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This is my latest project: I will be modeling it as G-ACRU, which participated in the British Graham Land Expedition to Antarctica in 1934-37. When the British Graham Land Expedition (BGLE) was planned in 1933 Graham Land was believed to be the largest of a group of islands lying to the North-West of the Antarctic mainland and separated from it by three channels, the main one of which was the Stefansson Strait. In addition to surveying the West coast of Graham Land and extending knowledge of the whole region it was the intention to explore the passage through the Stefansson Strait to the Weddell Sea which might be used by future expeditions as an alternative to the eastern approach to the Antarctic continent which had proved so disastrous for Shackleton. It was also planned to carry out extensive research in a number of scientific fields which included: geology, glaciology, zoology, meteorology, ornithology and the biological sciences. The expedition team comprised 16 men led by John Rymill, an Australian. The budget for the three-year expedition was limited to the remarkably low sum of £20,000, which had to include the cost of their ship and an airplane. The aircraft - a De Havilland Fox Moth capable of operating with skis or floats - was used extensively for reconnaissance, aerial surveying and depot laying. Plane trips were limited by the safe range of the aircraft which was some 280 miles or three and a half hours flying time. Often weather conditions precluded flights for many days and other limitations included low cloud and unsuitable landing surfaces. However, the aircraft proved invaluable for route finding, surveying and depot laying and was used with skis and floats as conditions allowed. A major discovery of BGLE was that the channels (reported after the pioneering flights of Wilkins and Ellsworth) between the Bellinghausen and Weddell Seas did not, in fact, exist. Thus, Graham Land was a peninsula and not an archipelago. Much of the coastline of Graham Land was mapped. Considerable work involving the various scientific disciplines was conducted including studies of seals and birds. Fossil plants were discovered and important geological facts revealed. All these topics were extensively reported in the literature. BGLE proved to be of great significance with many achievements to its credit. It bridged the gap between the heroic age of Antarctic discovery and the present era with its well-funded and comprehensively staffed permanent bases. Using new approaches to travel and diet it avoided many of the problems faced by earlier explorers. Despite the severity of the environment and the three year duration of the expedition, the party returned to Britain without injury or experience of deprivation. The expedition is well-documented in photographs and many images of G-ACRU exist. Here are a few examples: Parts count for the Avi Models kit is low, and many of the parts on the sprue are not used in this version. The kit also includes a set of resin pieces for the skis and floats (G-ACRU used both during the duration of the expedition, as needed). I plan to equip mine with skis. The first problem I encountered is with the wings, which attach to the sprue on the leading edge and were not protected from movement in the box. As a result, the wings broke away from the sprue in a number of places, taking "bites" out of the leading edge. I filled the damaged areas with sprue gloop in the hope that I can return the leading edge to a uniform profile. The inside walls of the cockpit have light engraving of the Fox Moth's interior framing, which shows up distinctly in the photo below but are, in actually, barely visible. I'll be using styrene strip to make the framing more effective: This is the kit's instrument panel and forward cockpit bulkhead. A few circles indicating instruments, and the pass-through opening in the center which allowed the pilot to communicate with his passengers. I'll definitely have to do some detailing work here: For reference, this is how the actual cockpit appears: Here is how the instrument panel and cockpit floor fit into the fuselage: Of course, everything in the cockpit will be nearly unviewable through Avi's thick canopy. My plan is to use the kit canopy as master for a thinner, vacuform replacement, and to install the canopy with its sliding section open. Passenger seating was in a compartment forward of the cockpit, and included a fold-up bench seat at the rear of the compartment and a "bucket seat" at the front. The kit's instruction seat is very vague about where the seats (especially, the bench seat) go in to the passenger compartment, I'm guessing the seats fit something like this: I'll refer to the following photos to ensure I get the passenger compartment done right: (Of course, I could assert the expedition aircraft's seats had been removed for cargo stowage, but that would be the lazy way out!) I'm also making a list of detail items that Avi failed to include in the kit, such as the missing airspeed venturi (starboard side, below the windscreen) and the aileron actuators beneath the lower wing. That's it for my intro post. No actual work done, yet, but my plans are beginning to gel... Tomorrow, I'll try vacuforming a replacement canopy. If I succeed, I'll then start detailing the cockpit area. - Bill