Paul's Widgeon

[PaulBradley]

I'll be building Airfix's classic Grumman Widgeon in FAA markings.

Boxart:




Sprue shots to follow.

Only some 20 of these were used by the FAA, and only one unit was fully equipped with them, the majority being used as squadron hacks. Photos of them are like gold dust and the same two seem to pop up everywhere....

[JamesPerrin]

It'll look really smart in that early post war scheme.

[MerlinJones]

So will that be a Gosling, as opposed to a Wigeon?

Regards,
Bruce

[PaulBradley]

Well, the first ones were Goslings, but the FAA reverted to Widgeon to standardise with the US - after all, it doesn't appear any of them left the Western Hemisphere. Same thing happend to the Tarpon/Avenger, Martlet/Wildcat, etc.

[PaulBradley]

A sprue shot:



...and the decals:



Very simple kit, as you can see, but it does have it's share of issues. There's no interior for starters, so I intend to add some detail, working from the 1/48 Classic Airframes kit I have in the stash. I'll also be re-scribing the panel lines and removing the rivets.

Another issue is that the glazing is undersized - the windscreens are much too small as are the cockpit side windows. This is immediately obvious if you look at photos of the real thing. I have a plan for that involving smash-moulding.

However, on checking plans (by respected American aviation researcher Paul Matt), I discovered that the wings are too narrow in chord - and not by a little bit :



I have a plan for this as well, but my quandary is this - I have only three weeks before we go on holiday, so I really want to get this done by then. Do I really want to try to work through all these issues, as I'm not likely to finish it, or do I do it OOB and be most unhappy with the results knowing the issues with the finished model. Sometimes, we modellers make a rod for our own backs....

I'm going to have to sleep on it, I think.

[Jagewa]

Plans what plans?.. I see nothing, I hear nothing... Looks a fine piece of plastic, waiting to be cemented together..

Cheers

Jim

[SJPONeill]

Looks as good as it ever did when I first tore the header off the bag 38 years ago...I think you'll find that the undersized windows and lack of an interior as less of a problem if it is built as intended...i.e. with glue and paint smeared over the windows...worked for me anyway, back then...

[PaulBradley]

Well, I need to get started today, so I'll just make it up as I go along!

[TomW]

That's the best way Paul, it will still look like a Widgeon if you decide to fix the wing chord or not

Regards

Tom

[PaulBradley]

Life's too short - and I have the 1/48 CA kit when I want to done up nicely!

Anyways, some progress already this AM:



This is one of Airfix's oldest aircraft kits, dating back to 1958, so it is, unsurprisingly, very crude. I sanded off all the oversized rivets and panel line detail, and, as I was not in the mood, I only rescribed a fewof the panel lines. The engines and wing floats don't fit too well, so I removed the locator pins. After sanding down the trailing edges, I simply glued the wing halves together without further modification. The cabin interior was painted black, to hide the lack of detail once it is finished. I'll be treating this strictly as a canvas for the finish - the decals are the best part of this kit.

Sorry to be a downer on this one, but it is not one of Airfix's better efforts and really shouldn't have been re-issued, frankly. Now, if they'd see their way to issuing a brand-new mould of this, or of the Goose, I'd be happy.

[PaulBradley]

Just because a kit is a "classic" doesn't mean its a goodie....

The fit of the engine nacelles is appalling - I needed plastic card shims, CA glue and a lot of filler:



I tried to fit the cabin windows, but they were thick, had sink marks and didn't fit, so I left them out and will use Microclear.

The fuselage is somewhere in here, under all the clamps and pegs!

[AceSeafire]

Nice work Paul.

I bought this one to be a bit of a quickie in addition to the catalina I am doing but it looks like it may be a longer job than I expected!!

[TomW]

Looks like this is a kit that needs some tough love to get it together, good luck Paul!

Regards

Tom

[PaulBradley]

It's not one you'd want to try to turn into a contest winner, that's for sure! However, once I had sanded down the nacelles, it doesn't look too bad.

The first thing I did with this kit this morning was to dunk the windscreen in Future/Klear. This was superglued into place just now (the reason I Future'd it - to prevent it fogging) and sanded it into shape - it was too wide for the opening, but luckily it is very thick, so there was plenty of material to play with. Using an eight-step sanding and polishing process, it is now seamlessly integrated into the fuselage, and sparkling clear to boot. Pics later.

[Jagewa]

Racing along Paul. An Airfix Goose... ohhh be still my beating heart suggesting things like that... swoon.