1:72 Airfix Shorts Tucano T.1

[Navy Bird]

Hi mates,

 

2020 - my "year of resin kits" - is nearly over. Therefore, it is time to re-engage with the exciting world of injection moulded styrene. And what better way than an older (but not yet old) kit from Airfix, complete with those funky square shaped sprues that remind me so much of my misspent youth? I could have made something of myself, but no - I was social distancing in the basement building models. Anyway, this is the 1:72 scale kit of the Shorts Tucano T.1 and she actually has recessed panel lines to prove that she's not an "old" old Airfix kit. Still, by my guess her tooling is pushing 30 years old.

 

(Why is this "Shorts" when a Stirling is just "Short"?)

 

 

It's a fairly simple kit, with relatively few parts spread across four grey sprues and one clear plastic sprue. The box says 48 parts, but I bet we can do better than that.

 

 

After this year's resin manifesto, I couldn't just switch to plastic completely. Accordingly, I held up some deposits for my grandchildren's college funds and made a donation to the GDP of the Czech Republic. Namely, these cute packages from CMK:

 

 

First, a new cockpit tub, side panels, ejection seats, instrument panels (with film), and coaming:

 

 

And a teeny tiny engine (with engine mount framework), much nicer spinner and prop, open cowling, hollowed out exhausts, and cowling face with intake:

 

 

Next, how about new control surfaces, including rudder, that can be posed:

 

 

I see some cutting in my future. Lastly, there are new gear doors, airbrake, and a luggage compartment (which I most likely won't bother with).

 

 

It seems I have this Xtradecal sheet with a colourful bird from No. 1 Flying Training School, overall aluminum with White, Roundel Blue and Signal Red scheme:

 

 

And, of course, the kit decals for the black and yellow bird shown on the box top as well as this red, white, and blue bird from the No. 7 Flying Training School:

 

 

Decisions, decisions. I seem to never decide on the scheme until it's actually time to paint. This will be a tough one, as I like all the schemes. I will accept all of your opinions on this topic for my review. Then I will probably toss a three-sided coin.

 

Cheers,

Bill

 

PS. Happy New Year!

PPS. When rating the year 2020, please use no stars if that's an available option. Thanks.

[Tomoshenko]

3 minutes ago, Navy Bird said:

The box says 48 parts, but I bet we can do better than that.

Like the style mate 👍

 

Never mind the three sided coin. Switch it for a loaded dice and go for this one:

 

4 minutes ago, Navy Bird said:

red, white, and blue bird from the No. 7 Flying Training School

 

[bigbadbadge]

Nice choice Bill.  This is a nice kit, I have this with the resin too.  The model will be a tail sitter I think unless you can secrete weight in any space .  I have the premiere issue too which looks very similar and wonder if that is a removed Airfix version.  

I never watched your last build, but wouldn't mind tagging along if you dot mind that is. 

Happy New Year 

Chris

[dad's lad]

Edit

Edited December 30, 2020 by dad's lad
Noticed you'll be using aftermarket parts

[ColinChipmunkfan]

Wow, you must have doubled the number of parts- would permission to fall in for this one!

[Hamden]

 

Great choice Bill as to which scheme I vote for the Xtradecal one.

Seat taken if you don't mind

 

Best wishes for the New Year and stay safe         Roger

[Pete in Lincs]

10 hours ago, Navy Bird said:

(Why is this "Shorts" when a Stirling is just "Short"?)

Probably just a manner of speaking. Saying Short (rather than Shorts) Brothers brings to mind Snow White. And, was Snow her first name?

It's thirty years (where did that go?) since I worked on these at Scampton, brand new from Belfast (them, not me) so I'll help where I can.

That 1FTS paint job was for a display scheme. Never saw it in the metal though. I was used to the 7FTS scheme from new. Then they later switched to black.

 

[Navy Bird]

On 30/12/2020 at 17:16, Tomoshenko said:

Like the style mate 👍

Never mind the three sided coin. Switch it for a loaded dice and go for this one:

 

Thanks, mate. My style may be appropriate, but my fashion sense is atrocious. Yikes! (I do like that scheme, especially the bird on the tail. Toucan maybe?)

 

On 30/12/2020 at 17:22, bigbadbadge said:

Nice choice Bill.  This is a nice kit, I have this with the resin too.  The model will be a tail sitter I think unless you can secrete weight in any space .  I have the premiere issue too which looks very similar and wonder if that is a removed Airfix version.  

I never watched your last build, but wouldn't mind tagging along if you dot mind that is.

 

Thanks Chris. No doubt it will need a lot of weight, and I have no idea where to put it. Especially when I add the aftermarket engine. Without it, there would be a lot of space up front.  

 

On 30/12/2020 at 17:56, dad's lad said:

Edit

 

Aftermarket parts are my life - unless the kit already comes with them.  

