Airfix Supermarine Walrus 1/72 scale

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At last I've managed to get round to making a start on a kit that I've had for some time - sourced at great difficulty, I must add - and that I've been wanting to build to go with my 'other' Supermarine Supermariners (which aren't Airfix, so You'll have to wait for the big reveal at the end of this project so that I'm justified in showing non-Airfix builds!) Suffice it to say that I hope this one goes better than the Frog S6B....

Here's the box-art:

To say that the interior is a something of a blank canvas would be a bit of an understatement, so although not much will show that clearly, I thought I'd make a bit of an effort to scratch-build an interior of sorts:

Lots of plastic-card, a sharp knife, a ruler, a bit of patience and some Humbrol Liquid Poly (which I find is the best glue for mating plasticard with polystyrene).

I've now got to tackle some sink marks on the outside of the hull, but then I shall make a start on painting the interior.

More updates as and when I get round to it! If you've recently built this one and have any good tips, I'd be pleased to hear them.

[Dominic Thomas]

Looking forward to seeing how this goes.

Two things to anticipate:

1. the camouflage scheme
2. the rigging.

Can’t wait.

[SD45elect2000]

Looking forward to the results, so far it looks like an effective start.

Randall

[Paulus66]

Some very nice work there. I'm looking forward to seeing this finished.

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To answer Dominic's points:

In terms of 'livery', I'm going down the route of producing it as a 276 Sq ASR based at RAF Warmwell. Why Warmwell? Because it's just up the road from where I live and I've got a collection of most of the planes that were flown from there during WW2 (609 Sq Spitfires, 263 Sq Whirlwind etc). As far as ASR is concerned, 276 Sq (and 277 Sq) flew from there covering the area around Portland. They also used Defiants, like this one, that I produced from the Airfix kit:

So Dark Green, Ocean Grey etc, and squadron code for 276, which is AQ-

And obviously, as you know from my WW1 efforts, I simply can't wait to start rigging again.... (although I've tried to keep in practice with the S6B).

I'll keep you posted with progress!

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A little progress report on the Walrus... I've painted and detailed the interior of the fuselage. Main colour was Vallejo IAF Green, with some dry-brushed aluminium to show wear-and-tear, and then dirt was added using much thinned Burnt Umber:

I also added some spare ammunition drums to the rear-gunner's position, and a winch drum (made from roughened sprue). A steering wheel was scratch-built (apparently an actual wheel was used rather than simply a control column) and an instrument panel was added from the spares box.

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More progress...

The crew members have been painted and are ready for their next mission:

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And finally, in terms of progress, the gaping void in the lower wing wells have been given side-walls and a bit of detailing:

Sorry about the multiplicity of progress reports - when I tried to fit it all into one report the 'system' started to sulk and said I had a Bad Gateway... Too much information?

[Dominic Thomas]

Looking good.

It stands comparison well with the Airfix 1/48 model’s instructions, although that larger kit has a standard control yoke rather than a wheel, I noticed.

It’s always difficult to know how far to go with interior detail in 1/72. The Airfix Wellington being a case in point with parts colour coded for possible omission through being invisible in a closed up fuselage.

Anyway, keep up the good work.

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Thanks Dominic. I haven't seen the destructions for the 1/48 scale version - the sheet for the 1/72 scale that I'm building is reasonable , though obviously not up to modern CADCAM standards!

I agree with you about needing to be reasonably rational about adding detail - especially to the interior where it won't be seen - but I guess I just like to know it's there, and I suppose the completely blank interior is a bit of a challenge. Perhaps we've been spoiled by the vastly better new tool interiors!

Anyway, the fuselage is now closed up, so I'll be adding the wings etc soon - and I'll post an update accordingly.

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Quite a bit of progress made. It's been painted and decals have been applied. You'll see from the pictures that I have put the lower wing decals on but not added the upper wing yet. I've also added the rigging for the engine at this stage because I figured that it would be less fiddly without the upper wing in the way! Paints used were Vallejo Dark Sea Grey, Light Slate Grey and Sky Type S - all brush applied. I've also slightly extended the front of the engine to allow the air intake to be drilled into a more accurate cone shape.

[SD45elect2000]

That’s a really clean paint job, very nice.

Randall