Colin Leighfield

Thank you, I’ll dig it out and have another go.

That’s interesting. Some time ago, I wrote a feature on the Supermarine Spiteful/Seafang and the 1/10 scale model I had designed and built. David Ashby was interested and I sent a copy of the plan and a wooden pattern for the canopy, but he said the flying photos weren’t high enough resolution. Danny Fenton very kindly came along to the field to take some pictures, but I got nervous and flew it into the hard runway in a low pass that he asked for and did some damage! Danny said that the pictures he had got weren’t good enough anyway. I did repair it later, but haven’t flown it since. Perhaps I should have another go, but I don’t have an answer to the photo issue.

I have tried subscriptions for electronic versions of magazines, but as with work documents, I don’t like reading long subjects on screen and tend to not bother, or print them off to read, which isn’t cheap and offsets the savings. At the moment, all of my mag subscriptions, aviation and motorcycling, are for hard copy. I’m not arguing about the way things are heading, but I still get more out of the printed version. Probably and mostly, a generational thing, I expect. I’ve subscribed to Aeroplane ever since it re-appeared in 1973 and have every edition since then, mostly bound. Fabulous source of information that can’t age because it’s historical, but I expect it will finish up in a skip somewhere when I pop my clogs. It does take up a lot of space.

Many thanks Jesus! I think you are right, I have just ordered it. I hope it arrives soon.

Thanks Chris, I’m thinking that way. Looking at the various illustrations around, it’s likely that there are some limitations on accuracy! I’ll see if I can find where David Henyk got his information from.

Yes, that’s just commonsense.

As part of the dilemma in resolving paint patterns, here is a model made by David Henyk, on the Wordpress site. It shows the same plane as that in the second of the illustrations in the previous post. The camouflage pattern is different, it makes you wonder how much guessing goes into these things. I might be mistaken in thinking this is the plane captured by the Nationalists, I’m getting confused. This well-made model would provide a good alternative if I’m struggling with the “sand and spinach” option though.

Hi again Chris! You previously mentioned that you have a fair bit of information on the (3+1) Spanish Furies. My first choice of finish is the first one here, the other is the possibility if I find the first too difficult. I think the second one is that which was captured and then flown by the Nationalists. All of the illustrations I can find are of the left side of the plane. I could do with pictures of the right side, to be more confident on the camouflage patterns. I wondered if you have any such illustrations in your collection?

Hi Martin, that was a nice model. A bit more ambitious than my attempt! However, I must say I’d forgotten how good a flyer it is. Frustratingly though, temporarily grounded because the field is in the Commonwealth Games controlled airspace. How annoying.

Thanks Steve, that’s where I got his photos from. Sadly, he seems to have abandoned it in 2019.

There are a number of helpful photos in Tony Bennett’s build thread that have answered my questions, some of them are here. He seems to have dropped out a long time ago, sadly. He always had so many ambitious projects running.

Sorting through next steps, I thought I’d take a look at the bag of wood left over from the build and am a bit alarmed to see that most of it probably should be in the airframe somewhere! Can’t understand it. Ah well! Next I’ve finally pulled out the box of 3D printed parts that Tony Bennett made. I’m scratching my head to work out where all of that goes! I’ll trawl back through the build threads and see what I can fathom out. A rib tape kit is on its way from Mick Reeves and a 20x10 prop is due to arrive tomorrow. I can sort out the spinner then.

Don’t keep it bated for too long! You’ll do yourself an injury!

What a shock. I’m very sad to hear this. My sincere condolences to all of those close to him.

