'Tis the season to proceed slowly on model detailing, and this Bristol Fighter production line is no exception:

Note the heavy-handed and clumsy scratch-building in the Aurora fuselages, compared to the finesse of the Roden offering. I'm closing in on finishing off the rear pit, including the ammo stands, seat and fuel tank. About all that's needed now is seat belts, and then I can start dressing up the pilot's office.

No, I'm not ignoring this build. It's Christmas, which means the wife has cleaned up the house and now I can't find anything. But mainly, I'm still perplexed about the seat belts for the gunner. Post-war, it seems to be a standard shoulder harness, but the Scarff ring also seems to have some sort of dangling belt/seat harness.

It was a safety harness that kept him from falling out in turbulent air when standing at the guns.

Four Bristol F.2B's!!!!

They look very good, keep going!!


Cheers Nick

Yeah, it sorta looks like a kid's swing seat. Did it rotate with the guns?

This is such a great site. To quote a favorite talk radio show host, (local) 'you learn more here by accident than anywhere else by design".

I am enjoying your thread here Mr. Burlingame. I too have a couple of the Aurora builds, and am interested in what you are doing to yours. The fact that you are doing something with them is interesting, as most just relegate them to the scrap heap. I enjoy them for their simplicity. Your comparison photo is telling also. Yes there are some inaccuracies, but remembering that the original mold is probaby over 50 years old says something about Aurora's research team. They got the basic shape right, made it simple for small inexperienced fingers to build; (and then blow up) get another one, and in the meantime learn a little something too. They offered something no one else did at the time, something different from the garden variety mustang, zero, BF-109, corsair etc.
I am looking forward to seeing these to completion. Keep up the good work and best to you in the new year.

It would have to. I think it was attached to the ring's brackets added for this use.

Thank 'ee, mate. We need to remember that Aurora models were the state-of-the-art at the time, using the best resources available. (One of my pet peeves — referring to WWI aircraft as "antique." They're antiques now. Then, they were newest things in the air.)

The Brisfit matches the then-available drawings in the '50s, and much of the kit's clunkyness comes from molding limitations. If the basic shape is close, the detailing is fairly simple. That said, these Aurora Bristols are going to see some radical whacking! Stay tuned.

I am looking forward to more pics and your color commentary. I will probably be working on one following your techniques and mods.

Cheers

Decided I needed an additional instrument panel. I could scratchbuild one, which isn't difficult but would consume more time than it was worth. Ditto for reproducing a copy from and Eduard or Roden kit from RTV and casting resin. Maybe if I needed a dozen, but not for one copy. So it was appropriate for a Silly Putty quickie.
Take the master part and white-glue it to the bottom of a container (those disposable ketchup container for french fries — I always grab a dozen when I'm lunch-slumming). The white glue keeps it from shifting and also from Silly Putty creep and is easy to clean off. Get some Silly Putty and get it nice and kneaded and goopy (I give it 10 seconds in the microwave). Dribble it on the part and keep pressing down. Allow the Silly Putty an hour or so to fill the void and level off. Then put the container in the freezer.
Freezing stiffens the Silly Putty but doesn't harden it. Pop out the putty, pry out the master part, set down the mold upside down so it levels without warping, give it a spritz with Zip Kicker then add some drops of thin-viscosity CYA.
Here are pictures of the casting in process. It's not really a sliced yam. You don't have much time before the Silly Putty warms up so don't dither.

This particular brand of Silly Putty changes color during temperature changes, so notice the heat put off by the CYA reacting to the accelerator. Add a couple more layers of CYA, hardened with Zip Kicker spritzes. If you add a layer of tissue it makes the part less fragile. A bigger part, you might add some debris that, combined with the CYA, essentially makes a composite material. Woodshavings and graphite dust from the pencil sharpener work quite well. The main thing is to keep the part from warping. When popping the cast part out of the Silly Putty, the putty will stick to it, but not as well as it sticks to itself. Dab the putty on the cast part to pull up the remaining material.
And here's the CYA casting hit with some primer and compared to the original part. Kind of messy but it can be cleaned up. And it's quick and cheap.

I've decided that there's nothing more discouraging than a nice, clear digital image of your current project. What looks passable to the naked eye looks terribly amateurish under the lens. Sigh. The good news is that the Brisfit had the instrument panel buried fairly deep in the fuselage, so deep that I suspect there is a deadlight on the coaming top to illuminate the panel.
Here are a pile of Brisfit instrument panels. The smaller ones are Krazy Glue castings. OK, I made too many. I'll stash some for future scratchbuilds and roundfile the rest.

Excellent Burl! The repros are very decent. Inside the cockpit a judge would have to use a penlight to find fault. And he would not find too much to fault. I have been doing some checking on that lighting question you posed to me several weeks back. More later.

They sure look good to me Burl.

Before anyone asks, yes, Mike Grant Decals instrument faces and placards. All sprayed with clear flat and then the instruments have Future added for "glass," and brass details tarted up with a Prismacolor pencil. The wooden panel had wood patterns drawn on with brownish Prismacolors before getting a dark wash.
They still need gas leads added to the selector switch in the middle.
The two bigger panels in the bottom of the snapshot are the ones provided by Roden for the Mk. IV.

Burl , love your panels ! Will have to try that with super glue one day , it's a cool idea

You Bristol's are shaping up very nicely so far . I'm enjoying this thread . Looking forward to your next up date

I have found that FlightGlobal.com has a treasure of information, archives going back to 1911, which are available. I have put a photo I pulled from the site in my gallery. It is of a school flight and shows the "painted" cowl ring. Hope it helps. This is a Mk IV.
Enjoy
Captn Tommy

Ne'er fear, I have not forgotten this build. There has been a tsunami-sized sea change in my work situation, plus I got seriously distracted by another build (which is completed).

I am still bedeviled by cockpit issues. The bracing bar for the Vickers supplied by Roden is too short, so it has to be replaced. Alas, that includes the teeny cross braces the breech is cupped within. At least one of my Aurora-bash Brisfits won't have a Vickers at all, whilst another likely sports a Marlin. (Spolier alert!!)

Hi Burl!
your silly putty technique is really interesting!
Also the results are, in my opinion, very good.
It is a great idea and I'll certainly give it a try.

Thank you for sharing!

Ciao
Edo

Detail from the "other project" that seduced me away for a bit....