The
Aircraft
The Fairey Rotodyne was a
compound helicopter of unprecedented size at the time of it's first flight on 6
Nov. 1957, having originally been ordered by the then British Ministry of
Supply, later the ministry of Aviation, in August of 1953.
A
development of the earlier Fairey Gyrodyne
prototypes, which had established a number of British helicopter records, the Rotodyne
featured a large rotor powered by air bled from two wingtip mounted Napier Eland
turboprops, using the rotor for vertical take-offs, landings and hovering, while
full power was applied to the tractor propellers of the turbo props for forward
flight.
The first
flight using the tractor propellers was on
10 April 1958
, while on
January 5th 1959
, the Rotodyne established a helicopter speed record over a closed circuit of
307 km/h. The prototype Rotodyne was a three-crew, forty-passenger machine,
itself a remarkable achievement for it's day but on the acquisition of Fairey,
Westland Aircraft proposed to develop the Rotodyne into a production aircraft
capable of carrying between 57 and 75 passengers and using two of the new 5,250
shp Rolls-Royce Tyne turboprops to give a cruising speed of 370 km/h, and the
ability to carry up to 6.700 Kgs of freight including standard-width British
Army vehicles.
However,
an initial order for twelve production Rotodynes for
the Royal Air Force did not materialize, and after initial interest from British
European Airways, the state owned domestic service and European international
airline, did not develop into a firm order, the project was abandoned in
February 1962
Preamble
As
every one knows, here on ARC, I have a big soft spot for the Fairey Rotodyne, so here is a build review of my first
Rotodyne,
so to give all who are interested an insight to how this old Airfix
gem builds up!
I
had never even heard of the Fairey Rotodyne
prior to a big box arriving from the
United
States
for me last year. My
US
friend Mike, armed with the knowledge I was semi-interested in unusual, esoteric
aircraft, included the Airfix 1:72 scale Fairey Rotodyne amongst the more conventional kits in the
box.
What
was a Rotodyne?
Keen
to learn more and impressed by the box art I went to the modeller’s
friend, the internet and did some research. I rang Mike the next day to thank
him for the box and told him that construction on the Rotodyne
would begin promptly.
The
Kit
The kit was originally issued in 1959, back when Airfix
produced several new kits a year for the keen modelling
fraternity of the day. There are over 100 parts in the kit, including 21
transparent parts. The kit parts are moulded in
light grey and are festooned with all that lovely oversize rivet detail that Airfix
is renowned for. Dry fitting indicated filler would be required in several
areas…More on that later!
One
decal option is provided, along with an instruction sheet. Painting instructions
using Humbrol paints are also provided, so a
conversion chart is a must.
Click on
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Construction
Assembly
started with the cockpit. Airfix provides a
simplistic instrument panel and centre console with instrument panel decals
giving the required details. I painted the instrument panel and console flat
black with the cockpit floor, rear bulkhead and seats dark grey. Not much can be
seen of the cockpit interior so I opted not to add seatbelts or detail the
instrument panels further.
The
completed cockpit assembly can be inserted into the fuselage after they are
joined together. This proved to be an excellent way to go as joining the two
fuselage halves were a problem. I could line up the top surface but not the
lower and visa versa. There was going to be no way of getting both upper and
lower to work at the same time. I decided to get the upper surface even and fill
the lower to remove the seam. My theory was that the lower surface was not able
to be seen without lifting the model!! I
added weights behind the cockpit rear bulkhead as this bird was going to be a
tail sitter in a big way if not added!
Before
the fuselage halves were joined together I added the rotor hub, cementing that
into place as I wanted to be able to remove the rotor assembly whilst
transporting the finished model. I sprayed the interior with flat black and
added the 20 oval windows, the windows were carefully reinforced with superglue
to prevent them falling inside once the cockpit halves were joined. Yeah,
right!!!
The
clam shell rear doors were cemented shut. Gaps caused by the non-installation of
the provided door mechanism. This mechanism allowed the doors to open and close
“toy style”. The door halves also were different sizes and needed careful
filling and sanding to achieve a good fit.
