1/48th Trumpeter Fairey Albacore!

[Col.]

Even your work can't convince me to like this kit Tony The too tall windscreen and canopy pulls too hard on my eyes and I just can't focus on anything else beyond that.

[bigbadbadge]

Tony great work on improving the kit.  Looking very nice.    I have got a Special Hobby kit on order. I have wanted one for ages but something always came up and relegated it to the back burner.  After seeing your comments earlier in your thread, I have gone for the later marque.

Thanks fella 

All the best 

Chris 

[At Sea]

1 hour ago, tonyot said:

Sorry to hear that mate,......... the Fleet Air Arm Albacore crews did a magnificent job as pathfinders for the RAF night bombers in the Western Desert,...... their Observers being used to pin point navigation over the featureless sea, made them highly suitable for desert flying. 

 

Cheers

         Tony

That helps to explain what he was doing there...

 

I figured the Albacore wasn't the hardest hitting bomber in the Desert Air War.  

 

All of my Grandfather's brothers were airborne during WW2.

Grandad was a Nav on Halifax III's with 433 RCAF.

Kitt was a Lamncaster Pilot & was KIA.

Oliver was FAA & MIA.

 

I plan to build an example of each of their aircraft.

 

 

[VMA131Marine]

I think this image comparison highlights the problem with the height of the Trumpeter cockpit greenhouse. Look at the difference in size and shape, between the kit and the real thing, of the panels circled in red. The framing is all wrong too.

 

 

The kit windows actually look a lot like those in this image, aas does the carb air intake:

 

 

The rake of the main landing gear looks wrong too. The center of the mainwheels should be slightly behind a line extended down from the vertical windshield frame; it appears to be in front of that line.

 

Edited November 28, 2018 by VMA131Marine

[tonyot]

49 minutes ago, At Sea said:

That helps to explain what he was doing there...

 

I figured the Albacore wasn't the hardest hitting bomber in the Desert Air War.  

 

All of my Grandfather's brothers were airborne during WW2.

Grandad was a Nav on Halifax III's with 433 RCAF.

Kitt was a Lamncaster Pilot & was KIA.

Oliver was FAA & MIA.

 

I plan to build an example of each of their aircraft.

 

 

Massive respect to them all. You must be extremely proud of them. Making a model of their aircraft would be a fabulous way to remember them. 

[tonyot]

2 hours ago, VMA131Marine said:

I think this image comparison highlights the problem with the height of the Trumpeter cockpit greenhouse. Look at the difference in size and shape, between the kit and the real thing, of the panels circled in red. The framing is all wrong too.

 

 

The kit windows actually look a lot like those in this image, aas does the carb air intake:

 

 

The rake of the main landing gear looks wrong too. The center of the mainwheels should be slightly behind a line extended down from the vertical windshield frame; it appears to be in front of that line.

 

Agreed,...... I`m trying to make the best out of a bad job here without having to do major surgery,...... if it looks like an Albacore I`ll be happy,.... I bought the kit as an experiment assuming that there would be lots wrong with it,..... but to give it a go.

 

I`ve started painting it tonight,..... I have a feeling that the Xtracolor Light Slate Grey on top of the wings is going to take a few coats and take ages to dry as the first coat went on very wishy washy despite stirring it for ages. The undersides have been painted Sky,..... for now at least!

 

Cheers

          Tony 

[tonyot]

Hiya Folks,

              As I said above, I started to paint the model last night and here it is,....... the first coat of Xtracolor enamel Light Slate Grey on the top of the lower wings has not dried yet,..... so I`m still on hold waiting for the 2nd coat,.which will hopefully look better and less wishy washy. I was going for the Battle of Britain era scheme with black painted extreme lower surfaces but I could not decide whether the sides/fin should be in Sky Grey or Sky,...... so have gone for a later 1941 scheme with Sky sides and undersides. I`ve used the last of my Polly Scale Sky on this model, plus Aeromaster Dark Slate Grey,..... I`ll deal with the fuselage later and for now have just covered the fuselage and canopy seams to check them out;

 

 

 

Cheers,

            Tony

Edited November 29, 2018 by tonyot

[Grey Beema]

Some time in the future I want to build a second SH 1/48 Blackburn Skua.  I need to do some research over aircraft flown by specific RN Pilots but I want to do an aircraft that was used during the FAAs transition from Sky Grey to Sky.  There were examples of Skuas with Sky Grey sides but Sky undersides serving on HMS Ark Royal.  

 

I am not sure if this also applied to the Albacore but if it did it would make for an interesting scheme.

[Ed Russell]

On 11/27/2018 at 6:01 AM, tonyot said:

Makes me laugh how some people seem to think that it is my fault that it is so wrong,.

Haha - it's called "shoot the messenger" syndrome. Or maybe your sterling efforts on other kits have created an expectation you are going to make a silk purse every time?

Anyway it looks like you are doing a pretty decent job on yet another kit by the Trumpeter B-team.

It would be interesting to know if the 1/72 version has the same problems.

[Mike]

On 26/11/2018 at 19:01, tonyot said:

Makes me laugh how some people seem to think that it is my fault that it is so wrong

Of course it is Tony, you're building it from the wrong perspective! Can confirm, that canopy looks too tall, and the way the windscreen meets with the nose should have a sweep upward of the cowling to meet the screen, possibly 1-2mm higher than it does.  it's a shame, but it will please Special Hobby no end, as their old kit suddenly looks like the first choice again

[corsaircorp]

Hello Tony !

Thank for the pics and the great work !

I still have the SH one, I think that I'll start her after the Barracuda!

I have enough of kit to correct for getting myself in correcting another Trumpy kit for now !

Soooo, if I can find another SH Albacore... That will be great !!

Once again Thanks for the docs !

Hum ! So how can you be blamed for the manufacturers mistakes ???

Or is this the American way of suing someone at all price that start spilling worldwide ??? 

Sincerely.

CC

[tonyot]

6 hours ago, Grey Beema said:

Some time in the future I want to build a second SH 1/48 Blackburn Skua.  I need to do some research over aircraft flown by specific RN Pilots but I want to do an aircraft that was used during the FAAs transition from Sky Grey to Sky.  There were examples of Skuas with Sky Grey sides but Sky undersides serving on HMS Ark Royal.  

 

I am not sure if this also applied to the Albacore but if it did it would make for an interesting scheme.

Hiya Mate,

                 There has been further research done since the story of Sky Grey Fleet Air Arm Skua`s and Fulmar`s being painted with Sky (Green) on the immediate undersides,...... it is now accepted that the new colour was most likely to have been Sky Blue,.... which does make some sense and the Skua recovered from a Norwegian Fjiord also had such a scheme. As I mentioned in my Malta book,..... the order went out to the fleet that fighters had to have the undersides repainted in Sky,...... meaning Sky (Green),..... but having never heard of this colour before with no stocks of it onboard and no mixing instructions the obvious outcome was to look up into the sky itself and paint the undersides a light blue! 

As far as I know the Albacore never had this colour applied, but Night Black was applied for night operations, especially against the Channel ports during the Battle of Britain.

 

Here is a period photo showing the Sky Blue undersides;

 

 

And here are some pics of the recovered Skua,..... closer up pics show the blue more clearly;

 

And this colour side view has been done by a member of the recovery crew;

 

 

All the best

                  Tony 

[tonyot]

3 hours ago, Ed Russell said:

Haha - it's called "shoot the messenger" syndrome. Or maybe your sterling efforts on other kits have created an expectation you are going to make a silk purse every time?

Anyway it looks like you are doing a pretty decent job on yet another kit by the Trumpeter B-team.

It would be interesting to know if the 1/72 version has the same problems.

Cheers Ed,

                I didn`t know about a 1/72nd scale kit...... the only injection moulded kit that I know of is the MPM/Special Hobby kit,...... so I shall keep my eyes and ears open!

All the best mate,

                          Tony

[Brandy]

Also looking at the side views of model and original photo, it looks to me as though the nose section between the windscreen and the rear of the cowling is too long!

 

Ian

[corsaircorp]

Hello Tony !

Is this the Skua that is now displayed at the FAA museum Yeovilton or a second one ??

2 Skuas that will great !!

@Grey Beema told me about this grey used at the start of the war, very close to Barley grey !

I will use that on my second Roc, since the first one will be high speed (Fun for a Roc) silver !

Super glad that I saved your thread full of excellent refs !!

Thank again.

