Wingnut Wings Felixstowe F.2A WIP

This is a big, complicated kit. Even with Wingnut Wings' well-deserved reputation for molding, ejector-pin marks appear. They're seen here on a couple of interior components. A few scrapes with a knife or a bit of filler is all that's necessary to make them disappear.

As with all Wingnut Wings kits, the engines are detailed with lots of fine parts — and on the Felix's exposed power plants, all that detail is on display. I use food containers, especially Gerber applesauce bins, all the time for storage.

Believe it or not, there were two sets of these parts in the Gerber container.

I spent a fair amount of time preparing parts to begin the kit, whether they were in the interior or not. Here, the undersurfaces of the center section and ailerons are ready for painting.

The Felix was a well-armed beastie. A number of photoetched-metal parts detail the weapons. The instructions direct you to use gunsights (Part 5) for all four installations, but the fret only includes two, along with two Part 7 gunsights. The only difference is the length of the post, so they can be easily swapped or modified. The American Felixstowe (decal option C2) requires two Scarff ring mounts, but there's only one set in the kit of brackets. Don't panic: Help is available. According to Richard Alexander at Wingnut Wings:

"Modelers wishing to build USNAS Felixstowe F.2a N4291 (option C2) will require additional Scarff ring brackets and should contact help@wingnutwings.com who will send a small photoetched-metal fret containing these missing parts free of charge."

Despite its massive size, the Felix has a lot of delicate parts, something I was reminded of after nearly destroying the pulleys on the wind-driven fuel pump. Luckily, I've discovered VectorCut, a company that laser-cuts various parts in compressed fiber material. A couple of these generic pulleys will serve as replacements — and 'll be more careful from now on.

First, remove the damaged gears leaving the mounts. I sliced a gap into the mounts for the gears to slide ...

And then I added the gears. Simple! Of course, simpler would have been to not mash them to begin with!

The undersurfaces on many World War I aircraft were doped uncolored linen. I use Tamiya Deck Tan (XF-55) as a base coat, and then add different shading for effect.

Here is what a plain painted aileron looks like before I add shading along the rib tapes.

A slip of the knife and I scratched that beautiful wing deep enough that it showed after painting. I quickly added a smear of Deluxe Materials Perfect Plastic Putty, let it dry, wiped it off with a wet finger, added some more paint ...

… and Voila! No apparent damage.

If you’re going to build a Felix, you're going to be painting wood grain. Luckily, it's very easy and quick. First, spray a coat of tan — the left, I used Tamiya Deck Tan (XF-55), on the right I used Tamiya wooden deck tan (XF-78), a slightly darker shade, to give the wood areas variety.

I applied acrylic clear gloss as a protective layer. After that dried, I brushed on artist's oil paint thinned with Turpenoid. I brush it on loosely in the direction of the grain with a cheap, stiff brush.

I let the oil paint dry for at least an hour and quite often longer. The thicker the paint and the longer it is left to dry, the darker the grain and the more difficult it is to remove. Experiment to find what works best for you.

Here you can see the slightly different shades you get with the varied base coats.

I create grain by stroking the oil paint one direction using a stiff, flat brush. You can create different effects by varying the pressure and twisting the brush as you go.

Stock up on clamps: There are a lot of parts that need to be held during assembly. I use alligator clips by the dozen, especially when working on a Wingnut kit!

I prepared the flying surfaces while work continued on the interior details. I masked the ribs in preparation for a light coat of a slightly darker tan to highlight the edges of the rib tapes.

I thought I could get away with coloring the interior stringers for the upper deck using a brown Sharpie marker. It looked OK for through the maintenance hatch on the side of the fuselage. But then I realized the part is very visible through the waist gun hatches that I plan to pose open, so the shortcut wouldn't work. I painted them starting by spraying the stringers Tamiya hull red (XF-9).

I know I said using oils for wood graining is easy — and it is — but I wanted to try an experiment. So, after painting the casing for the radio cabinet with Tamiya deck tan (XF-55), I drew a grain pattern with artist's colored pencils. I smeared the pencil lines with a finger, then over-coated the cabinet with Tamiya clear yellow (X-24). A wash of Flory Models dark dirt finished the job. I was aiming for the appearance of used plywood look — you be the judge.

