Not all my models survived their cardboard box incarceration intact. This is what was left of my Avro 504K.

A shame because it was one of my favourites. Fortunately it was only missing the skid and a few inter-plane struts, so I decided to replace these with sprue. While researching I discovered there was a 504N conversion kit available from a manufacturer called Kora.

The “N” had a radial engine, different undercarriage and no skid. I formulated a plan.
As the Airfix 504K was still readily available second hand, I decided to buy another kit and a Kora conversion. This would provide a new undercarriage and skid for my original one.
This second kit was acquired.

It had three decal options: the light grey one on the box art (Egypt 1920s), another grey one for Sweden in 1924, and an olive drab First World War one preserved at the RAF Museum in Hendon. As I had seen the one at Hendon I decided to buy a third kit and model that too.


Then, the more I looked at the box art the more I liked it, so a fourth was bought to build the No.4 Flying Training School, Abu Sueir option.

I began to repair my first one (E4342) and build the second “Hendon” one (E449) together. In retrospect this may have been a mistake.
The “new” kit was identical to the original other than the colour of the plastic. The fuselage halves fit on these kits had never been corrected since it was introduced in 1967 and remained terrible. Add to that the numerous ejector pin and sink marks meant there was a lot of filling to be done – times two. While waiting for the Tamiya Putty to harden I made my next mistake and started on an Airfix P-51D. The idea was just to do some prep and paint the cockpit sides etc. While I had the paint out, why not do the same to the Italeri P-51D in the stash? I now had one rebuild and three new builds on the go. What started out to be a more efficient “production line” method soon had me bogged down. However, I stuck to it.
After a while I had both 504 fuselages filled, sanded and ready for paint. I had deliberately left E4342’s sides untouched as I wanted to preserve as much of the original kit as possible. Imagine my disgust when I masked along one side and removed some of the serial number in the process. A hunt through the decal box turned up a sheet of serial numbers, but the font wasn’t quite right! Oh well, I’d worry about it later....
When I decided to get back into modelling, I spent a lot of time being inspired by Googling how the experts did it – including our own Zac Yates. One thing I decided was that rigging 1/72 bi-planes was a bridge too far for me. However, despite my urge to “crack on” I soon found myself buying a reel of 6lb fishing line, a 0.5mm drill and some super glue. What followed would try the patience of a Saint, but is worth it.
It isn’t a complete rigging job – more of a token gesture - but enough perhaps to convince the eye without cluttering the look too much. I also cut and “posed” all the control surfaces on E449, and just the elevators on E4342. This was a first for me, but I’ll do it sparingly.
While buying some other second hand kits I was offered another 504K sight unseen and thought, “Why not?” I was delighted to find it was an original issue!

This solved my decal serial number problem, and provided another example to add to the squadron. Maybe I’ll build F9753 too.
So, after a lot of interruptions and wandering concentration, both E4342 and E449 were finished. I’m pleased with the result, but they consumed more time than I care to admit. Perhaps the first build after my fifty-year sabbatical should have been something less challenging. I’ll get a few monoplanes under my belt before returning to bi-planes - and then maybe a single-bay.
But I still love Avro 504s.....



