AZ Models Fairey Firefly

[Doug Rogers]

Was going to build a Trumpeter Sea Fury originally, but looking at a couple of recent builds on here, I think I'll leave her on the shelf until WEM come up with their cockpit and undercarriage detail sets.

Anyhoo, I've decided to go with a 1/48 Fairey Firefly from AZ Models.

So what do we get in the box, surprisingly only 50 parts in a tan coloured plastic, and three transparent canopy pieces, all very nicely moulded with finely engraved panel lines.

Markings for three different schemes, I think I'll be going for the middle scheme, which is a Fairey Firefly NF.1 PP393 212-R of 812 Squadron 'Black Flight' HMS Glory at RNAS HalFar 1950.

For me though the star of the kit is the resin interior and wheel bays, fantastic detail in these parts.

Also included is a Photo etch fret including instrument panel, seat belts and several other goodies and an acetate film insert for the instrument panel.

Better get cracking with the Dremel on those resin bits, hope to start on construction tomorrow.

Edited February 5, 2009 by Doug Rogers

[Peter Marshall]

Very nice, I built the Grand Pheonix boxing of this kit a while ago, a very enjoyable build. I will be watching with interest...

Peter

[Stebos]

Heard a lot of good things about AZ kits, that resin looks really spiffy.

[Doug Rogers]

Do we know what colour the interior would have been on this bird, some builds I've seen have 'Interior green' pits and some have black. I think I'm leaning towards black as I know the Seafires of the time had black ones.

[AntPhillips]

Do we know what colour the interior would have been on this bird, some builds I've seen have 'Interior green' pits and some have black. I think I'm leaning towards black as I know the Seafires of the time had black ones.

The post war Firefly 4/5 certainly had a black interior, not so certain about the Firefly 1 however as they were WW2 vintage.

Ant

[Doug Rogers]

Hmm...the instructions call for green, but they also say various bits of hardware should be beige as well! Don't really have a lot of confidence in them TBH, but it could be that the WWII birds were green, and postwar were black, although this is based on a 1950 scheme.

Edited February 22, 2009 by Doug Rogers

[perry]

Hmm...the instructions call for green, but they also say various bits of hardware should be beige as well! Don't really have a lot of confidence in them TBH, but it could be that the WWII birds were green, and postwar were black, although this is based on a 1950 scheme.

With this one being an earlier wartime version, personally I'd go with a grey/green interior. But, I may be wrong....

[Doug Rogers]

At least if I go with green it'll make the interior a bit more visible, seems a shame to hide all that resin.

OK, decision time, green it is!

[avro683]

I referred to the very good build article in SAMI when I built the Grand Phoenix kit. Essentially the cockpits are green in colour (the Mark 1 is a wartime aircraft). The possible gotcha is that both the resin gear ays and the inner surface of the upper wings have to be thinned considerably for the resin bays to fit. The rear cockpit is also a very tight fit but both build up into very good looking units with dry brushing bringing out the detail well.

Tony

[Doug Rogers]

Thanks Tony, yes I'm aware that you have to sand everything to withing an inch of it's life to get it to fit, I'm just about starting to see daylight through the top of the wheelwells, so I think I'm nearly there.

[Doug Rogers]

OK, managed to make a bit of progress, apologies for the snails pace.

First the front office;

Then the radio operators digs;

Mocked up in the fuselage;

Wheel bays inserted too;

All done in Interior Green (Humbrol 78) then given a wash of thinned black, and then drybrushed with silver.

More to come next week!

[perry]

Looking great so far Doug

[Doug Rogers]

Cheers Perry, got a few more pics to send you btw, and the colour sheet for the overall schemes.

[perry]

Oh great, thanks mate, will look forward to seeing them!

[AnonymousDFB1]

Nice start, like the cockpits

[Doug Rogers]

Thanks Mish, the pics probably don't do them justice, the resin is really nice and the detail really pops out with the drybrushing. When I was uploading the pics, my Mrs said in an astonished voice, 'Is that one you're making, looks good'. Still don't like PE though, apart from for seatbelts I think it should be made illegal.

[mahross]

Very Nice. That cockpit looks fantastic. Another FAA aircraft to add to list it seems

Ross

[spitfire]

That's looking good, one of my favourite aircraft, I was pretty amazed at how big they are in real life.

Cheers

Den

[Doug Rogers]

Cheers Ross, yes I've been getting a few FAA subjects recently, got about half a dozen in the stash now.

Thanks Den, it is a big aircraft isn't it, makes a Spitfire look tiny. Surprising to think they use the same Griffon engine, makes you realise how much grunt the Griffon Spits must have.

[Rampage55]

Excellent work so far.

Mark

[Doug Rogers]

Thanks Mark, I'm glad I've finished the majority of the resin, and most of the PE. Should be a relatively simple build from here.

[Doug Rogers]

Well she's done, I was just starting to panic a bit as I'm away next week and thought I may not finish. Got to that stage though, that if I do anything more I'll probably end up spoiling it, so;

Made up some brake lines from 5A fuse wire, used some Lycra rigging thread for the aerial wire. Remade some of the mounts for the ASH radar from wire, rather than the piffling resin bits supplied in the kit. Cut and dropped the elevators.

Edited April 20, 2009 by Doug Rogers

[perry]

Two words Doug;

1) Simply

2) Gorgeous!

[Doug Rogers]

Two words Doug;

1) Simply

2) Gorgeous!

Thanks Pez, quite pleased with her in the end. I've kept all the paperwork for it if you need anything else for your vacform.

[perry]

Thanks Doug, I'll no doubt be giving you another shout in the future