Single Seat Navy Firefly

[Gondor]

I have been spurred into action, or at least some resemblance to action currently by talk and pictures of single seat Fairey Firefly's. Having the old Airfix Fairey Firefly in my stash as well as a couple of the rather nice Special Hobbies kits of the same means that the venerable Airfix kit is for the chop, or rather for chopping into something different.
So what is to be different about this build? Well after looking at the drawings and pictures of other builds I decided to make my rendition as a bubble canopy variant rather than adapting the canopy provided. In the stash I have several of the Aeroclub Meteor single seat conversions. Just the job I thought to myself until I tried looking for them  .  I "think" they are somewhere in the deep stash so I looked around for something else to use and eventually came up with sacrificing an Airfix Mk22 Spitfire to the cause.

With a bit of rough measuring and some saw cuts I have removed the top of the fuselage from the Firefly from just in front of the tail surfaces to just forward of the front cockpit to a depth equal to the depth of the fuselage where the observer's canopy is. With the spitfire I performed a similar operation, this time I simply lopped off the tail and nose to match the length of the cut out in the Firefly fuselage. Trimming the wing roots from the Spitfire's fuselage and thinning the inside of the Firefly's fuselage has allowed me to fit the slimmer Spitfire fuselage inside the Firefly's which will mean that I only have to blend the two fuselage sides together as well as provide a smooth transition forward from the windscreen to the nose 

In theory this should be nice and simple. Sink marks in some parts can be filled and sanded back when the rivets are removed. The shape of the spitfire fuselage will also provide a solid base for the new fuselage upper decking and the cockpit will also provide a much needed improvement over the Firefly's original one. That is "In Theory", but as my personal motto goes..... The Theory is fine, the Practice is something else.

Gondor

[Gondor]

Just looked at the Single Seat Firefly thread and realised that OGL has already done a bubble topped version 

No matter, I'm building again which is the main thing. Oh yes, other parts of the butchered Spitfire will be put to good use. The wings will become part of a Mk 21 Spitfire while the underside of the nose will end up on another aircraft that needs a similar shape.

Gondor

P.S. Oh yes, one thing I am not sure about. The colour of the cockpit interior. Black is what I have in mind, or should it be something else for a late 1940's early 50's FAA Fighter?

[Captain Canada]

Cool. I might jump on board ( or overboard ) on this single seat boat.

[NARSES2]

P.S. Oh yes, one thing I am not sure about. The colour of the cockpit interior. Black is what I have in mind, or should it be something else for a late 1940's early 50's FAA Fighter?

Probably black in the real world, although I must admit I stick with interior green in my own wifs purely as a matter of personal taste.

[Gondor]

P.S. Oh yes, one thing I am not sure about. The colour of the cockpit interior. Black is what I have in mind, or should it be something else for a late 1940's early 50's FAA Fighter?

Probably black in the real world, although I must admit I stick with interior green in my own wifs purely as a matter of personal taste.

Thank you NARSES2, I will get that painted black sharpish so I can seal up the fuselage inside the other fuselage 

Gondor

[Captain Canada]

Either colour would work for me. If I'm 'in a hurry' I usually just go black or dark gray to hide everything in there 

[Gondor]

A progress shot to show how I am integrating the Spitfire fuselage into the Firefly's fuselage.



Honest, I didn't swear once while grinding out the inside of the Firefly's fuselage and covering myself in the resulting powder. I am just glad I changed into my old clothes before I started 

Things to do still

• Work on the wheel wells so that they are not large gaping holes
• Add planking to the forward fuselage and under the front of the Spitfire fuselage so I can create a nice smooth shape from the windscreen to the top of the engine coweling
• Buy a new tube of filler

Gondor

[DogfighterZen]

Another one to watch closely!

[Old Wombat]

 

[Dizzyfugu]

Looking forward to see the progress. I wonder if a Firefly with a bubble canopy could be converted into a Saab 27...? The Airfix kit looks promising as a base.

[zenrat]

I just found an Airfix Firefly in my stash I forgot I had.

[KiwiZac]

Love it! Very promising start.

[Captain Canada]

Looking good and great idea ! Thanks for the tip now I know what to try 

[Gondor]

This evenings small amount of work is aimed at improving the wheel wells, not to a huge extent, just some basic improvement to get rid of the step caused by the wing to fuselage tabs.

Here is what I started with



This is what I did to the parts



From the inside showing that there are gaps to be filled



And a comparison between the two



I can think of three possible ways to fill the gaps between the various layers that make up the wheel well,

1) I can use filler to plug the gaps between the layers

2) I can use shims of plastic card to fill the gaps

3) I can skin the inside of the wheel wells with 0.5 or 1.0 thou plastic card

I am undecided between options 2 & 3 at the moment. Each has its attractions and detractions, the attractions being that the plastic card is at hand and easy to cut roughly to shape. The detractions are that while plastic card is easy to cut, the shapes I will have to make will not be nice easy to use squares or rectangles.

Hope to have the problem worked out and the result acted upon by the start of next week.

Gondor

[PR19_Kit]

Just goes to show how much kit moulding technology has advanced in the last 20-30 yrs............