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1/48 Fairey Albacore


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SOmething that should be noted to anyone wanting to build this model, In step 11 First impression is to put two small braces in the upper rear of the gunners station first, then the top of the rear compartment, Reverse is actually correct. the top of the rear area . should be installed first then the brackets otherwise it won't fit properly. Then you'll have to remove the braces and if you're like me, mangle one of them and having to use the good one as a pattern to make another one. I used my pin vise and some different sized needles to make the holes none of the bits I have are fine enough.

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Not perfect but will do in a pinch.

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Now that I have the top on and the cockpit in place, I'll drill some holes for a little bit of brass rod to hold the lower wings in place since they only sit flush on the fuselage.

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from there I'll work on the Taurus engine

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Now I have the markings for the posts set and the posts cut from some brass rod. 

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Drill a few holes and there you are.

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I'll set the wings once I get the fuselage painted. Now to tackle a Bristol Taurus.

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1 hour ago, LorenSharp said:

to hold the lower wings in place since they only sit flush on the fuselage.

Yes, this can be a feature of the Special Hobby kits! 

I came across it with their Lockheed L18 Lodestar, which uses the same wings as the L14 Hudson type. 

But while the Hudson fuselage has a bulkhead with a wing brace incorporated, fitting through slots, the Lodestar has NOTHING. Just a butt joint! 

Like you, I saw trouble ahead and got some infrastructure sorted early on to aid the process. 

 

Blimey, those tubes are going to be up to the task all right! 👍

 

I've got some 3view drawings of the Albacore (somewhere 🤔) that show a considerable offset of the vertical Tailplane. Just wondering if it is evident on the kit fuselage parts? Or were the drawings I have a bit ascew? 

Can't say I noticed it particularly on the Swordy but I'm no boffin on these old kites. The drawing caught my eye though. 

👍

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6 minutes ago, rob Lyttle said:

Yes, this can be a feature of the Special Hobby kits! 

I came across it with their Lockheed L18 Lodestar, which uses the same wings as the L14 Hudson type. 

But while the Hudson fuselage has a bulkhead with a wing brace incorporated, fitting through slots, the Lodestar has NOTHING. Just a butt joint! 

Like you, I saw trouble ahead and got some infrastructure sorted early on to aid the process. 

 

Blimey, those tubes are going to be up to the task all right! 👍

 

I've got some 3view drawings of the Albacore (somewhere 🤔) that show a considerable offset of the vertical Tailplane. Just wondering if it is evident on the kit fuselage parts? Or were the drawings I have a bit ascew? 

Can't say I noticed it particularly on the Swordy but I'm no boffin on these old kites. The drawing caught my eye though. 

👍

Smallest rod I had on hand. They should handle the load🙃 I m not an expert either. The kit doesnt show any real offset I can see. The only reference I have aside from internet is Warpaint 52

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A rainy, sloppy day out. What do do,what to do. I know A Bristol Taurus, not to be confused with a Ford Taurus.🙃. First off the jugs. SP lets you build build your own engine from crankcase housing up.

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14 teeny, tiny little cans. Center part painted magnesium, and the upper and lower plate aluminum. The housing a base coat of RAF interior green then a light mist of Alclad matt aluminum.

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The top is suppose to vaned but its too small to look right. Ask me how I know. I did add a small Diamond shape piece to the top where the +plug wires set into.

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From there after attaching the jugs, I did the exhaust piping that forward from each Jug.

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And the plug wires in the other direction along with what look like folded  heat shields between each of the rear jugs.

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After my eyes stop crossing I'll go back and look at the wiring to see if it need separating.Two outer gray lines with one black line in the center of each.

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Just so you know, all Bristol engines were painted black, from the early 1930's up to the early post-WW2 era.

 

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A Bristol Taurus VI engine is unshipped from Bristol Beaufort Mark I, L9853 of No. 217 Squadron RAF at St Eval, Cornwall.

 

 

 

Chris

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This is some excellent detail work. A real shame there’s on an albacore (readily) available in 1/72  I’d like to have one to build with a swordfish.

 

i’ll tag along if I may

 

Rob

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I did get the canopy glass attached after making it off then filled the gaps

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Some people dislike working on cockpits, I on the other hand REALLY dislike masking canopies, especially ones that look like a green house with a lot of fiddly framing.😝

 

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From here I'll rescribe a few lines and give what I have a primer/filler coat before laying down a coat of aluminum on the high wear areas. But I do have a question that maybe you guys can assist me with. I'm not that knowledgeable about biplanes. There is far more That I don't know than I know. and after using a MUseum image as a guide in painting and learning that error( I should have known better,) On the wing braces and the wires,forgive the nomenclature if incorrect, Was some of the "wires actually rods in one direction and twin guide wires in the other? This is what I have

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Before I start drilling holes in these wings I want to make sure I've got it right. Any information is greatly appreciated.

