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If it isn't too late to join I'd like to participate with my Airfix Blenheim I.

It is a lovely little kit with a well appointed interior, options for an open bomb bay and additional external bomb mounts, well engineered positionable landing gear, flap, and turret parts, and two nice decal options in the box. The first of these is for a Romanian aircraft, and the second for an airplane flown by Arthur S. K. Scarf with 62 sqn. in Malaya.

On December 9, 1941, Sqn Leader Scarf and a flight of blenheims were taking off for a raid on a Japanese airfield when they were bounced by Japanese fighters. Scarf's aircraft was the only one to get passed and he pressed on to the target. He evaded fighter screans and completed his bomb run. On the return trip, Scarf's aircraft was attacked once again by fighters and he was mortally wounded. He crashlanded his blenheim and saved the lives of his navigator and gunner.

For his actions, Scarf was postumously awarded the Victoria Cross.

I began the build with the wing. There are two internal spars which form the front and back of the main gear bays, along with some gear strut details to mount inside the housings. All of this, allong with the inner flap surfaces were painted with Humbroll 78 - which looks a tad dark to my eye.

Surprisingly, Airfix doesn't offer gear bay side walls, but I'll leave things be, as the idea is to have an enjoyable out-of-box (almost - nearly) build.

Almost, because I'm replacing the solid moulded wingtip lights with clear bits, and I may attempt to open up the access hatches.

DSC02183_zps8ad2acab.jpg

More exciting stuff to follow shortly.

Edited by SoftScience
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The fit of the wings/fuselage has been alright, but I got this dumb step/gap in the bomb-bay roof. This would be very difficult to fix, so I'll just leave it and hope the bombs cover it up.

When I build another one (and I will), I'll stick the three bomb-bay bulkhead parts together first, and then assemble the fuselage around them.

DSC02188_zps9a112c01.jpg

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Bomber Command only covered UK based units (apart from Battle/Blenheim Mk.IV units deployed to France in 1939/40 and some units temporarily deployed overseas) as it was the home based bomber formation. Oversea`s based RAF bombers came under command of the local area command, just like the majority of overseas`s based `coastal' roled units were not Coastal Command as is often stated but also under command of the local overseas command too.

There were plenty of Blenheim Mk.I`s used by UK based Bomber Command units before the outbreak of war to chose from although they had been replaced by the later Mk.IV by the time war broke out,......with most Mk.I`s going overseas or to home based fighter units.

I hope that helps?I

Cheers

Tony

PS- In US terms,....building a Malayan based Blenheim for a Bomber Command build would be akin to doing an Italian based 15th AF B-17 in an 8th AF Group Build.

Edited by tonyot
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That's a nuisance about the bomb bay. My dry fits of the kit revealed that it isn't too stellar on the outside, but I hadn't even thought about the inside! I think gluing the two end pieces on would give you real trouble trying to get the fuselage halves in between the bulkheads and the wing. Thanks for flagging this up.

Regards,

Adrian

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