The kit has been well known for a few years:
http://www.mac.distribution.cz/model-kits.php?akce=model&nazev=bristol-scout&id=94I have had it in my stash for some time now but was quite intimidated by it. However, finally I decided to give it a go. I want to build the famous Lanoe Hawker's 1611 which is an early C version. This makes the build even more problematic, because the kit parts are rather more to D than C. But let's start from the beginning.
First of all the rib structure of the flying and control surfaces is far too emphasized. Also the profiles of are too thick, the trailing edges literally thicker than the leading edges should be. So I decided to sand them all flush and will try to "rebuild" the lost surface waves by means of optical illusion - the postshading. Thus, the profiles I got are now much more to the scale:
Additionally, the lower wings from the kit required scribing the ailerons.
The upper wings were too short in span. I decided to cut off the outer portions from the centre-piece, correct the profile, insert 1mm plastic stripes and glue them back together using a cardboard jig which will be also useful later, when the lower wings will be attached to the fuselage.
The tailplane in the kit was the large version used in later C's and D's. The photo of Hawker's C shows clearly the earlier smaller version. Unfortunately, even that the kit had a larger version it was too short in chord. So once more - sand flush, trim the outer sections, cut off the elevator segments, insert the pieces of plastic (again about 1mm) and glue the pieces together again.
The kit includes a PE fret with sides of the interior structure. But it has little to do with the reality and is far underscale in order to make it fit inside the thick-sided fuselage. I will try to scratch build the interior but first I had to substantially sand the interior of the fuse halves to make the walls much, much thinner.
I have also decided to replace those blobs of plastic which imitate engines in the kit. I have bought and MANAGED to assemble the Small Stuff Le Rhone 9c fantastic replica. I must admit I was hard put to it with this tiny masterpiece of resin technology. But here it is after a lot of sweating, cursing, etc. For instance, I managed to lose three spark plugs before I found a safe method to handle them from the sprue to their holes in the cylinders. Luckily the manufacturer provided some spares!
Inevitably the true-to-scale engine is much larger than the kit original, so there is a problem with the cowling. Additionally the kit part had a too large opening. So I managed to build one to the scale from some substantially thinned spare parts from Eduard's Ni17. This one in turn will require some modifications to the fuselage front. But that later...
I only wonder if it is at all worth to bury the Small Stuff engine inside the cowling which will reveal just this
More to come soon.
