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:

Here is a question: photos and drawings I have of the various Farman of the 220 family show pilot and copilot seats, one at each side

The kit as we have seen provides only one seat and two little half-wheels seemingly associated with the rudder input. I think that it may not be an accurate representation. Drawings and photos show a simple rudder bar (not pedals) and those wheels may be be serving other function. 

Now it may well be that Azur had access to some photos I don't have so the matter is not completely settled, but the two seats do make sense for such a big and complex plane. The Broplan vac kit also has two seats in the cockpit.

I will be using the pilot's position from the second kit and install it in this model. Then when the time comes to build the second kit both positions can be easily scratchbuilt. 

To deal with the broken small and thin vanes on the resin radiators I finally got a 1mm chisel that did the trick of removing the remains from the base:

Now thin styrene can be used to reproduce them...hopefully:

Today I had a strange experience with the last Humbrol paints I recently purchased.

They would not dissolve (thin) properly with lacquer thinner (Two different cans of commercial lacquer thinner, and one Tamiya lacquer thinner).

I tried four of the paints I bought together very recently, with the same result.

They even gunked my Aztek airbrush. 

The four Humbrol enamel colors in the pictures did exactly the same.

The paints were enamels as said, but I could only properly clean the mess I made with Acetone. Thinners wouldn't really work.

Not sure what's going on here. All elements involved (thinners and paints) were brand new:

The planned airbrushing session for two models is paused until I find what's going on here:

 A few modelers have replied to this, suggesting the use of enamel thinners, which is of course correct, but  I have used lacquer thinner with enamels on all the models you see in this blog, so far no issues... until that fateful day. The answer maybe perhaps that Humbrol has changed their formula again.

The broken radiator fins (1 and 12 respectively) are chiseled away as explained and replaced with pre-cut styrene ones. Not a task that pleased me particularly:

Some molding tabs inside the radiators are removed using a rotary tool (wearing a mask and dampening the area so residue doesn't fly away) and the parts should be ready to install in due time. Photos of the plane show additional details that will be scratched:

Reverted to enamel thinner as my usual lacquer thinner is not working with the this batch of enamels, which means less coverage and longer drying times. In any case this is the base coat for the metal paint: 

 

After the radiators are added to one half, the engine gondolas are assembled:

Even with no locating devices the fit is good, as in general it has been with other parts of the kit so far. Just be careful to join the right halves, as they are sided. On one side of the gondola you will have certain marked locations for the struts, that are different on the other side. 
 

The gondola seams are dealt with and the radiators are adjusted for a good fit (dry run):

The trailing antenna under the fuselage most likely gives away the radioman position. Pity there is no information whatsoever on the interior of this version:
 

Trying to do a little thing every day. As noted somewhere above, the surface of all prop blades pointing back should be black, following photos, and the ones in front aluminium, all with yellow tips. Looking at the plane from the front, the front props (tractor) rotate clockwise, whilst the back props (pushers) rotate anti-clockwise (again, all looking at the nose of the plane from the front):

The radiators are given a black base for the metal color to follow. I will do these in a slightly different hue to add variety:

Acrylic is cut and inserted into the small windows near the nose, leaving the frame intact. The kit's clear parts are too big compared to photos:

Cockpit and inst. pan. in, all a good fit. Door taped from inside so no stuffing with paper needed:

Fuselage sides glued together, good fit needing just minimum tweaking. The circular lid that covers the dorsal position is sided, and a good fit, so put it the right way around:

I went a different way for the interior color than that prescribed in the instructions, which I think only applies to the military versions.  
 
 

To be continued...