Following a helpful conversation with Danny and considering all options, I decided to contact Phil at Fighter Aces to discuss the possibility of using KlassKote for this project. It’s not cheap, but at the rate I’ve been building this project, it’s an acceptable cost per annum! Hawker Spanish Fury 2 Colours.pdfUsing this excellent plastic kit leaflet, he’s been able to accurately identify all of the colour matches. Unfortunately, he hasn’t got everything in stock and it’s going to be late August. however, we’re away for a couple of weeks in early August and when we get back the house will be in a state of chaos with alterations being done, so that’s probably ok. In the meantime, I can get on with the rest of the finishing detail. Phil sent me photos of a 1/4 scale Fiat Cr42 they have built that has a Regia Aeronautica scheme similar to the Fury. This is one of my favourites, one day - - -! couldn’t resist including it here.

Martyn, believe me, it’s not your eyesight! May I ask who’s paint you used, did you air-brush it? Martian, thank you! I need to do a bit of work on the brass tongues to get it exactly right, not far off.

Possibly my total inability to paint a straight line could be an advantage, if I have a go at the squiggly version.

I‘m having second thoughts about the choice of colour scheme for this model! Hawker Spanish Fury 2 Colours.pdf

I re-maidened the Tucano yesterday and committed the heinous sin, having fitted a new motor and forgetting what size of battery I’d used previously, of not checking the c of g against the plan! Thinking “it wasn’t that fussy, should be ok”. I leave to everyone’s imagination, the sight of a plane with over 200W/lb, a c of g that turned out to be an inch behind where it should be and a sharp left-hand turn that full right aileron trim would not correct. (Don’t know where that came from). Somehow I got it down from the nightmare with no damage and went home feeling very chastened! Back in the shed, I re-positioned the battery and added a few gms of lead to get the c of g right and re-set the aileron trim at the servo. Back to the field today and transformation! Just two clicks of elevator trim and it was perfect. I’d forgotten just how good these are. Very fast, but in the groove and a thrill to fly. You need to get it right on finals, because even throttled right back it has a very flat glide and wants to fly forever! Back to the old arguments about why a simple balsa sheet wing, sanded to a thin flat-bottomed aerofoil section, could possibly work so very well across the whole speed range. Nigel Hawes isn’t doing much with model planes these days, but he did a very good job with this one. A great alternative to the increasingly expensive foamies, and quick/easy to build. It would be nice to se a few more in the air again.

Hi Graham, nice to hear from you. I should be ashamed, two years behind you on this project! No more excuses now though.

Hi Danny and Martyn. No, I’d already decided that I’d got a reason to finish it properly, seeing where Martyn has got to with his made me realise that I wasn’t too far off. I need to sort out the right paints to use. I want to do the plane that was finished “sand and spinach”, so I need some air-brush practice. I’m also dithering over whether or not to bother with rib-tapes. Flying at Fradley ended in May 2021, when HS2 arbitrarily closed off access to the site. The club already had an alternative, but I’m not comfortable with it and was on the verge of giving up. However, I’ve found somewhere else I’m happy with and I’ve been able to get flying again. Hopefully I’ll be at the field later today getting some practice in. Currently focused on my FMS T28 Trojan V4 and resurrected Nigel Hawes 45” Tucano, which with 200W/lb stretches my attention span to the limit, apart from the difficulty in seeing it, particularly from head-on, with those very thin wings!

Easier said than done sometimes, Chris!

Thanks Chris, nice to hear from you!

Loss of my regular flying site and concerns about alternatives rather killed my interest last year, and I limited my building to some indoor projects and an F3 Res glider. However, with the flying site problem resolved I’m getting back into it. All of the building work on this is done. Remaining jobs are getting the inter-plane strut connections right, sorting out the spinner, painting, cockpit detail, guns, rigging. To recap, there are a number of differences on this Spanish Fury version to the plan, related to the Hispano Suiza engine, which affects the cylinder head blisters, exhaust outlets and radiator. The Dowty, “Gladiator” type undercarriage is tricky, I’ve tried to resolve the suspension/damping issues by casting that into a moulded rubber box inside the fuselage. The wing panels slide on and off using carbon fibre rods inside brass tubes and the battery is inserted at an angle from the top to help keep the c of g forward, as well as limiting its forward movement in a “hard landing” (crash!). I’m on it now.