1:72 Special Hobby Brewster Buffalo Mk.I

[Navy Bird]

Hi mates,

 

Time for a new project. My New Year's resolution, besides killing my cancer, is to NOT take five months to build a model (like my recent PB4Y-1 and DAP Beaufort builds)! So I figured that a smaller model won't take as long - enter the Brewster Buffalo. The Buffalo is a dichotomy in many ways. The earlier versions were superior to the latter, "improved" versions, and the kill ratio was actually quite good even though it had a reputation as a "flying coffin." In the hands of the Finns, the Brewster proved to be a formidable opponent indeed.

 

The legacy that the Brewster was responsible for the loss of Singapore had more to do with it being vastly outnumbered by the Japanese, and it being flown by relatively inexperienced pilots, unlike its opponents. And like many of the early war aeroplanes, it was essentially obsolete by the time the war really got going. Further evolution of the Buffalo was not possible, as its manufacturer was caught in an export scandal, taken over by the US Navy, and relinquished to building sub-assemblies for Grumman, etc.

 

The successes of the Buffalo in combat says a lot about the courage and tenacity of the youngsters tasked with strapping into it every day.

 

So let's build one of these tubby little buggers, eh? The Special Hobby kit consists of short-run injection moulded plastic, beautiful resin cast parts, but strangely no photoetch like most of their kits. No matter, I had enough photoetch for a while on my Beaufort build! First, the scene of the crime (Memsahib has cleaned up the workbench since the finish of the Beaufort!):

 

 

Here are the "traditional" raw materials:

 

 

And the resin - this, in my opinion, is where this kit really shines. The resin is superb, very nicely cast, and will add a huge amount of detail.

 

 

Since this is a short run kit, it will have some characteristics that, quite frankly, prevent it from being built the same way a mainstream kit would be. For instance, the resin sidewalls can't be attached until you remove this rather large pour lug (I think that's what these are, due to the low pressure injection moulding technique used.)

 

 

You could say this is poor design, but I wouldn't because I'm not a plastic moulding engineer. I have no idea why the lug needed to be right there. In any event, it's easily removed, in my case with a Dremel tool.

 

Another thing you notice right away is that there are no alignment pegs. When this is of biggest concern is when you're assembling all the pieces of the cockpit and the area where the landing gear retract, which also contains the engine bearers. The instructions do not do a very good job of telling you what goes where. But that is why we are modellers, right? It's like a puzzle with no picture on the box!

 

To solve this equation with multiple unknowns, I look for a part that I consider to be the "keystone." In other words, a part that can only go in one spot, and then build out from there. In the case of the Buffalo, I chose the forward cockpit bulkhead/firewall (we'll call it a firewall) because it has the scalloped recesses for the tyres when the gear is retracted, and these have to align with the cut-outs in the lower forward fuselage. Here is the firewall, this being the side that faces the engine:

 

 

Uh-oh! Welcome to another fun part of the short-run world - notice any difference between the scalloped area on the left and the one on the right? Me too - the mould has been damaged, and it looks like a big piece of crud is now obscuring the scalloped area on the right. Again, easily solved with a ball-end grinding tool on your Dremel. You need to be on the lookout for this kind of stuff.

 

Special Hobby have released the Buffalo in several different variants. I'll be building the Model B339E, or the Buffalo Mk.I. The 339E had a different fuselage structure right at the very end, and you have to cut away the one that's there (which is correct for a US Navy F2A-1) and add the 339E appendage, which is more like a tail cone. All cuts are along existing panel lines:

 

 

Now let's add the keystone (you'll notice that I removed the crud):

 

 

Next, I glued the rudder pedals onto the bottom of the instrument panel, and in doing so Mr. Fumble Thumbs managed to break off the coaming, which was more delicate than I expected. I got out my usual superglue, Zap-A-Gap (gotta love that name) and something quite odd happened. It didn't work. No stick. (I tested the Zap-A-Gap on some plastic to see if maybe the glue was bad, and it worked fine.) For some reason, this particular resin is impervious to Zap-A-Gap. Much strangeness, I think. I then tried one of the new "alpha" cyanoacrylate adhesives, in this case Max 1 from Germany, and it worked fine. A little putty and all is well.

