Airfix 1:72 Tiger Moth
Discussion
So after completing the Lysander and Delfin, I decided to give modelling a break for a few months. So here I am two weeks later, and I've already started two new kits...
This is the Airfix Tiger Moth, released in 2014. I had high hopes of it being a straightforward build, judging by how well the Airfix Gladiator had gone together:
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=13...
I was disappointed (although not entirely surprised) to find an issue with it before I'd really begun, in that the nose didn't fit correctly. That was about four years ago, and I put it back in the box and forgot about it until this week; on Tuesday evening I attended a great RAeS talk by Dodge Bailey, the Chief Pilot at the Shuttleworth Collection. Obviously the Tiger Moth was mentioned, and that inspired me to try again with this one.
So...mug of tea and sanding sticks at the ready, I'm ready to do battle:
I also got an Eduard photo-etch set for it:
Here's the issue: The top of the engine cover and front fuselage should form a continuous slope, as shown here:
But if you assemble the Airfix nose to the fuselage to get the top slope correct, it's all sorts of wrong everywhere else:
The engine cover hinge line is also then angled incorrectly (it's just visible above the white marking on the real aircraft photo, and the discrepancy is obvious, although acceptable as a compromise):
So after much cutting, head scratching, filing and fettling, I've reached a compromise:
I removed too much from the stbd. side, so it'll have to be built back up with plastic card:
I doubt it could be eaily modified such that everything was spot-on, but hopefully it will look OK once complete. It should be better than the much maligned orginal Airfix Tiger Moth from 1957, here's one I built in another modelling life:
This is the Airfix Tiger Moth, released in 2014. I had high hopes of it being a straightforward build, judging by how well the Airfix Gladiator had gone together:
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=13...
I was disappointed (although not entirely surprised) to find an issue with it before I'd really begun, in that the nose didn't fit correctly. That was about four years ago, and I put it back in the box and forgot about it until this week; on Tuesday evening I attended a great RAeS talk by Dodge Bailey, the Chief Pilot at the Shuttleworth Collection. Obviously the Tiger Moth was mentioned, and that inspired me to try again with this one.
So...mug of tea and sanding sticks at the ready, I'm ready to do battle:
I also got an Eduard photo-etch set for it:
Here's the issue: The top of the engine cover and front fuselage should form a continuous slope, as shown here:
But if you assemble the Airfix nose to the fuselage to get the top slope correct, it's all sorts of wrong everywhere else:
The engine cover hinge line is also then angled incorrectly (it's just visible above the white marking on the real aircraft photo, and the discrepancy is obvious, although acceptable as a compromise):
So after much cutting, head scratching, filing and fettling, I've reached a compromise:
I removed too much from the stbd. side, so it'll have to be built back up with plastic card:
I doubt it could be eaily modified such that everything was spot-on, but hopefully it will look OK once complete. It should be better than the much maligned orginal Airfix Tiger Moth from 1957, here's one I built in another modelling life:
dr_gn said:
https://youtu.be/DFFATX_UlMQ
I've got no doubt you'll do a great job.
tight5 said:
dr_gn said:
https://youtu.be/DFFATX_UlMQ
I've got no doubt you'll do a great job.
I havent built one of these although I did convert the earlier Tiger Moth into a Rothman's Stampe many years ago
Didnt I read that the difficulty with the nose section was induced by the thickness of the plastic that covered the oil cooler bulge
Carving it back might make the fit better, you might have just induced me into buying a model to try out mad-eyed theories on
Didnt I read that the difficulty with the nose section was induced by the thickness of the plastic that covered the oil cooler bulge
Carving it back might make the fit better, you might have just induced me into buying a model to try out mad-eyed theories on
perdu said:
I havent built one of these although I did convert the earlier Tiger Moth into a Rothman's Stampe many years ago
Didnt I read that the difficulty with the nose section was induced by the thickness of the plastic that covered the oil cooler bulge
Carving it back might make the fit better, you might have just induced me into buying a model to try out mad-eyed theories on
It’s not one individual thing that causes the alignment issue, it’s a combination of poor fit and incorrect geometry. We’re not talking much at all, but at 1:72 on a small subject like this, not much can be the difference between a pigs ear and a silk purse...see next post...Didnt I read that the difficulty with the nose section was induced by the thickness of the plastic that covered the oil cooler bulge
Carving it back might make the fit better, you might have just induced me into buying a model to try out mad-eyed theories on
Did some more fettling - I wanted to avoid shimming the nose to equalise the panel breaks. I want a constant gap around there because it’s a panel break, and as such I don’t want to use filler, but it needs to be “right”. I’ve redone the upper cover angle and removed the locating tabs altogether. I’ve also chamfered all the inner edges of the nose piece. The two small steps in the nose also needed moving forward slightly. The oil tank front was also chamfered. Maybe not too clear, but here are the visible mods:
Resulting fit seems better, and the thrust line (along the axis of the propeller) isn’t too far off either:
The only remaining issue was the demarcation line for the camouflage, which runs along the door hinges and intersects with the rear of the engine panel hinge (ie the top edge of the rule below). The engine panel hinge line then angles up above the demarcation very slightly. The angle is now too great, and the hinge itself not very subtle. I might remove the raised hinge line altogether and add another in exactly the right place. I’ll decide that when the nose is permanently attached:
Resulting fit seems better, and the thrust line (along the axis of the propeller) isn’t too far off either:
The only remaining issue was the demarcation line for the camouflage, which runs along the door hinges and intersects with the rear of the engine panel hinge (ie the top edge of the rule below). The engine panel hinge line then angles up above the demarcation very slightly. The angle is now too great, and the hinge itself not very subtle. I might remove the raised hinge line altogether and add another in exactly the right place. I’ll decide that when the nose is permanently attached:
perdu said:
Awkward one
That hinge line does need to point straight at the prop spinner centre so you can't take much away from it
IF I get one I'll copy yours
I'm thinking raise the rear of the line by 0.5 mm and leave the front about where it is. That will make the angle shallower, and put the fuselage demarcation level with the door hinges. That hinge line does need to point straight at the prop spinner centre so you can't take much away from it
IF I get one I'll copy yours
I'll scrape the raised line off, scribe a new one and set some stretched sprue in the resulting trough with low viscosity cyano.
