30 series Seafire

[andrewj]

Towards the middle of 1944 the RN realised that more potent Seafire would be required than the Seafire III's then in use. With the end of the European war in sight and the prospect of a long war of attrition in the Far East the admirals looked with envy at the RAF's Spitfire Mk IX's and XVI's.
Supermarine who were experiencing a few problems with the developement of a Griffon engined Seafire proposed a navalised version of the Spitfire XVI but fitted with the new wing then being developed for the Griffon Seafires.
The result was the 30 series Seafire, intended as an interim type, they saw successful service with the Pacific fleet until replaced by the later Griffon engined Seafires.
The 30 series proved to be the equal of any other fighters in the far east and gave the RN the edge in combat , however they are now mostly overlooked and forgotten.

This model was also debuted at Thornbury and is in 1/48 scale






Andrew

[Howard of Effingham]

lovely!

[PR19_Kit]

Very smooth and very Seafire too.  

Haven't they got one at Yeovilton??? 

[comrade harps]

Very nice! 

[NARSES2]

Beautifull 

[Librarian]

Love both model and backstory...always wondered why the Seafire gap, especially up against the Japanese.

[perttime]

I like it! The "new wing" always looks good to me. It must be from a Seafire 47 kit. What did you use for the fuselage?

[andrewj]

Thanks for the kind comments chaps, the wing is indeed Seafire 47 , mated to a ICM Spitfire XVI fuselage.

Andrew

[Dizzyfugu]

Pretty, and elegant! 

[Tophe]

Great! And I hope, for flight, the wings stay like this (not for storage only), this would provide top stability on the lateral axis, with very precise fire? (on RPV targets, I mean, because I don't like war)

[Glenn Gilbertson]

That looks convincing & really beautiful!

[DogfighterZen]

Beautiful indeed!! 

[Captain Canada]

Gorgeous. That thing just looks so right. Great job on her....I can see it skimming the seas right now !