Italeri 1/72 Stirling I

[Simon]

Another update for today (not much work on at the minute...).

The four undercarriage wheels are now on. The two rear wheels are pretty unsteady, so I'm glad they won't be supporting the weight of the Stirling - I'll be making a trestle for the tail:

 

Here's the starboard mainwheel in fully down position. This is much more sturdy:

 

I've also done the partly-retracted port wheel. The base section was added first and left to set:

 

Again, this was pretty sturdy once the glue had dried, so then I added the lower sections, using some plastic rod to add a bit of strength at the joint:

 

 

Here are both mainwheels together, showing the way the wheels retracted. I think the expression is 'over-engineered'...

 

They need the tail and mainwheel doors adding, but I'm happy the port wheel went together (reasonably) painlessly. The resin wheels are pretty heavy, so hopefully the whole thing will hold!

I've also made a start on a base for the Stirling to sit on, as I did with my 159 Sqn Liberator. I downloaded lots of images of concrete textures found online, then some Photoshop jiggery-pokery to make them into 10' squares at 1/72, and some weathering and wheel tracks. Here's a small section - the whole thing is A3+ at 300dpi - 826Mb file size.

 

More soon...

Cheers

Simon

Edited July 5, 2017 by Simon
relinking images from Photobucket to Flickr

[12jaguar]

Hi Simon

We have a saying in the Stirling Project and it borrows from the John Lewis slogan:

"The Short Stirling - Never knowingly under-engineered"

Really impressed with what you're attempting here, probably the first (and only) time that anyone will ever model a Stirling in this configuration

cheers

John

[Simon]

Thanks John. There's probably a very good reason that no-one's done it before - I'm still not 100% convinced it's a good idea myself!

We shall see...

Simon

[Gondor44]

That base is amazing let alone the work on the aircraft

Gondor

[tonyot]

Looking forward to seeing this one finished,....superb job so far,

Cheers

Tony

[Simon]

So, another update. Moving away from the Stirling itself, I've made a start on the maintenance jacks.

The basic elements for the base section:

 

and it all put together, with the boarded section across the base:

 

It's pretty sturdy, so should do the job once the upper sections are added.

The rear trestle has proved somewhat difficult, as I've no idea what it looks like! I did find this photo:

 

so I'm basing it on this, simply as it's the only reference I've found for a Stirling rear fuselage trestle/jack, apart from ones used in the Stirling factories. So, here's what it looks like so far:

 

 

The wheels aren't right - I think the nearest I've found are wheels from a half-built IBG Models 1/72 Universal Carrier in my stash, which may end up donating its wheels for a good cause.

More soon...

Cheers

Simon

Edited July 5, 2017 by Simon
relinking images from Photobucket to Flickr

[Brandy]

Nice scratchbuilding there!

That rear trestle looks very similar to the one in the Airfix Sunderland kit, if my memory serves me correctly.......

Ian

[TonyTiger66]

That's. superb work on the maintenance jacks.

The base is a superb method too, thank you for sharing the technique, looks the business!

Best regards

Tony

[Gondor44]

Your build of the trolley is wrong. The towing handle should be fixed to the block that has the wheels on. I suspect that there is a pivot of some sort above that section on which the cradle for the rear of the aircraft sits which would then allow the trolley to be turned to help in manoeuvring the aircraft.

Great building otherwise.

Gondor

[Simon]

Thanks for spotting that Gondor - my mistake! I'll get it changed...

Simon

[Simon]

So, another quick update for today.

I've amended the rear trestle, as pointed out by Gondor:

 

Also today I've got more of the maintenance jack completed. Here are the uprights test-fitted:

 

The main uprights are steel tubing for strength, with the lower supports made from plastic tube. I also made a temporary jig brace for the tops of the uprights to ensure they stayed the right distance apart.

