Special Hobby 1/72nd scale G-23 'Delfin', Spanish Civil War

[John Masters]

Hello all...I hope you don't mind that I drop in and contribute a build to this fine GB?  I will be building SH's 1/72nd scale G-23 Delfin, aka the Grumman FF 'FiFi'; Goblin...the first carrier aircraft with retractable landing gear, although that wasn't an issue for the Spanish Republicans during the Civil War.  From the outset it looks to be a nice kit with some well moulded plastic and some good looking resin parts.  A small card of photo etch and a clear sprue (canopy) have been supplied and the decals look in register at first glance.  The kit supplies decals for three Republican machines and two Nationalist.  I'll be building a Republican aircraft although I am not sure which one yet.  The box art gives me some good ideas for weathering.  Not a successful aircraft by any means against the Nationalist forces, but a unique one and one symbolic of the end of the biplane fighter era.  They were pretty well decimated by the German and Italian aircraft flown by the fascists.  Some survived the war and were relegated to training roles post-war.

 

 

 

--John

[John Masters]

Some work on the interior...

 

The cockpit is nice, made up of plastic, resin and PE pieces.  I assembled it all, sprayed it all aluminum and then picked out the very few extra colours with a fine brush.  Easy enough to do.  This image is pre-paint.

 

 

I also assembled and installed the interior section of the landing gear, somewhat out of sequence with the plans. This turned to be fortuitous since the two pieces (B2 and B5) needed to be altered slightly so they would fit inside and allow the fuselage halves to close neatly.

 

 

 

The dashboard looks good and is made up of the plastic backing, foil dials and PE covering.  I had to trim off the two 'legs' or the cockpit floor would not have fit inside the fuselage correctly.  The black line is where I snipped--both sides.  I also sanded down the edge on the right where I had misaligned the pieces.  Not a big deal because it insured that the dash wold not hinder the closing up of the halves.

 

 

And, with the interior sprayed aluminum, the cockpit assembled, etc...all the pieces fit neatly inside.

 

 

Have a wonderful, peaceful and happy Christmas everyone!  

 

--John

 

[JWM]

Very nice detailed inisde. Good start

Merry Christmas!

J-W

 

[John Masters]

Thanks JW.  Merry Christmas to you too!

[Mitch K]

Watching this with interest! I'm tempted to get one myself.

[John Masters]

Thanks Mitch.  So far so good.  It seems to be a pretty good kit.

Merry Christmas!

[John Masters]

The fuselage went together pretty easily with only a few gaps on the underside and the very front of the nose.

 

 

 

While that was all drying I decided to take care of some busy work...mostly cleaning up and priming some smaller pieces--wheels, prop, cowling.  I am very impressed by the resin-cast R-1820-84 Wright Cyclone.  It'll look awfully nice in that wide open cowling.  

 

 

And I have cut the canopy rear section off and masked what canopy will still be attached, a sort of coupé look.  It'll be nice to be able to see into the cockpit a bit.  The quality of the canopy plastic is very good.  Clear, thin, and I hope I can keep it that way.

 

 

 

Merry Christmas everyone!

--John

 

 

 

[Learstang]

I did a Delfin many, many years ago with the old Meikraft FF-1 kit (it actually turned out rather nicely, I think). I'm sure yours will be much better, though! I do have this kit, which I'll probably do as a RCAF Goblin, so I'll be watching how you get on with it. Best of luck with the Delfin/Fifi! It's always great to see SCW aircraft being built. The variety of aircraft used in the war, from WWI aircraft like the DH.9 to WWII fighters like the Bf 109E, was amazing. I suppose this aircraft was about halfway between those two aircraft.

 

Regards,

 

Jason

[John Masters]

Thanks Jason.  I feel the same way about the SCW.  Such a hodgepodge of aircraft.  Sometimes only one or two examples of each, some of which even just rumoured.  Fascinating.  I'd love to see a picture of your Meikraft FF-1 if you have one.

 

Merry Christmas!

[John Masters]

Well, good morning and Merry Christmas..HoHoHo!  I hope St. Nick has filled all of your stockings with nifty things like diamond micro files, hard-to-find airbrush needles, that new set of decals that you absolutely needed and so forth.  Also, beneath your tree should be the newest and best moulded short-run kit you could wish for!  Me?  A quiet day here...nothing happening until late this afternoon, so I decided to get a bit of modelling done.  It's grey, rainy. windy and cold.  Perfect modelling weather!

 

Wings and things.  Some gaps to fill once it is all dry, that includes the gaps around the nose section of the manifolds.  Nice resin pieces, by the way.

 

 

 

A test fit of the motor shows a perfect fit!  Amazing!  And what a nicely detailed Cyclone it is...nice prop too, with it's PE prop boss.  All painted and ready.

I had to rebuild a connecting rod...a bit of stretched sprue.

 

 

 

Now, these little things were fun.  I guess they are there to improve air flow, but I think SH could have moulded them in one piece.  Fiddly fiddly.   For those who need to know, glue the middle piece first.  There are two sets.  Sorry about the focus.  One set is on...

 

 

And these are the pieces beforehand.  One piece of resin, the other two plastic.  Once they were all attached and dry I gave a very light sanding over the top to even out any bumps.

 

 

I'll let this all set up for the day and then start the puttying process later this evening.

 

Merry Christmas to all!

--John

 

 

 

 

 

[Artie]

 

Nice subject.....in the first pic you can see Juan Lario, after  doing his training in the soviet union....

Cheers

 

 

 

 

[John Masters]

Thanks Artie. Those are great pictures.

[Artie]

Just for your interest, a fellow spanish modeller (David Gesalí) wrote a book about the Delfines (as they were called here) some years ago, it's nota cheap book, but it's an amazing, comprehensive work...