CC

[Grey Beema]

4 hours ago, tonyot said:

Hiya Mate,

                 There has been further research done since the story of Sky Grey Fleet Air Arm Skua`s and Fulmar`s being painted with Sky (Green) on the immediate undersides,...... it is now accepted that the new colour was most likely to have been Sky Blue,.... which does make some sense and the Skua recovered from a Norwegian Fjiord also had such a scheme. As I mentioned in my Malta book,..... the order went out to the fleet that fighters had to have the undersides repainted in Sky,...... meaning Sky (Green),..... but having never heard of this colour before with no stocks of it onboard and no mixing instructions the obvious outcome was to look up into the sky itself and paint the undersides a light blue! 

As far as I know the Albacore never had this colour applied, but Night Black was applied for night operations, especially against the Channel ports during the Battle of Britain.

 

Here is a period photo showing the Sky Blue undersides;

 

 

And here are some pics of the recovered Skua,..... closer up pics show the blue more clearly;

 

And this colour side view has been done by a member of the recovery crew;

 

 

All the best

                  Tony 

Cheers @tonyot I'm definitely going to go for that scheme...

[tonyot]

2 hours ago, corsaircorp said:

Hello Tony !

Is this the Skua that is now displayed at the FAA museum Yeovilton or a second one ??

2 Skuas that will great !!

@Grey Beema told me about this grey used at the start of the war, very close to Barley grey !

I will use that on my second Roc, since the first one will be high speed (Fun for a Roc) silver !

Super glad that I saved your thread full of excellent refs !!

Thank again.

CC

It is a second one. As you can see it was quite substantial on the sea bed but it fell to pieces while being lifted,.......I believe that the main sections have now been recovered and are being restored to static condition in Norway. Here is a link;

https://luftfartsmuseum.no/fly/project-blackburn-skua-l2896-green-a/

 

Speaking to a member of the recovery team, quite a few of them helped to recover the Fleet Air Arm Museum`s Skua and were very disappointed as they were led to believe that it was going to be restored to full static condition and not left as a wreck. 

 

Cheers

         Tony 

[Ed Russell]

6 hours ago, tonyot said:

I didn`t know about a 1/72nd scale kit...... the only injection moulded kit that I know of is the MPM/Special Hobby kit

Not well phrased on my part - I meant to ask if there are any issues with the SH 1/72 kit as it's on my list.

Hopefully Trumpeter are not planning to scale theirs down.

[tonyot]

2 hours ago, Ed Russell said:

Not well phrased on my part - I meant to ask if there are any issues with the SH 1/72 kit as it's on my list.

Hopefully Trumpeter are not planning to scale theirs down.

The 1/72nd SH kit looks fine to me mate,..... but I have not built one for years. In fact it is so long ago that I don`t appear to have a digital photo of one that I`ve built,....only these;

The old Magna Resin kit;

 

And the even older Pegasus kit;

 

And a you can see,......these are ancient! 

Cheers

          Tony

[bigbadbadge]

Very nice Tony. Great photos too.  Mine arrived today. Very nice it looks too when I was pouring over the sprues earlier.

Keep up your good work.

All the best

Chris

[tonyot]

Good luck with yours Chris,..... I hope that you bought the one with Op Torch box art as it has additional resin parts which will help with the rigging.

 

Well a bit more progress,...... the Dark Slate Grey is almost applied,..... although there is quite a bit to be tidied up yet! I`ve applied a second coat of Xtracolor Light Slate Grey on top of the lower wings and this is still tacky, while I have also had a go at sanding and re profiling the undercarriage leg fairings to give the lower part more of a sweep back,.. then re-painted them Sky;

 

 

Cheers,

             Tony 

[bigbadbadge]

Looking good Tony. Great work. Yes I got the Operation Torch boxing. Looks lovely. I have to say I do like the Special Hobby kits .

 

Keep up the good work.

All the best

Chris

[tonyot]

Hiya Folks,..... another update,..... the main painting is now finished with shadow shading colours on the lower wings,.... so ready for the varnish then decals;

 

 

Just need to paint the exhaust collector ring, but I`ll do that last after varnishing,

 

Cheers,

             Tony 

[Col.]

Quality paintwork as ever Tony 

[corsaircorp]

Hello Tony,

Really good paint work !

Can't wait to see her finished !

Sincerely.

CC