Aki's 1/72 scale
Blackburn Firebrand TF.Mk.5

by Ben Fulcher

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I have always had a weakness for FAA aircraft, so when Aki produced this beautiful resin kit it was love at first sight.  The kit is molded in a cream resin with a tree of hard clear resin for the canopy, landing gear, navigation lights and engine doors.

The scoop on the nose was vacuformed and the boarding step was scratch built.  The kit cockpit was good but I dressed it up with scratch built joy stick, throttles, gun sight, seat and seatbelts and a few other details.

The kit includes a very nice Bristol Centaurus engine.  However the engine had a great deal of flash that first needed to be removed, then the exhausts were added along with the wiring.  I also detailed the engine doors and latches.

The kit includes a torpedo and rockets.  The rocket mounts were removed from the wings and the torpedo was detailed.  The wing cannons in the kit were not shaped accurately so I removed them and scratch built new ones using plastic rod and metal tubing.

Since the aircraft is all resin I was concerned that the resin landing gear might not be able to support the weight.  Therefore I built new landing gear from brass rod and tubing.  The kit supplies rubber tires that are beautifully molded but a pain to clean up.  I also added a great bit of detail to the wheel wells and landing gear.

The majority of the aircraft was painted using Gunze Sangyo Acrylics.  Alclad II paints were used for the metal areas.  The markings represent an aircraft around 1950.  The Warpaint Series profile on the firebrand is a wonderful reference that I used during the build.

The kit decals were for a different paint scheme so I was only able to use the stencils seen on the nose and the prop placards. The kit decals are of excellent quality and worked well with setting solutions.  The remaining markings came from a variety of companies.  All of the yellow markings on the wings and tail were painted on.

I have always wanted a kit of this aircraft.  Hands down this is the best kit of the Firebrand Mk.5 in any scale.  

Highly Recommended.

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Model and Text and Images Copyright © 2008 by Ben Fulcher
Page Created 18 March, 2008
Last Updated 21 March, 2008

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