo the TamiGawas and tackle the beast the one that costs pennies and looks like somebody has carved the masters with there teeth and a spoon, I suppose at the end of the ordeal there is a real sense of achievement if you win weather its accurate or not, but with something costing very little who cares.

      Cheers Bryan

      Mark

      p.s. the next build i post which is i think is one of my more interesting builds cost me less than £20 all up and that includes 3 kits ?

  8. Simon stole my cliche! Beautiful job Mark, you sure brought home the bacon on this one..;-). The Scimitar just screams for a new tool in 1/72 or 1/48, Airfix or Revell of Germany are you listening.

    • Thanks Rick,
      I think Airfix will do one they have the Swift coming out this year they seem to be working there way through the old British Classics and the Scimitar is definitely a high contender for 2015, I hope.
      Thanks
      Mark

  9. I agree Rick! The only 1/48 that I know of off hand is the Sanger vac kit. If it's done as well as the B-47 is, it could be an enjoyable build! Yours looks very nice. I fell in love with it when Virtavia released an add-on for FSX. Very nice lines (I see more than a little Harrier in there!) Great build Mark!

  10. You could have fooled me and said everything was wonderful. A triumph of skill over material.

    • Cheers Tom, Have you Reviewed this kit next time you see one just open it up and have a peek, But what ever you do Dont Buy It just wait for Airfix or HobbyTrump to produce one im sure its gotta happen sooner or later or you know what will happen all these years us Brits have been waiting for a Decent Scimitar in any scale and all of a sudden Two or Three will appear form different directions all at once Ah we can but Dream.

      Cheers Tom
      Mark

  11. Mark,
    I like what you did with this little beauty. Excellent result regardless of what you went through to get there. I really like your "Glitter" analogy. This is definitely wrapped in glitter.
    P.S. Did the plans ever arrive?

    • Hello Frank, No not arrived yet i will drop you a line when they do
      thanks for the positive comments Frank,

      Regards
      Mark
      P.S. the Glitter is a great fix all i use it all the time 😉

  12. Well, Mark, it certainly turned out great, it's a beautiful looking plane, so your patient work has paid off, although I'm not entirely sure of your motives for building it!

    • Hi George, It started out as a commission for a guy who bought a completed model from me last year he asked for a scimitar in any scale so i checked out to see what was available in 1/72,

      there was the Xtrakit one £18 and CMK Resin one £90

      in 1/48 there is only Vac-form kits i think Contrail do one but you just dont see them coming up for sale,

      so when i advised him of the costs including the build costs he opted for the Xtrakit one 🙁

      i emailed the guy to let him know it was done and got no reply i was surprised because he had emailed me on a couple of occasions to see how things were going and he seemed pretty keen to get the model, but alas i didn't manage to get hold of the guy and at no point did we swop phone numbers so i couldn't call so i got stuck with it, your quite right George i should have given the reason for building and sticking with the thing in the first place Well now you know

      Cheers George

      Regards

      Mark

  13. said on March 29, 2014

    Lovely kit , I want to try a 1:48 scale kit -any ideas ?
    As an aside , I used watch these beauties fly in to RAF Changi every now and then back in the early 60's .

    • Hi Stephen, i would have liked to have been there watching them land.

      In 1/48 your only option is a couple of Vac-Form kits I think Contrail did one and Sanger im not sure about the last one,

      Hopefully TrumpyBoss might do one but you know they will balls it up some where, or if we are really lucky Airfix might do one they have the swift coming out this year and i dont think it was operational as long as the Scimitar was so to me the Scimitar is the more important Aircraft so fingers crossed.

      So we just have to live in hope either that or save up the £90 for the CMK one because i wouldnt build another Xtrakit one for love nor money, Well it all depends on how much it would have to be a lot 😉

      Cheers Stephen

      Regards

      Mark

  14. Another winner Mark! I love the Scimitar and am hoping Airfix does one in 1/48 that I can park between the Sea Vixen and Hobby Boss Demon. Great work.

  15. Hay John, Your not the only one with fingers, legs, Toe's, and Balls, crossed hoping for that one to turn up, knowing my luck it will be just as my eyes give up the ghost, 🙂
    Cheers John
    Mark...

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