Airfix 1/72nd scale f-27 friendship

[Rodders]

Hi All,

I'm thinking of trying an airliner and was thinking of the Airfix 72nd fokker frindship. As i've only done one airliner before i don't have much experience. Has anyone any tips or thoughts on this model,

Thanks,

Rodders.

[CarLos]

Hi Rodders,

 

This review will certainly help you:

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

 

Carlos

[bar side]

Built one of those a good 40 years ago (I was just a kid!) and it had its faults even then.  As I remember it’s a fairly basic kit and the main undercarriage is a bit flimsy.  Very little internal detail - could well be a tail sitter too.  But a better shape than the ESCI offering.

But I had to have one after watching the Dutch airshow displays

 

[TheyJammedKenny!]

A few things to watch out for: 1) before you cement the wing halves, be sure to check them for warpage, especially when you look at the leading edge.  Be sure to look at photos of the real aircraft to verify whether there's some dihedral outboard of the engines.  2) The kit's fuselage is the right length, but is one window short of what you need.  You'll want to add it to the window line of the forward fuselage.  How you do it depends entirely on you--decal, paint, or careful cutting.  3) The nose shape, particularly on a radar-equipped aircraft, needs some to be more conically shaped than what the kit gives you (even with the extra parts supplied by the most recent Airfix release), so you'll want to sand and reshape this area well.  4) You'll need a heat-exchanger intake on both sides of the fuselage.  I'd cut off the kit-supplied monstrosity and replace it with halves from a similar-sized fuel tank.

 

The link is @CarLos supplied is really good.  I based my build on its contents and got excellent results many years ago.  I also raided several never-to-be-built Esci kits to get the main landing gear and heat exchanger intakes.  The Italeri re-release of the Esci kit is not an improvement, BTW.

[adey m]

 

I love the Airfix Friendship, this was mine which was built from the 1979 Airfix Troopship release, I repainted it into these Braathens colours. Built from the box with added cargo floor and additional aerials.

 

 

This is the same model before I repainted it in Braathens colours.

 

cheers, adey

 

Edited January 21, 2021 by adey m

[sroubos]

I've read that site mentioned above a few times and I've never understood why the Airfix is held to be superior to the ESCI.

 

The writer mentions the following things need work on the Airfix:

• The fuselage can be corrected by applying pieces of 1 mm thick card to the bottom of the fuselage. Use putty, and sand smooth. Apply several putty layers until you get a nice shape with the kink and the also more "higher" cross section
• The kit's windows also need refinements for all versions. The kit windows are too small. They are located too low in the fuselage, by enlarging each window can be improved as well. All the windows were enlarged and reshaped with a file and set a bit higher in the process. 
• The cockpit glazing has a terrible fit, so assemble and fit/fill as needed with carefull sanding. 
• The dorsal fin (fwd of the vertical tail) is also not large enough. It should be "twice as high" at the fin-vertical tail junction. The length is correct. Use card and filler here. Add also the two stabilizer actuator fairings at the base of the vertical tail, these are missing in the kit.
• The wing surfaces are separate parts, which is quite good as there are slots and gaps on the real thing for both the F-27 and Fokker 50/60. You will need to make some small corrections here.
• The wing-fuselage fairing aft of the wing trailing edge is "missing", so make one with some card and putty.
• Also the wing leading edge landing light is often fitted and sitting behind a transparant curved leading edge panel. Also add the tip anti-collision lights.
• The wing-fuselage junction fit is very weak; it is strongly advised to add a metal spar here in the model. 
• The engine nacelles can be detailed with the wheel bay details and the missing smaller intakes and flush aerodynamic exhausts. The newer F-27 versions sometimes do not have the heat panels cool ribs (as in kit). 
• The kit's main undercarriage parts need refinement and the  leg should be somewhat longer.  You can add some 4 mm card in the main bay to get a better result and "higher sit" on the ground.
• Replace the doors with some thin card parts, they are rather thick.

For the ESCI:

• The fuselage nose does not have "enough body": it is to pointy in shape. The fuselage diameter is overall 2 mm too small which also give a "not correct" impression.
• The fuselage cross section is nearly a circle, but there should  a kink in the cross section at the "floor".  The shape of all windows is also not correct.
• The tail cone with the vertical tail is "too fat" and does not follow a very correct outline.
• Wing: gaps at flaps and ailerons are fare too small. The engine nacelles should be set 3 mm more outboard. The shape of the engine-wing fairing on top of the wing is "too fat" and "too round".

So both of these kits require a massive amount of work and in fact suffer from some of the same problems anyway. It negates the fact that the ESCI kit has excellent recessed surface detail, which for me personally as someone who hates rescribing is a big plus.

 

Anyway, I'm biased, last year I finished the ESCI Maritime, the last kit my dad worked on before he passed away, so it has a special place in my heart Still, I think we can agree a modern, accurate tooling would be very much appreciated.

 

Edited January 21, 2021 by sroubos

[Antti_K]

Hello Rodders,

 

we had a discussion about the kits earlier (see here):

Check my photos to see some of the corrections needed.

 

Cheers,

Antti

[Ed Russell]

On 1/21/2021 at 4:56 PM, sroubos said:

Still, I think we can agree a modern, accurate tooling would be very much appreciated.

That's a comprehensive list of fixes! I think an Airfix Vintage Classics release is the most likely next Friendship. There are a few parts around that help to improve it

 

[Rodders]

Hi All,

Thank you all for the help. You've given such great info. There's lots for me to look into,

Thanks,

Rodders.

[TheyJammedKenny!]

