Belgian Fairey Firefly (biplane), Kora, 1/72

[JWM]

Hi,

Along with the Renard R 31 I am joining with Belgian Faitry Firefly. No, this  is not what you might think about - a WW2 and postwar monoplane. No, this is the subject of first use of "Firefly" name by Fairey

 

A typical contemporary short run by Kora. I am going to do it OOB, using the box decals.

 

I started painting some insides

 

To be continued

Regards

J-W

 

 

[stevehnz]

Nice call J-W, one I have in stock so will enjoy to see how you handle this. I'd not thought outside the square enough to factor these into this GB but of course they belong here, these & the Renard. 😳 (Got one of them too. )

Steve.

[JWM]

Hi,

Steve, many thanks for support! 

I worked on inside, nothing special, just what producer gave to put inside

 

Some pushing off the form remains had to be removed. Also the contact area of both fuselages required some cleaning (sanding) to be flat.

 

I ended up with closing of the fuselage

 

To be continued

Regards

J-W

 

[LorenSharp]

Another unique and rarely done subject. Excellent choice and a great start to boot!

[JWM]

Hi,

Today I sanded the join of fuselage halves and with help of file I corrected a bit fit between fuselage and lower wind as well as the horizontal tail. 

 

 

To be continued

Regards

J-W

 

[81-er]

You're off to a very good start, JW

 

James

[JWM]

I added u/c and constructed rotating propeller. I used a 2 mm diameter brass tube, which I glued using CA glue with the prop (it has an almost appropriate diameter short shaft designed to center while gluing fixed to fuselage) . This brass tube I put inside a plastic tube (made of a  PE, it was cut from a lollipop handle) and secured at the end with a drilled through piece of a plastic sprue. At the very end i added small amount of Tamiya putty, just in a case. 

 

The propeller bearing fits tightly to s 4 mm drilled opening in front of fuselage, so I only pressed it inside and can remove if it will be needed during painting 

 

To be cont.

Regards

J-W

 

Edited October 12, 2024 by JWM

[JWM]

I sprayed (rattle can) alu and made a first layer of brush painted alu dope of fabric parts

 

Please also note drilled (0.4 mm) openings in exhaust pipes.

 

To be continued

Regards

J-W

 

[JWM]

I did rigging of tail with EZ line.

 

To be cont.

Regards

J-W

 

[Erwin]

Thank you for bringing Belgian colours to the GB.

[LorenSharp]

Nice detail work.Looks Great! Keep it up!

[JWM]

After some pause i applied first coat of green. It is Humbrol 159. I hope it is a good equivalant of Gunze H 80....

In LED bulb looks fresh fresh. We will see in daylight

Regards

J-W

 

 

[JWM]

The today's efforts results....

I added the second layer of green, removed maskings, applied second layer of and alu dope, made some corrections  and glued struts:

 

I painted also wheels:

 

The rudder is a bit more dark since the paint was originally much more fresh, due to overpainting of national color strips.

To be cont.

Regards

J-W

 

[81-er]

It's looking good, JW

 

James

[LorenSharp]

Beautiful!

[JWM]

I drilled openings (0.5 mm) for EZ line rigging. 

The three of four central struts go dismounted while drilling. Apparently they were glued not strong enough. Moreover - one has gone eaten by a carpet monster... Not a big deal to scratch it, anyway - I will have to...

 

Meanwhile I glued the upper wing using the external struts

 

The do the rigging the struts must be glued strongly. 

To be cont.

Cheers

J-W

 

[JWM]

Today I did a rigging  using EZ-line

 

I would say: good enough, I hope...

Cheers

J-W

 

 

[81-er]

That's more than good enough, JW  

 

James

[Franz75]

It's a very nice little airplane; good work. 

[Barney1900]

Wow, rigging a 1/72 biplane. What a feat!

My fingers are trembling just from watching at it.😉 Well done.

[John Masters]

Very nice.  It's a pretty aircraft and will look great in Belgian livery.

[JWM]

Hi,

Yesterday after already posting daily report I painted after filling up and sanding holes from rigging

 

Today I painted with diluted gross varnish (Tamiya acrylic) and in evening put on the decals. 

They are thin but strong, so generally OK. However they are very well packed on a small sheet of paper and it is dificult to cut them out. One Belgian insignia had unwanted white outline... 

This white outline is on above fuselage roundel. I painted it green around but not sure if I will do the same on alu part. It could be seen anyway...

 

Here it is even more seen on fuselage

 

The painting is of machine which survived and was evacuated to Southern France...

 

To be cont. 

Regards

J-W

 

 

[JWM]

With applied cover of mat varnish by Vallejo 

 

To be continued

Regards

J-W

 

[JWM]

Strange, but I cannot find any traces of navigation light on any of Firefly II M photos, even if the wind dynamo is visible like here 

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=574961165882489&set=a.574960999215839.1073741836.124843910894219

 

So I will end without them...

 

[JWM]

I added missing details (Venturi tube, guns, dynamo, sight) and add some dirt or exploitation traces... So I consider it finished. With day light I will do the photos for gallery

Now just working takes with bulb light

 

 

FINISH

regards

J-W