Airfix Short Stirling with WEM etch

[sprue]

This is an old project that first appeared on another forum before I saw the light and joined this one; the Airfix Short Stirling in 1/72^nd using the White Ensign interior and exterior P.E. sets.

Having seen the the number of Stirlings that have appeared on this forum recently I thought it might be of interest to anyone trying their hand with this old lady.

 

 

 

I decided to start with the wings which have been sanded vac form style on a piece of wet and dry to reduce the thickness of the mating surfaces and trailing edges. First P.E. section is the wing bomb cells and here they are partly assembled and will soon receive a spray of matt black and then the remaining details such as the release gear and the steady arms will be fitted.

Those that are used to Eduard P.E. will find WEM parts more of a challenge as they rely on stiffening pieces as seen here where as a lot of Eduard P.E. is self bracing by the use of multiple folds – there is not too much of that here and without bracing pieces some assemblies will flex.

Thanks for looking

 

Mike

[sprue]

 

A short update today that includes a before and after of the kit wing cells, and the assembled oil coolers.

Till the next

Mike

[sprue]

The completed P.E. undercarriage bays and most of the wing cells. As you can see the P.E. is very flimsy and tomorrow I will have to add some stiffeners and bulkheads to avoid see through issues and structural weakness.

 

I decided that the WEM P.E. looked too flimsy and needed beefing up to look better inside the wheel wells.

 

 

 I also put in plastic card bulkheads to stop see through issues and extra stringers inside the well roof. The oil coolers are tacked in with double sided tape to check fit issues. The photos are before and after shots

 

 

Here’s the base coat of black and interior green and it’s time to add details to wheel wells and landing lights.

 

[sprue]

 

This shows the interior of the port wing with the starboard wing closed up. I’m a great believer in detailing only those parts that can be seen. Hence only the wheel wells will receive more additions later on when the heavy duty sanding is finished and risk of damage is reduced.

 

The kit ailerons are useless and are glued in place with tube cement as were the wings glued together as a strong joint is required to resist the heavy sanding. Milliput was used as the filler and as you can see it sands to a smooth finish. Most of the raised detail has been taken off and rescribing can begin once the blemishes have been taken care of.

 

[bbudde]

Oh that looks nice. I'm in here. Maybe be for your motivation this one:

Cheers

Edited April 12, 2018 by bbudde

[sprue]

 

 

This shows the work done to the wings and tailplanes which is a good deal of sanding using wet and dry with a sanding block and plenty of water.

 

Sometimes the plastic becomes too thin and has to be reinforced with filler. At times I was tempted to build these items from scratch so as to avoid what seems to be the constant problem of the plastic  becoming too thin and unworkable.

 

This shows the wing tip navigation lights made from scrap clear sprue, installed and sanded smooth ready for masking prior to undercoating and painting.

 

This last view shows the work done to improve the undercarriage as the kit parts are badly moulded and lack definition. I’ve used plastic rod and foil from wine bottles. In the end I opted to use the kit engines, I know some haven’t but I think with careful dry brushing and adding a little detail once enclosed in the engine nacelles they will be good enough.

Depending on which drawing you refer to the propellers are either just right in length or 2 mm too long? I’ve left them as is but cleaned up.

 

 

[sprue]

 

 

I’ve been working on the undercarriage the main legs have been replaced with plastic rod and lead foil from wine bottles. The mud guards have been reduced in thickness and extra details added in plastic card. I was thinking of adding more detail in the undercarriage bays but once this lot has been installed you can’t see all that much so I won’t bother. The front gear doors have been fashioned from lead foil while the main doors have been reduced in thickness and will be re-scribed in due course.

 

 

This shows the internal rib detail being added to the gear doors using lead wire.

 

 

Port wing with the landing light detail added and the undercarriage doors awaiting a coat of paint.

 

 

In this view the landing light cover has been fixed and masked off but a little more work with filler is required to make things neat. Hopefully re-scribing can commence soon.

 

 

The undercarriage painted while the wheels await masking for the tyres to be airbrushed.

 

[sprue]

 

At last the re-scribing has begun. I’ve made templates for the wing tanks and ailerons from plastic card held in position with double folded electrical tape. In experiments I’ve found that electrical tape is sufficiently robust to allow a scribing tool to pass along it without mishap. It also readily bends around corners and contours.

 

 

 

 

[Biggu]

Beautiful job on the re-scribing...., what plans or drawings are you using? They look very interesting.......your work on the , what appears to be very delicate P/E looks perfect...  I will be following along with interest for sure...

cheers from very soggy British Columbia

Jeff

[sprue]

 

 

The rear of the cowlings have been thinned using a dremmel tool but in doing this the moulded ring that attaches the cowl in position is lost. Hence a 60thou plastic shim is glued to the rear of the engine block and this allows the cowling to sit slightly forward while displaying the rear thinned cowl fins.

The exhaust stacks require considerable cleaning up but with care they are usable.

