Matchbox Seafox - Classic out of box

[Faust]

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/

[Can-Con]

Ya know Adam, you do a biplane, you have to do the rigging. ?

[Faust]

Yeah, I know...

I have no idea if I can pull it off, and I might not do this biplane first. Or, I might just do the best I can and hope. There's always that approach!

I've got a lot of EZ Line, but I don't know if that's the right answer for this job or not. 

Any ideas?

[Mike999]

Glad you finally found your Seafox!  I know it was one of your Holy Grails.  

[Faust]

1 hour ago, Mike999 said:

Glad you finally found your Seafox!  I know it was one of your Holy Grails.  

Yeah, I was pretty pumped to get it. Alan wanted to see into it, so I thought I'd start the new year with it. 

It's a neat little kit, but the rigging does worry me. Oh well... I'll see about trying the rigging on something else first, in case I mess it up!

[stavanzer]

Oooh! Great piece, Adam.

Now I gotta get one, to go with my Hase He-51B Float Plane

[Faust]

I'm looking forward to having it with my Norm and eventually my Seiran and Jake, too, for a Pontoon Plane Jamboree! I guess I could include my Twin Otter in there, in the right markings... Hmm... Shame my An-2 isn't a float version.... 

[64Comet404]

I checked my Seafox, and it didn't even have a stand in the box. It was a second-hand kit, so I'm not worried.

If you are going to start building biplanes, the Matchbox kits are a great entry point. When I started to build aircraft kits as an adult, I would buy these kits, and use them to fine-tune my building techniques. The locating pins and tabs are outstanding, and miles ahead of the old Airfix/Frog/Aurora attachment points. The only older biplane kits I would place at the same ease of assembly are the late '60s Monogram interwar fighters. If you can spare a kit, take one of the more common Matchbox biplanes and build it right out of the box, without painting it. I think you will be impressed.