Indian Navy Seafire FR.46

[Gondor]

Thought of something to do with one of a set of three Spitfire kits I bought as a job lot a couple of months ago! I often build Indian aircraft as they fly a large mix of aircraft from both sides of what was the Iron Curtain and as importantly their equipment is not as widely know about as more prominent countries Armed Forces are.  The back story at the moment is that India leased some Seafire 46's for training purposes and modified as FR's while waiting for INS Vikrant (R11) to be finished, the intention being for Seafire FR47's to be used but due to a lack of capacity in the British Aircraft industry and the Korean War the FR47's never appeared and were replaced eventually with the Sea Hawk.
Kit is the Admiral Supermarine Spitfire Mk 22,24 Seafire Mk 46 so the only real modification will be the colour scheme/markings.

Gondor

[AndrewF]

The Indian Navy's getting a good run on this GB! Looking forward to seeing this.

[Gondor]

Started removing some parts from the sprue and found that the inner half's of the wheels were missing which would explain why the kit was being sold in the first place 

Anyway options are being looked at. The favourite at the moment is a pair of wheels from a modern Airfix version of the Mk IX which has both three and four spoked wheels and it's the three's I need. here is a problem though...... the holes in the hubs for the legs are too large and no plastic tubing that I have fits nicely. It's either too small for the leg to fit into and then too small for the hub or too large for the leg and too small for the hub and neither will fit inside the other 

I do have a plan though...

Gondor

[The Wooksta!]

The Sword 14 should have the wheels you need - it's got 4 and 3 spoke wheels.  The former are wartime, the latter post war.  Failing that, try either the Sword or AZ Spitfire 16 lowback or the Sword Griffon Seafires.

I'm assuming this is the AZ/Admiral/Legato kit?  You'll need to sand down the trailing edges, top and bottom, and the wheel well boxes will need some judicious sanding to get the wings to close.  The cockpit internals will need some plastic card extensions - the floor isn't long enough.

[Gondor]

Your right that it's the Admiral kit Lee, initial post corrected and thank you for suggesting taking the wheels from the AZ kit, they fit well enough. Thanks also for the head's up about the wing trailing edges although when dry fitting they look fine, it's also something that I keep an eye out for anyway. The cockpit is a little different though. I was a little confused by the instructions when I first looked at them and am still wondering about what looks like a hand brake or cyclic leaver they want me to fit from plastic rod. 
I have installed the instrument panel and it's associated frame as well as the frame just behind the seat into the left side of the fuselage and intend to fit the floor after painting, however after checking the fit I will be trimming the long bar at the rear of the provided floor as it's too wide, not worried about the front to rear length of the floor as not much would be seen.

Gondor

[The Wooksta!]

Snag is, if you leave it the way it is, it's not very secure.  I always extend it even though it can't be seen just to make it all solid.  Their 14/18 has the same issue, but not the VII/VIII or IX/XVI. 

I knew the wheels would fit, as they're copies of the CMR ones from the F20 series.  I made a point of copying them myself for use with the Heller kit.

The point about the wings, well the trailing edges anyway, was something I remember when I got the kit back in 2010 at Telford and was cleaning it up.