Farman 223-1 F-APUZ - Azur 1/72nd

Above and below: the liaison flights with South America

The plane as it looked for the 1937 Istres-Damascus-Paris race:

 After completing the really challenging and extremely poor Couzinet kit, I thought I deserved a break, and went for this other remarkable French machine that was also used to carry the mail over the Atlantic from France to South America.

When I first saw the kits of the various versions of the Farman 220 family released by Azur in 1/72nd scale I was ecstatic.  In time I acquired, quite by accident, two of those kits.

These were appealing machines: unusual, large, of elegant lines, historically relevant and just plain awesome. For me the bonus was that there were two special connections: F-APUZ -one of the boxings- flew to Santiago de Chile via Buenos Aires -where I was born- from France, and also participated in the Istres-Damascus-Paris race, for which I already had modeled other participants, two Savoia Marchetti SM79s, a DH88 Comet and the Fiat BR.20:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2015/04/savoia-s79-corsa-adaptation-from-172nd.html

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2015/04/savoia-marcehtti-s79-corsa-completed.html

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2018/08/fiat-br20a-istres-damascus-paris-racer.html

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2024/11/de-havilland-dh88-comet-g-16-istres.html

Since this kit promised to be quite an endeavor, the boxes were stored until the time would come to honor them.

I have seen some nice models built from this kit on the Net, which leads to the next matter:

After studying literally hundreds of images, newsreels, publications and documents, I am of the opinion that the main color of 223-1 F-APUZ was some hue of silver grey (in line with what was being done at the time) and not the color stated by the kit's instructions. I have seen so far only two models painted on what I consider is the right tone, and I am planning to paint mine silver grey. Contemporary models of the Farman 220 family in Air France colors show them painted silver and blue.

The engine gondolas are normal metal color, though.

Fellow modeler and friend Alain Bourret has written a detailed article on the released kits, pointing out to some things that need to be corrected, as it is the case with most kits. Two issues of Air Magazine were dedicated to the Farman 220 family and published coinciding with the kits' release.

The 223-1 kits I got have detailed cockpits but no interior, and I could not find anything about that matter in years of on-and-off searches. The fuselage in any case only has very small circular windows, but the nose transparency provides a partial view to an empty space. I may open the fuselage door as it is shown that way in many photos (it opened to the interior, unlike in other planes).

The kit has a very nice surface and proper detail, but more can be added if desired. The molding is clean and the edges sharp, with a bit of flash here and there. There are no locating devices whatsoever, which in the case of the larger parts (fuselage and wings) and the complex engine gondola strut arrangement, will surely make life interesting. The box includes a few resin parts for the engine area. Mine were partially damaged in transit and will be difficult to repair.

The parts once separated from the sprues and cleaned up. Don't do this if you feel you may have trouble identifying the parts later on:

 Large decal sheet covering three subjects, looks well-printed:

Resin parts damaged in transit. Some of the small and thin radiator fins were broken due to not very smart packaging:

Care is needed to extract some of the parts, and then some cleanup is in order:

The forked part with the peg was either a short pour or broken in transit (as it is supposed to be symmetrical), with the missing bit nowhere to be found:

The wings will need some detail added (aileron linkages and such):

Some of the windows will have to be opened by the modeler, according to the version:

The transparencies are thick but reasonably clear. The window count for the nose part is different for the two versions of F-APUZ (Istres-Damascus race or transatlantic flights). More on that will be explained later:

As usual, some reading material, from the Gallica repository and other sources to whom we should grateful to. 

The Istres-Damascus race:

Transatlantic flight:

Some of the small details like antennas and such vary from the Transatlantic version to the Damascus racer, besides the windows:

The box art inaccurately depicts the nose windows for the transatlantic postal flights...

...as that version had a double row of windows:

The racer -with a single row of nose windows- had the race individual "code" (F2) on a white background on the fuselage sides and wings:

 Paradoxically, on the other side of the box (profiles), the Transatlantic machine is depicted with the right windows (double row), but the racer isn't! (should be single row):

The door on the kit's fuselage side is inaccurately located about 5mm ahead of where it should be (as well as the circular window associated with it). Photos also show that the door had a rectangular window:

In pencil where the window and door should be:

As a military version is also covered in the boxing, a dorsal position is provided, that needs to be plugged:

The kit provides the part:

Two horizontal tails are provided, the one to the right is to be used for the civil version:

There are a number of parts (indicated in the instructions) that will need to be fabricated by the modeler.

 

A few parts are glued. The narrow door on the bulkhead after the cockpit is opened:

 An issue with the landing gear alignment was discovered looking at photos:

The geometry in the instructions is wrong, the lower part of the LG supports should be straight in relation to the arched part:

As photos clearly demonstrate. The shock absorbers are the ones that should be at an angle:

Thus the gluing of the parts is modified accordingly:

Notice that I am assembling the LG BEFORE closing the gondola sides, as I think it's easier than adding all the fiddly parts once the gondola halves are glued together.

