Fairey Albacore

[825]

I started this Magna, mainly resin, with a sprinkling of white metal and an enormous vac formed canopy in the Mediterranean Theatre of Operations GB in the latter half of last year. I got quite far along but stalled at the canopy mask stage and failed to finish it in time. It didn't go to the Shelf of Doom as although it's challenging by its nature it's not inherently a bad kit. It's down to my reluctance to attack the masking of a very complex canopy. I did start with strips of masking tape but there's not that many long straight lines of framing. It's like a greenhouse made out of glass offcuts. Anyway it's been sitting on top of my box of tools so it's getting lifted on and off multiple times. I spent a few hours masking the canopy of my Fulmar so thought, while I'm on a roll let's get the Albacore done. The build to date can be found here in GB. 

 

 

So here's where I've got to after an hour or so of masking. One side almost done and I'll move on to other tomorrow. It's painstaking work, with both the complexity of the framining and the relative lack of anything more than faint outlines on the plastic. There's no rush so I'll take a deep breath and continue when I've a few hours tomorrow. 

 

[bigbadbadge]

Oooooo will follow on , got the Special Hobby Kit in the stash and would like to do a Malta machine.

Great work so far had a look though your build thread and like the option you're doing. 

Chris

[825]

On 3/10/2021 at 8:55 PM, bigbadbadge said:

Oooooo will follow on , got the Special Hobby Kit in the stash and would like to do a Malta machine.

Great work so far had a look though your build thread and like the option you're doing. 

Chris

Thanks Chris, I'm hoping the SH kit will come out for me to do another as this is a real challenge, although it does look the part. 

 

Ive spent a mega session today completing the masking of the canopy. 

 

 

 

Then got a coat of interior grey green onto the frames after a sealing coat of Kleer. 

 

 

 

[bigbadbadge]

Hi 825, good to see some progress.  

That is certainly some mega masking.  I am glad I don't have to worry about that,  tgat would drive me crackers!!!

Great job

Chris

[stevehnz]

Coming on well. To my mind, the Albacore is a bit of a holy grail for FAA fans, mainly because there isn't a readily available mainstream kit of such. You're going to end up with a really nice example of the "applecore"

Steve.

[825]

Thanks @stevehnz and @bigbadbadge, it's taking a lot longer than expected but getting there slowly but surely. I didn't count the number of panes (or should that be pains?) in the canopy but there are a lot and most are of a compound shape and the frames don't conform to a simple glass house format. 

 

Anyhow several layers of paint and matt varnish on and here we are. 

 

 

 

Masking off and theres there's a little bit of tidying up needed but not much. There's also a diagonal frame on the large windows on both sides to add but that's a straightforward job. I used Krystal Klear for the side windows. Wheeels are also on. 

 

 

 

Here's the mountain of removed masking. 

 

[bigbadbadge]

Crikey that's a lot of work,  bet you're relieved thats over.  Looks good. 

Great job

Chris

[Ray S]

Great job on that @825. Do you find that when you are doing really small, fiddly bits of masking like that, the tape will stick anywhere except where you want it to go? Get it in the right place first time and it will not come off the tweezers, that sort of thing?

 

All the best,

 

Ray

[Brandy]

That's a fine result!

I'm not sure if the windshield has separated from the fuselage on the right side though, might need a smear of ppp or glue there.

 

Ian

[825]

You're right @Brandy there's a bit of a gap. The canopy fit isn't brilliant and I did spend a lot of time fettling and thought it was liveable with. However, once photographed it's not as acceptable as I previous thought. So I've done some tidying and filling. Let's see how this looks after sanding, smoothing and painting. 

 

[825]

Canopy joint tidied up, the diagonal frames masked and painted and the canopy polished and some Klear on a couple of panes. Deep breath and the upper wing support threaded through the canopy and one of the wings dry fitted. 

 

 

Looks OK and not bad fit. So, glue applied and both wings on. Fit not at all bad considering the multimedia nature of the kit. Cyano applied to the strut tops and left aside to cure. 

 

 

 

Tomorrow I'll get the transfers on and the realisation that then theres only 5 pieces left to fit and the aircraft is finished has just set in. 

[bigbadbadge]

Looks very nice indeed.  Are you going to rig it, if so what will you use ?

Chris

[AdrianMF]

Looks great! I’ve dug out a couple of Magna kits for the “Anything but injection”GB so I have a renewed respect for doing one of their biplanes!

 

Regards,

Adrian

[825]

17 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

Looks very nice indeed.  Are you going to rig it, if so what will you use ?

