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Airfix Armstrong-Whitworth Whitley Mk. V


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Thanks again chaps, great to see that the old beast is a popular subject despite of its less than glamorous looks, or maybe because of them...... (more George & Mildred than George Clooney perhaps)......

can't believe my dad done his training jumps from these

Thanks Kev, I believe it was a pretty stable old thing to jump off, mind you with that wing I doubt even a Force-10 would bother it too much !

Rob...thanks ..well that was the politest option I could come up with !

Jason.....I thank you ...beauty is indeed in the eye of the holdall...I'm a huge fan of so called 'ugly' aircraft as you well know and wallow in the glory of all aesthetically challenged flying perambulators, (I prefer the word 'interesting'), that's why I'm wringing my hands at the thought of the Avis La-200 and seriously contemplating scratch-building a 1/72nd Beardmore Inflexible, (wrinkled skin included) or Tarrant Tabor.

Seriously though I wish Airfix would produce a quality Harrow in the near future....(I know Valom have one planned but even Vaclav doesn't know when or if it will ever be released !).

Edited by general melchett
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A thing of beauty is a joy forever

So it appears is a Whitley :)

I enjoyed the magazine build yer honour, very erudite

I hadn't realised that you could spell in English as well as Harrumphsish ;)

You make the old dear look fabulous, just possibly as only you could...

Nice one Andy thanks for posting it here so we could bask.....

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Hi Bill, good to see you here old baguette glad you enjoyed the harticle, as for spelling in Englishire well I was assured by my school 'handler' that, 'the boy can barely spell his own name....should go far....as far as possible please !'..not sure what he meant, but he wasn't smiling when he said it...

Thanks again old chap...see you at Sutton ?

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Indeedy

I have a special dispensation to remain 'near-sober' at the family barbecue on Saturday in order to maintain a semblance of sanity at Sutton

I may even drop a model or two on their comp table if I can find anything without a three inch covering of dust

Looking forrards to it sah, 'twill be good to see thee

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Really nice build, looks like I'll be buying one of these!

Also, every time I see one of your posts the voice in my head is general melchett reading it!!

Rich

You do know that is because he is... ;)

Edited by perdu
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That's a smashing job of a much maligned aircraft. I'd never call it ugly - not when the RN had the Blackburn Blackburn and the even uglier Avro Bison - and they don't hold a candle to the Polish LWS-6 Zubr! And I love the way it flew - nose down, tail up and striving to do its best.

I do like the look of the Airfix Whitley. It looks to have captured the sit of the thing very well, and the set of the wings looks spot on. I did the Fly version a couple of years back and couldn't quite work out how to get the top of the inner wing to sit parallel to the ground without splaying the u/c to odd angles. So I look forward to the arrival of the postie each morning with a box from the UK.

General Melchett - great job, well done. I look forward to your article in the next AMW.

Cheers,

Matt

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Bill, near sober is good enough !...sobriety is vastly over rated. There's no need for any semblance of sanity anywhere near the competition table with us lot around, just have at it, (scale dust is fine by the way, it's the overdone stuff that ruins it)...

Rob, well I'm with you there, I always liked the old girl but there is something of an 'old wheel barra' about it !....looks like you could shoot at it all night and not even make its engines cough...

Rich....thanks and just for you from a former heavy machine gun armed Harrow full back...........

Thanks Karl, glad you liked the article it was fun building this one...you can't go wrong especially with Ken Wixey by your side !

Batcode...by thunder what are you waiting for man !

Matt, wholeheartedly agree about the BB and Bison, gloriously mis-shapen lumps of aeronautical mayhem..the Whitley flew at that attitude much to the satisfaction of the pilot who could actually see for once where he was supposed to plonk the old kite down on the grass for a change...not sure about the tail end charlies outlook on life though....

(There are many more articles on their way........you have been warned !)

Edited by general melchett
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La-200, Beardmore Inflexible, Tarrant Tabor, Blackburn Blackburn, Avro Bison! What a heavenly line up of veritable pulchritudinous aerial divinity! Compared to these lovelies, the Whitley is merely quaint, a second-ran, a poor-man's poor man, if you will. Like you, your Generalship, I look beyond the fabric, aluminium alloy, and whatever in *Jehovah's name the Inflexible was covered with (sheepskin, perhaps?) to see the inner beauty of an aeroplane. Mind you, in some cases you have to look very far and very hard indeed.

Yours etc.,

Jason

*Right, well I better get ready for the stoning. Good thing too as I haven't been stoned in quite some time. University, I believe.

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I'm wondering / hoping we will see an edition of Airfix Model World with the Whitley as its main feature article.

Having purchased the edition that included a supurb article on the Beaufighter Mk. X, I finished reading that article a lot more knowledgeable about the sublte differences of this late war mark. It all tied in with the eminent release of the Airfix kit which (for me) then became a must buy. I'm now looking forward to the Heinkell He111 edition (yes - Australia gets them 2 months later!!) which will probably also entice me to add one of these to the stash.

Getting back to the General's Whitley, that is a wonderful replica of what I consider a fine aeroplane. Kudo's for mentioning that their are a few areas that may require some additional attention. I've missed the initial stock from Hattons, however will pick up one when they next arrive.

Cheers.. Dave.

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Many thanks chaps,

Jason...I'm glad you approve the litany of aeronautical gurning devices however I forgot to add a special mention for the F-35 ! very remiss.