Next I added the upper sections of the uprights, and made the cross-bracing:

 

 

 

It all went together pretty easily, and here's the cross-bracing added, as well as the vertical supports:

 

The vertical struts themselves have a horizontal cross-brace (more over-engineering...):

 

 

Some photos show the whole thing with an extra horizontal framework with planking to stand on, so I've made that too and placed it on for size - just needs the planks adding to it:

 

The whole thing is pretty solid, but I guess the acid-test will be when I try the Stirling on it...! It still needs some odd and ends - there are three castors to make, plus some bits and bobs for the jacks themselves.

More soon...

Cheers

Simon

Edited July 5, 2017 by Simon
relinking images from Photobucket to Flickr

[Gondor44]

So which part of the maintenance jack that you have made moves as it looks as if everything is glued together.

Gondor

[Squibby]

Impressive bit of scratch building there,

Are you using preformed I beam and angle sections or building them yourself with strip styrene?

Amazing clean work none the less.

Good to see your decal issue also sorted itself out nicely, in the end they've ended up really nicely bedded down. If you're feeling adventurous you could dull the super bright yellow lifeboat marking with a heavily thinned (as in 10-15 parts thinner to paint) overspray of khaki or similar colour (I find it blends nicely with RAF brown / green). I tend to do this with all my decals to blend them in a bit.

[Simon]

Gondor

On the real thing the upper section of the vertical supports (the ones I've done in grey plastic tube) slide up and down - the vertical supports attach to a ring that these vertical supports slide up through, but I haven't figure out how to represent that yet! The jack itself supports a cross beam that goes through the fuselage of the Stirling above the bomb bay.

 

 

Yes Squibby - I've used Evergreen I-beam and Plastruct angle sections.

Simon

Edited July 5, 2017 by Simon
relinking images from Photobucket to Flickr

[Gondor44]

Gondor

On the real thing the upper section of the vertical supports (the ones I've done in grey plastic tube) slide up and down - the vertical supports attach to a ring that these vertical supports slide up through, but I haven't figure out how to represent that yet! The jack itself supports a cross beam that goes through the fuselage of the Stirling above the bomb bay.

Simon

How about making the ring from strips of thin plastic card?

Use a strip the same width as the hight of the ring and curl it by wrapping it around something, either wooden or metal, that has a smaller diameter than what you are trying to make and then dip into recently boiled water for a few seconds. That should give you what you need and probably enough at a go to make four rings if you use a strip long enough. It may take a few goes to get it right but it should work. Hope this helps.

Gondor

[Simon]

More progress to report today. The maintenance jack is more or less done. I added the upper rings to the jack vertical using a thinned down plastic tube, and have added the various handles etc. It still needs some castors adding, but they're done and ready to fit.

And so I thought it might be time to try test fitting it to the Stirling.

Here the main jack. I've drilled two holes in the underside of the wings for the verticals to slot into:

 

and here's the tail trestle:

 

So, deep breath, and time to see if they work...!

 

 

The answer is yes...and no. The main jack is too tall, and the tail one too short. The main wheel should be about 2.5mm (6.75" at 1/72) off the ground, and it was about 6mm or more, so it needed some taking off the tops of the verticals. And the tail one doesn't touch the ground - oops!

Here's the amended main jack:

 

Unfortunately one of the sides started to droop - the supports were bending slightly, so I've added a couple of extra cross braces, arrowed here:

 

It seems to have done the job, and it'll be hidden by the work platform once that's on, which should also add some extra bracing in itself:

 

I've added a section to the tail trestle too, but I think it may need re-looking at, so that will be the next job.

More soon...

Cheers

Simon

Edited July 5, 2017 by Simon
relinking images from Photobucket to Flickr

[Gondor44]

With regard to your tail trestle, the photograph of the original looks as if the axle for the wheels is below the block the arm is on. That by itself might give you the extra hight you need.

Lovely work on the main trestle

Gondor

[TheBaron]

Excellent work on all fronts Simon. Very purposeful and a pleasure to watch.

Tony

[Simon]

So, another quick update.

