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Eduard 1/48 Bristol F.2B Fighter 'Weekend Edition' |
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Introduction
This kit is another in Eduard's 'Weekend Edition' series of basic kits (kit 8488), maybe, but certainly doesn't have to be, a bit of a challenge for beginners, but great for WWI enthusiasts, or just about anyone with a need to have a short project in the work room in case you find yourself with a free long weekend.
This is a good one for a beginner who wishes to get their teeth into rigging. There are a lot of wires, although once you have figured out a process by doing one section, you'll scoot through the rest and come out with a very impressive looking model.
As per the rest of the weekend series, the kit comes without PE or masks, and with a single marking option, but that shouldn't put anyone off. For a detailed first look review, please see my First Look. I was impressed with the quality and volume of parts on first opening the box, as it comes in 4 sprues.
First Steps
As a first step, I sprayed both sides of each sprue with Tamiya primer, and left them for 24 hours to dry thoroughly. This is because I use cheap, craft store, acrylics for my top coats and they don't seem to "bite" into the styrene very well, and tend to make a mess and require many coats, and it can look awful.
Interior
The first two pages of the instructions deal with the interior, and there is a lot in there! I painted most parts on the sprue then touched them up after placing them. I find it easier to hold them for painting that way. The interior was painted a linen colour, with brown for the wood spars. Be careful with the floorboard. It may need trimming along the edge if your paint is too thick. This happened to me as I had a layer of paint, one of Future then an oil wash on each fuselage half. So be ready for this. There is a window in the cockpit floor, and the instructions call for "FOIL" to be added. Note that this should be clear plastic, not aluminium foil.
The engine parts are negligible, as almost none of it are seen in this aircraft.
Lower Wing
Now comes the tricky bit, the crux of the whole build. Before attempting this, I got some good advice from fellow contributer and a man who has built every Bristol Fighter kit there is, Paul Thomspon. The reason is, the lower wing is not attached directly to the fuselage, but is suspended below it by 3 short struts on each side. Make sure each of the struts fits on its hole. And to do this properly you will need to use the landing gear struts C1 and C5 as well. Glue struts D31 and 32 in place with plastic cement, wait for a little and then move them into an approximate angle. Dry fit to the lower wing and wiggle the assembly around until it all looks right, and hold it till dry. Do the same for struts 23 and 24. Dry fit the undercarriage struts to make sure they fit. This will require you to drill the hole out in the lower wing a little. Note that the hole should be drilled at 45º and not vertically through the wing. I then added the pre-painted and decaled lower wing and left it to dry overnight. Then disaster struck! The next day, while I was checking the fit of the wing from various angles and distances, and definitely not flying it around the room as SWMBO says, I dropped it onto the stone floor and had to go through the above process again. Thanks to Eduard's strong engineering of these parts, only the joins broke, so it wasn't too problematic.
The rest of the assembly was straight forward,as per the instructions. Great care should be taken with the positioning of the struts, work from the inside to the outside. I positioned the cabane struts first, and aligned them with the top wing then the inner pairs and then the outer pairs. Adding the top wing is still a complicated, and sweary, in my case, process. 12 struts have to join the top wing allowing for the dihedral. A jig is essential, either a home made one from lego and card, or a purpose built one.
I didn't add any of the bombs, since I wanted the fighter look for the finished article.
Painting and Markings
The markings given are for a single aircraft, and at first glance this appears to be just another RFC aircraft. It is true that RFC aircraft were far less flamboyantly marked than their German counterparts, but this aircraft is quite a historically important one. C-4619 "R" was flown by the team of Lts Stanton and Merrit of 62 Sqn RFC, who scored 25 ½ victories between them in this aircraft. It was finished in PC-10 on top and sides, and CDL on the under surfaces. I chose a browner shade of PC-10 to allow for a "weathering" effect. I mixed craft store acrylics, red oxide, yellow ochre and black, pretty much what really happened, to a shade I liked. Sometimes the upper colour was painted round to the lower surfaces about an inch or two, but I chose not to simulate that here, as I didn't see it definitely on any photos of the actual aircraft that I used for reference. Once I'd painted the surfaces, I ran over the rib tape areas with a lighter and thinned version of the paint to simulate the shading effects. This works in photographs, but can look a little cheesy in real life and close up, in my opinion. Weathering was done using a brownish oil wash.
Decals went on very smoothly and took the setting solution without difficulty.
Rigging
This aircraft had quite complicated rigging, and I added it using 0.005" (0.127mm) stainless steel wire. I followed the rigging diagram, working from the cabane struts outward. In order to give the effect of RAFwire, I colored the wires with a black marker pen to within a millimeter of each end. I did not rig double flying wires, as per the real aircraft, as I had achieved a satisfying look with what I'd done, and I didn't feel I have the skills to do it right.
Conclusion
A very nice kit, beautifully designed and engineered by Eduard. It may not turn out to be a very colorful addition to the display cabinet, but historically important if placed between the Fokker DR.Is of MvR and LvR.
Thanks to Eduard for the review sample, and to Matt Bittner for letting me build it. And a thank you to Paul Thomson for the advice. Have a look at Paul's amazing Bristols here.
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