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Upgrade article for the Airfix F-27 kit.


Admiral Puff

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Some years ago there was published on the 'net an article, by a Dutch modeller IIRC, on upgrading and improving the old Airfix F-27 kit. I had it bookmarked, but that was lost when my computer fell over a year or so ago. I've just spent a couple of hours on the 'net looking for it, without success - Google has not been my friend. Can anyone point me in the right direction, please?

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Fun fact: Most Interweb browsers have a “Save page” option that allows you to save a web page with or without all the images on the page. So get yourself in the habit of saving the page with images and not just the link. You never know when a site might simply vanish for various reasons. Once you save a page, you can open it in your browser as if it is on the web.

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15 hours ago, 72linerlover said:

Hi Admiral.

Could this be what you're looking for?

https://designer.home.xs4all.nl/models/f27/f27mod.htm

Bye

Eugenio

That's the one, indeed! Many thanks, Eugenio!

2 hours ago, Space Ranger said:

Fun fact: Most Interweb browsers have a “Save page” option that allows you to save a web page with or without all the images on the page. So get yourself in the habit of saving the page with images and not just the link. You never know when a site might simply vanish for various reasons. Once you save a page, you can open it in your browser as if it is on the web.

And thanks to you, Michael. I'll do that

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Nothing special - an Airlines of New South Wales aircraft in the R/W/B Ansett scheme, using a Hawkeye decal sheet. One of the many I would have travelled on in the days when my job had me flying all over NSW for court appearances. I'm using the Airfix kit because (a) I have one and (b) although not perfect by any means, its basic shape is better than the Esci/Italeri alternative.

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Hello Admiral,

 

I built the model when the kit was released (some years ago). Both F.27 kits are far from perfect. Actually I have played the idea of combining the Airfix and Esci kits.

 

This is my "Ivory Eagle" (as the Russian Air Force fighter controllers called her). Finnish Air Force had one F.27 Mk. 100 converted into SIGINT -role and it was so secret that only the early years of Lockheed F-117A gets close to that.

 

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And here are the most visible alterations I made to my model:

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Aaand, some detail shots of the real thing.

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Hope these help. I have access to real aircraft and we also have the complete technical library for the type (a few hundred binders). So if there is something you wish to know, just ask.

 

Cheers,

Antti

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Many thanks, Antti - useful stuff indeed.

 

I would really like to use the Esci/Italeri kit for all my F-27s (I have this weird desire to build one of each example of the markings used on the type in Australia and New Zealand - by my count, about 40 models ...) but it seems to my eye to be too badly out of shape to be salvaged. The nacelles are scrawny, the cabin windows are too big, the fuselage is too shallow, the whole tail unit sits too high compared to the rest of the fuselage ... For all its faults, the old Airfix kit is a much better starting point, and its faults are easier to correct. As you have obviously discovered, there's still a lot of work to do to get it right, though!

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@Antti_K: Yours is really impressive.  I made many but not all the changes you did, including deepening the fuselage and fabricating a slight crease for the lower lobe.  I did not mess with the shape of the engine nacelles that much, but I did ensure there was a pronounced vee shape on the cockpit roof.  I should have deepened the roof as you did.  I used the Esci nose as a basis for a new radar nose, and employed the ESCI main landing gear/tires, air conditioning intakes, and "bulges" adjacent to the elevators to correct the Airfix kit.  I also used LORAN antennas from the ESCI C-47 kit on the lower fuselage.  Having built both kits, I can attest that the Airfix product just looks better, period.  I have a box full of surplus ESCI parts to steal from in the future.

 

@Admiral Puff: My understanding is that OZ Mods was going to release an improvement set for the Airfix or ESCI kit but never got around to it.  They probably calculated that the market for such wares was too small.  I have no idea what their prospective set would have contained.

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Thanks again, Antti. I've got a fair amount of reference material, but will take you up on your offer if there's something I find I don't have.

 

I didn't know about the OzModels set. There was a very good -500 conversion around many years ago from Hamilton Hobbies, but that, AFAIK, is long OOP.

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  • 4 months later...

Just found this thread, I am starting the Airifx kit soon for the Australia and NZ GB, converting it to a -500 using the long OOP Hamilton Hobbies set for a 'LADS' aircraft, I will definitely use @Antti_K's correction tips as well.

 

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