Andy G

Thanks guys. Not had chance to work on her this week and I’m off on a big bike ride tomorrow. Hopefully I’ll get some modelling done on Friday and catch up with you then. Andy

Thanks for linking my build Benedict. It will be interesting to see what features the old girl throws at you Eric. Mine seems worse than the samples I built in the 70s, but that could be rose tinted glasses. Andy

Firstly apologies for the radio silence over the last couple of weeks, I had a show to get ready for last weekend and this week I've had a very pleasant upturn in business which turned what was planned as a relaxing week into a busy one - can't complain though. There has been some steady progress this week. Firstly the crew are all painted. Basically followed Stew Dapple's process but haven't reached his standard yet The bomb aimer's window has had some dissolved putty applied to blend the rear corners into the body. The wings and the tail are on Putty has been applied to the engine nacelles and to the wing fuselage joints. The wing joints were quite wide even after inserting strips of microstrip into the top of the joint in an effort to fill some of it up. I think I've found a better way of using the Mr.Dissolved Putty. Previously I had been leaving it to go off for a bit before cleaning it up with a cotton bud and IPA (more wasted drink!). For the wings it was cleaned up almost as soon as it was applied and this seems a much cleaner way of working with it. Trying to line anything up on this plane is very tricky as everything is wonky I don't think it's a problem with wear as the two halves of the fuselage met reasonably well apart from the very front but if I get the top and bottom seams lined up vertically the bottom of the fuselage is far from flat. Hoh hum, not a lot I can do about it, nor want to with the new mould on its way. Further work this morning, not yet photo'd has seen the canopy and turrets kleared, the stabilisers fitted along with the pilots. I've tried to clean up the sprue damage on the cockpit but it hasn't been particularly successful which is annoying with it being smack in the front middle. The pilots each had booster cushions of 30 thou plasticard fitted and painted before being inserted into their office. The cockpit was then pva'd into place and is currently drying. The stabilisers were unsurprisingly odd. The starboard stab took 30 thou of plasticard glued under the tab before it touched the sides of the slot in the fuselage. The stabiliser was glued into place before attention turned to the port side which fitted well right from the start. Whilst the port side seemed to fit well it was subsequently found that whilst the starboard side elevator joint was roughly at 90 degrees to the fuselage the port side pointed backwards quite noticeably if viewed from above. Straightening the joint out produced a gap of about 4-5mm at the rear edge. I took the pragmatic view that I didn't really know what the underlying cause of the issue was and it wasn't that apparent unless looking directly down on the tail plane. It was therefore glued up sharpish. Next up will be blending the stabilisers and cockpit glass into the fuselage and then masking for an investigatory coat of primer, I can't see me getting away without some remedial work after the primer.

I'd like to follow along on this one, if that's ok? Thanks for the link to Flypast. If I remember correctly there's an account of the events in Hunter Boys.

Chopping the aerials off like that - you learn something new everyday, thanks. Mind if I tag along. I’ve got one of these in the stash having watched ‘Southern Comfort’ being thrown around the sky like a fighter at Caernarfon Airport a few years back.

