A couple of 1:72 Felixstowes

[Bluesfan]

You may well look at the picture and stare doubtfully at the bits of wood balanced uncertainly on the spindly wings, also at the seething mass of loose rigging, itching to knot itself together. To paraphrase a line from that great work of cinema, Spinal Tap, "There's a fine line between clever and stupid..."

But don't ignore the big picture here - the top wing's on! It may well stay on! 

[Bluesfan]

Is it okay putting this here? I know there's a separate section for books, but this little reading list is directly relevant to the project, and I've just finished reading The Spider Web, which I would heartily recommend to anyone modelling Felixstowes/America boats. It's about the activities of the War Flight at Felixstowe April 1917 - April 1918, which Hallam was in charge of. It's full of eye opening stories and one ends up in awe at the bravery of the men who went out on patrol over the North Sea, and also at the genius (I use the word avisedly) of those who developed these amazing machines. Amongst other things there are tales of survival and in-flight repairs which have all the tension of a Hollywood action film, and vivid descriptions of the harsh seas and weather they confronted.

A couple of small points. John Porte, the principal man of genius, barely features in the book, I suppose because Hallam's mission was to tell the stories of operations. But it's odd because by his own account he even flew the extraordinary Felixstowe Fury at least once, and so he must have had something to do with Porte. I'd have loved to hear more! But he does include two fascinating pictures of the 'Super Baby'. Another point to note is that Hallam moved on just at the point of the demise of the RNAS, and so the stories of the great aerial battles later on in 1918 remain untold.

I expect to enjoy the other memoir equally, To the Ends of the Air by Gerry Livock; although his time in Felixstowes only occupies one chapter. He was based at Yarmouth. He was the guy who first applied dazzle painting to the boats, which then became general practice. His boat is one of the schemes available with the WNW Felixstowe Early kit.

As for the other books, as well as the WNW manual, I've made a lot of reference to Colin Owers' Fighting America books. Many will be familiar with the Aeronaut publications, and maybe demur about value for money. I can only say that I'm very glad to have them, they're full of pictures and information I haven't seen elsewhere. But I'm hugely fascinated by these planes, and I love history anyway - I couldn't imagine making a model of anything and not wanting to know its story and its people. These two volumes helped me a lot with this current project, especially with details about the H.16.

[Bluesfan]

Thanks RAGIII and Berman

The thing about double rigging in 1:72, for me anyway, is that you want the two wires to be right next to each other, to look right. As you say, one considers running them through one hole. Very fiddly, whatever wheeze you try! I felt that with the Felixstowes, there's so much rigging anyway that the visual effect isn't too lacking, if I leave out the double lines. But some time in the future I have a SPAD XIII to build in 1:72 and I know I will want to install double lines on that one. (I also want to build a SPAD XIII (and XII???) in 1:32 and I eagerly await the forthcoming WNW kit of that...)

It's brilliant that the Felixstowes are also available in 1:48. I suspect it's a tad less challenging than the 1:72 kits!

Mark

[coyotemagic]

Very fine work all 'round, Mark! You may be on to something with those blocks.
Cheers,
Bud

[lone modeller]

Those blocks look perfectly OK to me. Just the kind of jig that I rig up on a regular basis. "Simple but effective" is my motto: it is amazing what can be accomplished with a little ingenuity and whatever is to hand....

Stephen.

[lcarroll]

    "Is it okay putting this here? I know there's a separate section for books, but this little reading list is directly relevant to the project",

Mark,
    I'd say yes, it looks like a fine selection of Reference material for this very neat Build you have going. Like you say so well, the history and the people are a huge part of our hobby and I, like you, enjoy the reading and research work as much as the Build.
   Great Thread you have going here, keep up the excellent work!
Cheers,
Lance

[Bluesfan]

Thanks for your comments gentlemen!

Here's where I am on a dark Friday evening in November. The H.16 finally has a tail, and now looks like an aeroplane.
Most of the rigging is done, with only one or two sagging lines. Pity about the lop sided radiators but one just has to try to unsee them(!). I'm not touching them now - those engine assemblies are trembling collections of tiny parts just waiting to explode in all directions, never to be found...

Only a few bits to add on both kits; then lots of fun to be had with control lines around the tail. Elsewhere, bits of wood have begun to be glued on the display base.

