Paul J Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 Well, I couldn't wait to get started on this. Took delivery on Thursday night and work started on Friday night. Haven;t done much since then so these pics show work so far.The new sprue. Not sure why the extra parts for the engine cowl gills? Also I didn't realise there were two types of gun packs!Having done the Mk.1, I thought I would try a different approach on how I would build this one. So I started off by gluing the nose pices to the main fuselage halves.Cockpit fittings in progress.Joined up fuselage in a dry run. The idea being that I wanted to see if it could be done this way to lessen the nose section join to the rest of the fuselage.Some interior paintwork going on. For this one I won't be doing much in the way of adding extras. Just the seat belts. Note the new clear parts in background.Wing parts in progress.Just before attempting to fit the wing, a look at the join between nose and rest of fuselage.Also side windows fitted and the missing blisters commented by Tony O' in another thread. Note the forward wing root location and 'step'. Theses will come in to play and upset my plan later!Now. This is where my experiment was coming into practice. Fitting the assembled wing via the cut out in the lower fuselage. The idea was to feed the wing , leading edge first upward and forward to get the fit. But........ the rear end of the bomb bay roof prevents/prevented the fit to be smooth going.......And with a bit of pressure, the nose section is forced away from where it was glued! Reason is that the wing root leading edge has step section and the wing has a corresponding step. But for my experiment, the wrong way and thus prevented a smooth fit. One way would be to file these steps flat . That might help. But, Oh, well I did give it a try. Anyway all is well and I managed to get the fit done and am happy with it.With the wing in place, a little filler is needed to fill the small gaps.........where you can see here.More to come soon. In the meantime I need to do a bit of researching about the cockpit blister windows and decide on which of the three or four Canadian schemes I will finish it in with the decals I now have to choose from. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
POTKC Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 Very neat start, it'll be interesting to see this build progress! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 Good start Paul! Shame the plan for the wings didn't work out, I had been thinking along the same lines for my mk1 build. The thought also struck me that Airfix might be going to go the whole hog and do a mk5? Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Boak Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 It looks as though you have gills open and gills closed in the photo. When the sprue was originally shown, I believe some of the gill options allowed for the AI radar aerial positioned on the outside of the cowling, but I don't (yet) have the kit to check.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The wooksta V2.0 Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 Good start Paul! Shame the plan for the wings didn't work out, I had been thinking along the same lines for my mk1 build. The thought also struck me that Airfix might be going to go the whole hog and do a mk5? Martin I doubt it, because the nacelles are a different shape (I've theorised previously that they're Beaufighter nacelles), you'd need a fuselage cut out for the later Bristol turret, not to mention new wing leading edges near the wing roots for the integral oil coolers. Plus various other changes. Not saying that they couldn't do it, just not economically from the existing tooling. I've an MPM Blenheim V that I got cheap at Telford to use as conversion bits for the new Airfix tool, now I just have to get a cheap Beaufighter to hack to bits for the nacelles. Some nice work there, Paul. Looking forward to seeing the finished result. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempestwulf Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 Doing well so far Paul, pity about the wing. I picked up the Mk. I today from my local hobby shop. would love to build the Mk. I still have some of the original print Commando comics with a Mk. I NF but was very excited the see the Mk. IV has the all black scheme. Will be watching your build closely for advice & motivation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul J Posted December 22, 2014 Author Share Posted December 22, 2014 It looks as though you have gills open and gills closed in the photo. When the sprue was originally shown, I believe some of the gill options allowed for the AI radar aerial positioned on the outside of the cowling, but I don't (yet) have the kit to check.. Ah! Thats probably why then. There is a part according to the instructions that look odd to me and are fitted close to the engine cowl flaps. But for mine these won't be used. In the meantime thanks for the encouragement(not that I need much). I enjoyed the Mk.1 and will do so with this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandy Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 Paul J is correct. One set has the cowl flaps open (for ground operations, taxiing, take-off) the other set is cowl flaps closed (for in flight). Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul J Posted December 23, 2014 Author Share Posted December 23, 2014 Some pics from last night. Mainly dealing with the engine units and a bit else. An overall look at progress so far with work started on the motors. 