Modelling the Blackburn Skua
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The first model kit of the Skua was in Frog's very early "Penguin" series of the late 1930's. Contemporary with the Skua. Below are two photos of a fantastic pristine example from Peter van Loon.
You can visit Peter's web site at www.frogpenguin.com
Back in 1964 Frog issued a 1/72 scale model of the Skua. exactly the same mould has been used to produce the same product under the name of Novo, Air Lines, Chematic, Revell and more recently by Eastern Express. Back in 1964 it was a bad representation of the Skua and the same holds true today, their having never been any effort to correct the many errors. To list them...
1. The wings and tailplane are both incorrect, being much narrower in chord than they should be, thus the wing area and tailplane areas are much too small.
2. The fuselage bottom aft of the wings is represented as a flat area with no effort to represent the wing fillets.
3. The rear gunners canopy is represented as if the machine gun protruded through the canopy itself. It did not, it sat in a trough in the upper fuselage and could not be used until the rear canopy was swung back.
4. There is no recess for the bomb (and no bomb) and no bomb crutch.
5. There is no effort to reproduce the "V" frame arrestor hook.
6. The front pilots windscreen is represented as a rectangle, in fact it was virtually triangular with the broadest part at the top of the canopy.
The dotted lines represent the size of the wings and tailplane in the Frog/Novo/Chemetic/Revell/Eastern Express kit
Fantastically clear photo of the underside of the Skua (Flight magazine photo ref 17171S).
The above sketch shows the underside of the Skua. Note that the bomb recess is well aft and does not go forward of the main wing spar. Also note the way the V frame arrestor hook sits inside the wing fillets. Only the very first batch of Skuas off the production line had landing lights on both wings.
This detail from a remarkable photo courtesy of Mrs Rita Freeman, who's brothers served aboard HMS Illustrious, shows well the position of the bomb recess and flaps.
Even allowing for the age of the model these are amazing inaccuracies. The most glaring problem of the undersize wings can be cured with a replacement set made in resin by Magna models, but the rest require a lot of work to put right.
Airwaves released a set of etched brass accessories for the kit
Above: box art for the Revell offering. The Revell version came with the best decal options.
The box art for the Air Lines incarnation of the kit, the same artwork was used for the Novo release.
Above: Box art for the Eastern Express version.
Shown above is the black and white artwork used in the original press advertising for the Frog model Skua when it was first released in 1964.
A magnificent 1/48 scale resin and white metal model of the Skua was issued by Warrior models in Poland. This is a real beauty. It has lots of interior detail and the overall lines seem spot on. The bomb recess is in the right place, being well aft and not going forward of the main wing spar. The windscreen in front of the pilot is triangular, as it should be. The wing fillets do not look quite "right" to me, but at least the underpart of the fuselage rear of the bomb recess is curved rather than flat. The one thing that lets the kit down is the decal sheet which is hopeless and seems to have been made for another kit entirely. None of the serial numbers included on the sheet correspond to Skua airframes.
At the end of 2002 Pavla had released a 1/72 injected moulding kit of the Skua. It has no less than 3 decal options. There are extensive pictures of it at the Pavla web site at http://www.pavlamodels.cz . Can I stress that this model is not from the old Frog mould - It is a completely new and 98% accurate model. The outline of the wings is spot on and the only very minor flaws in an otherwise outstanding model are the wing fillets which are not quite right (see my pencil diagram above for the correct cross-sections) and the rectangular front to the cockpit canopy, rather than the triangular shape it really was. This latter error is particularly irksome since in their earlier model of the Roc they got this correct!
Box art for the Pavla "Octopus Range" Skua has some impressive side-view profiles.
In 2007 "Special Hobby" has issued a limited edition injection molded 1/48th Scale Skua with Resin parts. Get yours while stocks last! I am told it will build into a very good representation of the Skua straight from the box - the wing fillets are actually quite well done.
Click here for photos of the kit.
The MPM website for Special Hobbies models
This magnificent 1/12th scale Skua belongs to Øyvind Lamo, who runs the Operation Skua Website. Øyvind did the colour scheme, the model was built for him by Arild Kjaeraas who runs Profiles Norway.
Showing what is possible with a lot of skill and attention to detail the photos above are of two Skua models built by Tony O'Toole. One is L2991 as featured on the "Skua Colours" page. The other is a Skua target tug .
Finally, here's a handsome rubber powered balsa model of a Skua in Target tug livery courtesy of Kevin Lehnert of the Alamo Escadrille Flying Aces Squadron #26. It is based on a kit plan from the early 1940's. "Dime Scale" models of this class compete to stay in the air longest and the added dihedral of wings makes it more stable.
Pavla models are at Kubelikova 9, 709 00 Ostrava, Czech Republic. Pavla kits are imported into the UK by Hannants, 159 Colindale Avenue, London NW9 5HR You can buy online at www.hannants.co.uk
Warrior models can be contacted at 54-152 Wrocsaw, ul. Kozanowska 75/16 Poland.
The 1/72 scale correct wings and tailplane kit is available from Magna models, 4 Brian Close, Sandford, Wareham, Dorset. BH20 7BJ. Tel: 01929 553518.
Smodel have issued a 1/72 scale resin model of the Skua. I have not seen this myself and so cannot comment on it. Perhaps someone out there would care to write a review of it.
Model Aircraft Monthly, Vol 6 Issue 10 October 2007. Has a series of articles on the Skua, including a very extensive potted history of the type by Tony O'Toole. This is illustrated by a really nice selection of photos, including colour shots of L2991 and a page full of shots of L2942. There is also an article by Tony O'Toole on building the 1/48 Special Hobby Kit.
A good reference on modelling the Skua is an 8 page article by Neil Robinson in the June/July 1978 edition of "Plastic Aircraft Models International" magazine (issue 22). Well worth looking out for ebay.
Matthew Willis's book on modelling the Skua and Roc is published by Mushroom Model Publications. It is an outstanding work with lots of original research.
Click here for the Smodel website | This is a link to pictures of a superb scratch built Skua on another site.
Kingkit - the place to find that hard-to-find model
Fleet Air Arm Special Interest Group
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