Scale aviation modeller international

THE POWERPLANT

Wingnut seem to make exceptional

engines, and while the example

in this kit is no different, there

is (of course) always room for

improvement. The one minor

failing (although I’m being picky

here) is the rather ”blobby” spark

plugs. I opted to replace these with

the beautiful (but tiny) Taurus

aftermarket examples, at the

same time repositioning them.

The kit has them central, but

strictly speaking, they should be

diagonally offset from each other.

I removed the injected moulded

plugs, and drilled suitably sized

holes to accept the new spark

plugs, which slotted in nicely.

A little wiring was added in the

form of double looms. The ignition

wires were bundled together and

held in place with a couple of brass

wire loops, and the ends were

attached via pre-drilled points.

With a few of these placed here

and there, you end up with a very

convincing representation of the

Brisfit engine. I opted to paint mine

with a mix of Alclad and Vallejo

metal colours, finished with just

enough subtle oil washes to give it

that oily look (without overdoing it

and spoiling the look of the engine).

Due to the nature of the

construction, you can leave the

engine off the model until the

very end, as it sits on extended

fuselage bearers and the

cowlings are supplied as separate

entities. It seems such a shame

to fit these and hide all the

details, so mine were left off.

COMING TOGETHER

I had now reached the point for

the fuselage to be closed up.

Considering that this should be

a fairly basic thing to do from

a modelling skills viewpoint,

it’s actually something that I

seem to struggle with: no matter

how hard I try, I always seem to

end up with a slight line where

the join is. It starts off being

completely invisible, but later on

during the painting process, it

mysteriously reappears! And no

amount of supergluing or sanding

seems to make any difference.

This is particularly difficult with

a square section fuselage, where

the two sides are flat. In the past,

I’ve even used thin plastic sheet

to stick over the whole top to hide

a join. In an attempt to hopefully

curtail my modelling nemesis,

this time I tried chamfering the

edges slightly, followed by lashings

of superglue mixed with talcum

powder. To my amazement, it

actually worked on this occasion.

So with the fuselage completed,

I dropped my first clanger - literally

• on to a hard surface and found
  I had unstuck the rear fuselage
  curtain and gunner’s seat, so a bit of
  repair work was required (but don’t
  worry, this kind of thing is perfectly
  par for the course during my builds).

COLOURING IN

For my colour scheme, I trawled the

internet and fell for a doped silver

No. 5 Squadron version, based in

India circa 1925. It reminded me of

the Art Deco period and was fairly

straightforward, and it was easy

enough to make masks for the serial

letters, numbers, and roundels. The

kit has some lovely decal options,

but if at all possible, I like having

a unique colour scheme and it’s

hard to beat the sprayed-on look

that decals can’t quite replicate.

Ironically, after I’d chosen the

scheme, I realised that there was

a photograph of the aircraft in

question on the Wingnut website

and another in the instructions

• not the greatest photo, but a
  photo nonetheless. It shows the
  aircraft to have the shorter exhaust
  option (not the long exhausts, as
  shown in a colour profile picture
  I’d found on the net), and smaller
  fuselage roundels with, I think,
  another letter “A” on the centre
  wing section. The full photo shows
  her along with her companions,
  “D” and “B”, in formation over
  India. Curiously, in this picture the
  aircraft has the longer exhausts
  and larger fuselage roundels.
  After a priming session, this
  time reverting to the Mr. Surfacer

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