This
will be my first entry to ARC.
This
is one of Classic Airframes unusual releases of WWII RAF Aircraft in 1/48 - the
Fairey Battle I. I was looking for a CA Fairey Battle I as the Turkish Air
Force operated the Fairey Battle, but I could not able to get one instead I
found a Fairey Battle TT. After some short research, I decided to use that kit
to make a Turkish Air Force Fairey Battle I. There were a few obstacles to
overcome i.e. canopy , rear gun and rear gunner bay.
Solution
: my friend let me have his spare canopy and I scratch built machine gun and
modified the rear gunner bay.
I
will not talk about the kit- you may already have read somewhere else about it-
but in short ,the kit comprised of injection molded fuselage and wing parts with
finely engraved detail.
The cockpit interior and wheel bays were
cast in resin. Box contains two vac-formed canopies and optional headlight
glasses– one for spare or mistake.
I washed all parts and fan dry with mid heat setting. Never let air dry unless
you use soft water- to avoid thin lime scale on plastic.
Then I cleaned all plastic, sanded and dry fit all major parts- highly
recommended for limited run kits. Before starting the assembly I painted
all internal parts and the inside of the fuselage halves and wings with Testors
MMII RAF Interior Green (2062)
First
I finished highly the detailed front and rear resin cockpits- painted first than
built them. Result was impressive. Than I tried to fit them into the fuselage
and found out that rear cockpit was too wide (almost 2 mm-3/32” ) for the
fuselage. After a lot of sanding and trial and error, I was able to
assemble the fuselage halves. Wings assembly was straightforward.
After the final assembly of plane than filling, sanding and cleaning, I sprayed
Testors MMII RAF Interior Green (2062) to the canopy area. Then I fit the canopy
and internal support, masked the canopy for overall priming. I primed with
Humbrol Aluminum which makes life much easier and more realistic for weathering
the plane. Let it dry for two days.
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The
aircraft represented was in the standard Turkish Air Force dark green / dark
brown camouflage and black under
surfaces.
I
painted the entire upper side with Testors MMII RAF Dark Green (2060). For
camouflage masking, I used thin cardboard to make the demarcation line soft to
scale than sprayed Testors MMII Dark Earth (2054). To avoid paint runs, I
painted the left side first, let it dry for two days than painted the right
side. After a full cure of the top side, I painted the underside overall
Black using mixture of Gunze Acrylics - 75% Flat (H12) and 25% Gloss (H2).
For
numbers, roundels and star/crescent I used Bare-Metal foils for masking purposes
to get sharp corners. No decals used on this plane. All Whites were
a mixture of Gunze Acrylics - 75% Flat (H11) and 25% Gloss (H1) and Reds was
Gunze Acrylic Flat Red (H13)
Classic
Airframes could be more helpful with their instructions, to avoid late
recognition of pit-falls. Despite the kit was rated for experienced
modeler still some hints would make life easier for us. For me, the
most difficult fit aspects of the kit were rear cockpit and rear top fuselage
part, but it's worth it to make a model of
such an unusual plane in 1/48 scale. Next subject for me will be Turkish
Air Force Blenheim V , another Classic Airframes beauty .
I
personally would like to thank Mr. Mehmet Sekercioglu of PM Model for all
reference materials and Tamer Ozkan for the canopy- without their support, it
would be very difficult to finish this model.
Suleyman
Girit
Aviation
Museum
Modellers Club- Istanbul,Turkiye
Click on
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