 

On 30/12/2020 at 18:13, ColinChipmunkfan said:

Wow, you must have doubled the number of parts- would permission to fall in for this one!

 

Permission granted. I will need all the help I can get!   

 

On 31/12/2020 at 02:31, Hamden said:

Great choice Bill as to which scheme I vote for the Xtradecal one.

 

Thanks Roger. I like that scheme, too, especially since it was rather unique.

 

On 31/12/2020 at 03:16, Pete in Lincs said:

Probably just a manner of speaking. Saying Short (rather than Shorts) Brothers brings to mind Snow White. And, was Snow her first name?

It's thirty years (where did that go?) since I worked on these at Scampton, brand new from Belfast (them, not me) so I'll help where I can.

That 1FTS paint job was for a display scheme. Never saw it in the metal though. I was used to the 7FTS scheme from new. Then they later switched to black.

 

Ah, good news! Someone who is well acquainted with the aircraft in question. This will help considerably, as the first time I saw one of these was on the box top of this kit! Do you know if the 7FTS scheme was natural metal or painted aluminium? What colour was the cockpit? Airfix say Humbrol 64, which is a generic Light Grey, but perhaps we can get more specific. Light Aircraft Grey perhaps?

 

No clue on Snow White's first name. But if it's like most of the Brothers Grimm fairy tales, it's based on Greco-Roman mythology with a dash of political intrigue from the then contemporary European aristocracy. Or something like that.

 

Cheers,

Bill

[DougC]

From memory (& it's now nearly 30 years ago), the cockpits started life as a medium grey colour with a bluish hint - perhaps Admiralty Grey? But soon the amount of Speed Tape in them meant they were more a metallic colour & by the end of their service lives, I suspect there was more silver tape than grey paint!

[Fritag]

21 hours ago, Tomoshenko said:

Never mind the three sided coin. Switch it for a loaded dice and go for this one:

 

21 hours ago, Navy Bird said:

red, white, and blue bird from the No. 7 Flying Training School

 

 

I'm with Tom on this one Bill.  Classic RAF training scheme spruced up with a bit of of bling.

 

[Navy Bird]

31 minutes ago, DougC said:

From memory (& it's now nearly 30 years ago), the cockpits started life as a medium grey colour with a bluish hint - perhaps Admiralty Grey? But soon the amount of Speed Tape in them meant they were more a metallic colour & by the end of their service lives, I suspect there was more silver tape than grey paint!

 

Thanks Doug. I just happen to have a fresh bottle of Light Admiralty Grey right here on the bench. I remember this colour was also used in the gear bays and landing gear struts, but Airfix say those should be white for this aircraft. Time to research the photos!

 

9 minutes ago, Fritag said:

I'm with Tom on this one Bill.  Classic RAF training scheme spruced up with a bit of of bling.

 

Welcome aboard, your honour! Did you fly these way back when?

 

*****

 

I've started removing the resin parts from their casting blocks and cleaning them up. I see a wee bit of a difference between the resin pit and the kit version:

 

 

Accurate? Beats me, but I like it nonetheless.   

 

Cheers,

Bill

[Pete in Lincs]

2 hours ago, Navy Bird said:

Do you know if the 7FTS scheme was natural metal or painted aluminium?

Natural metal doesn't really work in the UK climate. Aeroplane one day, Pile of corrosion the next.

There have been builds of the kit on here before. From what I remember the cockpit 'plug' is possibly too wide?

So if your resin one is narrower, there's the reason. Also the canopy is too narrow/wide thick? I know it was criticized.

@DougCis more likely to be right about the cockpit colour than me. I had 20 years of green PC-9 cockpits after the Toucan!

The inside bits of the canopy though are matt black. The det cord on the canopy was white. Or was it pale grey? Damn!

BTW, there were a LOT of changes between the RAF version and the Brazilian original, so chose reference pictures carefully.

[Fritag]

1 hour ago, Navy Bird said:

Welcome aboard, your honour! Did you fly these way back when?

 

I was even way back whener’n that Bill......You know you’re getting on a bit when the aircraft that replaced the aircraft you learned to fly on is retired....

 

7FTS at RAF Church Fenton was my alma mater tho’   back in the Jet Provost days.

 

 

 

 

[phantom61]

great subject ...
I will follow very carefully ...

 

ciao 

Silvano

[giemme]

Nice colorful subject, Bill  I'll tag along, if you don't mind

 

On 31/12/2020 at 20:39, Navy Bird said:

I see a wee bit of a difference between the resin pit and the kit version:

What do you mean? They are the same shape....