Enjoy your stoning....I got stoned once, well more than once actually, Cambridge was a pretty rum place back then, it was at a Hawkwind gig back in the summer of '78 at the Milton Keynes Bowl if memory serves...I still don't know how we made it home some 50 miles but as I was the only one with a set of car keys I can only hazard a guess !

Thanks Dave, I think there may well be a fair chance of that though I couldn't possibly comment any further ! I outlined the two main 'problem' areas but to be honest these are easily dealt with by anyone here, they certainly aren't deal breakers. Good points include undercarriage/spar detail, nice bomb bays with four 500 pounders, great turret and cockpit detail, the general fit of parts and sublime wing surface detail. The silly prices for Frog/spawn and even Fly kits can be put to bed for the foreseeable.

There are also indentations depicting the aerial positions on the inner fuselage walls for a Mk.VII so I'm sure one of those will be along in the future.

Stew, thanks, I agree it has a certain quaint Old English charm about it...

Airfix asked me to comment on any particular problems that came up and one thing I did question was the positioning of the fuselage top slit windows. Frog and Fly have one pair in the centre and one pair at the back whereas Airfix have one in the centre and one at the front just behind the cockpit glazing. They then sent me a copy of the relevant factory drawing to show that they were indeed correct for a Mk.V. I can't comment on the decals as I didn't receive any but I wouldn't anticipate any issues and besides there will be several aftermarket ones released in the near future.

One thing that is missing however, and they weren't at all sure why is the rear gunners escape hatch on the upper rear fuselage just behind his position...easily scribed on but a slightly strange omission given the lengths they went to in getting the shape right.

Cheers all :cheers:

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Something I should add is that I added a few things myself to enhance the kit, (well you wouldn't expect any less would you !).

Added the two quite prominent pips on the leading edges of the wingtips

Extra detailing in the nose turret as whilst the kit parts are good there are a few struts and braces, spare magazine case and bracket details missing and there's enough space to add it all...I'm guessing Eduard will come to the rescue.

Added the under floor heating pipe that runs through the rear cockpit floor into the forward portion of the bomb bay, (but will only be seen if you have the bomb doors open and turn the thing over !)

Added radio set and beam box to the wireless operators position, (can easily be seen through his window).

Added the missing triangular box on top of the fuselage which for some reason was missing.

Extra aerial line from the port fin to the fuselage.

Note the forward aerial post is correctly mounted centrally for the Mk.V...it was offset to the right on earlier versions.

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Well ...

I read the AMW article (for which many thanks) tried to order a kit from the Big H and it was out of stock. Now I've seen this thread, had another look at the Big H website, saw more are in stock and am pleased to say I'll be collecting it at Duxford on the 20th!

Many thanks, General!

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Thanks Val and good job Jonny, you won't be disappointed !

To answer a few questions about the model that people have pm'ed me.... here are a few piccies of the main points of the build, hope this is of some help.

The fuselage centre section with the main spars and undercarriage points, again a very solid and easy to assemble structure. Nice to see the additional lower windows. Everything virtually clips into place with the wings literally sliding over the spars.

DSC_0088_zpsmvvvd7it.jpg

With the wings in place it's a really strong structure...in fact I don't think I've ever built stronger ! The rear bomb bay and forward bulkhead are shown here too. Note the separate flap bays.

DSC_0115_zpssbbficw4.jpg

The cockpit area..I've added several pieces of my own here. The instrument panel is adapted from an Eduard Halifax set as the kit only includes decals for the panel and I simply prefer the pe sets plus as I mentioned I didn't get any decals with the kit. I believe there is even a map on the sheet which is rather nifty. The seat belts and radio set are also from the Halifax set...Eduard are doing a set to use with the model.

DSC_0110_zpsl5hgygzm.jpg

You can see here how the fuselage is broken down. Also evident are the gaps on top of the engine nacelles.....

DSC_0124_zpsl1wo1fcb.jpg

I added my own map and map reading equipment. Here the gaps in the nacelles are filled, a two minute job. You can also see the position of the two forward skylight windows and interior detail that extends into the front turret bay.

DSC_0146_zpsnvdpqjax.jpg

The detailing of the wing ribbing is very subtle and effective....and bomb bay roof and flooring are all included....

The only area of concern on the model were the gaps caused by the fuselage halves not quite reaching the wing, easily solve by inserting a small tube into the top of the fuselage side walls which helps push the sides into the wings and maintain the correct roof line when fitting the top panel.

DSC_0125_zpszgmeckg8.jpg

The nose turret is nice but I decided to add some extra detail as it's very easily seen in the big fishbowl..all well illustrated in the Warpaint book.

DSC_0220_zpspkmptk2y.jpg

Cheers all,

Melchie

Edited by general melchett
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Saw it in the magazine, and it looks great.A kit that I will be buying.

And Xtradecal will be providing my machine of choice :)

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That looks like some excellent detail in the cockpit, General - top drawer stuff by both you and General Airfix (and General Eduard)! However, if I might, I couldn't help but notice that that navigator chap's chart is actually of Basingstoke, and not Westphalia. Still, splendid work all around there!

Bestest,

Jason

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Super build Melchie! I thoroughly enjoyed the article in AMW as well. What unspeakable acts did you have perform to get hold of a test shot of this kit? I will probably be sorry I asked that question.

Martin

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