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1:48 Fairey Fulmar


Dunny

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Hi All,

 

My next project will be Special Hobby's 1:48 Fairey Fulmar. This aircraft was introduced into service with the Fleet Air Arm in 1940, and continued the tradition of two seat aircraft employed by that service, the act of navigation whilst flying considered beyond a mere pilot. Powered by the Merlin III, the Fulmar MkI was underpowered compared to its single seat RAF equivalents. Nevertheless, the aircraft saw combat in a variety of theatres and at its peak equipped 20 FAA squadrons. Here's the box art:

 

20210226-160010-1.jpg

 

And the sprue shots:

 

20210226-160101.jpg

 

20210226-160114.jpg

 

20210226-160033-1.jpg

 

There's also a couple of frets of PE:

 

20210226-160141.jpg

 

And a quite extensive collection of resin parts, mainly pertaining to the cockpits:

 

20210226-162156.jpg

 

The decals look to be in good register and are highly glossy (and a little bright to my eye?):

 

20210226-160127.jpg

 

5 schemes are catered for in this boxing. I'm going to complete as N2015 of 805 Sqn FAA, HMS Eagle, which was operating in the Mediterranean in February 1941:

 

20210226-160206.jpg

 

I can find no photos of this aircraft, but have no reason to doubt the efficacy of the scheme. It is quite interesting as the leading edges and underside of the cowling are painted in a locally applied 'spaghetti' scheme, which was apparently employed to cause confusion during ground attack sorties. In addition, the pilot's upper canopy had a white sun shade installed. I have also seen a version of this scheme with a straight 'Sky' underside - does anyone have any definitive references for this scheme? I may choose to omit the night/white elements to simplify the scheme, but would appreciate any input on the accuracy as presented.

 

Anyway, onwards and upwards with the build!

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Roger

 

 

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I’m in.  First seat at the bar I think.

 

The Fulmar is the top scoring type of the FAA.  Apparently if you add the victories of all other types together they still do not equal victories in the Fulmar.  I have two built, three in the stash, all will be modelled as a machines flown by an FAA Ace and most of the top aces flew them.

 

I hope you have your Dremel charged up.  Lots of grinding needs to be done to fit the cockpit tubs but it finishes up as a really lovely model.  I do wish the control surfaces were separate, it would save a lot of work.  If, of course, you want to fold wings, then there is even more  cutting and sanding involved (I never got that brave).

 

Good luck there..

 

 

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2 minutes ago, Grey Beema said:

I’m in.  First seat at the bar I think.

 

The Fulmar is the top scoring type of the FAA.  Apparently if you add the victories of all other types together they still do not equal victories in the Fulmar.  I have two built, three in the stash, all will be modelled as a machines flown by an FAA Ace and most of the top aces flew them.

 

I hope you have your Dremel charged up.  Lots of grinding needs to be done to fit the cockpit tubs but it finishes up as a really lovely model.  I do wish the control surfaces were separate, it would save a lot of work.  If, of course, you want to fold wings, then there is even more  cutting and sanding involved (I never got that brave).

 

Good luck there..

 

 

Thanks GB. I've been studying your WIP as a starting point and you certainly did it justice - I hope mine turns out half as well!

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

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19 minutes ago, Dunny said:

Thanks GB. I've been studying your WIP as a starting point and you certainly did it justice - I hope mine turns out half as well!

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

No problem Roger.  I sure yours will be much better than mine.  Though I do see a lot of sanding in your future.

 

Another thing, you need to decide before you attach any part of the Observers canopy whether you are going to have it Open.  If not, no problem, but if you are you will need to make a new (thinner) front section and a new mid section that will fit under the front section (if that makes sense).  It is an easy shape though, so not too taxing..

 

 

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12 minutes ago, Grey Beema said:

No problem Roger.  I sure yours will be much better than mine.  Though I do see a lot of sanding in your future.

 

Another thing, you need to decide before you attach any part of the Observers canopy whether you are going to have it Open.  If not, no problem, but if you are you will need to make a new (thinner) front section and a new mid section that will fit under the front section (if that makes sense).  It is an easy shape though, so not too taxing..

 

 

Hmmm - I do normally favour an open canopy and had already eyed up the pilot's. I see some frightening razor saw action ahead...

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56 minutes ago, Dunny said:

Hmmm - I do normally favour an open canopy and had already eyed up the pilot's. I see some frightening razor saw action ahead...

 

So do I TBH..

 

Pilots canopy is just careful cutting.  The Observers is where you need to do some building..

 

My first attempt, in which I did build a new canopy part

37663698076_ee0a07c84e.jpg

 

My second where I forgot until it was too late

49905173603_139eb6c6b5.jpg

 

 

 

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1 minute ago, Grey Beema said:

 

So do I TBH..

 

Pilots canopy is just careful cutting.  The Observers is where you need to do some building..