 

 

 

Seriously,  the resin cockpit and seat look like a vast improvement 

 

Ciao 

[Navy Bird]

Just realised I forgot to order the resin wheels for this gal. Let's see, I can't just order the wheels as the shipping will be double the cost of the product. No, I think I should buy a whole bunch of other stuff too so I can amortize the shipping. Don't you think?   

 

Cheers,

Bill

[rob85]

Great choice Bill, no matter what scheme you pick it will be a colourful bird!

 

happy new year mate! 
 

Rob

[Andwil]

2 hours ago, Navy Bird said:

Just realised I forgot to order the resin wheels for this gal. Let's see, I can't just order the wheels as the shipping will be double the cost of the product. No, I think I should buy a whole bunch of other stuff too so I can amortize the shipping. Don't you think?   

 

Cheers,

Bill

Naturally!

 

AW

[Navy Bird]

OK, I think I have the parlor room ready to go.

 

 

Good thing my detail paintbrush only has three hairs on it. Devilishly tiny little buggers to paint in this scale!   

 

Now to see if all this fits in the fuselage. Speaking of the fuselage, I cut out the engine cowling so I can add the CMK resin engine:

 

 

 

Immediately below the engine compartment is the nose gear well, and it takes up most of the space. Airfix say that 7g of ballast is needed to have the gal set on all three wheels and not her tail (like some of the Tigercats did in a strong wind). This will be a challenge - so I dutifully weighed out 8g of Liquid Gravity (never mind the cup, I keep a lot of these around for spontaneous drug tests, and I zeroed out the scale prior to the Gravity being added).

 

 

Doesn't look like much, but looks can be deceiving. My plan is to button up the fuselage with the cockpit and nose gear well installed, and prior to adding the engine floor and firewall, see how much Gravity I can add to every nook and cranny up front. Methinks it's going to be close!

 

Cheers,

Bill

[woody37]

Looking forwards to seeing this get the Bill treatment

 

[bigbadbadge]

Cockpit details look fab

Chris

[Navy Bird]

2 hours ago, woody37 said:

Looking forwards to seeing this get the Bill treatment

 

Thanks - I look to your builds for inspiration!   

 

1 hour ago, bigbadbadge said:

Cockpit details look fab

 

Thanks - the exquisite detail cast into the cockpit and ejection seat really pops after they've been painted. I didn't add anything, just paint. Although I really need to get one of those magnifiers you strap around your head. For this job I taped the cockpit down so it wouldn't move, held my grandson's insect-burning magnifying glass in my left hand, and painted with my right. Kind of a weird setup, but I wouldn't be able to paint those small details without the help of magnification. My eyes are too old!   🥴

 

****

 

Speaking of old, I was going to order a decal sheet for a different project this morning but then got distracted by Mrs. Navy Bird who wanted me to buy some new end table or such. When I returned this afternoon to buy the decals, I had completely forgotten what it was that I wanted to buy! I still can't remember! Arghh! Almost as bad as the time I discovered I had bought the Big Ed set for the Italeri SM-79 - twice!  

 

Cheers,

Bill

[Jonners]

Nice one, Bill - I'll be watching this with interest. I had the pleasure of being a (very average) student on the BFT course at Linton in the mid 90's whem the Tucs were still red and white (mostly).  My favourite was definitely the blue one, though: ZF406.

Jon

[cngaero]

3 hours ago, Navy Bird said:

OK, I think I have the parlor room ready to go.

 

 

Good thing my detail paintbrush only has three hairs on it. Devilishly tiny little buggers to paint in this scale!   

 

Now to see if all this fits in the fuselage. Speaking of the fuselage, I cut out the engine cowling so I can add the CMK resin engine:

 

 

 

Immediately below the engine compartment is the nose gear well, and it takes up most of the space. Airfix say that 7g of ballast is needed to have the gal set on all three wheels and not her tail (like some of the Tigercats did in a strong wind). This will be a challenge - so I dutifully weighed out 8g of Liquid Gravity (never mind the cup, I keep a lot of these around for spontaneous drug tests, and I zeroed out the scale prior to the Gravity being added).

 

 

Doesn't look like much, but looks can be deceiving. My plan is to button up the fuselage with the cockpit and nose gear well installed, and prior to adding the engine floor and firewall, see how much Gravity I can add to every nook and cranny up front. Methinks it's going to be close!

 

Cheers,

Bill

Hi Bill, I did exactly the same as you with the liquid gravity, but for a belt and braces approach I added some into the leading edge of the wings by grinding away some of plastic in both the upper and lower surfaces of wings. It took a little bit of care to do it but it really was worth it. Mind you I just used the cockpit tub that came with the kit cramming as much gravity as possible under the cockpit side consoles. 

[bigbadbadge]

1 hour ago, Navy Bird said:

Although I really need to get one of those magnifiers you strap around your head

I use one of the Optivisor things as would not be able to paint small details now either. You can use both hands then.