Gordon of… Ramleh – Kora 1/72 - Finished

[Patrik]

After completion of the Hawker Hart, my attention has turned to another interwar workhorse, Fairey Gordon. The successor of Fairey IIIF, named after the famous officer killed in Khartoum in 1885, could have been either of Ramleh or of Amman, as I am going to build it as K3992 in service with No. 14 Squadron, which was divided between Ramleh and Amman for most of the 20 years of its patrol duties in Palestine and Transjordan.

 

K3992 is well-documented airplane, one of the final series of 24 Gordons (K3986 – K4009), referred as Mk.II and delivered in 1934. It also belongs to the few Mk.IIs that in fact made it to the regular RAF squadron service. Most Mk.IIs were held in reserve, 14 (some sources list 13) of them were transferred to RNZAF in 1939.

 

 

The kit was introduced here, around two years ago.

Mk.IIs differed from the standard Gordon. The most obvious change was a taller rudder with a horn balance merging into the upper part of the fin (same as Seal) and other less significant changes to rear fuselage and the empennage. Furthermore, both wings were equipped with Frise-type ailerons.

 

 

Some of the differences are represented in the kit by alternative parts (blue above), some of them are left for the poor modeller to take care of (yellow arrows).

 

 

The balloon wheels are cast in resin.

 

 

The same for the AS Panther engine. However here I can't help but notice rather significant differences from reality, which I do not like. Unfortunately, as far as I know, there has been no direct replacement available on the market since the white metal Aeroclub engine, which is now a hard-to-find-rarity. Nevertheless, I am still looking for solution.

 

 

As there is no ultimate book on Gordon, the pile of the reference literature is higher than usual.😀

 

Edited October 22, 2023 by Patrik

[BillF67]

New one on me (which isn’t saying much) so I’ll watch with interest.

[AdrianMF]

Looking forward to this. At least your engine is better than the Tiger in the FROG Shark

 

If the build goes anything like your IIIF it will be a beauty!

 

Regards,

Adrian

 

[Patrik]

The fuselage has rather original solution, quite surely dictated by economy. You get just the port half in the kit, and you have to construct the starboard half by cutting the fuselage of Fairey IIIF and combining it with an extra front insert. However, the fit is flawless.

 

 

 

And even with the new fuselage half, the fit of the cockpit decking is very good as well.

 

Edited June 25, 2023 by Patrik

[Patrik]

Preparing the interior for painting and modifying the wings, but at the same time still continuing my research. Which revealed very interesting photo (in The Squadrons of the RAF & ... - third book from the top in the pile above) of No. 14 Squadron Gordons in formation, including K3992, and showing quite an intriguing variety of the wing roundels. From more or less standard Fairey IIIF pre-1934 size and position (red below), through more or less standard post-1934 size and position (orange), to pre-1934 roundel size positioned much closer to the wing tips on both Mk.IIs (green). Frankly said, I would have expected the orange variant for K3992.

 

Edited July 2, 2023 by Patrik

[Courageous]

Another interesting subject from you Patrik.

 

Stuart

[Patrik]

Wings redrilled and rescribed.  As for the reason(s), one is rather obvious from the photo of K4006 in the first post of this thread (Frise ailerons), and for the rest, let me quote myself from my 2021 Fairey IIIF build thread (abbreviated, if you want the full version, here is the link).

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.

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.

4. The principal mistake is wrong position of the aileron/flap division on both wings. According to references, 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. Therefore, I filled in the division lines on both wings and scribed new ones.

 

[Patrik]

As in the Fairey IIIF build, I had to scratchbuild the backsides for the etched instrument panels, because the ones in the kit were far too small. At the same time, I added the missing compass.

 

[Patrik]

After the AMG Hawker Hart, the interior is a kind of anticlimax. But then, after the AMG Hawker Hart the same probably applies to all my kits past. Welcome back in the world of shortruns, laddie.😀

 

 

 

Edited July 14, 2023 by Patrik

[Patrik]

Modification of the cockpit decking in order to: a) accommodate the larger instrument panels, b) fit better the fuselage, was in the end inevitable.

 

 

[Patrik]

The instrument panels consist of decal and PE face. The fit is flawless.

I have to admit, that though I am a big supporter of the Kora Fairey IIIF family of kits, building second one after (what seems to me) rather short break of two years is somehow less fun as it was for the first time. However, I think the "funniest" part of the build (the engine) is still to come.

 

 

[Courageous]

Those consoles look rather nice.

 

Stuart

[TeeELL]

Oh my,

  I am delighted to have discovered this thread.  I have the same kit to build as part of my 29(F) Sqn themed builds.  I suspect that I will ‘cherry pick’ some of the modifications you are doing and live with other errors (but you never know …… !). As for the engine, if I can find sufficient information, I might have a go at a bit of 3D CAD and printing of a replacement.

[stevehnz]

Highly enjoyable & informative. I'm keen to do a Kiwi one of these a bit down the road.

Steve.