The propellers have also been cleaned up and painted and the cowl fronts have been given a light aluminium front edge that is so distinguishable in MkI Stirlings. Then they have been masked and given a home brew of aged copper bronze. Eventually this in turn will be masked for the application of camouflage. The upper part of the cooling fins has been to be cut out to allow the cowl to sit correctly under the carburettor inlet which is atop of the nacelle. The cowl at front left is unmodified for comparison.

 

 

The oil coolers have been fitted in the wheel wells and final cleaning up and weathering in there is about to begin. One thing I noticed about the WEM etch was that the engine steady braces looked over size when I test fitted one and furthermore looking at photographs I couldn’t see any resemblance in the shape. One of them is the brass coloured star shape sitting in the front of the picture. I will replace these with scratch built items probably made with HSP.

 

 

 

 

In these pictures you can see I’ve started work on the cockpit interior. I have to say the WEM etch is very flimsy and needs additional strengthening which hopefully will also support subsequent construction.

One problem after adding internal ribs from micro strip was how to fit the transparencies.

 

Here I’ve done an experiment. The outside of the transparency is masked and is then cemented into place the wrong way round i.e. inserted from the outside. What was the inside of the transparency is now on the outside and can be sanded flush and polished. Hopefully this will mean the interior can be sprayed, and the exterior sanded down and polished. The internal masking can be removed just before the fuselage is closed up.

 

 

In this update I’ve fitted the WEM cockpit floor and it needs considerable strengthening so I used 60 thou plastic card. Certainly the WEM set saves a lot of scratch building but it’s not shake and bake. Introducing internal ribbing also brings fit problems but nothing that can’t be solved

 

The exterior shot shows the fuselage transparencies: fitted, glued, filled and sanded with a final polish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[sprue]

 

A small update showing some of the internal details such as the wireless operators’ station, the navigators’ desk and the pilot and co-pilots seats; the latter were extremely time consuming and fiddly.  I’ve now airbrushed them and when dry I will complete their assembly and addition of cushions.

This shot shows the work achieved on the interior details but most of this won’t be seen once the fuselage is closed up.

Here the bulkheads have been fitted but nothing to the rear of the cockpit can is visible and some parts if fitted e.g. the flight engineer’s and wireless ops seats are extremely fragile and vulnerable to breaking free. I’ve taken the decision to stop any further interior cockpit work as to me it seems pointless if it is to remain hidden.

Closing up the fuselage was not without incident because as I feared etched pieces started pinging free once the clamps went on. I’ve also given the fuselage windows another coat of filler this time Mr Hobby White Putty as it seems to be a much finer grain than my usual Green Stuff.

 

 

Todays work is the cleanup of the fuselage joints, preparation of the forward turret recess for remodelling to a more accurate shape and the test fit of the wings.

The tailplane and fin have been fixed the only thing to remember is that reducing the thickness of these surfaces requires the attachment point to be thinned accordingly. This is easily achieved with an emery board before these parts are fitted.

Surprisingly the kit canopy looks ok as this is a recent mould when compared to an old original which is truly awful. Therefore I will keep the kit one and just polish and future it as usual.

Next will be a wash in luke warm water with a splash of washing up liquid to get rid of the accumulated dust inside and out followed by a primer coat to show up imperfections and then re-scribing of the fuselage.

 

 

[sprue]

 

This picture shows the cockpit interior before I add the seats, the port holes have been masked and once the cockpit and bomb aimers transparencies have been fitted I’ll prime the fuselage just in case anything needs fettling. Then the rescribing can begin.

 

Here you can see the PE seats assembled painted and ready for installation. You can also see the cockpit and bomb aimers transparencies masked and ready for fitting.

 

 

 

 

Just a few pictures of the cockpit to show the interior before the canopy goes on. Also you can see how the front turret recess has been remodelled using plastic card and filler.

 

Before I started rescribing the fuselage I test fitted the front turret and found that it needed quite a lot of fettling. One thing necessary was the near total removal of the moulded turret mount at the forward end of the fuselage which was originally meant to take the movable kit turret which of course is in the bin. The Falcon replacement transparency when combined with the WEM etch is a different kettle of fish. To start with it’s a more accurate shape and thus a little bit bigger.

In this picture you can see the replacement transparencies and the etch turret details. The forward turret needs a new floor otherwise there is nothing to fix the etch detail to.

Next will be a coat of paint and then final assembly of the turrets. All of the kit guns have been removed and will be replaced with Quickboost barrels the mounts have been drilled to take these later. In order to save unnecessary breakages the turrets will be fitted at the end of the project.

 

 

Just a quick update today, these are the turrets ready for installation at the end of the build. The Falcon replacements are certainly better than the kit ones but they do require care both in cutting from the moulding sheet and painting. All of the canopy frames are from decal sheet as the plastic is too thin and prone to damage if using cut and mask technique.

