Airspeed Envoy "Stella Australis" - RS 1/72nd kit conversion

Here is the ill-fated Stella Australis* finally completed. I have chosen this plane because I love Hawai’i, the intended final destination of its last flight. In a way, we are always about to arrive to Hawai’i as we are always about to arrive to Ixtlán. For the step-by-step building article and some historical notes please go here:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2024/04/airspeed-envoy-modified-rs-models-172nd.html

In spite of RS Model good intentions, you can build this kit into a nice replica of VH-UXY ONLY if you do your research and modify the kit to more faithfully reproduce this machine. If you build the kit as it is, you will still get a pretty looking model -if you are one that doesn’t bother much with accuracy – but you will get a replica that is not really a representation of the original plane. Mind you, some of these changes are quite visible, most notably a completely different interior that includes a long-range fuel tank and a radio station, different back door, a different window arrangement, a ribbed wing (that is, not the plywood-covered one the kit depicts) and partially the color scheme, plus of course some external details like no wing lights, different exhaust ends and other miscellanea).

Still, I celebrate these civil releases, and commend RS for giving us the possibility of building the several civil options they present. To reward them, I bought two of these kits, as I would like to do another civil one, perhaps a civil Japanese machine if possible.

RS provides alternate parts to cover a range of marks for this plane, which as usual produces a bit of head-scratching and parts-juggling, plus some accuracy concerns that need solving. Once again, dear manufacturers: the recourse of slapping civil regs on a military airframe doesn’t make them necessarily accurate. But hey, the good intentions are there nonetheless, which merits some recognition. Regarding the build, some areas will be challenging (the main being the side transparencies engineering), and of course the accuracy issues for almost all the versions you can build with this boxing (again the problem being mostly the plywood wing). I guess we can’t ask perfection form a kit manufacturer, but I would like just a little more research on their part. But with patience, a bit of skill and persistence, you can obtain a nice model from this kit. The long list of comments about this kit, the needed modifications, deletions and additions to make it represent the original plane can be consulted in the step-by-step building post (link at the beginning).

*Stella Australis (in spite of Ulm’s nationality) is not -as erroneously translated sometimes in aviation accounts- “Star of Australia”, but Latin for Southern Star; same as in “Aurora Australis” (opposite to Borealis, northern).

 

Short S.16 Scion II - Dekno 1/72nd resin + 3D-printed parts

 

It’s a joy for the civil modeler when manufacturers like Dekno release attractive types that have been overlooked by the kit industry for decades and decades. Appealing and historically significant in their role, they are surrounded by a halo of nostalgia radiating from the Golden Age of Aviation. The Short Scion came in several flavors. In this rendition Dekno gives us the smooth cowling and high engine position of the II type. Previous machines had the engine gondolas partially underslung, and also there were examples with different cowls and even different engines, as inline DH Gipsy Minors instead of the usual Pobjoy radial, notably in Australia. Some of the Scions were on floats. As we can see, there may be room here for future releases or conversions. Dekno offers at this time two boxings, one for G-ADDV/X of Ramsgate/Plymouth Airport, and another for VQ-PAB (VQ-PAA was a twin sister ship operated concurrently by the same airline) that flew in the then (not the contemporary) territory of British-controlled Palestine, that is, the Israeli airline of the time (i.e. not Palestinian as we understand it today, in spite of the name), covering flights inside what would eventually become the State of Israel (Tel Aviv, Haifa, Jerusalem and Lydda –present Lod). This latter livery is well-represented on the Net with several good photos:

https://www.loc.gov/photos/?q=Palestine+Airways

If you feel adventurous, a few other registrations could be done with the present kit that had the same characteristics and details (with new decals and different color schemes of course), among others G-AEZF, G-ADDV, G-ADDP, G-AEJN and G-AEIL.

In this very nice release Dekno offers what is now their standard approach: 3D-printed small parts, resin larger parts, paper masks (thanks for that, not the dreadful vinyl masks), clear resin parts, and a beautiful sheet by Arctic Decals. There is even a “zipper” decal to add detail, similar in location to the stitches that run for example under the DH89 Dragon. The instructions, well printed, are clear enough, and the build looks fairly uncomplicated.

All parts come bagged in groups, and if anything detaches in transit it’s contained inside the respective bag. So make sure that in extracting the resin trees from the bags you don’t leave anything behind or drop something. All the contents come well protected inside a sturdy cardboard box.

The interior is fully detailed, and so are the engines. All in all, great detail. The cabin door can be posed open if desired. I only found a few very small air bubbles in the cowls, which are remarkable thin and well-molded. Easily filled in a jiffy. Both wing leading edges at the root needed a small amount of putty and sanding to restore a good surface. Some parts (wings, stab) are keyed in a basic form. Many elements have their locating holes already molded in.

Two types of wheel are provided to fit the two decal options. There are a number of color calls for the exterior in the instructions. There are no color calls for the interior. 