A mammoth session last night and today has seen quite a bit of progress though it seemed quite slow at the time. Firstly things got quite ugly last night with a gradual build up of Mr.Surfacer to give something to file at in front of the bomb aimer's window. The window had been masked off and PPP applied and cleaned up around the other three sides. The PPP will need more work as it is quite rough and is tending to dissolve as I try and clean the window up tonight, a job for Mr.Dissolved Putty I think. Whilst the different applications of Mr.Surfacer were drying I took to rubbing back the geodesic representation on the main wings and stabilisers. Once this had been done I then scribed the panel lines - leading edge panel on wings and stabilisers and wing tips, trailing edge and flaps on the main wings. This morning I set to with the files Quite pleased with how that is going. I don't think it will ever be perfect because everything is so misshapen, but it's certainly an improvement on the starting point. The extra splodge of Mr.Surfacer has been applied after the turret was tried to see what work was required to get the very front looking better. It took quite a lot of work to get the turret to fit and actually split the fuselage in that little sticky out bit at the top. The parts that Airfix intended to trap the turret by were sawn off, then the base was filed and then some more and then more etc. etc. Then the top of the fuselage and then the bottom until eventually something like this was obtained I thought it was nearly done, but clearly the camera thinks otherwise. A bit of filing to the starboard fuselage to level things out and also sort out that extra bit of Mr.Surfacer. Tail end has been dealt with as well, though not quite as extensively The main wings have had plenty of work done on them. The ailerons have had all of their work completed and have been glued in place. Realising that it would then be time for the engine nacelles I had to to make a decision about the surface detail as rescribing the leading edge panel was going to be easiest without the nacelles in place. I decided to stick to plan A and partially (I hope) sanded back the detail and then scribed the panels. The nacelles have then been glued on and the port side has had Mr Dissolved Putty applied and 'cleaned' up. A bit of work was done on the locating pins between the two halves of each nacelle and the resulting joins are not too bad. So everything was going swimmingly. Let's see what the engines look like Oh! Hmmm, probably best described as 'vague' and definitely 'orrid! Time to go completely away from the original plan. I have in the stash two Lancaster BIIs that are destined to become a Manchester and a Lincoln at some point (it's Woody's fault!). More importantly, they won't be needing this Airfix have even nicely moulded the propeller hubs even though the Lanc has them buried in spinners. Cruel comparisons 2018-03-03-21-39-17-031 by Andy Goodman, on Flickr To be fair there's about fifty years between the moulds and the Lancaster cylinders could still be better - no, I'm not going there! The exhausts will clearly need to be addressed as they are different between the two planes. If I've got this wrong somebody please let me know, though it will be a while before the engines get fixed on. Fixing the wings on won't be far off but lining them up is going to be tricky as the fuselage is misshapen and wonky, trying to work out what to take as vertical is going to be a challenge. If there are no head on photos at the end you know it didn't go well. So plenty of fun has been had with filler and files and there's plenty of cleaning up to be done before the primer is broken out.

The main overtrees, i.e. not the conversion set, are showing as discontinued :-(

Hi Martin, I'm not sure how much of the surface detail is going to be left. The original plan was to just rub it back a bit to tone it down, but it's gradually disappearing in places. I may wait until the first coat of primer is on to make a decision. Looking at photos of the real thing the fuselage ribs are noticeable but the wings not so much so I may rub the wings back and just scribe some of the panels - leading edge, wing tips, flaps. If it wasn't for the nostalgia trip with the upcoming new edition this may well have been side tracked almost straight away - but I'm not being beaten now. The pilots are definitely the peer over the dashboard variety. Hindsight shows that I should have put the office on top of its locating block rather than in it and also moved the seats forward, I think they are too far back in reality. What I'll probably end up doing is packing their backsides with hunks of plasticard - sounds painful! Glad you are enjoying it, I'm certainly enjoying the challenge even if the end result is not going to be 100% accurate. Andy

A bit more progress in the sanding, filling, bodging into shape process over the last couple of days. The sink mark in front of the office looks to have been dealt with I'm reserving judgement on the office floor sink mark until I've got a coat of primer on it. The bomb aimer's glass has been Futured and glued into place as best I can, this is going to take some work with various fillers. I've also done most of the work needed on the port aileron - removed the pips from either end and extended it with plasticard that has then been filed back to shape. The wing itself has had strips of microstrip glued to the edge and then filed and sanded smooth, all with the aim of lessening the gap. The port wing is the lower. The aileron isn't fixed yet and appears to have moved - the left hand end doesn't actually have a gap! The aileron may yet be sanded down as it is proud of the wing. The horizontal stabilisers have been dealt with along with the elevators - ejector marks are thankfully on the lower side. The port stabiliser is a force fit into the fuselage but the starboard has a good millimetre of slop. It looks as though the front of each elevator are going to need a bit of dressing. Finally, the stuff of nightmares The bomb aimer's window and the front of the fuselage are going to take a fair amount of work to rectify / blend in - I may be sometime ....

Pete, I definitely prefer IPA over White Lightning, though the closest I've got to the latter was being in the bottling plant but not a drop passed my lips, unlike the former. My recollections are also completely devoid of these horrors. Memory may be using rose tinted spectacles but I'm pretty sure Dad didn't have to drill out the turret gun slots and I know I certainly didn't on the later build as I wouldn't have had the means to do it in those days. It's been a busy few days but I've managed to grab some modelling time here and there. The fuselage has now been sealed up and Mr.Dissolved Putty applied along the seams. Sealing it up was a pain trying to align the two halves. I did it bit by bit, lining up the two halves and applying the MekPak by capillary action before waiting for it to set and then moving on. It didn't take very long for each section but the combination of the black plastic and the 'ribbing' made the alignment very difficult to see. I wish I'd put some plasticard alignment strips on the inside particularly in the bomb bay and just behind it as it would have made the lining up much better. Top view with Mr.Dissolved Putty applied The round splodge in front of the cockpit is a sink mark. It's since been smoothed back and then a lot more Mr.Surfacer 500 applied as the Dissolved Putty was quite weak even after being left overnight and rubbed away very quickly. Also the area affected was much larger than I originally thought. At the rear of the fuselage you can see one of the joyous highlights that I have to look forward to. The lower fuselage after a first round of sanding I've since discovered that Wellingtons did not have symmetrical bomb doors so I can't get away with a seam down the middle of the bomb bay - more Mr.Surfacer, more sanding. The two circles to the rear are sink marks and again the Dissolved Putty was soft and has been topped up with Mr.Surfacer The office floor location block has caused a rather noticeable rectangular sink mark on the outside The short shot trailing edge of the port wing has been dealt with by applying Mr.Dissolved Putty all along the upper edge. Thankfully the lower wing was complete and was able to be used as a guide/support for the putty. Once set the upper wing was carefully filed and sanded back. Quite pleased with how this bit is coming out Not so pleased with this bit - Under side of the starboard wing complete with partially removed finger print. Finally the Dissolved Putty has been applied to the leading edge of both wings. The photo shows before and after sanding (port is the sanded wing). Right, off to find some White Lightning and spare sprue to make a stronger putty.

Thanks for the comments guys. I had a feeling that ‘waist’ was the wrong term or possibly an Americanism. Cracking photos Andy. I think there are some details missing from the inside of mine 🙈

Nice model, cracking photography. Really realistic angles.

Sounds like a nice little project. I’ll interested to see how this develops.

I checked that the pilots could be fitted after the fuselage was sealed up. Well, let's just say they may well need to sit on a box to see out the front of the cockpit.

Ian, feel free to tag along. I've been dipping into your Battle every so often - wow! Almost taking the kit as a good place to start a scratchbuild from. Dennis, welcome, plenty of space here. The main points I'm finding with these older models are Find one or more filler that you like. Get a good supply of abrasives and files Plasticard is your friend. Check how the glazing fits - too wide or too narrow, it's easier to sort out early on rather than later, Remember to laugh at how bad they are I've just done a Lightning F3 as a prop to go on my trade stand. It's a good job it is only a prop otherwise it would have ended up in the bin as the nose cone ring and the front fuselage were completely different shapes. Strange as another kit of the same, bought at the same time doesn't show the same issue. Progress over the last couple of days has been a bit slow as I'm getting ready for the South Cheshire Show on Sunday and have my wife's birthday and then wedding anniversary over the next few days. But progress has been made and a disaster hopefully averted. Pushing the windows into the fuselage showed that they stood proud of the outside so 10 thou evergreen strip has been stuck to them before they were glued in properly. The one that was glued in popped out with a bit of persuasion. They've now been Mekpak'd in and are fairly solid. Point of note is that MekPak is pretty good at removing Mr.Hobby paint. They've also had some Mr.Dissolved Putty applied to the gaps on the outside. This has also been smoothed out with a damp cotton bud and IPA thinners. The bulk head has been fitted behind the office. A minor disaster has sort of been averted on the wings. I'd applied Mr.Surfacer 500 to the sink marks and thought I was using IPA to smooth it out and hopefully preserve the ribbing marks, unfortunately it was Cellulose thinners which was doing a really good job of smoothing out the filler until I realised it was also attacking the plastic. Thankfully I realised the mistake before too much damage was done, but I'm not sure the ribbing will make it to the end of the build now, unless I can find a way of reinstating the damaged bits. I've now started closing the fuselage up gluing the wings together. I think I've managed to take the warp out of the port wing by gluing the fuselage end and letting it dry and then doing the wing tip and forcing it upwards whilst it dried before going back and gluing the middle bits. Well that's probably it for a few days and then it will be on to trying to sort all the gaps and sink marks on the fuselage.

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Thanks Ian. Those bomb doors look like they've had a lot of work put into them.

Evening folks, perdu - It's still there :-), though I've been toning it down a bit today. Tony - welcome along pzrgren - I'm not sure spoilt is the right word, but you certainly learn more from putting these older or not so 'good' models together, or modifying the new ones to something else. Chris, feel free to pinch it. The forum's all about sharing ideas, I've pinched plenty over the last few years and hope I can repay those with a few of my own. The tape is 0.7mm wide and I got it from Valiant Wings Kev, thanks Benedict, thanks for posting that. It's a cracking picture and I've never seen it as bright and clear as that. wombat, the bay is staying firmly closed on this. Airfix are about to make it very easy so I'm going to take the lazy route. Onto today's efforts. I've largely been putting clear on the side windows and weathering the interior paint. I've used a couple of washes/filters mixed up from Winsor & Newton oils and white spirit. The cockpit and waste gunner areas received a mix of raw umber and paynes grey. On the upper fuselage the waist area hasn't dried enough for it to be taken off properly yet and on the lower the cockpit needs more work doing on it once it has dried a bit more. The turret areas have received a mix of paynes grey and white, probably too much white and I might go back with an almost pure paynes grey mix. The waist window has been PVA'd into the lower fuselage, after it was masked on the outside. They are going to need filler applied around them, so I thought it would be easier to mask them before gluing them in. I'll also do the filling and cleaning up before I seal up the fuselage, just in case. I've started applying filler (Mr.Surfacer 500) to the port wing and the airlerons Guess where the ejector pin was. 'Pin' makes it sound as though it would be small The ailerons are a bad fit to the wing so there is zero chance that the pins will survive and just about guaranteed that the Plastikard store will be raided. At least the ejector pin marks can be arranged to be on the lower surface and therefore less noticeable Unlike this horror And this won't be easy to clean up without removing the surrounding details In anticipation of our brief summer and so I don't miss it I've been preparing mint lollies It's actually a bulkhead to go behind the pilots. Even with the bottle glass cockpit there was a very obvious gaping cavern behind the crew. Hopefully I'll be able to get some of the raw umber / paynes grey mix onto this tonight and clean it up in the morning. It will sit between the lump of white tack and the seats in the first photo. The eagle eyed amongst you will have noticed that the IP has also made a bid for freedom. Don't worry it didn't escape the bench, never mind the carpet monster. Andy

That looks really nice. Nicely weathered - looks used but not clapped out.

Another cracking model from Woody. It looked really nice in the flesh at Huddersfield as well. I was really impressed with how clear the glazing is. I see you've got one of my stands there. If you turn it through 180 does the Manchester fit on it ok? The largest model I've had on it so far is the 1/72 Lancaster, so I'd be interested to know how larger planes fit. I'd also put some masking tape on the top of the supports in order to soften them and lessen the chance of them scratching soft, new paint.

I've been working on the waist gunner area this evening. As I've got some thin masking tape (0.7mm) I realised that it was going to be easier to spray the aluminium first and then mask that off rather than masking the red. So out with the Alclad and then the masking tape. I put the windows in temporarily to give some guidance as to the direction and spacing of the ribbing. Then on with another home brew red concoction and off with the masking tape. It seems a bit bright, but when the fuselage is closed up it is just visible through the openings. I may make a representation of the board walk to disguise the fact that the ribbing doesn't meet properly at the bottom. I'm off on a big bike ride tomorrow so this is it until Sunday at least.

