Fairey IIIF the First - RAF Mk.IVM/A - Kora 1/72

[Patrik]

I have been dreaming about building decent Fairey IIIF since I first saw it as “TBA” in the Aeroclub catalogue by the end of the last century. It is without doubt my favourite interwar biplane family. OK, there was the Merlin shortrun, which I had, considered it last-ditch solution, sold it and bought the Contrail vacform instead, considering it one-before-last-ditch solution, but only because the Merlin kit was worse. Therefore, imagine my joy, when Kora announced their injection moulded kit last summer. First, I was a bit afraid they would repeat their Siskin fiasco. But when the kit(s) arrived, my doubts quickly vanished. OK, the length of the fuselage is not perfect, as discussed elsewhere.

However, it is something I can live with easily. Otherwise, the kit shows all signs of thorough homework, if not even work of love. And it seems that Kora has not only decided to bankrupt me with their release plans in short term, but also decided to force me start living much healthier life. Because if I died too soon, the inheritance would chiefly consist of unbuilt boxes of Fairey IIIF family kits.

 

This particular boxing is in fact the very first release, 72120 RAF Mk.IVC / Mk.IVM/A.

 

 

The kit offers three marking options:

 

 

J9055 – well documented marking, correctly represented by the instructions. There are photos of J9055 with the propeller spinner in natural metal, with just the tip of the spinner in red, as depicted by the kit, and even with the whole spinner in red. Additionally, the remark on the non-standard rear cockpit is correct. The plane featured Scarff ring instead of the Fairey gun mount, which was rather unusual for Mk.IVs. But then J9055 was an early machine from the very first Mk.IV production batch and could have easily retained the armament from the earlier Mk.I/Mk.II production. However, the historical captions are all wrong. J9055/P served with No. 8 Squadron (No. 23 Squadron was a famous home based fighter squadron), and in 1932 it was most probably not in service anymore, as all the photos, that I know, come prior to 1931. There was another “P” in No. 8 Squadron from 1931 on – J9756.

 

J9653 – another well documented airplane, this time both marking and captions are OK. Most probably, I am going to build this one from No. 45 Squadron and leave another great Fairey IIIF protagonist – No. 47 Squadron – for my RAF floatplane build.

 

J9810 – I have not seen photo showing the red tip of the spinner, which of course does not necessarily mean there is none. The squadron badge on the fin was for sure without the motto. And I doubt 1934, as by that time the squadron had been reequipped with Gordons already.

 

No serious problems, but based on such small errors here and in the 72121 FAA boxing, I offered Kora to check their RAF/FAA markings next time before they release them, which was kindly accepted. It means, on the one hand, that they inform me on their plans in advance, thus increasing my anticipation self-torture. On the other hand, it means that if you found errors in RAF/FAA markings from 72122 on, they would be for sure partly mine.

 

I do not post photos of the kit parts, as I started cleaning them already and you will see most of them during the build thread. I you want, you can see most of them here anyway.

There is quite nice PE fret, some of the parts representing fuselage panels. I am curious how these will fit. And there is resin radiator and windscreen. The wheels are not part of the kit, you have to obtain them extra. They replace the faulty ones from the kit.

 

 

Finally yet importantly, the obligatory shot on the reference literature, not all that I have, but the most useful part of it.

 

Edited January 30, 2021 by Patrik

[Martian]

I have this kit: following!

 

Martian 👽

[Jonners]

...and, as I now have the 'one-before-last-ditch solution', I'll be watching closely too! One of my former squadrons, 202, operated floatplane IIIFs from Kalafrana, so that variant is at the top of my options list.

 

Note to self: I must look for that Phil Jarrett book.

 

Jon

Edited January 30, 2021 by Jonners

[Patrik]

The Jarret book is essential. Highly recommended. With Fairey IIIF it is so - you must not trust anything that was published, no matter if text, scale drawing or profile, unless you have photographic evidence for it. Including all I have written above an hour ago.😉 The versions are complete mess of cockpit decking, fin/rudder, spinner, armament, wheels, floats, float struts and other equipment variants, and the Jarret book provides over 200 pages of photos, 5 of them on No. 202 Squadron only. Though RAF Squadron, No. 202 used the naval Mk.IIIM/Mk.IIIB three seater floatplanes, chiefly with the longer late type floats.

Edited January 30, 2021 by Patrik

[Patrik]

Test-fitted the crucial components today. With very satisfactory results, if you take into account the parts have been subject to basic cleaning only.

 

 

Though the interchangeable cockpit decking is clever solution, I am afraid it is going to be the trickiest part of the build, and satisfactory fit is going to require careful modification. So I will leave it after the fuselage halves are glued together.

