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A pair of 1/48 Goshawks


ghodges

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I'm building 2 golden age biplane F11 Goshawks. The first is the Classic Airframes kit, OOTB, as the early F11C-2.

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Kit interior, OOTB

 

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Progress so far. The yellow tape rectangles are the "floatation bags", which CA instructs you to add yourself. Also, everything has to be drilled and pinned, as there are no locating pins, tabs, or slots.

 

The second one is the old Lindberg kit. I got a resin detail set for it that includes the engine, interior, and the higher spine with the half canopy to convert it to the later BFC-2, which is what I'm doing.

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The resin detail set is quite nice and fits well. The cowl requires the most cleanup.

 

I have a set of Yellow Wing decals and some ceramic "Wonder Wire" to try out for the rigging. More pics as I get closer to being done!

 

GIL :smiley16:

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Progress continues, with great pains!

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At this point, I CANNOT recommend this kit to anyone but fellow masochists who've built vacs and scratchbuilt to some degree. The wing struts are on, but there-in lies a tale...

The first problem is none of the strut pins are large enough to hold them in place, making them useless. They all need to be sanded off and each strut end drilled and pinned. Tedious, to say the least! But, that's the easy part! Once this is done, the outer N struts can be placed and the top wing test fit. It does not want to just fall into place!

The larger problem lies in that the cabane strut locations are NOT marked on the fuselage! What's even worse, the cabanes come in TWO parts each; you have to build the "N", without the benefit of knowing exactly where they go! I'll save you some trouble here...do NOT bother with referring to drawings or pics (as I did). I used them to drill and place the cabanes and they did NOT line up with the holes in the top wing when it was put in place! So......what to do?

First, you have to build up the cabanes. Build the "N"s. Use 1/48 drawings if you're lucky enough to have them (as I do) to at least get the angle of the rear strut correct. Then, use great care while drilling, pinning, and handling them. They're quite fragile, tending to break at the glue joints, or at the drill points. I managed to break both cabanes in no less than 6 different places in the process of drilling them, assembling them, adding them to the model, and test fitting the top wing!

Now you can add them to the top wing and test fit everything. Use the outer struts to set the wing on the model and mark the cabane positions on the fuselage. This will give you the correct spots to drill. Once you have THAT done, disassemble it all and add all of the struts to the fuselage and wings. Put the top wing back in place, make sure it's as straight s possible, and then apply supeglue at the base of all of the struts to lock them in at their proper angles. Remove the top wing and add more glue where needed (did I mention that some of the struts don't "quite" reach the wing surface, just the wires reach?) to firm up and fill in gaps. GENTLY sand these points (I managed to snap off a wheel housing in the process)...and VOILA! you're almost there!

I can now finish out the model, as the rest will be easy! Note that the top wing will STILL be a challenge to put into place, as it does not just sit on the struts, but requires some gentle "persuasion". It will need some extra glue, sanding, and paint touch up, all at a point where THAT can screw up another part that's already completed!

 

Also pictured is the tail wheel (which only needed pinning) and the cowl with the final primer on. The drop tank supports are actually plastic rod, drilled and "pinned" in place (instead of the 4 short plastic supports designed to be butt glued onto the tank).

 

Two days ago I was wondering if I'd be able to finish this one. I'd never had this many problems with any other biplane (including vacs or the CA Boeing F4B-4 or Helldiver biplanes), unless I had to scratchbuild my struts. In fact, I'd have been NO worse off IF I'd had to do so!

If you have this kit, SELL IT and by an old Lindberg kit. Buy the resin detail set, which fits very well, and save yourself a LOT of work and grief! More pics after I get some color on this stinker!

 

GIL :smiley16:

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The mark of a craftsman is that you can have all these head/heart aches, but none of it shows in the final model, and your's never do.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Progress continues, but with much less drama.... :smiley20:

 

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This is the CA kit, primarily painted and ready for decals. I've opted to use Alclad White Aluminum for the "silver lacquer finish" as it's finer grained than Floquil Old Silver, and looks more to scale to my eye. Also note the exhaust shrouds on the engine, yet to be painted.

 

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This is the Lindberg kit, sprayed with rattle can Tamiya Fine White Primer. Note that the Bulcher resin exhausts are designed to be mounted to the fuselage front instead of the engine. This means there's no connectors between them and the rear of the engine cylinders, but it really won't be noticeable unless you go looking for it. Mounting the struts on this puppy was a breeze compared to the CA kit! I haven't broken any of them (yet)! :smiley17:

 

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Here's a close up of parts for the Lindberg model, which are essentially the same for the CA kit too. The vac windshield needs to cut out AND the have notch added in order to fit the telescopic sight (beside it). This also means you have to mount the sight to the model and THEN the wind screen, due to the pins on the sight. You can also see the metal pin needed to mount the tail wheel later on.

 

More pics in a few days! Questions, comments, and critiques welcome as always!

 

GIL :smiley16:

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Progress continues on the Lindberg kit....

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Major painting is done. Still have fiddly bits to paint before I can add the top wing.

 

And the CA kit is done!

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More pics of it in its own thread. Cheers!

 

GIL :smiley16:

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Very nice Gil. I camp out in this era and that Goshawk looks right on. Well done! Best,

 

Mark

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