I've given the maintenance jack a coat of paint, and it's beginning to look the part:

 

Needs some weathering I think, plus the walkway and a few odds and ends adding, but nearly there.

In addition, I've made a start on some extras for the base. Here's the maintenance tower from the Arifix Bomber Supply set, painted and weathered a bit:

 

 

I've also got a trolley accumulator for the Stirling - they seem to have them plugged in when on the ground being serviced. This is from the Flightpath UK WWII Trolley Accumulator Set:

 

I'm also working on some vehicles. I've been amending Airfix's AEC Matador from the 5.5 inch gun kit into an R.A.F. flat bed lorry. I realise it's slightly out of scale at 1/76, but it should fit in okay. It needs a revised cab top, plus of course the flat bed section with its different rear mudguards. I've also given it some new wheels from the Wee Friends range:

 

I'm also busy with the Standard Tilly and Bedford MWD from the Airfix Bomber Supply set too, plus waiting for some figures and some other bits to arrive, so more updates soon...

Cheers

Simon

Edited July 5, 2017 by Simon
relinking images from Photobucket to Flickr

[Simon]

So, some more news for today. I've now found that the colour I used for the various ground equipment bits is wrong - ho hum...

They should be either R.A.F. Blue or Khaki Green Number 3 (KG3) at that time, so I bought a pot of MIG Productions Khaki Green No.3 (Brit. 1939-1942), which I used in the photos in my previous post. Thought it looked a bit on the light side, and then I bought a copy of the book 'British Army Colours and Disruptive Camouflage in the UK, France and NW Europe, 1936-1945' by Mike Starmer, which gives a colour chip of KG3 and a mix for the correct colour - it's much darker than the MIG paint. Currently waiting for some new paints to arrive to make up some KG3 of my own, and repaint the bits I've already done. One step forward, two steps back...

So, with the various vehicles and GE on hold, I thought I'd get back to the Stirling itself. I removed all the masking from the fuselage glazing, only to find some the windows had a grey colour inside them:

 

Looks like the primer had bled inside the fuselage, presumably as I hadn't sealed up all the hatches - d'oh!

So, what to do? I tried removing the oveerspray with a cocktail stick via the various open hatches, but that wasn't too successful, then I remember I had some of Hannants' Purisol acrylic paint remover, so I dipped a pipe cleaner in this and managed to remove the offending primer:

 

Looks much better! I've also taken the opportunity to get the cockpit back together, after having to remove most of it to replace one of the oval windows that popped out:

 

I'll try and get on with getting the engines, props and turrets on the Stirling next, together with all the various lights, aerials and the undercarriage doors. That's just about all that needs doing I think, and by that time I should be able to crack on with the ground equipment and vehicles and get the whole shebang done and dusted...

More soon...

Cheers

Simon

Edited July 5, 2017 by Simon
relinking images from Photobucket to Flickr

[Squibby]

I'd almost forgotten how awesome that cockpit looked, even after being disassembled,

[Sgt.Squarehead]

What an awesome project.

With regard to the colour for your ground equipment, Mike's mixes don't take scale effect into account IIRC, so will need lightening to look correct in 1/72, if you use the mix directly it will look too dark.

[woody37]

Amazing work Simon. Might be worth getting some Kleer on the inside of those windows too now you've got the worst of the primer off, might help out a bit more?

Stunning scratch building skils with the support frames

[Simon]

Thanks for the kind words everyone. Looking back through this thread, I can't believe in post #1 I said it's going to be more or less OOB - best laid plans and all that!

I'm going to try a Vallejo mix for Khaki Green No.3, as recommended in my query about KG3 in the WWII Armour section:

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235003445-british-khaki-green-no3-colour-confusion/

This mix seems to take into account scale effect.

Hopefully I'll be able to pick up the necessary paints at the Northern Model Show in North Shields tomorrow. With a few other odds and ends no doubt...

Simon

[huvut76g7gbbui7]

Simon,I continue to be amazed with this.

This build is inspirational.

Thanks

Richard