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RAREPLANES 1:72 FAIREY FULMAR MK.I/II |
Reviewer:
Tim Beales (rec.models.scale)
Kit Review submitted:
3 April 2004
Kit Details
1/72 Fairey Fulmar Mks I and II by Rareplanes
History
The Fulmar Mk II was outwardly very similar to the Fulmar Mk I, but the most easily recognisable difference between the two marks was the incorporation of two cheek air intakes either side of the front grille in the Fulmar Mk II. This was because the Fulmar Mk II was essentially a tropicalised version of the Fulmar Mk I. However, other internal update modifications had been made (including a new type of Merlin engine and propeller), which meant that the Fulmar Mk II shed a little weight over the Mk I version. Although this barely affected the top speed, the rate of clime increased by 20%. The Fulmar Mk II saw much action in the Mediterranean and North Africa, where it shot down many attacking Italian aircraft. A night fighter version of the Fulmar incorporating air interception (AI) radar failed to materialise its full potential, despite more than a year's development work from 1941-42. This was mainly due to the large bulk of the early radar sets. Despite this, the Fulmar night fighters served in the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean. The modified aircraft eventually proved useful for training crews for the upcoming Fairey Firefly. The Fulmar was eventually replaced by the Fairey Firefly in 1944.
The kit
The Rareplanes kit derives from the late 70s/early 80s, and so now is only available at swap meets and from various second-hand kit dealers. However, it is still quite common. The parts are moulded on two thin white plastic sheets, along with a transparent vacuformed canopy. These are sealed in a plastic bag along with two single-sided folded A4 instruction sheets.
The first instruction sheet contains the header showing a photocopy of an unidentified Fairey Fulmar Mk I. On opening up the sheet, full port profiles of two Fulmars are shown. The first is a Fulmar, serial DR641, from No. 809 Squadron, HMS Victorious used during Operation Torch, and carries the US star-type roundels. (This aircraft is listed by Rareplanes as being a Mk I. However, this could be a typing error, as other sources identify the same aircraft as being a Mk II. In addition, in the Rareplanes drawings the machine has the front cheek intakes indicative of the Mk II). The second profile is of a Vichy French Fulmar Mk I, which was captured after a forced landing in Senegal in 1941. A black and white port profile of the front section is also provided to illustrate the position of the cheek air intakes and the anti-exhaust dazzle shields in front of the pilot in the Mk II, along with the position of the radio mast, and the sliding details of the canopy. The first sheet also contains a list of references for the modeller.
The second sheet is taken up by a half-tone three-way profile of Fulmar N1858, some general construction notes, and a single exploded 3D view of the construction of the vacuform pieces.
Construction
The first part of the construction of any vacuform model is the separation of the parts from the plastic backing sheet and the removal of the excess plastic using wet and dry paper. Although somewhat tedious, the soft plastic used by Rareplanes, and the relatively small size of the Fulmar in 1/72 scale, mean that this was not the dreaded task it is often assumed to be by some modellers. In addition, Also, I find that the vacuform erosion process gives me some control on the dry fitting that is needed for all plastic modelling.
The main parts are:
As usual for a vacuform kit, the aerial and undercarriage retraction legs will need to be made from stretched sprue or plastic rod.
The front cockpit module was made by cementing the cockpit floor onto the rear of the top of the front radiator grille and onto a marked position on the lower front of the pilot’s bulkhead to form an elongated, rotated Z-shaped assembly. The pilot’s seat was cemented onto a raised square platform centred on the cockpit floor below the pilot's headrest shaped into the rear bulkhead. Rudimentary pedals are provided on the floor of the cockpit, and I fashioned a joystick from stretched sprue. I painted the entire cockpit area RAF Interior Green (H78), with the seat cushions in leather (H62), and the instrument panel and joystick in black (H33). I dry painted silver dials (H11) on the instrument panel front to bring out the surface detail. I painted the front grille in a grey metallic colour (H53).
