Navy Bird Posted May 27, 2013 Share Posted May 27, 2013 Hi mates, For some crazy reason I bought this kit. Maybe it was the big red box, maybe it was the thought of doing something easy for my first go at rigging. In any event, I was rather surprised when I opened the box as it looks quite nice for a kit whose tools were made so long ago. That said - and you guys are the experts - how is this kit? Any glaring fit problems or inaccuracies? Alignment nightmares? (Stating the obvious I suppose!) I've searched the net a few times and haven't been able to come up with any good resources, especially for things like the colours and components of the cockpit (I assume some of this is wood grained and has more goodies in it than provided in the kit) etc. Does anyone have some good links to point me to? Thanks! Cheers, Bill 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sten Ekedahl Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 The best reference is probably the two volumes from Windsock. http://www.windsockdatafilespecials.co.uk/116-handley-page-o400-225-p.asp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Knight Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 (edited) Also; have a look here - http://modelingmadness.com/review/w1/gb/foster0400.htm and: the kit has an odd feature [i'll probably get this the wrong way around] it has 16 bomb cells but only 15 holes for the bombs to fall through. Edited May 28, 2013 by Black Knight Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Fleming Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 Accuracvy wise it's not too bad - the ribs are more like 2x4 planks than ribbing, and the bomb is under scale. Depending on how afflicted by accuracy you are, there are a few small improvements you can make (Harry Woodman did an article in Model Aircraft Monthly that detailed them,, I might have a copy somewhere.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Thompson Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 A couple of things - the interior fuselage framing is very nice, but most won't be visible when you're done. Forget the instructions for building in the rigging, the result is not nice at all (and they've left out a lot of very obvious wires as well). Build the wing as any other, fill the rigging holes, and drill new ones using the Datafile as a guide. There may be a lot of it, but it's not hard to do once you've worked out where it goes. There's lots of ways to do it, but IMO the most forgiving is elastic thread such as EZline. Even if you can live with the gross rib detail, IIRC you need to represent the smooth fabric triangle at the rear, each side of the centre section, both top and bottom. This is where the wings on the real thing folded so the beasties would fit in the available hangar space. The 2 Windsock Datafiles are musthaves if you want to detail this thing, and for the guts of it the more recent volume has more drawings and interior shots. As I recall everything fits quite well for a kit of it's age, a lot will depend on how well the mould has weathered since the last outing. Also, you may have problems building the fuselage up square if the plastic used is too soft. The one I built was quite an old pop so went okay. Guns and Scarff rings could be replaced by aftermarket if you like, although in their day they were considered good enough. The large bomb is overscale, but otherwise the kit is quite accurate. Except for those b****y rib tapes. (I sanded them all off and replaced with decal strips, but it takes ages, you may not be deranged enough to try it). HTH Paul. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seahawk Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 So: is the bomb underscale (D. Fleming) or overscale (P. Thompson)? Or just right (Goldilocks)? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Thompson Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 So: is the bomb underscale (D. Fleming) or overscale (P. Thompson)? Or just right (Goldilocks)? I could easily have remembered it back to front, especially since I've only had the one cup of coffee so far today. I'll check. And for clarity, when I said more recent Datafile volume, I meant volume 2. So only more recent by one month or so.......... Paul. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Headroom Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 Memory cells suggest Ray Rimmell also did a build of this in Scale Modelling in the early 80's?. Trevor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Fleming Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 (edited) So: is the bomb underscale (D. Fleming) or overscale (P. Thompson)? Or just right (Goldilocks)? Paul's right, I'm wrong, but will blame Mr Thompson's coffee!! There is a build article for the Airfix 0/400 in Scale Models International magazine in May 1984 by Ray Rimell. He commented that the 1650lb bomb was much too large and looked out of place on the model. http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/163358-post12.html Also, "Aspects of the Handley Page O/400", Model Aircraft Monthly Vol 1/6, June 2002, id the Harry Woodman article I was thinking on. http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/60936-hp-0400/?p=661587 Now the kit is back, maybe someone will do a set of O/100 engines again.... Edited May 28, 2013 by Dave Fleming Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehed Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 I'll second the motion for 0/100 engine nacelles. Cheers, Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nico Teunissen Posted May 29, 2013 Share Posted May 29, 2013 Why not takes Paul's own report of this kit (well more or less he did a few things to it ;-) ) http://www.modelbrouwers.nl/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=103&t=19088 I bet you couldn't find it Paul, even after 20 cups of English (yeagh) coffee! Cheers, Nico Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Thompson Posted May 29, 2013 Share Posted May 29, 2013 Why not takes Paul's own report of this kit I bet you couldn't find it Paul, even after 20 cups of English (yeagh) coffee! Cheers, Nico Well, there is the fact that it's written in my own, idiosyncratic version of the Dutch language, which limits it's use for many people on this forum. And you're right, I couldn't find it. BTW, the English coffee I drink is made my Douwe Egberts, so there. The Roseplane conversion set I used is unlikely to become available again, so if anyone interested sees one, I'd snap it up if I was you. Paul. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Fleming Posted May 29, 2013 Share Posted May 29, 2013 Reads OK to me http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=nl&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.modelbrouwers.nl%2FphpBB3%2Fviewtopic.php%3Ff%3D103%26t%3D19088 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nico Teunissen Posted May 29, 2013 Share Posted May 29, 2013 Well Paul, I think your idiosyncratic version of the Dutch language is perfect for Google translation into English :-). Groetjes, Nico Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Bird Posted May 29, 2013 Author Share Posted May 29, 2013 Thanks for all the great references and expertise on this one! I knew it would be a big project when I bought the kit, but with some care it can be made into an impressive model. I imagine I'll be back for more advice as I start working on this one. Cheers, Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Work In Progress Posted June 9, 2013 Share Posted June 9, 2013 The original crew members are all more than 110 year old Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted June 9, 2013 Share Posted June 9, 2013 I for one can't wait to see you start this kit Bill. Always been tempted to add one to the stash but be great to see it having your considerable skills applied. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Bird Posted June 10, 2013 Author Share Posted June 10, 2013 I for one can't wait to see you start this kit Bill. Always been tempted to add one to the stash but be great to see it having your considerable skills applied. The only thing considerable around here is my waist! It will be a challenge for me as I'm not much of a biplane nut. I figured why not start with a big one? If you're going to go down, make the flames big and show them on a public forum! Cheers, Bill 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Mc Posted June 16, 2013 Share Posted June 16, 2013 The recent SAM Circuits and Bumps book on bombers contains a feature on the AIrfix 0/400. The article was originally published in one of the regular monthly SAMs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miggers Posted June 25, 2013 Share Posted June 25, 2013 Taking up smoking eh Billy? I rigged a Frog Swordfish around 15 years ago and went through about 20 fags in a Sunday afternoon with the bloody thing. None of this EZline malarky,it was all done with stretched sprue and superglue. It looked superb when done(still does,it's up on the loft "airfield"),but it drove me absolutely bananas doing it,I haven't done one(a bipe or rigging)since. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Bird Posted June 25, 2013 Author Share Posted June 25, 2013 No smoking here, Miggers! Survived cancer once, not much interested in doing it again! The kit just said "buy me!" Cheers, Bill 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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