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F174 - Gloster E.28/39 (1/63 scale?) - "No Airscrew Necessary!"


Rabbit Leader

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Call me foolish, but all these new Frog threads have made me way too excited. So here, I nominate my 2nd GB build, this time it's the Gloster E.28/39 "Whittle / Pioneer (?)"

I've only had this kit for just under a week, having purchased it at a local swap meet for the princely sum of $2 Aussie (that's about the equivalent of One Pound Stirling). 

 

Although it's the Eastern Express edition of this Trailblazing Frog kit, it's still rather well moulded and to be honest better than one would expect for something so old. Although not an expert in the subject, something odd caught my eye when I fondled the parts together. The wings looked rather small in comparison to the fuselage and a quick google search here and there revealed that the FROG kit designers must have got this kit terribly wrong. It would appear that dimension wise the wings roughly scale out to 1/72, however the fuselage parts are a lot larger and actually measure out to a whopping 1/63rd scale!! OMG - how does one correct that? Due to the proportions of the bulbous fuselage, it would be too difficult to cut this down to the right scale, so instead of that I'll take the opposite approach and (try to) enlarge the wings to 1/63 scale in order to match the fuselage - Smart hey? 

 

This quirky conversion has every chance of going horribly wrong, however it's not as if I've paid a fortune for it and I'm dead against paying all that money for one of those new Clear Prop kits. Anyway, I'll slowly hack away at this one in-between the Canberra's assembly so this silly project could go either way. Below is the box art, all the sprues and the kits parts placed on an enlarged scale drawing on my trusty iPad. You can see the small wings and large fuselage in the bottom photograph. 

 

Cheers and thanks for watching.. Dave 

 

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3 hours ago, AdrianMF said:

Looks like fun! I’m in the throes of a Novo Airspeed Oxford build with enlarged wings in Trainers GB here if you are interested.

 

Regards,

Adrian

Yes Adrian, I've been watching this take shape over the last few weeks as the Oxford was one of my initial Frog projects I wanted to do within this GB. To be honest, the amount of effort and toil that you've applied kinda made me re-think this a bit. I've still got my work cut out on this and other potential Frog kits, so I'm sure to get enough 'scratch build'n' in to keep me happy. 

 

Cheers.. Dave 

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Hi Dave,

 

this kit is mesmerizing, but assuming the plan is at the correct scale, you must be a sucker for punishment!

But the yellow underside should hide any shape discrepancies that may exist!!!!

 

Still, it is a relic of a bygone era, so build it as is, why not?

Cheers

 

JR

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Dave,

 

Bought a sheet of decs from Hannants a while back that include yellow prototype "P" in a ring markings specifically for this model as mine got ruined. I will be interested to see how your decs work as I have never tried that brand though I have a few of their kits in my stash.

 

Pete

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Update #1 

 

I was able to get a 'Whittle' bit done on this kit today - sorry I couldn't help myself! 

 

I took a good hard look at this kit and seeing as if I'll be reshaping the wings in some way (which is still not exactly clear), I might as well save myself some additional heartache and pose this model wheels up and in flying mode. Measuring up at a bizarre 1/63 scale this kit will look out of place if parked next to either of my 1/72 and 1/48 builds, so why not do something a little different. I haven't painted up a pilot in years and making some type of display stand for it could also test my creative juices. 

 

To help secure the two thick pieces of plastic that Frog suggest are gear doors I added two strips of wide plastic card to act as reinforcing strips, these will ensure the parts don't fall through later on. I cemented the doors a little proud of the external undersurface so that I can sand these to shape whilst still retaining the correct curvature of the underwing bulged sections.   

 

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Now I like the way that Frog have made an enclosed cockpit which also doubles as the front nose cowl spitter plate. Unfortunately, the splitter plate should be curved and sharp edged, not flat with a groove as shown below - but that's OK, we can fix that! Once again a piece of plastic card is cut to size and glued inside this grove. Once dry, I'll reshape it to hopefully better represent what the real thing looked like. Frog only supply a familiar style pilots seat (the same for all kits!), however I'II source a better seat and pilot from the spares box. There's hardly any need to add too much detail here so it shouldn't take too long to button up the fuse and move on to the more interesting bits, like those short and stumpy wings!! 

 

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That's all for today. 

Cheers.. Dave 

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Update #2 

 

I decided to follow my own advice of tackling the biggest / hardest jobs as early in the build as possible and today was that day. 

The wings on this Frog Whittle kit do actually measure out to 1/72, however the fuselage is oversized and comes in at close to 1/63rd scale. Thankfully, the wing to body join is also oversized which makes extending the wings (IMO) probably to most sensible way of getting something decent out of this kit - all be it at an odd scale! 

 

In order to maintain some element of structural strength I decided to make the upper and lower wing cuts at different positions (Inboard on the upper half and Outboard on the lower half). I used the kits leading edge as a guide and cemented these seperate pieces at extended positions which roughly matched the 1/63 scale plan I was using. The photos below illustrate my thinking, but what's going on with that trailing edge? That will be an interesting fix?? 

