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1/32nd scale Halifax - finished


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Hi Tom

Could I ask how much they charged including postage

Kev

For the batch of intakes (there were 30 of them) it was £20 including postage. I'm going to keep a few myself for future builds but am happy to flog some sets if people want them.

Tom

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've got a little more to update you on regarding my Halifax project...

I've been doing some further work to the flightdeck interior in preparation for the adding of the canopy. I had this resin seat in my spares stash left over from a detail set provided with the Combat Models 1/32nd B-17:

S1030015.jpg

Although it doesn't really resemble a Halifax seat, it was a good starting point. A few modifications later:

S1030012.jpg

I also scratch built the instrument panel from plastic card which was drilled to resemble the dials and gauges. The rudder pedals were also scratched form Evergreen strip:

S1030006-1.jpg

When painted up it looks passable (especially as it will be viewed through the canopy)

S1030023.jpg

When all painted up and added to the earlier detail on the flightdeck it all comes together nicely. The control yoke and various other smaller details were scratch built, as well as the fire extinguisher which was made from old sprue and sanded to shape:

S1030038-1.jpg

S1030044.jpg

S1030047-1.jpg

The only non-scratch built items were the seat harness which came from Eduard, and the basis of the seat.

I've also added a little more detail to the wheel bays, and added the outer-most bomb doors:

S1030036.jpg

Finally, I've started work on the propellers. These will be 4-bladers and the spinners are more rounded in shape than the 3-bladed prop - I will be plunge-moulding my own spinners so have made a Milliput master to use. It has to be slightly smaller than the actual size you need it to allow for the thickness of the plastic:

S1030060.jpg

Slowly but surely edging to the point of painting...

Until next time,

Tom

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:clap2: Lovely stuff - CMK seem to be the go-to-guys that cast for almost everyone these days, and if you're prepared to wait a couple of weeks, it's pretty cheap to get your stuff cast for you. I might come after you for contact details at some point, as I sometimes wish I could cast some things up. :hmmm:

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I`ve got the 1/48th scale Halifax B.II from Contrail and I wish that somebody would do a set of resin props, exhausts, air intakes and even an undercarriage and internal detail set like you have done,..... I want mine to look just a smidgeon as good as your 1/32nd scale monster!

I`m really looking forward to seeing this one done especially considering the role which you are replicating too, it is one of my favourite Halibag roles and one which isn`t well known, they look great with their 4 bladed props, night scheme and distinctive exhausts.

You`ve probably researched this already but I believe that the bomb bays were fitted with long range tanks and that bombs were carried in the wing bays. The codes were grey too.

Keep up the good work, I`d be having kittens if it were my model, have you decided how you are going to do the canopy yet?

Cheers

Tony

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I`ve got the 1/48th scale Halifax B.II from Contrail and I wish that somebody would do a set of resin props, exhausts, air intakes and even an undercarriage and internal detail set like you have done,..... I want mine to look just a smidgeon as good as your 1/32nd scale monster!

I`m really looking forward to seeing this one done especially considering the role which you are replicating too, it is one of my favourite Halibag roles and one which isn`t well known, they look great with their 4 bladed props, night scheme and distinctive exhausts.

You`ve probably researched this already but I believe that the bomb bays were fitted with long range tanks and that bombs were carried in the wing bays. The codes were grey too.

Keep up the good work, I`d be having kittens if it were my model, have you decided how you are going to do the canopy yet?

Cheers

Tony

Hi Tony,

I too have the contrail kit ( but in its later Sanger guise) and I agree the parts are a little basic. I think sctaching them will be the best way forward, and then perhaps making some resin casitngs... hmmm.... buisiness opportunity me thinks... :hmmm:

To be honest they're not that bad - but I agree that they are worthy of some imrovement. Scratchbuilding stuff is not that difficult, it just takes time and lots of trial and error. I'm not particualrly hung up on accuracy, I simply try to replicate what is there in real life - if you took measurements of my stuff I'm in no doubt it would not be all that dimensionally accurate, but I'm of the opinion if it looks ok then it is ok. I'd say have a go at the Contrail kit and see how you get on - use it as a basis and don't be afraid to have a go!

The scheme will be a little different, and will combine the Bomber Command and Coastal Command roles in one model which I like the idea of - after all the Halifax was a work-horse for both. The one I'm doing has the less complex and late type exhausts with the smaller stacks (as shown in the plan in my last post) so they'll be a little simpler to re-create. However, it was at some point I'm sure fitted with the 'saxaphone' stacks, so it depends how adventurous I'm feeling later in the build! When it first came over from Bomber Command into Coastal Command it would have retained the earlier Merlins and rotol 3-blade props, but as I'm sure you know Coastal Command upgraded them with later, more powerful Merlins (22s I believe) and the four-bladers for less vibration and better fuel cosumption for the long over-water patrols.