After cutting out the two fuselage halves, I taped the two sides together, and removed the plastic covering the main cockpit area and that covering the front and rear of the lower engine air intake. As I was not planning to make a model with an open cockpit, I removed the entire top of the canopy area, and did not bother to cut around the central non-glassed area sited in-between the pilot and the observer. I then cemented the cockpit module in the starboard fuselage, and proceeded to attach the observer details to the rear of the non-glassed plastic area behind the pilot. Once the interior details for the pilot and observer modules had been added (I made up a rear cockpit bulkhead from plastic card), the two fuselage sides were glued together and left to dry.
The original vacuform canopy supplied by Rareplanes had been badly damaged in my kit and had yellowed with age. Therefore, I used the canopy contained in the Falcon Clear-Vax Canopy Set No. 19. This is in fact designed for the Vista kit, but can be trimmed easily to fit the Rareplanes Fulmar. Once trimmed, the Falcon canopy was attached to the canopy using Kristal Klear.
The next stage was to remove the four pieces that make up the two wings from the backing sheet, and once thinned, the plastic around the undercarriage bays was cut from the lower wings. This needed a little care, as the plastic is a little thin at the end that attaches to the fuselage. The wings went together well, and once the glue was dry, a light brush with wet and dry paper left a perfect joint. I had sanded the trailing edges to compensate for the plastic moulding process. When I came to attach the wings to the fuselage, I experienced quite a shock, as there was a very large gap between the actual thicknesses of the wings and the raised attachment points on the fuselage for both wings. At first, I panicked and thought that I had committed the cardinal error of vacuform modelling: in that I had thinned the parts down too much. After the initial shock, I noticed that this could not be so, as both wings were the same and the gap on each side was the same. There was no mention of this in the instructions. I attached the wings to the fuselage via a butt joint (for vacuform models of this size, I find that wing spars are often not necessary), and made up two sausages of Milliput, which I used to fill the gap at the wing roots and help taper in the wings to the fuselage. Once dry, the Milliput sausages were gently sanded down to form the correct profile using the Rareplanes sketch as a guide. I lost some of the lovely surface detail near the wings during this exercise.
The under carriage was then assembled using the components supplied by Rareplanes. I found that these went together well, and formed a good fit into the cut out undercarriage bays. The kit comes with a tail wheel moulded onto the starboard fuselage half, but this was flimsy, and I discarded it and decided to use an Aeroclub white metal accessory (V084) instead. I also had an Aeroclub propeller and spinner (P047) for the Fulmar that I had by chance picked up from a model show as a "just in case" item some years back. Therefore, I used the Aeroclub propeller instead of preparing the kit parts. If one does use these, then Rareplanes suggest removing the spinner and filling the spinner with Milliput, then attaching the individual blades after the backs of these have also been filled with Milliput.
Options
No decals are provided. Being a cottage industry kit, the model maker is expected to his own sources. However, the three profiles provided are very usable. I decided to use one set of decals from the Vista Fairey Fulmar kit, and modelled the Operation Torch Fulmar Mk II, serial DR641, from No. 809 Squadron, HMS Victorious. I followed the Rareplanes scheme and used the usual dark slate grey (H102) and extra dark sea grey (H79) disruptive camouflage over sky grey (H64) with a white spinner (H34). The Vista decals went on OK, but being Propagateam decals, they were terribly thin. I used Fantasy Printshop backing patches to protect the white bits from see-through exposure from the lower darker camouflage paint. The serial numbers curled however, and I had to replace with serials and numbers from the appropriate Modeldecal sheet (No. 34A). I must confess that I don’t like Propagateam decals at all. I finished off the painting by brushing on the wing gun patches (H60) and the landing light (H11).
Accuracy
The Fulmar had dimensions of length = 40 ft 2 ins and wingspan = 46 ft 4½ ins. In 1/72 metric units these scale out as 17 cm and 19.6 cm, respectively. My kit measured 17 cm and 19.5 cm, respectively. Spot on.
Other comments
Much more involved than the injection moulded Vista/ Revell/ Smer kit, but more detailed, and ultimately more satisfying for the modeller. Because of the vacuform method of manufacture, the need to taper in the wing routes, and the need to manufacture various bits from stretched sprue/ plastic rod, this is one for medium to advanced modellers, and would not be a bad second or third vacuform kit to try. That said, it is ultimately a better model than the Vista/ Revell / Smer kit and is a very enjoyable build.
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