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Wellsprop 1/48th Fairey 111F New Kit


europapete

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Ben's new Fairey 111F kit arrived in the mail today. Nice and fast from England to RI, USA. 8 days, the normal is around 10. My first impressions are very good, the kit arrived with the main parts packed in a plastic baggie, inside an airpocket bag, supported by polystyrene peanuts. The small parts are enclosed in another bag inside a felt lined plastic tub, inside the airpocket bag. All this inside a stout box. All the parts are in perfect condition, no damage at all from their trip over the pond. The 3D printed parts are nice and crisp, good panel lines on the fuselage. The wings are smooth, with aileron and flap lines, which in 1/48th scale I feel is appropiate to this scale and comparing the parts to photos in the Phil Jarret book some show leading edge rib bumps, some do not. The parts surface is nice and smooth, no " printing ridges" that are sometimes seen on other 3D parts. The interior has a one-piece interior frame, pilot's seat, and instrument panel on the frame. The rest of the interior will need scratchbuilding as expected. The exhaust stubs are very nice, hollow, thin, and delicate. The cockpit walls are nice and thin. The fin/rudder in this example has a slight curve to it, nothing that a quick dunk in hot water and a finger bend can't remedy. Actually this is quite normal for resin kits. The floats are handed, with fine castings for the mooring eyes and surface details.  This kit is aimed at experienced modellers, and the instructions reflect this. There are no decals, as expected. This is a very good basic kit of a much-needed aircraft. I am actually thinking I should have ordered the 1/32 version! THAT will be awesome. This is a kit that will reward the effort put into it, and I am thankful to Ben for taking the time and effort to produce this. I am looking forward to building this kit. It is a very nicely-done product. Regards, Pete in RI

Edited by europapete
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Many thanks Pete, I'm looking forward to seeing this built up :) Interesting that the vertical tail has warped slightly, I've noticed this on some of the wings, but not the tail so far!

 

3D printed resin tends to behave a bit strange I've found...

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  • 4 weeks later...

I received mine this week and am likewise impressed. 
Does anyone have recommendations on the best means of polishing the plastic surface at the metal cowling to prepare it for gloss primer & polished aluminum finish? Do not want damage the nice detail there.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have to agree 100% with europapete's summary of the kit..'bloody nice'. Other than a couple of the struts breaking off the pour stub, it also survived it's long trip to New Zealand!

 

I will add one recommendation that anyone building this or specially the upcoming 1:32 scale version (if they don't already have a copy) is to search out the Phil Jarrett book..I found a copy on Ebay UK and it arrived yesterday. Not cheap, but more photos of IIIF's than I've ever seen before! The chapter covering the anatomy of the IIIF makes the price well worth it alone.

 

Highly recommended by me! 👍

Edited by Pete M.
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On 07/11/2020 at 11:01, SilverWings said:

I received mine this week and am likewise impressed. 
Does anyone have recommendations on the best means of polishing the plastic surface at the metal cowling to prepare it for gloss primer & polished aluminum finish? Do not want damage the nice detail there.

 

On 19/11/2020 at 01:35, Pete M. said:

I have to agree 100% with europapete's summary of the kit..'bloody nice'. Other than a couple of the struts breaking off the pour stub, it also survived it's long trip to New Zealand!

 

I will add one recommendation that anyone building this or specially the upcoming 1:32 scale version (if they don't already have a copy) is to search out the Phil Jarrett book..I found a copy on Ebay UK and it arrived yesterday. Not cheap, but more photos of IIIF's than I've ever seen before! The chapter covering the anatomy of the IIIF makes the price well worth it alone.

 

Highly recommended by me! 👍

 

Thanks ever so much chaps, I really appreciate it - it was quite a leap of faith for me to be honest. Its something to make and print a design for myself, but quite something else to have the audacity to ask for money and supply them! 

 

Thanks for the feedback about the struts snapping off during transport, to be honest, I'm struggling to work out a better way to print them so they don't break in shipping and personally I would recommend using the resin parts as a pattern for some brass struts (made from flattened brass tube) - resin simply isn't strong enough at these fine dimensions.

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2 hours ago, wellsprop said:

 

 

Thanks ever so much chaps, I really appreciate it - it was quite a leap of faith for me to be honest. Its something to make and print a design for myself, but quite something else to have the audacity to ask for money and supply them! 

 

Thanks for the feedback about the struts snapping off during transport, to be honest, I'm struggling to work out a better way to print them so they don't break in shipping and personally I would recommend using the resin parts as a pattern for some brass struts (made from flattened brass tube) - resin simply isn't strong enough at these fine dimensions.

Hi Ben. Luckily both had broken off right at the pour stub, no actual damage to the struts so still usable. If I do have a problem with them then I am lucky enough to have a good supply of Aeroclub/Contrail strut material left. 👍

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