[jeroen_R90S]

Hurra! Always a good moment when the top wing goes on, especially on something this complex!

[RAGIII]

Looks AWESOME!
RAGIII

[JimF]

Fantastic work on pretty complicated kits, at least my impression form peeking in the box

Am taking notes on your build(s), I plan to start mt 1/72 kit soon. Have the WnW Early waiting, and plan to buy the Lonestar 1/48 kits in the near future.

My interest in the Felixstowe came in a odd way, and was the only WWI aircraft I wanted to model for many, many years. I hope I don't overdose, now LOL

Looking forward to the rest of your build, and the diorama you have planned.

Jim F

[Pete Wenman]

Mark thanks for a great build log, and the insight into the issues faced with this kit. You have inspired me to get hold of this kit and give it a go. 

While I dream of building the WnW kit,  I have to be honest and wonder where I would put the finished kit. If I can build the Roden kit to the same standard as you I will be very happy, and maybe it will open the door for the WnW build.

Thanks also for the book reference. I was not aware of The Spider Web and will look out for it.

P

[Bluesfan]

Thanks for the interest as ever!

In the spirit of offering a little more info about the kit, here are some comments about the interior. The pics show what you get, which isn't very much, but then you can't actually see very much inside when it's built. I painted a rough wood effect just in case, and a fabric colour in areas which would have been covered that way. I spent time blobbing some detail on the control panel, but you can barely see that now.

One suggestion, which I think you'd likely come up with on your own if you were building the kit: you could usefully add some extra support under the pilots' seats. Roden has them held up only by a single spigot at the front, which virtually begs for them to disappear inside the fuselage at some stage. The seats are pretty fanciful. I wonder if I'm the only person to open up the WNW manual for the 1/32 kit and scour it looking to see where the seats are. It took a while before it dawned on me that in the real thing, the pilots simply sat on cushions on a crude bench. When you consider that they typically spent 4-5 hours on the air on long patrols, how comfortable could that have been??

Is it worth adding more detail inside? Probably not, unless you open up the top hatch, which you could, since so many pictures of Felixstowes do show it open. The one thing lacking in my view is the ladder under the rear top gun position, though you do have that locker which just about fills the visible space. I've cheated, really, in including the gun support struts and the ammunition boxes in that area, just to fill it up a bit, because both the machines I'm building were unarmed.

By the way, the scene I have planned is only a basic one, and I probably shouldn't have used the word 'diorama'! It's going to be quite big enough without lots of landscaping. At any rate, I hope you do have a go at the kit sometime. Obviously it's a long build, but as it comes together it's very satisfying, and they are such pretty planes.

[lone modeller]

Those engine mountings look a bit fragile. The interior colours look very convincing, but as you write if much detail is not going to be visible then why bother to put it in?
2 Felixtowes on one base is going to be a large unit - I fully understand why you are hesitant to make it larger.

Stephen

[Bluesfan]

Thanks again Stephen. Yes, assembling them and keeping them in place opened up new horizons of suffering for me.    Especially because the supports don't have well defined location points.
More usefully, I would tell other builders to watch out for the height on these - they seem to end up a tad higher than the rest of the standard struts. I clipped off the top in one case. Part of the reason why I didn't bother with the rigging underneath. Lazy, but...

I think I'm calling it a day with these two boats. A few pics to follow now, then another one or two when I put the scene together.

[Bluesfan]

Here's the other boat. Despite the agony, and many, many mess ups, I'm pleased overall. There's nothing like a final spray over with matt or satin varnish to lift the whole effect (and obscure lots of the patchwork)!

Second pic - never mind the quality, feel the wires, eh? I may not have done a complete job on the rigging, but I was determined to do one of the Felixstowe's 'signature' features, that fanning out of the control wires on the tail. Took me ages, but Wonderwire lent itself perfectly to the job. As for those connectors (not sure of the right term), I simply used tiny plastic pieces and made a hole in each end. We'll see how well the wires and rigging stand up to handling and transport, but for now it looks nice.

The basic design is IMHO so charismatic, and here I've only dressed them in ordinary paint schemes, but even then they're good looking. I'm going to have a go at a dazzle scheme when I get round to the 1/32 kit.