Ford Trimotor - modified Airfix 1/72 kit

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

2 hours ago, billn53 said:

Junkers successfully sued Ford for infringement of patent when the Trimotor was offered for sale in Europe. Ford mounted a counter-suit, in which it was defeated again.

I love it! Sod off, Ford!

[Space Ranger]

4 hours ago, Moa said:

But I am slowly becoming an expert in Martians.

Speaking for the entire Corps of Space Rangers, I think there are things about Martians we will never know. They are a mysterious, inscrutable race of beings.

[billn53]

51 minutes ago, Space Ranger said:

Speaking for the entire Corps of Space Rangers, I think there are things about Martians we will never know. They are a mysterious, inscrutable race of beings.

I believe this is, in part, because they have so many brains. Their brains do not work together in any coordinated fashion. Instead, whichever happens to be paying attention at any particular time takes precedence. Hence, Martians are unpredictable and not even they know what they will do next. As Moa observed in another thread, “All those brains, one wonders what are they used for...”

 

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

The small areas where control cables pass through where most likely of leather or rubber, or perhaps rubberized fabric. Rubbing on metal would have caused fraying of the cables:

 

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

Careful examination of photos rendered yet more surprises: the position of those hatches underneath the wind should be ahead of where they are, and the control cable go-through area should be a back from it is.

More corrugation restoration is not a menu that pleases me, but I think I may move the cable portal back, and leave the hatches where they are. We'll see.

Meanwhile I am studying the engine gondolas, that varied greatly among sub-types. F.31's were slightly different arranged, having a shroud for the exhaust, some bumpy bits not present in the kit, and a small triangular faring behind one of the aft connecting struts.

The aft point of the cone was hollowed:

 

[billn53]

The plot thickens...

 

Take care with the engine gondola attachment points on the wings. Airfix’s are not symmetrical, leading to problems later on when attaching the landing gear. At least, that was my experience.

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

2 hours ago, billn53 said:

Take care with the engine gondola attachment points on the wings. Airfix’s are not symmetrical, leading to problems later on when attaching the landing gear. At least, that was my experience.

Thanks, Bill

I have read similar comments in many reviews and builds.

We'll see how it goes when I dry-trial it.

These kit makers make as sweat our pay. Oh, wait, didn't we paid them?

[billn53]

1 hour ago, Moa said:

Thanks, Bill

I have read similar comments in many reviews and builds.

We'll how it goes when I dry-trial it.

These kit makers make as sweat our pay. Oh, wait, didn't we paid them?

This is what happens if you don’t correct the mounting locations on the wing. The starboard engine is too far inboard, causing the gear leg to go akilter  

 

 

I didn’t dry fit the gear until after I had glued the engine mounts in place. I had to cheat by shortening the lower “V” brace to get the leg vertical. My engine, of course, is still too far inboard, so not a totally satisfying fix.

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

On 8/31/2020 at 6:42 PM, billn53 said:

This is what happens if you don’t correct the mounting locations on the wing. The starboard engine is too far inboard, causing the gear leg to go akilter  

Holy As(s)ymmetries, Batman!

What the...

I just measured mine, it's all out of kilter!

I propose we pool together and buy a ruler for Airfix, and send it back in time using Martian technology.

It's just beyond... And to think this unforgivable silly mistake got replicated thousands upon thousands of times, to the grief of generations of modelers...

I also read that one of the engines gets misaligned thrustline-wise.

I believe Airfix pioneered the technology used decades later by short-run manufacturers, that is "confusing the modeler".

[billn53]

Just now, Moa said:

Holy As(s)ymetries, Batman!

What the...

I just measured mine, it's all out of kilter!

I propose we pool together and buy a ruler for Airfix, and send it back in time using Martian technology.

It's juts beyond... And to think this unforgivable silly mistake got replicated thousands upon thousands of times, to the grief of generations of modelers...

I also read that one of the engines gets misaligned thrustline-wise.

I believe Airfix pioneered the technology used decades later by short-run manufacturers, that is "confusing the modeler".

Perhaps the kit was designed by Martians?

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

Just now, billn53 said:

Perhaps the kit was designed by Martians?

Oh the cheeky basterds, trying to sow confusion among Earth's modeling ranks...

⚡ So that movie "Mars Attacks" was no fiction after all!

[Ray S]

5 hours ago, Moa said:

Holy As(s)ymetries, Batman!

What the...

I just measured mine, it's all out of kilter!

I propose we pool together and buy a ruler for Airfix, and send it back in time using Martian technology.

It's just beyond... And to think this unforgivable silly mistake got replicated thousands upon thousands of times, to the grief of generations of modelers...

I also read that one of the engines gets misaligned thrustline-wise.

I believe Airfix pioneered the technology used decades later by short-run manufacturers, that is "confusing the modeler".

 

The last line is so right! I had to re-drill a couple of holes, the pods aligned okay forward and back, but the pods had their '3 - 9 o'clocks' centre lines more like '43 - 12' minutes instead, which put the engine skew-whiff, the undercarriage off and the exhausts too high. I have totally failed to take a ruler to the engines to see if they are asymmetric or not.

