abat Posted September 27, 2017 Author Share Posted September 27, 2017 49 minutes ago, Courageous said: Those blades are going nowhere! Good job. 8 minutes ago, 71chally said: Cracking strengthening work on that prop, H.E.Chaplin & Sir Richard would be proud! Thanks guys, I'm brave enough to pick it up now and squirt on some primer. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perdu Posted September 27, 2017 Share Posted September 27, 2017 The prop looks 'proper job' Sorry 😁 But it does anyway 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted September 27, 2017 Share Posted September 27, 2017 Very nice work! I will be referring to this when I finally build my Airfix one. Looks like it's on the final stretch now... Regards, Adrian 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
71chally Posted September 27, 2017 Share Posted September 27, 2017 39 minutes ago, perdu said: The prop looks 'proper job' Sorry 😁 As a Cornishman both angles of that comment work! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abat Posted September 27, 2017 Author Share Posted September 27, 2017 1 hour ago, perdu said: The prop looks 'proper job' Sorry 😁 But it does anyway Beaten into submission, or would that be for rotor blades? 1 hour ago, AdrianMF said: Very nice work! I will be referring to this when I finally build my Airfix one. Looks like it's on the final stretch now... Regards, Adrian Please do Adrian. From photos Bill sent me, the lower nose and carburettor intake in the Airfix kit is far superior. I almost built an Airfix Firefly many, many years ago, ordered it in specially to the hobby shop but then life intervened and I forgot to ever pick it up. Sad. Maybe I need another Firefly. 49 minutes ago, 71chally said: As a Cornishman both angles of that comment work! As a fellow Cornishman (4 generations removed) I'd have to agree. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Procopius Posted September 27, 2017 Share Posted September 27, 2017 18 hours ago, abat said: Bit of rugged Fairey engineering. Genius. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abat Posted September 27, 2017 Author Share Posted September 27, 2017 15 minutes ago, Procopius said: Genius. Steady on sir. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k5054nz Posted September 27, 2017 Share Posted September 27, 2017 11 hours ago, abat said: Please do Adrian. From photos Bill sent me, the lower nose and carburettor intake in the Airfix kit is far superior. I almost built an Airfix Firefly many, many years ago, ordered it in specially to the hobby shop but then life intervened and I forgot to ever pick it up. Sad. Maybe I need another Firefly. By pure chance I've found an Airfix one for about half the normal retail price of their kits so thanks to this thread I, like Adrian, may be back with a Firefly WIP soon... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fritag Posted September 28, 2017 Share Posted September 28, 2017 I'm not untypically late in cottoning-on to an impressive build But glad I've found it now. Love the Jig and the prop work. A bit of clever modelling spawning a Bill pun; what's not to like? I'm another with a soft spot for the Firefly. I saw the Canadian one at Hamilton up close and then flying a few years back. Looked and sounded great. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abat Posted September 28, 2017 Author Share Posted September 28, 2017 Thanks and welcome. Just sanding and filling at present with the promise of some minor surgery the next week or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abat Posted November 26, 2017 Author Share Posted November 26, 2017 At last, I found some time and motivation to make some progress on the Firefly. But first a special acknowledgement to perdu for helping me with the “nose” (carburettor intake) job. Turns out the special hobby kit is quite deficient in this area. First there’s no intake shown in the kit, and second the shape of the lower forward nose section misses the distinctive indented panel shape. The old Airfix kit represents these features much better and Bill noting my distress in previous posts kindly sent me a cut-off nose section from an old Airfix kit built by his brother and and his own resin cast of the same. My initial intention was to fettle either the kit or resin section into the special hobby fuselage. However, measuring up the respective nose sections with my trusty new vernier caliper, I found dimensions were slightly but significantly different. Using the panel line immediately aft if the exhausts, the Airfix nose is 22.3mm long, 12.2mm wide and 20.1mm high. The SH kit was slightly longer at 23.7mm, significantly wider at 13.9mm and higher at 21.4mm. I separated the Airfix nose into the two halves and considered adding a shim to equalise the width but this still left a height difference. After a week of ruminating I finally decided that blending the new nose seamlessly into the existing fuselage would be too complicated. If the build was in its early stages and the fuselage has not been closed I think I could have managed it. So instead I cut an intake into the lower part of the SH nose. This will leave a small “smile” below the propeller hub once that is installed. Not ideal, but better than the original and a fair representation of the intake. Other work includes filling around the wing roots and radiator intakes, re-installing the vanes inside the radiator intakes, adding some ribs to the forward undercarriage doors, upgrading the arrestor hook with some 0.5mm rod, installing the fuel/radar pods, and attaching the tail planes. The latter are not a good fit, the tail planes being noticeably thinner than the receiving area on the rear fuselage. The pods also needed a reasonable amount of fettling to the wing and filling. Last of all I dipped the forward canopy in future (actually pledge with future shine). The rear canopy actually comes in halves and I’m now contemplating how to best glue this seamlessly together before also giving this a dip in future. Hopefully my next update won’t be too far away. With the canopy done it will soon be time for a trip to the paint shop for some sky and EDSG. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Procopius Posted November 26, 2017 Share Posted November 26, 2017 That's some really nice detailing on the gear doors. I'm still puzzling out in my head how to solve the intake issue to my satisfaction when I build mine. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abat Posted November 26, 2017 Author Share Posted November 26, 2017 1 minute ago, Procopius said: That's some really nice detailing on the gear doors. I'm still puzzling out in my head how to solve the intake issue to my satisfaction when I build mine. Happy to discuss further. I think fettling the Airfix nose can be done but earlier in the build as a lot of fettling, sanding and filling is required. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Procopius Posted November 26, 2017 Share Posted November 26, 2017 Just now, abat said: Happy to discuss further. I think fettling the Airfix nose can be done but earlier in the build as a lot of fettling, sanding and filling is required. Yes, I wonder if working with the original styrene might be easier? Possibly grafting it in place of the kit chin, such as there is. Of course, I've never handled the Airfix in person. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perdu Posted November 26, 2017 Share Posted November 26, 2017 I'm sorry it couldn't help you A but the only way I can see now is to make a new chin intake and stitch it under the nose of the engine Which of course is what I hoped you would be able to avoid Can you make a pulled moulding off the resin lump and fair that in? I am sure you will get it sorted 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJP Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 Nice work so far Abat and it shows the value of your WIP in picking up on the shape of the nose cowling and lack of carby intake - I will have to get my 1/48 SH Firefly out of the stash now and see if it has the same issue CJP 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 This is looking very impressive. Martian 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abat Posted November 29, 2017 Author Share Posted November 29, 2017 22 hours ago, CJP said: Nice work so far Abat and it shows the value of your WIP in picking up on the shape of the nose cowling and lack of carby intake - I will have to get my 1/48 SH Firefly out of the stash now and see if it has the same issue CJP Thanks CJP, not sure how/why this was missed when they designed the kit. It will b winter eating to see if the 1/48 boxing is the same or not. 22 hours ago, Martian Hale said: This is looking very impressive. Martian Thanks Martian, very slow progress but I will get there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Massimo Posted November 29, 2017 Share Posted November 29, 2017 You're getting there! Nice work on those doors too!!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJP Posted November 29, 2017 Share Posted November 29, 2017 1 hour ago, abat said: Thanks CJP, not sure how/why this was missed when they designed the kit. It will b winter eating to see if the 1/48 boxing is the same or not. Hi Abat - I checked in the box & the 1/48 Special Hobby Griffon Firefly has a separate lower cowling and carby intake parts as in the photos below. (sorry about the sprue being in photo but I did not want to cut the part off and maybe lose it!) CJP 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abat Posted December 1, 2017 Author Share Posted December 1, 2017 That looks better CJP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abat Posted December 3, 2017 Author Share Posted December 3, 2017 So so this is how the intake looks with the propeller fitted. Not peeeerfect, but it shall suffice. Certainly better than leaving it blank I believe. I also did some more work fettling the cockpit tubs to receive the canopies. Even after the work done previously lowering the sills, the rear canopy still sat proud by a half mm or so. I therefore removed the same from the sills with a sharp micro chisel and it all fits nicely now. I also needed to fill the gaps between the resin cockpit tubs and the sills - putty was sufficient in the observers cockpit but the pilot's needed a thin plastic strip to tidy it up. My observers canopy has always been in two parts making a clean join a nightmare and I finally (lightbulb moment!) realised that it was actually broken in two down the centre line, not moulded in two as I thought. Silly me. I’ve therefore decided to postpone the pain of re-glueing it by using the observers canopy from my Firefly Mark 1 which appears to be exactly the same (except not broken). Maybe Special Hobby provides replacements for broken parts? I’ll need to check. I’m now fiddling with the landing light and once that’s satisfactory I’ll fit and mask the canopies in preparation for a proper undercoat. This kit has put up a real fight from day 1 so it’ll be nice to finally wrap up construction and re-focus my patience on masking and spray painting. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Procopius Posted December 3, 2017 Share Posted December 3, 2017 3 hours ago, abat said: Maybe Special Hobby provides replacements for broken parts? I’ll need to check. They supplied me with resin inserts for my Meteor PR10 (which I really ought to build someday) that had been omitted from the box, so I should think so. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted December 3, 2017 Share Posted December 3, 2017 The intake looks fine to me. In my experience, Special Hobby's after sales service is excellent so I don't anticipate you having any problems getting a replacement canopy from them. Martian 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abat Posted December 3, 2017 Author Share Posted December 3, 2017 3 hours ago, Procopius said: They supplied me with resin inserts for my Meteor PR10 (which I really ought to build someday) that had been omitted from the box, so I should think so. 3 minutes ago, Martian Hale said: The intake looks fine to me. In my experience, Special Hobby's after sales service is excellent so I don't anticipate you having any problems getting a replacement canopy from them. Martian Great news on Special Hobby after sales service. I’ll dig up a contact no. and sent a request. Thanks also Martian for feedback on the intake. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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