Wow — there's a lot inside this boat. The assemblies you see here are most of the major items — there are many more small details to be added, including plumbing and seat belts. And we haven't even discussed rigging and control cables ...

The fuel tank piping is fiddly because the attachment points aren't 100 percent positive. I didn't do very well getting everything lined up. Also, the fuel pumps that mount on top of the tanks are quite fragile — ask me how I know.

Nearly all of the cabin details are in place at this point. The bombsight mount and control wheels still need to be installed and the waist gun positions are not complete. The mounts for the waist guns look incredibly fragile. The instructions suggest mounting them before adding the interior to the fuselage. I can't see mounting the guns yet, so we'll see how it all works out.

Here's the interior looking aft — that's to the rear for any landlubbers out there.

And this shot is looking forward. You can see the various shades of wood, most accomplished with artist's oils over acrylic base coats. I over-coated the ladder and a handful of other parts with Tamiya clear orange (X-26) to add variation.

Those things that look like water heaters are gas ... excuse me … petrol tanks.

After all the painting and careful preparation, the fuselage — excuse me, hull — fits together beautifully, including the complex bow and upper nose parts.

I'm thinking that before too long, I won't be able to fit this big model in my photo booth.

Continuing work on the upper-fuselage deck, I masked the formers with .7mm masking tape and the stringers with .4mm masking tape.

I sprayed the deck with a light coat of Tamiya deck tan (XF-55).

Removing the tape revealed the darker wood.

I didn't want to use the kit's beaching dolly to hold the model during assembly and rigging because I was afraid of damaging the trolley or marring the finish on the hull. So, I made a temporary dolly from scrap wood and added a soft cradle. To get the angles correct, I photocopied one of the kit's beaching-dolly ends to use as a pattern.

The hull is almost ready for paint. I applied a little filler to blend the aft section of the upper deck into the hull.

While test fitting the upper decking, I noticed that sometimes it would fit and other times it would not seat properly leaving a gap. The support just aft of the pilots' seats has a notch at the top that allows the upper decking to sit snug. Pay attention to its alignment.

Returning to the flying surfaces, I added a light spray of a dark brown on each side of the taped off ribs.

The entire surface was then sprayed with a lightened mix of the deck tan.

When I removed the tape, the ribs were highlighted.

In between sessions of surface preparation and masking, I painted and weathered the engines. Typical of Wingnut Wings' kits, the detail and moldings are outstanding. This one looks plain compared to many Wingnut engines, but only because the real thing is painted gray as an anti-corrosion measure.

Here is an engine assembled. The radiator and associated piping will be installed after the engine is mounted on its bearers. Decals are included.

And here's a view from behind. Note the molded sparkplug leads — in tan — leading into the tubes that carry them to the engine. Be careful: There is no positive attachment of the leads to the tubes. A drop of super glue will do the trick.

Most of the kit's marking options involve a lot of painting and masking. I'm modeling one with a hull marked by prominent blue and white stripes. To determine the size of the stripes, I measured the length of the hull from nose to rudderpost on both the model and the side view in the instructions. From this I determined the ratio of the drawing to the model that I used to convert any measurement on the drawing into a corresponding measurement on the model. Math works! You only need the ratio and reference points on the model to recreate the scheme. In this case, the width of the stripes is 16.5mm. I transferred that to model with dividers.

Not surprisingly, painting, wood-graining, detailing, and clear coating the struts takes a good deal of time. These are just some of them — this picture doesn't include the four underwing struts, or the six horizontal tail struts.

Here is half of an engine mount. Wingnut Wings provides exquisite detail, including metal straps, fittings, pulleys, and cable ends.

The airspeed probe is molded integral with a strut, so there's no weak or awkward join.

After six hours of masking, I was finally able to airbrush the hull stripes with Tamiya flat blue (XF-8) as called out in the instructions. After a few touchups, I masked and sprayed the upper surfaces with Tamiya olive green (XF-58); I like how it looks compared to the darker green called out but the instructions. Prior to masking I made sure to wash the model with soap and water —  it does float, in case you’re interested!

I was happy to see that the foam makeup pads I used to mask all the hull openings kept the overspray out except for the tops of the protruding control wheels. Luckily, they were easy to touch up. Assembly of the main components will begin shortly, after a little bit of weathering.

