Blenheim Mk. I, Frog, 1/72

[Old Man]

This is a kit I have had kicking about for a long time, and I finally decided to bit the bullet and build it. I have not settled for sure on the exact subject yet, but it will be a pre-war example operating 'East o' Suez', and my preference is for one assigned to 30 Sqdn in Iraq, the first colonial unit to receive the type. I am still trying to nail down some information on that unit's markings at that time.

I had intended this to be a simple build, in large part a vehicle for practicing scribing and taking a shot at seeing what I could do using spray paint for basic color. However, in looking about recently for accounts of building this kit, I learned of an error, one of the sort of which the kitty speaks....

It is a small thing, but the sort of thing which draws the eye. At the lower rear of the glazing on the port side, by the leading edge of the wing at its root, the kit has the corner clipped, rather than square. With the distinctive nose glazing being a chief focus of an early Blenhaim model, the error is hard to overlook. Unfortunately, it is not a simple thing to fix, owing to the deep 'well' set into the fuselage halves to receive the wing roots.

I got stuck pretty deep into this over last weekend, and here is the result so far....

First, I assembled the wings, smoothed off the raised panel lines, blocked the front of the nacelles, and boxed in the wheel wells. I modeled these on the resin pieces of the Classic Airframes Blenheim kit; if that is right, I am right, but in any case it looks fairly busy and structural. I do not do too many retracting gear types, and this is a new bit of modeling for me. By the way, if anyone knows what the proper color for the wheel wells is I would appreciate advice; I have always assumed they would be grey-green, but lately have read of use of aluminum in wheel wells during the pre-war years.

The first order of business for addressing 'the corner' was filling in the root wells in the fuselage halves. I took a rubbing from one to guide cutting plugs of 1.5mm sheet, and with a bit of filing got these to fit in well enough. I made sure they extended above the surface of the fuselage halves a little, so only sanding down was required for a level surface. I then cut away the front portion of the wells projecting into the cockpit area. At this point I cut the proper squared corner into the port rear, and then cut out slots in the well plugs to receive the tabs on the assembled wings.

I then cut off the rear of the port side glazing (along a frame line so the seam will be hidden) and replaced this with a square-cornered rectangle of 1mm clear sheet (about the thickness of the kit piece).

The final step in was adjusting the chord of the wing at the root, so the leading edge would be in proper relation to the lower corner of the port-side glazing. To do this, I sanded away a bit from the leading edge inboard of the engine nacelles, and trimmed about a millimeter and a half from the fillet at the trailing edge of the wing root (which required a little re-profiling of the curve there). Here is what it looks like with the port wing tacked in place temporarily:

I cannot speak to whether the chord at the wing root is now the right length, but in terms of visual reference points, it gives a correct appearance, with the leading edge curving beneath the corner of the glazing, and the still substantial trailing edge fillet coming to the mid-point of the turret. (The pictures of the wings above were taken after adjustment of the chord at the root.)

Next order of business will be some cockpit construction, and something for the rear position (I expect I will use a Falcon turret, but these sets are now so expensive home vacu-forming is starting to seem worth looking into...)....

Edited February 13, 2013 by Old Man

[Smiffy]

Looks very interesting. I shall be following this one closely. I purchased this kit myself, with the possibility of it being my entry into the obsolete kit groupbuild, later this year. I don't know if you are aware, but there is an etched cockpit set available from Airwaves for this kit.

Nice start. Keep up the good work.

[Hamden]

You have made a great start on this, I shall follow this with interest as I have at least one in the stash

Roger

[woody37]

With one of these to build, looking forwards to ideas and inspiration

[Devilfish]

Very good start there. It's good to see these old kits being built and improved upon. I must admit, I do like the Blenheim 1.

[Martian]

Great start! I am a big fan of bringing these older kits up to modern standards.

Martin

[Nobby]

Agree with Martin on this! I've got a shed load of Tamigawa in the stash but when i start a project i always seem to pick one of my old ones or the ones that everybody says it's rubbish! I'll keep me eye on this one!

[Old Man]

Thank you very much, Gentlemen. I will try and do the thing justice, bearing in mind it is a bit out of my usual open-cockpit, wind in the wires line.

I purchased this kit myself, with the possibility of it being my entry into the obsolete kit groupbuild, later this year. I don't know if you are aware, but there is an etched cockpit set available from Airwaves for this kit.

I did not know that, Sir. I have two of these, and one of the old MPM re-boxing, which last has an Eduard PE fret of some complexity. I may use that as a guide in some things. I also have one of the 'real' MPM kits, and may crib off its rein a bit.

Agree with Martin on this! I've got a shed load of Tamigawa in the stash but when i start a project i always seem to pick one of my old ones or the ones that everybody says it's rubbish! I'll keep me eye on this one!

I just wanted to say, Sir, that you do superb work on the kits you pick for 'the treatment'....

[woody37]

Don't know if you've seen the Baracuda resin wheels, I've just got two sets to do the Airfix Mk.IV and the Frog Mk.I as a parallel build. Very nice set too

[Shalako]

Now, this is a rather daring build considering the age and the quality of the model. Still, one of my favorite subjects and brands with one of the most well-designed packaging in scale modelling!