 

Me, being a non-Moa, left it as-is and will probably regret it for a while!

 

Keep up with the grand work Sir! (And thanks so much for the tip about the corrugations - you may well have convinced me to track down another and give it another go)

 

Ray

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

7 hours ago, Ray S said:

Me, being a non-Moa, left it as-is

You are very kind, Ray

Well, I would have checked since I read that there were some issues in the area, but have to thank Bill for the heads-up regarding the main culprit.

I would have done a dry fit, but would have never measure the holes in the wing, thus getting into trouble and correcting it the wrong way.

Thanks to Bill again!

[billn53]

6 minutes ago, Moa said:

You are very kind, Ray

Well, I would have checked since I read that there were some issues in the area, but have to thank Bill for the heads-up regarding the main culprit.

I would have done a dry fit, but would have never measure the holes in the wing, thus getting into trouble and correcting it the wrong way.

Thanks to Bill again!

You are most welcome, Moa!
and, concerning dry-fitting of the engine gondolas, you might need the assistance of one multi-tentacled alien. Getting all the engine mounts in the right place, at the same time, is quite tricky for a two-handed primate. 

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

18 minutes ago, billn53 said:

you might need the assistance of one multi-tentacled alien.

Ah, ahem...Don't think so. Remember, the Shaolin Modeling Monastery helps you develop some unusual skills:

 

[billn53]

5 minutes ago, Moa said:

Ah, ahem...Don't think so. Remember, the Shaolin Modeling Monastery helps you develop some unusual skills:

Touché!

[Ray S]

1 hour ago, Moa said:

Ah, ahem...Don't think so. Remember, the Shaolin Modeling Monastery helps you develop some unusual skills:

Moa, I tried to be suitable for the Shaolin Modelling Monastery, but I failed for two reasons: I could not spell it properly being a Limey, and I was totally unable to walk with a saucer full of water twenty yards without spilling any.

 

I too could have done with some spare tentacles.

 

I am looking forward to how you solve the issue, and how you deal with the glazing, among many other things pertaining to this build.

 

All the best, Ray

[TheyJammedKenny!]

16 hours ago, Moa said:

Holy As(s)ymetries, Batman

That is what everyone exclaims when they open a Mach II kit!  Sorry to see that it applies to Airfix sometimes.

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

And we now face the next challenge of this old kit, one of the most inexplicable and shameful of them: the location of the engine gondolas.
As warned by many, and suffered by all, nothing seems to work properly here.
a) Utterly deficient and confusing instructions.
b) Poor fit of the struts.
c) Inaccurate and misguiding locating holes on the wing.

There could be many solutions for this, again, extremely poor job by old Airfix. I elected to approach these issues thus:
1) Assembly of the gondolas (which required more than a little prodding and cursing and some enlarging of the locating holes.
2) To measure the distance between the wing contact points on the fore and aft V struts, obtaining 11mm for the fore and 11.5mm for the aft one.
3) Since the holes on the wing over the narrow smooth strip that separates the wing panels are more or less where they should, the gondola locating holes under the right wing (inwards) are re-drilled.
The fit now was ok.
4) Trying the same approach on the gondola under the left wing proved impossible, as everything seemed to go out of kilter at the same time in all possible directions. Repeated trial and error adjustments and enlargement of the locating holes eventually allowed for an acceptable fit and alignment.

My intention was to provide a guide with small mods -or even a printable pattern- to improve the fit in this noticeably problematic area, something that Airfix did not bothered to do in decades, but I am afraid I could not find an elegant solution for the engine under the left wing, and only an acceptable jimmy-rigged fix for the other.

I will now wait until the engine sub-assemblies glue sets, so the struts are fixed in the right positions, and then I will fill some of the holes on the wing that had to be unsightly enlarged, and then re-drill them.

And, as Kurt Vonnegut Jr. justly wrote: "So it goes"

I am not new to the hobby by any stretch of the imagination, and have dealt with many a wild despicable kit successfully, but I expected more from Airfix, even if it is the "Old" Airfix.

 

 

 

[billn53]

It is what it is...

 

(tongue set firmly in cheek)

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

3 minutes ago, billn53 said:

It is what it is...

 

(tongue set firmly in cheek)

 

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

Parts are grouped for the first airbrushing session:

 

The cockpit of course had corrugated sides:

 

Almost nothing will be done with the cockpit, as the transparencies won't allow much to be seen:

 

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

The long exhaust and shroud provided in the kit (shown below) does not correspond to the version I am building, that has a shorter and bulkier one that will have to be fabricated:

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

The gondolas in this plane had a few details not present in the kit, among them, these two fixtures:

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

This variant had the two side engines shrouded by a cowl, so they are not really that visible, but the center engine is well exposed and the kit's representation is rather simplistic. 

You may like to replace it by one of the many aftermarket options available, here are the two I have at hand, from Aeroclub, and Radial Engines & Wheels (there are others):