Popular Post general melchett Posted September 21, 2015 Popular Post Share Posted September 21, 2015 (edited) Hi all, in June I was asked by AMW to build the latest re-issue of the ancient Airfix Halifax B.III and bring it kicking and screaming into the nineteenth century as well as upgrading it to current Airfix standards, (huge hint to Airfix there). Not a terribly easy task in the time allotted, (4 weeks) but one I was only too happy to have a bash at. Funnily enough it was the first heavy bomber model I built as a nipper so it also has a nostalgic connection for me. The old Airfix kit is of course, like me totally ancient, both of us born in the same year, 1958 and though a decent enough representation for its time it is in desperate need of updating. The kit has several faults, (besides the obvious rivet festoonfest and toy like moving parts), such as lacking a bomb bay, very little by way of interior detail, nose slightly undersized, engine nacelle 'intakes' too wide and awful Select-a-glaze semi-opaque glazing to name a few...so my work was cut out. The finished model appeared in the July issue of AMW and I outlined there most of the things that were necessary to bring it up to snuff. List for anyone interested included.... Totally scratch-built cockpit and forward fuselage nav/ wireless operators stations. Scratch-built turrets and interiors Squadron replacement vac canopies and turret glazing Total surface rescribe Dropped flaps Scratch-built ailerons and elevators Wingtip position lights and under-wing landing lights Quickboost gun barrels Scratch-built bomb bay and doors Scratch-built main wheel bays and spar detail Resin replacement wheels Scratch-built main undercarriage legs and retraction struts reversed as they are the wrong way around on the kit to facilitate the 'retraction' gimmick. Acetate upper hatches and nav/wireless oppos windows Nose reshaped with Milliput as per drawings and re-profiled Engine intakes lined with 1.5 mm Evergreen strips to reduce diameters 4 scratch-built resin carbs to top of engines Scratch-built Hercules engine facings with lead wire detail Inspection hatches added to the wings. I'm sure there are a few other things but I'm losing the will to live ! The decals that come with the newly re issued kit are superb and adhered well to the kit without resorting to any fixing solutions. Finished using my Iwata Micron CM-C plus along with the usual Gunze, Lifecolor and Tamiya acrylic paints, weathering with oil and white spirit washes, MIG weathering pastels and Paneliner washes along with AK Interactive enamel Green/ Brown camo filters. The airframe isn't heavily weathered as per a request from AMW. The aerial wires are from Uschi elastic thread...the fine variety. All in all good fun but quite time consuming...almost certainly guaranteed to force Airfix into producing a new kit , (I know Revell has theirs coming and though I've had a look at the test shot it'll be interesting to see what they finally come up with). I bought it along to the Sutton show and many thanks to all of you who were so complimentary about it. All good practice for my 1/48th FM B.III I have waiting patiently in the wings... Cheers all, Melchie... A couple of images taken during the build...... The new cockpit, part finished with the instrument panel, overhead bracing, wiring and seat yet to be fitted And bomb bay...more plumbing to go in along with all the doors and their actuators. Wing bomb doors needed to be scribed too... Finally we get to the model....about flippin time I hear you scream ! Edited September 21, 2015 by general melchett 93 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Bird Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 Are you sure this isn't a test shot of a NEW Airfix kit? This is flippin' amazing! This bears little resemblance to any builds of the old Airfix kit that I've ever seen. Wow. And all in just four weeks...really superb craftsmanship, General. Keep amazing us with your projects - we love them! Cheers, Bill 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_W Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 Speechless... Thats a proper Halifax, square fins and radials. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivan-o Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 What a beauty !!! Lovely job done there and it only took you four weeks? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Dyck Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 What an excellent piece of work. You can be proud of it! A real masterpiece! Also superb pic's. Best regards Andy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zhizhou Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 I saw her at the Sutton show and along with the Whitley the halibag looked absolutely stunning. I would not have attributed this model to Airfix if I had not recognised it as the AMW feature. Your build work and finishing is out of this world. cheers, Zhizhou 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HL-10 Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 This has to be the best looking British bomber, and you have done an incredible piece of modelling on this old kit. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
12jaguar Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 Blimey, you wouldn't believe it was the old Airfix offering, lovely job there Melchie John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
general melchett Posted September 21, 2015 Author Share Posted September 21, 2015 (edited) Strewth that was quick !...thanks guys, as always your kind comments are very much appreciated. Bill, thanks my friend and fellow detail nut, it was a lot of fun to chuck together, I think the time constraint actually worked in my favour as I had a few others to get done at the same time so it had to clear the local airspace quickly before other builds could land. I think there's a lot of fun to be had from doing up these old kits.....now where's that old Hampden ! John I agree with you..personally I always preferred the look of the later marks. Thanks fellas......Zhizhou thanks, you really should have popped over for a bit of a natter and a cream bun ! (the mirage table looked amazing !). Hey John how you doing ?...I know its not a Stirling, (have to wait a bit longer for one of those)... but it is another heavy...cheers. Edited September 21, 2015 by general melchett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimHead23 Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 That is absolutely fantastic! Like you I built her in my youth and tried to upgrade the kit about twenty years ago but this is amazing. All in four weeks? That shows tremendous discipline. A truly inspirational build. I love to see these old Airfix kits in a 'new light through old windows' type of way but this looks pretty much like a state of the art tooling. Well done that man! Regards Jim 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Boak Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 "...almost certainly guaranteed to force Airfix into producing a new kit ," With such a fine example they may be more likely to think they don't need to. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
