JOCKNEY Posted December 25, 2017 Share Posted December 25, 2017 Like many reading this I have the Contrail Fairey IIIF Vacform kit, and would like to build one with one of the colourful interwar colour schemes. Does anyone know of any aftermarket decals and colour schemes for this aircraft. Also if there are any aftermarket bits, and you have built one yourself. All tips greatly appreciated cheers Pat ps happy Christmas and a very special Hogmanay for 2018 ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrik Posted December 27, 2017 Share Posted December 27, 2017 Hi Pat, I think you best start with: 1. Fairey IIIF (Interwar Military Workhorse), Ad Hoc Publications 2009 2. Fleet Air Arm Aircraft, Units and Ships 1920 to 1939, Air-Britain (Historians) 1998 Both of them with colour profiles and the appropriate photos to them. And you can use also: 3. Wings and Waves (The Fleet Air Arm 1919-1939) - On Target Special No. 5, Aviation Workshop Publications 2008 - no photos here, but all the colour profiles quote their source. And you can most likely forget about aftermarket stuff designed specifically for Fairey IIIF. Sooner you get some for Blackburn Puffin or Martin-Baker MB-9A Sea Rodent to name but a few. But you can try digging into the Aeroclub white metal accessories, in my opinion you will find there at least the propeller and wheels (for the wheel version). Patrik 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOCKNEY Posted December 28, 2017 Author Share Posted December 28, 2017 Thanks Patrik Really appreciated, I have managed to find a copy of the book 2. above on the internet so have ordered it. kind regards Pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClaudioN Posted December 28, 2017 Share Posted December 28, 2017 (edited) Are you looking for a floatplane, or a carrier-based aircraft would do? Floatplanes in catapult flights were usually less colourful than carrier-based machines. AVIATION IN BRITAIN BEFORE THE FIRST WORLD WAR. © IWM (RAE-O 650)IWM Non Commercial Licence THE ROYAL NAVY IN THE INTER WAR PERIOD.. © IWM (Q 92899)IWM Non Commercial Licence Edited December 28, 2017 by ClaudioN 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogsbody Posted December 28, 2017 Share Posted December 28, 2017 Here's one: http://www.boxartden.com/gallery/index.php/Profiles/Aircraft-Profiles/Britain/Between-the-Wars/Fairey-IIIF-44 Chris 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWM Posted December 28, 2017 Share Posted December 28, 2017 A Greek one? http://www.wardrawings.be/WW2/Files/2-Airplanes/Allies/5-Others/05-Greece/Fairey-3F/Fairey-3F.htm I think they were still in line there at outbreak of WWII Cheers J-W 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pedro1 Posted December 30, 2017 Share Posted December 30, 2017 Or maybe one from the Chilean Navy from the battleship 'Almirante Latorre'? Chilean wing and tail markings can probably be sourced from Aztec decals. Peter 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrik Posted December 30, 2017 Share Posted December 30, 2017 We need decent 1/72 kit of the IIIF first. I would love to have more than one IIIF in my collection and I am not afraid of vacforms either, but the Contrail/Sanger IIIF belongs to the unfortunate group of kits (consisting in my case mostly of Contrail vacforms) that I remove from stash at least once in a year, try to imagine the amount of work needed to convert it to (what I think of as) decent replica, and put it back again with a sad sight. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
europapete Posted December 30, 2017 Share Posted December 30, 2017 lol, me too. I have most of the contrail inter-war kits in the stash, but man, the work involved ! Also been bitten by the wingnuts bug, which really doesn't help. Regards, Pete in RI 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Aero Posted January 4, 2018 Share Posted January 4, 2018 Unfortunately all the published drawings are inaccurate and to make matters worse the published dimensions are often mixed up. The wing tips are not the totally rounded shape shown in many of the drawings and the fuselage overall length differs as to which Napier Lion is fitted. The early ones (Lion VA) had the forwards carburetors and the later type (Lion XI/XIA) had the engine moved forwards to accommodate the rear mounted carburetors. A quick visual check to which is which, is that if a circular hole is visible low down on the cowl side, near the firewall, then this is the intake tube for the Lion XI variants. The Lion VA engines triple carburetors drew their air from under the nose just behind the spinner. RAF variants used a Scarff ring and the Naval ones used a Fairey gun mount. John 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moggy Posted January 4, 2018 Share Posted January 4, 2018 Argentine Naval Aviation I have both the Contrail & the Merlin model kits. Yes, I know Merlin Models richly deserved reputation. Cheers, Moggy (undaunted by odds) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOCKNEY Posted January 6, 2018 Author Share Posted January 6, 2018 On 04/01/2018 at 1:02 PM, John Aero said: Unfortunately all the published drawings are inaccurate and to make matters worse the published dimensions are often mixed up. The wing tips are not the totally rounded shape shown in many of the drawings and the fuselage overall length differs as to which Napier Lion is fitted. The early ones (Lion VA) had the forwards carburetors and the later type (Lion XI/XIA) had the engine moved forwards to accommodate the rear mounted carburetors. A quick visual check to which is which, is that if a circular hole is visible low down on the cowl side, near the firewall, then this is the intake tube for the Lion XI variants. The Lion VA engines triple carburetors drew their air from under the nose just behind the spinner. RAF variants used a Scarff ring and the Naval ones used a Fairey gun mount. John Thanks very much John I have now received my copy of " Fleet Air Arm Aircraft, Units and Ships 1920 to 1939" a weighty tome of 432 pages A4 hardback ! Great colour drawings lots of period photos and details of literally every individual aircraft, ship, unit etc. Being a fan of aircraft that float, I'm tempted to go with these options Chilean Navy ( Decals in Contrail Kit ) Argentinian Navy ( Decals again in Contrail Kit) Fleet Air Arm ( Chris "Dogsbody" link above ) picture below, no idea where to start getting Decals for this one ! Apologises I should have included this link earlier so show what parts and decal options are available with the original kit. https://nofineline.com/fairey-fiii-fs-contrail-172/ Thanks Moggy I didn't know Merlin made the FIII, I have a Merlin Hawker Osprey, which looks a frightening proposition ! Has anyone on here built a Merlin Kit to shed some light on whether their reputation is deserved ? cheers Pat 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moggy Posted January 6, 2018 Share Posted January 6, 2018 I built their Meteor mk. 8. It should have been made a hanging offence. Thankfully it was destroyed during a move - together with what amounted to my worst 9 models. Cheers, Moggy (amid moveus interruptus) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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