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Airfix Tigermoth (old Kit)


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This was one of my very early builds, probably when I was about 8-10 years old, it was built, almost certainly without paints but with transfesr as I called them then, mounted on its stand & proudly displayed on the sitting room mantle piece, when along came (cue threatening music, the jaws one will do) Mrs Sampson, an older lady with a chronically ill husband who was a patient of my Fathers (a GP) who used to do for us once a week, probably as an act of charity. Good soul that she was, my Tigermoth didn't stand a show & crashed to smithereens onto the tiled hearth as she dusted. :( I've never built another since & although I have a couple of the new Airfix & AZ ones, I picked this up a few years ago in a fit of nostalgia,l this GB is perfect for it.

 

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The eagle eyed ones among you will notice two different pilots, well actually not, as I clamped the fuselage halves together& went to sit the pilots in, the first hiccup reveled itself, there was no way the chunky twins were going to fit. :)

A close up for those without their optivisors.

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 A bit of trimming & slimming the cockpit sides didn't come close so I went to sleep on it & as I drifted off, the solution presented itself, if only I remember it in the morning. :D 

Some savage surgery was called for & Tubby Tom became Thinner Tom, skilfull plastic surgery in the form of plenty of poly glue restored his good looks, sort of.  The method I used involved near total dismemberment but I was well pleased with the outcome & they now fit like a well fitting thing. Here is Solid Sam in the process of becoming Slim Sam. With associated instruments of torture.  The bottom saw removed the head in a vee cut, the thicker saw above cuts right through from neck to privates & when glued together it will look like the fellow on the right. :)

 

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I've also painted interior green inside the fuselage, sanded the shoulders off the prop spinner & made the prop shaft free spinning. That'll be it for a couple of days, off to work tonight. Its going to be as OOB as I can but trying to make it as good as possible without great modification, no other interior mods & no rigging will be done. Just as 8-10 year old me would have.

 

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Steve.

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There isn’t a “horrified” icon so I had to give you a “like” instead! I'm sure it came with earlier, slimmer, pilots originally and got upgraded later - Airfix did that with a lot of their kits. Some of the pilots in the newer Airfix kits (including the new Tiger Moth) are a good deal thinner than the classic “Archie”, I suspect because they are made to fit inside scale seats.

 

I presume this is going to be yellow overall? Better start the first coat now :)

 

Regards,

Adrian

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Yes, it will be yellow, with the kits decals, I did think of doing a Kiwi one but am keeping a modern kit for that, probably feel obliged to rig it too. :( Luckily the destructions say Hu69 which I find covers not too badly, even though it might get some Trainer Yellow as a top coat. The original was in yellow plastic, no need for paint at all, just slap on the decals & good to go. :D

Steve.

 

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If you can find it locally get a tin of Humbrol 46 Orange. It's more of a rich yellow but the covering power is remarkable. I've been using it as a base coat under yellow, red and orange. 

John 

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Hi Steve,

 

I did what I suspect is my second one in Dark Earth/Green over yellow as it hurt my eyes in yellow overall.😁

 

Cheers

 

Pete

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9 hours ago, John said:

If you can find it locally get a tin of Humbrol 46 Orange. It's more of a rich yellow but the covering power is remarkable. I've been using it as a base coat under yellow, red and orange. 

John 

Thanks John, sounds like good advice, I'm due a visit to our LHS such that it is, but they do have Humbrol paints & I need a stock up. I'll look for that.

2 hours ago, PeterB said:

Hi Steve,

 

I did what I suspect is my second one in Dark Earth/Green over yellow as it hurt my eyes in yellow overall.😁

 

Cheers

 

Pete

Agree entirely, but unfortunately the RNZAF only operated yellow ones afaics & the 8 year old me would have rebelled at having to paint over perfectly good yellow plastic (there was a pattern forming there. ;) :D ) so yellow this will be, I do have a camo'd one in my future though I hope.

Steve.

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Another build that will have me happily spectating.

 

Airfix updated the mould by adding texture and ribs to the wings, along with a few lines on the fuselage. The pilots, while a bit on the chunky side, are a vast improvement on the aliens of the first issue. It's a shame they didn't keep the yellow plastic as yellow can be a swine to apply. 