occa Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 Are you sure this isn't a test shot of a NEW Airfix kit? This is flippin' amazing! This bears little resemblance to any builds of the old Airfix kit that I've ever seen. Wow. And all in just four weeks...really superb craftsmanship, General. Keep amazing us with your projects - we love them! Cheers, Bill LOL Bill, I almost was about to post the same reply then I saw yours. What an unbelievable result !! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GREG DESTEC Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 Incredibly good, you'd never know it was the old chestnut. Very well done. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
general melchett Posted September 21, 2015 Author Share Posted September 21, 2015 Thanks again chaps, Jim, not sure about discipline......I'll have to check with the memsahib before agreeing to that one ......but yes they are a lot of fun to work on. If the shapes are pretty good then just a bit of TLC is usually what's required for these prehistoric antiquities......it just gets a bit much to swallow when newer kits need the same amount of work. With such a fine example they may be more likely to think they don't need to. Graham....funnily enough that was my first thought immediately after posting the comment, hope it doesn't put em off ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val_Ukraine Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 I have no words! Breathtaking job! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WildeSau75 Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 Very nice build of a not often subject. Like it a lot. Cheers, Michael 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevej60 Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 If you had posted that and told us it was a test shot of Airfix,s upcoming new tool we would have fell for it hook,line and sinker,got out the keep net,fired up the barbie, broke out the knives and forks and tucked in the napkin! Outstanding!!!!!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
general melchett Posted September 21, 2015 Author Share Posted September 21, 2015 Thanks folks, ....Steve..I wish it was......would have saved me the job, (though not quite as much 'fun' ).. ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
batcode Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 superb Halifax, looks fantastic .... been tempted a few time to wipe the dust off mine and build it... after seeing this I may have too... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VMA131Marine Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 (edited) This is a beautiful model! We can only hope that the upcoming Revell kit looks half as good when it is released. One small nit, the flap angle and hinge point do not appear to be correct. The Halifax, like the Hampden, had Handley-Page slotted flaps. You can kind of see how these work in the linked image: http://adg.stanford.edu/aa200b/airfoils2/images/flaptypes.gif The slotted flap is shown in the lower left corner. Since the hinge point is below the lower surface of the wing, the flap moves down and back when operated to open up a slot between the wing and the leading edge of the flap. The slot gets bigger the more the flap is deflected. You can see the hinge points in the linked image of the Halifax preserved in Canada: http://www.williammaloney.com/aviation/RCAFRoyalCanadianAirForceMuseum/HandleyPageHalifax/pages/38HandleyPageHalifaxFlaps.htm The only picture I could find of a deployed flap is of the unrestored aircraft at Hendon. I assume that the flap is still attached and the hinges are undeformed: https://www.flickr.com/photos/peteredin/7946356112 It's not clear to me what the maximum flap angle is, but the cockpit indicator looks like it goes to 80 degrees By the way, you can find pdfs of the Halifax Pilot's Notes (and many other aircraft) at the following link: http://forum.warthunder.com/index.php?/topic/170185-british-aircraft-pilots-notes-also-commonwealth-aircraft-too/ These notes have useful images of the various controls and panels as well as operating limits and procedures. Very interesting reading. Edited September 21, 2015 by VMA131Marine 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bordfunker Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 That is an amazing looking build, and even more so given the provenance of the base kit! Truly stunning in every way! Karl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knight_Flyer Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 An excellent build and looks great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spad Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 Oh my! That's a little beauty there Andy - stunning piece of work and quick too! I agree with the comments above - this was probably the best looking heavy of the time! Thanks for showing ATBRick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
general melchett Posted September 21, 2015 Author Share Posted September 21, 2015 (edited) Thanks again fellas, glad you like the old beast... Cheers Rick, yep she was quite a machine.....and extremely versatile, flying with Bomber and Coastal Command, Special Duties units, glider tug, air ambulance, general troop transport, armaments and test trials aircraft at Boscombe Down and Farnborough and finally as a civil transport (Halifax and Halton|). Not a bad CV.... VMA131Marine.....thanks for the comments and links, the flaps could be deployed at up to 90 degrees and were quite often seen at this angle when powered down. I have many photos showing this feature, looks quite odd though. The rear of the inner nacelles disappeared inside the main nacelle body at these acute angles. Here are a few shots to show the angle, (I always try and do my homework before cutting plastic. .One of the perks of our Bomber Command sig archives) Thanks again... Melchie Edited September 22, 2015 by general melchett 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grayson Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 Melchett. Some people build kit models, some people can create scale models, but few can take a kit of indeterminate quality and create a scale replica. I know the frustration of the original kit and you've taken this, applied Zen, subtracted gnarrgghhh, applied skill, research and understanding of your subject and delivered a sublime example of this Marque. K'NOCKED MAH HAHT OFF! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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