Heather Kay

Where things are this morning. I think I need more coffee.

What he said.

Well, perhaps not the end of the year. I do hope to finish it early in the new year. There’s something about this time of the year. I had all kinds of ideas about stuff to build, or work on, over the break, yet I found I wasn’t at all bothered about getting on with any of it. It’s not like I had tons of family stuff to interfere with my time. I just didn’t feel like doing any modelling. Today, I decided to just buckle down and dig the poor old Master off the shelf. I retrieved the "new" canopy from the "spare" kit. I had one go at this, chopping it out. Make a mistake, and everything would be back on the Shelf of Doom… I think I can make this work. Anyway, that’s enough modelling for today.

An interesting project, to be sure. May I beat the drum for RAF Bomber Command on the day? From what I can tell, Blenheims of 15, 101, 114 and 115 Squadrons, Hampdens of 37 and 61 Squadrons, Wellingtons of numerous squadrons, all flew daylight and night sorties during 18 August against enemy targets, shipping, factories and airfields in occupied France and Holland. Whitleys of 77 Squadron flew across the Alps to attack Italian factories in Milan and Turin, while 10 and 58 Squadrons attacked the Rheinfelden aluminium works. There are plenty more, I’m sure. I have, of course, completely ignored Coastal Command's efforts as well. I sometimes feel like a broken record about this, but it’s become so easy to picture the Battle of Britain as the entire Luftwaffe against the Knights of Fighter Command riding their Shining Spitfire Steeds into the gallant defence of Britain. Of the 1,497 RAF aircrew that lost their lives during the Battle, 732 were from Bomber Command.

I do like the look of you narrow gauge models. They have a certain charm about them. Anyway, glad I could help with the Fulmar. Here’s to a productive 2024 at your workbench!

Okay, I found something. Yes, this is my Christmas: just me, Best Beloved and the cat! From: For the few structures I’ve built so far, I’ve used the same colours as RAF aircraft camouflage, dark green and dark earth.

Anti-aircraft artillery in the defence of the UK was under RAF control during most of 1940. I have another 3.7QF that will be built in a temporary revetment. The old Airfix Bofors kit has joined the AA collection. I have some ideas about a scale barrage balloon, too. This hobby has so many rabbit holes!

Period concrete is a different colour to the modern stuff. The aggregate content seems to be larger, and it takes on a sandy hue with weathering. I’m pretty sure airfield concrete was painted to tone it down. Somewhere in my references I have information on the paints used, but I can’t immediately think which book has it. I’ll come back if I find it!

From what I can tell, the RAF roundel identifier wasn’t formalised until 1941. By then new vehicles were delivered in the right camo colours, matching the British Army style. I think the official census numbering came in around then, plus bridge plates and so on. Part of the fun has been working out what vehicles looked like during the "Wild West" of 1940.

You have a happy knack of building small models that end up looking just like real ones. Great work, and I’m looking forward to next year's output!

All done, but I’m a bit unhappy about the nearside windscreen to roof joint. Then again, it’s rarely going to be seen so close up under normal situations. If it bugs me enough, I’ll see what I can do in time. I have an Ace German truck kit on the shelf. I have found it quite hard to pin down what sort of vehicles were being used by the Luftwaffe during 1940. Since they were essentially the air wing of the Wehrmacht, it seems most likely normal German army vehicles were used in the main. I’ll have to see what I can acquire during the coming year.

It was just that kind idea that got me into my current mess! "So, to balance the Luftwaffe properly, I need to add Bomber Command, Coastal Command, all kinds of trainers and transports, the Fleet Air Arm… Those French planes look fun. What did Belgium fly? Who mentioned Norway! Oh, hell!" Before I knew where I was, I was out of control!

Thanks Roger, and my best wishes to you for Christmas and the new year! Wheels on. I tried to get a bit of angle on the front wheels. When the cement is set I’ll also sand slight flats on the bottom of the wheels so the model sits a little better and looks heavy. RAF vehicles from before the war until just about the middle of the Battle of Britain period were centrally registered to London or Middlesex County Councils and carried civilian style number plates. Just the camo to do. What a pleasant little build.