7 hours ago, Ed Russell said:

There are a few parts around that help to improve it

Tell us more!  Are you preparing something for production?  I have the re-release of the Airfix kit and could quite easily be persuaded to do another.

[jyguy]

I'd certainly be in for a replacement nose (for the kit), intakes and fairings.

 

Landing lights in the wing leading edges have been mentioned. IIRRC  some aircraft had retractable lights on the underside of the wings outboard of the nacelles.

 

It would be nice to the the Airfix kit re issued or better still a re tool. One lives in hope -not a lot. 

 

Surprisingly number of British operators livery wise to choose from too; Air Anglia, Air UK, BMA, BAC Express, BAF (FedEx),Channel Express, Euro Celtic, Jersey European, Loganair and Manx.

[Ed Russell]

On 1/25/2021 at 3:52 AM, TheyJammedKenny! said:

 Are you preparing something for production?

 

On 1/25/2021 at 4:46 AM, jyguy said:

replacement nose (for the kit), intakes and fairings

 

We will have a look at what we have got. Our model club here in Melbourne has a couple of rabid Friendship enthusiasts. I have put you two on the list to inform about it.

[TheyJammedKenny!]

Dear Ed,

 

If you and RedRoo are prepared to produce these parts, I'm equally prepared to purchase them through Kitlinx or another outlet that has access to your products on the N. American market.

 

Alex

Edited January 26, 2021 by TheyJammedKenny!
content

[kapam]

I hope Airfix consider a re-issue of their F-27 kit soon.

Even if it is just the same tooling as last time, it is still a good basis for a decent replica - fewer shape issues than the Esci kit IMHO.

The last Airfix issue (TAA livery on the box art) sold out too quickly and I can't get any more.

[follasha]

Heres my attempted correction of the latest Italeri (ESCI) kit, working from scale drawings of the aircraft. The tail cone was lowered about 6mm, chines were added to the floorline of the fuselage, the position of the nacelles were moved inboard (as per drawings) and they were improved in outline. The fuselage has been deepened by 1.5mm (bottom) and the nose has been broadened. I also changed the propeller shapes to better represent a mk 100.

 

I posted a build blog here

https://rnzaf.proboards.com/thread/27765/italeri-fokker-27

 

I think the Italeri/Esci kit can come up quite convincingly as an F.27 

 

ZKBXI by Harry Follas, on Flickr

Edited February 5, 2021 by follasha

[TheyJammedKenny!]

@follasha: Oh, that's sweet!  Heck of a lot of work, I reckon, but the results are outstanding and most pleasing to the eye.  The only thing I might have done differently would have been to deepen the engines just a bit so as to merge with the oil cooler intakes up top.  Great job!

[follasha]

Not that hard really, providing you have the drawings/templates to scale off or overlay . Good point re the Oil coolers...I could have amended that.

 

At the time I looked at both Italeri/Esci and the Airfix & decided that the newer tech kit won out overall with the proviso of some corrections. The Airfix tailcone is actually too low and its cabin windows too narrow and I have never liked the nose/cockpit region...there is something just not right with that.

[kapam]

@follasha, your F-27 is one of the best I've seen!

It seems to sit perfectly and have the right nacelle shape (the main issue with the ESCI/Italeri kit, IMHO).

An awesome job!  

[Antti_K]

Lovely work Harry! You clearly have done a great job with the engines. I like that paint scheme as well. Just beautiful.

 

Cheers,

Antti

[follasha]

Thanks for that, one thing I might have further improved (in hindsight) would have been to make the fuselage 1mm or so wider with plastic strip along the center-line as the Italeri/Esci is possibly a bit anorexic in width 

 

Untitled by Harry Follas, on Flickr

Edited February 13, 2021 by follasha

[TheyJammedKenny!]

Nice!  How did you get the rear of the nacelles to look like that?  The original kit gives you shrunken approximations of the real thing.  Also, I presume you heavily sanded the windscreen with a sanding block to flatten it out, and created a vee shape above the windshield?  The Esci kit's windshield is too rounded.  The Airfix kit does a pretty good job of approximating the V.

[follasha]

Ok if you are interested in the details...Front and back of the nacelles were essentially re-profiled from these drawings, using plastic forms and milliput. These are the drawings which I scaled and used for my whole conversion they are good because they show outlines of both the Airfix F.27 and the ESCI  vs actual profiles (the ESCI  was actually positioned wrong on the side elevation making the Esci look somewhat worse than it actually is). The drawings were uploaded here https://designer.home.xs4all.nl/models/f27/f27mod.htm .

 

To answer your other question re the cockpit windscreens, pleasantly the Italeri kit has subtly different  upper cockpit profiles and new cockpit 'glass' which is a big improvement over the ESCI kit. It is also possible that I did some sanding/re-profiling myself to improve the V shape

 

   

 

differences by Harry Follas, on Flickr

 

 

 

[TheyJammedKenny!]

I'm just shaking my head--I'm very impressed with your work here!  It does appear that Italeri did something, tooling-wise, to alter the contours of the cockpit.  FWIW: I'm working on a tactical aircraft, the Vickers Valetta, and had to alter the shape of the fuselage just aft of the clear parts, but otherwise find it to be an excellent kit.

[follasha]

a bit of fun: 

 

Flyby over Woodbourne Aerodrome, Blenheim NZ circa...1974?

 

bxi_2A by Harry Follas, on Flickr

[Space Ranger]

On 1/25/2021 at 7:05 PM, TheyJammedKenny! said:

Dear Ed,

 

If you and RedRoo are prepared to produce these parts, I'm equally prepared to purchase them through Kitlinx or another outlet that has access to your products on the N. American market.

 

Alex

Same here. Or purchase direct.