Airshow Models 1/32 Christen Eagle II
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KIT # |
CE 1 |
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PRICE: |
$85.00 |
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DECALS: |
See review |
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REVIEW & |
Barney Dunlevy |
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NOTES: |
Resin with metal parts |
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THE KIT |
When I heard about Peter Groves' new Eagle kit, I was eager to see what he had
come up with and when we met for lunch, I was very impressed with what I saw.
Peter had asked me to do a construction article on the Eagle and to do a photo
shoot outside of his old hangar at Delta Air Park...how could I say no!
He provided me with a kit,
which contained some very good looking castings in brass, white metal, and
resin. The decals, which make the Eagle an outstanding subject, cover most of
the aircraft so painting would be at a minimum; White airframe, black tires and
a simple but detailed interior.
The fuselage consists of one casting with very fine scribed panel lines and
slightly raised stringers, with a deep cockpit. The cowling is cast as a one
piece unit with a fairly large casting plug on the back. This was the biggest
bit of resin that had to be sawn off with a fine-tooth saw. The upper and
lower wings are both one piece
with alignment slots for the struts. The rudder and horizontal tail components
are scale thickness with all flying surfaces having nicely detailed ribbing.
The landing gear consists of brass gear legs, which fit perfectly into slots on
the fuselage ahead of the wings, and wheel pants with treaded tires molded in,
which are also slotted for the lower gear legs. The tail wheel is a jewel of a
brass casting with a small lug, to be inserted into a slot in the lower
fuselage.
Initial trial fitting of the components indicated few if any problems. Because
of the size and weight of the major parts, I would recommend that 5 Minute Epoxy
be used as an adhesive; particularly the engine cowling and lower wing. The
epoxy will give you time to align the parts for a more accurate fit and if you
have any excess squeeze out it can be removed with rubbing alcohol on a
Q-tip...making a better fillet at the joint.
The cabane struts, three brass V-units which are numbered (with No1 to the
front), fit into a slot in the bottom side of the upper wing, then covered with
a white metal fairing which makes up the center section of the strut system.
The spinner and propeller blades are cast white metal with very good detailing
on the spinner. The two exhaust stacks are also cast in white metal.
The cockpit consists of two seats with cast-in safety harness, an instrument
panel for the front seat, two throttle quadrants and two canopy locking panels.
There are also two brass control columns and a couple of canopy handles and
cross member for the canopy. This last item is vacu-formed with a spare...just
in case.
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CONSTRUCTION |
For a large
number of resin castings, there are very few pinholes...only 7 in my copy. The
resin components were sanded to clean up a bit of flashing then the lower wings
and horizontal tail, were epoxied in place along with the main gear legs and
tail wheel. The lower wing -to fuselage joint required a piece of .010 plastic
card to fill the gap. After the glue cured it was easy to trim the excess
plastic with a new scalpel blade. The engine cowling was then epoxied in place
and then sanded to finish the installation. The main gear wheel pants was glued
in place with epoxy and the trailing edges of the wheel pants were blocked up
with 1/8 inch balsa strip to ensure proper alignment with the model sitting on
its wheels.
The lower wing was marked for the landing wires and these were pre-drilled as
were the landing gear fairings, to ensure that the photo etched steel wires
would be installed without sagging. The I-struts were temporarily installed into
the slotted wing surfaces then traced around the base with a scribing tool. This
was to ensure that when painted and
decaled, this area could be
removed for the final assembly of the upper wing and struts, providing a good
bonding surface.
The model was given a coat of Mr. Surfacer and a final light sanding in
preparation for painting.
The canopy was cut free and carefully sanded to fit the cockpit, then the white
metal cross piece was attached to the canopy. The cockpit was then detailed with
the instrument panel, throttle quadrants and canopy handles. The seats were
painted as per C-FPNB, Peter's old aircraft. With all the pieces in the cockpit,
the canopy was masked using fine tape and Micro Scale liquid mask. When this
dried the canopy was glued over the cockpit
with MS Krystal Kleer.
The propeller blades and
spinner are cast in White Metal with good details. These were polished using
Autosol Chrome polish. The blades were then painted Flat Black on the rear
surface and Flat Medium Grey on the front.
With the paint dried, the blades were inserted into the spinner with super glue.
The blades were given a light brushed coat of Polly Scale Gloss Clear and the
decals applied, followed by a flat coat to seal and finish the blades.
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PAINT & DECALS |
With the canopy now installed it was time to get on with painting. Polly Scale
Flat White was used as both a primer and final colour coat followed by three
light coats of Polly Scale Clear Gloss. This was completed prior to installing
the upper wing and the flying and landing wires. Now the moment I've been
waiting for...those beautiful big decals. But the devil struck big time...the
Polly scale reacted with the resin, presumably, causing big yellowish spots. The
acrylic paint was quickly removed with Windex and the model was given two light
coats of Floquil White Enamel Primer, followed by three light coats of Model
Master Gloss White enamel.
The decals were then applied
starting with the bottom side of the stabilizer and upper and lower wings. These
went down without a problem and due to the thickness of the inks, a coat of
Solvaset was applied and the wait was on. The upper surface decals were now
applied, being careful to align the colours at the leading edge. The fuselage
now received the decals, with a cutout for the horizontal tail. Aircraft
registration letters were made up from clear decal paper and Letraset rub-down
letters and applied to the rudder and underside of the left wing. Not
surprising, the Eagle is registered C-FPNB, Peter Groves' old Eagle II which is
based at Boundary Bay, my home airport.
With the decals finished, it was time for final assembly. Remove the decal film
from the wing strut mounting slots and test fit the cabane struts and the
interwing struts. The brass and white metal pieces in the cabanes took a lot of
fitting and filing and when I was
satisfied , I drilled out the
six holes on top of the forward fuselage and attached the struts and fairing.
The upper wing was laid flat and 5 minute epoxy was applied to the groove in the
bottom of the upper wing and the slots for the I-struts. The fuselage was
inverted and the struts were inserted in the slots. Take care here because the
I-struts are beveled both top and bottom and can only fit properly in one way.
The model is designed to be self- aligning and sure enough when the epoxy cured
the Eagle was perfectly set up.
The photo-etched brace wires were next. I had pre-drilled the attach points and
the wires just dropped into place and secured with super glue. The aileron and
rudder fittings were next glued in place with super glue and the tail wheel
springs were installed...my only add-on to a completely satisfying model.
Editor's note: I've been asked a number of times about getting this kit, but I believe that Airshow Models is out of business so check the usual auction sites.
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