Jump to content

Frog (Revell rebox) 1/72 Bristol Blenheim, Finnish, Finished!


Recommended Posts

Hello All,

Time for a new project. Whilst making the new Airfix Blenheim 1 as A-RE, I dug out all my other Blenheims (all 1/72): Airfix MkIV (x2), MPM MkIV, Frog Mk1 (x2), Revell (Frog rebox) Mk1. Didn't realise I had 6!

The Frog Blenheim is a very nice kit, not far behind the new Airfix kit, and certainly easier to assemble!

I've decided to make a Finnish Blenheim on skis, as shown here. I was interested because the skis are retractable, and if you look at the picture there's an additional metal fairing around the lower nacelles to blend with the retracted ski. So there's a bit of work to do on the undercarriage, and there are some other mods to be done to make it a Finnish Blenheim not an RAF one.

So here's a sprue shot:

Frog_Blenheim_sprues_zpsyuwmemfj.jpeg

The decals for this are a rather nice RAF fighter scheme and a post war (roundels) Finnish scheme.

My first stop was the undercarriage bay. The kit parts fit nicely and I have cut away some of the supporting plastic:

Frog_Blenheim_raw_undercarriage_zpsa4qsu

Then I boxed in the wheel wells and added front and rear spars and those tank things from scrap bomb doors from the Airfix Mk1:

Frog_Blenheim_wheel_wells_zpseviprpfi.jp

The cockpit supplied by Frog is enhanced using the new Airfix cockpit as a guide, bearing in mind that not much is visible when the canopy is on. The red colour is not a scalpel accident, it's the paint on the wine bottle foil dissolving in superglue:

Frog_Blenheim_interior_detail_zps14xj7zj

And painted. Finnish built examples were apparently grey inside, but I've gone with interior green:

Frog_Blenheim_interior_painted_1_zpsfh0s
Frog_Blenheim_interior_painted_2_zpshpic

Here's the kit canopy dry-fitted:

Frog_Blenheim_canopy_zps03uuptix.jpeg

It looks to me like something out of "Alien"

The cockpit is "somewhat" visible through the canopy. For me, this canopy is better than, or at least on a par with, the rather disappointing new Airfix canopy in terms of distortion, and it's a very good fit. Because I have the Falcon canopy set, I tried a comparison between:

Kit canopy, dipped in Future:

Frog_Blenheim_kit_canopy_zpsozrle8d1.jpg

Falcon vac (not dipped):

Frog_Blenheim_vac_canopy_zpsrqzrarby.jpg

I'm not sure whether to take the plunge or not.

Thanks for looking,
Adrian

Edited by AdrianMF
  • Like 9
Link to comment
Share on other sites

In some cases interrior green is correct color in FAF Blenheims. Only part of those were built in Finland. Some of them came directly from UK.

Thanks...

Given that I've gone for interior green instead of grey, I guess I will have to revert to black and white photos if this becomes controversial!

Regards,

Adrian

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Very nice work, Adrian. I've thought about doing a Finnish Blenheim with the fixed skis. Somewhere in the hidden, dark recesses of my mind I have a vague memory of Frog doing one with the skis. Or did I dream it?

Regards,

Jason

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I haven't completely lost my mind (yet); Eastern Express came out with what looks like a reboxing of the Frog kit, but with the fixed skis. Thank you for the information on the interior colour, Vesa!

Regards,

Jason

Edited by Learstang
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Very nice work, Adrian. I've thought about doing a Finnish Blenheim with the fixed skis. Somewhere in the hidden, dark recesses of my mind I have a vague memory of Frog doing one with the skis. Or did I dream it?

Regards,

Jason

Thanks Jason! You can see the skis at the top right of the sprue shot, with the legs for them at the top left. They aren't quite the same as the pictures I have found, and there's an article here showing a real one and how to modify the Frog kit accordingly.

My understanding is that Blenheim's BL-134 BL-145 were from RAF and those should had have green interrior at leas in the beginning.

Phew! Thanks for that info. No need to reach for the Humbrol 64, then!!

Regards,

Adrian

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Very nice work, Adrian. I've thought about doing a Finnish Blenheim with the fixed skis. Somewhere in the hidden, dark recesses of my mind I have a vague memory of Frog doing one with the skis. Or did I dream it?

Regards,

Jason

This is the FROG kit in the guise of a Revell re-pop. I have three Novo re-pops in the stash. It says FROG in the heading of Adrian's first post.

Chris

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's a flying start! If anything I would have said that the original FROG canopy has the edge over the Falcon one.

Martin

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looking forwards to seeing this Adrian, I know you will do a great job of it.

Are you aware that the side profile of the canopy is wrong on the left hand side? Frog have it cut diagonally, but it should be squared off. If you choose to correct it, I found a square of acetate did the trick

canopies-1_zpsf25e99a6.jpg

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looking forwards to seeing this Adrian, I know you will do a great job of it.

Are you aware that the side profile of the canopy is wrong on the left hand side? Frog have it cut diagonally, but it should be squared off. If you choose to correct it, I found a square of acetate did the trick

canopies-1_zpsf25e99a6.jpg

You are still my primary reference for updating this kit! Well, you and Old Man... The two prongs that stick out into the canopy area are a bit large in the Frog kit, but I think I can live with that in exchange for not having to trim a vac canopy. The diagonal cut off has already beens squared off and the wings sanded back a bit, so we should be good for that. See post 1 pic 4. I think I am going for kit cockpit canopy and Falcon turret. Now I need to find the right gun....

Regards,

Adrian

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Adrian!

Nice subject :winkgrin: Frog Blenheim is my old favorite.

Of the green interior... Also original pre-war block BL-104-121 likely had green interiors. Of those at least BL-115 flew with retractable skies.

Related to the interior in addition to colour Finnish built ones had different instrument panels and some extra windows.

Frog/Novo/Revell/EE/whatever Finnish skies are not very accurate.

Cheers,

AaCee

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 months later...

Hello All,

Got back to this after a run of simple out-of-the-box builds.

The exhausts as moulded by Frog were fairly rudimentary, so I made some new ones out of sprue sanded down to an oval shape, bent and hollowed out:

Frog_Blenheim_exhausts_zpspueca5ik.jpg

The oil coolers were a bit of a problem until I tried aluminium tube, widened at the front end with a steel marker punch:

Frog_Blenheim_oil_coolers_zpsssbppzc2.jp

Turret detailing was up next. I scratch built an approximation of the turret mechanism and I will top this off with the Falcon transparency:

Frog_Blenheim_turret_zpshmodkfqg.jpg

Talking of transparencies, the portholes behind the cockpit have been drilled out:

Frog_Blenheim_windows_zpsisxsee0c.jpg

So the transparency plan is to use modified kit parts for the front canopy, suitably bent clear packaging material for the extended side and bomb-aiming windows, Clearfix for the portholes and a Falcon part for the turret:

Frog_Blenheim_transparencies_zpsjxy62bwv

The retractable skis have fairings to blend them into the nacelles. I've been dreading this. Step one is to make a balsa shape:

Frog_Blenheim_ski_fairing_zpscxp4gnag.jp

Then mould some plastic card round the shape. Use bulldog clips to avoid burning your fingers!!

Frog_Blenheim_ski_fairing_moulded_zpsbgl

Then repeat "trim and fit" until they look OK-ish:

Frog_Blenheim_ski_fairing_undercoated_zp

Although they are locally added items, the fairings were a pretty good fit, better than I have at the moment. I will do some more trimming and sanding (bearing in mind that they are getting a bit thin and nobody will look underneath!):

Finally for this post, I cut out the wing tip lights and added lumps of plastic with a drilled and coloured hole for the light bulb. The rearmost light is just a blob of CA hardened with some accelerator. It seemed to sand up as well as the plastic so I may experiment more with that in future.

Frog_Blenheim_wingtips_zps8uch7b1e.jpg

I have since glued the wings and tailplane on, and I'm pleased to say it looks like a Blenheim!

Thanks for looking,

Adrian

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I remember building the original Frog kit

many decades ago.

I'm almost finished building a Sci Fi model which

uses one of those ski's as a nose gear landing pad!

It has spent decades in my spares boxes awaiting

it's moment of fame.

Carry on the good work.

Pete

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Pete-in-Lincs (no longer Riyadh).

I guess you are glad not to be sweltering. Or sad to be freezing cold. Or possibly even both...

Those streamlined ski pods are something else, and I bet they fit in just great with an SF build. Sadly the ones on mine are basically flat.

Regards,

Adrian

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Hello All,

I've made quite a lot of progress. Paint is on, using Hu65 for the underside, Hu 102 for the green and 3xHu33+1xHu32+1xHu70 for the black. I've dry-brushed some lighter shades across it to break it up a bit. I thought about scribing, beyond the rather wobbly bomb bay, but decided against as there aren't many visible panel lines in pictures. I may draw some faint pencil lines later.

I've decalled it with some Finnish markings from the MPM Blenheim IV kit, and some home-made serial numbers (font "Akkurat-Light" in 18 point). Judging the weight and size of the lettering on paper was surprisingly hard, and I had to use a ruler to double check. The decal film (Lazertran for inkjet) dries white, and to make it go transparent I had to coat it with a oil-based varnish. Since switching to water-based acrylics I have forgotten how smelly it is working with oil-based products and white spirit!

I was all set to build myself a Finish Lahti L33 machine gun when I read that the British built machines used the Vickers gun in the turret, so I took a spare from the new Airfix Blenheim and added a sight to it. The turret transparency is a Falcon vacform.

Frog_Blenheim_paint_top_zpsyt84pvwi.jpg

Frog_Blenheim_paint_bottom_zps8ilkus0m.j

Frog_Blenheim_paint_turret_zpsiqrpbaii.j

So I have skis, aerials and pitot tubes to add, and I will need to find some spinners (sometime maybe never - I quite like the hubs as they are!), and then I need to give it some final washes and dry brushing to dirty it up a little (not too much) before a final coat of varnish.

Thanks for looking,

Adrian

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looking good, built the Frog Blenheim 1F a while ago using the Falcon set, not easy with all those glazing bars.

Yours looks very neat! The location of the lozenge window seems to be different on nearly every photo reference I looked at, still can't work out why.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Bristol Boy!

If by "lozenge" you mean the little window behind the cockpit, then I copied the location from the new Airfix kit by reference to the bottom of the window. I cut off the prongs that stick out into the cockpit area and replaced at whole area with some curved acetate, so that area may be a bit too deep/high and the side window a bit low.

I've just noticed that huge sink mark behind and above the window too :(

Some Blenheims (only the Finnish-built ones?) had another window more or less over the middle of the wing too. I've gone with the assumption that a British-built one wouldn't have the extra window and wouldn't have the built-up Finnish landing lights either.

Regards,

Adrian

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Adrian, this is a fantastic build and well worth all the effort - I built one in 'way back when' and it was nothing compared with this.

Still one of my favourite A/C though - much smarter than the Mark IV

From you and others on BM I have learned so much....Thank you

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is very impressive! it just goes to show what can be done with some of these older and supposedly obsolete kits. :goodjob:

Martin

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Bristol Boy!

If by "lozenge" you mean the little window behind the cockpit, then I copied the location from the new Airfix kit by reference to the bottom of the window. I cut off the prongs that stick out into the cockpit area and replaced at whole area with some curved acetate, so that area may be a bit too deep/high and the side window a bit low.

I've just noticed that huge sink mark behind and above the window too :(

Some Blenheims (only the Finnish-built ones?) had another window more or less over the middle of the wing too. I've gone with the assumption that a British-built one wouldn't have the extra window and wouldn't have the built-up Finnish landing lights either.

Regards,

Adrian

Hi Adrian,

Looking through Chaz Bowyers Blenheim book at the weekend, think this is what stuck in my mind.

I recall when I did my Frog Mk1 looking at all sorts of different configurations where solid panel divided the side glazing and roof hatch slider and never reached a definitive view. There are definitely a number of variations so in the end I copied the recent Duxford example.

c5273417-9882-4e2e-9693-acdd9799b6c9_zps

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks chaps!

Bristol Boy, thanks for that image - a world of pain will await if I ever do a Swedish one!

I think I'm OK with my cockpit window treatment because of the photo here, but those little portholes in the fuselage do seem to come and go like mirages in the desert.

I have been having other "research after building kit" issues. I have googled "Finnish Blenheim" images every weekend for a few months now, and just when I think I'm nearly there, along comes a picture I've never seen before of BL-135 with the Finnish version of the landing lights.

My original reference picture, taken in 1942, didn't show the port wing so I assumed that it would have British landing lights, just like all the other British-built Finnish Blenheims in photos where I could see the port wing. Some deeper digging on militaryphotos.net shows me that BL-135 was involved in an accident in November 1940, after which the wing must have been either rebuilt or replaced, this time with Finnish lights. So by 1942 it would have the Finnish lights, just like the new-to-me picture taken in 1943, when it was back on wheels.

Hey-ho, off with the rather nice (IMHO) scratchbuilt lenses and landing light cover, and on with two suitably shaped and drilled pieces of sprue:

Frog_Blenheim_lights_zpse71jicyz.jpg

I spent the rest of the afternoon cutting up myriads of tiny pieces of plastic rod and stretched sprue to make the ski mounts:

Frog_Blenheim_skis_zps5tdjxy84.jpg

They have turned out quite well I think. Time, and my clumsy handling, will tell if they are a bit fragile or not!

Thanks for looking,

Adrian

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...