Saturday, July 10, 2021

1/72 scale Airfix Fairey Battle

 


         Another addition to the "What Were They Thinking" collection and a moving target for German fighters when we play Check Your Six this very old model of a truly regrettable aircraft shows its age. Giant rivets, poor fit, foggy clear parts, and moving ailerons all scream "1968". But when you are looking for a model of a Fairey Battle your choices are sharply curtailed, it is either this old war-horse or hunt up a copy of the MPM/Special Hobby kit and be prepared to shell out some serious cash. I guess it is "good news" that Airfix has re-released this kit.

       The actual bomber was an unmitigated disaster. Slow, underpowered, under-gunned and capable only of horizontal bombing this flying deathtrap for three brave aviators often encountered 50% casualties per mission (only the Kamikazes had a worse return rate). There is a very interesting Wiki available here.

at last, some nicely detailed crew figures,
I might just make molds of these lads

and a nicely detailed (for 1968) cockpit 

having learned the hard way in he past I made sure the pilot fit the seat

the boys look even better with a dash of paint,
 why are there only two you ask? 
because the poor sod bombardier was trapped inside the fuselage 
peering down through a bombsite in the floor of the plane

after the usual round of gluing, swearing, sanding, puttying, and more sanding
  it turns out a decent looking model, 
of course I cemented a nail inside  so I could use my magnetic flight stand

the canopy was particularly ill-fitted

a near-match, perfomance-wise, to the JU-87 (except for that whole dive-bombing thing) 
the insistence on un-escorted daylight bombing mission made the Battle's career rather short

despite its flaws it was a graceful-looking bird
 
he looks all too happy to be a Battle crewman!

I'm always impressed at how much a coat of Future floor wax
 can improve old foggy  plastic windscreens

8 comments:

  1. You are digging into the Kruse era at the Squad shop. All I knew it that the Fairy Battle was an BF-109E magnet. lol

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    1. Actually this wasn't in Mount Plasitco.
      I had to hunt this airborne disaster down; Steve at Michigan Toy Soldier found this one in his stash and was kind enough to sell it to me. You are right about being a 109 magnet, can you imagine trying to fend off enemy fighters with only 96 rounds in your magazine? And no self-sealing fuel tanks? Or armor?

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  2. Hey now you need the "improved version" The Fairey Fulmer!

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    1. I already got one! And a pair of Boulton-Paul Defiants plus a Blackburn Skua. All the worst of British aircraft design!

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  3. Very cool! Question? Where do you get the retractable flight stand or how do you make them? Seems obvious and I have seen them, but I have never made one myself.

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  4. Had I just looked at your blog a little more... BAM you answered my question in detail! Thank you!

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