Wingnut Wings Felixstowe F2a (early)

[Mike Robinson]

I can't remember the last time I have anticipated a new release as much as I have when WNW announced the Felixstowe series back in November.

Flyingboats and Seaplanes have always been one of my favorite subjects, so I was over the moon when these came out. I got mine just before Christmas and started it during Christmas holiday, so what you see here is over the course of the past month. As always, questions and comments are welcome.

 

 

I'm doing Aircraft #4291, as depicted in the kit instructions as Scheme C, but I am doing C1 as she appeared while still in British service. The scheme is illustrated on the top of the back cover of the Datafile. With the Natural doped linen, varnished wood sides and green flying surfaces, I think it's a very elegant looking aircraft.

 

To begin, I wanted to see just how much interior will be visible once everything is buttoned up, and also to give you some things to watch for and to be

prepared for if you decide to build one. As it turns out, quite a lot will be visible despite the top covers covering up the fuselage.

 

 

From dead ahead, it's easy to see back to the fuel tank area in the center of the fuselage. Not all of the interior bits are in yet, and believe it or not, nothing is glued together yet. The fit is so precise that you can dry assemble this to check for fit, and I recommend you do it often, simply because of the sheer size of this turkey. It'll better familiarize you with the fit, and you can make better judgments with regard to finishing. The red you see on the end of the one tank is filler. There are some sizable seams on the ends of the tanks, and they will be visible, so be prepared to do some filling there. The upright tanks are the same way, but instead of filling I choose to cut two circular disks from .010 plastic and recover them, then drill the center hole for the fuel line fittings which will be added later. The fit of the hull halves is superb. There will be only a light sanding and minute amount of filler to close up any seams, and with careful gluing along the bottom, no filler should even be required.

 

 

Looking in three quarter view through the starboard gun window, more of the tanks are visible, as well as the FLight Engineer's panel and station. Whether you decide to have the guns out or stowed will be an option. The directions state to install the guns before the halves are glued together as installation is difficult after assembly. We shall see about that. As disaster-prone as I am, I can almost guarantee they will get damaged long before final assembly if I do it that way. I'll practice with the halves taped together first. Also note how the fuselage structure framing is visible at the aft end of the opening. Make sure when you paint parts A22, A33, A26 and A27 that you paint the backsides of this last vertical frame or else you'll have to redo it like I do.

 

 

Looking down through the top hatch you'll see the tanks again, and the platform that runs over the tank laying prone. No need to worry about the side seams on this one as the platform completely hides it. Not sure how easy it will be to peek through the square hatchway further forward as it sits between the engines and under the wing, but it should still be somewhat viewable if you decide to have that hatch open. You have the option of closing it, but why hide this fabulous interior?

 

 

 

Birds eye view looking down with the top off gives an idea of the interior module size. I have mine painted and have started some washes and shading, but have a ways to go yet. I used WEM Mahogany Deck Stain for the floors and structure, and ModelMaster Wood for the lighter wood finish on the Control Yoke, Instrument boards and a few other small details. The instructions do a great job of calling out which shade of wood - dark or light - to use when and where. Your preference of course may vary. Once I have all the parts painted base mahogany I will overcoat with Tamiya clear orange and it will give a great representation of varnished mahogany. I like Alclad Black Base for the tar based bituminous sealer that was applied to the bottom and inside for waterproofing. A grey wash will make the relief pop out after. One thing to keep in mind when you are trimming sprue gates is to remove the big honking extraction marks and the half extrusions sticking out on the inside of the lower sponsons. They will most definitely get in the way of the interior fitting into the halves and the halves going together, and they would be visible also. I'm debating whether to add more structure detail inside the sponsons as there's a lot of open space in there that looks like will be visible.

 

Initial impressions of the kit so far are very favorable. I am having a blast building it, in fact I can't recall the last time I've had so much fun putting a kit together. Some other observations are to spend lots of time prefitting the engines. The tolerances are very close and the parts fit together with little room to spare. Be very careful removing the carburetors from the sprue. The are four carbs per engine, two in front and two in back, and each carb is made of two pieces and are very fragile, as are the radiator shutters. I broke one carb taking it off the sprue just from the side pressure of the sprue cutter, and almost broke one of the shutters the same way. I mentioned the oil line in an earlier post, so make sure you study the instructions carefully. When painted and assembled the engines are spectacular. Even though they are painted battleship grey for protection from the elements, they are handsome engines.