 

 

 

The forward bulkhead (we'll call it that) will have the resin engine on the front, and the supercharger on the back. In-between the firewall and the forward bulkhead are the engine bearers, or mounts, as well as some components for the retractable landing gear. Here the instructions are quite nebulous. A clue, and an important one at that, are the four small indentations on the back side of the forward bulkhead, for this is where all those engine bearers should attach:

 

 

I don't believe there was a solid bulkhead in the actual aeroplane. The raised ring around the outside of this piece is meant to represent the exhaust collector (the Buffalo had two exhaust outlets, one on each side of the lower cowling). The resin supercharger chamber will mount to the center of the smaller embossed ring. The lower area with the mesh screen effect moulded in is the oil cooler. Assembling the engine bearers so that they will attach to the four small holes leaves us with this:

 

 

Welcome to short run modelling, part three. The two lower engine bearers are considerably too long, and protrude in the front beyond where the forward bulkhead should be. Notice the pencil line that I drew in the fuselage? This is where the forward bulkhead goes. For some reason, there is a raised edge on the port fuselage half to indicate this, but Special Hobby neglected to continue that edge on this half. No matter, my pencil worked just fine! A quick snip of the side cutters and the lower bearers are now the correct length.

 

Next, I added the fuselage side panels using the Max 1 superglue (this stuff bites almost immediately so be very careful in your placement!):

 

 

I aligned the top edge of the sidewall with the top of the fuselage. I'm pretty sure this is the correct way - we'll find out soon!

 

At this stage, I did a dry run of the two fuselage halves, and the front of the cowling. I wanted to know if the firewall was going to need some sanding in order for the two halves to close. The answer is yes, if you want the fuselage halves to close. But thank goodness I also taped on the front of the cowling, because I found something REALLY strange.

 

 

The bottom seam is closed, as is the top seam back by the tail. The circumference of the front cowling is aligned with the fuselage all the way around. What on earth is on top of the forward fuselage??

It's a gap. A big gap. The mother-in-law of all gaps. Gaposis Extremis. The "It's Bigger Than The Fulda Gap" Gap.

 

This can't be right. If I sand the firewall so that the fuselage halves close all around, then the front of the cowling will be too large. Let's try another test, and see how the canopy parts fit (since it's almost always easier to make the fuselage fit the canopies than the other way around). Guess what? With everything as shown in the above picture, the canopies fit quite nicely indeed. The width seem just right, for the windscreen, the sliding portion, and the rear fixed portion. If I closed up the Gap, the canopies will be too wide.

 

Pardon my French, but WTF?

 

I compared to some 1:72 scale drawings I have (of unknown providence and accuracy) and the above configuration lined up well. In other words, the size of the front cowling matched the width of the drawings. The port fuselage half lined up well with the side view drawing.

 

I test fit the instrument panel, and for it to be in its proper position, the Gap must be present. If I closed up the Gap, I would have to remove an equal amount of material from the sides of the instrument panel. Uh, no, don't really want to do that. Same goes for the seat support. And the forward bulkhead fits fine, with the Gap as shown.

 

I pulled my Hasegawa Finnish Model 239 Buffalo out of my stash (and it was on the bottom!). I measured the width of the front cowling - 18.9mm. I measured the width of the Special Hobby front cowling - 19.0mm. A difference of 0.1mm (.004"). This is negligible - for all intents and purposes, the two kits are the same.

 

(The Hasegawa and Special Hobby fuselage halves line up well, too. The lower window is about 0.5mm farther forward on the Hasegawa kit, though.)

 

I can only conclude one thing. Somebody at Special Hobby had an "Oops" moment. OK, so be it, we can fix it! I have styrene, putty, and Max 1 superglue! I can conquer the Buffalo!

 

Stayed tuned for another exciting episode of "Short Run Modelling - Your Pathway to Going Postal with Plastic!"   

 

Cheers,

Bill

 

PS. Ah, I forgot about the markings. What colour the RAF Buffaloes were painted seems to be endlessly controversial. Not wanting to initiate yet another five or six pages of debate, I want to say that my choices for the camouflage colours will be chosen according to this theory: The RAF Buffaloes were painted in DuPont equivalents of MAP Dark Green and Dark Earth, with the undersides in DuPont equivalents of MAP Night and MAP Sky. The fuselage band and spinner will be in MAP Sky Blue, assuming these were applied in theatre. The cockpit was painted in DuPont equivalent of British Cockpit Grey Green, from the firewall to the aft end of the cockpit. Beyond those areas the inside of the fuselage was aluminum lacquer. The main landing gear legs, as well as the scalloped recesses for the tyres, were painted in the underside colour (although the legs may have been in the camouflage colour, there is much debate about this). The engine bearers, retraction struts, etc. were aluminum lacquer.

