The Airfix Farewell GB from now until 1st Jan 2007

Finally, photographic evidence that I am indeed building a model for this group build.

Sorry for the blurry pic, but here's the fuselage.  Almost ready to glue on the flight deck clear piece and lower wing section.  After forcing the warped halves together, it didn't really require much filler.

Here are the CFM-56 engine pods and main gear trucks.

Here are the Yellowgate ESM wingtip pods.  These were a pain in the rear.  Even though the kit is an E-3D with the option to build an E-3F (French), the E-3F would be an easier build because Airfix requires you to cut 1/2 inch off the wingtips to mount the pods.  Even worse, they really aren't accurate, as one reviewer noted, the wings should proceed straight to the pods, not sweep back as on the model.  At least Airfix scored the inside of the wing to make cutting easier.

Here's the rotodome.  Took twice as long to paint than I anticipated, mainly due to my having to touch up after getting white paint smudges on the black areas from handling too soon after painting.

One more of the tail section, similar scale F-104 added for relative size.  Note the crack near the top of the vertical stabilizer.  The panel broke here while trying to straighten out warpage.  As a matter of fact, one outer wing panel is warped slightly up, the other slightly down.  I'm afraid to try and fix it, though, given the brittleness of the plastic.  I'm just going to live with it and hope that it won't be noticeable once the engine pods are glued on and the kit is complete.  With the model's size, the wingtips will be pretty far apart.

Pressing onward with the wings next.  Probably still several weeks away from being complete given my limited work time.

Cheers!

GREAT work guys

seeing that my chipmunks will be done in about 48 hrs i am going to enter

2 or 3 fiat g91r in as well s/b able to start them by 10/30 or 10/31

prior to this group build i only entered 1 other about a yr ago

and now i have this one and an other going at the same time

and i must say

as much fun as i have doing models (although i am a touch below avg in the talent area) this has brought my fun level way up

thanks guys

Al, great job on that Tonka. Very impressive finish and you made the Airfix kit a stunner. It goes to show what a little patients and hard work can turn out. Great job and a fast build. Congrats.

Steve

jeff wrote:

Now I just need to dig up 6-8 ounces of nose weight, which is harder than it sounds in western Europe due to strict controls on lead

Great job Al on the Tornado!  Congratulations on a beautiful model.  Osher, hang in there.  I'm certainly no expert on canopies, but it helps me to mask curves using strips of tape cut into smaller pieces.  Just make sure to burnish them together well to help prevent bleed under.

The E-3D is still coming along.  I meant to post some pics by now, but haven't pried the camera away from the wife yet.  I hope to finish painting the rotodome tonight, the CFM-56 engine pods are done, the outer wings are done including the tip-mounted Yellowgate ESM pods (which were a bear, more later), and I even have the warped fuselage glued together (by gluing and clamping them about 3-4 inches at a time, thanks Brews for the tip!)  Now I just need to dig up 6-8 ounces of nose weight, which is harder than it sounds in western Europe due to strict controls on lead, and I can join the wings to the fuselage.  Dry fitting reveals a train wreck in the making at the wing-fuselage joint, but I'll worry about that later!

WOW!  WOW! WOW!  Pruz you really have tamed the beast!  You taken a monster, and made it into a pet.  The 1/48 Tornado is quite nasty in places, but you've made it look great!  I'm now tempted to pull out my part built one, fix it, and finish it!

You're also the first person to finish completely a model for the GB, well done sir!

Durr, really like that chipmunk collection you have going on there.. Got your own squadron?. Good job.

Karl, very nice progress on the dora.

Steve.

sidure wrote:

Hey JWB, talking about the Griffon Spits. I built the 46/47 Seafire quite a few years ago so here are some photos or it. The kit is great in all aspects, fit,detail and great panel lines. Up there with the best of them (Tamigawa etc). Shame they did not make more like this one. This one is done as an Irish Air Corps and was built before I learned some tricks of the trade like panel washing etc. I think I will put some finishing touches to it soon. Hope you like it. Steve

It looks great- thanks for showing that!

Glad to hear it's a good kit- I ordered one this week! LOL

well just some touch up and the decaling is all that is left

then i will do some other model or two and come back here with 1-2 more

SD, nice work on the Avro,504 right. I have started the same kit but had to put it on hold for a while. I am almost at the same stage. I have never rigged a bi-plane and would be interested in knowing how you do it and how it turns out.