The
remainder of assembly proceeded smoothly and rather quickly, with only small
amounts of filler required to smooth out ill fitting joints. As the lower half
was going to be natural metal, seam line removal and silky smooth plastic are
mandatory. At this point I cleaned up, polished and masked the canopy. The
cockpit was cemented into place and the front wheel well painted in flat black
then the canopy was offered up to the fuselage and cemented into place with
clear parts cement, reinforced with a careful application of liquid cement. A
small amount of reshaping and sanding had to be done to smooth out the join of
the canopy windshield to the fuselage.
The
wings and tail assembly attached to the fuselage with only a small amount of
filler needed to fair over seams. However a lot more work was required to clean
up each wing engine assembly before an acceptable result could be readied for Tamiya
AS12 Natural Metal.
All
the minor parts such as the undercarriage legs and bay doors needed cleaning up
to remove flash and seam lines. Perhaps Airfix could
have invested some more money in cleaning up the mouldings?
Painting
and Decaling
Now
that construction was finished I could settle down to masking fun and painting.
I started with a white primer, base coat overall. For white schemes generally I
use Citadel “Skull White” spray cans. These cans have 3 times the amount of
a Tamiya spray can and cost around $15 from Games
Workshop or Games World stores. In my opinion they are the best hobby spray
paint on the market, giving a fantastic even coat in minimal passes.
When
the base coat dried I masked off the wings and tail assembly and sprayed Tamiya
AS12 NM. Masking and spraying continued until all the base colours
were on. I then polished the natural metal areas with SnJ
polishing powder. Peeling away the masking revealed the previously painted white
areas and the glazing. While removing the Humbrol Maskol
on one of the side windows it FELL IN!!!! Once I had calmed down and my wife had
made me a cuppa, I decided the best thing to do was
to make a new window out of some clear acetate sheet. This was done and after
some tense moments successfully installed. Now I have a Rotodyne
with a rattle!!
I
painted the cockpit framing Humbrol French Blue,
which proved to be a near perfect match for the decal stripe colour.
Whilst
all that paint and repair work was drying, I spent some time cleaning and then
painting the four exhausts. Painting exhausts is straightforward, spray a base
of flat black and dry brush Model Master metallic paints to give the exhausts a
weathered, heat stressed appearance. The Model Master metallics
are very thin and dry brush really nicely.
I
painted the rotor assembly with Citadel metallics,
washed with a raw umber oil wash to give a used look.
Wheels were painted and the propeller spinner covers carefully painted Humbrol
French Blue.
The
flat white paint was then painted over with several thin coats of Johnsons
“Future” in preparation for decaling.
Airfix
offer only one decal choice, XE 521 that flew at the Farnborough Air Show in
1958.
These colours are a simple white/natural aluminium
and French blue. I was a bit concerned with the decals as they were slightly
thick and matte in appearance. The fuselage stripes come in 6 parts and I found
it was best to work from the front on each side and work to the rear. The decal
stripes going around the clam shell rear doors needed some careful slitting and
use of decal solvent to make them snuggle down. All the other decals snuggled
down to the surface details fairly well with some applications of decal solvent.
Colours were in the main dense and look great
against the white and natural metal. I was most impressed at how easy they were
to apply and to position.
Once
the decals had dried, I applied another couple of thin coats of “Future”
with a clean wide flat brush, kept specifically for the task, to seal in the
decals and to impart a gloss finish overall.
The
problem with using sealers with natural metal aircraft is that the metal look
tends to disappear. Funnily enough “Future” has no effect on the appearance
once applied to natural metal finishes and I have used this successfully in the
past.
I
then added the painted wheels to the undercarriage legs and the over thick
undercarriage doors were cemented into place. The final task was to add finished
Rotor and the two propeller assemblies and my Rotodyne
was finished!
Overall
This
kit embodies all the things that make modelling such
a fun and rewarding hobby. Not a shake and bake Tamigawa
offering certainly, but once all was done the Rotodyne gave me a great sense of satisfaction and pride. One
question remains, with a 400mm rotor span, where am I going to put it?
Good
fun!
On
impulse I entered the Rotodyne in the Civil Air
category in the 2003 WASMex (Western Australian
Scale Model expo), to my utter surprise it took gold.
Currently
I am building a “what if” QANTAS Rotodyne with 3
more future Rotodynes planned, including a military
version.
References
World
Aircraft Files
Madmike
Click on
images below to see larger images
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