Stearman Hammond Y-1S, Avis 1/72nd

 

(The completed model can be seen here:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2021/11/stearman-hammond-y-1-avis-172nd-with.html

Oh, the joy! I have been buying and building Avis' civil releases as soon as they are out, I love them! This recent release had me smiling for weeks, anticipating the arrival of the box. I love esoteric, I love civil, and I love Golden Age, so be Avis praised with much praise! This is a very nice kit, with  appealing decals. I have had a folder for decades on this one, and unlike some other Avis' strange planes releases, I did not scratch-built it yet, for which I congratulate myself, as now the hard work is done for me.

For those unfamiliar with Avis, here are some of the ones I built:

Stout Skycar:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2021/07/stout-skycar-172nd-avis.html

DH60 Gipsy Moth Arctic:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2020/10/avis-dh60g-gipsy-moth-coupe-seaplane.html

Lee-Richards annular wing:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2020/03/lee-richards-annular-wing-modified-avis.html

Bristol M.1D:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2019/11/bristol-m1d-racer-avis-172nd-scale-with.html

Short Cockle:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2019/08/short-s1-cockle-avis-172.html

Bristol Racer:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2019/08/bristol-type-72-racer-modified-avis.html

Short Satellite:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2019/08/short-s4-satellite-avis-172nd.html

American Gyro Crusader:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2018/07/american-shelton-ag-4-crusader-avis.html

Mig Utka:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2015/04/avis-172nd-mig-8-utka-completed.html

Stearman-Hammond box contents:

Fine and abundant detail:

Photo-etched parts, always a smart touch:

Vinyl masks, inferior in my view to paper masks as they tend to unstick during painting, but you work with what it is given, and better any masks than no masks at all:

Good-looking transparencies

Appealing decal sheet:

Good surface detail:

Contents came in one bag, but I re-bagged things separately, to avoid decal and clear parts scratches:

And finally, as if Heaven have heard our prayers, good instructions with small parts depicted in LARGE drawings, and not in illegible, inaccurate and confusing  miniature sketches, well done Avis!

Now modelers can clearly see what they are supposed to glue and where, phew!:

Will this be a tail sitter? I don't think so, but keep an eye during the build in case weight needs to be added somewhere:

 An interesting article from Aviation Week 1936:

And a page on Stolp-Adams, the "Repair it Yourself" service for which one of the decals option caters:

One interesting thing about building many kits in parallel, is that you can compare them fairly and side by side. Whilst the Amodel Gulfstream G-550 (that I am also building and posting here) small parts' molding and fit are very so-so, and some times (especially the fit), is less than so-so, the similarly-produced (short-run) small parts of Avis are a pleasure to handle and build, and even have more detail in the same scale. Whilst Amodel again (and I quote myself from the other build here) ascribes to the "More or Less Here" school of graphic instructions, and the well-known "Meh" school of fit, Avis has locating devices for most parts, especially the small ones, and, surprise, everything fits as it should. Here a view of the smallish parts, both sides:

They are easier to remove, clean and fit, than the AModel parts by a long way:

The wing and booms' halves are glued together, as well as part of the cockpit. Those booms have on top and forward some fine and small features where the top of the landing gear suspension parts go, do not obliterate them thinking they are flash, but the very little pips you may see may be a mold mistake, as the parts that go there have pips themselves, and actually need holes to be glued in:

Avis has been growing and learning since their earlier kits -unlike other kit manufacturers: smaller gates, strategically and cleverly located to minimize damage, extraction and cleaning, a good sprue layout, intelligent engineering, no sink holes, all this makes for a pleasant build, not one you struggle with or scratch your head every two steps. Well done Avis, so far, so good. 

I can see some omissions: the locating holes for the booms' two pips are not marked or molded on top of the wing, nor their location outlined, which is a sort of inexplicable oversight. So also is the fact that the main landing gears legs are located way to forward, instead of aligning with the features on top of the booms (see where the step is explained below). The modeler will have to carefully measure and mark the positions of the booms, with or without the pips (that is drilling holes for them or just but-joining the booms over the wing). The next omission makes itself evident if you want to pose the doors open (which is what I will do, as they are separate parts and the interior is well detailed for the scale), but there are no masks for the interior side of the doors' windows (there are, though, two other masks that for some reason cover partially the lower part of the doors, perhaps to a paint a two-tone upholstery), which again will have to be provided by the modeler mirroring the exterior masks (or the modeler can carefully re-use the masks). The very tiny pips on top and forward of the booms over the locating feature for the suspension heads are a mistake or a mold defect, as the parts that go there do have pips themselves, therefore holes may be drilled, or again the parts but-joined removing those upward-pointing very tiny pips.