 

Next will be interior and exterior painting and my techniques for NDL and doing woodgraining "Old School".

 

Cheers

Mike

Edited January 25, 2015 by Mike Robinson

[Uncarina]

Mike,

 

Photo tecnicalities aside, I am very grateful that you have taken the massive time and effort to share such a detailed build log here. One of the best I've seen on this site, since this is an indispensible reference for anyone building this kit! Well-done, with a very high "coolness" factor!

 

Cheers, Tom

Edited January 25, 2015 by Uncarina

[geedubelyer]

Hi Mike, good to see you back buddy. How goes it?

You're making fine progress on this big ol' girl and I'm sure that the other Felixstowe builders will appreciate and benefit from the advice.

 

I scrolled through your PB images and the finish looks beautiful. Great job.

 

Cheers.

[bdthoresen]

Wow, Mike, nice work so far, mate! I really enjoyed your Tri-motor build...Cannot wait to see what you do with this girl! Please keep the updates coming.....

THOR  

[Mike Robinson]

Tom, Geedub thanks for the comments, and Iain thanks for the help. I hope to have my technical difficulties sorted out and I can get this caught up to where I am with it now.

 

*Deep breath* Here we go....

 

I have the interior module is pretty much complete except for some minor bits to add and some touch ups. I also ran into a few situations I'll pass along to make your life a little easier if you decide to do one of these.

 

 

This is a cut from the instructions showing the rigging details. Green is flight controls, blue is bracing and red is engine controls. As you can see, there's cables everywhere, and as I studied these and looked at the parts, it dawned on me that there was a problem. The rigging fittings as molded in the kit are solid. There's no opening under, over, or though that allow a line to pass through it. There's also no easy way to get a drill situated so that they can be opened up. There's just too much stuff in the way, even with a flex shaft tool.

 

 

Here's part A21 and you can see that the pulleys are molded as one piece, and there's no way to get a line through them. They are also as narrow as the upright brace just in front, so that if a line was passed through it would be rubbing against that brace. Also the Control Yoke assembly is very vague in regards to the control lines coming from the PE chain set, down through the pulleys then back to A21, and what fitting are there, are also molded closed. This simply will not do, so I modified the kit parts as follows.

 

 

 

First up was the Control Yoke. Using the Micro Saw, I cut two slits, one above and below each other into the bottom pulley stack. I can now simply stuff the leads into the slits and secure them with a drop of CA. The pulley at the base of the Copilots column I filed flat so that it was flush with the column, and also that small triangular shaped lump sticking out of the "arch" was modified. Studying pictures on Seawings.com showed that fitting has two small pulleys for each lead buried within it. The solution was to drill a #80 hole through the fitting, about halfway between the arch and the tip. I have two separate routes for the leads now. One simply lays on op, the second passes through the hole.

 

 

For A21 and the base of the Copilot's stick I made new pulleys by stacking up disks of .010 and .005 plastic. The .010 was used for the outer sheaves, and the .005 went in between to create the gap.

 

 

Four individual pulleys were stacked to create two - 4 pulley assemblies. A strip of .010 x .060 strip made the brackets, and the solid bits were trimmed off A21 and replaced with these. Another 5th pulley took its place at the bottom of the copilot's yoke. I was now able to pass my lines though as one continuous line, rather than trying to cob bits of individual lines together and make it look as one.

 

 

Control Yoke painted and rigged. I'll simply run two additional lines from the bottom pulley stack I cut the slots in, back though and over A21, then out through the top of the fuselage to connect to the aileron leads later on.

 

 

 

Moving on to painting. I preshaded the interior walls before applying a wood finish. By laying the interior side pieces against the fuselage, you can use a sharp pencil and trace the locations of the uprights, braces and longerons to give a guide where to spray the preshading.

 

 

I used ModelMaster Wood for the plywood sides base coat. I am building C1 in the instructions, and 4291 had sides fully covered in plywood, rather than fabric. I will seal these with Future, then use oils to add some graining.

 

 

Next up will be finishing the interior and inserting into the hull and getting it closed up, then on to exterior painting.

 

Stay tuned....

 

Cheers

Mike

Edited January 25, 2015 by Mike Robinson

[Verbeek]

Great work already.

[Iain]

Superb build Mike,
 

Makes me wish I'd ordered an early rather than a late!

 

Brilliant inspiration 

 

Iain

[Mike Robinson]

OK it seems I have my photo gremlins undercontrol, so let's move on to the finished interior assembly.

 

 

 

I used WEM Mahogany for the majority of the woodwork, and MM Wood for the instrument boards and other non structural wood bits. After the paint dried, I shot Tamiya Clear Orange over everything to simulate the warm tones of varnish, followed by a seal coat of Future. I then applied Burnt Umber thinned with Japan Dryer to drybrush the graining onto the wood, using very light strokes and removing most, leaving behind just a hint. After that dried, another seal coat of Future, followed by a Burnt Umber and Sienna wash and filter, and another final seal coat of Future.

 

Some things to keep in mind when assembling yours is be careful of the order of assembly. If you put too many parts in, it will make it very difficult to rig the flight controls after. The order of assembly I would recommend is to do all your painting first, with the parts separate. Do all your finish washing, filters, graining decaling etc. After all painting is done, assemble the two side frames to the floor assembly, and glue the two cross members in front of and behind the tanks in place on one side only. This will allow you to spread the sides apart to add more bits later on. Next install your Rudder Bars and rig them, then the control Yoke and do the rigging for that. There's fairleads molded into the side frames that guide the cables. If you put your seat and wireless cabinet it, it makes it very difficult to access them. After you finish them, install A21 and rig it, then add the pilots seats, Engineers table and wireless cabinet, in that order. Next install your fuel tanks and plumbing, the platform over the prone tank, rear ladder and front Instrument Panel. Last to put in is the throttle assembly. The instructions show 8 cables running to that throttle assembly. There's no way in a hot place that you'll get 8 cables strung on that. I did four and the effect looks good. Add your rigging lines to it before you install it, then run the engine control rigging, then finally the brace rigging. After everything is in place, go back around and check the joints for the seats, cross members, controls etc, to make sure both sides are glued in place.

 

I hope you will find this useful information. I don't claim that my way is the best, just what works for me. If you study the instructions and plan ahead, you will have no problems assembling this kit. I can't recall the last time I've had this much fun putting a model together.

 

Next up, putting the guts in and closing it up.

 

Cheers

Mike

[Mike Robinson]

In this series the hull halves are together and it looks very impressive sitting in the cradle. Just a few things to pass along so you don't have the same problems I ran into.

 

If anything, WNW kits are engineered to fit so well, that sometimes they fit TO well. Case in point, the hull halves. In order to get the bottom of the hull "V" to come together, I had to remove paint from the outside of the interior module framing. Nothing some careful scraping with a half round X-Acto blade didn't take care of followed by careful sanding, but the thickness of the paint was enough to make the interior too wide to fit the hull halves. When you paint your interior side pieces, I would recommend masking the backside to begin with so you don't get as much overspray on them. Also any paint that accumulates on the edges of the two side sponson supports that poke out either side, remove it. The thickness of the paint on the inside of the hull halves and any paint that's on the edges will impede fit. Once everything fits, it's a very tight seam, and very little, if any, filler will be needed.

 

 

The top of the fuselage is Natural Doped Linen on my subject. I've got the underside painted and glossed in prep for a light wash and filters. There's a plethora of injector pin marks on the bottom, but they will not be seen. I thought there was too much risk damaging the framing trying to fill and sand them, so I just softened the edges with careful sanding and left them. The glare of the lights make them stand out in the picture much more than they do looking at the actual part, and once it's in place, they disappear completely. My steps to paint it was first to preshaded the ribs and stringers. Once that dried, and overall coat of light NDL was dusted on gradually to build to the opacity I wanted. I let that dry overnight, then I took pure white and post shaded in the centers of all the squares, except for the series of panels that are under the plywood walkway molded into the top. Once that was dry, everything was sealed in future, then the task began of masking off all the panels so the framing could be painted. I used various widths of Tamiya tape and a couple of fresh #11 blades to trim the tape to the inside of each rib and stringer. It wasn't as monotonous as it looks. It took me maybe two hours to mask everything. Once everything was masked, more WEM Mahogany Deck Stain was sprayed on, followed by Tamiya Clear Orange. The masking was removed and the results are seen here. Unless you have a really steady hand (I don't) and nerves of steel ( again, I don't) I'm not sure you could brush paint them with any degree of neatness, so masking them off was my preferred way to go. I applied another seal coat of Future, and I'll apply a very light wash just in the edges to give some depth, and it'll be ready to set in place. I've already got the scarf ring opening and a couple of small openings masked. It's easier to do it now then when the part is in place.

 

 

Here's a shot of the interior side panels with the wood graining applied. Nothing magical here, just a simple base coat of Wood, followed by a seal coat of Future, then Burnt Umber thinned with Japan Dryer dry brushed on. After it dried, more Tamiya Clear Orange to seal and tint it, and it's done.

 

 

In an earlier post I mentioned that the instructions call out for the gun mounts to be installed before gluing the halves together, and I wasn't sure how that would work out given that I'd probably break them off at some point of construction. The instructions are correct. I taped my halves together and tried a couple of different ways, and there really is no way to get them in place once it's closed together. I choose to have mine in the stowed position, rather than out in the open, so they are set in palace on the inside, rather than poking out through the side door. This also allows me to use the doors themselves as masking covers to keep overspray from entering. If you want your guns out, be prepared for some interesting masking, and be very careful during handling that you don't break them, as they are quite fragile.

 

Next set of photos is the top coaming going on, and a description of how I do NDL on a subject.

 

Thanks everyone for following along, as well as putting up with my photo issues. It looks like I have them under control now.

 

Cheers

Mike

[Mike Robinson]

Thanks for all the previous comments everyone. I'm posting a months worth of work into multiple posts, so if I miss anyone it's because I'm doing a flurry of cut/pasting to get caught up. lol

 

All buttoned up and now exterior painting can begin.

 

 

Here the top coamings are on, the nose piece was painted inside and installed, and it was ready for paint. I'm starting at the top and working my way down, so the first thing to get painted was the natural doped linen top and coamings. I also wanted to do the wing center sections and the stabilizer at the same time, because they will be getting installed in short order. I started by masking off most of the hull so as not to get too thick of a paint build up on the sides and bottom.

 

 

 

My technique for NDL is a three step process, using two different colors. I start out with a very light tan - in this case ModelMaster Radome Tan. I spray the entire surface evenly, not worrying about preshading at this point. Once that is dry overnight, then the fun begins. I cut masking tape into strips the width of the structure underneath, whether it's wing ribs, spars, longerons or bulkheads. I tape over the entire structure, covering the ribs, spars, and structure under the coaming. Once everything is taped off, I then do all my preshading, outlining the tape, along the edges, and any other spots where I want to break up the monotony of a single color. I let that dry, then go over it all with a darker shade of tan, in this case I use ModelMaster Wood, lightened up with a few drops of white. I apply a bit more to the edges, and leave the centers of any outlined areas a little lighter. It adds a bit of variation to the shade so it's not so uniform. Once that dries, I remove all the masking in preparation for the final coat, a very thin application of the Radome Tan again, applying it and watching for any light or dark spots. A little shade variation is OK, but I don't want it too obvious. Once that is dry, I use pure white, thinned very thin, and just do some highlighting the centers, along peaks and ridges, and anywhere else that looks like it needs it. The end result is what you see here.

 

 

Here's a closer look at the bottom of the stabilizer. The effect of transparency looks pretty good. Once it's sealed I'll apply a light filter to blend things in a little more.

 

I'm pleased with the results. It's a little time consuming, especially cutting the strips of tape and masking, but the end results make it worthwhile.

