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BE2c - Finished


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I've finished my Seafire in the Spitfire GB and before finishing the Draagonfly in the Helicopter GB (I have lost my MoJo on it a little) so rather than do the sensible thing I've decide to embark on this.

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I'm going to do the RNAS option, partly as it fits into my Royal Navy aircraft collection but more for the fact it's an East Fortune based aircraft and I worked on and off at the old East Fortune hospital a few years back. And the rockets on the outer struts look great.

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Edited by 825
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825

Good luck with interest will be watching. Note the color of the chassis caps, they were not painted on the prototype and still, the plane carrying the bomb under the fuselage.

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Quick look at the sprues

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Nice and crisp moulding, no flash and a few mould ejection thingies but none seem to be where they would seen

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Nice to see the sprues will follow with interest . I work at Montrose on the site of Britains first operational aircraft base.

I recall Montrose airfield very well. My first ever BB camp was there, Glasgow Fair 1967. Vast acres of grass stretching out for what seemed like miles. We went back a few times in the late 60's and early 70's.

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Some paint on the parts. I prefer to do biplanes this way, and touch up as I go along

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Revell Aqua Olivgrun as a PC10 substitute, Citadel Bleached Bone with some yellow in it for the doped linen and Akan wood colour as a base on the wooden parts. They'll get a wash with some oils and a coat of clear orange as we go along.

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Got the interior done. Unfortunately the control column snapped. I'll have to re-cement it. Sorry it's not such a great photo.

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  • 2 weeks later...

A bit more work done. Interior installed and fuselage closed up with struts in place. Goes together well and fit is positive. I was careful to clean the paint off the mating surfaces though, in view of Airfix's current tight tolerances.

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The fuselage is quite small, 3 inches at this point, despite big wings.

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Although Airfix put some nice interior detail, there's not much to see. I don't know whether to put seat belts in or pop in a pilot

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  • 2 weeks later...

It's been a little while since I did some work on this but today I had a day's leave so have attacked it with gusto. Started with tidying up the fuselage and touching up the paintwork. Put the engine together, which was a little fiddly at times but no great problems, and glued the two halves of the engine compartment together.

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Then onto the struts. Airfix's strut holders are really useful. So much better than the cross braces on the Tiger Moth and Gladiator. Got here with little to trouble me.

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Lower wing and tailplane on. Needed a little trimming to get a good fit. Mainly removing the paint from the joint areas. The lower wing dihedral seems fine.

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Next the windscreens and the upper wing (always my Achilles Heel with biplanes)

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Top wing on. And this went on with a minimum of fuss. It needed taping down to make sure it stayed down. I'll leave it overnight to let the glue cure.

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The engine casing needed some filler but otherwise this kit fits together really well

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Looking good!

by the way do you plan to make any rigging? Would be interesting to see.

Just wondering as I have Swordfish 1/72 on the shelf but never tried rigging... Don't either I need to start it or not :)

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Looking good!

by the way do you plan to make any rigging? Would be interesting to see.

Just wondering as I have Swordfish 1/72 on the shelf but never tried rigging... Don't either I need to start it or not :)

Vadim, I won't be doing the rigging. I rarely do as life is too short. And I'm not very good at it. There are folks on here who are brilliant at it and you will find advice and guidance on ways to go about it. It's a personal choice at the end of the day and we model to enjoy ourselves so I'm OK with not doing it.

That being said Airfix do provide a good rigging diagram if one does wish to do it and if it's an Airfix Swordfish you have there is a rigging diagram in the instructions. Here is my Taranto Swordfish without rigging but she still looks a mean beast

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I'll admit from the front she does look a bit bare but I'll live with it.

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My advice. Do it your way and never let perfection get in the way of your fun.

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That looks a nice kit. I seem to remember the pre-release blurb stating that the crew figures for this and the Fokker were 'digitally sculpted'... really as an expression that doesn't mean an awful lot to me, or it could mean a lot of things. Did you decide not to use them in the end, and if not: any chance of a picture of the figures please?

Cheers,

Stew

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Coming along nicely! You can always tell people that you have used Acme invisible thread to get a scale rigging effect...

Stew - you can see them in post #3 above. The poses (both the same) look a bit stiff to me but I guess they are made to fit in a tiny cockpit. With apologies to 825 for thread hijack, here's a picture. BE2c on the sprues, and other Airfix WWI pilots: L-R DH4 (x2), Roland CII (x2) and Albatros DV.

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Regards,

Adrian

Edited by AdrianMF
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That looks a nice kit. I seem to remember the pre-release blurb stating that the crew figures for this and the Fokker were 'digitally sculpted'... really as an expression that doesn't mean an awful lot to me, or it could mean a lot of things. Did you decide not to use them in the end, and if not: any chance of a picture of the figures please?

Cheers,

Stew

Adrian has shown what they look like and to be honest they are reasonably well sculpted and should paint up well. I do like the rendition of the RNAS/RFC flying coat. They are a bit inanimate though, looking as if they have a poker inserted somewhere rather intimate. I haven't used them just because I haven't.

Adrian, I always use Acme invisible thread for rigging, it's easy to work with and doesn't take any time.

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Thanks gents :cheers:

They do look a bit odd, but I'm guessing if fitted only the head and shoulders would really be visible anyway and the heads look pretty good, especially compared to the older figures.

It will be interesting to see if this 'digital sculpting' will become a regular thing or whether Airfix will eventually follow the trend and stop providing crew figures altogether.

825, I forgot to say I like the look of your Swordfish and the BE2 is coming along nicely too :thumbsup2:

Cheers,

Stew

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Thanks gents :cheers:

They do look a bit odd, but I'm guessing if fitted only the head and shoulders would really be visible anyway and the heads look pretty good, especially compared to the older figures.

It will be interesting to see if this 'digital sculpting' will become a regular thing or whether Airfix will eventually follow the trend and stop providing crew figures altogether.

825, I forgot to say I like the look of your Swordfish and the BE2 is coming along nicely too :thumbsup2:

Cheers,

Stew

Thanks Stew

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They are a bit inanimate though, looking as if they have a poker inserted somewhere rather intimate.

The Edwardians were in many surprising ways quite different from us.

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Edward II was probably a lot less unpleasant than his father Edward I who was known to us Gaels as the Hammer of the Scots. Edward II although never endearing to we Scots did lose at the Battle of Bannockburn hence Scotland becoming independent of England and a country in its own right.

Touch of history and nothing to do with my BE2. However, the model I'm doing was based at East Fortune airfield which is not very far from Athelstaneford where before the Battle,allegedly, in the sky there appeared a cross of St Andrew and as the Scots won, St Andrew was adopted as Scotland's patron saint and the saltire adorns the national flag. It's also incorporated into the UK's Union Flag.

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It's also incorporated into the UK's Union Flag.

Yep! The two national flags on their own do very little for me, but combined into the Union Flgag, I think they make probably the most beautiful flag in the world.

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Yep! The two national flags on their own do very little for me, but combined into the Union Flgag, I think they make probably the most beautiful flag in the world.

Actually there is a third flag in the Union Flag; the red saltire of St Patrick which gives the Red Cross superimposed on the Scottish White Saltire.

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