Thanks for all the positive responses people, much appreciated. The kit certainly isn't anywhere near modern standards but I think the end result should be reasonable. As for opening up the bomb bay, I'll leave that for the new kit. Is there a link to that build or rfi, @Mancunian airman? Just a quick update tonight as we're off out to the pub shortly. The office has been attached to one fuselage half and the IP to the other. I've been splashing a bit of colour around the insides today between jobs. I started with the UMP version of Stynlrez primer and then used Mr.Paint Aqua for the interior grey green, Mr.Hobby flat black for the turret areas and a home brew mix of Mr.Hobby reds for the waist gunner areas. The top of the yoke and the IP will get picked out in black before I try a wash of grey/brown oil paint. I'll also tack the side windows in and use the framing on those as a guide for masking the geodesic framing and then spray it a silver/aluminium colour. I'm not sure how visible it will be and whether I'll regret not having done more work to get rid of the part numbers and ejector marks. It's the first time I've used the Mr.Paint aqua. Straight from the bottle it was very thin and I had to drop the pressure to about 10psi to stop it spidering. It covers pretty well and dries to a satin finish. I'm no expert so can't comment on the accuracy of the colour.

Well I've been lurking on here for nearly three years only occasionally sticking my head above the parapet, so it's high time I contributed a bit more. For my first WIP I'm going back forty years or so to the first kit I built with Dad's help, or was I hindering him building it? Said kit was the venerable Airfix Wellington. I've no idea what happened to that model, nor another Wellington I made on my own a couple of years later. For most of the intervening years I've pottered around in the model railway world not really achieving that much. Three years ago though I fell off my bike and broke the top of my leg. Unable to direct my wife to the railway kits and bits in the shed down the garden I remembered how good a friend had said the new Airfix Spitfire was. Well it wasn't just the one Spitfire that was liberated from the LHS and my wallet has felt feint ever since. Coming up to date I purchased from an auction site a Wellington of similar vintage to the original one and with the upcoming release of a new version I thought it about time I got cracking with it. The intention is not to build a super realistic Wellington but hopefully have a reasonably competent bash at assembling the kit well. Opening the box showed that the plastic bag was still intact which was very pleasing to find. So with a bit of a James May moment I slashed my way into it. And it's still got its stand :-) That's where the initial joy ended. There are sink marks and flash all over the place. A degree of fettling will be required to get bits to fit, but that's part of the fun. The two biggest problems are probably going to be that the upper part of the port flap is slightly short shot and the port fuselage just in front of the bomb aimer's window is also. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the ribbing yet. It's a quite pronounced but vague in where it's going. Hopefully the sink mark remedial work won't obliterate it and I'll be to gently calm it down. I've seen some builds where it appears the ribbing has been removed and it doesn't look right. Airfix have provided some crew, though I'm not sure that Tie fighter pilots were acting as gunners during WWII The crew have all been cleaned up and had spears shoved up their ... ready for painting Much of the work over the last couple of days has been cleaning up the fuselage, turrets and glazing and then carrying out dry fits. The cockpit fitted relatively well and only needed lifting a bit on one side (it'll need plenty of filler though!). The bomb aimer's window and the front turret were both a bit wide so strips of plasticard have been added on one fuselage edge. I've also assembled the cockpit such as it is. Starting with this horror Thanks Airfix! And there's only one of them. Wimpey's seem to have been dual control. Cleaned up and looking a bit more like the real thing. With the jam jar glass of the cockpit not a lot will be visible anyway. And assembled The pilots and cockpit glass will hopefully hide much of the seat horror, though I must dust the filings off before taking future photos. Thanks for looking, comments are welcome - are the photos too large?

Hi Jan, Any news on the Spitfire Tr.9s?