Tthe company that built the Antoinette were reknown for their lightweight engines, I felt it appropriate to try and accurise the kit, with plastic tubing...
Whilst the kit provides the two fuel tanks, they are somewhat smaller than they should be, (check out the small brown object, in the picture) and the water tank, for the water-cooling system, is omitted altogether.
Given the fragility of these early aircraft, I felt the supplied undercarriage was just a little bit too...er....'chunky'. So I scratched a replacement, using fine tube and rod.
The linen was painted with H178 British Scarlet, which seems to be close to the 'dark orange' suggested. One coat was enough and I was pleased that the inner framing still showed through.
From the "Early Birds" series, the plastic suggests the thing was made up with 2x4. Most of this will be hidden with paper, but I'm still thinking about refining the pieces a tad, so as to try and emphasise the fragility of these pioneering aircraft.
I spent some time researching the engine and, as a consequence, added detail with plastic rod.
Controls for this aircraft were the following;
Two large wheels, either side of the cockpit, for directional control.
A rudder bar.
Two small wheels, for controlling the engine.
An on/off switch!
The kit supplies the two wheels and a rather basic seat. The wheels were too small, but worked well enough for the engine control wheels. I also swapped the kit seat for a nicer looking Aeroclub item.
For the larger wheels outside of the cockpit, I butchered a pair of spares from the Spare Wheel Bank.
Spent some time, carefully sticking the supplied paper to the frames. I used Serious Glue and made sure that it was spread thinly over every piece of framework.
I then ensured