 

Just a few more observations as I went along - the fuselage fit is very good, but be very careful cutting the sprue gates on the inserts for the sponsons, parts B8 and B9. The edges are very thin and easily damaged when cutting the sprues loose. I ended up having to do some minor filling and repairs after some divots were taken off the edges. I did have to use some filler on the fuselage top seam behind the top coaming. The joint was tight, but the fuselage was somewhat dished in at the center, so a quick skim of filler was used to level it off. The nose fits without issue, although there was a bit of a gap in the center bottom where the mooring line fitting is. Nothing a quick application of CA, allowing capillary action to draw it into the gap didn't solve. So far this kit is still my all time favorite kit to work on.

 

Next up will be painting the woodgraining on the sides.

 

Cheers

Mike

Edited January 25, 2015 by Mike Robinson

[Mike Robinson]

The NDL is done for the hull tops, it's time to turn my attention to painting the wood sides and representing the black tar based sealer on the bottom. I used my two shades of wood base, one for the lighter birch ply, and the darker for the mahogany.

 

 

I masked off the NDL top (The amount of masking tape I've used on this turkey is amazing), and roughly masked the bottom to prevent overspray, and shot both sides with the lighter base first. After that dried, I masked off for the darker mahogany panels. I'm not sure why some boats show these smaller panels and some don't, but as near as I can tell from pictures and reading what information is available, only the Saunders built boats had them. The rest of them show solid one piece ply from center section to nose. I'm not 100% sure it's mahogany either, just guessing based on mahogany being used heavily in boat building, and birch being used heavily in aircraft construction. It's more of an ejicated guess than hard facts. Of course after I get it done, factual information will come out and prove me wrong lol.

 

 

After both wood base shades dried, they were masked off ( again more tape) and the black bituminous tar based sealer paint was applied. For this I used Krylon, decanted from the can and sprayed with the airbrush. It's already a gloss finish and dries quickly. making it ready for weathering when I get to that point.

 

 

Here I've begun woodgraining. There's some wonderful decals available to represent wood graining, but I'm still Old School and like to paint mine. My technique is pretty simple. I First mask off every other area I don't want graining applied. When it's dry, I'll mask over the spots I did l previous and repeat. The arrows are to point out the area I want to apply it to, as I've made the mistake before of graining in betwen the strips of tape, rather the panel I wanted to do. Additional strips of tape between help avoid that also. I use Burnt Umber artist oils, thinned with Japan Drier so that it dries in a reasonable amount of time. I use two brushes. The first is a 1/8 wide flat brush I use to slather it on. I'm not concerned at this point with graining, just getting it on evenly. The next step is to use a #6 flat brush that I have cut the bristles way back on so they are stiff and don't bend easily. I use this one, going back over the paint and removing it, checking my progress as I go. I vary the pressure and where I wipe to give an uneven wood texture. The stiff bristles impart a grain look to it att he same time. Mahogany and birch are tight grained woods and don't have a lot of knots in them. In fact most aircraft grade wood has no knots in it at all, so there's no need to try to simulate them.

 

 

This gives a good idea how I try to vary the graining. Even this was a little heavy, so I went back over it again after the shot was taken. I also make sure to brush up tight against the edge of the tape, otherwise the graining tends to disappear and fade out to the base color near the edge. I actually prefer a small ridge to build up, as it dives added depth and dimension to the finished panel.

 

 

After the tape is removed I inspect it, and if there's any soft edges I reapply the tape and go over it again. These look pretty good. The grain is tight, there's subtle differences in streaking and I like the color, so I'll let these dry, mask over these areas and repeat where the base is. Once that is done, I'll mask the top and black bottom (again more tape) and seal everything with Tamiya Clear Orange to give it a varnished look.

 

I hope this thread wasn't too long and bored you to sleep by now. This last post is where I am at now, so any future updates will be a lot shorter. Hope you find it useful for when you do yours, and if you have any questions about the kit at all, please feel free to ask.

 

Cheers

Mike

[Bill_S]

Beautiful work on this beast, Mike!

[LSP_Kevin]

Amazing thread Mike! Just superb work. Glad to see you got your posting issues sorted out too. Looking forward to more!

 

Kev

[Stormer]

Watching this build makes me feel like a very, very poor modeler! This is art!!!

[Wolf Buddee]

Now that's what I'm talking' 'bout Willis! Incredible work Mike and so glad you decided to share your work on this here!

 

Cheers,

Wolf