I've had time to finish the armament. Two 230-pound bombs with decals add more color to the model — Tamiya yellow green (XF-4) is a good match for the ordnance's paint.

The engines have been attached to the mounts along with the radiators. The mounts were either natural wood or gray; Wingnut Wings suggests wood for the option I'm building. Notice the extensive pipe work underneath the engine provided in the kit.

The left and right engines start out identical, but Wingnut Wings requires the modeler to drill mounting holes on the inboard side of each mount to attach the inner bracing struts. Make sure you drill the proper sides and keep track of which engine goes on which side after that.

The numerous struts supporting the tail fit well, but be sure to carefully check the attachment points with the fuselage — the molding tolerances are very tight, and the tabs will likely require scraping to fit. The fit is tight enough without glue, but I added it anyway. I first attached each strut to the hull, and then gently bent the strut to allow the pin to engage the stabilizer.

On a complicated kit with many things sticking out all over, alignment is key. I got the the struts straight, but inadvertently cocked one rudder-control mast slightly. Shhhhh ... maybe nobody will notice.

Before adding the engines and center section, don’t forget to install the fuel pump — it takes a bit of fiddling to fit, and access would be difficult once you start the rest of the assembly.

I love it when a plan comes together … or a kit. I attached the engines and their struts to the lower wing, then placed the center section on top, inserting all the strut mounts. Then I applied glue to the main center section struts through the waist gun hatch and the maintenance hatch above the wing. Remember to scrape paint off the mounting tabs and check their fit prior to rushing ahead with glue.

Just like the real aircraft, the center section fuel piping is extremely fragile; I broke mine into three pieces removing it from the sprue. It is a key detail, and gives the Felix some of its unique character.

After spending six hours masking the hull, I very much wanted to cheat when masking the stripes on the floats. So, I enlarged a copy of the instructions to match the size of the floats. I used that as a template to cut a mask, sacrificing one of my business cards for the cause. Then, I traced the stripes onto the floats using a pencil to guide tape.

The big day: After ensuring the model was level, I glued the upper wing sections. Then, I attached the struts to the lower wings only and checked everything was still level using a ruler at the wingtips. After placing the upper wing and leveling the boat, the lower wingtips were within .5mm of each other. That’s credit to Wingnut Wings, not my building skills …

Tape is not just for masking — it can hold stuff together as well. I placed each upper strut into its mounting hole, then clamped the upper wing with tape as I went. Drops of super glue locked everything in place.

This kit needs a large stage for rigging. I set up an area that gave me access all the way around the model and placed the model in its homemade cradle on a turntable so I could spin the model around as I worked. Standing ready are spools of my favorite rigging materials — .007" nylon monofilament (4/0 medical suture) and E-Z Line by Berkshire Junction, fine elastic thread sold for model railroading application. 

For the wires coming from the control horns on the elevators, I threaded single strands of suture through the holes molded in the horns, then through holes drilled into the stabilizers. I threaded the suture so both ends ended up passing though the lower horn last. Tension was maintained using metal clips for weight. A drop of super glue secured both ends of the suture.

Moving ahead with the rigging, I finished the stabilizers and rudder control horns. Once the super glue set, I trimmed the suture at the join.

EZ Line makes rigging quick and easy. I used a dot of super-glue gel along with accelerator to affix the EZ Line to the upper wing. Using tweezers, I stretched the line just taught and cut it approximately 1/32" from the end. This ensures the line is tight when glued. Don't trim more, or the line will stretch and become unrealistically thin. I applied another dot of super-glue gel to the other anchor point and brushed accelerator on the end of the line. That quickly sets the glue when the line is inserted.

Even though the rigging on a Felixstowe appears daunting, a study of the diagrams shows the logic. There isn't anything hard or unusual about how the lines are run, there are just lots of them! The control lines, however, are a bit different.

The Felixstowe has a number of control cables that split. Wingnut Wings provides tiny photoetched-metal splitters for these lines. I threaded suture through the holes and looped it back upon itself, passing through a small segment of a heat-stretched plastic cotton-swab shaft. The looped end was secured with a bit of super glue. I made all the control cables off the aircraft, and installed them later.