Scale Aviation Modeller International — February 2018

(Jacob Rumans) #1
slight notch where the leading
edge of the flap meets the leading
edge of the aileron. I had to
considerably thin the edge of the
upper surface of the wing just
ahead of the flaps and ailerons.
The slats themselves were quite
easy to shape, using my trusty
homemade sanding board – a piece
of contiboard with three grades of
abrasive paper affixed (easily my
most useful tool ever!). The long
edges of the slats were bevelled
to accept backplates made from
10 thou plasticard, to which I

first gave an inwards curvature.
The backplates can be cemented
rough-cut, and then trimmed
off flush later. Finally, I added
end plates to complete the slats.
I used a similar process for the
flaps and ailerons, but on both,
their chord had to be lengthened
using plastic dowels, card, and
filler, especially underneath.
The leading edges of the S.79’s
wings incorporated oil cooler air
intakes and exits, tucked in near the
wing roots; the right wing has one,
the left wing has two. The intakes
are located just a little beneath
the leading edge, while the exits
are above and behind, exiting just
ahead of the front spar position.
These are simple enough to drill.
Next I removed the huge
circular location points for the
undercarriage bracing struts, on
the inside surfaces of the upper
wings. The wheel wells on the
S.79 were surprisingly plain and
uncluttered by wiring, etc, but were
only wide enough to accommodate
the retracted wheel and legs. At
about half depth, however, they
widened to the full width of the
nacelle via shoulders ranged down

both sides. I used styrene strip to
reproduce this and to add detail.
The Airfix main gear legs locate
into some decidedly hefty and
unauthentic “pillars”, moulded
into the insides of the nacelles in
the lower wing halves. Though
inaccurate, I decided to keep
them because I thought they
might be needed to add strength.
I did reduce them in width.
The wheel bay openings, and
therefore also the gear doors,
are incorrectly shaped: the
wheel cut outs reach too far to
the rear. After reshaping these
a little, I used Eduard’s etch to
add detail inside the doors.
I now airbrushed the wheel bay
areas and gear doors with verde
anticorrosione. Just after I had
done this, to my horror, I noticed
that one source recommends
“silver” as the interior colour! I
dug out my references and I found
that, to my relief, other sources
claim that the wheel bays could
be finished either in green or in a
metal finish (probably a painted
metal finish, given the timber
construction), so I could carry
on. I assembled the wing halves
together and then added end pieces.
Adding some blanking-off plates
to the control surface recesses was
next, starting with the slat areas. I
wondered for a while how to do this,
eventually determining that filling
the areas with filler, and rubbing
them down, wouldn’t end up with
a neat result. Instead, I decided to
use 10 thou plasticard again – thin
enough to bend, and thick enough
to accept small amounts of poly
cement without perforating. I used
my finished slats as templates
for producing these plates.
With the slat, flap, and aileron
areas completed (the control

surfaces themselves would be
assembled later), the wings were
nearly finished. Before I added the
conical “engine bearers” from
the Supermodel kit, the final task
was to obtain a more accurate
appearance for the pen-nib fairings
at the end tips of the nacelles,
using shaped card and filler.

WINGS TO FUSELAGE
This vital stage in the model is a
potential problem, because it’s easy
to end up with the wings cranked
in relation to the fuselage. The
way forward is to abandon the
idea that you’ll be able to achieve
closed-up seams at the wing roots;
you probably will on the upper
surface, but not underneath.
The upper surfaces of the
wings are absolutely flat and
horizontal across the span, so
get the tailfin jigged up on the
perpendicular and then add the
wings. When the cement is dry,
underneath you’ll discover gaps
at the wing roots. Begin the fill
with thick styrene strips, because
some of the gaps will be that big!

THE TAIL GROUP
I hadn’t bothered to examine
the tail for accuracy until I was
ready to assemble. Oh dear! The
rudder, at least, is fine, except
that I had to sand away the
trim tab detail and re-scribe.
That’s the end of the positives,
I’m afraid, because the width of the
Airfix fuselage beneath the foot of
the rudder is too wide. The fuselage
was, in fact, bulged in this area,
but only to house the tailwheel and
arm; what Airfix have done is to
make the whole area pretty much
the same width as the housing.

WWW.SAMPUBLICATIONS.COM • FEBRUARY 2018 • 85


1/72


082-89-VP-Sm79-0218.indd 85 12/01/2018 12:10

Free download pdf