'trumpet' intakes opened up and ... .... exhausts. It all looks a bit rough but since the pics, I have cleaned them all up and prepared for priming. Nose windows painted on the inside. Fitted and a view from the outside. And looking in to the cockpit area. Still need to add the straps and something for the navigators table. Anyone got suggestions? A look with the main glazing dry fitted. Thats it for now. More later. A quick question, if one cares to go to the first photo in this thread, takes a look at the pic of the extra sprue of this kit and then tell me what that part that is near the guns part, is rectangular in shape, with four grooves in is meant to be please? There is an awful lot of parts that are not applicable to this kit and the Mk.1!! I recognise that there are different under nose rear facing gun positions, they are obvious but included is a single gun that looks like a Browning that I believe goes in the nose as well as the three Lewis guns for the turret. But there are several other parts too. There must be other issues of the kit to come and much talk about this in other Airfix Blenheim threads elsewhere here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seahawk Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 (edited) A quick question, if one cares to go to the first photo in this thread, takes a look at the pic of the extra sprue of this kit and then tell me what that part that is near the guns part, is rectangular in shape, with four grooves in is meant to be please? There is an awful lot of parts that are not applicable to this kit and the Mk.1!! I recognise that there are different under nose rear facing gun positions, they are obvious but included is a single gun that looks like a Browning that I believe goes in the nose as well as the three Lewis guns for the turret. But there are several other parts too. There must be other issues of the kit to come and much talk about this in other Airfix Blenheim threads elsewhere here. I understand that it's the blast plate fitted immediately forward of the Mk I gunpack to protect the underside of the fuselage. The location lugs on it fit into corresponding flashed-over holes on the closed bomb-bay doors. Edited December 23, 2014 by Seahawk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foresterab Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 Hi Paul, Saw two of these this year at different museums... http://s37.photobucket.com/user/millsforester/library/Canadian%20Museum%20of%20Flight%20Langley%20BC/Bristol%20Bolingbroke?sort=3&page=1 The plane at the Canadian Museum of Flight in Langly, BC might have some ideas on the navigator table for you...unfortunately they only had the front portion of the plane on display. http://s37.photobucket.com/user/millsforester/library/Canadian%20Warplane%20Heritage%20Museum/Bristol%20Bolingbroke%20Mk%20IV?sort=3&page=1 This is a plane undergoing restoration at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Hamilton, ON. Not much for cockpit views due to the work section being fenced off but a few different perspectives. Hope they help, foresterab Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul J Posted December 24, 2014 Author Share Posted December 24, 2014 Thanks Foresterab! I have gone by that last photo and stuck down a couple pieces of paper on the desk. I got it all masked and painted up last night. Pics sometime over Christmas. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul J Posted December 30, 2014 Author Share Posted December 30, 2014 Final 'build' pics now here: White primer applied... .... and to undersides.... .... now with yellow overall top coat. On its wheels and waiting final fittings....left.... .....and right and some cleaning up of the windows and tidying the framework painting.... .... with motors now added. Turret temporarily placed but waiting yellow framework paint. And now all decalled up and waiting final items. Next lot of pics will be of completion in R F I. And all being well the very last of the year for me( despite i made two Spits a couple weeks ago!!) 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 That's looking very smart Paul! Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foresterab Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 Nice paint...just found out about another one restored on Vancouver Island but it's a Mk.IV version. Apparently the west coast was the dumping ground for obsolete airframes to combat the Japanese subs off of British Columbia and the western USA coast. Love the bright sharpness of the yellow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonehammer Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 You're doing a great job on this one and would love to see you pull out a Mk.V - although I can't think of a Beau kit that can be bought for cheap and has engine nacelles worth having... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woody37 Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 Oh my, that looks gorgeous in yellow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempestwulf Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 Excellent progress. Love the ungainly lines of the Blenheim IV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul J Posted January 5, 2015 Author Share Posted January 5, 2015 Cheers for all your comments.Quite pleased with the result. Here in RFI: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234973582-172nd-bristol-bolingbroke-10103/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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