**** DONE: 1/72 Fairey Firefly AS5 - Your Favourite Aircraft of All Time GB

[brucejscott]

Pit looks nice Michael. Can't wait to see the new pics.

 

[Wayne Little]

Doin' good Michael!

 

[woljags]

your best yet

 

[parsifal]

Tonite spent getting the two halves together. not as easy as ut sounds. The cockpit assembly was not completly square, and this made fitting it into the available space very tight. I sanded the cockpit walls and supports as far back as i dared, and also shaved out as much of the meat in the fuselage but it was still too big for the available space. I got the fuselage together, finally, by gluing at one end, clamping, moving to the middle, used clamps and tape to "curl" the fuselage shell around the cockpit, and finally at the front where i needed to apply a fair bit of pressure to get the two sides together. I hope the glue holds.


Even with all that I will need to fill the seam pretty extensively when its dry.

I also fited the tailwheel bracket, a panel on the underside which was too small, and needed a PVC strip behind it and filler, the engine exhausts 9not sure about the colour I chose....might change it yet) and the propellor. The prop is not yet fitted

Anyway some progress shots

 

[Wurger]

Looking good though. But these yellow prop blade tips seem to be a little bit too narrow going down a prop balde.

 

[Airframes]

Doesn't look as bad as it sounded Michael. It should be a straightforward job filling the gaps and sanding smooth.

 

[Crimea_River]

I prefer not to force joints as the built up tension might create issues later. Too bad there was apparently no way to shave down the tub some more and thin the cockpit walls (I've done this a few times almost to the point of putting a hole in the plastic but holding the piece up to the light shows how much meat you still have.

Decals will be on their way wihin the hour Michael. Hope they get there in time.

 

[Rogi]

The prop looks great , attaching the two fuselage halves is always a tricky part on some models, but looks like it'll stick well

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Putting the two halves together is actually the one part I dread about modelling. No matter how hard I try, I always end up with some issue to sort.

You done good mate.

 

[A4K]

Doing well mate! If you're unsure of the join strength, try reinforcing it by running PVA (white woodworking glue) in via the wing cavity. Just make sure it dosen't flow into the cockpit if there are gaps around the cockpit floor.

 

[parsifal]

thanks guys, all god advice but the gluing from last night apears to be holding. I will not be a happy camper if it does decide to come away in the next six months


Had some good progress today, put the undercarriage wells in, attached the wings and applied multiple coats of GS (green sh*t) to start the filling and sanding process. Not done yet by a long shot, but good progress just the same. Terry was right....not as bad as I had expected, but still I have some tricky bits to finish, especially on the underside.

Some progress shots......

 

[Wayne Little]

Not bad at all Michael!

 

[Airframes]

Yep, progressing well.

 

[Rogi]

Very Awesome, love the shape of that baby

 

[parsifal]

Looking good though. But these yellow prop blade tips seem to be a little bit too narrow going down a prop balde.

They need a bit of a tidy up, and you may be right about widenng the bands, however it couldnt be much. I went back and looked at the B&W photos at the beginning of the thread. Theres only the the very tips that are yellow.

 

[rochie]

does look rather good.
hhhhmmmmm another subject in 1/48 i need to look out for !!!!!

 

[Crimea_River]

 

[Airframes]

Just had another look Michael, and it's very evident that your skills and approach are improving dramatically - this is looking like it's going to be a nice model.
BTW, the standard dimension for the yellow prop tips was four inches. In metric ( easier for modelling) in this scale, that equates to approximately 1.4 mm, so 1.5mm is the easiest to measure to look right.

 

[parsifal]

tahnks for the advice and the encouragement.

Have got the base coat on late last night. Here are some progress shots.

 

[meatloaf109]

Looking good!