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Here's what I've learnt.... 

They're wires, raf profile, in the sense that they work in tension, and do nothing in compression as you would expect a "rod" to do. 

They're given 2 different names, flying wires and landing wires. 

The landing wires support the weight of the wings when on the ground. They go from high up at the fuselage to the bottom of the struts outboard and the tension in these stop the wings drooping. 

Can you visualise that? 

The flying wires aren't doing anything yet. 

But as the plane takes off, everything changes.... 

Now the wings are holding the fuselage up, and the flying wires, attached low down to the fuselage and reaching up to the tops of the struts, are in tension, keeping the structure rigid. 

I can't draw diagrams on here, but I'm sure you can visualise what I'm talking about. 

It's about keeping the wing structure "square" and not letting it go diamond shaped under lift or sitting on the ground. 

All just by tension corner to corner. 

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19 minutes ago, rob Lyttle said:

Here's what I've learnt.... 

They're wires, raf profile, in the sense that they work in tension, and do nothing in compression as you would expect a "rod" to do. 

They're given 2 different names, flying wires and landing wires. 

The landing wires support the weight of the wings when on the ground. They go from high up at the fuselage to the bottom of the struts outboard and the tension in these stop the wings drooping. 

Can you visualise that? 

The flying wires aren't doing anything yet. 

But as the plane takes off, everything changes.... 

Now the wings are holding the fuselage up, and the flying wires, attached low down to the fuselage and reaching up to the tops of the struts, are in tension, keeping the structure rigid. 

I can't draw diagrams on here, but I'm sure you can visualise what I'm talking about. 

It's about keeping the wing structure "square" and not letting it go diamond shaped under lift or sitting on the ground. 

All just by tension corner to corner. 

 

3 hours ago, dogsbody said:

As near as I know, they were all RAF Wires. There were aerodynamic ( airfoil )  shaped wire. 

 

Here are some Albacore photos, from the IWM: https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/search?query=Fairey Albacore&pageSize=&style=image

 

 

 

 

Chris

Thanks guys, this helps a lot. And make more sense as to what I'm seeing.

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ok lets see if we can dress up this little lady for the show. With nce fabric wings ad a metal body all sorts of fun can be had.

First I wanted to highlight the ribbing, leading edges and the nooks and crannies with some Alclad black.

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Trying an experiment here, not sure it will work let's see what transpires shall we. After that had dried I coated  the leading edges and fuselage panels with Alclad Aircraft aluminum. It's hard to see, probably should have turned the overhead light off while taking pictures.

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There is a coat of aluminum there, believe it or not.

Then the next step in my grand scheme, salt

I applied  salt to parts of the wing and fuselage here and there . not a lot. I have a build planned soon of a Japanese twin engine and I wanted to try out creating  an easy wear and tear on the paint job. Malta seemed like a good place to 'speriment.

 

 

 

 

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from there I used  some Floquil railroad Weathered Black for the undersides

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I'll weather the bottom further once I get the top coat colors on. Speaking of top coat Model Master RAF Slate Gray couple of light coatsI don't want to cover up the highlighting underneath.

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Once these dry I'll do the camo in RAF Extra Dark Sea Gray and let that dry before wiping off the salt and seeing if this works or not. Its a technique I've been wanting to try for a while. If it works, Cool. If not, we'll do it the old fashioned way with a fine tip brush and aluminium paint and a mechanical pencil to highlight. I may still do that either way, but we'll see.

 

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One more set to leave you with before I retire for the evening and the storms hit.

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The salt does work! although in the future instead of flaked salt and table salt mixed, I'll just use table salt. It's finer and I think will do a better job at chipping.

49834713768_81e7824049_c.jpg forgive the photography, with the lighting its hard to see the chipping effect.

I used my ol standby Floquil Oily black to highlight the panel lines.The "dusty" parts I used watered down radome tan for the sandy/dirty look.

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So there you have it so far, any comments or critiques please let me know. Biplanes aren't my normal forte and I've never finished an aircraft this grimy before.

Tomorrow will be the test..... Getting the rigging sort out. until then.....

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Hello Loren,

A bit late on this one !! but here I'm !!

Finely detailled Albacore, I really love it !!

Inspiring too, since I've one in the stash...

I'll follow on if you don't mind it !!

Keep carry on Man !! Great job !! :cheers:

Sincerely.

CC

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36 minutes ago, corsaircorp said:

Hello Loren,

A bit late on this one !! but here I'm !!

Finely detailled Albacore, I really love it !!

Inspiring too, since I've one in the stash...

I'll follow on if you don't mind it !!

Keep carry on Man !! Great job !! :cheers:

Sincerely.

CC

Welcome aboard Corsaircorp! Make yourself ta home If  you have ant questions or comments,or suggestions  do shout them out. Biplanes are almost the "Arcane Dark Arts " for me. So it will be interesting to see how this plays out.

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