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Airfix 1/72 Tiger Moth G-ADJJ


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Hello gents :)

I'd like to join in with another Airfix Tiger Moth if I may. I don't often do civvy aircraft but I was particularly taken with one of the options on the Xtradecals sheet, so...

Here's the kit, it's the civilian boxing which I imagine is the same as the RAF Trainer version but with different transfers:

DSCN4008.jpg

... and this is the aircraft I hope to represent; it's the chequered tailfin that did it for me:

DSCN4013.jpg

The first thing I did was to remove the marked areas of the rear fuselage so the parts with the anti-spin strakes can be fitted:

DSCN4010.jpg

Then I started assembly of the interior:

DSCN4016.jpg

... and gave it a quick blast of interior green for the basecoat:

DSCN4019.jpg

I'll do some detail painting later but I have the feeling that not much will be visible when it is all closed up anyway so I don't intend to go nuts on it :D

Cheers,

Stew

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Hello Stew, good to see you here! If I remember correctly with the Bf110 STGB you very quickly produced 3 models so I have great expectations. Looks like a good start and as you've mentioned there are some very attractive colour schemes to indulge yourself with.

Max

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That is a lovely looking scheme, keep meaning to pick up one of these. Have a half-finished old-tooled version on the shelf of doom.

Thanks Ragtag, I was quite taken with that scheme and the new kit looks lovely - if I had one of the old ones I'd be tempted to leave it where it was and get one of the new ones instead :lol:

Hello Stew, good to see you here! If I remember correctly with the Bf110 STGB you very quickly produced 3 models so I have great expectations. Looks like a good start and as you've mentioned there are some very attractive colour schemes to indulge yourself with.

Max

Well remembered Max, however back then I was basking in the rosy afterglow of my redundancy so had plenty of time on my hands, now I am working again... so I wouldn't expect too much of me. That said, if this one turns out okay I might have a go at an RAF one...

Hi Stew, nice scheme and good start fella. good luck with the build

All the best

Chris

Thanks very much Chris, I hope it will be fun, I don't really need much more from it than that so anything else is a bonus :)

Cheers,

Stew

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Hi Stew! I'm in :popcorn:

Hi Ced, welcome along, make yourself comfy :D

Looks great Stew. I'm still waiting for theat decal sheet to arrive. A great scheme you've picked there. Good luck with it :)

Thanks Paul, there are quite a few attractive schemes on that sheet, and the other two as well, plenty of domestic users for this aircraft and some interesting foreign schemes too...

Looks like a nice scheme. Not tempted to mask and paint the tail?? Tsk, tsk...

Looking forward to the build,

Regards,

Adrian

:lol: Thanks Adrian; no, not tempted, not even for a moment...

I've made a bit of progress on the interior:

DSCN4026.jpg

I decided to fix the control wires for the tail surfaces from the inside rather than plug them into the drilled holes later... I think there is some logic to this but it escapes me now I come to think of it... so perhaps there is no particular reason to do that. I also made a start on the crew but the progress is not sufficient to merit a picture just yet.

Cheers,

Stew

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Thanks Jaime, thanks Max :D

I finished the crew and fitted them to the seats, and added the transfers to the instrument panels:

DSCN4030.jpg

I should be able to close up the fuselage soon...

I replaced the little moulded-on control horns with some brass micro-tube, it's a little overscale but it is stronger than plastic and has a ready-made hole to plug the cable into, which I hope will make things easier later on:

DSCN4031.jpg

Cheers,

Stew

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Thank you gents :)

I have made some progress... I got the fuselage halves joined and fitted the replacement upper rear fuselage section with the anti-spin strakes:

DSCN4037.jpg

It was at this point that I found injudicious sanding can actually remove EZ-Line as effectively as a craft knife. I re-drilled the holes and will reinstate the elevator control cables later. I believe the next stage of the instructions is assembling and fitting the engine.

Cheers,

Stew

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Looking good Stew :)

I for one would be very grateful for a step-by-step on the rigging if you feel up to it... I'm ready for the challenge but can't find any idiot's guides for us idiots, especially the location for the holes :)

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I for one would be very grateful for a step-by-step on the rigging if you feel up to it... I'm ready for the challenge but can't find any idiot's guides for us idiots, especially the location for the holes :)

Ced, if you look at all the photographs that I put in the Reference thread, you'll see exactly where to drill the rigging holes.....if there are any locations that are unclear and you want clarification just let me know.

Max

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Looking good Stew :)

I for one would be very grateful for a step-by-step on the rigging if you feel up to it... I'm ready for the challenge but can't find any idiot's guides for us idiots, especially the location for the holes :)

Thanks Ced - as Max says, the pictures in the 'Reference' thread should be a help... the kit instructions do show most of the wire anchoring locations but are a bit vague here and there; my own drilling is 'as close as I can make it', and that will be good enough.

As for the rigging itself, it really is quite easy with EZ-Line (I'm sure the manufacturer had exactly that pun in mind), but you'll need your best reading glasses or optivisor or whatever to thread it through the holes. I use these drill bits (I think in 0.3mm but it might be 0.5mm) as they are sharper than these ones and less prone to snapping. I drill the holes all the way through the wing, thread the EZ-Line through and secure it on the outside edge with gel superglue. Pull the EZ-Line until it is just taut, don't pull it as tight as it will go, and the secure the other end in the same way prior to trimming the loose ends off and filling the holes with filler, then sanding until the patch-up is sufficiently tidy to paint over.

It might make you feel easier if you have a 'mule' to practice on, but in my experience it is the drilling that this the difficult bit... and even that is not that difficult. The really difficult part is overcoming your fear of rigging in the first place :lol:

Cheers,

Stew

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Hi Stew,

As a total newbie here, I like that blue moth you chose. But it says it's from 1939 and I don't think the strakes were added until well into the war? If G-ADJJ lasted that long it would be yellow / camo by then?

I'm intrigued by your rigging first, won't it get in the way of painting? I like biplanes but so far only rigged the large Revell Dr1 which was fairly easy. I gave up on a Matchbox Fury when I discovered I couldn't see invisible thread...

Cheers

Will

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Hi Malpaso, welcome to the forum.

Well spotted! G-ADJJ was impressed during the war

and presumably the strakes were added during its RAF service.

The caption on the Xtradecal instructions is a bit incorrect,

the decals depict - correctly - G-ADJJ as it appeared in

the mid 1960's when it flew with the Magister Flying Group

based at Leicester East. There is a fairly clear B&W photo

of this aircraft and a colour profile in the old Profile

publication (no 132?) showing the checked tail and strakes. In the

late 30's it flew with the Philips & Powis (Miles aircraft)

fling club from Woodley when it would have had a dark red

fuselage with silver wings etc.

Looking forward to seeing this one built up, coming along

nicely so far!

Cheers, Paul

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