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1:48 Fairey Firefly MkI


Dunny

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Hi All,

 

Some good progress today. I eventually found the gunsight components. Special Hobby (those little Czech tinkers) call out components G16 & 17:

 

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The components are actually C16 & 17 - no biggie but I was headscratching for a good few minutes :hmmm:

 

Here's the sight in position - I used some clear packaging material to donate the lens, fixed in position with a dab of Krystal Kleer:

 

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Finally I was in a position to button up the fuselage after dryfitting a few times to ensure location was all good (it was - there are no location pegs):

 

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Here's the arrestor hook mount fitted in position with no issues:

 

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And here's the tailwheel doors fitted - for all these components fitting is vague so dry fit everything!

 

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Next I moved on to the wing. First job was to fix the resin undercarriage bays into position using CA. Here they are, in all their loveliness:

 

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The port wing has an opening for a landing light but curiously no light is provided. Not to worry - I knocked up a housing using plastic card:

 

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Once painted silver this was just fine. For the lens itself I chopped a length of transparent sprue, played it over a flame to 'dome' the end, then razor sawed it to length. I then polished the flat rear surface and painted it silver, then applied a frame in black paint to the front of the lens. This is the final result - not unhappy with that:

 

 

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The fit of the wings was making me nervous, so after much fiddling and procrastinating I decided to fix the bottom wing in position first. Here it is:

 

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And here's the top wings in position along with the empennage and the glazing - definitely looking like a Firefly now! For all the vagueness the fit is actually pretty good and only the odd smear of filler has been required.

 

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After a final cleanup I'll get a coat of primer on, but that's a job for next time. 

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Roger

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30 minutes ago, mahavelona said:

Really nice neat job on this. Cockpit detail and painting look fantastic.

Thanks for the kind words - much appreciated!

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10 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

Oh wow this has come together quickly Roger and looks great. Greatvwork on the Landing light too.  Got out my SH mk5 for a look and may be able to get yhst started soon.  Will be an Australian machine too.

Chris

Thanks Chris - look forward to seeing an Aussie MkV (even though I'm a Pom 🤣)

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21 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

Ha ha Sorry about that, I wrongly assumed you were Australian!!! I should know this from work,  never assume anything!!!

It's hopefully going to be a T5.

Chris 

Chris,

 

Lived here for 15 years, citizen for 10 but still English when it comes to cricket! Look forward to the T5,

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

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24 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

15 years crikey, i don't envy you guys out there at all!!!  Not sure about a WIP yet. Although you made me start the Spitfire WIP again!!!

Chris

Ha ha - that's a result in itself! We do live in a beautiful part of the world, although the last bushfires were too close for comfort. No such problems in the Garden of England!

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

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Hi All,

 

Some good progress today. First task was masking of the glazing. I couldn't get hold of a mask set so tried my hand with Tamiya tape. A bit more fiddly and time-consuming, but not a bad result. I did later realise that the triangular sections at the front end of the observer's glazing should be painted over, but I'll deal with that later:

 

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Next the removable sections were held in place with blu-tac, and sprayed with a cost of interior green:

 

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Next a coat of primer. This showed up a couple of seams that needed work, and also a rather prominent mis-match at the wing roots:

 

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That was soon dealt with. I then preshaded with Nato Black - this shot is slightly out of sequence as I forgot to take a photo, so you can see that I've started to mask over the Sky:

 

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And here's the Sky - this was trial by paint as I just cannot get AK Interactive's Sky to spray well, but have not found a water-based acrylic alternative (I don't do lacquers):

 

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Once I'd finished masking up I sprayed the Dark Slate Grey, which was a pleasure after the Sky! 😃 I did add a little Mid-Stone to introduce a little variation, but I'm not going to heavily weather this aircraft:

 

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I then masked up for the Extra Dark Sea Grey:

 

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With the EDSG I added a little white to lighten after the main coat. After spraying I thought it looked a bit overcooked so I over-sprayed with a heavily thinned coat of the 'original' colour. Here's the result after a gloss coat:

 

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The transfers are nice and thin and in register. This happened after many applications of Micro-Sol:

 

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It's settling down as we speak but is still rather lumpy - hmmm. :hmmm:

 

And here's the state of play with all the transfers in place:

 

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Next up, another gloss coat and then Flory wash, but I'll let those roundels settle down first!

