"Don't Tell Him!" Short Brothers Torpedo Attack Fighter 1950's

[Captain Canada]

Wow, you're really going all-in with this one ! Nice work so far !

[Gondor]

There was a series of articles, probably in Scale Aircraft Modelling about the Fiarly Firefly. This set of articles went into great depth and was almost a frame by frame walk through of the aircraft. If I could find it, or anyone else, it would be of great benefit to what I am attempting to do with the undercarriage bays.


Gondor

If you've any idea roughly when they appeared I might be able to help. I do keep my old copies but I haven't got an index I'm afraid so I need a steer.

Sounds like something from the Ian Huntley column.  He'd worked for Faireys post war and I recall he did a few posts on the Firefly.

He could bore for England, that one.

As can the guy who does the current "Colour Conundrum" column. He did a 3/4 page piece on the exact colour of Royal Navy carrier deck lift colours ? ?

I keep all my old copies of the magazine in those magazine/soft book boxes with the corner missing in order so I am currently ploughing my way through them. So far Vol 12 number 9 looks usful but I am continuing the next box with each box able to hold two volumes and quite a few boxes to rummage though but I should get there.

Gondor

[Gondor]

The magazines I have managed to find are

Vol 8 Number 8 May 1986
Vol 12 Number 9 June 1990
Volume 14 Number 7 April 1992

While all the above look interesting the real meat that I was after are in the following

Vol 15 Number 7 April 1993
Vol 15 Number 8 May 1993
Vol 15 Number 9/10 June July 1993

There are possibly others around the last three listed but my colection is not complete so I could be missing something on the wings and or undercarriage. If anyone has such articles could they scan them for me or at least tell me which vol/number so I can buy the mag

Thanks in advance

Gondor

[Gondor]

Not much of an update today just a few pictures taken with my phone to show how I am dealing with some facets of this build.

I have decided to use the Firefly's main undercarriage lags as they are quite nicely molded. However they happen to be a little short in my opinion especially if I sling a torpedo under the aircraft as I intend to do. So I obviously lengthen the undercarriage by fitting the end of the leg into a tube, like this....



All well and good you might think, but consider the next picture and remember that this is a scale model so having something that sticks out around the undercarriage leg as it were one of those foam pipe insulation tubes



So to make the centre of the tube take the leg I use the 1/16" drill bit on the left to enlarge the hole. You can imagine Lance Corporal Jones saying "they don't like it up em you know" in an emphatic manner and he would be right as my digital calipers shows that the differences in externaldiameters between the tube and the leg is only 0.01" so care must be taken. As you can see from the top picture it is more scale like though.



Next to each other though you can see there isn't much between the tube and it's reamer 

Gondor

[NARSES2]

While all the above look interesting the real meat that I was after are in the following

Vol 15 Number 7 April 1993
Vol 15 Number 8 May 1993
Vol 15 Number 9/10 June July 1993

I'll have a look for you mate

[Gondor]

While all the above look interesting the real meat that I was after are in the following

Vol 15 Number 7 April 1993
Vol 15 Number 8 May 1993
Vol 15 Number 9/10 June July 1993

I'll have a look for you mate

Those are ones I have, it's the odd one just before or after that I might be missing

Gondor

[Gondor]

Just a quick picture update, not quite a spot the difference but you can do that if you want 



Gondor

[Gondor]

The internal frame work for the undercarriage bays has been started using the same sized plastic rod I have used for the exterior of the undercarriage bay. This is getting fiddily but will get more so as I am dealing with fairly large sized peices of plastic rod, detailing the walls and roof of the bay will be using much smaller rod but I seam to be a glutton for punishment with this model and I can't blame anyone except myself really, not even Dizzyfugu for the insperition with his Vought-CAC Corsair S(AW).1 well for what I plan with the tail anyway or it could be from something else that he has done in the past.

Gondor

[NARSES2]

While all the above look interesting the real meat that I was after are in the following

Vol 15 Number 7 April 1993
Vol 15 Number 8 May 1993
Vol 15 Number 9/10 June July 1993

I'll have a look for you mate

Those are ones I have, it's the odd one just before or after that I might be missing

Gondor

I had a look and unfortunately I only go back to 1997 on a complete basis, which ties in with a few things. I've a scattering of additions before that, back to 1984, but none have anything I'm afraid.

[Gondor]

While all the above look interesting the real meat that I was after are in the following

Vol 15 Number 7 April 1993
Vol 15 Number 8 May 1993
Vol 15 Number 9/10 June July 1993

I'll have a look for you mate

Those are ones I have, it's the odd one just before or after that I might be missing

Gondor

I had a look and unfortunately I only go back to 1997 on a complete basis, which ties in with a few things. I've a scattering of additions before that, back to 1984, but none have anything I'm afraid.

Thanks for looking anyway 

Gondor

[Gondor]

Had to remove both rear spars as they were slightly too far forward, about 0.2mm or so as I couldn't get any detail added to the inner faces of both the front and rear spars. Also ordered some supplies from Wonderland to help with the build

Gondor

[Gondor]

The spars were re positioned earlier today and I also managed to get the sides of the undercarriage boxed in. It's not much but it is progress which is the main thing.

Tomorrow I plan to keep working on where I am putting the ribs for the roof of the bays as well as working on such things as the fuselage which I think I will work towards fitting the top and lower sections together. Some questions still remain to be answered such as how far forward do I widen the fuselage and how do I incorporate the aresting hook into the rear fuselage which will be only airframe as the rudder is above the tail planes so all the lower part of the fuselage is available for either a stinger type, Seafire 46/47, under fuselage mounting, F-14 and F-18 or enclosed with its own doors which I am sure I have seen used from a similar time frame.

I have also decided what I am doing with the inboard section of the wings, where the extension is. The radiators will be positioned there as was common practice for Bristol Centaurus powered aircraft at the time, it also saves me having to produce a leading edge, but that's for the future.

Gondor

[The Wooksta!]

Centaurus was an air cooled radial, the wing root intakes on Firebrand, Sea Fury and Tempest are oil coolers.  You may as well use the roots of the Frog/Novo Sea Fury but I'd give them a good workover as they're... not the best.

I *might* have some resin copies of the Matchbox Tempest intakes somewhere.  I've seen them recently but I can't remember which box...

[Gondor]

Thanks for the offer Lee but I will scratch these myself due to the dimensions and as this was a kit of a Mk 1 all the cooling equipment was under the chin.

Gondor

[Gondor]

Something a little different from me today, in in focus picture, well at least as far as my eye can tell.

I have started adding the ribs inside the undercarriage bays



I can't do much more at the moment as I am waiting on some more Liquid Polly to arrive, that's Humbrol's bottle glue for those who don't know the product. I will try some Plastic Weld that I have had sitting around for years which I found to be  not as aggressive as I would have liked but it might be good enough for this job.

Gondor