Aeroclub Felixstowe F.2a 1/72 ++ FINISHED ++

[Ray S]

Today has been a bit of a struggle, but this has moved on. I decided to add the 'sails' this morning. I had been wondering how to add them but have some strength as they have rigging which goes over them. I did a trial fit, and found that by shear luck (or careful measuring!) they coincided exactly with the outboard strut's now-filled holes. I drilled the positions out and added one of the sails (to the section I had rigged yesterday). It seemed quite secure. On a roll, I drilled out the holes on the opposite wing, filled them with CA and then positioned the other sail. Something in my brain shouted 'Whoa!' and I realised that I had not rigged the opposite bay, and rigging holes would have been covered by the 'sail'. Crisis averted, I rigged that bay to mirror the one I did yesterday (the rigging went really well and quick), and then added that 'sail'.

 

 

When I disengaged the sails from their masking tape that had held them onto a peg for painting, the tape left an awful lot of stick gunk on the sails - it is the first time anything like that has happened to me with tape - perhaps it was the heat we have had recently. I cleaned them up as best I could, but will put that down to some authentic weathering.

 

This afternoon, after England had been hammered by NZ in the cricket, and had beaten Croatia in the football, I felt I was ready to start the rest of the wing rigging. I have got some of the outermost section on one wing done now, but started to fail dismally with rigging the control horns. I had planned to use one run of thread for each control horn upper and lower (it worked in practice) but when I came to do this for real, I could not see the hole to get the other end of the line through (making two threads through one hole). My shakes did not help either, so I gave in for the day, and will do top and bottom horns separately tomorrow, as I did for the tailplane control horns. I should have learnt.

 

Here is how Felix stands at the moment, and my list of 'to do' items is getting fewer.

 

 

That is it for now, thanks for looking.

 

Ray

[Mjwomack]

16 hours ago, Ray S said:

This afternoon, after England had been hammered by NZ in the cricket,

It's an ill wind that blows no good- you must've had time for a long lunch!!!

[Ray S]

Hello all. Another major step has been completed. I have actually got the interplane rigging done now! All went well, except I could not easily see the black thread against the dark green wings when I was trying to get the line into the holes! However it was done, and this was what I had to do:

 

 

 

You will hopefully have noticed I said 'interplane' rigging - there is still more to do yet mind, but that is the long line across the top front of the wing for the aileron controls, and the lines from there to the control horns. I also managed to remember anothe couple of things I needed to do to this, so the 'to do' list has started growing again, which means I still have more time to enjoy this project. It has been a long one, but it is by far and away the most fun I have had with plastic for years! This is where Felix is just now:

 

 

I am very glad to see the 'sails' withstood the rigging tension okay, but it was so difficult getting the model put down upside down and not breaking them off. I use a melamine lap board to do my kit building on, and as luck would have it, the width of the board was about one and a half inches less than the gap between the sails. Now they are rigged, I have a model box to set it down on so it misses the lines. One of the things I remembered I still had to do were the four struts which go from the fuselage side to a point just by the engine struts, so it need to go upside down at least once more.

 

Thanks for looking, the comments and 'likes' 

 

Ray

[Ray S]

Things have progressed over the last couple of days. I have put the transfers on under the lower wing. I needed to use an after-market set by Blue Rider as one of the Aeroclub roundels had started to disintegrate in the packet. The replacement roundels went on very well, and settled down over my home-made rib tapes well.

 

 

As you can see, the colourful floats have also been added now too. I had drilled out a couple of holes into each float to accept the white metal strut lugs, and I just needed to use a little white glue to attach them. The struts under the lower wing to fuselage are on too. Aeroclub said they needed to be 17 mm long each, and that was what it turned out to actually be, so my construction could not have been too far out. I have also added the aileron control wires along the front upper edge of the top wing, and I think I have the pulleys in a better place that the underside one. I used 0.8 mm rod sliced thinly for the pulleys and the slices were just about at the limit of my tweezer's capabilities.

 

 

 

There are some small (2 x 2 mm) patches above each strut location, they actually used patches on the real Felixstowes too, but they may have been round, but as I did not have a punch and dye set, I used squares instead.

 

This is how she looks at the moment:

 

 

I only have to do a few things now.

 

1 - Drill out two holes near the bow to put in an anchor post for a couple of wing/bow rigging wires each side

2 - Add front Scarff ring and a pair of guns, and add the upper gunner's gun

3 - Add the propellers and finally

4 - Add the cockpit glazing

 

I have to admit I cannot believe this is almost done, it has been such a pleasure. Anyway, thanks for looking.

 

Ray

[Marklo]

That’s looking really marvellous, the rigging is especially impressive. Hopefully my Oertz will go nearly as well.

[Ray S]

Well, it has come the time to draw a curtain on this build, the final act has been played.

 

This morning, I drilled a couple of holes in the bow, fitted some 0.8 mm rod and then added the two wing to nose rigging lines. I used an anchor point, but the wires looked like they were fitted by turnbuckles in real life, I used the small bit of rod to allow for a glue point and a path round so I could do the two lines in one go, each side. The glazing went on next, it is a close fit but the glazing did seem slightly wider than the fuselage, that may have been my fault though when sanding the parts out. I added the propellers but it looks like they may be too close to the wing leading edge, although there is a gap, honest! The final bits were the guns and the bow Scarff ring. I painted the guns with Humbrol Metalcote Gunmetal and buffed roughly with a cotton bud, and then the ammo drum was done semi-gloss black. The guns were quite fiddly to fit, but eventually they were on, and that was that!

 

I will pop a couple of photographs here, then 5 in the Gallery.

 

 

 

When I started this thread, I said that I liked a build which would stretch my capabilities, and this has certainly done that. I am very grateful to @Steve86 for supplying me with a copy of Roden's instructions for their kit and especially this colour scheme. I have thoroughly enjoyed the project and am very happy to now have one of these on the shelf.

 

Thanks for looking in, the comments, likes and encouragement, they have all been very much appreciated.

 

Cheers, Ray

[Paul Thompson]

Very good indeed.

 

Paul.

[Jonners]

Ray, that's an absolute beauty. I'm sure in the future, when I a) am able to resume modelling and b) finally give in and buy an Aeroclub Felixstowe I'll be referring back to this build. This has been really interesting and enjoyable to read and see - thanks for posting, and the result is well worth the effort.

Jon 

[pheonix]

First class build thread and first class model. Congratulations on completing this monster of an aeroplane. Rigging is just superb.

 

P

[PeterB]

Excellent result after a lot of hard work!

 

Pete

[JOCKNEY]

Take a bow Ray, that is outstanding 

 

 

I've always had a soft spot for the Felixstowe, this build is just the KUTA I need to build my own.

 

Cheers Pat 

[Steve86]

Ray a very, very fine example of a Felixstowe, as you say not the easiest aircraft to build but very satisfying when it’s done.

 

 

[AdrianMF]

What an amazing build! It would be an achievement to get that result on something so complex and forbidding from the best injection mould, but to start from a vac and knock it out of the park is simply amazing!

 

Well done mate,

Adrian

[Ray S]

Thank you all for the very kind comments and the 'likes', it is all very much appreciated.

 

All the best everyone, Ray