billn53

Most excellent! I have the birdcage version of this kit near the top of my "to build" pile. If mine turns out half as nice as yours, I'll be very happy.

This project is now officially underway! Painted up some of the engine parts this evening: Engine housing front (three version options): Engine center and aft sections: Piston cylinders: With some detail painting, dark wash, and drybrushing the details on these gems should really pop out.

Here’s a nice article on the Revell (Monogram) kit: http://www.internetmodeler.com/scalemodels/flaviation/Revell-1-77-Ford-Tri-Motor.php

I’ll try building one, and if that goes okay then do the other two. If a disaster occurs, I have a backup plan: https://eshop.owl-czech.eu/detail/1:72-pratt-whitney-r-1340-wasp-/ (which would have been my first choice if I had known about it at the time)

Definitely! Check this out: http://www.jbot.ca/space/laoche.shtml Thinking of this in the future with my Monogram kit, since Im now using the Airfix kit in my current build.

Yes, the engines promise to make this build live up to its name, “mountains of madness”. Even worse, it looks like I’ll have to scratch the engines’ exhaust piping.

Well, this isn't exactly a progress report, since I haven't actually painted anything or glued any bits together yet. I'm still in the "getting ready to get ready" stage. I think I will be starting off by building the engines on this beast. As I mentioned, I acquired three of these aftermarket engines: Take special note of the "Consists of 103 parts" !!!! What have I gotten myself into? Here's exactly what's included. First, the parts themselves, with a #11 blade for scale: The smallest parts are, I believe, the sparkplugs. Fortunately, spares are provided, as I am quite certain some of them will be lost to the carpet magnet. The instructions are clear and well illustrated: And this is what it should like like when finished: A few years back, when I was finishing up my instrument rating, a Trimotor visited my local airport and I was able to take some detailed pics. I'll be referring to these when building my engines, and thought I'd share them here: For more pics, feel free to access my photo album here: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmrWAkYB Let me know if the link doesn't work! Also, before I forget, here's a link to an original instruction manual. Interesting reading, and some good detailed drawings: http://www.historicalairtours.com/Ford Trimotor.pdf Wish me luck!

Those Dornier flying boats do have beautiful lines, don't they?

It's been a few months since I last posted in this forum. To be honest, I felt a need to "switch it up" and instead work on some non-aircraft subjects: Now it's time to get back to my main love, 1/72 aircraft. I've been inspired by Thorfinn's rendition of Airfix's Ford Trimotor, done up as the aircraft used in Miskatonic University's ill-fated Antarctic expedition, which is described by horror author H.P. Lovecraft in "At The Mountains of Madness". I've been a fan of Lovecraft's fiction since my teen's, so when I saw Greg's Trimotor I knew I had to have one of my own (imitation is the sincerest form of flattery). I contacted Greg, and he graciously sent me files for his homemade decals. If you haven't already done so, check out Greg's RFI here: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235043782-charter-flight-to-the-mountains-of-madness-airfix-172-ford-trimotor/&tab=comments#comment-3140418 Unfortunately, Greg did not do a WIP, but I found a great one by Chris "bigbadbadge" that I will use as reference: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235040494-ford-trimotor-now-finished/&tab=comments#comment-3079475 Let's get started! The kit I'm using is the venerable Airfix offering in 1/72 scale (boxed here by MPC): I originally planned to use this old Monogram kit: but it isn't as detailed as the Airfix kit and is slightly smaller than 1/72 (closer to 1/77), which wouldn't be a show-stopper but I also managed to find the Airfix kit at a good price on eBay. Even so, I'll probably steal a few items from the Monogram kit, namely the landing gear skis and maybe the dogsled and figures. I'm a sucker for aftermarket, and since the Ford's three engines are its most memorable characteristic, I picked up these to scratch my detail itch: I also hope to build an appropriately Lovecraftian vignette for my display base, based loosely on this painting: And, I'll need plenty of snow & ice... fortunately I found this book and appropriate diorama materials from AK Interactive: To be frank, I've barely opened up the box so far. Instead, I've been experimenting with snow & ice techniques and learning how to build rocky mountain walls. Here are some examples: Finally, a couple more pics for you: I anticipate progress will be slow on this build. There are challenges with this old Airfix kit, my aspirations for the diorama base will stretch my abilities, and I have a couple of business trips coming up. But with a little luck, I should have something tangible to show in the near future. Stay tuned!

Looking great! I, too, use UV-activated clear resin for many purposes, nav lights being the obvious one. I've also used it as glazing for cockpit instruments, and as a glue for canopies and other clear parts.

For a couple hours effort that turned out mighty fine. But my! How tiny it is...

Thanks Daryl! All in all, I’m not entirely happy with this build. In addition to the inaccuracies of the Revell kit that I didn’t correct, I had a near disaster just at the finish. While I was cleaning fingerprints off the windshield prior to adding the wiper, the entire windshield popped loose and fell back into the cockpit. Arrrggg!!! I had to pry off the side windows to get the windshield back into place. That wasn’t 100-percent successful, there’s an ugly gap on the top-right edge of the windshield. I did pick up the Fujimi version of this car, so perhaps some day I’ll build #98 again and retire this one.

Nick & Simon — I’m old enough to remember when the Ford GT came out, and then the Mk II. Somewhere along the line I began to hear the term “GT 40”, which confused me then and has continued to confuse me for the past 50-odd years. Thanks for helping to clear this up

Thank you, Simon. I've always seen this version of the Ford GT referred to as a GT40 Mk II. Is this not correct?

I just got my hands on the LS version of the 2C. The basic body is exactly the same as in the Arii release, but otherwise the LS is superior in many respects: 1) It has proper tires & wheels 2) the cockpit much better (copied from the Modeler 2D kit) 3) correct carbs & velocity stacks are included 4) no need to scratch the headlight covers, LS has provided these which were missing from the Arii boxing Needless to say, if I had had LS's kit instead of Arii's, my build would have been much less of a problem.