 

That's it, that's my decision relative to the colours. Is this scheme accurate? I have no clue. But, I think it will look nice and it's a reasonable theory, at least as reasonable as any other theory.

[woody37]

You're not kidding about that gap Bill, do you think they every built one themselves before releasing the kit?

Bizarre, but we have the master working on it

[stevej60]

A quick build yo say Bill? and what,s that? it,s the colour police at the door!

[Navy Bird]

On 1/18/2015 at 15:46, woody37 said:

You're not kidding about that gap Bill, do you think they every built one themselves before releasing the kit?

 

Interesting question. I thought about having the gap on the bottom, but the shape of the bulkheads/firewall are such that it almost has to be this way. Plus, if the gap were closed up on the top, that nice resin instrument panel won't fit.

 

It would be nice to hear from others who have built this kit, to see if they encountered the same thing. I've read a couple build threads where the builder gave up, not being able to get all of the resin cockpit stuff inside. Maybe this is the trick - don't close it up, and fill the gap! Then all the resin seems to fit just fine.

 

Very strange, nonetheless. Never encountered anything like it.

 

Cheers,

Bill

[Mitch K]

I shall look forward to updates. I've got a SH Re2000 in the stash, and so I'm looking out for general pointers.

[Beard]

That gap looks, to say the least, interesting.

[StephenCJ]

Someone said the F2A-1 buffalo was a sweet little ship. Special Hobby Buffalos might not be.

Highly entertaining as I have just bought 2 SH buffalos and I have another in my stash. Looks like I will have monster gaps x 3 to fill.

Stephen

[Michael louey]

Hi Bill,

Good to see you started on a new project. This is a subject I know all too well having completed 2 Buffalos (or 1 Buffalo and 1 F2A to be pedantic).

One was the Special Hobby F2A-3, the other the Hasegawa F2-A2 with Special Hobby donor parts.

You have already bumped into 2 of the problems I had with the Special Hobby kit - The fragile instrument combing and the gap in the top fuselage (I don't recall mine being quite so bad and I removed material from firewall/cockpit to reduce the gap. I don't recall there being a problem with the cowling.

Another problem you'll encounter later is the transparencies. They don't really line up very well. Maybe a Falcon Vac might be the go for the sliding canopy.

The other thing to look out for is the underwing lights. I think only Hasegawa has moulded one under each wing which is correct for the Buffalo but not for any other F2A variants (which is odd as the Buffalo is the only version they haven't kitted . On the other hand, I think the SH kit doesn't have this feature. I plan to swap wings when I do my next Buffalo/F2A-3 builds to simplify this issue

Here's some I've prepared earlier:

http://z15.invisionfree.com/72nd_Aircraft/index.php?showtopic=2988&hl=

http://z15.invisionfree.com/72nd_Aircraft/index.php?showtopic=5874&hl=

A couple of other Buffalo notes:

1. It's worth representing the rubber tip of the spinner - It really is distincive in pictures.

2. There is a chance there is a gas detector patch on the wing.

After the experience with the SH kit, I took the simpler way with the Buffalo. It looks cleaner even though it doesn't have as much 'detail'

Cheers

Michael

[Navy Bird]

Thanks folks!

 

Nice work on your two Buffaloes, Michael. I have five in my stash, including the Mk.I I'm building here. The others are three more Special Hobby kits (the F2A-2, F2A-3, and the Dutch version), plus the Hasegawa Finnish bird. I have so many because the detail differences between the different models make for an interesting collection.

I was aware of the second under-wing light, plus the need to add a British reflector sight to the instrument panel. I believe the RAF planes also had a gun camera, necessitating another blister on top of the starboard wing and a leading edge clear cover for the starboard wing. It looks like a landing light in photos, but I'm pretty sure it's the gun camera.

 

I'll have a look for the rubber tip on the spinner, as I hadn't heard about that before. Thanks for sharing that.

