The Unofficial Airfix Modellers' Forum

I can tell you when I've done the Airfix. So far, for ease of the build, the finesse of the parts and the fact that a nice French rotary engine is provided, I'm guessing the Academy will come out tops.

My blue is now resolved, having re-found the instruction sheet for the French livery...RLM76 it is. This makes sense, given that it's a 1947 machine. Probably ex-Luftwaffe, with an MS engine fitted. (German engines were in short supply at the time). OD was applied 'cos they had gallons of the studff.

Reagrds,
Bruce

Regards,
Bruce

Brews wrote:If you want any photos of the real thing, let me know. I've taken a few of the Flying Heritage Collection's example, but I don't recall if I've shared them.

At this point of my build, I'm good, thanks Brews.

Regards,
Bruce

JamesPerrin wrote:

Nax wrote:http://i732.photobucket.com/albums/ww32 ... 00x600.jpg

I note on the box it says "fully engraved panel lines"

They were engraved on the tooling James...

You would have thought that they could get that statement right.

Nice work Steve; cunningly starting a bit early is the only way you'll be able to keep ahead of Bruce.

cheers

Andrew

Lovely job you've done there Merlin. I like the Criquet alot. Its stalky appearance and it looks so fragile, but I think it was a rugged plane IRL. The Academy and Heller kits are the best.

You're good with these fragile looking birds arn't ya?

Great work and interesting seeing the Criquet.

Cheers
Jim

That's impressive. It really looks like it should collapse under its own weight. Nice work.

Cheers

Andrew

Very lightweight, very strong and a lot of lift. The u/c was designed to withstand a vertical drop. Don't forget that it can land on a spot of 50 feet and, into the right breeze, could practically hover

Jagewa wrote:You're good with these fragile looking birds arn't ya?

Great work and interesting seeing the Criquet.

Cheers
Jim

Your right he is, I'm having a bugger of a time with the getting the strut set up right, and I think I have frosted my window with superglue.

AndrewR wrote:That's impressive. It really looks like it should collapse under its own weight. Nice work.

Cheers

Andrew

Thanks Andrew LMAO.

Looks terrific Bruce, hopefully mine will look like yours. I'll post some pic's up later on.

Nax wrote:...I'm having a bugger of a time with the getting the strut set up right, and I think I have frosted my window with superglue.

If it's the main struts causing you difficulty, try swapping them around. This was necessary for the SMER/Heller kit. I didn't check if it was true for the Academy, having removed the pieces from the sprue without noting numbers. Providing you're aiming for the right holes, the main strut should line up nicely with the small, vertical interplane strut and onto the fuselage.

The u/c was slightly more tricky-fella.
I fixed the small V strut to the fuselage first, longer arm forward.
Before this set in place, I angled it upwards and inserted the long, vertical leg into the roof hole. A small blob of glue was applied to the apex of the V and placed to that tiny tab on the leg.

Make sure you've got the axle pointing outwards!

With this set, I found the large u/c V's fitted as you'd hope they would.

Regards,
Bruce

Yep, I swapped the struts around, I had to break them off the wing and then found that I had them on the correct side's that they should be and they are going into the rear hole in the fuselage but they just wont look good for me. They seem way too long and the strut that hangs from the wing and intersects with the long strut, just wont reach. I've nearly gave it, it's maiden flight about ten minutes ago

I had a small gap where the roof glass meets the top of the windscreen, I filled it with a smear of Superglue Bad move I think, the masks are hiding the real damage, I'll be surprised if the top of the screen isn't frosted.

Check out those struts.


As you can see they seem way too long.


And you can see that the inner struts will not reach the long strut.



Because I'm using the airbrush I was going to paint the wings off the plane. I beleive that it will aid in painting but it will be near impossible to mask with the wings on, without damaging the struts.

Not having fun ATM, feel like putting it away for a month.

Ouch! That looks like a challenging build. Worse than a biplane!

Before you go any further, you may be able to get rid of any frosting in the transparency by coating with Future/Kleer on the side where the frosting happens. Which might mean demounting the canopy.

Another couple of suggestions, try turning the struts over, so the shorter one is facing the front, and check that the strut is in the correct locating hole in the fuselage, and not in one meant for the undercarriage (been there, done that ).


Good luck

Andrew

I'm noticing that you're workibng on the wing with the most holes...one pair if for the struts, the other for the pitot...and then there's the landing light. I'd strongly suggest you try to work on the other wing.
Oh...and don't forget that there's supposed to be a dihedral.

(I'm sure we have the same kit, same pieces, same holes )

What happens if you mimic my build sequence, as per my SMER build?
http://uamf.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=5079&start=0;

Regards,
Bruce

OK, I think I got somewhere with the struts, I'll know with the final fit up. One side is fine and fitted perfect the other still seems a frag to long, so I will trim it to fit at the end.

Finally some paint applied.





Should have some Olive drab on her tomorrow night.