An Airfix classic - The Fairey Battle receives some TLC plus 3d printed main gear, bomb racks, and bomb doors.

[Courageous]

She's taking shape Ian .

 

Stuart

[TheBaron]

9 hours ago, limeypilot said:

The gear will be made up from brass/ally tube and rod, and attached to the cross piece which 

Looking forward to the day this happens.

 

Great couple of last updates Ian, she's coming along in very smart fashion. 

Good luck in Dallas.

[Brandy]

Thanks Stuart, Tony - looking like another long break coming very soon unfortunately as it's been decided that I have to go back to Dallas, probably next week, to do the training that I was originally going to do in Abu Dhabi. 

 

 Until then though....

 The bottom edge of the rudder has been cut off and attached to the fuselage (the small fairing piece), but I forgot to get a pic. I then stuck the horizontal stabilisers on. Unfortunately that exaggerated an error I thought I had, but also thought I may get away with. I messed up a little when reattaching the wings and appears one is slightly tilted. It can be seen in this pic.

 

 

 Notice the rudder and stabs are lined up with the grid on my cutting mat - the wing stubs, however, are not! The left wing is slightly tilted down, hence the gap that needed card to fill it on the other side! With the wings attached it was barely noticeable without the stabs fitted, but they have given another reference point and it is now obvious. The solution is to continue with the plastic card! A sheet of .020" was cut to shape and has been glued onto the underside of the right wing. It will be sanded down to blend it in once fully dried.

 

Here's how the other side looked after the same treatment, so I know it should work!

 

 

and here it is with the new wing centre section awaiting final fettling!

 

 

That's it for now, it has some drying to do!

 

Ian

 

 

[longweight]

On 2/3/2018 at 8:51 PM, Hamden said:

 

Nice subject, nice project I'll follow along as well.

Seem to remember reading somewhere that the nose is best replaced with one from a Spitfire Mk1 for a more accurate shape but may be wrong on that, memory not what it used to be!

 

  Roger

I think that might have been the old Airfix Defiant moulds, someone used the nose from a Heller Spitfire IIRC. I had a resin nose replacement from somewhere and the whole thing went for sale when the new Airfix kit was released recently.

Ian Huntley I think it was did an article on the Airfix Battle in SAM or SMI and declared the moulds to have been cut using some original drawings of a prototype or some such. I confess I gave mine away and bought the Special Hobby (?) kit instead which I am still yet to build.....hmmmm.

[CedB]

Nice progress Ian, you're certainly sorting out those shape / fit problems

But wait... what's that stand / clamp thingy in the photos... or are there two? They look really handy; do you remember where you got them please?

 

(Yes, tool envy is a disease... I'll keep taking the tablets)

[TheBaron]

49 minutes ago, CedB said:

But wait... what's that stand / clamp thingy in the photos..

Yes, tell. I too am experiencing peak curiosity bordering upon need...

 

Kudos on picking up that alignment issue Ian - it's very easy not to detect something like that until much later on when it becomes a much larger problem. I'm convinced that this will emerge as a definitive build of the Airfix Battle. 👨‍🏫

[Brandy]

@CedB @TheBaron Here you go chaps, it's the model 201 on the vises [sic] and work holding tools page.

 

https://www.panavise.com/index.html?PageID=1&PageName=Home&sec_id=1&sec_status=main

 

I pasted the link for the whole site because I just know you'll spot something else you need too!

Probably not much progress today as it's my birthday, and I'm going on a brewery trip with a couple of friends! It's hard enough doing one Battle at a time, I don't need to attempt to do 3!

 

Ian

[keefr22]

Happy Birthday Ian!

 

Enjoy the brewery!

 

Keith

[TheBaron]

Many Happy Returns Ian!

(Thanks for that link).

[CedB]

Many happy returns from me as well

 

For UK buyers the vice is available on Amazon here shipped from the 'Global Store' for about £30. Very desirable...

[Courageous]

Ced, you 'tool tart', desirability will win. 😎

[Brandy]

Thank you Gents, I survived!

 

Not only that, but I had some time before the brewery trip to get some more done. The new underside was sanded down without issue and is a huge improvement.

 

 

But there is another problem lurking.... I think with hindsight it would have been better to have joined the two wing sections and worked on those as a unit before attaching it to the fuselage. But I didn't, so....

 

The rear of the wing section has a slight dip which shouldn't be there,

 

 

This, I think, is a kit error. The rear inner section of the wing undersurfaces should be flat, but is moulded with a curve. Of course I may not have helped by sanding it down earlier.

 

and since the trailing edge fairings are not quite right either,

 

 

another piece of card was added. I also added some miliput on top of the plastic card along the trailing edges so that I can raise them slightly where they meet the fuselage.

 

 

Wor on the tail had also progresed. I cut off the tips of the elevators and rudder, as planned, and stuck them on the fuselage, then blended them in with a little PPP and a final gentle shaping with a sanding stick.

 

 

 

 

Once those were fitted, the rudder and elevators could get their final adjustments (sanding) to make them fit properly. The last task remaining in that area is to cut and add the hinges.

The final job for today was to attach the wings.

 

 

With those on,  I should be able to finish the adjustments to the undersurfaces tomorrow and ensure everything lines up correctly.

 

As mentioned earlier, a lot, if not all, of the adjustments needed underneath could have been avoided by planning a little better. IE not sanding down earlier, and joining the two parts so that I could work on the centre section as one piece. Obvious now, but if anyone is planning similar major surgery to their Battle, worth knowing in advance!

 

Thanks for looking in!

 

Ian

 

 

Edited April 30, 2018 by limeypilot

[CedB]

Great stuff Ian.

You can now have a trip to the brewery in the sure knowledge that things are right with the Battle, so far!

Have a good birthday

[keefr22]

More inspired modelling Ian, really looking Battle like now!

 

Keith

[Andre B]

Fantastic work!

 

Just Wonder, what did the bombardier do to sit in that dark place of the aircraft without any windows?

 

Cheers / André

[Terry1954]

Just caught up on this one. What can I say? What an amazing, informative and wholly inspiring WIP. 

 

I'm loving every bit of this Ian, and will follow this with relish. You are transforming a very old inaccurate kit into a superb replica of a Battle.

 

Thanks for sharing.

 

Terry

[Brandy]

On 4/30/2018 at 2:03 AM, CedB said:

Great stuff Ian.

You can now have a trip to the brewery in the sure knowledge that things are right with the Battle, so far!

Have a good birthday

Thanks Ced, your instructions were followed!

 

On 5/1/2018 at 6:37 AM, keefr22 said:

More inspired modelling Ian, really looking Battle like now!

 

Keith

Many thanks Keith, I agree!

 

On 5/1/2018 at 8:00 AM, Andre B said:

Fantastic work!

 

Just Wonder, what did the bombardier do to sit in that dark place of the aircraft without any windows?

 

Cheers / André

Thanks Andre, I must admit it's almost on a par with Sea Vixen coal-hole, but he did at least have a bit more room!

 

On 5/1/2018 at 8:55 AM, Terry1954 said:

Just caught up on this one. What can I say? What an amazing, informative and wholly inspiring WIP. 

 

I'm loving every bit of this Ian, and will follow this with relish. You are transforming a very old inaccurate kit into a superb replica of a Battle.

 

Thanks for sharing.

 

Terry

Cheers Terry, welcome aboard!

 

Right chaps, since I still don't know when I have to go back to Dallas, it looks as though I shall get more modeling done than I thought, and actually get paid too!

 

I had to pull the wings off after that last session, as I didn't have the right dihedral (in fact, I didn't have any!). So that was put right and the wings reattached.

 The last couple of days of bench time have been spent sanding, adding miliput, and sanding, but I'm winning, and she is definitely starting to look like a Battle!

 

The upper surfaces of the wing stubs were sanded down to alleviate what was left of the "skew" (sounds easy when you say it quickly!), then the trailing edges were shaped. I'm very happy with how they have turned out.

 Miliput was added under the centre section, where the fuselage extends slightly behind the wing fairing, and is gradually being persuaded into shape. It was also added to a few gaps in the wing joints and other places where I deemed it necessary.

 

Here's the present state of play.

 

 

 

 

I would expand, but there really isn't much to expand on when all you've been doing is sanding!

 

Evening all,

 

Ian

[dad's lad]

On 5/1/2018 at 1:00 PM, Andre B said:

Fantastic work!

 

Just Wonder, what did the bombardier do to sit in that dark place of the aircraft without any windows?

 

Cheers / André

I was under the impression that there were 4 small rectangular windows on the coaming between the cockpit and the gunner's position. I recall Ray Rimmell adding these when he did his British Bomber Collection many moons ago. 

 

See here http://aircraft-photographs.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/Bomber-Fairey-Battle-RAF-light-32.htm

Edited May 3, 2018 by dad's lad
Added URL

[CedB]

Sanding, ugh! Good work Ian, you're really getting that into shape

[Gondor44]

WoW....

 

Gondor

[Martian]

On ‎02‎/‎05‎/‎2018 at 21:21, limeypilot said:

I would expand, but there really isn't much to expand on when all you've been doing is sanding!

Don't I just know it!

 

Martian 👽

[John_W]

I knew someone else had tried something similar on here, and a bit of digging found this.

 

[Sgt.Squarehead]

What an epic Battle! 

 

Reckon you will win though! 

[Brandy]

On 5/3/2018 at 1:45 AM, dad's lad said:

I was under the impression that there were 4 small rectangular windows on the coaming between the cockpit and the gunner's position. I recall Ray Rimmell adding these when he did his British Bomber Collection many moons ago. 

You're right, there do appear to be 4 small cutouts under the main canopy! Thanks, I hadn't spotted those!

 

On 5/3/2018 at 3:31 AM, CedB said:

Sanding, ugh! Good work Ian, you're really getting that into shape

I actually find it quite relaxing, as long as I'm not trying to reduce a complete wing to half its thickness!

 

On 5/4/2018 at 1:04 PM, Gondor44 said:

WoW....

 

Gondor

Thanks! Welcome aboard!

 

On 5/4/2018 at 3:17 PM, Sgt.Squarehead said:

What an epic Battle! 

 

Reckon you will win though! 

Thanks Sarge, I hope so.......

 

So gents, here's the progress for this weekend.

 

First, the results of all the filling and sanding. The new curves on the trailing edge fairings have come out nicely.

 

 

and the undersides and wing joints look good

 

 

 

The last problem before I can give it a shot of primer is the tip of the nose. namely, how to turn this

 

 

into this

 

 

I had originally thought of cutting the tip of the nose off and adding the backing plate and a base for the prop from inside. After much deliberation, I decided that making the backing plate perforated as it should be was not feasible, so I decided to open up the nose from the front and fill it with an insert, which will be drilled to accept the prop..

 

Stage one

 

 

Stage two

A plug of plastic tube filled with miliput has been prepared, and the prop has been corrected for length and the hub filled in, to be sculpted later. I will also add the centre hub and counter-weights.

 

 

That's it for now,

 

Thanks for looking in!

 

Ian

 

 

Edited May 7, 2018 by limeypilot

[bigbadbadge]

Wow. I have just caught up again. What fantastic work. This is a truly inspiring build.

Thank you for sharing this. 

Keep up the good work. 

All the best 

Chris