Chris

Thanks Chris, I'm not 100% sure whether I'll rig it or not. I'd like to arm with some bombs, I'll be able to liberate some from an Airfix Swordfish boxing. The wings do look bare as there is a large distance between the fuselage so it might be necessary. I have some Albion Alloys 0.3 mm nickel steel rod which I will use if I am going to do it. 

 

14 hours ago, AdrianMF said:

Looks great! I’ve dug out a couple of Magna kits for the “Anything but injection”GB so I have a renewed respect for doing one of their biplanes!

 

Regards,

Adrian

Thanks Adrian, I've made a couple of Magna kits beforeand they do build into something nice but do take a bit of care and time. I'm thinking of another, either in the 'Anything but Injection' or 'Unarmed' GB, but not a biplane this time. 

 

This morning the transfers went on. Printscale from an Albacore sheet with 8 options. This is an 820 NAS aircraft on HMS Formidable during Operation Torch, hence the Us markings. Printscale transfers are lovely and thin and in general go on well. They do have a tendency to move after you've thought they're firmed down. Which is a challenge with the stars but in the end they're all on and left to dry. There's some touching up as I had a little bit of glue to remove. 

 

[bigbadbadge]

Looking lovely with the decals on too.  What ever you decide to do it looks great anyway .

Chris

[825]

31 minutes ago, 825 said:

 They do have a tendency to move after you've thought they're firmed down. 

 

 

See what I mean!

 

 

Fixed

 

 

I'll deal with the excess transfer on the code later. 

[bigbadbadge]

That's interesting,  I have never used those decals before but have some for one of my Airfix Tigermoths  so will bear in mind.  Thanks for the heads up.

Chris

[825]

On 4/16/2021 at 4:11 PM, bigbadbadge said:

That's interesting,  I have never used those decals before but have some for one of my Airfix Tigermoths  so will bear in mind.  Thanks for the heads up.

Chris

The are nice once on but are very thin, which I suppose is the reason they look good, so you have to be careful they don't fold over. Usually popping them back into the water will help them unfold. They also don't necessarily adhere quickly so you do need to be careful about handling and check them from to time to time to make sure they stay in place. They have a tendency to move even when gently pressing down with a cotton bud. Though you can see that silvering is minimal and they are well defined. 

[825]

Some more details on, the only thing left to go Ian the torpedo sight. Some paint needed on the new parts and I'll have to think  about rigging and armaments. 

 

[bigbadbadge]

That looks great.

 

1 hour ago, 825 said:

The are nice once on but are very thin, which I suppose is the reason they look good, so you have to be careful they don't fold over. Usually popping them back into the water will help them unfold. They also don't necessarily adhere quickly so you do need to be careful about handling and check them from to time to time to make sure they stay in place. They have a tendency to move even when gently pressing down with a cotton bud. Though you can see that silvering is minimal and they are well defined. 

Thanks for the information I will definitely try and remember when u get round to the Tiggie eventually!!! Infact I will right a note on the instructions to remember.

Thanks

Chris

[825]

Ive been busy at work and with other kits so haven't done anything of late on the Albacore. I thought after all the pain of masking the canopy I would go one stage further and rig it. Started with the large ones which are from Albion Alloys 0.3mm wire. I've got some 0.2 for the thinner pieces as well as some DBS etch which are flat, so I should have enough. I used Gator Grip to fix, maybe I should have drilled some holes but hopefully as everything is light the butt joins should suffice. 

 

[bigbadbadge]

Excellent to see some rigging going in, never used this method before, so will be interested in seeing how it goes.

Chris.

[825]

On 5/15/2021 at 12:44 PM, bigbadbadge said:

Excellent to see some rigging going in, never used this method before, so will be interested in seeing how it goes.

Chris.

Thanks Chris, I used a DBS etch on a Dragon Rapide a few months ago and it was OK, if a bit fiddly.  The etch is actually flat which is more prototypical than round wire as most rigging wires were aerofoil in profile. However in 1:72 it probably doesn't make any difference as they look pretty much the same. I used 0.2mm etch for the rest of the rigging and it's fine apart from needing a bit of care and the right tools to cut. 

 

Anyway some more work has the rigging finished to my satisfaction. The last piece of work was to add struts for and attach the torpedo sight.  A job that was much more fiddly than expected. The white metal sight steadfastly refused to attach to the plastic struts without having to drill a couple of depressions into the sight underside. Then despite using fast acting cyano it kept moving. Finally got there and will leave for a while before even looking at it with a paintbrush. There's a little bit of touching up around the airframe here and there. 

 

[bigbadbadge]

Looking good, I have used the PE rigging on my very tiny Eduard 72nd Kunkadlo which was great.

Chris

[stevehnz]

That has come along really well, I'd lost sight of it for a bit & feared it would be well done & dusted, pleased I can be in on the final stages.

Steve.