Airfix 1/72 Fairey Battle

[RangerNeil]

This one came in the post the other day and its small so it seemed a good one to build next as a change from wheels & rotors.


A potted history first:
"The Fairey Battle is a British single-engine light bomber that was designed and manufactured by the Fairey Aviation Company. It was developed during the mid-1930s for the Royal Air Force (RAF) as a monoplane successor to the Hawker Hart and Hind biplanes. The Battle was powered by the same high-performance Rolls-Royce Merlin piston engine that powered various contemporary British fighters such as the Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire. As the Battle, with its three-man crew and bomb load, was much heavier than the fighters, it was therefore much slower. Though a great improvement over the aircraft that preceded it, its relatively slow speed, limited range and inadequate defensive armament of only two .303 machine guns left it highly vulnerable to enemy fighters and anti-aircraft fire.
In the first of two sorties carried out by Battles on 10 May 1940, three out of eight aircraft were lost, while a further 10 out of 24 were shot down in the second sortie, giving a total of 13 lost in that day's attacks, with the remainder suffering damage. Despite bombing from as low as 250 ft, their attacks were recorded as having had little impact on the German columns. During the following day, nine Belgian Air Force Battles attacked bridges over the Albert Canal that connects to the Meuse River, losing six aircraft and in another RAF sortie that day against a German column, only one Battle out of eight survived.

On 12 May, a formation of five Battles of 12 Squadron attacked two road bridges over the Albert Canal; four of these aircraft were destroyed while the final aircraft crash-landing upon its return to its base. Two Victoria Crosses were awarded posthumously for the action, to Flying Officer Donald Garland and air observer/navigator sergeant Thomas Gray of Battle serial P2204 coded PH-K, for pressing home the attack in spite of the heavy defensive fire. The third crew member, rear gunner Leading Aircraftsman Lawrence Reynolds, did not share the award. Both fighters and flak had proved lethal for the Battles. Although Garland's Battle managed to destroy one span of the bridge, the German army quickly erected a pontoon bridge to replace it.
On 14 May 1940, in a desperate attempt to stop German forces crossing the Meuse, the Advanced Air Striking Force launched an "all-out" attack by all available bombers against the German bridgehead and pontoon bridges at Sedan. The light bombers were attacked by swarms of opposing fighters and were devastated. Out of a strike force of 63 Battles and eight Bristol Blenheims, 40 (including 35 Battles) were lost. After these abortive raids, the Battle was switched to mainly night attacks, resulting in much lower losses.
On 15 June 1940, the last remaining aircraft of the Advanced Air Striking Force returned to Britain. In six weeks almost 200 Battles had been lost, with 99 lost between 10 and 16 May. After the return from France, for a short period of time, the RAF continued to rely on the light bomber. Reforming No. 1 Group and later equipping four new Polish squadrons with the type, it continued to be deployed in operations against shipping massed in the Channel ports for Operation Sealion. Their last combat sortie was mounted on the night of 15/16 October 1940 by No. 301 (Polish) Squadron in a raid on Boulogne, and Nos 12 and 142 Squadrons bombing Calais. Shortly afterwards Battle squadrons of No. 1 Group were re-equipped with Vickers Wellington medium bombers. Battles were operated into 1941 by 88 and 226 Squadrons in Northern Ireland and 98 Squadron in Iceland, for coastal patrol work.
While found to be inadequate as a bomber aircraft in the Second World War, the Fairey Battle found a new niche in its later service life. As the Fairey Battle T, for which it was furnished with a dual-cockpit arrangement in place of the standard long canopy, the type served as a trainer aircraft. The Battle T was equipped with dual-controls in the cockpit and optionally featured a Bristol-built Type I gun turret when employed as a bombing/gunnery training. As the winch-equipped Fairey Battle TT (target tug), it was used as a target-towing aircraft to support airborne gunnery training exercises. Furthermore, Battles were not only used in this role by the RAF, several overseas operators opted to acquire the type as a training platform."

