fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted June 20, 2019 Share Posted June 20, 2019 And when I thought I had posted most of the models I deeemed would be useful here, I realized I left this one out. So here it is, a build from 7 years ago, with its original text. What does one do when in England? yes, one buys an old Airfix kit. How old? look at the photos, 1957 vintage! a mold 62 years old to this date. Airfix -and successive re-incarnations- squeezed the twopence out of that mold! What I want to do with it? Convert it to a civil machine, of course! likely some variation of the Bristol Tourer/Coupe. History: At some point after the war it was realized that transporting people was much, much nicer than bombing then. This very painfully-obtained knowledge was not, however, kept in mind for a long time. The Bristol Tourer/Coupe was a direct derivative of the Bristol F2B. In that regard, many countries, like Japan, France and Germany were doing the same: hastily converting war leftovers for the incipient civil market, many times with the procedure of producing a “hunch” to protect the weary passengers against the elements. I may refer you to two of my models: -Hawa F.3: -Hansa Brandenburg W.29 J-BCAL: You could model a civil machine without modifying a single part of the Bristol Airfix kit, though. There were a couple of Canadian machines (G-CYBC / DP and at least one Spanish that flew the plane as it is represented in the kit (minus armament, of course). Beware, since some of the other civil versions had different engines, cowls, radiators, rudder, passengers’ compartment covers, supplementary fuel tanks on the top wing, and minor details. Look at your photos, not at drawings: photos. I did some preliminary chopping, cleaning, filing, filling and sanding as per images. All the stitching was eliminated at this point, later to be replaced by other devices. You can see in the building photos that some areas have been removed and the section corresponding to the passenger cabin altered to represent the increase in fuselage width that was incorporated in the real plane in order to accommodate the side-by-side seating arrangement. Not all Coupes/Tourers had this increase in width; again, check your photos. Some formers were cut, and the usual interior paraphernalia prepared for the cockpit and passenger cabin. Some external elements (augment rudder, different nose, hunch, top wing tanks, etc.) had to be scratched too. As you can see in the images the major work was concentrated in two areas: the passenger cabin elements and the nose. The former is a complex area that need careful observation of the photos and accurate execution. Of special note is the transition from the former back of the pilot (which has a sort or triangular shape at the top) to the first passenger cabin former, which is quadrangular with round corners at the top, and leans forward. The second area of effort as said was the nose. A wood master was prepared in order to vacuform the cowling. Engine, radiator and ancillary parts (like the oil tank) were scratched. The engine alone insumed about fifty individual parts. Again, attention needs to be paid to the sections’ transition, from firewall to radiator. At the firewall the top is rounded and the bottom straight, and that reverses at the radiator’s cross section. Home-made decals were prepared: a bundle of “stitches’ strips” and black regs on white decal paper stock. More details related to the upper wing, control surfaces, ancillary parts, etc. were made; paint ensued with a home-made custom color of all sub-assemblies. A bit of work, complicated by the difficulty in handling the model for the final steps with all those wires and external details. The woman in the photos is my friend Soenke's sekretarien. He sent her from Germany, previously shrinking her with one of his multiple evil rays. Her name is Fraulein Preiser. She is nice, but constantly complains about having to wear the same dress over and over again. 25 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Masters Posted June 20, 2019 Share Posted June 20, 2019 Very pretty! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baldy Posted June 20, 2019 Share Posted June 20, 2019 Beautiful as usual Moa - The old (Very Old!) Airfix Bristol never looked better. Sadly, I am of similar vintage though I doubt that you could do such a splendid revamp on me! Cheers Malcolm 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luiz Posted June 20, 2019 Share Posted June 20, 2019 Great job! Luiz. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Head in the clouds. Posted June 20, 2019 Share Posted June 20, 2019 As ever Moa, superb. I may be wrong but is it only you keeping this golden age of aviation at the front of our conscience? If so I am sure glad you are here. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courageous Posted June 20, 2019 Share Posted June 20, 2019 Excellent. I love the modular paint approach on this airframe. Stuart 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpha Delta 210 Posted June 20, 2019 Share Posted June 20, 2019 Simply sensational! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Russell Posted June 20, 2019 Share Posted June 20, 2019 1 hour ago, Head in the clouds. said: is it only you keeping this golden age of aviation at the front of our conscience? There are more of us - albeit without @Moa's skills. Here's mine - built for a display umpteen years ago and still waiting for rigging! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted June 20, 2019 Author Share Posted June 20, 2019 2 hours ago, Baldy said: Beautiful as usual Moa - The old (Very Old!) Airfix Bristol never looked better. Sadly, I am of similar vintage though I doubt that you could do such a splendid revamp on me! Cheers Malcolm Malcolm, I am just a hair less vintage. I revamp myself every now and again. I may be just 5% original me at this point. Cheers 1 hour ago, Luiz said: Great job! Luiz. Obrigado, Luiz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted June 20, 2019 Author Share Posted June 20, 2019 1 hour ago, Head in the clouds. said: As ever Moa, superb. I may be wrong but is it only you keeping this golden age of aviation at the front of our conscience? If so I am sure glad you are here. The thousand-mile journey starts with one step (or one model) Master Po (Or was it Master Pot?) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted June 20, 2019 Author Share Posted June 20, 2019 12 minutes ago, Ed Russell said: There are more of us - albeit without Moa's skills. Here's mine - built for a display umpteen years ago and still waiting for rigging! Nice! Nice! Nice! Thrice Kudos! (Now, let's move that German thing to the attic or garage, shall we? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bristol boy Posted June 20, 2019 Share Posted June 20, 2019 That's a stunner Moa, not that we expect anything less! The Tourer came in many forms, had a hack at an Airfix Brisfit a while ago to produce a Tourer Seaplane. Good excuse to resurrect it! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted June 20, 2019 Author Share Posted June 20, 2019 7 hours ago, bristol boy said: That's a stunner Moa, not that we expect anything less! The Tourer came in many forms, had a hack at an Airfix Brisfit a while ago to produce a Tourer Seaplane. Good excuse to resurrect it! Absolutely beautiful!!! Thanks for posting it, it's a delight to see, and so unusual! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RidgeRunner Posted June 20, 2019 Share Posted June 20, 2019 Superb, as always, Moa 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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