 

 

I did not have good feeling regarding position of the aileron/flap division and of the control horns in the kit. So I compared the wings with the drawings from the Aircraft Manual, and the positions are indeed partly wrong. The same for the interplane struts. It is not much, I believe most people will be happy with it as it is. I will present my findings in detail later, now below just the wing diagrams with the important features highlighted in various colours.

 

Edited February 2, 2021 by Patrik

[Courageous]

Another interesting build on the way. I'd like to add the 'float' version to my stash but it's quite pricey.

 

Stuart

[AdrianMF]

Thank you for building this kit. An injection kit is long overdue - when I saw the thread and the pictures, I got my wallet out and looked for where to buy it. When I saw the price, the wallet went away again!

 

I will enjoy your build vicariously and keep staring at my Contrail...

 

Regards,

Adrian

[Patrik]

My modelling subject of interest is so narrow, that after first few years building my collection, including various sometimes-not-exactly-cheap-oddities (like Esoteric vacforms), I rarely need more than fingers on one hand to count kits I buy in a year. And even that was usually connected with series of kits, like Kora Hart family or A-model Moths. Or Kora Faireys now. I fully agree, the Fairey kits are pricey. But then one of them will take me around 3 months to complete. So I side with @JWM in this matter. The original investment of e.g. £45 seems to be high, but then it is (to make the math easy) £15 a month, which is just about the same as Netflix and Spotify combined, with a way more fun. My opinion, not all will agree, understandably.

 

My Contrail IIIF has found new home already. But as you @AdrianMF, I used to remove it from stash, once or twice a year, and stare on it longingly, then pictured the amount of work it would take to make one, and put it back with long sad sigh.😀

Edited February 2, 2021 by Patrik

[AdrianMF]

47 minutes ago, Patrik said:

My opinion, not all will agree, understandably.

I may yet crack, it will just take me a while ...

 

[edit - and then I would have to decide which one...]

 

[Patrik]

Then I recommend you decide fast. Because your doubts will become unbearable, when Mk.I and Mk.II are released.😀

[Patrik]

The build goes fast, as the kit has been really well designed and the fit is – for a shortrun – above average. Therefore a few more photos than usual.

 

Contrary to the instructions, I glued the cover of the observer hatch now. It was easier to control its proper position, especially depth.

 

 

The interior is simple but convincing, most of the details are on the side walls anyway.

 

 

The propeller blades had rectangular technological blocks on their rear side, which I removed.

 

  

 

So far, I have found only one mildly annoying glitch. The kit contains very nice PE instrument panels, which you must combine with decals. The decals and the PE parts fit perfectly, but the plastic backsides were too small (as you can see on the left photo) and replacement had to be scratchbuild. Once again, contrary to the instructions, I glued the panels on the inner cockpit decking. It is going to help in the unavoidable (as I am sure by now) modification of the outer decking.

 

  

 

Well, and the F24 aerial survey camera – though I will not use it – is really nice touch for an aerial survey specialist, like I am.😀

 

[Jonners]

On 2/2/2021 at 12:34 PM, Patrik said:

I used to remove it from stash, once or twice a year, and stare on it longingly, then pictured the amount of work it would take to make one, and put it back with long sad sigh.

That sounds like a challenge! 😁

[Natter]

On 1/30/2021 at 9:55 PM, Patrik said:

if I died too soon, the inheritance would chiefly consist of unbuilt boxes of Fairey IIIF family kits.

There is a post somewhere on Facebook from a Dolls' House maker that says - 'My Last Will and Testament. Hey kids, there's no money; your inheritance is in the Craft Room'.  The inheritance I shall leave will be in the loft.

 

Now then... I wonder if there any decals available for the Irish Air Corps' Fairey IIIF?

[Patrik]

On 2/7/2021 at 11:49 PM, Jonners said:

That sounds like a challenge! 😁

I have seen nice builds of the Contrail kit, just never found the courage to give it a cut myself.

[Patrik]

I have made detailed comparison of the wings with the drawings and dimensions in the Air Publication (AP) and eventually the results are nowhere as bad as feared:

 

1. All interplane struts should be placed a bit outboard. However, as the difference is just about 1 mm, it is in my opinion negligible.

2. The rear interplane struts are too much forward, they should be more or less on the aileron hinge line, so I filled in the original holes and drilled new ones more aft (marked yellow below). This is a mistake in the kit construction, which Jan Matejny from Kora admitted right in the first email on the topic that we exchanged.

3. The positions of the control horns are identically misplaced as those of the interplane struts. They should be around 1 mm more outboard. Once again negligible, but I filled in the holes anyway, because I was not attracted by the prospect of fitting flat rectangular PE control horns in circular holes (blue).

