Narses2's Blog - or what I'm slowly making progress on

[zenrat]

According to Italian Civil and Military Aircraft 1930 - 1945,
Jonathan Thompson, Aero Publishers 1963; pg.15:
"Three S.A.I. 207 equipped the 3^º Stormo C.T. at Ciampino and
Cerveteri in July, 1943."

Thanks Jon 

Means the aircraft I'm building is real world.

HERETIC!

[NARSES2]

According to Italian Civil and Military Aircraft 1930 - 1945,
Jonathan Thompson, Aero Publishers 1963; pg.15:
"Three S.A.I. 207 equipped the 3^º Stormo C.T. at Ciampino and
Cerveteri in July, 1943."

Thanks Jon 

Means the aircraft I'm building is real world.

HERETIC!

But surely they were among the very first "What Iffers" ? 

[NARSES2]

Making good progress with the S.A.I. indeed she should be done by the end of this week, touch wood. I'm trying out something new with the canopy framing and first dabs it looks as those it could be a useful tool in helping me deal with one of my extreme weaknesses. The canopy it'self is tiny and with its framing completely neggates the work I did in the cockpit. Still I know it's there 

Here's my latest two - the Mohawk and Whirlwind which have their own threads over on the RAF 100 GB strand.

[NARSES2]

Well the S.A.I. is at the varnish stage so she will go to the ball this weekend. 

I've also been reading up a little bit about the design as I thought the armament of two 12.7mm Breda m.g.'s was a little light for 1943 and it turns out that it was designed to have two 20mm Mauser's as well. Now the production run of 3,000 was cancelled after only 13 had been produced and the order was transferred to the improved S.A.I.403, so the aircraft I have modeled is one of the pre-production aircraft which didn't have the cannon fitted.

Now the 403 is an interesting aircraft. With it's relatively heavy armament of two x 20mm and two x 12.7mm guns, a top speed of 403 mph at 23,000 feet and its tiny size it may well have proved a useful fighter. So I will be on the look out for the RS model of it at Telford.

[NARSES2]

The 207 is finished  I'll stick a couple of photo's of her up when I've taken them.

She was a really enjoyable build. Must admit I like RS and AZ. Their recent kits build well whilst still offering a little bit of a challenge, at least in the thinking department 

[NARSES2]

Here's a couple of shots of the S.A.I.207.

Ambrosini S.A.I. 207 of 3rd Stormo, R.A.I. based at Cervateri, Italy in the summer of 1943.





Comparison with a Mohawk to show its size

[NARSES2]

Got back to working on my IBG Models PZL 42
.

As I've said before it is a superb kit with excellent levels of detail and great fit. The only problem, if you can call it a problem, is that the parts are so finely moulded which means you have to handle them with great care. One upside of this fine casting is that the sprue gates are tiny and don't impinge on the parts themeselves at all 

I've just about got all the innards including etch fitted so I'm ready to close her up and watch most of it disappear, probably    To be honest I'm a little bit sceptical of IBG's suggested method of closing the fuselage, but we shall see.

One odd one is why do manufacturers who include an etch sheet with their kits quite often don't include the seat belts on it ? 

All bodes well for their Los which hopefully is on its way to me now.

[NARSES2]

I've just about got all the innards including etch fitted so I'm ready to close her up and watch most of it disappear, probably    To be honest I'm a little bit sceptical of IBG's suggested method of closing the fuselage, but we shall see.

Interestingly looking at the instructions for their PZL 23 they show a different assembly procedure which is the same one I'm thinking of using. So given the kits came out at the same time they must have thought there was a reason to be different ? Anyway I'm going to procede slowly with this just in case.

[NARSES2]

Right after a little bit of a struggle I now have a completed PZL.42 airframe.

The kit has some very precisely moulded parts which in some cases use tiny tongue and grooves as location points. Now these require very accurate assembly (and no paint on the joining faces, otherwise they won't fit) and my eyesight problems mean that I'm not up to this standard. The main problems I have, as far as modeling are concerned, are to do with depth perception and the centering of things, and they are not going to go away 

So as said I'd already decided to depart from IBG's recommended assembly order and fit the fuselage halves together and then fit that over the wing assembly which has the cockpit fitted to it. That was giving me a fit problem with the wing/fuselage joint so I removed the cockpit from the floor and inserted that into the fuselage from below. It's tight, but you can get those tiny tongue and grooves to mate. I then fitted the upper cockpit framework from above. Again it's tight but just a small bit of pressure and it's in. Finally I secured the wing assembly and the wing root joint gap had almost disappeared, a little PPP and that will be it.

So with a little bit of experimentation I got there and it's all fine and I'm forewarned for the 23, indeed I've made some notes and slipped them in its box  I'm also quite sure these "problems" are not down to the kit, but are down to my current ability level. Has it put me off the kit ? No way, indeed I'm looking forward to moving on now 

[NARSES2]

With things on the current builds progressing (touching wood as I type) I dug out a couple of simpler builds to do next, probably post Telford/Xmas build up.

So they will be an Airfix Mk I Hurricane, Battle of Britain, but with Freightdog 20mm cannon that were trialed on them. The other is an RS Models Hs 132A. Probably do her Luftwaffe (although an ANR one with 3 colour uppers is calling to me). We shall see.

[NARSES2]

The other is an RS Models Hs 132A.

Nothing on the telly last night, so I started on this after some p.s.r. on the Vickers. Looks quite nice on the sprues, some rather prominent knockout pins but they are easy enough to remove. It's been moulded with both types of engines planed for the type, so you could model the "B" as well as the "A" as boxed. Some flash but nothing to onerous. The only bit of iffy moulding is the recess for the bomb. It doesn't match up when you align the fuselage halves. The fuselage is fine, but the recess it'self is shorter one side then t'other, and by a fair bit  Might be easier to fill it in and use a normal bomb rack.

Anyway a fair few sub assemblies have been put together and it's going together well so far.

[NARSES2]

Well work continues at a gentleman's pace on the PZL, but I think we are ready for paint now 

Meanwhile work on the Hs.132 continues at a slightly more hectic pace and I'm thoroughly enjoying it. I've decided I like RS Models, the more recent tooling's in particular. Go together well, but with just a little bit of a "challenge" to the build so you don't get to blase about the things. Shall be looking for some more at Telford including their new tool B&V 607 if it's out.

[NARSES2]

Well the Hs.132 is going together very well during breaks whilst building the high flyer. I now have a completed airframe and it went together very, very well  The cockpit fitted perfectly and the fuselage came together around it with no problems and very little cleaning up needed. The wings were a good fit once the slots for their tabs had some flash trimmed as was the tailplane. The cockpit canopy is also an excellent fit. It's a very nice kit indeed.

[NARSES2]

Airfix Magazine dropped through the letterbox this morning along with next years calendar. The box top pictures used for each month are a mixture of new/recent toolings and some from their Classics range. There's some nostalgia there. My favourite is the WWI RHA figures box art. Don't know why, other then it takes me back to when life was simpler 

[kitnut617]

Airfix Magazine dropped through the letterbox this morning along with next years calendar. The box top pictures used for each month are a mixture of new/recent toolings and some from their Classics range. There's some nostalgia there. My favourite is the WWI RHA figures box art. Don't know why, other then it takes me back to when life was simpler 

Both my Grandads were in the RHA as Lieutenants so had that figure set, as well as the bigger Britain's set.