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RCAF's 100th 1/72 - Fleet Fort Started 13 Apr 2023 Completed 22 May 2023

Started by lastvautour, April 13, 2023, 02:39:10 PM

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lastvautour

After many requests on Facebook, I finally put some effort towards the construction of a 1/72 Fleet Fort. Few 3-view drawings can be found and all are pretty rough, so looking at as many photos as possible will be necessary.

Lou

lastvautour

Finally moved the Fort to the work bench today.

Lou

Boomerang


lastvautour

Dual canopies and old fashion topside wing struts is a reflection of a much earlier time. 200 Forts were ordered, however, only 101 were ultimately produced. They were not very popular and were relegated to wireless operator training.

Lou

lastvautour

The first coat of primer has been applied. It is quite small for a 1/72 model.

Lou

lastvautour

Although construction spans 6 weeks, actual build time is relatively low. The Fort was designed as a interim flight trainer, however it was unpopular and was relegate to wireless training. 200 were ordered, however, Fleet only built 101.

Roll out 22 May 2023

Lou

Additional photo of my 1/72 Yellow collection.

Boomerang


lastvautour

Thank you Gordon. The above-wing brace is not unique, but rare.

Lou

Gearup

Interesting airplane. I wonder if the positioning of the struts had more to do with strengthening the landing gear geometry given its role as a trainer?
Fraser

lastvautour

Perhaps that is why they needed a brace. The aircraft was too docile for advance training and had a short career.

Lou

Dave T

Never heard of this plane. What drawing did you use for this?

lastvautour

The Fleet Model 60K Fort was the only aircraft designed and built by Canadians during the Second World War[1] and was also the first all-metal monoplane built by Fleet Aircraft of Canada (Fort Erie, ON). It was intended to be an intermediate trainer employed for pilot training between the de Havilland Tiger Moth primary trainer and the North American Harvard advanced trainer. Although it served with the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, the Fort was redundant and was used to train wireless (radio) operators and had a relatively short operational career. I uses these drawings and as many pictures as I could find.

Lou

Boomerang


I should have twigged . Somewhere in my archives there is a drawing of the Fleet from an old copy of Model Airplane News.

Cheers

Gordon

Dave T

Lou, do you have a special trainer yellow color that you prefer? I am looking for a water-based version.

lastvautour

They say it is an acrylic enamel. I use " DA1663 school bus yellow. They also have an excellent primer filler. For touch-ups, I use DecoArt yellow. There are many shades in their line. I chose the darkest yellow they had and it is fairly close. I used it on my Nomad to paint the numbers. I hope this answers your question.

Lou