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From Failure to Failure


06/24

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11 hours ago, Cookenbacher said:

The sooner Winston learns to write the better, his Britmodeller threads are going to be hilarious.

At present he slumbers like Great Cthulhu in his Big Boy Bed, and like Great Cthulhu, he'll arise when the stars are right to cause incalculable destruction.

 

24848890027_efd57d9d22_b.jpg20180115_160003 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

For some reason, both of my children can only sleep head down, butt up, which is pretty much a surefire way to die from SIDS. And yet here we are.

 

In fairness to The Weebs, he insisted on accompanying me outside to shovel the snow that had fallen today, bundled up in about sixty layers and carrying his own tiny plastic shovel. It's fair to say he was about as useful as a chocolate revolver at the OK Corral, but the sturdy little chap not only stayed out the entire time I shovelled, he wanted us to stay out longer and shovel as many other things as we could before we died from exposure (I'm extrapolating here). When I brought him in, he received a hero's reward of hot chocolate, which I firmly believe is earned by anyone who goes out to shovel snow. 

 

Everyone else was in bed by 9:30 tonight, so I got to work on the engines for the Bisley, having definitely settled on using the Airfix parts. 

 

25846408438_715211b14f_b.jpg20180115_225833 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

As you can see, I'm using the resin desert carb intakes from the Barracudacast set here. I'll gussy up the engines with a wash and probably some pigments on the cowl and the exhaust pipes (I did all four, but only felt like popping one in the teeny-tiny light box). The Bisley's exhausts (sometimes) fed into hedgehog exhausts, so I'll have to figure out how to bodge everything together at a future date, once again screwing Future Me until I suddenly become the one being screwed.

 

38820057655_d29bd6c0e4_b.jpg20180115_225904 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

 

 

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Nice picture of Winnie PC - they look so peaceful when they're asleep eh?

Those engines look great and wow, you certainly nailed the collector rings - good job! :)

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2 hours ago, Procopius said:

For some reason, both of my children can only sleep head down, butt up

 

In wedge formation, as it's termed in this household (mine has survived). 

 

Those engines looks the bees knees. Future you will admire the legacy that he shall inherit.

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Mine slept that way too, so I suspect no great harm will come of it.

 

Progress in Scotland is still limited by the fact I can barely get out of bed. I'm bored of being sick now, thank you. But it seems in no hurry to go away.

 

I have glued the trumpet things into the engines, having first opened the end with a drill bit. I've also glued the exhausts into their portion of the engine cover, but I'm afraid that is all.

 

27942102799_cdccbfae3d_c.jpgTrumpets by jongwinnett, on Flickr

 

(I have done both exhausts, honest...)

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1 minute ago, 06/24 said:

Progress in Scotland is still limited by the fact I can barely get out of bed.

Jonners, you're being too hard on yourself. I'm pretty sure a lot more than that is working against Scotland.

 

Oh, very well, I'll get my coat. 

 

The engines look good! I was thinking of painting the engine covers, then adding the exhausts, and then assembling the whole egg to add after painting. I figured that would save masking the faces. 

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33 minutes ago, Procopius said:

The engines look good! I was thinking of painting the engine covers, then adding the exhausts, and then assembling the whole egg to add after painting. I figured that would save masking the faces. 

Thank you kind sir. Highlighted with a HB pencil. I think the pre-painted egg idea would work, just haven't quite sussed how the demarcations would line up. Think I'll fit mine and then mask except maybe the rings, not sure how to paint them at all yet.

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The good news is that I’m starting to feel better, and hopefully will have progress to show later. The bad news is that it has snowed here too, and no one, no one has offered me hot chocolate after shovelling. 

 

Its a a good job I’m feeling better, as 06/24 minor’s school transport had to call off today, so I had an unexpected trip out in the white slippy stuff to get him to school. Had I been at work, I would have been an hour away in the wrong direction by the time his transport let us know they wouldn’t make it (not complaining, they had a perfectly valid reason). So a happy accident as it were.

 

The power eggs are fitted and the cockpit of the Mk1 has received paint. I have had to abandon my plan to insert a crew, the Blenheim was clearly cramped and the lack of squidgyness of plastic crew meant I couldn’t squeeze them in, even after some pretty radical surgery. The kit pilot would fit but as he’s about a scale three feet tall would look stupid...

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Ok Blenheim Brains, a puzzle for you.

 

Take a look at the 107 Squadron machine in post#1. The kit instructions would have me use the twin K gun turret, but I'm not convinced that photo shows a twin gun turret? Are there any other spotting differences which would enable a definitive decision?

 

The Mk I's turret isn't visible in either photo but it's a safe bet that it had a single gun.

 

Thoughts please, brains trust.

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36 minutes ago, 06/24 said:

Ok Blenheim Brains, a puzzle for you.