 

Filling the gap is no big deal, and I much prefer that to making the resin cockpit pieces narrower. And, of course, trying to fit the canopies if they're too wide is no fun at all. The fact that the Special Hobby and Hasegawa cowlings are so close in size tells me that the overall shape will be better by filling the gap. I've already added three very thin strips of styrene to that top portion of the forward fuselage, maybe 0.030" total. That's all it will need, it's not as bad as the photo makes it look. I think the photo is magnified a bit.

 

I have some Falcon vacuform canopies, by the way, which are for the Airfix and Matchbox kits. I have no idea if they would fit the Special Hobby kit. But they might.

 

Cheers,

Bill

[hacker]

Wooo whooo another exciting adventure of Bill the Model Builder! l wonder if you could use a Matchbox front cowling to see if it is smaller?

Edited January 19, 2015 by hacker

[Navy Bird]

OK, well that was fun. The Gap has been neutralized.

 

You gotta love strip styrene, you know? I took some strips that were 0.010" thick and added two to one side and one to the other, and then trimmed to the shape of the top fuselage edge. Like this:

 

 

Now when I tape things together for a dry fit, she no look-a so bad:

 

 

And, all the cockpit stuff and bulkheads fit with little or no sanding. You may also notice that I've painted the cockpit section with my special Gunze mix that, to my eye anyway, is a little darker than British cockpit grey-green, thereby being a good stand-in for DuPont Cockpit Grey Green. I've also started some of the detail painting, as I've painted the instrument panels black. Some folks think they weren't black, but no one really knows and you can't tell from a black and white photo. There is a photo in the Squadron Buffalo book that purports to show the cockpit in an RAF Buffalo (it does have the reflector gunsight) and it looks to me that these panels are a darker colour than the rest of the cockpit.

 

Once the fuselage halves are glued together, there will be some putty necessary on the area that "used to be the Gap." Then a little re-scribing and things should be good. OK, now back to my detail work. I'm going through my decal stash looking for 1:72 dials and gauges, etc. Thank goodness there aren't too many in the Buffalo! Maybe I should just put a colour zoom Spitfire panel on there and call it a day!  

 

Cheers,

Bill the Model Builder (I like that, do you think that little kids would like to watch a cartoon based on me? I could make some real money...)

[Martian]

Great start on a very interesting subject Bill! Special Hobby really do seem to be getting sloppy recently though.

Martin

[Sten Ekedahl]

Settling myself down comfortably with great anticipation, to enjoy the new Buffalo Bill Building Show!

[Cookenbacher]

Yes, glad to get in on the ground floor of one of your builds Bill. I've already learned a few dozen things from this thread so far, and you've just gotten started!

Nice work on the fuselage gap, that would have stymied me for sure.

[LDSModeller]

Hi Bill

Sorry I caught this a little late, the Buffalo is one of my favourite aircraft

The 339E cockpit differed markedly from its F2A-2 Predecessor, unfortunately the resin parts that Special Hobby provided are more suited to the F2A-2

I have in my build pile the 1/32 Special Hobby F2A-2 Buffalo being built as a 339E. I have been using the 339E pilots notes, which has pictures and descriptions of the associated RAF gear to be used

I have included a part build here showing the cockpit etc that your welcome to read and use if you like

http://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?showtopic=16636

I realise yours is 1/72 but there some items that do stick out.

The 339E had square backed seats, with support bars that extended up and into the roll over frame, seat supports also acted as a place to fix the pilots back armour. However the drawings from Brewster and the manufactured armour plate made at the Naval base in Singapore, has issues with the holes lining up. So the ground crews attached it with wire.

This is a photo of John "Hutch" hutchinson of 488 Squadron and also a Battle of Britain veteran, note the supports and square backed seat

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e242/hkins/Alans%20Planes/Brewster%20Buffalo%20Build/BrewsterseatSupportI.jpg

My model with amour attached with wire you can't see (but it's there). The brown ducting is also peculiar to the 339E for cockpit heating and for heating the guns.

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e242/hkins/Alans%20Planes/Brewster%20Buffalo%20Build/FILE0416-1.jpg

One other important aspect is that the Combing, does not overhang the instrument panel, rather the instrument panel is flush against the combing lip. Reason being, the RAF would mount a Gunsight which protruded up and over the combing.

