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235 Squadron Blenheim IVF *** Complete ***


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Everything was allowed to harden off overnight and then I started the process of masking off the undersides of the Blenheim.

Having skimped on masking on previous builds and paid the price with endles retouches, I have rather a comprehensive approach to masking.

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I know it's a lot of Tamiya tape, but it's all worthwhile if it prevents anoying instances of overspray.

With that out of the way I applied the pre-shade to the top side in preparation for the first coat of Dark Earth.

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The painting guide provided with the Airfix kit doesn't match the camo scheme of my subject, however as luck would have it the guide for the Airfix Mk1 Blenheim features the correct pattern.

Thankfully I've managed to get my hands on the painting guide for the Mk1 which I'll use for this build with a few tweaks for the MkIV.

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My build will obviously feature a Sky underside.

I've roughly marked out the camo pattern on the top sides in preparation for starting painting the Dark Earth.

Long weekend coming up, so hopefully I'll be able to get the paintwork completed this weekend.

Karl

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Having pencilled in the camo pattern onto the airframe I mixed a batch of Tamiya Flat Earth and started to apply thin coats over the pre-shade until it was just visible.

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Despite carefully pencilling in the camo scheme, and marking it up B and G for the respective colours, I still managed to spray the brown where the green was supposed to go. Hence the all brown starboard wing.

Next up was a post shade of lightened Flat Earth applied to the panels which saw high traffic and wear in a random manner.

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You can see it on the panels around the engine nacelles and cowlings.

This always looks a bit stark and unnatural, so I then apply a highly thinned mix of the base colour to soften the effect.

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I'll let that lot harden off overnight then apply a coat of clear before masking up for the Dark Green.

Karl

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Thanks for the encouragement guys!

What with the stunning weather over the weekend it was a wonder I got any modelling done!

In spite of that I spent Sunday masking up the Dark Green top camo, having first enlarged the Airfix painting guide by 149.6% to match the actual model.

I then cut out the brown sections and then transferred these onto 40mm Tamiya tape before applying these to the airframe.

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As you can see I then reinstated the panel shade on all the green sections before applying several thin coats of Gunze RAF Dark Green, thinned with cellulose thinners.

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As per my usual MO I then lightened the panel centres on the higher traffic, high wear areas.

This was allowed to harden off overnight, before the masking was ceremonially removed.

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As you can see the Gunze green dries with a good sheen, particularly after being thinned with cellulose thinners.

Monday & Tuesday were then spent sorting out all the little bits of paintwork I wasn't happy with, particularly around the cowlings and nacelles where there were some mismatches in the masking.

Everything then got a coat of Humbrol Clear to seal the finish before I started decalling.

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And here is the top side resplendent in full RAF camo.

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Overall I'm quite pleased with the way the camo turned out, which meant everything could then be left to harden off overnight after which it was time to start decalling.

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As you can see I'm halfway through the decal process having applied the upper wing roundels, and fin flashes. I even used the walkway decal, however this will get scuffed up as part of the weathering process.

A couple of nights should see the decals done, and then we're into finishing.

Which will mean my first complete build this year!

Karl

Edited by Bordfunker
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Once again thanks for the encouragement all.

Bernd, I use Gunze MrMark decal softener and setting solutions, these can be a bit aggressive, but used with care really do make the decals look painted on.

The decals have taken longer than anticipated.

I had bought new 36" squadron codes from Carpena so that I could make up the P-LA codes, and 8" serials from Ventura, so thought I was prepared decal wise.

When I went to apply the fuselage roundels from the kit I suddenly realised they were way too small!

This called for frantic searching of the decal bank for something suitable, which turned out to be from a 1/48 set of Mk1 Spitfires!

I then had a similar issue with the underwing roundels which were too small again, so off on another search of decal bank, before drawing a blank and then had to raid my limited srash of unbuilt kits to find something suitable.

I finally finished the decals this afternoon, and have just put a coat of Humbrol Gloss on to seal them all.

No pics tonight, but I will try and take some tomorrow ahead of applying an oil wash.

Karl

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Not a lot of time at the bench this evening, but enough time to polish the gloss coat over the decals with a 12000 Micromesh cloth, and then apply another thin coat of gloss.

Pics were taken before application of the second gloss coat.

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I love the large two colour roundels sitting so far forward on the wings, it just screams early war, as do their underwing counterparts, with their large white sections.

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The fuselage roundels are huge and must have felt to the gunner that they were sitting over a giant bullseye!

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And a final shot with the engines on.

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I used Tamiya Dark Iron on the exhaust collector rings, which I'm quite pleased with, just needs a little more work to finish the engines and cowlings.

The props and main wheels were finished off this evening, so tomorrow night I'll apply an oil wash.

Karl

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Thanks guys!

I managed to get the oil wash on last night, using a mix of brown, black and grey Windsor & Newton oil paints and supposedly odourless white spirit!

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What do you mean my wash technique lacks subtlety!

This lot was allowed to dry off overnight, which is a bit longer than I would have liked, but work got in the way.

So this evening I started to remove the wash with cotton buds slightly moistened with white spirit. This allows plenty of control and also helps with the fact that the wash has dried off more than is optimal.

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That walk way needs scuffing up, but I'll do that when I weather the decals.

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The underside will get some streaks and staining as the real aircraft leaked oil from their engines like most WWII machines.

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The undercarriage on Blenheims featured a strip over the wheel on the wheel cover, like a rainstrip, but actually there to deflect the oil drips away from the main wheels. So I'll be replicating that.

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The undercarriage needs an oil wash, but that can wait until tomorrow night now.

Thanks for watching.

Karl

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Thanks again guys.

Not a lot of progress since my last update, however the undercarriage got an oil wash, and I've done some more work on the engine cowlings so no pics tonight I'm afraid.

However I do have one pic.

Remember the brown box?

This is what was inside....

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Yes another Blenheim!!!!!

But this time it's going to be a Mk 1F, utilising the spare early gun pack from the Mk IVF.

With all that lovely reference material from the first build, it seemed silly not to do another.

Karl

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Shouldn't be too long now Jim.

I masked up the walkway and hit it with some Tamiya NATO Black, followed by a mottled coat of Sky Grey to give it a more used appearance.

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Much better!

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The exhaust collector rings were masked up and the front part of the ring painted Tamiya Titan Silver, to replicate the two colour nature of the real thing.

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And here's a shot of the undercarriage following assembly and an oil wash.

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Tomorrow should see the Blenheim getting a coat of matt varnish ahead of final assembly.

Karl

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