Looking forward to see it finished !

Cheers

Sernak

[Old Man]

I have got the basic interior work done now. I will be using a Falcon turret, so there will be some view into the radio/gunnery office. I had to trim back a bit more of the wing well in the rear. The 'bulkhead' at the front of the of the rear compartment is more in the nature of a baffle plate; actually, the only solid element here was the rear of the bomb-bay, a bit further forward, and it was possible to pass between the front and rear through a crawl-space over the bomb-bay. To make the base ring of the turret I put a flat roof over the compartment (actually there), then put in a disc of thick sheet, and cut away its interior till only the rim was left.

In the front, things are just dry-fitted at this point. Sidewall structure is built up, mostly, but where there is a mating surface for the green-house piece, I have scraped away under the rim to suggest a structural element without altering the width of the mating surface.

Next will be completion of the interior detailing....

[Martian]

Good progress, looking forward to seeing more of this one done.

Martin

[Drem]

An old Froggy, looking forward to this one.

[Nobby]

Looking good there old boy! I can already see that you're doing the old girl justice!

[CarLos]

I have great memories of this kit. I'm following your build!

[HOUSTON]

Very good start..

Nice..keep it coming.

[sprue]

I'm glad to see someone else trying to breath new life into an old kit. My Fairey Battle turned out to be a labour of love and the Stirling is going the same way. This Blenheim build is very interesting, especialy as I've got three of them in the stash.
Keep it going you're doing well.
Mike

[Work In Progress]

Good work on the cockpit glazing fix.

When you next take pictures, can you give us a shot of the reshaped wing from directly above please? I'd like to see how the root chord reduction looks in practice.

You might also be interested in this thread which starts off being about noses but rapidly becomes quite excited about the Frog Blenheim wings in comparison to the Airfix and MPM ones. I don't have enough expertise in the type to have a strong opinion of my own but it's a good debate.

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234920283-can-the-airfix-blenheim-nose-be-grafted-to-a-frog-one/

Edited March 28, 2013 by Work In Progress

[Old Man]

Thank you very much, Gentlemen.

Good work on the cockpit glazing fix.

When you next take pictures, can you give us a shot of the reshaped wing from directly above please? I'd like to see how the root chord reduction looks in practice.

You might also be interested in this thread which starts off being about noses but rapidly becomes quite excited about the Frog Blenheim wings in comparison to the Airfix and MPM ones. I don't have enough expertise in the type to have a strong opinion of my own but it's a good debate.

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234920283-can-the-airfix-blenheim-nose-be-grafted-to-a-frog-one/

Here is a picture from over-head, with the port wing taped in place. I will be getting back on this one next week; I have several other builds on the bench, and am flitting between them like a bee in a flower-bed....

[Work In Progress]

Thanks, that's very helpful. The root chord reduction has no deleterious effect on the overall scale appearance that I can see at all. Good!

[Old Man]

Thanks, that's very helpful. The root chord reduction has no deleterious effect on the overall scale appearance that I can see at all. Good!

Glad your eye agrees with mine, Sir. Most of what I trimmed at the rear was meant to go into the receiving well, and since I have filled that, was superfluous.

[Old Man]

Work on the interior proceeds, including the turret (the damnable, damnable turret...)....

Here, from left to right, are the instrument panel (dials from Mike Grant Decals), cockpit deck, Falcon turret (gun slot only partly trimmed out), rear office floor above turret mechanism and seat, and rear bulkhead with radio equipment.

Here is a look at the front cockpit deck fitted in place...

I must confess this build is metastasizing into something a bit more than I had intended, and the turret is a lot of this. It has not been fun. Cutting out and trimming the Falcon turret took hours, as the thing is very fragile, and seriously prone to squashing, and of course its high transparency, combined with the wide slot for the gun, means the rear cockpit will be very visible to the eye, if not perhaps the camera. Once I had the turret cut out and trimmed, I found I had top re-do my turret opening in the fuselage, which was far from fun, but had to be done. Making the workings of the turret was no fun at all, since vertical components had to be done without measure by trial and error. So this is now far from the 'get her done and concentrate on the paint job' business I had envisioned setting out on this....

Anyway, here is a shot of the lower portion of the turret works in the opening, and then a shot of the thing with the clear piece set in place.

I hope, anyway, to be getting to a position where I can close the fuselage and add the nose greenhouse soon....

[Hamden]

Looking good I'm following this with interest

Roger

[AdrianMF]

Great build so far!

Now I don't want to make this any harder than it already is, ...but... Isn't there a set of little windows in the solid turret wall below the transparency? Here's a random photo grabbed from a google search to illustrate what I mean:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gnilrig/6596654907/

Regards,

Adrian

[Martian]

The build might not be what you originally intended, but it does make fascinating reading; especially as I have finally managed to get my mitts on the relevant Falcon canopy set for this kit. Your work is exemplary Sir.

Martin