1/48 Special Hobby Blackburn ROC MK.I

Modeling Subjects Aircraft
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What’s happening? Here’s what I’ve been up to lately. I just finished this one up for a friend. It’s not my cup of tea but hey, what the heck. The Blackburn ROC was a pig of an aircraft and for all intents and purposes, the Royal Navy’s equivalent to the Defiant. They even used the same turret…both being equally worthless. What was the draw of pulling up next to your enemy and blasting him pirate ship style…and these turkeys weren’t even fast enough to do that. One ROC did manage a JU 88 kill very early in the war. The JU 88 pilot must have been sleeping.

The Special Hobby kit wasn’t far from being worthless either and was my first attempt at a limited run kit. I’ve heard limited run kits take work and this one didn’t disappoint. At $41 bones it wasn’t exactly cheap either. Other than a gorgeous resin Bristol engine, and great decals, its rough. Crude cockpit, crude panel line detail and cloudy clear pieces (especially the turret). The photetch fret was fairly basic too. Fit of the main parts were comical and my example’s fuselage was slightly twisted, enough to throw off the tail planes. Nothing else fit right either and the instructions were mediocre at best. I suppose you’ll have that with limited run kits. All that aside, I was determined to make it presentable with paint and weathering. I replaced the hugely overscale 303’s with Quickboost Lancaster barrels and tossed in a set of Hasegawa Spitfire wheels from the spare parts box.

The example I was asked to build was L3075 “L6R” of 806 NAS in April of 1940. This ROC was one of a few that actually saw combat.

Fortunately the Tamiya Do 335 is next to bring sanity back to my bench. I do like the FAA camo scheme so a Seafire may very well be on the horizon. Thanks for looking. Comments welcome.

Joe

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Joe you did the beasty justice. Very well done.

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Well, If the kit is as rough as you say your skills overcame it all. You knocked it out of the park. Great work, it looks fantastic.

BK

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What a beautiful job you’ve done on a kit that you describe as a beast. It’s now a beauty!

Toshi

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Excellent work. I like it.

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I built the Special Hobby XP-77 and F3F and was very pleased with them both! Excellent work

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What was the draw of pulling up next to your enemy and blasting him pirate ship style…

Joe, my guess is that it reminded them of Lord Nelson or Sir francis Drake and the golden age of ships at war. :wink:

John

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Very nice looking build!

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Joe,I have an extra set of late-war Luftwaffe Eduard colored etched belts. Eduard recommends them for the 335. If you want them for your build let me know and I’ll send them to you!

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Thanks for the kind words all. Mike, it certainly could be operator error as these limited run kits are unchartered territory. I’ve seen some other modelers actually liked it and it’s supposed to be better than their Skua. I have a Classic Airframes Do-17 that I have been hesitant to start as well.

The recipient now wants the Special Hobby Loire Niewport LN401…ouch[bnghead]. What have I gotten myself in to. I may need therapy…

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That is sweet! Lovely finishing with the paint work, Joe! [:)]

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I wouldnt be surprised if Navies across the world lined up for this plane. Its all about “broadsides” and “crossing the enemy’s Ts.” lol On the other hand, you did really excellent work on this plane. I love the weathering!

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Good to hear from you Joe. Nice to see a different kind of plane. I looked it up and I can see why we don’t see it more. lol You did her justice of course. =]

What’s next up on the bench for you. Maybe a NMF build??? =] We’ve got a GB going on. …Just saying :wink:

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That’s one ugly bird but you did a great job on it.

Mike

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Thanks guys, your kind words are deeply appreciated. Allan, indeed, these pilots should have been issued a pet parrot and eye patch. Argh me hardies! Britt, unfortunately its gonna be a while before I can build something for myself, as I am booked solid on builds for other people for the foreseeable future. On deck is the Tamiya Do 335 B-2 which will be followed by the 1/32 scale Revell Bf 109 G-6, Eduard P-400, then The 1/32 Revell FW 190 F-8. I was thinking about squeezing in a Tamiya Jug somewhere for myself though.Perhaps Schilling’s Hairless Joe which I just got decals for.

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Oh, man. That looks fantastic! I just bought their Skua, and I am a little nervous about it, but you’ve given me some definite inspiration.

How did you paint the metal ring on the nose? I may have missed it in your description, but it looks spot on.

Great job!

-BD-

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Thanks Brandon. I have heard the Skua is worse than this one. So beware. Brett Green did a nice one over at Hyperscale. That’s where I got the FAA colors.

For the copper ring I first painted it Alclad Aluminum then I dusted it lightly with Tamiya Copper. Purely experimental but I liked the results.

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Just stunning. Thanks for sharing this, a lesson in perseverance for sure.

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Another great job there Joe! I wouldn’t expect a plane named after a legendary bird known for toting elephants around would be graceful! Again you knocked this one outta the park.

I think I remember a story though about the USN sending up Avengers in fighter formations and the Japanese charging up on their tails to get a faceful of lead from their rear gunners.

After this I think you deserve to do the Tamiya Do-335 or P-47 just as a palete cleaner!!!

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Thanks guys.