Supermarine Starling

[The Rat]

by Dave Bailey, on Flickr

Hypothetical entrant in a 1930s fighter competition, no weapons fitted. Been in a bit of a funk lately, so rather than bothering with filling every seam and hole and trying to get the finish as good as possible, I'm really just throwing things together in order to get them finished. As usual, it may get some touch-up later.

by Dave Bailey, on Flickr

Model is the Airfix Supermarine S.6B, which I believe I may have originally built about 60 years ago. This was a few bucks at a local shop, so it was procured as a nostalgia build. Riiiight... The urge to whiff took over, so this was the result. Finish is AK Metallic paste in a tube, flat black primer underneath. Still not satisfied that it's as good as Rub n' Buff, but maybe I need more practise. Kit decals on the tail, unknown spares bin roundels. Rigging was done with EZ Line, took some practise but it seems easy enough to continue with.

by Dave Bailey, on Flickr

Undercarriage frame and wheels from spares bin, ditto for underwing radiators, oil cooler, and tail skid. Canopy is a mystery, I believe it came with the 1/144th Mitsubishi Zero that I put an annnular wing on. (Zero, '0', get it? Bwaaaahahaha, I crack me up) It looked almost, but definitely not, like a tiny Hawker Hurricane canopy, but with no flat windscreen. The complete canopy looked too small for a pilot to turn their head inside of, so the front portion was sawed off and glued into place. The original Airfix solution was simply a solid bar of clear plastic that is supposed to represent the long and level one on the real aircraft, but it isn't very convincing. Just noticed that I neglected to carve off the original windscreen hump, so maybe that will get a hole drilled in front and a gun barrel installed.

by Dave Bailey, on Flickr

Roundels got some cracks despite a couple of coats of decal varnish, I'll put that down to the aircraft being stored for years, and only discovered when Supermarine needed more more work space for production of the Royal Navy Swift, which is still on the bench. So that's 'maybe-possibly-could be' the back story if I write one.

The name Starling just kind of came to me. It's such a common bird that I'm surprised that the name hasn't yet been used for an aircraft, as far as I know. Corrections on that are welcomed, because I have this nagging feeling...

by Dave Bailey, on Flickr

[Pellson]

Ridiculously cool 

[PR19_Kit]

^^^ What Pellson said. 

[Wardukw]

Yeah what Kit said about what Pellson said Dave 

[Old Wombat]

I'm thinking she's maybe a bit "leggy" but, by-&-large, what the previous lads have said!

[zenrat]

Noice.

[Dizzyfugu]

Nice. 

[The Rat]

I'm thinking she's maybe a bit "leggy" but, by-&-large, what the previous lads have said!

I also had that concern, but it's typical for the period. The Dewoitine D.510, for example:

[PR19_Kit]

I'm thinking she's maybe a bit "leggy" but, by-&-large, what the previous lads have said!

With that fixed pitch prop, optimised for higher altitude interceptions, and fairly a ancient airfoil section, perhaps it needed a steep angle of incidence for a decent take-off distance? A similar situation to the later Short Stirling.

[Hotte]

Cool 

Hotte

[kerick]

I'm thinking she's maybe a bit "leggy" but, by-&-large, what the previous lads have said!

I also had that concern, but it's typical for the period. The Dewoitine D.510, for example:

Nothing wrong about a long legged beauty!

[AndrewF]

Excellent - looks the part, although I think the legs are a bit long as well (purely from an aesthetics point of view).

[kitbasher]

 
Just shows that it's possible to wrangle a fun build out of an ancient kit.

[stevehed]

Like it. Good use of an ancient kit.

[Wardukw]

Im thinking is tall landing gear was installed for test flights on early aircraft carriers 
The better angle of atttack the better chance it will take off ..sweet