4. Therefore, the only relevant mistake according to my opinion is the wrong position of the aileron/flap divisions. In fact, exactly this issue sounded the alarm for me, when I noticed the division lines were not in the same place on both wings, as according to the AP, the upper and lower ailerons should be identical. Then the flaps are quoted as 10’ 1⅜” wide on the upper wing and 8’ 4⅜” wide on the lower wing. The drawings in AP show that the ailerons and flaps were of the same width on the upper wing, which makes it 10’ 1⅜” for the ailerons too. Now in the kit, they are 9’ 9” on the lower wing – not bad – but only 9’ 3” on the upper wing and this is almost 4 mm shorter than it should be. Therefore, I filled in the division lines on both wings and scribed new ones (red).

 

Nevertheless, I have to say, given the notorious absence of reliable Fairey IIIF drawings, job well done by Kora after all.

 

By the way, the same AP says that the automatic slots were 6’ wide. Which makes the ones in the kit just 1 mm wider, and that can be corrected easily (alternatively ignored as easily). And I forgot – both wings have been prepared to accommodate the extra inboard front struts, which facilitated the wing folding on the aircraft carriers. Rather certainly not applicable for an RAF machine, so I filled in the holes too (orange).

 

 

[Patrik]

Fuselage halves ready to be joined (done meanwhile).

 

[Patrik]

Cockpit, Pt. 2:

 

[Mr T]

Thanks Patrik for this build thread. I bought the kit as although a bit more money than I would like, I did not spend anything on going to SMW last year. I will probably buy a Seal or Gordon but that will be my limit as stash size and age make for uncomfortable maths. 

It does seem to be a nicely designed kit and I am glad it looks to be going together well. 

[Patrik]

Cockpit, Pt. 3 and Pt. 4. Had forgotten to make photo of the instrument panel decals before I overlaid them with the PE panels. The cockpit outer cover has been the "shortrunishest" part of the build so far. Considerable amount of material had to be removed from the inside (red arrows), in order to accommodate the larger instrument panels mentioned in earlier post. Additionally, plastic stripes were added to maintain reasonable fit to the fuselage without annoying gaps.

 

 

 

@Mr T I am afraid am feeling a bit like Kora marketing guy more recently, but the kit really is nicely engineered and goes together surprisingly well. Though you will see me performing some alterations here and there, they must be attributed more to my perfectionist nature, than to the actual faults of the kit. I am sure you will be able to build perfectly acceptable representation of the IIIF straight of the box.

[Courageous]

I/P's are looking nice and tidy.

 

Stuart

[Mr T]

Thanks Patrik. Half the fun of kits like the IIIF is not building them straight from the box. My Amodel Fury has had a few bits and pieces added to it as had the Supermarine 224. I can see this kit moving nearer the top of the pile. 

[Patrik]

While completing the fuselage and cleaning up the panel lines today in the morning, I found out an error in the kit I had not been aware of until now. The exhaust rows are too low. All of them. Taking into account the slightly different viewing angles in the pictures below, I think I can live with the lower ones. Too much work to move them around 1 mm up and the error will not be that apparent either. But the upper ones (fortunately, on starboard side only) are supposed to be well inside the black painted top of the nose, whereas they would be in fact more or less fully outside on the kit, if left uncorrected. Too apparent to my liking, so adieu my weekend modelling plans, back to hard putty work.

 

 

On more positive note. I decided to try the GasPatch Elite Accessories gun for the rear cockpit of my IIIF for the first time. Most usually, we get beautiful 3D renders on the internet, with the real thing being rather disappointing later, because, while you can achieve wonderful details in the computer, the moulding technologies have their limits. Not the case here. The parts have been - in my opinion - directly 3D printed, and the level of detail is simply amazing. One has to see it to believe the finesse.

 

[JWM]

No flawless kits...  Thank you for sharing this knowledge. 

Very nice your  work and this 3D printed guns!

Regards

J-W

 

 

[Patrik]

Where would all that research and modelling fun go, if the kits were flawless? I do not want to live in such times.😀

Most probably, we would then have to rename the forum to Britassembler as well ...

[AdrianMF]

11 hours ago, Patrik said:

 

 

Now I feel like I’m the Kota marketing man...  The top exhausts cutout in the real photo is just above, but next to, that top panel line. The top exhausts cutout on the kit is just below, but still next to, the panel line. The black/olive border sweeps down be at least an exhaust cutout width below that panel line, so I think your exhausts will still be in the dark colour.
 

In the real photo the top panel line looks higher, but that could simply be because the photo is taken from below. My Po-2 here on the bench has a scale thrust line about 7’6” above the ground and I’m sure the IIIF would be at least as big. So the angle could be making it look worse than it is.

 

But you have the model in your hands and I don’t. So just a thought...

 

(Dammit, I will have to get one myself and see...)

 

Regards,

Adrian

 

PS I’m enjoying the build!