 

Some details were spotted in photos:

These parts apparently are not included in this version. The wheel axles are drilled to better receive the retaining parts. The 12 prop blades are refined and they should be attached at the proper angles to their axles:

The landing gear in progress. I repeat, according to photos (not the instructions) the straight alignment is on the lower set of reinforcement parts, and the oleo struts are the ones that should be angled. Notice the repairs on the pilot's stand which came a bit mangled:

AND for those of you who like references and a glimpse into the past, here is a clip of the Paris-Buenos Aires flight:

https://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675057736_Paul-Codos_Le-Bourget-Airport_flight-to-Buenos-Aires

Notice the antenna array with masts above the cockpit and wires going to the tail. I remark again that details varied from the transatlantic flier to the racer.

The LG assembly presents some conundrums. The wheel goes inside a fork that needs to be pried open (without braking it) and then this is inserted inside a second fork already part of the structure. The best way to do this is to paint the wheels and "metal" parts separately, then proceed to assemble them. DO NOT glue everything and then try to insert the wheel, you most likely will break the assembly:

 Below is the right assembly sequence ONCE ALL PARTS ARE PAINTED separately:

 

 

Remember that all the wheel axles NEED to be drilled to accept their forks' pips.

Notice that the tail wheel fork comes in two parts. All these need to be painted again separately, as trying to pry open the glued fork to insert the tailwheel will most likely break the assembly.

The cockpit assembly ready to paint in the basic color before adding details that are painted separately. You can see the cut and posed door to the fuselage back:

The exhausts are sided. Their ends were drilled. They are angled down and point a bit down too:

So many of the fins are damaged on both radiatiors, have to think how to repair them:

The gondolas are of course not as detailed as the originals, but still fair to a degree. Many details can be added looking at photos. The exhausts at the back were not grouped as molded, but in two sections instead:

This is a kit made by people proud to do a good job in many aspects. The fit of the interior parts -almost always an area that requires a lot of adjustments in most kits- is perfect. All goes in well and halves can be joined without a problem. A lesson to be learned by a loooong list of manufacturers:

This is what a nice X-acto tool box used to looked like. Like many things from a time now gone, they were not manufactured in china to lower standards. In this particular case, please especially notice the quality control tag, by Petra Figueroa. Also from a time when this country respected and rewarded hard workers, no matter where they came from, and offered them a path to a better life

Location of mass balances, aileron linkages, Pitots (three in total, two o the left struts one in the right), and the wind-driven generator under the nose:

Detail to be removed, circular window not for this version, and pilot holes on the other circular windows:

The needed openings are completed, a door is fabricated:

fins are cut from very thin styrene. The next problem to solve is how to cleanly remove all the damaged fins that need replacement without breaking the adjacent ones:

The wings present a banana effect that has to be dealt with before gluing the halves:

Photos do show dihedral, but with LE and TE perfectly straight.

I pulled the resin engine radiators from the second kit to see if they were undamaged, but they too had many fins smashed/broken. These items needed to be better protected by the manufacturer.

Most parts are glued to one side of the engine gondola. The fit again is good, but the parts that depict the engine fronts can benefit from a slight sanding around their edges:

It's unclear in the instructions, bu the wider and longer shim-like detail should point downwards:

The instructions have you attach the blades to the axle (no locating devices). The pitch is unclear and photos should be consulted of the front and back props. Now the existential choice...

To pin or not to pin...

Given that the blades will need masking to paint the black back sides and that some friends sometimes try to give the glued props a spin (yes, I am talking to you, David), I decided for the pins. It sounds worse than it was:

The props assembled:

So far I am very pleased with the quality of this kit; the molding is clean and sharp and the fit good too.

Although the trailing edges were thin, I used cabinet scrapers to thin then even more:

Tabs are used to make up for the lack of locating devices. A ceiling and a floor were added in the area visible through the opened door:

Dry run to make sure al the tabs and additions don't hinder the fit:

Once the wing halves were straighten -which took some convincing- they are are glued. As mentioned, spars will be added as the kit does not provide other option than a butt-join, which is a risky proposition:

I have to revise my previous statement of no locating devices. It's true that the main components have none, but the tail struts do have them, besides the tabs of course on the interlocking LG parts. All those holes are drilled just a smidgen bigger for a more comfortable fit:

Here is a newsreel about the Istres-Damascus-Paris air race, just a brief glimpse of the Farman though.:

https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/152973/

 I mentioned somewhere at the beginning that I had seen two examples of modelers that also choose a sort of aluminium/greyish color finish, here they are from the Net. The Alamy image is from a museum I believe, the other I don't recall who was the modeler or where I saw it:

The enormous flaps of the Farman deployed. Pity there are not good photos of many of these details, so they can't be reproduced accurately:

There were very small teardrop nav lights on the wingtips, above and below:

The build is being somewhat hindered by the fact that I need some supplies from abroad, and the stupid tariffs of president stupid and his stupid ass-kissers are making things impossible. All this while I see on TV the sad spectacle of his pathetic but dangerous version of the brownshirts: ICE. Not to mention the military occupation of American cities. Wait.... did I say...

Well, it's being increasingly more difficult to keep calm as the Moronic, Incompetent, Useless, Vindictive, Violent in Charge plunge the country into an unthinkable nightmare. In truth, not being able to get modeling supplies is absolutely nothing compared to the damage they are doing everywhere to every aspect of society.

To be continued...