billn53 Posted February 20, 2020 Share Posted February 20, 2020 I’m about to start on the Avi Models DH.83 Fox Moth and will be doing it as G-ACRU from the British Graham Land Expedition (1934-37). This particular aircraft is well-photographed, but as one might expect the photos are only in black & white. Avi’s box art shows the Fox with an orange fuselage and gray (or silver) wings. Can anyone confirm this or provide more info about G-ACRU’s colors and configuration? Thanks, Bill 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fastcat Posted February 20, 2020 Share Posted February 20, 2020 Hi Bill, It's most likely that the wings etc were in silver as that colour was much used on flying surfaces. Also whatever the fuselage colour (and orange is a distinct possibility), the leading edge of the wing was painted as well as the fuselage. AVI doesn't show this. See: Link at least when the Fox Moth had skis. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billn53 Posted February 21, 2020 Author Share Posted February 21, 2020 10 hours ago, Fastcat said: the leading edge of the wing was painted as well as the fuselage. AVI doesn't show this. See: Link at least when the Fox Moth had skis. Thanks Dave. I hadn’t noticed about the leading edge, but the pic you found shows it is quite different from the wing as a whole. I’ll check other photos I’ve found to see if they show the leading edge more clearly. I’m planning on skis but the kit also offers floats. I already have a snow covered base... if I did floats I’d then be sorely tempted to make a water base for it 😉 I'm still hoping someone has info about the fuselage color. bill 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted February 21, 2020 Share Posted February 21, 2020 Does this one have mutant penguins & shoggoths Bill? Even without I'll follow along, I'm keen to do one in Kiwi colours one of these days. Steve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billn53 Posted February 21, 2020 Author Share Posted February 21, 2020 4 hours ago, stevehnz said: Does this one have mutant penguins & shoggoths Bill? Truthfully, I became interested in aircraft used for Arctic & Antarctic exploration while I was building my Miskatonic Expedition Tri-motor. I’ve since added a few such kits to my stash 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fastcat Posted February 21, 2020 Share Posted February 21, 2020 Hi Bill, In the absence of any concrete evidence, I'm inclined to think that the colour may have been derived from a commemorative stamp from the '80s although the source that the artist used remains unknown. It was a lot nearer to the event than today so it's possible that there was a bit more information about at that time. Or maybe he just guessed....................... It's certainly an interesting theme though and it's great to see a manufacturer supporting it when it would be much easier to do a current day restoration. Link Dave 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billn53 Posted February 21, 2020 Author Share Posted February 21, 2020 16 minutes ago, Fastcat said: Hi Bill, In the absence of any concrete evidence, I'm inclined to think that the colour may have been derived from a commemorative stamp from the '80s although the source that the artist used remains unknown. It was a lot nearer to the event than today so it's possible that there was a bit more information about at that time. Or maybe he just guessed....................... It's certainly an interesting theme though and it's great to see a manufacturer supporting it when it would be much easier to do a current day restoration. Link Dave The orange + silver scheme does make for an attractive aircraft: If I were to do G-ACRU with floats, this is the scene I'd try to re-create: Here's a summary of the aircraft's in-service history. An inauspicious ending for an aircraft that had helped explore the last unknown continent. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fastcat Posted February 21, 2020 Share Posted February 21, 2020 Hi Bill, It's certainly an attractive scheme and it would make a lovely little model float or skis. Quite a few aircraft in that part of the world seem to come to ignominious ends. The climate and conditions on the ground can't have helped plus the fact that they were just treated unsentimentally as work-horses rather than machines with any historical value. Good luck with whatever you choose to build. Dave 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billn53 Posted February 22, 2020 Author Share Posted February 22, 2020 I just ran across this fascinating article on the Fox, and thought I’d share it: https://www.pilotweb.aero/features/flight-tests/de-havilland-fox-moth-flight-test-1-5589280 - Bill 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billn53 Posted February 22, 2020 Author Share Posted February 22, 2020 I’m not getting any closer to my color question, but here’s one more useful reference. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19930090463.pdf and this: http://www.vintagewings.ca/VintageNews/Stories/tabid/116/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/261/Flying-the-Fox-Moth-with-Dave-Hadfield.aspx - Bill 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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