Here the completed Iconicair 1/32 Seafang 32. Build thread is here.
It’s a nice kit, but is obviously a fairly limited run resin kit and it won’t jump out of the box and build itself. Any model builder with a bit of experience should have no trouble at all assembling the kit.
First, one of my few reference pictures, probably from December 1946, and then my attempt to replicate it. The model has no weathering at all. In the few photographs available the aircraft looks pristine, as you’d expect of a development aircraft at various aircraft establishments.
And here’s a walk around of the model.
The Seafang was a navalised version of the Spiteful. Without going into mind numbing detail the Spiteful was basically a Spitfire with an improved wing. It was also the fastest piston engine fighter ever built in level flight. In early 1946 Spiteful RB518 achieved a speed of 494 mph at 27,500 feet.
On 7th October 1943 Supermarine published Specification 474 for the Type 382, which was for a development of the Seafire XV, with a laminar flow wing (like the Spiteful) and a Griffon 61 engine. The proposal was ignored by the Navy and Ministry of Aircraft Production.
It wasn’t until after the Spiteful prototype had flown, that the Navy showed any interest in a development of the Seafire and on 21st April 1945 the Air Ministry issued Specification N.5/45 for a single seat Fleet Air Arm Fighter. Two development aircraft were ordered, serial VB893 and VB895, one of which I have completed above.
VB895, fitted with a Griffon 89 engine and designated Seafang 32, was used for trials throughout 1946 and into 1948. It also performed demonstrations for Dutch, American and French naval officers, but in the end no orders were received. This was the dawn of the jet age and even a 490mph piston engine fighter would soon be obsolete. The Royal Navy, and others, ordered the Hawker Sea Fury as a transitional carrier aircraft and only nine Seafangs were delivered (out of a total of one hundred and fifty originally ordered).
It was the end of a long line of superb aircraft stretching back to the first flight of K5054 on 5th March 1936.
Cheers
Steve
It’s a nice kit, but is obviously a fairly limited run resin kit and it won’t jump out of the box and build itself. Any model builder with a bit of experience should have no trouble at all assembling the kit.
First, one of my few reference pictures, probably from December 1946, and then my attempt to replicate it. The model has no weathering at all. In the few photographs available the aircraft looks pristine, as you’d expect of a development aircraft at various aircraft establishments.
And here’s a walk around of the model.
The Seafang was a navalised version of the Spiteful. Without going into mind numbing detail the Spiteful was basically a Spitfire with an improved wing. It was also the fastest piston engine fighter ever built in level flight. In early 1946 Spiteful RB518 achieved a speed of 494 mph at 27,500 feet.
On 7th October 1943 Supermarine published Specification 474 for the Type 382, which was for a development of the Seafire XV, with a laminar flow wing (like the Spiteful) and a Griffon 61 engine. The proposal was ignored by the Navy and Ministry of Aircraft Production.
It wasn’t until after the Spiteful prototype had flown, that the Navy showed any interest in a development of the Seafire and on 21st April 1945 the Air Ministry issued Specification N.5/45 for a single seat Fleet Air Arm Fighter. Two development aircraft were ordered, serial VB893 and VB895, one of which I have completed above.
VB895, fitted with a Griffon 89 engine and designated Seafang 32, was used for trials throughout 1946 and into 1948. It also performed demonstrations for Dutch, American and French naval officers, but in the end no orders were received. This was the dawn of the jet age and even a 490mph piston engine fighter would soon be obsolete. The Royal Navy, and others, ordered the Hawker Sea Fury as a transitional carrier aircraft and only nine Seafangs were delivered (out of a total of one hundred and fifty originally ordered).
It was the end of a long line of superb aircraft stretching back to the first flight of K5054 on 5th March 1936.
Cheers
Steve
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