Then I'll move onto the cabane struts, which seem to have about 0.5 mm of float around their rear mount sockets...
Cabane and interplane struts. Wow.
Very delicate pieces. The strut ends are significantly smaller than the sockets in the wing, and fixing these robustly will be a challenge. I may try pva.
Somehow Airfix plastic seems to be soft, yet quite brittle. Despite being very careful I broke a cabane strut and also one of the temporary interplane fixtures. I also found this rather odd break on the lower wing:
...which makes me wonder if the brittleness is actually a fault in how the plastic flows or solidifies in the mould. It’s as if there are meld lines in certain areas that makes the parts snap no matter how careful you are.
Which brings me to the skill level rating of 2 out of 4 for this kit...not sure about that.
Very delicate pieces. The strut ends are significantly smaller than the sockets in the wing, and fixing these robustly will be a challenge. I may try pva.
Somehow Airfix plastic seems to be soft, yet quite brittle. Despite being very careful I broke a cabane strut and also one of the temporary interplane fixtures. I also found this rather odd break on the lower wing:
...which makes me wonder if the brittleness is actually a fault in how the plastic flows or solidifies in the mould. It’s as if there are meld lines in certain areas that makes the parts snap no matter how careful you are.
Which brings me to the skill level rating of 2 out of 4 for this kit...not sure about that.
Eric Mc said:
Why don't you give up on Airfix. They seem to cause you a lot of problems.
Because I'm experienced enough to overcome problems. You say you're down to build one of these for someone. Why not try it for yourself, see how you get on and post your own findings here? Show everyone how easy it is?
dr_gn said:
Eric Mc said:
Why don't you give up on Airfix. They seem to cause you a lot of problems.
Because I'm experienced enough to overcome problems. You say you're down to build one of these for someone. Why not try it for yourself, see how you get on and post your own findings here? Show everyone how easy it is?
I have rigged in the past using stretched sprue but I want to have a go using more modern media - such as proper Aeroclub rigging wire.
I think modern Airfix kits are very good - but they are very delicate in places and you do have to be ultra careful when removing the pieces from the sprue. I think on occasion they have tried to make them a bit too sophisticated.
Eric Mc said:
dr_gn said:
Eric Mc said:
Why don't you give up on Airfix. They seem to cause you a lot of problems.
Because I'm experienced enough to overcome problems. You say you're down to build one of these for someone. Why not try it for yourself, see how you get on and post your own findings here? Show everyone how easy it is?
I have rigged in the past using stretched sprue but I want to have a go using more modern media - such as proper Aeroclub rigging wire.
I think modern Airfix kits are very good - but they are very delicate in places and you do have to be ultra careful when removing the pieces from the sprue. I think on occasion they have tried to make them a bit too sophisticated.
Eric Mc said:
You do seem to experience an awful lot of issues with Airfix kits. It seems to be a bit of a constant theme.
Why does it matter to you?If it bothers you as much as it seems to, why not build the same kits, to the same standard and make your own observtions from experience?
If it doesn't bother you, please...don't comment at all.
It's an open forum where people are free to comment. Do you only want praise? I readily praise your builds because they are very good.
But you also seem to struggle with these new Airfix kits which, I find, for a person of your skills and experience, seems strange. I've built a few of the new kits and supervised a group of youngsters building a selection of them as well On the whole, everybody seemed to manage quite well.
But you also seem to struggle with these new Airfix kits which, I find, for a person of your skills and experience, seems strange. I've built a few of the new kits and supervised a group of youngsters building a selection of them as well On the whole, everybody seemed to manage quite well.
Eric Mc said:
It's an open forum where people are free to comment. Do you only want praise? I readily praise your builds because they are very good.
But you also seem to struggle with these new Airfix kits which, I find, for a person of your skills and experience, seems strange. I've built a few of the new kits and supervised a group of youngsters building a selection of them as well On the whole, everybody seemed to manage quite well.
I comment on what I find - good or bad, Airfix or otherwise backed up in most cases by images illustrating my points. But you also seem to struggle with these new Airfix kits which, I find, for a person of your skills and experience, seems strange. I've built a few of the new kits and supervised a group of youngsters building a selection of them as well On the whole, everybody seemed to manage quite well.
If you think I ‘struggle’ with Airfix kits, take a look at my review build article for the Airfix Gladiator in Scale Aircraft Modelling International magazine.
You’ve already said you don’t want to even attempt to build this particular kit (so you can gain some credibility by commenting from experience) so please, bore off.
Gassing Station | Scale Models | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff