It only seems right to start the New Year off with an old kit! Of course, I have a whole stable of those to choose from, but I thought that it would be fun to look at something that I’ve never done before; a biplane!

While everybody knows the Swordfish, there is another Fleet Air Arm biplane of WWII that, it seems, is largely forgotten. No, I’m not talking about the Albacore, although it’s awesomely obscure and somewhat pedestrian as well. I’m talking about the Fairey Seafox! This was an observation and spotting plane used until the middle of the war to help locate enemies for the fleet’s gunners.

It’s no surprise that few people know it; it’s not fast, glamourous or sexy, except in that weird, obscure “What is that??” kinda way. Of course, that makes it totally awesome to me, and I was very happy to finally get my hands on a Matchbox kit of the type. It seems to be one of the harder ones to find! So, if you want to check out some classic Matchbox goodness on a genuinely obscure type, go no further than the link below!

https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/model-kits/out-of-box-reviews/matchbox-1-72-fairey-seafox-oob/

Interesting to see this one.

I built one a few years ago for a Matchbox campaign. Went together really well and no fit problems that I can remember. Would love to build another. I live in hope that Revell will reissue it.

Great review as always Adam. This is a type that I knew nothing about until now, thanks for the history lesson. As usual, I went Googling over a cup of coffee to dig some more. The image below is the second prototype, but it looks to me that the fuselage surface detail is all raised, and the rudder "sagging" may be slightly exaggerated



Looking forward to your build.

Cheers, D

Great find on the photo! You're right, the surface does look raised, but those oval doors... are they raised or not? They're the problem. I could leave it all raised, I guess, but that doesn't sound like me.

Good call on the rudder; it does look more 'taut' than the kit, which surprises me.

Well, despite it's (I'm sure myriad) of failings, this one should be fun regardless!

I zoomed in as much as I can on the image and it looks like the forward door is recessed, the rear is raised.

Either way, like you said it's going to be an interesting and fun build!

Cheers, D