I have been prevailed upon to write-up the 87” wingspan David Boddington Auster J1 model that I am building at present; my contention was that it was a bog standard kit and would be of little use to anyone but it was argued that someone may find my tale of building it useful.The kit was acquired 3rd hand (at least) but had not been started, it was a kit that was produced before the new wing fixing method (see bottom of New) was incorporated into the kit which makes it about 6 years old at least I’m informed.
The kit is very complete with all parts accurately cut and the wood selection is also very good, obviously a kit put together by a real modeller. It has a proper well drawn plan which is getting rare these days. My only quibbles to date are a part numbering error where two parts have the same number, this is no problem to an experienced modeller but could cause same head scratching for a less experienced modeller – but having said that it isn’t a model for the novice. Also the instructions, although good, are Roneoed and have a very dated look, in a few places they have been modified and are unreadable but once again it’s no problem to an experienced modeller.
When I used to build Keil Kraft 3/6d kits in the 1950’s it was standard practice to build the fuselage sides of strip balsa on top of each other to ensure that they were the same size, the sides of the Auster are also built up of strip but I built them separately, the result being that they were different to a degree that I find difficult to explain however this has caused no problems but ‘next time’ I’d build them on top of one another.
The fuselage has gone together nicely the only problem up to now was achieving the necessary quite sharp curve in the longerons just aft of the cabin as the fuselage sides are straight to the tail, I used a lot of hot water very carefully and managed to get them to the required curve. If I had read Barry’s tip on using ammonia a week earlier the task would have been a lot easier as I gather from Greyhead that it works very well.
Well that’s where I am up to at present; I’ll post an update when the fuselage is complete.