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Fleet Finch, 1/72nd.


Paul J

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This one could be my third entry:

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Naturally I'll be doing the one on the box art depicting an RCAF machine. Nice clean mouldings, vac form glazing, resin engine parts and good decals!

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Hi Paul

Third entry now come on are you giving Speedman a run for his money or just making some of us feel inadequate ?

Seriously good luck with this one, which is a new aircraft to me, what's the history ?

Cheers Pat

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Cheers for the encouragement! Plenty of time to do this one, but need to finish my Tiger Moth which is almost ready and the Oxford which is at painting stage!!

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Well, now that the first two are put to bed, I can wake up this little gem. Made a start and so far this is whats done:

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Cockpit. Not planning to add much except maybe straps to hold the pupil and instructor in. Its quite weeny and under the cockpit cover you won't see much! That lump of an ejector pin needs removing to allow fitting of the instrument panels!

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Cockpit and engine parts. A bit of help from those in the know please. What would the colour be in the cockpit? I recall seeing a couple in museums in Canada from my visits but don't recall the interiors.

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Engine assembled.

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Cheers Jessica. I'll be doing a bit more tonight. This might be a quick build too! Rigging and all as there is not much of it to do on this one!

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Tonights work:

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Fuselage insides in progress. The bits behind are a spare engine pot for the Finch and the removed one piece undercart covers from the Oxford!!

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The nose part that looks like it was removed is actually for the radial engine. The kit has optional parts fro the inline engine variant that is applicable to a separate kit.

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As can be seen some fettling was needed in rectifying the very slight fit issues.

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Primed main parts! You can just make out the pairs of holes for the double rigging wire arrangement! Oh what fun!!

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Hope to get the yellow on this evening and have a go at assembling the wings and struts! I read somewhere that the kit has an issue with the struttery. I'll have to see for myself.

Found this bit of inspiration too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IesBr8hGB0c

Note at the start of the film clip the harvard II with odd upper wing roundels!! But lovely footage of RCAF Tiger Moths and Finches!!

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Note at the start of the film clip the harvard II with odd upper wing roundels!! But lovely footage of RCAF Tiger Moths and Finches!!

The result of a hasty wing swap after a minor training prang. It would be an interesting variation to model :)

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As expected, the struts are way out as per an article I'd read somewhere! So, I set about making new ones from rod, cut to length(slightly longer than the kit parts by 2.00mm at least!!) and scraped to a flatter section tapering the edges so the are not 'square' in an attempt to get an aerofoil section and pointed them to fit the holes. The results can be seen here.

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I did do a dry fit of the upper wing and with a little tweaking I'm hoping it all lines up OK.

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The inner cabane struts will also be made from rod but slightly smaller diameter but I'm not going worry about getting an aerofoil section.Time is too short to worry about such matters. Its enough making new one s let alone getting them spot on.! One of the kit 'N' struts can be seen here. Lost the other!

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This last view shows the canopy fitted in place. Sadly It looks a bit to big around the periphery(is that spelt right??)But I had to fit it on now because trying to make sure there is a good bond around the windscreen would be difficult after the top wing is fixed on. I know this from experience with the Tiger Moth I've just finished here. So before the wing is glued on, the canopy framing needs colouring. There seems to be a choice of yellow or aluminium. By the way you might just be able to see a light brown edging to the cockpit openings. These represent the leather padding!

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Had a quick look this morning and everything seems OK. Have to say, I am a bit disappointed with the canopy and stuttery of this kit. Not up to the standards of SH/MPM/Azur(FR.ROM). But it is the only game in town in 72nd and the rest of it is fine. Another thing I found was the fitting of the tailplanes.if not done right it'll end up with swept back hinge lines for the elevators!

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Right I need your help mate as you clearly know what you are doing when it comes to struts.

I'm trying to get individual struts at the right sngle for a Sopwith Camel I just can't work out

how you do that?

Like your other builds this one eV is looking good.

