Supermarine Seagull V
This is the Supermarine Seagull V. This plane was developed into the Walrus, and was used by several countries in World War Two. This isn't something I normally would get, and that's why my daughter Alyssa got it for me one Christmas. She wanted to get me something that was different than what I normal get, and she did a great job.
Unfortunately, she did such a good job in getting something that was 'different' that she would up getting a model that wasn't easy to build at all. The kit is from Valom, and I have to say that either the people who reviewed the kits were on crack, or I got a bad kit. Valom focus on plastic injection models with 'short run' technology which apparently means the molds go to pot sooner than normal technology. Maybe the early kits turn out well, but the one I got had several problems.
The fuselage halves weren't quite the same size, the struts for the wings and engine weren't long enough, all the pins and holes for part alignment were mangled, and some of the parts needed some cleaning up. The clear parts were nice and clean, but they didn't quite fit on the grey styrene parts right. The photo etch and resin parts were pretty good though, but because the quality of the rest of the model was so poor, I didn't bother with the photoetch, except for in a couple places.
But I managed to get this one done. The decals were ok, but I couldn't get the roundels to flatten out all the way on the top of the wings. They were just too thick. I did put it on a stand like the new F-22 that I have. The stand made it look very nice once it was done. Which I honestly didn't expect while working on it.
Overall, this model was a pain to build because of the shortcomings of the kit. While it would have made a very nice model if it had been done with high quality 'technology,' I wouldn't recommend this model to anyone except for the serious modeler who likes a good challenge. But Alyssa now has this on her shelf and I have to admit that it looks pretty neat.