Heather Kay

Yes, I have read other builds where the undercarriage was of some concern. I’m keen to see what your solution is.

An Earth pastime, like gardening but with more emulsion involved and less ultimate pleasure.

Somewhere in there is a Battle... While the fuselage - hopefully - joins together fairly cleanly, I’m working on the wings and tailplane. The bomb doors have fitted to the lower wings, and then caked in filler before they get sanded smooth. The elevators have been cut off, and I’m about to work out a sensible way to make them a bit bigger or whether to just make ones from scratch. I hate to rush things, but I’d like to be in a position to get wings and tailplane fitted to the fuselage tomorrow.

Neither a font nor bidet, I believe it’s meant to be a man-sized naval compass. I first thought it was the observer's stool - careful now! - but the Fulmar instructions fit it up with the instrument panel. Then I noticed the protuberances, which I take to be rudder pedals. Well, it is a small scale, and there are limits to what you can mould in plastic. Some microrod to represent the tubular framework, and some greeblies from a fubar CF card make a fair representation on the starboard side. Port side. I took note of what Ian was doing in the rear cockpit on his build. I decided to go with what’s in the box, and have the gun covered. The kit canopy is made to fit the cockpit shape, so while I’ve thinned the sides and added some framework, that’s about as far as I’ll go here. With a lick of paint and some masking tape belts, I’m pretty happy with that.

The idea would be to razor saw about 8 or 10mm back where the arrows are. The flat area could be pushed down and glued, probably with some strip reinforcement. When it’s set, the remaining side walls could be filled and sanded down. It might work, but it’s whether I think it’s worth the effort when you consider all the other foibles this model will have! Of course, that means I will have a go at it anyway.

I think that might make the chin too deep. I have thought to slot the front and rear, pushing the bottom up a bit, gluing, then sanding back. I've also thought about leaving well alone. Guess which might be the one I choose! So far this morning... Donor parts from the Fulmar have been used in the cockpit. Quite pleased with that. Of course, I’ve set the bar for the RAF Battle, so I’m going to have to see what else I can find when I get to that one. Some measure of further detailing will be done, but I hope not to go overboard as much of it will be hard to see on the finished model. Those Airfix transparencies are fairly chunky, and I’ll have the cockpit hood closed. Next, back to the tailplane. I might do a quick illustration of what I meant about the radiator before that.

Indeed. I’m at the stage where I’m wondering what the heck I’ve started! I’m much the same with DIY…

Ooh! A Harrow! I’ve got the Sparrow boxing, so I’ll sit quietly here in the corner taking notes, if you don’t mind.

It’s easy wrecking things. It’s never quite so easy making it look nice later! Good point about filling the tail cone, ta. Less surgery, more butchery. It’s hell in there! Hands. Yes, I have a couple of those. Not sure they’re very expert. Well, after some epic carving, filing and sanding, this is where things sit tonight. Pure, unadulterated carnage! Against the drawing, you can see the back of the rad needs to be swept up to create more of a droopy belly affair. I thing that might be doable. The Fulmar chin is pretty much where it needs to be, though it doesn’t look like it. I’ve measured the distance from the bottom of the exhaust slot to the top edge of the rad, and it’s close enough for jazz. I’ll leave things to marinade overnight and see how I feel in the morning. Now I look again, the new chin is too flat. The question is, when considering everything else wrong with the Battle, is it good enough? We shall see.

She's been at it again! The poor old Fulmar gives up its radiator. I don’t think this bird will fly again. Perhaps a belly landing diorama? And, after some further surgery to excise the Battle's original radiator, plus some judicious sanding and filing, this is beginning to look about right. It’s around this point one becomes rather jaded with the whole game, and dumps everything back in the box and goes off to build something more straightforward! I don’t think I'm quite there - yet. I either need to carve a slight recess on the Battle's nose for the donor part to fit into, or simply sand the radiator top edge as thin as I dare and make up the difference with filler. Before I get there, I suppose I should hack off the other radiator half and get it nearly in the right shape to fit the other side. Before all that, though, I think I will consign everything to the box so I can sweep up all the styrene dust and swarf. I’m nearly ankle deep here!

No going back now. Sliced just behind the exhausts, along the panel lines. According to my calculations, 2.5mm styrene sheet stuck on to extend the nose. I’ll let it set and harden, then set about rough shaping with various implements. I took a tracing of the fin shape from the drawings I have, which gave me the shape the fin should be. Sticking my Vernier across the kit fin halves measured 1.4mm thick (each, not both), and some suitable sheet was mullered and attached. Again, once set, I’ll shape appropriately. I'm going to leave radiator mods until the fuselage is together, as I think it'll be easier to see what’s going on. As for cockpit stuff, I think the Fulmar might help with some bits for the instrument panel and so on. As I’m butchering the fuselage from that kit, it’s only fair to see if other parts might be useful. Progress, I think.

The cold light of morning, and the plan is coalescing. I’ve been re-reading Ian's Battle battle thread, and picked some good pointers for the tail end and the nose. As I said, I’m not intending to modify the wings - or perform the surgery to correct the wing height - but never say never! First, mocked up to see what needs doing. You can see I’ve already removed the rudder to work on reshaping the fin. If I am reshaping the fin and rudder, why not do the rest of the tailplane and the tail cone… (You can see how I am already on a slippery slope here! ) The mystery belly bulge. I think it’s probably a (mis)interpretation of the bomb aimer's window. Either way, it’ll be gone soon enough. Time to do some measuring and to get that nose reorganised.

<Mainwaring>Ah, yes. Well done. I was waiting for someone to spot that.</Mainwaring>

A bit more pondering - which isn’t to say I’m not going to do what Ian suggests, more that I’m considering options before I commit saw to styrene. I laid the Airfix fuselage on the scale drawing for the Belgian nose and marked where the radiator was supposed to be. Then I taped the Fulmar part to the Airfix part, aligning the front of the nose. From above, surprisingly, the correlation between the canopy leading edge was remarkable. If my surmise is correct, a straight cut-and-shut would do the job. Then again, I’m not convinced the Fulmar profile is correct at the front to match the Battle, so Ian's scheme might still be simplest. And with that, I’m stopping for the night. Fresh eyes in the morning will make all the difference.

My aim is generally to have a single example of each type. However, there are exceptions to that rule, Blenheims being one obvious example. I’ve also got more Hurricanes and Spitfires than strictly necessary, and a couple of extra Gladiators have sneaked in! The Fulmar MkI was the only version in service during 1940, or I’d be building one of the kits as MkII. Good to hear the Blenheim is acting as a donor for other aircraft.

Interesting. You can see extra length in the Fulmar nose between the front of the canopy. There’s a difference in profile at the front over the exhausts, though, compared to the Battle. Plan A was to literally chop the Fulmar nose at a convenient place, and replace the whole thing, including the radiator, as more or less a single piece. I’m now wondering if it might be easier to make the mod you did to the Battle nose by adding the length towards the rear, and simply grafting the chin radiator on separately. Thoughts appreciated, because the same mod will need to be done to the other Battle in due course. The Fairey engineers knew their onions. The airframe they designed and built was pretty much state of the art for the time. A clever design allowed many panels to be slotted together without the need for any excessive riveting or other fixing. Airfix, of course, liked to include rivets that wouldn’t look out of place on a 1/72nd scale Forth rail bridge! Happily, they also included fine raised lines at regular intervals between the rows of bumps. I decided to scribe those, so I ran a fine marker pen along them so I could see them. Then, carefully and gently, my Olaf cutter was run along the lines. I used a steel rule to guide things, although with care it was possible to let the cutter run along the lines freehand. A while later, most of the rivets are gone. I quite like the effect of leaving "ghost" rivets, which I hope will survive the paint process later. Sink marks on the upper wing halves match locating pegs and holes for the undercarriage and bombs. A little filler will be required to bring the levels up.

I’m hoping the Fulmar schnozz will do some of that work for me. I’m currently thinking if I get the radiator intake in about the right place the rest should be about right. I’m currently working out where to make the cuts, bearing in mind there’s a location bar for the front cockpit and firewall to try and retain if I can. The rudder I will definitely look at, but the short and narrow wings, plus all the incorrect placement of the bomb cells and undercarriage will be quietly ignored.

Well spotted, Chris. I am, in the words of a certain famous Belgian detective, letting my leedle grey cells see if they can arrive at a solution to let me replicate this feature. Let us take a look at what Airfix provided in the box. Ah, the good old days, when the only thing preventing parts from being lost from the box was two bits of tape holding it shut. As you can see, several parts have become detached from the sprues. At one point, I had thought one part for the undercarriage was lost, but a further vigorous shake of the box made it appear from the crevice it had been hiding in. All parts, therefore, present and correct. Also present are the formations of rivets, and also some pesky sink marks on the upper wings. I am likely to be carefully scribing some selected panel lines and giving the pimples some treatment with sanding sticks. To give the toolmaker some dues, a fair stab at something on the instrument panel. I hope the central dial is a clock, showing it is almost time for tea. I wonder what I can use to make a better IP. Do I have any spare grey cells? The clear parts seem none the worse for spending several decades rattling round loose in the box, which is encouraging. These parts are representations of the landing lights. There are some interesting features in this kit. With modifications to the nose required, and a rivet eradication programme, a fair assessment means I should perhaps set about construction of the wings and tail plane parts. I think the wings will be important as they affect the shape of the nose which I want to transplant from the Fulmar. But first, a comparison of the wings with the plans, and selecting panel lines to scribe. More soon.

It’s true that, while my main focus is on 1940, I do occasionally veer off course. TSR2 is one of my favourite Cold War what-ifs, and when we get the chance to visit the RAF Museum at Cosford we make a beeline for their example to pay homage.

It’s raining here in Lockdown, I’m between 1940 aircraft builds, don’t want to do any "proper" work, so I decided to dust and rearrange the models in my display cabinet. This is it. By rearranging the models, I think I’ve managed to squeeze a space or two for a couple of little models to fit in. The free space came at the expense of these three. Now, as a rule, I dislike scrapping models. I have, however, replaced these with better kits, so I think I’ll break them for spares and the Bits Box. A pity, because the Beau caused me no end of trouble, being one of my earliest forays into limited run kits, and the Master is but a caricature. Ah well, I’ll have the memories. My biggest problem is this lot. With the cabinet already bursting at the seams, I’ve been limiting myself to just the smallest kits. As you can see, there are plenty of quite large models waiting their turn - but with no display space for them when finished. I suppose I really ought to get back to the paying stuff and earn enough to upgrade the display cabinet, then.

It is as old as me. I shall be following the Cat, because why not?

Ah, yes. I did wonder. Let’s just say it’s not being changed now, because it would probably wreck everything. I didn’t really pay enough attention to the Lego jig and getting things fitted in it. This isn’t an exhibition display model. It’s just something Best Beloved remembered and wanted a model of. He’s quite happy with it as it is.

Thanks Pat! Much appreciated, as ever. As I was donated spare Airfix markings, I shall be building that version. I have an AZ Model Hurricane MkI that has the required two-bladed prop and appropriate wings.

Aww, thank you! While I continue to ponder rhinoplasty on the Battle, I have begun to think about Hurricanes. The excellent Belgian Wings web site has some cracking photos of the Belgian Hurricanes, plus a bonus RAF plane that was interned. The question in my mind is camouflage. I see the aluminium undersides, but only the merest hint of camouflage colours on top. So, my question, posed before I spend the rest of the day digging around the Internet, is about the colours used on Hurricanes in Belgian service. Were they, for instance, painted like the Battles were, following standard UK patterns and colours? Thanks in advance for any pointers.

Noted, ta. That's what I have ordered, so we'll see what happens.