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[PaulBradley]

When you are ready, this GB will be archived here to help you.

[Saxon]

Guys - would you consider this to be a good build for a first Bi-plane?

Cannel dash set looks good for £9-99, altough the floatplane looks good too.

Not at all, even before you get to the wings the fit isn't great mostly due to the over involved cockpit and the instructions are complex as well as someone else has stated.

[jssel]

Things seem to be slowing a bit. Indicating the complexity of the kit. Keep chugging folks. We can do this.

[splash]

I had a spot of back truble last week and I'm away for the weekend but hope to get back on the case next week.

Regards Splash

[forest1000]

Things seem to be slowing a bit. Indicating the complexity of the kit. Keep chugging folks. We can do this.

I think for most the cockpit is the hold up. It is complex and if you aren't square or the paint is thick, you'll have trouble fitting. In addition, the kit seems to have a few issues with broken/damaged bits. I'd recommend tack gluing the cockpit, painting after assembly and dry fitting with the fuselage. I built the kit assembling the top portion of the cockpit and structure, closed the fuselage except for the bottom and used tweezers to put everything in place from the underside. I had fitting issues with the cockpit because of paint and gluing initially. Glad I only tacked a few spots to pull it apart. In the end, I even cut the bottom rail off the side structure to make things fit better. You can't see it anyway. Pictures of my status to follow later.

[jssel]

Those are all problems I faced. The cockpit piece fits but it is not at all clear just where. At first I placed it under the wide stringer. It caused a bad fit of the lower fuselage piece right at the lower wing stubs. So.....I pulled it off and re-glued it flush with the wide stringer and it fell right into place. Also had warped and damaged pieces. Most of my damaged pieces occurred during removal from the sprues. Like Splash, a razor saw cured that. Was missing piece A-11 (engine front) and had to scratch make that. The condition of the sprue indicated to me that it was short shot. Can't be sure however. Overall, I sense my parts got removed from the molds to soon and as the plastic cooled, wrinkles developed. Some I know have not had the problem.

I still give Airfix kudos because looking at my carcus, it looks really neat.

[JohnRatzenberger]

I'm OK, just away from the bench until Monday and not spending much computer time either.

When I get back, first step is to put the cockpit(s) into the fuselage(s) -- I've already test fit and trimmed so this is just a glue/clamp job of a few moments each .... then I'll start putting the underside on and I know that will take some sanding of the bottom of the cockpit for a clean fit.

I can probably start working things in parallel now, I've been running sequentially for too long and could have gotten ahead on sub-assemblies ....

[TomW]

I'm still nibbling away at mine, progress has been stymied by the sheer amount of time I've spent at work the last few weeks Day off today though so I hope to make a dent in the build.

Regards

Tom

[splash]

It was a fun GB with a very high attrition rate. I would like to give a big thanks to John for running it, I personally had great fun and will build several more.

At first I thought this was going to be a future CBK , but having seen all the problems myself and the others had and as John said the over complicated instructions, I would down grade it to a good kit but only for experienced builders.

On a positive note the my GB Build has got me a commission to build another with an invite to have a look around the Historic Flights Hanger (Two Swordfish, Two Sea Fury’s & a Seahawk) and have a sit in the Swordfish (or Blackfish if you want to get picky) so it was a great GB for me.

Regards Splash

[PaulBradley]

Congrats, Alan! I hope you are allowed to take some photos to share with us!

An interesting experience - I was unprepared for the issues I had and I have to say that this was the first Airfix kit that I've had these sorts of issues with. I have two more in the stash, so I will be a lot better prepared next time I tackle one! I did salvage the fuselage, so I do have a short cut for the next one.

[jssel]

I agree with you Paul. I love the kit, was not expecting the issues I have had. Will finish mine as soon as the P-51 build is over. I would do another and now armed with all the advise from this group build, it will be better.

Cheers John for running this do.

[TomW]

I definitely enjoyed the majority of my build and the problems encountered were almost certainly of my own doing. I jumped around the suggested build sequence and i'll' be sticking religiously to the instructions when I build my second stashed kit.

Thanks again to John for running this GB and I can't wait for the next single kit build.

Regards

Tom

[JohnRatzenberger]

Thank you, all, for participating.

While the completion rate was low, I think many of the threads have great advice for those who come after us and so the SKGB did what it is supposed to do.

[beany]

Thanks for running the GB John. I had no idea going into this how much work is required on this kit so it's not surprising I've only finished about 45% of my build. I've had the same "opportunities" to practise my modelling skills as just about everyone else from the look of it. The cockpit assembly went in OK but I had to thin the bottom off (fortunately the part that isn't seen once the bottom of the airframe is attached) to get a good fit of the underside component.
I will still try to find some crew figures that will fit in the cockpit and pose mine in flight with a prop blur eventually.

Cheers
Al.

[MDT]

Thanks for a great GB John - The completion rate may have been low but I totally agree the final effort acheived and knowledge gained from this GB out-weighed this. If I had been building this solo I would have possibly quit at the snapped strut(s) stage but because I knew it wasn't just me I felt much better!