You're quite right too about the long-range tanks in the main bomb-bay... I'm undecided whether to add them or not at this point. A happy compromise would be perhaps one or two (out of a possible three carried) as this will then enable some of my scratch-built bomb-bay structure to remain visible. With my B-29 project, the hours spent detailing the bays was wasted really as the long-range tanks hid most of it!

The canopy is ready for installation but will be added just before I start adding paint. This way there is less chance of it being damaged or dust etc. getting on the inside.

I know the codes were grey, and the fuselage roundel was 'as standard', but do you by chance know about the roundels on the upper wings? Were they 'standard' Bomber Command (Type B) or did they modify them with the addiional white between the red and blue (Type C) when they were transferred over? I know B-17s for example had the Type B early in hostilities and Type C later, but I can't find anything difinitive on the Halifax. The MkIIs were tranferred out of Bomber Command when the BIII came on line, so from '43-'44 onwards, but I'm not certain when CC introduced the Type C on their aircraft. Any info would be appreciated!

Tom

EDIT: Just found out that the Type C was introduced post hostilities - problem solved. (Unless any knowledgeable soul can tell me otherwise!)

Edited by tomprobert
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Time for another update...

I've got the props more or less completed now, which is a weight of my mind as they can make or break a project such as this. As there are none provided in the kit, it's a case of having to steal some from an appropriate donor kit, or make your own. I have wracked my brains (that didn't take very long!) and couldn't think of a kit which had the same 4-bladers as a Halifax - my life would have been easier if I'd done a MkIII as a Revell Beaufighter would have been a fine donor, so it was down the "scratch-build them" route.

Earlier in the build I showed you how I'd modified a 1/24th scale needle-blade Mosquito prop as a master for making resin copies:

S1030292.jpg

Well CMK came up trumps and this lot arrived:

S1030087.jpg

So with the blades sorted, it was a case of making a spinner. The four-bladed propellers have a more rounded appearance then their three-blade cousins, and I was confident that I could make a master from Milliput. Here is this master offered up against the plans:

S1030060.jpg

And after a little more shaping with sandpaper and a polish:

S1030062.jpg

It was then time to have a go at some crash moulding. This is a reasonably quick, cheap and straightforward way of making copies of the master without having to spend ages making four from Milliput and ensuring that they are all identical.

Step 1:

Heat some plastic card over the hob until it starts to 'wobble'. Don't let it get too soft otherwise you'll push the master right through it (and make a mess of the hob!):

S1030066-1.jpg

Step 2:

Allow the plastic to cool a little, and then remove the master. You will be left with a perfect copy of the spinner in the plastic:

S1030069-1.jpg

Step 3:

Carefully cut the spinner away, but leave some spare plastic as this will be trimmed later:

S1030077-1.jpg

Step 4:

Make a backing plate for the spinner:

S1030070.jpg

Step 5:

Insert this plate into the back of the spinner and then trim the excess plastic (yet to be done in this picture):

S1030073.jpg

(Part two to follow)

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(Part Two)

Step 6:

Check out your handy work with a quick test-fit:

S1030078-1.jpg

Step 7:

It's now time to attach the blades - this was done using the plans to ensure everything was aligned correctly. Special care was needed when drilling the apertures for the blades to pass through and attach to the backing plate:

S1030089.jpg

Finally, it was time for a test-fit of all the props (no 2 excluded for obvious reasons) and see how everything looks:

S1030094.jpg

S1030099.jpg

The propeller for engine No2 has been put in the fully feathered position as on the finished model the cowlings will be removed so I thought it could be a nice little touch to show some problems with this engine:

S1030102.jpg

All in all I'm pleased how they've come out. In hindsight I think I could have made the blades slightly thicker at the root, but I'm not going to lose any sleep over it to be honest. Considering I had nothing to start with I think they'll be passable.

That's another big step forward on what is turning in to quite a journey!

Tom

Edited by tomprobert
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Lovely.

You need something in the pictures to give a sense of scale though.

Further back in the thread there's a few but I'll add a few more in the next update with a 1/72nd example alongside.

Tom

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I've been having a play with the cockpit framing over the last few evenings as there is fairly prominent bracing behind the pilot/engineer's bulkhead.

With the transparency test fitted you can see the problem - in this scale you can see something needs to be done as it's far too bare in there:

S1030121-1.jpg

The solution was to check my references and build the upper part of the bulkhead from Evergreen strip and tubing, as well as the escape hatch framework, with the following result:

S1030116-2.jpg

And a test fit on the model:

S1030113.jpg

And finally under the canopy:

S1030115.jpg

Now all that's needed is a quick coat of paint...

Tom

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