Paul's Blitzkrieg Battler - Airfix Mk.I **FINISHED**

[PaulBradley]

I'll be doing the new Airfix 1/72 kit in the markings of No.1 Sqn RAF, Battle of France, May 1940. I believe the individual markings are for Paul Richey, who wrote the excellent book Fighter Pilot which is about that period of the war.

Boxart and sprue shots later.

[PaulBradley]

Should be able to make a start on this today...

[jssel]

That sure look purdy Paul. Can't wait till you get going on it. Those markings come with the old 1/48th kit I am working on.

[PaulBradley]

Well, I am not terribly impressed so far.....

Construction starts with the wings. While the wheel well detail is quite nice:



....there's a problem with the one-piece upper and lower wings - the outer upper wings are slightly smaller than the lowers:





No, that isn't MY mis-alignment - it is the same around both outer wings. Less than a mm, but will be a devil to properly clean up. I don't remember reading about this in the reviews!

Meanwhile, the cockpit is also quite nicely detailed, though I dislike Airfix's way of attaching the seat to the framework with tiny cut-outs - very hard to align them properly. This seems to be the way they do this with Hurris and Spits.

[PaulBradley]

Having had a bit of a think about this, I think the issue is that the dihedral of one of the wings was incorrect. I had glued them up with liquid cement, so there was still a little play in them, and so I taped them up with a bit more dihedral. I'll leave them to set and see if it worked...

[jssel]

Good idea on the fix Paul. One thing about the 1/48 scale kit (and I speak of the old mould) is that you mount the single piece lower wing to the fuselage and attach the two upper pieces next. This accommodates a correct dihedral. But mine looks a little on the flat side. But close enough.

[PaulBradley]

Trouble with the new 1/72 kit is that both the lowers AND uppers are one-piece; the fuselage is built up then sits on top of the completed wing. Interesting engineering.

I took off the tape and its a bit better, though not perfect. Some light sanding still required.

[PaulBradley]

Sigh.... What is it with me and these new Airfix kits...?





It is worse than it looks in the photos, as the fuselage is slightly wider than the wing roots at those points - they overhang a bit. No hang-ups, parts went together well, fit is fine - except for the forward wing roots. Even after sanding back the fuselage mating surfaces, which has helped a lot, I'm left with these gaps..... I could not, and still cannot see where the problem lay - I didn't have any other fit issues, no paint or glue on mating surfaces. I'm at a loss. Nothing mentioned in any of the reviews I read, of course....

[Old_Tonto]

I'm glad it is not just me Paul. I have had the exact same problems with the upper wing and to a lesser extent the forward fuselage to wing join.
I have ended up using lots of filler which is disappointing on a new kit.

Although I had a similar problem with the wing last year when I built one it was no where near as bad. I can't believe the moulds are deteriorating already.
I think I have mispositioned the seat too now that I look at it.

[PaulBradley]

...and I'm glad it isn't just me, then!

I think I have mispositioned the seat too now that I look at it.

Well, that isn't difficult, given the poor location points of that part!

[splash]

Did I read that Airfix moved its production from one country to another?

Could that account for the change in quality?

Regards Splash

[PaulBradley]

Well, I went right off this kit after those issues and put the darned thing away pending a decision on its fate. However, after reading through a couple of other threads here, a long thread on Britmodeller on new Airfix kits, and re-reading a review in a well-known modeling magazine, I see that this isn't just me; I am not suddenly a crappy modeler, and I can rescue this build. So I restarted work last night. Got filler on the wing/fuselage seams (and a couple of other spots), despite the review stating that the builder didn't need "any filler" in their build....

By the way, I hate those build articles where the build is covered by photos and short captions - there's never enough information in those captions to properly explain everything, especially if only a few photos are used!!! As is the case with one review of this kit in a mag. Grrrrrrr....

Anyways, I cleaned up all the seams this morning, got the undercarriage on and sprayed a coat of Aluminium to the undersides in prep for the black/white/alu underside camo pattern.





I have the day off tomorrow and will crack on with the undersides, and get one of the topside colours on. Then a big push for a finish next weekend.

[TobyC]

Nice work Paul. I've had similar issues as you know with my fabric wing version and sadly I haven't gone quite as far as you in rectifying the problems and now I've almost finished it shows

[PaulBradley]

Toby, I feel for you. I am fully expecting issues to rear their ugly seams when I put on the Dark Earth later....

You guys all know me - I do like the classic kits, with all their faults and problems. Part of the fun is correcting them, and adding detail. However, I do get rather discouraged when new tool kits have these sorts of issues - its just not what I want and expect from a brand new mould. It completely throws off the mindset. While I am grateful that Airfix are issuing new kits, I do get a sense of trepidation when I start one now. And its almost a self-fulfilling prophesy, it seems... I hope I've explained that properly.

[Molly-new]

I agree with you on the state of new kits Paul, and also prefer to tackle a classic kit when I can.