So - onto the kit!!
It was bought pre-owned from King Kits and - as far as I can tell - all parts are present although quite a few were detached from the sprues.


Markings are supplied for either an RAF or Belgian machine and look useable.

Making a start on the build the first thing noted was something I had forgotten the earlier Airfix kits were infamous for - flash, mould lines and ejector pin marks! First assembly steps in the instructions, as might be expected, is the cockpit and rear gunners position. Quite a bit of time was spent cleaning flash from the various parts and the two crew members as I think the barrenness of the interior warrants using the supplied figures. Once this was done the various parts were painted using Hataka for the cockpit green colour and Tamiya acrylics for the rest. This is as far as I got tonight before the wife dished up dinner:

[RangerNeil]

The issue with the heat shield on the BTR has dampened the mojo there at the moment so I put the time in on the Battle today.
I mentioned the infamous issues Airfix had with flash - this is a typical example as it came off the sprue:


And this how it should look towards the end of the clean-up process:


It took over 30 mins to get the part (rear gun mount) to a usable condition. In all I must have spent over 3 hours today cleaning parts from flash, mould lines and ejection pin marks.
However once that was done the next order of business was completing the fuselage. The crew figures needed some minor touching up then the front and rear modules were installed into the R/H fuselage, the prop was laid in and the retaining bush slid into place and secured with a dab of TET. Then the fuselage halves were joined using Contacta and clamped up.


I'd also joined the wing halves having first painted the inside of the wheel and bomb bay. Subsequently I pulled up photos of the RAF's restored Battle Mk 1 at Hendon whilst trying to work out how the hell the undercarriage parts went together and found the inside of the bays were silver, not green so the bays got a repaint.
Once the fuselage had dried the wings were fitted and finally its starting to look like an aircraft.


However in doing so its revealing the other thing Airfix were infamous for - fit issues!!


And thats where I finished - the underside of the fuselage has been filled and awaits rubbing down but I want to let the wings set properly before tackling the canyons where the underside of the wings doesn't quite meet the fuselage.....

[RangerNeil]

Moved onto the tailplane joins and upper main wing joins tonight. Did the usual of putting masking tape along the extreme edges of the gaps then pushing filler in. Tonight I tried a refinement though - I soaked a cotton bud in water and wiped it firmly over the filler. It seems to have worked nicely as the filler is barely above the level either side. That can dry overnight and tomorrow it can be scraped/rubbed down without damaging the panel detail either side.

[Garion77]

Nice progress ! lots of flash as you said. What is to be expected with an old airfix kit like that ! Good work

[RangerNeil]

Finished off the day on the Battle - and not good news. The plane looked OK in light grey primer.


But when the matt black went on it was a different story


The underside of the nose is horrendous!!
So a LOT more work to do there before I can call it finished and move onto the upper surface....

[digger303]

Your favourite past time filing and sanding seams.

[RangerNeil]

Not much opportunity to crack on today, OH decided to be out most of the day so I got the guns on the BTR primed and the underside of the Battle re-coated in matt black after filling the visible seams and flattening them yesterday evening.

[digger303]

Despite the on going seam issues it looks fairly sharp for a old kit.

[RangerNeil]

Despite the on going seam issues it looks fairly sharp for a old kit.

Its quite nice actually - thus far the seam issue has been the only real issue once the flash and ejector marks were dealt with. I'll be honest though - I am dreading fitting the clear parts & canopies as that anther traditionally poor Airfix area.

[RangerNeil]

Bit more done tonight. Undercarriage is ¾ done and on. I say ¾ because I managed to get the last ¼ back to front - typical.....
But the Battle is now sitting on its main wheels and the Dark Earth top coat is on. Letting it dry overnight and then the Dark Green can go on tomorrow together with the remaining ¼ of the undercarriage.