The inner side of the fuselage sides showing the interior detail. Cowls separated from their molding "crowns" and carefully sanded:

The Pobjoys. Between the cowl and the front shield little may be seen, so some modelers may opt for showing them "in maintenance":

The cowls are realistic and quite to-scale in thinness:

A few pages from contemporary publications:

The kit uses the Pobjoy Niagara III, but this is a very similar model:

All the 3D-printed parts are removed from their plinths. In the process I managed to break three thin legs, which were easily repaired with superglued stretched sprue:

A few parts are glued to the cockpit floor. Their locations have to be worked a little bit to get a better fit:

 As I do this, I watch and listen to clips of the David Brubeck Quartet. Man, what a treat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Qs1J612nZs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNqzIy-yFwA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7dBplP_PfM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tm-o8GIMtHQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbAoBlWMrao

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6x_xtsOR-7M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnWWC20zm6Q

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHdU5sHigYQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tT9Eh8wNMkw

A home-made lens will replace the kit's nose light rendition, and aftermarket control horns the resin ones provided (not that there is anything wrong with them):

Oh, to look at the serene landscape go by...

The resin parts are washed in lukewarm soapy water and rinsed thoroughly . As always, I use a coffee maker mesh to avoid losing the smaller parts:

Some airbrushing with base colors. The clear parts are washed and given a coat of clear acrylic. Beware that smaller parts (like the nose light) are part of the mold:

Masking, airbrushing of other tones and detail painting will ensue.

Dry-run of the seats, all ok, and dry-run of the fit of the floor. It will need some material on the sides trimmed for a proper closing of the shells. For the rest, all going well. Seat belts still to be added:

As my age advances, two curves meet (unhappily, one may say): 

-my experience grows, as does my materials and tools supply, a good amount of tricks were learned, hard lessons and their teachings acknowledged, and so forth. 

-But the other curve (or counter-curve, one may say), defined by the fast decreasing sharpness of my senses combined with an ever-fuzzier memory and the normal and inevitable increase of stupidity with age, mercilessly intersects the above-mentioned curve in a crossing of doom.

Time to separate the clear resin windows from their pouring block and insert them in place:

Now, this is probably the most difficult task of this build. Cleanly separate, adjust, and plug the windows, one by one. Do it one at the time, so you don't confuse them. To separate them I used a new, sharp Xacto to carefully and repeatedly score at the base, and gently bend until they separate. Them a very mild pass with a fine grain nail polisher/sanding stick:

To have a flat surface against to VERY GENTLY try each window and finally insert it, I used a wood stick:

That will allow the relief of the wing root to overhang:

Thus. Now the windows can be gently pushed in, but not before making sure a comfortable, if snug, fit is achieved with minimum use of the sanding stick:

One by one they are inserted, BUT BEWARE THAT YOU CAN'T USE TOO MUCH FORCE, or the very thin dividers will snap, and you will regret it. PATIENCE, and a slow, accurate adjustment are the rule. The fit of the windows is remarkable good, more accurate that in many injected kits. The transparency of the clear molded resin, even after a bath in floor polish, is ok, but not brilliant. Dedicated modelers may use the windows provided as a pattern and cut new ones from clear material:

This one required a bit more attention. But at the end a whole side was done in less than half an hour, thanks to the basically good fit. Eventually, to secure them, a very thin superglue applied super-sparingly will be used, as the floor polish should prevent fogging (fingers crossed):

Next is the other side:

Then the interior:

And closed. The fit is fair if you did your dry-runs and adjusted as needed, but will need some putty at the seams, as other kits do:

The windshield is the only transparency that in my sample required more adjustment to get a good fit. Dekno has been evolving consistently lately, delivering ever-better kits of wonderful subjects. I think that the only remaining area where some improvement can still be achieved is the transparencies. From certain angles they will look ok, but from some others they will show distortion and irregularities.

Size comparison with the ongoing Fairchild 71:

The kit provides all the needed locating holes. I drilled the control cable exits with a very fine bit. As explained in the photo, the second stab strut doesn't anchor on the fuselage, but goes to a short post underneath the fuselage:

The tail feathers were installed. On my sample these required some minor adjustments to achieve a good fit. But I had to work more than that on the locating devices for the wing-to-fuselage joints, as the molding was not particularly accurate. Even after some work and once the wings were glued (always watching the dihedral) the seams required a certain amount of filler to blend properly. I used 10 minute epoxy for the wings, gluing first one checking until the epoxy set, and then the other, doing the same. As these are artisanal kits, individually cast, you may get a better fit. Milliput will be used to fill the gaps.

The outside of the door on my sample had a minor printing defect, so it will be sanded smooth and the handle restored with a bit of thin wire:

The kit's masks are applied (they are great by the way) and a first coat of primer is airbrushed. This almost invariably reveals spots that need attention:

After a couple touches of putty and a few passes of the sanding stick and cleaning, the gloss black for the aluminium color is airbrushed on all pertinent parts:

I think the location of the fuel caps on the wing is a bit too far aft, so these will be removed and new ones added. Other than that it seems that we have quickly reached the final stages of the build, thanks to the simple but affective approach of the kit.
 

Aluminium on:

 

To be continued...