Wingnut Wings 1/32 Felixtowe F.2A (Late Version) by Leo Stevenson

Wingnut Wings' 1/32 scale
Felixstowe F.2a (Late Version)

by Leo Stevenson

Felixstowe F.2a (late version)

Description

This is my Felixstowe F.2a (late version) made from the wonderful Wingnut Wings kit.

Wanting to be different, and being a modelling masochist, I thought I'd convert this challenging kit to represent N4543, one of probably only two F2a's that were altered in order to fit a gun position on the top wing.

On the original aircraft this meant that the usual format 25 gallon auxiliary petrol tank was changed so that it surrounded the gunner. I imagine that this extra firepower was useful against the deadly Hansa-Brandenburg fighters that plagued allied flying boats like this, but with them and the notoriously leaky petrol pipes on these F.2a’s the hapless gunner in this position must have been brave beyond words.

As far as I know this particular aircraft is only known from three photographs, one of which shows it in flight, but that image is very poor quality. The two best photographs are tantalisingly numbered "No 5" and "No 6"; so where are the others? They're probably lost in the mists of time, but if anyone out there knows about this I'd be very grateful to know about them!

I have to be honest; this whole conversion project hasn't been easy. This is because I haven't got any dimensioned drawings or information other than the three photographs I mentioned here before. I've had to make measurements based on the existing sizes of surrounding components of the aircraft as interpreted by Wingnut Wings.

With so little information to go on I used some mildly informed guesswork to re-create this gun platform structure. I've started by changing the central wing section as supplied with the kit by sawing out the depression underneath that is the lower section of the 25 gallon auxiliary petrol tank, halving it, and then moving the depressed area of this kit part forward. This depression is meant to take the main junction unit for the petrol pipes. On most F2.a's this unit was adjacent to the rear strut, but on N4543 it was next to the front strut in order to accommodate the space for the gunner’s cupola.

Looking at my reference photographs it quickly became apparent that the conversion of the original aircraft involved making far more changes in this area than I had thought, including many changes to the rigging, the struts, fuel pipes, and the auxiliary fuel tank. These photos aren't much to go on, but every time I look at them I find something new and unusual compared with other F2a's. I suppose kit manufacturers must really closely scrutinize their reference photos in the same way.

After gluing the top and bottom halves of this central wing section together I glued the petrol junction unit in place. When set, I filled that area with epoxy putty where needed and rubbed it down. I then drilled out the circular gap for the gunner, and lined the hole with plasticard.

I had to create my own pipework to connect up to the pipes that are strapped to the front strut. I made this out of 0.5mm copper wire and the connectors were made from two different sizes of brass tube. Copper and brass are the same materials that the original pipework was made from, so it has a natural touch of authenticity without any paint being used. I also carefully cut off the petrol pipes that were on the rear strut kit part and added them as a bundle to the ones on the front strut. This was fiddly, but authentic as far as I can tell from the period photos.

On the top section of wing the expanded 25 gallon petrol tank was re-created with various grades of plasticard and white epoxy filler, more copper wire to represent copper pipe, and an adapted spare piece of photo-etched brass from another kit to represent the little inspection hatch at the front.

In the last year of the war there seems to have been two standard sizes of Scarff ring; a small one for a single Lewis gun and a larger one that could take one or two guns. The top Scarff ring here on N4543 seems to be a hybrid type that I haven’t seen anywhere else; the ring itself is the bigger size but the bungee cord arrangement being of the type seen on the smaller ring. I had to adapt the kit parts to create this and this work included turning two tiny brass rollers on my lathe.

I had to do some polystyrene carpentry, scratch-building the little gondola under the top wing. It’s a bit crude but most of it won't be seen once it's covered with the 'canvas' outer skin that I made from tinted Japanese tissue. I guessed that this little structure would have had wooden containers for the spare Lewis gun magazines and grab handles etc.

There was a little ladder that connected to the fuselage. I've presumed that the plywood walkway that runs over the top of the fuselage would have been extended forward on the port side to avoid the danger of the crew damaging the stretched canvas area that's normally between the walkway and the open hatch. I created all the markings using masks, including the serial number on the tail, and also added some red stripes on the top wing which are barely visible on the original photographs and which were, presumably, to remind the top gunner not to shoot through his own propellers, which would have been rather inconvenient.

Lastly, much of the rigging in this central area had to be changed to accommodate the little gun platform, but I mostly worked on cold logic to tell me where and how this would have been done.

Thumbnail panels:

The things we do to be different eh?

Back to HyperScale Main Page