The two landing lights are mentioned previous, but there is also the gun camera in the starboard wing marked with a B - Edit forgot the rubber tip on the spinner, you can make out the white dot at the spinners forward end. In 1/72 that would be but a tiny pin (pointed end) size dot, either black or white (depending on spinner colour)

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e242/hkins/Alans%20Planes/Brewster%20Buffalo%20Build/RAFBuffalo339EGuncamera.jpg

Look forward to the rest of your build

Regards

Alan

Edited January 19, 2015 by LDSModeller

[giemme]

Short run kit, huge gaps, resin ... I'm in! You said quick build, didn't you?

Great job so far, by the way. And I'll totally second what Cooken said:

I've already learned a few dozen things from this thread so far, and you've just gotten started!

Ciao

[PlaStix]

Wahooo!!! A Bill built Brewster Buffalo project to enjoy! Fascinating stuff already and the thread's not even a day old yet!

Kind regards,

Stix

[dr_gn]

Yup - Special Hobby.

Remember my Curtiss Hawk where I had to rapid-prototype an entire new cowl because the original simply wouldn't fit no matter how I orientated the parts?

Bizzarre.

[Navy Bird]

On 1/19/2015 at 15:06, dr_gn said:

Yup - Special Hobby.

Remember my Curtiss Hawk where I had to rapid-prototype an entire new cowl because the original simply wouldn't fit no matter how I orientated the parts?

Bizzarre.

 

And a fantastic Curtiss Hawk that turned out to be! You see, it was all worth it, plus you got to play with the 3D printer - that wouldn't happen with a shake and baker, now would it? All these things happen for a reason.

 

Cheers,

Bill

[Procopius]

Thank heavens you're getting to this one before me, geeze, what a gap!

[Hamden]

Interesting new project, I don't know about a quick build though!

Seeing the trouble you've had and you haven't really got started yet

Will follow this with interest if you don't mind

Roger

[Navy Bird]

Hi mates,

 

I managed to get a bit more work done on the little Buffalo today. First, I painted the Wright Cyclone engine and supercharger housing with Alclad Dark Aluminum, and followed that with a black wash to bring out the cooling fins and other details. The reduction gear housing was painted with Gunze H339 Engine Grey.

 

 

Next, I finished the detail painting of the cockpit walls and instrument panel. I sanded back the lip of the coaming, leaving just a wee bit so I would have something to mount the gunsight onto. That will be mounted later, so I don't knock it off and never see it again. The fuel tank and instrument panel were then glued into the starboard fuselage and I test fit that with the port half to make sure I would still be able to close the fuselage. No problems! I used a burnt umber wash on the cockpit to represent wear and tear (and some of that Singaporean dirt), then covered it all with a coat of Alclad clear flat. I will add some paint chipping effects with a silver pencil.

 

Since you'll be able to see past the pilot's seat into the rear portion of the fuselage, I thought it might be prudent to add some more structural details. I used 0.6mm styrene rod to represent two additional rows of formers, matching the spacing seen in the cockpit details. I then masked off the cockpit areas, and sprayed Alclad Aluminum on the inside of each fuselage half.

 

These photos should give you a good idea of where we are now, plus the inclusion of the 10ml Gunze bottles will give you an idea of just how small this little bugger really is. I would have to check, but this may be the smallest model I've ever built!

 

 

 

I'll go back to the front of the model next, and finish up the engine mounting. Once that is done, the shelf behind the headrest can be added along with the roll-over bar. Then the fuselage can be closed up, although I may take a good look at how the belly window attaches. Special Hobby have you add that towards the end of the build, but it might be advantageous to add it before the fuselage is closed, just so you can get at it for alignment. We'll see.

 

Cheers,

Bill

[modelglue]

GAH! That is some clean work. Do you have an electron microscope which you use to paint with? Outstanding!

[John Laidlaw]

Nice CGI renderings. When are you going to show us photos of the actual work you've been doing?

[rob85]

Bill i'm dissappointed... It looks like your doing another great model, I was hoping for a 3 day oob airfix hurricane (Something I could achieve as well). ... nevermind I will just have to make do with a flawed kit with a massive gap and watch you turn it into something stunning not again!! (All sarcasm of course apart from the good bits And my ability! Cracking work bill can't wait to see how this one goes!!)

Cheers

Rob