Czech Master Resin 1/72 Supermarine Seafire FR.47 By Jim Schubert

History

The first Spitfire, Supermarine Type 300, resulted from Air Ministry Contract AM361140/32 executed December 1, 1934. The prototype, K5054, first flew on March 5, 1936. Our subject, Supermarine Seafire FR.47 first flew January 1, 1949 and was the end of the line for the Spitfire family after 13 years of production, which saw over 22,000 of all types built. In that time the top speed increased by half, the gross weight doubled and the firepower tripled.

The FR.47 is, in essence, a navalized Spitfire Mk.24. Only 90 FR.47s were built and only one squadron, 800 in HMS Triumph, took them into combat; first in Malaya and later in Korea. The last operational sortie of a member of the illustrious Spitfire/Seafire family was flown by 800 Squadron in Korea on April 1, 1954.

The Kit

As all CMR kits, this one arrives in a resealable plastic bag, which contains:

• 68 parts very cleanly cast in a pale cream colored resin,
• Three parts cast in clear resin,
• Three parts - the landing gear - cast in an extra strength white resin,
• Two vac formed canopies,
• Three A-4 size sheets of instructions,
• One beautifully printed, in perfect register, decal sheet and
• One computer generated color profile of two of the four markings options.

My last close encounter with the building of a CMR kit of a shipboard fighter was back in 2001. Late, great, friend Ted Holowchuk was pressed by our publisher, Chris Banyai-Riepl to build the CMR Supermarine Seafang (Internet modeler, October 2001). This new kit is an order of magnitude better than that Seafang! Everything about this Seafire is vastly improved since then, showing that CMR have been listening to their customers. The parts are all straight and free of bubbles and voids and leave very little clean up to be done. The surface detail and scribing is crisp and clean. Optional underwing stores in the form of eight rockets and three auxilliary tanks are included. you also have optional tail hooks, optional props, optional tailplanes, optional RATOG packs and the option of an open or closed cockpit flap door.

The instructions are on two pages comprising isometric exploded drawings, which self instruct with very little in the way of text. Having served a stint, in my long ago youth, as an illustrator of exploded Illustrated parts Catalogs for Boeing, I really appreciate that the artist, Stanislav Mach, has done a superb job. The three pages of colors and markings instructions, presetned as patterned orthographic drawings, are equally good and easily understood. The colors and markings, all in Extra Dark Sea Grey over Sky, are for:

• VP436 of 804 Sqd. in HMS Ocean,1949 - high color division line,

• VPO458 of 804 Sqd. off HMS Ocean at Hal Far,1950 - high color division line,

• VP459 of 800 Sqd. in HMS Triumph, Korea, 1950 - high color division line and

• VP483 of 804 Sqd off HMS Ocean at Lee-on-Solent, 1949 - low color division line.

• VP459 has the RAF Korean Theatre black/white stripes - similar to D-Day stripes - on wings and fuselage.

The decals cover these schemes thoroughly save for wing walk outlines and the myriad stencilled notes found all over Spitfires and Seafires. These can be found in the aftermarket but it would have been a fine finishing touch if they had been included.

Conclusion

To date, as far as I am aware, CMR have released 1/72 kits of 15 members of the Spitfire/Seafire family plus the Spteful and Seafang.

CMR's kits just keep getting better and better as this one shows.

The MSRP for this kit in Europe is 25.00 Euros, about US$34.00 but you can expect to pay about $10.00 more at your local shop in the US or Canada.

References

• The Supermarine Spitfire - Part 2; Griffon Powered: Robert Humphreys, SAM Pubs, UK, 2001, ISBN 0-9533465-4-4.

• Aircam Aviation Series, No. 8 - Supermarine Spitfire Mk.XII - 24; Seafire Mk.1 - 47: Ted Hooten & Richard Ward, Osprey Pubs, UK, (no year given), SBN 85045-008-X.

• Calling All Spitfires - A Scale Modeler's Guide to the Spitfire in 1/72 Scale: John R. Beaman, Jr., Self Published, USA, 1973, No ISBN.

• Spitfire - The History: Eric B. Morgan & Edward Shacklady, Key Books, LTD., UK, 1987, ISBN 0-946219-48-6 (THE definitive work on the Spitfire/Seafire family).