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Roger

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15 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

Phwoar she is a beauty in paint Roger, great work and quick too.  I do have a liking for the type.   I  got time yesterday to cut off and clean up the resin bits for the T5 off two kits.

Chris

I agree Chris - there's a definite pugnacity and attitude to her shape,

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

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16 minutes ago, corsaircorp said:

Hello Roger.

Good progress, but you talked about a disaster ...

What has happened...

Not a drop I hope ??

CC

A terrible transfer tragedy Alain - all to be revealed tomorrow! I did save the day heroically though, so all is good!

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

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10 hours ago, Terry1954 said:

Just picked up on this one. That Firefly is coming along very nicely Roger. Must add a Firefly or two to my stash!

 

Terry

Thanks for the kind words Terry - much appreciated! I can certainly recommend the Special Hobby kit,

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

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Hi All,

 

Following a reasonably extensive time to allow the port wing roundel to sort itself out after gallons of Microsol, I ended up here:

 

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I have never seen a transfer remain in this state after Micro-Sol (all the others conformed perfectly), so I can only assume there was some sort of reaction with the paint/gloss coat. Never one to shy away from a good bit of bear poking, a bit of careful probing soon got me to this :poo:

 

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I cleaned this mess up as best I could, rescribed the panel lines, and sourced a suitably-sized replacement from the spares box. There is a slight colour mismatch but I think I've been brave enough for one day, so I'll live with that :banghead:

 

Once the replacement had settled down I applied another gloss coat, and then a Flory wash - here's the result post-Flory:

 

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And after cleanup and a flat coat:

 

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Want a closer look?

 

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It's far from perfect, but I'm calling that a save! :penguin::penguin::penguin:

 

Finally here's the state of play after removal of all the masks:

 

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Looking like a Firefly now! Thanks for looking,

 

Roger

 

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1 hour ago, Nachtwulf said:

I'd call that a great save! I've seen markings on real aircraft that look rougher than that. I like what you've done!

 

 

 

8 minutes ago, Biggles87 said:

Me too

Thanks gents! Much appreciated...

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Hi All,

 

Another good day today (a bit of leave - yay!) First order of business was undercarriage - I had to replace the starboard undercarriage cylinder rod with some brass tube as it had snapped:

 

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This aircraft took place in Operation Mascot, and supposedly this was the first deployment of 1770 Sqn from HMS Indefatigable. I've therefore chosen to do very little weathering, just a little exhaust staining (happily missing the squadron crest 🤩)

 

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Next was the prop, which comprises individual blades mounted onto a hub. The MkI used the earlier 3-blade propellor:

 

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The kit didn't provide for the front antenna, so no problem - just used a length of stretched sprue and drilled a 0.7mm location hole in the cowling to accept it. I then rigged the antenna with Uschi Fine.

 

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I then fitted the wing position lights and remaining glazing. As per @Grey Beema's suggestion (cheers GB!) I put in an extra fold in the Observer's canopy. I also shamelessly stole borrowed his idea of an opening handle, fashioned from 0.5mm brass tube:

 

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Aaaaand I'm calling her done. Here's a teaser shot - will add more photos in an RFI:

 

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Thanks for looking,

 

Roger

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Well,

nice done. I did it with the wing fold. This is my challange for all carier based a/c.

An idea for the future.

If you need photos for wing folds, or technical adsvise, so let me know.

Happy modelling

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2 minutes ago, dov said:

Well,

nice done. I did it with the wing fold. This is my challange for all carier based a/c.

An idea for the future.

If you need photos for wing folds, or technical adsvise, so let me know.

Happy modelling

Thanks for the kind words - I may well do a BPF version and I quite fancy folded wings!

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

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