The way those "flying barrels" came to Spain is a "noir novel" in itself....

I've got an old RVHP resin kit in 1/48 scale, and been ofetn tempted to start buiilding it, maybe your build will inspire me. I'd rather build it as a postwar example, deployed to the Spanish Morocco....

 

 

 

[dogsbody]

The last 15 of the 52 built by Canadian Car and Foundry ended up in the RCAF.

 

From Wikipedia:

 

The Canadian Car & Foundry Co acquired a manufacturing licence for the G-23, an improved FF-1, of which it completed a total of 52, some of which were assembled from US-built components. Thirty-four were acquired by the Spanish Republican Government in 1937 by presenting forged Turkish credentials. This batch was built primarily to bypass the US embargo placed on belligerents during the Spanish Civil War.[3] Referred to as the GE-23 Delfin (en:Dolphin) by the Spanish Republican Air Force, the aircraft fought in the conflict, but were outclassed by opposing fighters and losses were high. Despite this, a victory against a Heinkel He 59B would be the only recorded "kill" by a Grumman biplane fighter.[1] Eleven survived to serve in the Ejército del Aire Español, nicknamed Pedro Rico for its rotundity.[1]

Although initially rejected as a fighter by the Royal Canadian Air Force as outdated and too slow, with the advent of war, the last 15 of the CC&F production batch were taken on strength as the Goblin I. The aircraft type served with the RCAF from 17 September 1940 until 21 April 1942. "A" Flight of No. 118 RCAF Sqn was equipped with Goblins at Rockcliffe in Ottawa, and subsequently became No. 118 (Fighter) Sqn., later stationed at Dartmouth, Nova Scotia where the Goblins for a time constituted the sole fighter force on the east coast.[9]

 

 

http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/lac-bac/results/images?form=image&lang=eng&FormName=Image+Search&PageNum=1&SortSpec=score+desc&HighLightFields=title%2Cname&Language=eng&QueryParser=lac_mikan&Sources=mikan&Archives=&ShowForm=show&SearchIn_1=&SearchInText_1=Grumman+Goblin&Operator_1=AND&SearchIn_2=&SearchInText_2=&Operator_2=AND&SearchIn_3=&SearchInText_3=&Media[]=&Level=&MaterialDateOperator=after&MaterialDate=&MaterialDate=&DigitalImages=1&Source=&cainInd=&ResultCount=50

 

 

Chris

[John Masters]

Thanks Chris.  That was my understanding too.

[John Masters]

Everything is primed and chipping medium has been applied to some of the 'aluminum' areas.  Ready for the paint shop!

 

 

--John

[dogsbody]

I've been following this build for any tips for this kit, if I ever get around to it.

 

 

 

Chris

[Learstang]

On ‎24‎/‎12‎/‎2018 at 23:02, John D.C. Masters said:

Thanks Jason.  I feel the same way about the SCW.  Such a hodgepodge of aircraft.  Sometimes only one or two examples of each, some of which even just rumoured.  Fascinating.  I'd love to see a picture of your Meikraft FF-1 if you have one.

 

Merry Christmas!

 

You're welcome, John! I'll have to burrow around my store room to see if I can find the old girl, but I know it's there someplace. Yours is definitely coming along nicely! Chris, the version I plan to do is very similar to yours, although it will have the full canopy.

 

Regards,

 

Jason

[dogsbody]

31 minutes ago, Learstang said:

 

You're welcome, John! I'll have to burrow around my store room to see if I can find the old girl, but I know it's there someplace. Yours is definitely coming along nicely! Chris, the version I plan to do is very similar to yours, although it will have the full canopy.

 

Regards,

 

Jason

 

I haven't decided which one I'll build. I have two different sets of decals to help my choice. There's the set in the kit and an earlier MPM release option

 

 

 

 

Chris

[Learstang]

That's the one I have, Chris, the old MPM kit. I was tempted to do the USN version, but there's something about a 'FiFi' in full British-style markings that appeals to me.

 

Regards,

 

Jason

[John Masters]

50 minutes ago, Learstang said:

a 'FiFi' in full British-style markings

Yes...the Goblin is a good look.

[John Masters]

The elves in the paintshop have submitted their suggestions...

 

 

I have agreed and they went to work last night on the blue underside.  It is a Russian Sky Blue that comes with the WW2 Vallejo Air Russian set.  It matches the box art and, historically, the Republicans received all kinds of goods and gear from the Reds, so why not paint?  It took a while to come up with the US Olive Drab but that makes sense too.  The RLM80 was just lucky.  On the test swatches it was the closest to the box art that I had.

 

I'll spray the Olive Drab this afternoon.  I also have to drill some holes for the rigging...😋

 

 

--John

[John Masters]

13 hours ago, dogsbody said:

an earlier MPM release

That's a nice looking kit Chris. I definitely feel the Goblin is the way to go.  It inspires!

Edited December 27, 2018 by John D.C. Masters

[Artie]

Please, be careful with the colours. In fact, most of the received equipment was locally painted to match the russian colours, but with spanish made enamel paints. The green and light blue were slightly different than the russian originals. Regarding the brownish camouflage colour, I'd rather choose a sand colour than that olive drab. My republicsn subjects are always painted with Humbrol 115 and 116. Humbrol 93 would be a good match for the sandy colour.

Best regards.

[John Masters]

Thanks Artie.  I think the blue is alright.  Thanks for the suggestion on the sand colour.  I'll switch it out.  I haven't painted it yet, so it is alright. The green is pretty much the same as your suggestion.  

 

Que tengas un buen Año Nuevo!