 

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Now it was time to fill the obvious gaps. A number of oversized layered strips of think plastic card were super glued in place until these huge areas were over filled. I made sure I smeared the area with a tonne of super glue which helps fill the area for the through sanding session that I was not exactly looking forward too. Here are some photos below - that's ok you can say what you're thinking "That looks like a pile of horse excrement" doesn't it? Don't worry I was thinking a lot worse at this stage! 

 

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Whilst watching some ICC World Cup Cricket on the Tele, I heard one of your lot yell out something about sandpaper. So being a good Aussie and not wanting to let the team down, I thought best to settle the score by proving that we really are quite handy with a few sanding sticks and good dose of wet 'n dry sandpaper. Let's just say that I did'nt get too much done around the house today, however I did make a set of 1/63 Gloster Whittle wings. Wasn't the wife thrilled when she got home from work this afternoon to find this mornings dishes hadn't been touched! 

 

Well that's the critical point in this build taken care of although there's bound to be a few more challenges as I stupidly strive for a modelling standard that I'll never reach. 

 

Cheers and thanks for sticking with this Frog GB thread this far... Dave 

 

Upper - Original Kit piece // Lower - RL's modified piece

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Port wing - RL's modified wing // Starboard - Original Frog wing

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Measures up OK to 1/63 scale plan?

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Both wings modified - now what to do with that curved wing to body trailing edge? 

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That mod was well worth the unwashed dishes, Dave, and somehow the ailerons look more in scale now. The wing to body trailing edge is a candidate for 'sculpting' in solid filler with some re-inforcing plastic glued in as a core. I know I'm better at shaping filler than plastic but it does tend to break away if not re-inforced. I've got two of these kits so getting plenty hints here!

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Hi Dave,

first and foremost, never underestimate horse manure! You never know when you will need a shovel or two!

I love the long and short wings: a self-barreling jet aircraft! Beautiful

But when  all has been said, you have done a sterling job. True modelling in motion!!!

Congratulations!!!

 

JR

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23 hours ago, Rabbit Leader said:

Whilst watching some ICC World Cup Cricket on the Tele, I heard one of your lot yell out something about sandpaper. So being a good Aussie and not wanting to let the team down, I thought best to settle the score by proving that we really are quite handy with a few sanding sticks and good dose of wet 'n dry sandpaper.

Hahaha, Dave, you haven't had a reaction to this so far! I'm not a cricket fan or even a 'Pom' (being a 'Jock') so didn't 'bite' on this comment (I assume someone was saying that the reason for the batsman missing the ball was that it had been aerodynamically altered by application of a rough surface!). I've always said that modelling is a humorous hobby.... 

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Update #3

 

I can't seem to put this little thing down as it's becoming a bit of a fun, non serious build. Too be honest, the wing tips ended up a little thinner than I would have liked and I made do with filing the wing to body scallops with whatever plastic was left to play with. It certainly won't win any accuracy awards, however I'll be happier in the fact that it's closer to looking like the real shape compared to the original kit parts. I now need to add some cockpit bits, do a small amount of rescribing, attach the rudder and sand and polish it as best I can prior to priming. I'm still not sure if I should go Dark Earth / Dark Green or Ocean Grey / Dark Green over Yellow? All the later Ocean Grey photo's I've seen appear to have the small hori stab fins and I'm not sure I want to add these. Then again I've been hard pressed to find a photo of the Dark Earth variety in flight, so I'm undecided which way to go here. I'll mull over this in a day or two. Anyway, here's some more progress pics.. 

 

Cheers.. Dave

 

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Thanks @Jinxman, now that’s not a bad idea. Might need to do something about those wing to body fillets, my kit is way out in comparison to Sir Franks desk model! 

 

Cheers.. Dave 

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26 minutes ago, Rabbit Leader said:

Thanks @Jinxman, now that’s not a bad idea. Might need to do something about those wing to body fillets, my kit is way out in comparison to Sir Franks desk model! 

 

Cheers.. Dave 

Ooops - sorry. Never spotted that!

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Hi Dave,

 

In one of his books Eric "Winkle" Brown describes flying this machine just before it was retired. He says somebody realized they did not have any photo's of it (perhaps because it was secret) so he did a photoshoot for posterity though of course by then it was green/grey with stabs. That may explain why pics of it in the earlier scheme seem to be non-existent.  When I was a lad I took a pic of the green/brown one hanging from the roof of the Science Museum in London - I will see if I still have it.

 

Pete

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Update #4

 

Just a quick, mainly photo update. I've added a few embellishments into the cockpit and I have lashed up a seat and instrument panel, although forgot to photograph these. I removed the tail bumper that Frog supplied as it was not exactly the right shape. My replacement is courtesy of an Airfix DH.4 bomb half that was filed to something a little closer to reality. The Rudder is now attached with a slight angle and there's that small intake scoop just aft of the left nose gear door. It's not quite right, however should do the job. Just need a small amount of scribing (which I always procrastinate) and then it's primer and paint time. Thankfully the canopy also appears to be a good fit, so the last shot shows this placed over the as yet unpainted cockpit. 

 

Cheers.. Dave 

 

Original Tail Bumper 

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The 'Pioneer' is looking very tidy, Dave. I'm not an experienced scriber but there are a lot of curved surfaces there that put me off straight away. Good luck with that and I'll be interested to see your usual first class result. All the best. Mike.

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