[TeeELL]

As with just about everything ‘29(F) Sqn from between the wars, information on the Gordon (4 in all) used by the Sqn is non-existant (apart from the dates the aircraft were received - March and April 1936 whilst based at Amriya).  The source of the airframes, their serial numbers and and Sqn markings applied I simply cannot find.  There were a fair few in storage (awaiting delivery to NZ) in Egypt and I wonder if 4 of those were issued?

Anyway, sorry for drifting, eagerly awaiting the next instalment of your build.

[Patrik]

8 hours ago, TeeELL said:

As with just about everything ‘29(F) Sqn from between the wars, information on the Gordon (4 in all) used by the Sqn is non-existant (apart from the dates the aircraft were received - March and April 1936 whilst based at Amriya).  The source of the airframes, their serial numbers and and Sqn markings applied I simply cannot find.  There were a fair few in storage (awaiting delivery to NZ) in Egypt and I wonder if 4 of those were issued?

Anyway, sorry for drifting, eagerly awaiting the next instalment of your build.

Would have been my first question for you, I mean if you had some information on the 29 Sqn Gordons. This evening, I searched various reference books, which usually produce useful results, unfortunately, as it appears, no records on the Gordon detachment to 29 Sqn survived🤨. 

Edited July 17, 2023 by Patrik

[stevehnz]

10 hours ago, TeeELL said:

As with just about everything ‘29(F) Sqn from between the wars, information on the Gordon (4 in all) used by the Sqn is non-existant (apart from the dates the aircraft were received - March and April 1936 whilst based at Amriya).  The source of the airframes, their serial numbers and and Sqn markings applied I simply cannot find.  There were a fair few in storage (awaiting delivery to NZ) in Egypt and I wonder if 4 of those were issued?

Anyway, sorry for drifting, eagerly awaiting the next instalment of your build.

I had hoped there may have been some info of use on this page for the New Zealand Gordons but nothing specific to 29 squadron, even though the majority of our ones seemed to have shipped from Egypt aboard the Huntingdon.

Steve.

[fatalbert]

With reference re your engine,could you use the one from a Matchbox Siskin,i know its not ideal but its a closer match.

[Patrik]

On 7/21/2023 at 8:44 PM, fatalbert said:

With reference re your engine,could you use the one from a Matchbox Siskin,i know its not ideal but its a closer match.

Thanks a lot for the hint. I will keep it in mind as one before the last ditch effort. The last one would be the resin motor from the kit.😀

 

I am going to post some pictures from the build tomorrow, today a bit more to the engine. While ordering these miniature beauties (how many of them I had to scratchbuild in the past), ...

 

 

 

... I tumbled over this one.

 

 

OK, not exactly Panther, but it is also a 14-cylinder two-row radial engine, the diameter is just slightly bigger, negligible in 1/72, looks similar to Panther, so I ordered as well. When the packet arrived, I opened it with bated breath. Well, the engine is a beauty, no doubt about it. Unfortunately, it was evidently designed to be used inside a cowling. It is on the first sight smaller than in should be, and the rear row of cylinders is just a row of half cylinders. Therefore, I am sorry to say so, unusable for my Gordon build.🤨

 

[Patrik]

I had to sort out an annoying gap between the fin and the horizontal tail plane. On the real thing, it was solved by metal panel, which I tried to simulate in a way.

 

 

 

And I think we have quite an elegant monoplane here.😀

I also added the various PE fuselage panels. The one behind the cockpit (coming from my spare part box) is not mentioned in the instructions, nevertheless it is quite prominent on the late Gordons.

 

Edited July 23, 2023 by Patrik

[Patrik]

Gordon grew legs.

 

Edited July 29, 2023 by Patrik

[Patrik]

Detailing in progress.

 

 

The oil cooler was rather crude thing in the kit, and while I was readying myself for an evening session assembling it from a generic PE fret, a post in another thread on another forum reminded me that in fact I have one perfectly suitable (and surplus, ergo readily available) in SH Vickers Vildebeest kit. By the way, one week ago I introduced the beautiful 3D printed Venturis here. The oil coolers could be (in my opinion) another logical candidate for a 3D printed set. 

 

 

With the evening saved, I could turn my attention to the guns, which both were rather in the shortrunisher part of the scale. While the rear Lewis Mk.III is perfectly available in the form of this beauty from GasPatch, ...

 

 

... the front gun revealed just another gap in the aftermarket offer for the crowds interested in interwar military aviation😀. Therefore, in the end, it was one Mini World + one GasPatch = one Vickers Mk.II.

 

 

 

Now I just need to construct this gizmo here.

 

 

 

Edited July 30, 2023 by Patrik

[Dave Slowbuild]

Exquisite detailing Patrik!  

[Patrik]

Last week was a kind of modelling unfriendly. First too much travelling for work and then family reunion on Friday and Saturday. So between work and hangover I managed just a few small parts and the "shelf" for the front gun.

 

Edited August 6, 2023 by Patrik

[Dave Slowbuild]

Better luck next week!
Every time I see your photos of this build I’m amazed at the quality.