 

My first attempt, in which I did build a new canopy part

37663698076_ee0a07c84e.jpg

 

My second where I forgot until it was too late

49905173603_139eb6c6b5.jpg

 

 

 

Sage advice - I'll definitely look at crash moulding the observer's canopy. What could possibly go wrong?! Both lovely looking Fulmars by the way,

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

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9 minutes ago, Dunny said:

Sage advice - I'll definitely look at crash moulding the observer's canopy. What could possibly go wrong?! Both lovely looking Fulmars by the way,

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

Thank you Roger.  

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7 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

Hi Roger

Been looking forward to this following your announcement of it, will tag along as always .  Nice scheme too.  Just got to nip out for some snacks and drinks.

Chris

 

6 hours ago, Jeff G said:

Consider me strapped in to the observers seat! Here on BM, anyway. I'd rather be up front in a real Fulmar.

Welcome aboard gents - the resin rollercoaster starts today!

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

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I will be following this build with interest, as I can see this might be a project for the future.  I talked to my father (just had his 99th birthday) and he talked of an incident while in training with the Fleet Air Arm at Lee on Solent. He had never been close to a Fulmar before so was interested in how many guns it had, so had just ran his hand along the leading edge counting the guns when the guns fired a 2 second burst.  A second trainee had climed into the cockpit and tried the gun button. The aircraft had been returned to the hanger ARMED! a very big mistake. A second error saved lives as the aircraft had not been raised at the tail and an oildrum inserted under the tail wheel as usual. So the gunfire just went upwards through the hanger doors.

 

Ian

 

 

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  • 3 months later...

Hi All,

 

With my mojo in a more robust state I've decided to revitalise this build, which has been dormant for a few months (apologies to those who had expressed interest!) There is a fair bit of resin involved in the construction of the cockpits, so I've mainly been cleaning up, priming, and spraying interior grey-green. Here's the components mid-detail painting:

 

20210612-111407.jpg

 

The other main activity so far is removing the ribbing detail from the fuselage sides (of course, I only realised this was necessary after priming & painting :banghead:

 

20210612-111536.jpg

 

I'll probably post another update later on when I've got a little more done,

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Roger

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Hi All,

 

Another quick update. Whilst looking through the instructions (actually thinking ahead for once!) I couldn't help wondering about the highly visible landing light in the port wing. Here's the section in the instructions:

 

20210612-114756.jpg

 

This is SO Special Hobby! They go to the trouble of providing you with a lovely PE frame for the light (part number 30, in case you are wondering):

 

20210612-114936.jpg

 

Sadly those cheeky Czech chappies neglect to give you any means of mounting this beautiful component in the wing! I remembered this from my Maryland build, so contrived to build a suitable housing from plastic card. Here's the individual sections:

 

20210612-115239.jpg

 

And here's the lot assembled, with a location hole for the light drilled:

 

 

 

20210612-120043.jpg

 

Here's a final shot after the housing was given a coat of primer and aluminium, along with the undercarriage components:

 

20210612-132136.jpg

 

That will do the job once covered up by the lens! More to come later,

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Roger

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24 minutes ago, Grey Beema said:

Did the same myself..

 

27607520024_3737333176_z.jpg

 

I think on my later model that this is painted aluminium too..

Nice one GB - I cannot believe they do not even make the effort at a housing after taking the trouble to do the lens and the PE!

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1 minute ago, Dunny said:

Nice one GB - I cannot believe they do not even make the effort at a housing after taking the trouble to do the lens and the PE!

Same here Roger but that’s the adventure with SH models, great detail in one place no detail in another but, in some ways that’s why I love the SH models...  Apart from the fact that if you model FAA in 1/48 you have to build them (I only have three more Fulmars in the stash to build)..

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16 minutes ago, Grey Beema said:

Same here Roger but that’s the adventure with SH models, great detail in one place no detail in another but, in some ways that’s why I love the SH models...  Apart from the fact that if you model FAA in 1/48 you have to build them (I only have three more Fulmars in the stash to build)..

Only 3?! SH do have a certain charm I suppose, and you are spot on about FAA. I do have a Skua on the horizon too...

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Hi All,

 

Some more progress made on the Fulmar! Next I turned my attention to the instrument panel, which can you believe is made up of 11 pieces (including the compass housing):

 

20210612-143833.jpg

 

I also got the wheels painted, which didn't turn out too badly:

 

20210612-153029.jpg

 

I then assembled the cockpit, which has some lovely detail - here's a couple of photos:

 

20210612-162158.jpg

 

20210612-162219.jpg

 

I'm in the process of putting together the Observer's position after final detail painting:

 

 

 

 

20210612-163712.jpg

 

That's probably as far as I'll get today!

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Roger

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5 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

Blimey that was quick, cockpit detail look great, that IP, 11 pieces  my word,  looks fab though. 

Great work 

Chris

Chris,

 

I had done a little work before the build went on hold but did not post it! Not really that efficient 😉

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

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1 minute ago, Dunny said:

Chris,

 

I had done a little work before the build went on hold but did not post it! Not really that efficient 😉

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

Ha ha no worries fella.

Just been looking at Fireflys as seeing your excellent landing light,  made me think about the Firefly and the lack of one in the kit, so will have to do that before it gets painted.

Gonna have to get me a Fulmar too. 

Chris

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