Navy Bird

Today, my two-year old grandson (who has yet to complete pilot training) made an unauthorised test flight in the Blenheim. He survived, but the Bristol seems to be a write-off. I will salvage what bits of the aftermarket (cowlings and engines look OK) so I can use them for the replacement kit. Unfortunately, all the nice PE bits in the landing gear wells and cockpit look mangled, and the fuselage suffered severe longitudinal fractures. So I guess this is the end of this thread. You wouldn't think a two-year old is heavy enough to do such damage by accidentally stepping on it, but hey. It's only a model. I built it once, I can build it again. Oh - here's a good idea - I wait for him to be "of age" and we can build it together. Cheers, Bill

Sounds like a plan. Thanks! Not sure I am! That's a lot of white...which is my least favourite colour to spray. I'll get through it somehow. Cheers, Bill PS. My Blue Steel fairing is literally covered in sink holes. Anyone else notice this? I think I've used more putty on this part than the rest of the model.

Great work, Heather. Excellent builds one and all (I never thought I would see the old Airfix Stirling looking so good!) And don't fret about your single-minded obsession - we all have at least one. Mine is craft beer. Cheers, Bill

Let's try resurrecting this thread, shall we? I made some additional progress, and have just one last fuselage bit to attach prior to the commencement of ze painting - the bomb bay cover. Airfix provide closed bomb bay doors (one piece), open bomb bay doors (with some lousy ejector pin marks) and the bomb bay cover with the cutout for the Blue Steel nuclear, er, "shape." Interestingly, the closed and open covers are exactly the correct length to fit the bomb bay aperture. Not so for the Blue Steel part - it's a few mm short. Is this a faux pas by Airfix, or was it correspondingly short in real life? Why it would need to be short is out of my pay grade, but I've learned stranger things on these forums. Maybe it was done that way so any air that got into the bay during flight could find its way out... It seems odd to me that Airfix would get the "normal" covers correct, but the Blue Steel cover wrong. I figured I'd ask before I go and fix the "error." Cheers, Bill

Very nicely done! Cheers, Bill

For a seven-year old, I think he's doing great. I didn't start building until I was twelve, and I sure as heck didn't use an airbrush. He doesn't care about filling seams or adding the landing gear, as he wants to fly these babies. So far, he's built three - a Gloster Javelin (in very inauthentic colours and hot rod flames on the nose), a NASA Space Shuttle, and this Phantom. His stash is starting to increase as well. He wants to build an AH-64 next - the Revell snap-tite kit. Not that I would know these things, but I hear some nice kits will arrive on Christmas eve. Can't wait to open the Ford GT. If the ESCI RF-4B is similar to their F-4C/D that's a great bargain. Speaking of ESCI, I never understood why, back in the 80s, their 72nd scale kits were beautiful but the 48th kits not so much. Amount of detail, engraved vs. raised panel lines, etc. It was almost like it was two different companies. I was in a sandstorm once at Virginia Beach - very nasty indeed. I think I'd prefer the snow. But not the leaves...three more bags today. Yeah, my daughter is a bit of a Goth so the costumes didn't surprise me. It's amazing that the young kids nowadays understand those costumes right away. I mean, that movie came out a long time ago. ***** OK, mates, I have some serious questions. First, would this South African Blenheim (Z7513/R, 15 Squadron, Cyrenaica Libya 1943) have a bomb rack, the gun pack, or both? I need to know now because holes need to be drilled for the gun pack. I already drilled the holes for the bomb rack - but I can fill those if I need to. Second, would the camouflage edges be hard or soft? Cheers, Bill PS. Somehow, a 1:48 scale Revell PT-17 got into my stash. Relatively recent tooling, and a nice kit by the looks of it. And it's got two wings - how cool is that?

Gotta love the colourful USN schemes back then. I think I have that decal sheet as well. And the Hasegawa kit somewhere... Carter wanted to add the orange ever since the air show this past summer. What's not to like about afterburner glow? Yeah, that private balcony and hot tub were great. Wifey and I always book an interior cabin with no windows and just enough room to bump your head on everything. I always thought we just sleep there right? No need for anything fancy. Especially now that my daughter and son-in-law get the palatial suite. Plenty of room for all of us on that balcony! Here are some other views of it (that's Miami Beach in the background): A shining example - good one. I got it right away. Pretty clever costume - thank goodness there is no elevator in their home. So far I've filled 21 bags of leaves. And these bags are 55 gallon drum liners. Stupid trees. One of the maples in the back yard drops most of its leaves in the swimming pool. I finally got smart enough to put a net over the top of the winter cover to catch them all and make it easier to get them out. If you leave them on top of the cover they turn into a nice slimey mass of organic ooze in the spring. Yeah, we call it fall because that's what the leaves do. It's the defining characteristic of the season. Hmm, so I guess we should start calling winter "shovel," spring "sneeze" and summer "rain." Off to the cookie bake... Cheers, Bill

Wow, a month has gone by. No worries though, as Johnny Winter once said "I'm Still Alive and Well." (Now that I've recovered from COVID infestation No. 3 anyway.) First, I have to share a photo of my daughter Jennifer, her husband Dave, and little Dexter all ready for Halloween. Let's just say I'm pleased that when Dexter wiggles his index finger he says "Red Robin." Oh, by the way, Jen has baby number two on the way. That will bring us up to six grand-kids. That makes me old, right? Let's see, the cruise took about 9 days out of the month. We had a nice time, with a great view out the back of the boat: Of course, this was my older daughter's cabin, as I am too cheap to pay for a wraparound balcony, private hot tub, etc. etc. At least they let me hang out! Leah and Carter had fun on the ropes course: You may recall that Carter was building a 1:72 RF-4 Phantom (US Marines of course). He finished it, and is quite proud. This is the old IMC "Battle Damaged" kit - remember those? Here is the clean side: And the SAM affected side: He really likes the orange he put in the afterburners - just like the real thing. I helped him with the transfers. It was a very old Microscale sheet that I had to spray a coat of clear lacquer onto to make sure they wouldn't disintegrate. Anyway, the model is in a place of honour somewhere in his room. I lost the rest of the month to raking leaves, a visit from my best buddy, Thanksgiving holiday, raking more leaves, a multiple day lie-down due to raking leaves, setting up and transferring all my data to a new PC, and of course good old COVID. I visited my cardiologist who now wants me to take a stress test to see how fast I can get my heart to beat. There are a lot of things that accelerate my heartbeat, but a treadmill wouldn't be my first choice. Besides, I really don't want to pop my aortic aneurysm. ***** The Blenheim nose section has been masked off (thank the Lord for Eduard masking sheets) and I'm now finishing up some seam filling prior to it being attached to the airframe proper. I hope to get some paint on this bad boy soon, but I'm told I have to assist in the baking of several thousand Christmas cookies tomorrow. Joy. I'll be back sometime. Cheers, Bill

Holy Frijole. Yikes. Cheers, Bill

My latest acquisition is Covid-19. Again. Third time is the charm, eh? Oh, and I left my wheelhouse: Cheers, Bill

Condolences from this side of the planet. I recently lost one of my best friends (he was 87) - it was expected but it hurts anyway. Remember the good times. Bill

Thanks mates. I'll get through it somehow. Maybe the coffee plantation in the Dominican Republic will brighten my day - or at least get me a cup of coffee better than what you get out of those K-cups. Cheers, Bill

Brilliant. Marvelous. Outstanding. And your WIP thread wasn't so bad either. Need I say more? Cheers, Bill

Just when you thought I'd be posting a substantial progress update, I'm here to say that I'll be out of commission until November 13th. It seems my wife and son-in-law conspired to book a cruise behind my back. So instead of modelling I'll be floating around in the Caribbean someplace. Could be worse I suppose... 🌴 🍹 Cheers, Bill PS. Decal sheet for the Blenheim arrived just in time for me to leave. Go figure.

I identify with Graceless, Aimless, Feckless, and Pointless, but I can't remember which one specifically. Cheers, Bill

Nah, you were speaking in tongues - you must have been in the midst of a religious revelation. Cheers, Bill

I think I just got tired of all the same old camo schemes and wanted to do something different. I like the display and anniversary schemes as it adds colour to my display case - it balances all the green, brown, and grey. Plus, I'm not very good at weathering. I tend to overdue it. Cheers, Bill

Isn't heek Dutch for some kind of fish? I wondered if anyone else had the same problem. I think "lack of sarcasm" combined with a smiley face equals "a lot of sarcasm." Maybe, I don't know, I just make this stuff up as I go along. Yeah, I understand why they did it as well. But why did they stop with the Mk.I and MK.IV? A nice modern Mk.V would be something you don't see every day. Maybe there were changes needed to the main fuselage and wing as well due to the upgraded Mercury engine? Ah, I'm an old hat at shimming MPM/Special Hobby kits. Some of you may remember the mother of all gaps on my Special Hobby Buffalo. ***** I'm masking up the windows now. When I'm ready to paint the canopy frames, were they black or grey-green on the inside? Cheers, Bill

I'm starting to move about as fast as a two-toed sloth. Accordingly, I've produced about ten minutes of progress in the last week. First, I added the side windows to the forward fuselage module, taking care to make sure that they align to the fuselage walls leaving no step (which would have been there if I did not separate the portholes and add them in a previous step). The forward fuselage now looks like a '59 Chevy convertible with the top down and the windows up - lest Mindy Lou upsets her beehive... Note how crystal clear and non-distorting the clear bits are. Also note the lack of sarcasm in my voice. The clear bits are being attached with cyanoacrylate sticky stuff. Luckily, no fogging from curing fumes has been noticed. Next, I added the top portion of the canopy, removing the moulded in alignment pegs so I could get a better fit, aligning with the fuselage walls. However, there is a tiny gap on the angled edge of the wall by the navigator's office. This will be addressed shortly. The curvature on the forward portion of the canopy (over the desk) was designed so that the pilot had better visibility forward. I've been told by a reputable source that the design was outsourced to Salvatore Dali. Unfortunately he forgot the hour and minute hands. Ignoring my ham-fisted sanding on the back side of the cockpit bulkhead, the alignment between the top of the canopy and the fuselage walls came out nice. Thanks Airfix. Test fitting of the cabin to the fuselage proper showed a gap that I didn't care for. In order for the top of the canopy to align with the top of the main fuselage section (and not have a change in slope if you get my drift) I needed to add three 0.010 inch shims. You can see than here (they are white, the fuselage grey): They are not so easily seen here, since I dropped out of Photography & Lighting 101 back in 1974: The shims were also necessary to ensure a good fit of the cover that needs to go on the underside. I'll get a picture of that soon, after I put the fuselage bits together. By the way, the bomb aimer's forward window aligns pretty good as well. Even so, once I get all the window panes masked, there will be some filler required to blend all these joints. You gotta love modelling - I use more putty than I do toothpaste. ***** The trumpet-like oil cooler intakes are provided in both the CMK and the Barracuda resin sets. I'm not sure what CMK was thinking with their decision to cast the intakes as they did - the method used by Barracuda seems a better solution to me. Which would rather cut off and clean up? Cheers, Bill

Sweet! It's a nice little kit. Hopefully I won't cock mine up too badly. No, she actually is always right. Smart lady - that's why she married me, of course. Belgian beer I hope! I'll have the chicken wings (extra hot) and you can stab the cheese cubes with your toothpick. 🐔 ***** By the way, I just had the opportunity to use Mr. Color Replenishing Agent for the first time. Man, that stuff rocks! I had a dried up bottle of Mr. Color and the replenishing agent made it just like brand new. Sprayed like a dream - and it was dried up. Amazing. OK, nose section goes on today. I cut off the portholes and they've been installed into the nose section halves. I need to sand the portion of the wing that is inside the main fuselage to eliminate a tiny step first and then we'll have some fun with the greenhouse. Oh - that's what I could put on the navigator's desk. Tomato plants! Greenhouse and all... Cheers, Bill

I believe so. The F7F used a 13' 1" Hamilton Standard propeller. The props I used on my Tigercat model were the resin replacements made by Quickboost for the Hellcat. Cheers, Bill

Thanks, that makes me feel a bit better. I'm pretty sure I can get the two forward fuselage halves and the three main canopy bits (not counting the bomb aimer's window) to align properly. That's five components that all need to go together at the same time, and I only have two hands. You got me wondering, so I looked up an old review. The top window and the windscreen were separate pieces, and the rest (forward greenhouse and the bomb aimer's window) were all part of the forward fuselage which was moulded in clear. Split in half, like the main part of the fuselage of course. Having never built the kit (I sold it as soon as the new Airfix came out) it might be a marginally better idea...but then it is a short run kit so all bets are off. ***** Separating the porthole from the side glass definitely gets rid of that step. One problem solved... Cheers, Bill

PS. Dropping the side windows in per the instructions results in a noticeable step where the bottom of the window meets the fuselage. I think I will cut the porthole portion off of the side window and attach it separately, and also remove the small peg on the bottom of the window near the front. This way I can attach the side window and align it with the fuselage so that I won't have a step. That said, this may result in a butterfly effect where flapping a wing here may cause a typhoon there. I love modelling. Am I old enough to retire yet? Cheers, Bill

I've spent a lot of time with the Bristol Mercury engines from S.B.S. I've cleaned up the resin bits, shot some paint, added some instant skill, and assembled the cylinder heads to the crankcase. This is particularly delicate, since the alignment of the cylinders is crucial. Each cylinder head includes the short exhaust stubs which need to align with the exhaust collector ring that is cast inside the cowling. If you have a cylinder head tipped, or rotated, then you will have an alignment problem. The stubs won't meet the collector ring as they should. What makes this procedure particularly fiddly is that you have no real way of knowing if you've done it right until the entire engine is together. With some luck (OK, a lot of luck courtesy of my handy Flying Spaghetti Monster prayer book) I managed to get most of the stubs to align. Most. Not all. So don't look closely. Next, let's talk about the intake manifold bits that go onto the back side of the engine. Well, S.B.S have taken a page from the Aires playbook - once the engine is in the cowling, the depth of the back side is too much to allow the cowling and the cooling gills to come together as they should. Arghh. I've sanded the cooling gills (where they attached to the casting block) so that the remaining resin, needed to attach to the nacelle, is "wafer thin." Still not enough. OK, sand off the back side of the engine where the intake manifolds attached to the crankcase. That will do it, but now you cannot add the intake manifolds unless you would like them to be wafer thin as well. I swear I'll never buy another aftermarket set. (He said whilst crossing every known appendage.) So, we leave off the intake manifolds. I guess that's not a big loss as you really won't be able to see them anyway. I haven't tried test-fitting the exhaust pipes on the bottom of the cowling - to be honest, I'm afraid. It looks like they might interfere with the engine too. Hopefully I'm wrong. According to my wife I usually am. (And she is always correct.) The engine is a really tight fit. I have a sneaking suspicion that I will be sanding down the tops of the cylinder heads once I paint the inside of the cowlings. I have the somewhat new Alclad colour Exhaust Manifold which is a nice steel-like colour with a wee bit of copper added to it that I'll use for the collector ring. The rest of the interior of the cowling gets to be grey-green I suppose? Airfix say so. The airframe is coming along. The holes on the front of the nacelles had to be hogged out in order for the corresponding peg on the back of the resin cooling gills to fit. As the parts were received, the pegs are too large. The Eidolon of Aires strikes again. I've done some test-fitting of the forward fuselage and the canopy parts. Ugh. I'm not too pleased here either. I should have kept the MPM/Special Hobby kit as I think it had a one piece canopy. The rest of it was out to lunch (especially the turret) but at least I wouldn't have to get the canopy parts together without getting adhesive in the wrong spot, i.e. where you're supposed to see through. Trudging along in-between bouts of lawn mowing, nose blowing and baby-sitting, I remain your humble servant. Cheers, Bill

The Sword 1:72 Bearcat is reasonably modern as well: If you can get your paws on the out-of-production Attack Squadron all-resin 1:72 Bearcat then you'll be in for a real treat. Meanwhile, the old Monogram F7F Tigercat cleans up nicely with a little TLC: But I agree it would be nice if someone like Arma Hobby produced a new tool Tigercat to their usual high standards. Cheers, Bill