Subject: Re: Modified Execuform 1/72 Fairchild Canada Super 71
From: "Submissions for ARC" <[email-masked]>
To: "claudio luchina" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 15 Jan 2011 11:01:40 -0800

Hi,
I just wanted to let you know your article went on ARC today.  Thanks again for sending it in.

Steve Bamford
ARC Air - Aircraft Resource Center
http://www.arcair.com

Live like there is no tomorrow;
Love like you've never been hurt.
Work like you don't need the money.
Dance like nobody's watching.
Sing like nobody's listening.
Live like it's Heaven on Earth.

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: claudio luchina 
  To: [email-masked] 
  Sent: Tuesday, January 04, 2011 4:16 PM
  Subject: Modified Execuform 1/72 Fairchild Canada Super 71

  Gallery Article Template

  "Modified Execuform 1/72 Fairchild Canada Super 71" 

  by "Gabriel Stern"
  --------------------

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     The somewhat strange lines of the Fairchild Super 71 bush seem to suggest an exercise on making a fuselage out of beer cans. The whole appearance is further enhanced by the shinny finish and the presence of a pair of floats/skis that any bush plane deserving its worth should be able to wear. It was a development of -some say an "invelopment- and shared many components with the "normal" Fairchild 71 of which a kit (a companion on the display case?) can be purchased from Khee Kha Art Products of Snowy Alaska, may be a subject of a future article.
     The Execuform vacuformed kit is a simple approach to the matter, providing the basic shapes, a plan, resin parts that make for the stub wings where struts attach and a vacuformed clear canopy. As usual you will have to get the engine, prop, decals and detail bits by yourself. In the photos you can see the Aeroclub (please, come back!!!) engine, the scratched interior and home-made decals.
     On the Net you can find enough information to build up a reference file so you could add to the model as much detail as you wish. Since you are already at your computer reading this, if you feel curious you can do an Internet search for the type, and the Wikipedia entry will inform you of mostly everything you need to know, sparing me from useless repetition and in the process provoking some of your neurons to fire up thus exercising your brain. You're welcome. 
     The Super 71 that has been restored and is exhibited at a museum shows servo tabs on the rudder. I wasn't able to find anything like that on the photos I have of the original machine; but again, I was able to find about a dozen images, all not great in quality. In the museum the external sections of the wing are separated by a gap, in the original a metal strip fairing covered that gap. There was a time when the Super 71 was on skis.
     Since I have been posting here numerous articles dealing with the building of vacuformed models, all there is to be said has been already said, so I'll keep this one short, but there are a few points to be considered nevertheless.
     The wings are molded as entire sections, upper and lower. The wing has an inverted gull dihedral which is portrayed in the kit parts. The wing halves, in order to have that dihedral, have been located in the backing sheet on a pedestal. It is advisable to mark and cut the wings from the "inside", the other side of the backing sheet, not the side where you usually cut -see images- since the dividing line is more visible on that side. Be very careful with the slips of the cutter, since there is almost no guide line. Do not hurt yourself. Cut a tad further out from the actual dividing line; that will give you some slack to refine and sand later on. 
     There are two front cowl parts, one depicts the more usual "cover-all" cowl, and the other represents one that looks more like a NACA cowl and accompanied in the original an engine shield. Study your reference material, I haven't heard of anybody being hurt while doing that. The original stub wings were partially corrugated, so I decided to scratch them instead of using the resin ones provided. For that I made a pattern and joined part plain styrene sheet and part "corrugated" styrene sheet. The teardrop tips were made from long forgotten kit bombs, I am always happy finding other uses for them.

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     The polished metal surfaces (fuselage) and the silver doped, fabric-covered flying surfaces should be painted accordingly to differentiate them.
     I went for the ski version (although it is not depicted or catered-for in the kit) for several reasons: 
  a) Because I have a tendency to depart from the standards
  b) It requires a bit less struts (so they are limited to only 28 :-)
  c) It adds a color note (wood) to the otherwise overall metal finish
  d) It makes the display of the model easier (no water, no dolly)
  e) When I am pretending to fly the model in the house I no longer have to take off and land in the sink or bathtub, but can use the freezer instead.
     I would like to thank another vacuformed kit maker, Lars Opland of Khee-Kha Art Products, for his help with data about the original plane.
  While waiting for some parts to dry I worked on the decals and got them ready to be home-printed. A new stabilizer was made from scratch in order to be able to show the ribbing of the original. Same for the rudder.
     For the abundant struts on this model brass "Strutz" were used, and a very big "thank you" goes to Andrew N. of the lands of Nottingham, since -due to the shutdown of the Aeroclub Internet store- without his help no "Strutz" would be now among my scratchbuilding supplies.

          
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     The Super 71 was used mostly as a cargo plane, so I depicted the interior with bulkheads, cockpit and floor. Why bother with that if no doors were left open? Well, why bother at all anyway, since the model will be in a landfill in some years anyway? Just because.
     A few battens -gas tank area reinforcements- were added to the lower wing, as well as gas caps on the upper wing. Aileron cable leads and balances were fabricated too. There were two ducts that run parallel on the upper fuselage from behind the engine to the canopy; those were also represented on the model. Exhausts were made from styrene tube and solder. 
     A little bit laborious but worth every hour of dedication.
     As the song goes, it never rains in Southern California -and much less snows- but we live in hope

  "Gabriel Stern"

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  Just delete any of the boxes below you don't need.....it's not important to include them.....they are there to give you an idea of the finished article.  It is best to limit your article to no more than 60 or so photos, so the finished webpage won't take too long to open.

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  Photos and text © by "Gabriel Stern"