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

[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]

 An interesting aeroplane.

Gordon

[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]

Definitely a different aircraft.

Looks great Lou.

Gordon

[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