Alan

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Right I need your help mate as you clearly know what you are doing when it comes to struts.

I'm trying to get individual struts at the right angle for a Sopwith Camel I just can't work out

how you do that?

Like your other builds this one is looking good.

Alan

Trial and error! Biplanes don't really feature much in my builds ... they worry me as much as I like'em!

The Tiger wasn't too bad to do. As for the Finch, I was already aware that the struts were an issue and by temporarily fitting them to get an idea of the stagger etc. This revealed the uneven lengths of all the struts, cabane and wing!. So I went for the longest strut in the kit, made new ones as described above, set them in place one at a time with the view of adjusting them by dry fitting the top wing. Not got much further yet but the next step for me on this build will be to fit the top wing on and for the shorter cabane struts , use the kit ones as a guide and make them the same way and by trial and error fit them in place and hope for the best.

Others here may have a better way. Good luck!

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Got the top wing on:

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need to make the cabane struts.

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The canopy framing done with silver decalling stripes! And note the riggig wires from the fin to tailplanes!

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Micro strip. Plastic card strips from the 1970's!!! Still have a small supply in my materials stock from all those years back!! These strips will be sanded along the 'square' edges to an almost aero foil shape, cut to length and installed hoping that they will give enough rigidity!!

The kit parts(in grey) were to be patterns for the new struts which will be a bit longer so they fit better.

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Since the above post, I have made the cabane struts and fitted them. The only thing I noticed that seems to throw it off kilter is the rake back of the front cabane struts. More than they should. But in looking at it hard, if they were positioned at the right angle then the wing struts would be with a much more forward angle and the top wing ending up lower thus pressing down on the enclosed cockpit canopy!!! Even if I was to remake them longer to avoid the 'crush'! I am beginning to think that the whole kit is a bit 'iffy' all over maybe excepting the wings :shrug: .

Oh well, I'll just have to see how it shapes up with the rigging in place. Pics tonight sometime... maybe.

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Would have done a couple more pics with the rigging and work in progress. But after fitting one set of 'wires' to one side, the thing slipped out my hands, 'tween knees and collided with the floor! Needn't say how it looked!

After a couple choice words it was so close to being binned!! But I've never done that and fought with it again and refitted the top wing, redrilled the existing holes to clear the cyano and had another go at the rigging and then stopped to avoid tempting a repeat disaaaaster darl.........

So, tonight I will do the other wing bay successfully I hope and see how I get on with remaining paintwork and do some pics.

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A safe run last night. No disaster with dropping it and rigging issues. Pictures:

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Invisible mending thread was my chosen material for the rigging. Cut to a suitable length threaded through holes I predrilled, glued at one end, pulled taut, and fixed at the other end. You can just make out the 'whiskers' out the top of the wing.

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I attempted to replicate the double wire arrangement. I know they are or appear to be a bit too far apart but looks better than just a single 'wire'. Anyway its staying that way now.

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I had to do a bit of delicate masking of the canopy in readiness for spraying the top wing and tuouching up areas around strut points. A bit of foam sponge from the front squidged up to the windscreen and from the rear, a scrap of tissue with strips of masking tape to hold it down and clear of the canopy as I didn't want to have to redo the frame work. This all worked quite successfully.

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Remaining parts to be added; resin exhaust and prop. Plus a squared thing that might be some kind of filter between the two lower cylinder pots and a venturi item to be fitted to an ubdercart leg. An then of course decals!

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Such a strange looking little plane Paul, she looks very much a "child of her times"! I'd be tempted to tone down the black of the engine, or dry-brush some highlights etc.. Marvellous job though.

Max

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Hi Max.

Thanks.

Agree about the engine. It was among the few things I still need to do before signing this one off. The earlier 'crash' I had was fortuitous in a way, as when I repaired it, the alignmnet of the wings and struttery was much improved and ended up with a little less 'rake back' on the cabane struts so am happier with it now.

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