Revell H-291 by speedgraflex

[speedgraflex]

Carlos, Lyle, Tom and Mark! Your support means everything to me. Thanks, fellas.

[Stuart]

A great bit of scratch building Bruce!

[speedgraflex]

Good evening and thank you, Stuart. Without your support I would have boxed this kit a long time ago.

[LyleW]

Good evening and thank you, Stuart. Without your support I would have boxed this kit a long time ago.

We are behind you like a nagging spouse! You are not getting a pass on this one! Too much over-the-top, excellent work here.

[speedgraflex]

Thank you, Lyle! You’re too kind but I take in everything that is written here gratefully. Without you, I would not have been able to continue.

Thanks to you, I’ve been able to straighten out areas that were becoming too raggedy and work back towards the finish Revell gave the fuselage. Tonight I’ll spend my project hour giving an overview of the Copper State Models replacement 1/28 scale machine guns.

I need to build at least one now to fit it to the upper cockpit cowling. Since I’m planning to cut down the starboard part to accommodate the firing mechanism, I need to figure out how this worked.

[speedgraflex]

Copper State Models (CSM)

Founded in 1996 in Arizona by Eric R. Hight, Copper State Models (CSM) began as a manufacturer specializing in high-quality WWI aircraft kits, figures, and accessories. Originally focused on multimedia resin and white metal kits, the brand changed ownership in 2012–2014, moving operations to Latvia while shifting to high-quality injection-molded plastic kits, including 1/35 armored vehicles and 1/32 aircraft.

The Vickers guns I’m building were designed for Eric Hight in 1999. As far as I know, CSM offered these specifically for the Revell kits (possibly both the Camel and the Spad) as a detail set. These detail sets are only available on the used market.

[speedgraflex]

Tonight I assembled the kit's version of the guns and gunsight using Mr. Cement hot stuff then used PVA to add those to the gun deck of the upper cowling. Looks to me like the actual guns rested on two tubular metal braces, but I have to check my sources. I'm not able to take a decent photo of the progress here until the PVA sets, but I will add photos. From here I'm going to check the mounting braces/brackets and if so make a few updates to the Revell design to bring that up to date.

Here's a nice shot where you can see one of the mounts clearly:

[LyleW]

Tonight I assembled the kit's version of the guns and gunsight using Mr. Cement hot stuff then used PVA to add those to the gun deck of the upper cowling. Looks to me like the actual guns rested on two tubular metal braces, but I have to check my sources. I'm not able to take a decent photo of the progress here until the PVA sets, but I will add photos. From here I'm going to check the mounting braces/brackets and if so make a few updates to the Revell design to bring that up to date.

Here's a nice shot where you can see one of the mounts clearly:

Man, that looks real! Great work. Good to hear of the progress, better to have pics.

[speedgraflex]

haha, you’re right, I wrote the post first then went looking for photos to see what was really happening with mounting braces/brackets so yes that’s actually one that I found which is also in the book I’m using as well.

It takes about 30 minutes for PVA glue to set up so I’m sure that it’s fully dried and cured. I’ll be able to take photos of the model tonight. I’m trying to understand the pilot to the guns/gunsight distance because it looks like a tight squeeze, even if the pilots of the era were smaller and slighter in build.