 

 

[sprue]

 

Today’s update is the work on the bomb bay and bomb doors which in the Airfix kit are devoid of any detail other than a number of 500LB bombs to fill the empty cavity. I’ve thinned the parts down and filled in moulding marks; then using micro strip I’ve tried to create the impression of internal ribbing and on the inside faces of the outer doors I’ve used left over P.E. hand rails from a naval project from years ago. I think under a coat of paint they will look convincing as ribs.

 

In this update the tail wheel undercarriage bay is complete apart from painting. The original Airfix offering is on the left and is bound for the bin. The bay doors have been fashioned from the kit parts that represent the closed position. Simply they have been cut in half reduced in size and thickness and detailed with micro-strip to represent ribs. The Stirling rear undercarriage bay was actually divided in two and this I’ve tried to represent. Next is a coat of paint and I’m now considering attaching the wings so as the wing joint can be made good.

 

 

It was one of those sickening moments; I picked the model up and could hear that death rattle from inside the fuselage that signalled something had come loose. Nothing for it but bite the bullet and remove the canopy to see what was amiss. Luckily the canopy came away cleanly and the loose part was the co-pilots seat. This has now been reassembled but this time with araldite rather than super glue and when set the canopy can be reaffixed without issue. The cocktail stick is a temporary support.

 

In this picture you can see the wings and tail surfaces are now fixed in place just waiting on final cleanup before painting begins.

 

At last real progress as the base Dark Earth is applied and when dry the camouflage outline will be lightly pencilled in ready for free hand airbrushing of Dark Green.

A quick update today, first coat of the Dark Green camouflage is on, another coat tomorrow.

Today the final coat of underside black has gone on. I prefer Humbrol Black Satin 85 I find it gives a smooth finish and Klear takes to it very well.

Once the paint has dried the masking can come off and doubtless there will be retouching to do.

The masking is off and tomorrow I’ll begin retouching. The canopy masking needs minor repair but all in all a pleasing result.

In this update the decals have been applied using Micro Set solutions. I’ve used the Airfix decals as supplied in the kit and despite being printed by Cartograf I came across a most unusual problem in that some of the decals simply would not separate from the backing sheet even after 20 minutes or so of soaking. In the end the point of a No10a blade had to be employed to lever up an edge followed by careful use of a sable chisel shaped brush to free them from the backing. There afterwards so far no problems. After overnight drying I’ll check for silvering otherwise it will be a final coat of Klear before the weathering.

Front left of the picture you may be able to make out  two of the bomb carriers as supplied by WEM, there are about 25 in total and will be added to the bomb bays in due course.

 

 

In this update I’ve started the weathering which I’m going to keep fairly subtle although it has to be said the early Stirlings suffered very heavy weathering.

 

Exhaust stains will be applied after the flat finish and then it’s back to the undercarriage and   hopefully she’ll be up on her wheels very soon.

 

 

 

Today’s update is the application of the flat finish and when dry I’ll airbrush some exhaust stains and then some final details.

In this update I’ve fitted the undercarriage and removed all masking. The masking method I used on the windows allowed me to reshape and resize the fuselage windows to make them more accurate.

You can also see my method for fitting the main wheels; here I’ve removed the axle hubs from the kit legs drilled and fitted them onto rod which then slides into the scratch built main legs capturing the main wheel on the way; thus making for a very firm structure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In this update the wing bomb doors are ready for fitting and the bombs are under preparation including scratch built fins from lead foil courtesy of wine bottles. The drill shank is used as the former for the fins.

 

 

Some final details added to be followed by the inevitable retouching here and there. I might tone down the bombs a wee bit more and I’ve left some of the carriers empty so as to show off the WEM P.E. pieces.

A little more work required around the engines and exhausts and the aileron actuators but the construction phase is now complete.

This completes the seris I hope people find it interesting and of some use.

There's still life in some of the old Airfix warriors.

 

Mike

 

 

 

 

 

[sprue]

1 hour ago, Biggu said:

Beautiful job on the re-scribing...., what plans or drawings are you using? They look very interesting.......your work on the , what appears to be very delicate P/E looks perfect...  I will be following along with interest for sure...

cheers from very soggy British Columbia

Jeff

Hi Jeff

I'm pleased you like my effort. As for the plans it's quite a while ago since I did this one and I can't remember where they came from. However the Short Stirling & RAF Bomber Command Forum • Index page have plenty of information and were very helpful to me.

Best wishes

 

Mike

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Like that a lot!  Great stuff.  

[Martian]

A marvellous build with some stunning etch work!

 

Martian

[Airgunner]

Yep, beautiful work on one of my old favourites. Great finish, looks just right..

[elger]

Really great work. Makes me want to build a Stirling.

[Kev The Modeller]

Lovely build I've got fond memories of the one I built as a kid

[bigbadbadge]

Wow this is a splendid model. Great work and love the idea for the fuselage windows too. Thanks for sharing. 

All the best 

Chris 

[Tomoshenko]

Stirling work....okay I'll get my  but I couldn't resist it. Seriously fine modelling and lovely scratch work. Good techniques on display too.

[CedB]

Lovely job sprue - I've got Stirling envy now too

[matteo44]

Fantastic work!