 

Take a look at the 107 Squadron machine in post#1. The kit instructions would have me use the twin K gun turret, but I'm not convinced that photo shows a twin gun turret? Are there any other spotting differences which would enable a definitive decision?

 

The Mk I's turret isn't visible in either photo but it's a safe bet that it had a single gun.

 

Thoughts please, brains trust.

Hmmm. It looks to me like a twin turret. As far as I know, the Bristol Type B.I turret Mk IIIa and onwards, with the twin Brownings, was introduced fairly early, possibly as early as 1939. I think your Blenheim should have it.

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I'm separated from my sources (well, the one book I have on the Blenheim) at the moment so can't answer for certain but I do know that Airfix didn't see fit to include full Brownings, only barrels for the under nose ones. I daresay that a scalpel and some glue will suffice to resolve the problem.

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On 1/12/2018 at 3:57 AM, Troy Smith said:

nice selection of birds you have there Edward....  :giggle:

 

Sorry,  couldn't resist that one....  Does Mrs P know she's probably on the  way to becoming an unofficial BM pin up?

 

Perhaps  you could curry favor by making a suitable image her into a decal and using to grace nose of  some build?  A method  of flattery combined with a modelling project?

 

 

her ladyship was mildly amused when I pointed out an A-20 called "Queen Julia"

111209070218847069158044.jpg

 

I  even have  the decals.... 

 

Hello Troy !

The way I have a P-47 and an A-26 that are named Sylvia ....

But I also have a Tornado that will be named Amamda Jane, I must hide this one, even if it was time before to meet Sylvia:P

It's a kind of prequel jealousy !

Better, I have decals for a B-17 that sport a pin up which is a real look alike of my wife.

Well, I better start one of these build !

Sincerely.

Corsaircorp

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On 1/12/2018 at 8:09 AM, Rob G said:

If you do a Mrs P pinup, make sure that it's on something lean and lithe, like a Mustang or a Spitfire, not a great lumbering fatty-bum like a B-17.

 

Sometimes unspoken messages sound the loudest.

Ai caramba ! 

I'm dead !!

Sincerely.

CC

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2 minutes ago, 06/24 said:

Would the Brownings have looked approximately like this, but with British flash hider barrels?

 

https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/MINA7226

 

because if so, I have barrels in the stash and can chop up some square section styrene for the gun body?

 

That looks like a ground-based M1919 .30 caliber gun, which looks sliiiightly different than the .303 Browning, seen here: 

 

4512361_orig.jpg

 

6ebadb233f36dd95fe3e0a57d264f180--bristo

 

full

 

 

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6 minutes ago, 06/24 said:

Would the Brownings have looked approximately like this, but with British flash hider barrels?

 

https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/MINA7226

 

because if so, I have barrels in the stash and can chop up some square section styrene for the gun body?

 

These photos might answer your question...

 

6ebadb233f36dd95fe3e0a57d264f180--bristoS

 

6897518315_4bba45cf12_z.jpg 

 

Bolingbroke_Gun_Turret_CWHM_1.jpg

 

 

 

 

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Ok I can fudge scratchbuild something approximate from those references, thanks gents.

 

The Mk I cockpit is just about done - maybe a wash to tone the colours down (and an instrument panel if I remember!) I used the Eduard steel early RAF belts and if anything I think I prefer them to the fabric ones, but they were still a fiddle to fit.

 

39715306222_2e66d47d2e_c.jpgBlenheim Mk I cockpit by jongwinnett, on Flickr

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Just now, 06/24 said:

Meanwhile the Mk I has also had its tail, elevators, ailerons and flaps fitted. The flaps required a procopian amount of clamps:

HAH! I'm not crazy, see!

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4 minutes ago, Space Ranger said:

I have read that the cowlings of the Airfix Blenheim are not the only Bolingbroke-like parts in the kit; namely, that the nacelle shape is more Bolingbroke than Blenheim. Comments?

Correct, they're slightly too large for a Blenheim, and slightly too small for a Bolingbroke. Hyperscale has how to correct them at the end of this review, but it looked an awful lot like work to me. As the MPM nacelles are reputed to be slightly too small, I'm confident that between my two builds, the nacelles average out to exactly the right size.

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5 minutes ago, Space Ranger said:

I have read that the cowlings of the Airfix Blenheim are not the only Bolingbroke-like parts in the kit; namely, that the nacelle shape is more Bolingbroke than Blenheim. Comments?

Maybe. Hmm,

 

I have read that too, but my eyes don't see the kit nacelles as bulbous as the Bolingbroke version:

 

21692691291_9bdbee61cb_c.jpgUntitled by jongwinnett, on Flickr

 

The real thing - the Mk I being a disguised Bolingbroke

 

39747275231_6ef4a348f5_c.jpgMaybe? by jongwinnett, on Flickr

 

The model. To my eye the model isn't as pronounced as the real thing - I believe the Bolingbroke nacelles were bulged to carry a raft.

 

The model may be a compromise.

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