Summer madness? Valom HP Hampden TB1 - Finished!

[SimonL]

It must be the recent run of hot days, but despite the tales of woe I have read about the Valom Hampden torpedo bomber I am going to give it a go. Nothing to lose really as I picked it up cheap at a model expo. At the least it will be character building. 🤣

 

A box top top shot to start with.

 

 

As this is intended as an out of the box build, I will be making this 489 Squadron aircraft, although I will be painting it with the Temperate Sea Scheme of dark slate grey and extra dark sea grey rather than the green and brown bomber colours, as I gather that is more likely.

 

 

I made a start with the instrument panel, more to keep my fingers of my close to complete Beaufort (so I don't rush and spoil it). The panel is a sandwich of a plastic back part, a printed film and a photoetch front. Not done one of these before. I painted the back plate white, stuck the film to it with some Micro Kristal Klear. The photo etch I painted black, and dry brushed with some medium sea grey while still on the fret. I then carefully attached it to the rest of the assembly with Micro Kristal Klear. Looks pretty good to me, although not sure how much of it will be seen through the canopy.

 

 

Edited January 4, 2020 by SimonL

[Crossofiron1971]

OOOh...

Havent seen this one before, looks interesting...

 

[rob85]

The detail on the kit looks lovely but it's the clear parts that get the horror stories.

 

very much a fan of this type so looking forward to the build

 

Rob 

[CedB]

I'm in

Nice looking i/p Simon - that's the technique I use having been put onto it by Sten.

[Beard]

I've heard it's the clear bits that are horrible but I'll be following because I have the AZ/KP boxing, which, I believe, is the same plastic but with revised clear bits that fit.

[SimonL]

Yeah, the clear parts (particularly the nose) are not a great fit, being too wide. I am hoping I can work around that with some widening of the fuselage at the nose end. Also for the torpedo bomber the rear part of the underside (the central gun position) is incorrect, I am in the process of trying to deal with that. We will see.....

 

in the mean tome, I cracked open the CA glue and had a go with the photo etch in the cockpit. I thought I was going to end up cross eyed but it looks ok in the end. The levers on the throttle assembly were particularly hard to do.

 

 

[Martian]

Good start! I love the Hampden/Hereford.

 

Martian

[neil5208]

Good  start, will watch closely

[bbudde]

Allways good to the Hampden (Flying Tadpole). I'm in here for that one.

[SimonL]

Thanks guys for the support 😀

 

Bit of progress today.

 

First I sorted the tail, which requires some additional plastic glued in to act as the support for the tail wheel. I used a spare bit of sprue, which will also help fix the tail in place. While I was at it I also added some tabs from plastic card to help position it as well.

 

 

There is not much detail on the inside of the fuselage, other than some engraved lined at the nose end, so I added some plastic rod and card to busy things up a bit. It's loosely based on the rather awesome build @woody37 did a short while back (see http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235003604-bomber-command-twins-twin-build-valom-hampden-airfix-whitley/&page=2 )

 

 

Then the first coat of cockpit green on the the interior parts.

 

 

[BIG X]

This looks like a nice kit

[CedB]

Nice internals Simon and a good idea for the tail - anything that helps line it up is good news!

[SimonL]

Thanks Ced, and yes so far Big X it's a nice kit - I've yet to hit the troublesome part!

 

just some painting of the insides today, as well as putting the wings together. They are a reasonable fit but will need some  work on the forward facing seam.

 

 

 

Edited January 9, 2017 by SimonL

[PlaStix]

Interesting looking kit and you have made a great start! 

Kind regards,

Stix

[woody37]

Great start Simon

 

i wouldnt mind mind hearing how anyone gets on with the clear parts on one of the new kits as I'd like to do another.

[jean]

Hi Simon,

you are one busy bee!

Just found your thread and as I really like the Hampden and torpedo planes in general, I have to follow this build.

I've read a few reviews where it was intimated that the Airfix kit was actually not a bad alternative to the Valom offerings... Considering the age of the Airfix Hampden, this is a daunting comment!

One challenge at a time though and the clear parts may not be as bad as advertised...

 

Have fun!

JR

[SimonL]

Thanks Jean, not busy just list of time on my hands! (It's the long summer break here, still have over a week before I return to work). What you say may well be true, however nothing ventured, nothing gained!

 

I finished off the internals by adding the remaining seats. I have also added some plastic rod to act as a spacer in the nose.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once I had added the seat belts (more photoetch - bleurghhh!, I like the way it looks but I hate dealing with it), it was time to start closing the fuselage, carefully from the tail end and moving forwards. I am leaving the nose section at this point unglued. It required some convincing to go together, and I am glad I added the extra tabs from plastic card.

 

 

 

 

I've set this aside now to cure before dealing with the nose.

 

Meanwhile I have been working on the wings and engines.

 

 

They needed some filler on the seams, but nothing too drastic. I boxed in the landing light "hole", which also needed a little fettling so that the transparency fits ok.

 

 

 

Thats it for today, hopefully have the airframe competed tomorrow and we will see if those transparencies fit........

[rob85]

Nice work on making the internals look busy, already buttoned up as well.

 

Rob

[SimonL]

Thanks Rob. Semi buttoned up anyway, flying low one might say?

[TheBaron]

Thou art not hanging about on this. Good progress!

Tony

[SimonL]

Thanks Tony - the intent is to have this finished before I go back to work......

[SimonL]

Ok, fingers crossed. I have made a little wedge of plastic rod to widen the the fuselage where it meets the nose transparency.

 

 

Unlike the soft polystyrene that Airfix kits are made of, the Valom plastic requires some time to "cure", so it will be a while before I know whether this has worked.

 

I added the wings, a reasonable fit on top but a bit of gap underneath that will need some filling.

 

 

I've decided to make like a little easier for yield by using a spare torpedo left over from one of my Beaufighter builds.

 

 

While I wait for the cement to do it's work I headed off to the local IKEA to pickup up a display case for what my missus calls the "man cave". My daughter moved out late last year, and much to her disgust my son and I rapidly took over her empty room - him for his gaming PC, me to finally have somewhere other than the kitchen table. It's not quite as splendid as @Procopius's basement, but it's better than temporary digs in the kitchen.

 

 

I think my recently completed Dakota looks particularly good in the case,

 

 

[CedB]

Nice 'man cave' Simon and nice models inside! 

A bit like children, it's going to be hard to choose favourites when the space gets tight...  

[SimonL]

Indeed Ced!

 

I has a quck look to see how things had worked out with the canopy.

 

 

 

It is by no means perfect, but it's a lot better than how it was to start with. The upper nose is a reasonable fit. The lower part is actually a bit narrower than the fuselage is now, so I will need to sand a he fuselage back a bit - but that's better than trying to sand back the transparency.

[jean]

Hi Simon,

 

why were planes ever built with perspex everywhere? What's wrong with fresh air? No transparency, no cry!

I know the stress you are under, and I sympathize.

But you're getting there.

 

Tell me, all the riveting on the model, is it your doing, or did Valom hire the mad Chinese riveter of old? Whoever did this, it looks subdued and nice!

 

Great progress.

JR