I could have sworn I did something yesterday. Apparently, all I managed was paint bits still on the sprues. So, the bodywork got a basic coat of dark green, interiors a basic brownish and … well, that was it. Today, with Best Beloved a bit more lively, I made it to the bench after lunch. Here’s the offside (driver's side) showing the basic colour I used for the interior panelling. These vehicles were militarised version of civilian designs, and I assumed the door cards and rear of the body were simple rugged materials and not the plush leather and varnished wood the saloons were given. In this view, you can also see the glazing. This comes on a printed strip of acetate. You cut the shapes out and glue 'em in. The rear doors and the back windows had sliding lights. You can just make out Ace moulded the apertures with steps in place to put the clear material in the correct plane as it were. I dropped the driver's window. Before I fitted the front glazing, I checked reference photos to see if I needed to add a quarter light to the front windows. This was a feature on the saloon I built previously, and was missed by Ace. The woody, apparently, doesn’t have quarter lights. I fitted the rear seats and floor, the front seats, steering wheel, gear lever and handbrake. You’ll not see either of the last to again! The front scuttle went in, once the nearside body panel was fitted. A wider view as I’m about to fit the offside body panel. The radiator has been fitted, but this has since come out again. As with the saloon, I found the bonnet top part doesn’t sit well, but this time I worked out it was the radiator sitting too high. To fix that, I pinged it back off to fettle after the body sides and bonnet were fitted. The front windscreen is the only part that has given me major grief. It seems to be a little too wide at the top. With the sides in place and the roof going on, the top bar was bent downwards. I let the glue harden, then carefully chopped a bit out the top bar so it settle flat. Ace have you fit the windscreen inside, when it was fitted externally on the real vehicle, hinged at the top so it could be opened for ventilation. As you can see, the sidelights, headlights and trafficators are attached. The kit includes lots of pieces that suit vehicles after Dunkirk that were put to use by the German forces. Right now, I need to make the windscreen, fit the PE wipers, retouch the basic paint and add a period camouflage colour over the green, and finally add the wheels. Woody will make a handsome addition to my set dressing fleet.

It does take a while to work. My effort took most of a week taped to a south-facing window.

What a selection! I’m tired out from scrolling through! Well done, Ratch!

Yellowed transfers can sometimes be saved by placing them in sunlight. I did it on a set of Frog markings - after I remembered to find a window in the house yet to be replaced by UV blocking glass! This time of year, though, poses a problem. I wonder if a UV lamp might do the same job?

Cheers Ben. I’ll keep an eye for those. Today's session was much delayed due to domestic circumstances. Best Beloved found his legs couldn’t carry his weight, and subsided gracefully into an unscheduled sit-down. Happily he hadn’t injured himself in the process of collapse. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get him back up again. I found I had to call on our local ambulance service. They soon had him back up the right way, and then spent at least an hour checking him over, chatting away, and giving good advice. Bless 'em. So, all I’ve managed today is first blush hairy stick painting the wheels and the chassis - which acquired the floor/wing and front bumper parts last night. You can just make out the fuel tank at the rear of the frame. As I mentioned, this needs to be glued to the floor because it won’t fit between the frames afterwards because of the rear brake rods.

I should’ve added I am looking at getting some custom waterslide transfers made. I’ve got a couple of projects that need things, so I hope I can get everything on one sheet.

White watercolour paint, a fine brush, a very steady hand. It usually takes a few goes to get it looking adequately, so a dampened cotton bud to wipe the errors away is also handy.

Aside from assembling a lovely 3D print of an AEC 854 airfield refueller over the weekend… … seen here in company with an Ace Models Humber Snipe I built earlier in the year, I’ve been ignoring my workbench for a while. I have lots of things I want to build over the Christmas period. My problem is I know full well most of them won’t get built, or even dragged off the shelf for a look-see. When I bought the Humber, I also bought the other Humber kit Ace produces, the shooting break/station wagon version, otherwise known as the Snipe Woody. I decided to drag this one off the bench and have a look-see! I really enjoyed the Snipe saloon build, but I pretty much forgot to document it. I will admit I’m not doing much better with this one at present! Here are the sprue frames. Sprue A, on the left, is common to both kits. Sprue B contains whichever bodywork and pertinent details for the kit in question. You will note the quantity of tiny parts. After the saloon, I worked out the best way to assemble the front axle, which comprises seven parts not counting road wheels, was to use the chassis as a jig. Here’s the more or less completed chassis, plus front seats. I’ll return to those in a bit, but the front axle has the transverse leaf spring, hub units, upper wishbones and the steering rack to be assembled. Doing it loose on the bench is all but impossible, so fixing the spring into the chassis first helps a lot. The instructions aren’t fixed in sequence, so the builder is free to put things together in any sensible sequence. The fuel tank, for example, really doesn’t fit between the rear frames, and is better fixed to the rear floor moulding instead. Those seats are fun. The squabs are common to both saloon and estate, but the latter has different backs. They look like bucket seats, but I think the extensions represent folding arm rests. The frames are two separate pieces, and match the real thing's runners. Such detail will, literally, never be seen again. Mad, but I love it. The next session should see me apply some paint to the interior, and paint the chassis and wheels. This model will be finished in the early war period camouflage as seen on the box top.

Then my work here is done. *scarpers*

Blimey! That’s an impressive selection.

The Hurricane looks splendid, and well worth the effort. I think I like the "exploded" Sherman best, though. What a novel way to show off the internal detail.

They are, Mr McB, and thank you. I don’t think I could cope with anything at a larger scale. The Stirling just fits in my current display cabinet.