Steve

Hey JWB, talking about the Griffon Spits. I built the 46/47 Seafire quite a few years ago so here are some photos or it. The kit is great in all aspects, fit,detail and great panel lines. Up there with the best of them (Tamigawa etc). Shame they did not make more like this one. This one is done as an Irish Air Corps and was built before I learned some tricks of the trade like panel washing etc. I think I will put some finishing touches to it soon. Hope you like it.

Steve

osher wrote:

Hey Sirdrake, that Avro's really coming along.  Funny, I just realised, I never thought of rigging when setting the OOB rules, but as they're the same sort of thing as seatbelts (essential bits left for the modeller to add), they're cool.  I really can't wait to see it finished, if nothing else, because I'd love to see how you've rigged it up!

Jon, very nice job on the Spit.

SD, I've only ever rigged one biplane, but I used 38 gauge beading wire, rolled straight under a steel rule, and measured with a set of dividers.

Much easier than drilling holes and tying knots, just needs a dab of CA and you're done.

Still haven't got around to taking pics of the Dora, but then I've got a 4 day weekend, so will get them done this week.

Karl

Brews wrote:

Truly excellent Airfix kits can be found in their Spitfire 22/24 and Seafire 46/47. These are Griffon Spits with cut-down rear fuselages, bubble canopies, and either 5 blade props, or, in the case of the 46 (I think), 6-bladed contra-rotating props. I understand that the reason that Airfix did not continue with making such good kits was that the tooling costs were high, and the bean counters came in and the rest is history. I'd love to show you pictures of my Griffon Spits. I wish I knew where they were! My laptop hard drive died, and with it my database of storage. However, I could show you, perhaps, pictures of my still-incomplete Mk XII. I'll have a look and see what I can find.

viper_mp wrote:

I'm in.  I'm about half way through a 1/72 Hawkers Siddeley Hawk.

Truly excellent Airfix kits can be found in their Spitfire 22/24 and Seafire 46/47. These are Griffon Spits with cut-down rear fuselages, bubble canopies, and either 5 blade props, or, in the case of the 46 (I think), 6-bladed contra-rotating props. I understand that the reason that Airfix did not continue with making such good kits was that the tooling costs were high, and the bean counters came in and the rest is history.

I'd love to show you pictures of my Griffon Spits. I wish I knew where they were! My laptop hard drive died, and with it my database of storage.

However, I could show you, perhaps, pictures of my still-incomplete Mk XII. I'll have a look and see what I can find.

Brews wrote:

Before you do a XIV, can I suggest a Falcon Spitfire Triple Conversion set, which has vacform fuselages for Mk XII, XI and XVI. These are designed to be mated to the wings of the Airfix Spitfire VB fuselage, and Otaki/ARII/Airfix Mk VIII fuselages (for the XI and XVI). For the XII, which is a personal favourite of mine, I recommend the True Details (not ex-KMC) Spitfire Vb cockpit set to complement the Airfix parts, and the Eduard colour zoom set for either the Hase or Tami Spitfire Vbs.

Before you do a XIV, can I suggest a Falcon Spitfire Triple Conversion set, which has vacform fuselages for Mk XII, XI and XVI. These are designed to be mated to the wings of the Airfix Spitfire VB fuselage, and Otaki/ARII/Airfix Mk VIII fuselages (for the XI and XVI).

For the XII, which is a personal favourite of mine, I recommend the True Details (not ex-KMC) Spitfire Vb cockpit set to complement the Airfix parts, and the Eduard colour zoom set for either the Hase or Tami Spitfire Vbs.

Brews wrote:

If the ocean grey is at least as dark as the starboard wing appears, then it's probably the only other paint that would match Xtracolour Ocean Grey, which is what I think is the best match to many of the colour photos (not absolute match, but relative to the Dark Green, which again can be a fairly contentious colour (Humbrol H116 or H 163, for instance).

If the ocean grey is at least as dark as the starboard wing appears, then it's probably the only other paint that would match Xtracolour Ocean Grey, which is what I think is the best match to many of the colour photos (not absolute match, but relative to the Dark Green, which again can be a fairly contentious colour (Humbrol H116 or H 163, for instance).