Fairey Battle - Classic Airframes 1/48

Our World in miniature, but it'll mostly be aeroplanes...

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Tex
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Fairey Battle - Classic Airframes 1/48

Post by Tex » Tue Mar 23, 2021 4:41 pm

I've been in a prolonged modelling slump. Almost as bad as the slump I am in spotting and shooting at enemy aircraft in game. I have never had models left partially unfinished before. But I do - apologies to Luftasher - and not sure when that will change.
Enter the Classic Airframes Fairey Battle. If you don't know, this is what they call a "short run" kit. That is modeller speak for "challenging." Unlike other kit makers, i.e. Tamiya or even the new Airfix, these kits do not fall together easily. There are no locating tabs or interlocking parts. The canopies are vacu-formed. There are several resin parts. The instructions are vague. And, to top it all off, there are several parts - all of them small and fiddly - that you have to fabricate yourself. For these reasons, this kit has sat on my self untried for quite a while.
Then, I saw a Maltloaf post about the Fairey Battle his father flew. I recalled him discussing it before and that triggered the thought to attempt it. My intent is to try to make a replica of his father's aircraft. This is exactly the sort of thing that I like to do.
What could go wrong?
I started by doing some research on builds of the model. They all described pretty much the same thing. "Not for beginners." "Challenging fit issues." "Need for filler, sanding and re-scribing panel lines." "Glad they included two vacu-form cockpits because I screwed the first up." Lots of encouragement there.
I've never worked with so many resin parts before. So, of course, I decided to start there.
The internal fuselage areas, cockpit and rear gunner area, are made entirely of resin parts. They are beautifully detailed which is nice. They are all also slightly out of alignment, which is not so nice. Carefully cutting them out was easy. Getting everything to line up was not. A word of note, if you are new to resin, be sure to use a mask and avoid getting any resin sanding dust into your lungs. Thankfully, I did that on all but one occasion. The one time taught me to keep doing this in the future.
The resin parts require super glue to attach to one another. I always get nervous using super glue as it either (a) sticks the parts together immediately upon the slightest touch - which is usually in the wrong spot, or (b) requires prolonged holding of the parts to ensure the proper fit - which usually results in the attachment of human skin to some part of the weld. I used a thicker c/a glue this time and had some accelerator handy. Learned to glue things down in one small spot, hit it with the accelerator, and then fill in the other areas. Seemed to work.
The next challenge was mating the cockpit sides to the fuselage itself. Again, no locating tabs on the parts and only vague suggestions about where things go in the instructions. I quickly learned that the parts are too thick to fit inside the fuselage halves. Lots of sanding and some cutting to get to the point where things sort of fit. I've lacked the courage to date to glue those components together. Am trying to resist the nagging desire to shelve this one for a while.
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Tex
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Re: Fairey Battle - Classic Airframes 1/48

Post by Tex » Tue Mar 23, 2021 4:43 pm

Some progress photos.
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Re: Fairey Battle - Classic Airframes 1/48

Post by Donkey » Tue Mar 23, 2021 5:17 pm

Yoiks, hope you like a chllenge! Fully believe you will get it done and to a high standard though.
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Re: Fairey Battle - Classic Airframes 1/48

Post by Ginger » Tue Mar 23, 2021 5:48 pm

The good thing about a vac formed canopy is it will look to scale , and with your skills will be no problem. :nice:
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Re: Fairey Battle - Classic Airframes 1/48

Post by ArcEye » Tue Mar 23, 2021 6:00 pm

Damn that is a lot of resin parts. Never used them myself yet. Have only just come back to the hobby after twenty ish years and all this photo etch and resin stuff is new to me 😂

Looking forward to seeing the progress.
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Re: Fairey Battle - Classic Airframes 1/48

Post by Jammy » Tue Mar 23, 2021 7:55 pm

Wonderfull! I've had a soft spot for single engine bombers ever since I was a micro-jammy and the Fairey Battle still sits in my favourite bomber chair despite its poor career. A kit you have to sandpaper? Yikes, thats only slightly more comfortable than being a bombardier in a Battle
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Re: Fairey Battle - Classic Airframes 1/48

Post by Secu » Sat Mar 27, 2021 10:16 am

Well it's a challenge, I don't know if I would have the courage to do it. Vacuformed canopy is the biggest pb for me.
Sure you'll master it, I stay tuned and wait for news of this exciting build.

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Re: Fairey Battle - Classic Airframes 1/48

Post by Shadepiece » Sat Mar 27, 2021 4:59 pm

This looks amazing! I'll be watching this thread quite closely.

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