Yet another WnW 1:32 Bristol Fighter

[Bazman]

Yet another WnW F2b. This one is E2289, inspired by the lump of wood it’s sitting on which was acquired by my grandfather and is the propeller hub from an F2.b. This was most likely brought back from his years in the RAF in the Middle East post-WW1. Looking at his service record the only F2.b that was scrapped when he was there was E2289, so I chose this as the build on the basis that that may be where the hub came from - although it could be from something else that broke its propeller. E2289 was a post-war build that was SoC in 1919, the records I’ve found hint that it was a mkIII although some say these weren’t around until the later 1920’s.

 

This has been hard work and a learning process, not only because of the temptation to go down rabbit holes on various details such as the type of seatbelts and the position of the spark plugs (I removed the WnW ones as they were in the wrong place so had to make 24 new ones out of brass tubing and plastic moulded nuts) but also the perennial problem with early aircraft of working out what colour it should be. I started off doing it in a PC10/CDL scheme, but in Vol 2 of the Bristol Fighter Windsock data file J M Bruce mentions white dope for desert aircraft,  so I changed it to white. I then realised that many of the photos of desert F2.bs indicate they were silver, even though Bruce says that wasn’t introduced until 1923. I tossed a coin and stripped off the white paint and went for silver. I left the interplane struts in wood as I like the look, same with the red wheels which are shown by WnW in one of their colour schemes.

Apart from that it’s pretty much an OOB WnW Post War F.2b, rigged using Prym elastic and fishing line, and painted in a mixture of a Plastikote rattle can for the silver, airbrushed and brushed Humbrol enamels and acrylics, W&N Promarkers and various metallic felt pens, and a Tamiya weathering stick to hide the worst blemishes, all - apart from the propeller - finished with a blast of Humbrol matt clear to give it a desert dusty look (learning point – watch out when spraying the elastic as it removes the elasticity and can make it sag which you inevitably don't notice until you post photos of it!). The wing decals provided by WnW didn’t work for me – they cracked as soon as I got them mildly damp and crazed unrecoverably when in place, so they’re masked and airbrushed. I was unsure whether to leave the cowling off – having spent a lot of time on the engine it seemed a shame to cover it up; in the end it didn’t fit (I now understand why having read about many others’ problems here) so it was either leave it off or take the whole thing apart. I left it off...

 

TL;DR – here’s E2289 on what may be its own propeller hub.

 

 

And here's an impression of what it might have looked like with my grandfather standing next to it (represented by a CSM 1:32 British pilot) if he happened to have accidentally landed it at RAF Halton rather than X.AP Kantara.

 

 

And now that I understand the quirks of this kit and can see my errors I’m tempted to start again with a fresh kit while they’re still available!

 

 

 

Edited February 20, 2020 by Bazman
Added scale to title

[Vinnie]

Well done, Bazman. You've shown lot of perseverance and modelling skills on this.

[keith in the uk]

Wow , that's just beautiful , great job on that one .

[gareth]

2 hours ago, Bazman said:

 

And now that I understand the quirks of this kit and can see my errors I’m tempted to start again with a fresh kit while they’re still available!

 

 

 

Lovely looking build and backstory to match ! What are the quirks with this kit besides the cowling ? I've got one at the top of the pile in stash and any tips for avoiding pitfalls would be greatly appreciated ! 

[Duncan B]

What a great job you have done with it and the back story is great too. I like the idea that it is sitting on it's own prop.

 

Duncan B

[stalal]

Very impressive work indeed. And very inspiring too. 

[Mmarchal]

always nice to see a biplane model. well done!

[noelh]

Very nice. I too have a WNW Bristol. I made great progress until I bogged myself down on details. A perennial problem for me. Great idea to display on an actual piece of a propeller. 

 

I always liked the Brisfit, indeed they were based locally at one stage postwar. Love to model one. 

Great Job. 

 

[Bazman]

Thanks all for the positive comments, much appreciated.

 

 @gareth - a few things to look out for that I can remember:

 

I was warned before starting that the precision of the parts means that any paint in the wrong place can throw everything out of alignment. This is undoubtably very true! More dry assembly would have told me where the critical surfaces are, sometimes they weren't where I thought they'd be.

 

The spark plugs – if you look at the engine bay of the real thing a prominent feature is the 24 spark plug leads. If you want to add these you’ll find WnW have put the spark plugs at the front & back of the cylinders rather than offset to either side where they should be. I can see why they’ve done this (moulding issues) but it makes it virtually impossible to add the plug leads unless you remove and rebuild them or do it with the engine bay closed, in which case;

 

The engine mounts – there are several threads on the internet about getting these right. I didn’t realise until after I’d assembled the fuselage that they go quite deeply inside the cockpit behind the frame. If like me you built the cockpit first and painted it, then stuck it in the assembled fuselage then any paint in the wrong part of the cockpit (that you may have applied because you thought you'd paint the bits you can't see for realism's sake) can stop the engine mounts from seating properly. I managed to get them level through some fettling but for some reason the engine is about 2mm too far forwards, hence the cowling doesn’t fit too well;

 

Rigging – there are holes for terminating most of the wing rigging but some of the other wires, such as those on the undercarriage or in the engine bay, need you to do some drilling at one or both ends. There are some holes for the control wires but nothing on the aileron and elevator horns. I did much careful 0.2 and 0.3mm drilling; consequently many of my fingers also now have small holes in them. I found the elevator control horns were particularly unhelpful - there's really nowhere to drill holes that point in the right direction - so after several tries I ditched them and made two new ones from a leftover bit of the PE fret, some brass tubing, a soldering iron, a microscope and a lot of patience. I’m still not totally happy with the result, there must be a better way.

 

The instructions for drilling the holes for the Holt lights and flares seem to be all over the place.

 

I’m pretty sure there are more things – I need to do a proper list so that I can get things right next time -  but I hope this helps.

[andy.m]

Great model and story! One day I'll summon up the courage to have a go at a WNW kit...

[Scooby]

Beautiful, love the presentation!

[Bear Paw]

This is a lovely build and well done.  I know what you mean about getting another one as soon as you have built this one.  The first WNW  kit I made the Pfalz D.XII # 32019. I made a bit of a mess of that one due all the reason you stated. Trying to put fully painted sub assemblies together did not work too well. It is good to know how much you can paint and glue as you go but you need to do it to know it.
Catch 22 right there.  It does get better as you carry knowledge on from one build to the next.   
Andrew. 

[Lightpainter]

Stunning build!

[RMCS]

Superb