The wing ailerons were added. The wheels are readied for painting, and the cockpit is ready for basic painting too (seats will be painted apart and then added). The prop came without an axle (in spite of the instructions' drawing), thus a metal one was provided after drilling a little hole for it:

The main and nose landing gear legs are all three to the left of the wheels, that is, the main gear doesn't have -the way we are used to- a symmetrical leg arrangement. The kits has two sets of LG legs, the two photos I have of the Stolp machine are not very good and I am not 100% sure of which style was fitted. More on that later as we advance with the build.

There are a few details missing for the Stolp machine (and some others) that may be added by the modeler: 

1) Stirrups (one per door) 

2) Pitot (in a little mast on top of air duct above the fuselage)

3) Venturi on top of the nose

4) A small blister on top of the duct above the fuselage

5) Mass balances for the ailerons, prominent and protruding forward and diagonally downward as clearly seen in photos of the real plane

6) Short ventral fuselage antenna, and a long one going to the left fin 

7) An added small lip/hood in front of the air duct, possibly to improve airflow to the engine and thus refrigeration

A very loose dry-run of the fuselage-to-wing joint; both have U-shaped "lips" that sort of kiss, and the fit is good:

The landing gear options and their parts:

The illustrations show a leg also on the other side of the landing gear, which is inaccurate, as seen in many photos of the real thing:

Time to clean and prime the nice P.E. fret. This covers the inst. pan., the radiator (the plastic part inside the air duct that supports it also has a mesh molded, so it's actually optional), and the prop for the wind-driven generator (a spare is provided):

I think this is an illustration from Flight magazine. It shows and additional flap lever that you can add to the cockpit if you wish:

The interior  does not fit well, it rests in several locating tabs, but will need some sanding to get a tight fit. In my sample, the ceiling of the cockpit-plus-radiator that is also the base of the air duct needed severe sanding to fit inside the duct as it should, in order not to collide later on with the windshield:

A a few passes with the sanding stick were needed in these areas to get the fuselage halves to close tightly:

I also reduced, carefully, the thickness of the plastic inside the air duct:

The exhausts are drilled to add depth:

A few parts ready for the first airbrushing session:

The other set of LG legs, that is greyed-over in the instructions' sprue layout as not for these versions, looks a bit feeble, and one had a short pour. Looking at photos of the Stolp machine, I believe it used a faired nose leg, and unfaired main legs, so it is possible that I will have to combine both options in my model:

Going back to the unmarked position of the booms, in my case the holes for their locating pips should be at 37.5mm from each other, and at 3.5 and 10mm from the trailing edge. If you want to remove the pips and just have a butt joint, the external sides of the booms align with the panel line engraved on the wing:

The interior is airbrushed in neutral grey. A number of small parts are individually painted in their respective colors:

 After WW2, Kaiser took an interest on the Stearman-Hammond, and developed a streamlined modern version of it, called Kaiser-Hammond. Here are a couple of 1946 Aviation Week pages on it:

Here is a article (American Machinist, 1938) on the fabrication of the Stearman-Hammond:

The cockpit is ready. The instrument panel will be readied too so the interior can be enclosed by the fuselage halves: 

The photo-etched instrument panel doesn't have the usual accompanying film, so the surface where it goes is painted light grey, given a layer of clear acrylic (to simulate the dials' glass and provide adhesion), and the panel pasted over. I went ahead of myself and painted the interior before installing the aft windows, therefore I will have to mask them inside and out, glue them on, and airbrush the interior area again. As mentioned before the masks unfortunately do not provide doubles for the interior of the cockpit, but strangely provides a mask for the rest of the door instead, unnecessarily so. Masks will have to be home-made for the interior of those aft windows and doors. But you are OK if you pose the doors closed:

The transparencies are given a bath in acrylic floor polish:

 Making the masks needed for the interior of the clear parts:

The Pitot is made (one spare):

The smallest resin Venturi from Croco will be used:

The kit comes with two pips to represent the nav light at the wingtips, but of course they fall victim to the necessary sanding of the leading edge seam. Stretched clear sprue, tips rounded and painted with permanent marker will be the replacing those (a spare set is made, as they tend to jump to the Twing Dimension):

Very carefully small holes for them are drilled at the wingtip:

Flattened wire is used for the stirrups, and their position drilled. Two exhaust tubes are prepared to be later inserted in position:

Aileron mass balances. Flattened wire, small dollop of white glue flattened when set:

The side back windows are now in place. Beware! They are sided! the fuselage has a little curve that they follow. As explained, now they will masked and the interior paint re-applied to cover their frames:

Paint sprayed on interior and doors from the inside, and once the masks are off, the interior can be placed:

It was stated above that the interior had to be trimmed off in order to fit inside the fuselage. Do not forget to make the air duct base (cockpit ceiling) to go all the way into the duct (severely trimming the half-circle mesh part) or it will interfere with the windshield. Same goes for the instrument panel, that will need quite a bit of conforming and trimming (aggravated by the fact that there is no locating mark for it). I guess we modelers have to resign ourselves to the fact that almost all interiors of short-run kits are oversized. I just closed the fuselage halves and it wasn't as easy as I would have hoped, but with some extra trimming it was done. Check and re-check. I had shaved off some material, but more had to be shaved for things to work, helped by clamping.

My sample had a slight draw-in of the line of the flap mold underneath. It does not bother much on the external panels, but it's noticeable in the center. I can see online other kits that seem not to show this feature:

The area is "cordoned off" and puttied:

A combination of paper circular masks and vinyl annular masks is used for the wheel hubs:

This thing is so beautiful. Here the prop (in the background) has been masked for painting the tips red, and two fuel caps have been added. I think that next I will add the fuselage to the wing to facilitate tidying of the seam, and lastly the booms and tail:

The area is smoothed out:

Good dry-fit:

User a grid to align the tail group, and check that the stab is parallel to the center wing panel:

These features are part of the main gear oleo strut arrangement, that had a very long travel to easy landings and avoid bouncing. Needless to say, the main gear should project under the wing in the same location, but Avis didn't see this...

...and located the main gear way too forward. The new location is drilled, again in alignment with the oleo fairing features on the booms. This is a bad miss on part of Avis, but fortunately easy to correct:

This is how long those oleo struts traveled up and down:

I replaced with a home-made article part 8, most likely the white nav light:

Taking advantage of an unrelated painting session, the wheel tires are airbrushed:

Landing gear is on. I ended up using, as per reference photos that show a fairing only on the nose, a combination of the kit's landing gear options. Notice that the elevator is sided, and that the trim tab goes to the left (looking from above and ahead, with the plane in a normal position on the tarmac), that is, the tiny molded actuator goes underneath it. Some photos show that tiny actuator being not in the center, but almost touching the boom, but I left it alone as my photos of the Stolp machine are not clear Re. that:

The plastic part that represents the curved mesh that closes the fuselage after the engine could be substituted by actual curved metal mesh, formed over the plastic part, trimmed to fit, painted, and then the structural metal strips done perhaps with painted decal paper or painted aluminium foil. Not sure I will be using it, but it's an option for the more adventurous:

First coat of primer. A few spots to touch up. By moving the main landing gear legs back, not only an accurate model is achieved, but we avoid tail-sitting. The balance is actually indifferent, you pose it nose down as it should be and it stays that way, but it you tip it back, it tail-sits:

The white color is applied, without forgetting the doors. I painted the prop tips red at this point, instead of waiting to do it when painting the red area of the fuselage, because occasionally (ahem...) I forget painting the ancillaries:

The white color is masked, and the red applied. The masking was interesting, to say the least:

Masks removed. Now to add all those little bits:

Aileron mass balances, ventral antenna, and wheels are added:

Photos show the tail regs at the end of the booms. It reads N15522. The kit offers the tail regs also as NC15522, and the full reg only for the wings (WRONGLY placed for the wing top in the instructions). But it's unlikely the the reg would be N on the tailbooms and NC on the wings, thus I removed the C from the wing reg decals:

The reg as applied. The decals are very good, but for the same reason super-thin. Careful handling and plenty of water -and no tearing or folding over!- are a must:

The modified reg decals are now in the right position on the wing (do not follow the instructions on that). The home-made Pitot, engine cover mesh, exhaust stacks and three nav lights are added, as well as the kit's prop and wind-driven generator, plus an aftermarket Venturi on the nose. Since I corrected the position of main wheels, the model is not just more accurate, but escapes the fate of tail-sitting:

Last to go in will be the doors, home-made stirrups, and nose decals. The latter were cut in sections as they are part on the right door and part on the nose: