Jump to content

Heller 1/72 Potez 631 - FINISHED


Recommended Posts

Well that's an interesting looking plane and kit. One of the many I had never heard of - and there's a lot. I shall be interested to see what you do with this one!

:popcorn:

Kind regards,

Stix

Edited by PlaStix
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Stix, Henrik

Mark - I only won it last night and haven't received it yet, hence no sprue shots, but it had better have the Batman nose art :fight: else I shall be digging in the decal bank :devil:

I'll post pics when it arrives :)

Cheers,

Stew

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well everything arrived more or less safely, in time for a brief crack at it first thing tomorrow before a weekend away...

DSCN0525.jpg

All the parts appear to be present, one of the prop blades is hanging off and a couple of parts are off the sprue but nothing too upsetting... the clear parts are very thick and slightly foggy-looking, I hope a dousing in Klear will go some way to improving that.

DSCN0526.jpg

The 'exploded diagram' type instructions with all the text in French; obligingly they provide an English translation overleaf...

DSCN0527.jpg

The decals... not too bad, a bit yellowed and stiff looking but...

DSCN0529.jpg

Having looked in the 'Armee de l'Air' section of the decal bank :pipe: I find I have sufficient markings for three different 631's if replacements are required...

I even found some reference material in the bookshelf...

DSCN0528.jpg

To be honest though I will be building this OOB as far as possible (well I would except it had no box). I might add a few Airfix crew members if there is enough room but apart from that...

Cheers,

Stew

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Made a little progress - mixed up a dark blue for the interior (the kit instructions said it was a medium green?) and got the crew production line going:

DSCN0530.jpg

Painted the crew and fitted them to the internal cockpit parts - the crew are wearing completely the wrong flying gear, but if that is the worst thing that I do in building this kit I shall be both happy and surprised:

DSCN0532.jpg

...and finally joined the two fuselage halves (which required foot amputations from both the pilot and the gunner) and added the horizontal tail:

DSCN0534.jpg

I don't think this was the correct point to do this but I seem to have mislaid the instructions :owww: hopefully they will turn up, I don't think they could have gone far and the undercarriage looks rather complex :shrug:

Cheers,

Stew

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It was a bit of a struggle, as the cockpit framing was represented by rows of raised dots on the canopy, but I got it masked and attached to the fuselage and gave it a quick and scrappy coat of primer to see if any work needed doing:

DSCN0535.jpg

I decided I could probably get away with it :whistle:

So I made up the undercarriage; it is pretty complex and has quite a lot of parts but it actually goes together very well once you get over the initial fear :unsure: :

DSCN0537.jpg

Next to get the wings fitted... B)

Cheers,

Stew

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Stew,

This seems to be coming along nicely. Undercarriage looks good - nice detail for 1/72.

If you don't mind me asking - where were the plans?

Kind regards,

Stix

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Stix,

Yes, it's a nice kit especially when you take its age into account, and I've been pleasantly surprised by how well almost everything has fitted so far :)

How to tempt fate... :unsure:

The plans were on the table all the time, on top of a newspaper. My only defence is that I looked at it - several times actually - and thought 'nope, that's the newspaper' :blush:

Cheers,

Stew

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Pawel, I'm hopeful that it will turn out to be quite a pretty model :heart:

My kit didn't come with a box, so I can't tell which particular issue it was, but from the translucent brown plastic I would say it is an early one - the first issue of this kit came out in 1967 according to Scalemates, so it could be getting on for 50 years old :clif:

Cheers,

Stew

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I added the wings - it needed smear of filler at the roots, but not much:

DSCN0540.jpg

...and then I fitted the vertical tail and rudders, and assembled and fitted the engines - if you ever build one of these please note that the propellers are handed - I paid particular attention to this and then I think I went ahead and stuck them on the wrong way round...

I'm still not certain of it and looking at pictures is just making my head hurt :banghead:

DSCN0541.jpg

I added the cannon fairings underneath, either Heller made this much too short or the MMP drawings show them far too long.

DSCN0542.jpg

Then everything got a coating of primer:

DSCN0543.jpg

I might not get any more done before the weekend but it is at least ready for the paint now... I might decide to spray the camouflage as it looks like the kind of scheme that would be adequately soft-edged though perhaps not at this scale - however it would be quicker than brush-painting :hmmm: so that's probably what I'll try.

Cheers,

Stew

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had a major airbrushing session; first the Light Blue-grey (I used Humbrol 87 which I think is called Steel Grey) - it's a bit bleached out by the flash and is in reality both darker and bluer:

DSCN0545.jpg

Then the first topside colour, Dark Blue Grey - I used Humbrol 144 (Intermediate Blue):

DSCN0547.jpg

The second topside colour, French Kaki (which is pretty green and not like the Brown of British Khaki) - I used Humbrol 86 (Light Olive). If I had known it would turn out this colour I would perhaps have used Humbrol 155 Olive Drab; again it is darker in real life than in the glare of the flash:

DSCN0548.jpg

And the last topside colour, which I guessed to be Burnt Umber, I used Humbrol 98 (I think it is called Chocolate Brown) - I had started using this in the picture above as you might see from the wingtips, here is the completed application:

DSCN0549.jpg

More soon I hope.

Cheers,

Stew

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...