 

By coincidence, I'm renovating a first issue build along with a few other oldies at the moment. I'll add a picture later to accompany your build.

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Great stuff Steve, and really enjoyed the story behind the build, before hearing of the poor Tigermoths demise !

 

I used H69 for the yellow on my "Bit of Lace" as ive found that Trainer yellow can take a ridiculous number of coats before it looks ok. I built a Hawker Henley in a GB a while ago and nearly lost the will to live applying yellow paint !

 

The crew surgery is inspired and hopefully also offered the opportunity to fix the cannon shell hole in the stomach that one of them had pre operation 😉

 

cheers Pat 

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1 hour ago, JOCKNEY said:

The crew surgery is inspired and hopefully also offered the opportunity to fix the cannon shell hole in the stomach that one of them had pre operation 😉

Better than a stomach staple Pat, instant weight loss & a full tummy into the bargain. :D I'm really happy with how these came up, in 1/72 they look just fine. Now I have to decide how to dress/paint them. The boxart says leather helmet & jacket but I'm leaning toward a Sidcott suit.

Steve

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5 hours ago, John said:

I tried this kit a couple of times but couldn't get the wings lined up. Let's hear it for super glue 🎖️

 

John

The younger me had no such trouble, or else I just didn't notice (blinded by all that yellow plastic)? :D

Steve.

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Here's the first issue Steve.

Moulded in yellow, this one's had a coat of clear applied over the bare plastic to save the transfers. Note the lack of detail compared to your copy. It's a delicate little thing but I like it a lot. I need to find the missing prop blade which is hiding somewhere in the storage box the plane is kept in.

The back seat bod seems to be asleep on the job. I'll take care of that later.

 

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Nice that Tony, I wonder if it was indeed one of these rather than the one I have now that I built back then, 55+ years ago. I notice that even your one still has the ejector marks on the top of the bottom wing that I've had to remove. Even the page on the Airfix Tribute Forum is a bit vague as to when the tooling was improved. I'm guessing from about 1967 which seems to be when the art work improved, so my first effort would probably have been the earlier one, built about 1963-65

Steve.

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Thanks Steve, it's not one that has been in favour for a while now I guess. I did make a small amount of progress on my last break, fuselage halves stuck together & a wee bit of tidying up of flash. I've made an attempt to put an undercut in the back of the engine cowl where the cooling air exits which seems to have worked & knocked the second wee man's elbows back so they now both fit into the cockpits. They'll get some paint soon but the major task has involved a fair bit of filing to get the lower wing to fit its location recess before I glue it in. There will be filler used. :(

Steve.

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37 minutes ago, stevehnz said:

.... but back at work over the weekend. :(

Steve.

Stop showing off Steve!

 

Love this build, makes me want to dig out my original.

 

Rick.

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I'm here now Steve (thanks for the link) :) 

 

Great solution for the chubbies and stored for future use! I love this photo:

 

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The skinny seems to be looking at his mate and saying (presumably in a high voice) "It'll be fine mate. He did that to me as well and the stinging goes away in a couple of hours" :D 

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On 05/07/2020 at 09:01, Dansk said:

Fantastic work on the chubby crew Steve. Looks like a fun build, lets hope you don’t have another accident with it post-completion. 😳

Superb steve,😁

I only hope mrs hewy doesn't  inadvertently see this and suggest a similar weight  loss regime for me (lockdown hasn't  been kind to my physique) 

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More progress, it looks quite a lot like a Tiger Moth tonight, I wasn't going to mount the wings but when I tried to line up the various struts using a template they were so ill fitting & spindly I decided to go the whole hog. It went OK in the end. I'm waiting on some paints to be delivered so I can try @John's tip, using Hu46 under the yellow, the LHS didn't have it & like a clot I forgot to add it to my order with the Tamiya F-4U kit, so I've made up another paint order which should be here in a day or two, some Tamiya Silvers & Clears as well as Hu46. :) I've also done some detail painting on my wee men, they're dressed in Sidcot suits with 1939 pattern leather & canvas flying boots. There is a bit of tidying up to be done, I need some stronger specs for that very small stuff. :( 

Anyway, here is where we are at the close of play today.

 

DSCF3064

Steve.

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