This leaves the issue of painting the canopies! The narrowest tape I have covers nearly 2 panes on the canopies so either I use a brush free hand or I use the airbrush and do the canopies in two or three hits. Or I take a looong while cutting each piece of tape to size.....
This is how the Battle looks with the canopies on:


The more eagle eyed amongst you might well notice I have been struck by the curse of the "sits too high pilot" again!!! The pilot figure was stuck on square to the base of the seat as that seemed logical. So now I am going to tray droppng a load of TET down the back to try and get the figure to release from the seat base and stick to the reclined seat back. I am thinking (read hoping!!) this will give me the clearance I need for the pilots canopy...

[digger303]

What a bugger after getting this far for that to happen.
That close up pic also makes one appreciate how much canopies have improved too.

[RangerNeil]

What a bugger after getting this far for that to happen.
That close up pic also makes one appreciate how much canopies have improved too.

True on both counts.
Been thinking on the masking and decided I am going to break out a sharp blade.and try cutting the masking tape panels..... Yes - I really AM that insane....

[digger303]

What a bugger after getting this far for that to happen.
That close up pic also makes one appreciate how much canopies have improved too.

True on both counts.
Been thinking on the masking and decided I am going to break out a sharp blade.and try cutting the masking tape panels..... Yes - I really AM that insane....

My god man get the man a straight jacket now...

[RangerNeil]

Cracked on with the Battle tonight - but first I cracked this:


Which is why only the Battle got done.....

I tried - for me - a new way of doing the cammo over-lay. I traced around the wings, sketched the overlay pattern out , cut it out and laid the shapes over the masking tape laid on the cutting mat. It seems to have worked....






This is the missing ¼ of the undercarriage, still trying to fix it.


And - just for Digger - the masked-up glazing sections....

[ForeverPlasticKits]

You're very brave to build this old Airfix kit, my first attempt was the Bf 110 which went straight to the garbage because it was so much horrible!

Good work and lovely paint!

[RangerNeil]

You're very brave to build this old Airfix kit, my first attempt was the Bf 110 which went straight to the garbage because it was so much horrible!

Good work and lovely paint!

I think the word you were looking for is "insane" - not "brave"...
And to back that up I have a stack of other old (and I do mean old ) Airfix kits in the stash!!

[digger303]

I must say I love the rivet patten on the Battle.

[RangerNeil]

On the home stretch now. Decals went on today - more on that later. The centre canopy section is on because the antenna mast locates in the top of the fuselage and protrudes through the top of the centre canopy section:






The underside is now complete with the remaining ¼ of the undercarriage now installed as well as the bombs and bomb-bay doors.


Canopys painted and now waiting for decals to dry before a matt or a silk top coat.




Remember I mentioned the decals? Last one that went on started breaking up, it had become brittle. I think I was lucky with the rest. I'll see how they dry tomorrow, worst case scenario is I go looking for a new decal set on-line.

[psmithmags]

Great work Neil , I'm going to have to try the cotton bud idea. When I use filler its that rough, it smooths out sandpaper.

[RangerNeil]

OK - calling this one effectively done. Canopies are on with PVA, just got the landing light covers to get in - which are proving to be the PITA they were feared to be....
Its up on an empty bottle of TET because whilst trying to fit the light lenses one of the undercarriage legs gave way.....

[ForeverPlasticKits]

On the last picture the interior of the tyre is unpainted, everything else is very good!

[RangerNeil]

On the last picture the interior of the tyre is unpainted, everything else is very good!

Actually its painted "Flat Aluminium" - for some reason that colour doesn't show too well in photo's.....

Anyways - I am calling this done - bar one of the landing light lenses that decide to drop off and go bouncing on the floor. I think when I get home Sunday I will break out the vacuum clean, put a hankie over the nozzle and go probing. So for now this is as finished as its going to get.

[digger303]

Looks good.

[ForeverPlasticKits]

Very nice old kit!