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Vulcanicity's Stranraer and Heyford dual mega build!


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Goodness, it's been a while!

Thanks everyone for all your kind comments on the last update! CedB, yes I'm afraid I've seen pretty much every walkaround there is! You'd be amazed at how many areas of this relatively small aircraft aren't covered by any of them! Moaning Dolphin: I too had wondered if I could send in and get a free kit! I've built quite a few of the Matchbox kits of 1/72 UK WW2/interwar subjects over the years, and the Siskin and Lysander are in the stash -  but there's a few I've not got round to!

 

A very busy month trying to do science and support my girlfriend who has just done a Big Science (finished her PhD thesis) so modelling time has been limited. I'm still plodding along with the voluminous interior of the Stranraer, working aftwards compartment by compartment.

Aft of the pilot sits the navigator, and on the bulkhead separating them is a fairing covering part of the rudimentary autopilot system, and a mounting for an anglepoise light (this will wait for much later on). There's also a swing-out seat for the nav to sit on when poring over his sea charts and swigging his grog. My detailed but fuzzy Big Plan is not very helpful for this area, and a bit of guesswork was neccessary.

 

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The chart table itself slides aftwards on rails, which as far as I can tell is to allow access to the aforementioned autopilot setup. It's attached to the wall along one edge but also to the floor somehow, via angled supports. I've chosen to assume that the there was a sliding rail for both attachments, and that the latter one was attached to the angled portion of the floor rather than the flat central bit. It was a bit of a job working out how to do the table as it attaches both to the sidewall and the floor - however in order to paint the interior properly the floor section is going to have to stay out of the fuselage until after painting, and there will need to be lots of dry fitting in between. I elected to attach the table top to the side wall and the supports to the floor, as you can see from the above.

 

There's a variety of navigational equipment attached to the wall behind the table. The Big Plan isn't very helpful, but this includes a handheld compass, an "Oil Reservoir Mk. IIb", an "air dryer", and something called a "test c0ck". I made approximate guesses at these without knowing entirely what they all did (what's an air dryer and why is such a thing needed in a flying-boat?!). I also added some lockers for nav. equipment over the central window in this compartment.

 

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At the aft end of this compartment, there's a more comfy seat for the nav, and a fresh water tank - presumably to supply our intrepid sea/airmen with son-saline ice cubes for their grog. The latter seems to be a cylindrical construction with a ribbed surface, so I dug around in the morass of my spares box,  and fished out this otherwise useless bomb from the Airfix Valiant:

 

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It looks nothing like a post-war RAF 1000-pounder, but with some plasticard ribbing, and attached to a plinth, it makes quite a convincing water tank. There's a story behind the entry step on the other side. After this photo was taken, I was trying to sand down a couple of rough edges and thought "This is odd - the plasticard isn't sanding properly and the edges are all soft and fibrous!" It turned out that I had erroneously picked up some white cardboard of the plasticard - and built an entire step without noticing I was using the wrong material! Never done this is nearly 19 years of modelling! :

 

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Aft of the navigator sits the wireless operator, whose compartment is even more densely fitted, but is hidden behind a bulkhead with a doorway, which MB thoughtfully provide. I wasn't going to bother with anything in here, but an irritatingly large amount can be seen through the doorway while looking through the crew door. So I added the port half of the floor,  and some supports on which will sit a seat from the spares box. To excuse myself from adding anything which might be glimpsed from the mid-upper gun position, I've also added the rear gunner/wireless operator bulkhead behind.

 

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On the back side of the first bulkhead (The one between the nav and the wireless guy, which MB provide - keep up! :P ) I added some crude sides to the radio boxes, and a table with a support. This is about all that can be seen through the doorways, but it helps fill a gap, as it were. (Ooh err!)

 

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To give you some idea of what this will all look like, here's a dry fit with the nav compartment more or less complete, and the wireless operator just missing a set.

 

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Lastly for today, I've made a start on the lower rest bunks, the head ends of which should be visible though the mid-upper gunner's Scarff ring. I think my sidewall  structure is quite overscale, as the beds seem uncomfortably narrow! I made them as wide as possible while leaving a small gap, and attached the inner faces first so that they're nicely symmetrical about the centreline when viewed from above. As you can see, the starboard side was originally supposed to be a top section but was cut too small!

 

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That's all for now folks - hopefully more modelling and less time before the next update!

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Back to the grindstone! I did quite a bit of complaining about the Stranraer to those of you I saw at Telford -  in particular CedB, Perdu, and exFAAWAFU got an earful of Vulcanicity moaning, so I apologise. This build has yet to reach the stage where it feels fun - we're getting there slowly, but for now it's a trudge.

 

In my scratchbuilding journey aftwards though the Stranraer hull, we're at the mid-upper gunner's compartment. As I mentioned last post, this has beds in it for the weary aeromariners to grab some shuteye in flight, or perhaps when the aircraft has made a water landing somewhere off-base. I'd started putting the plasticard sides of the bunks in at the end of the last post, after which I added the tops, and did quite a bit of sanding back so the halves still fit together.

The way I see it, this thing is going to have tons of fit problems anyway with all this scratch stuff, but if I beat away at them as I go, the final job before the hull join might be doable - rather than making me throw the whole lot at the wall and curl up sobbing.

 

I've been struggling to work out how to represent a neatly folded (this is the 1930s RAF!) but still demonstrably fabric set of bedclothes in 1:72. The only other bit of fabric I'd done was the surface of the second pilot's seat way back when, which was a bit of plasticard soaked liberally in poly cement, then creased and dimpled while still tacky/melty. But this didn't seem so practical for a full-scale bed. I wanted to represent somewhat blocky, uncomfortable pillows (this is the 1930s RAF!) and tucked-in blankets with some, but not a huge amount of thickness. I ended up making a plasticard block for the pillow, and a thinner plasticard template for the blanket (i.e. roughly the shape of the top of the bed, but a bit smaller), and wrapping them up in several layers of slightly crinkled kitchen foil. This was laborious and irritating, but it sort of worked. Here's the results on the top bunks:

 

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And here's the bottom bunks in situ. The top pair go on the sidewall just above the windows- you can see the slots I cut in the framwork to accommodate them.

 

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As you can see, they're excessively narrow, and rather long. I'm pretty sure the length is right, at least both the Big Plan and the cutaway I have show them stretching from almost under the rear gunner's position to the bulkhead behind the radio compartment. However, I suspect the real things would be wider - both the thickness of the sides and my structural detail are inevitable rather overscale. However, all you can really see is the pillow ends glimpsed though the Scarff ring, so I'm not bothered.

 

You might also notice that I've had to sand the starboard lower bunk to fit once the bedding is in place. This caused absolute havoc, as about six layers of foil lifted up, and I had to constantly add more superglue. In general, that's quite enough 1/72 beds for me, for life. If you ask me to build you a 1/72nd Douglas Sleeper Transport with complete interior, I fear I shall be very rude to you.

 

Since the lower beds also doubled up as storage lockers, I added doors with catches all the way along on both sides, which you can almost see in the above photo, if you squint, and imagine a bit.

 

Aft of the beds are two small stoves, one on each side, where presumably no-longer-sleepy, refreshed aeromariners cooked bacon and eggs and a cup of char before setting off again. From squinting at the Big Plan, these clearly fold away behind doors to make a neat box shape - a pair of side-hinging doors beneath and a bottom-hinging fold-down door-cum-shelf whatsit above. At least the one on the port side does - the Big Plan is very vague about the starboard side but implies there's something similar going on. So I made two plasticard front faces...

 

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And attached them to the sides/top I'd installed earlier:

 

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The suitcasey thing aft of the starboard stove here is the dinghy pack, which is vaguely hinted at by the Big Plan. I copied a WW2 Lancaster-type dinghy, so if you're a 1930s flying boat dinghy expert, please forgive me.

I'm assuming that the stoves were strong enough to stand on - at least there's nothing else suitable for the gunner to use, as far as I can see. So I might add a black plasticard anti-slip strip later on.

 

Lastly for today, there are two things called "drogue containers" hanging down from the roof immediately behind the rear gunner, and accessed by an external hatch on each side, which is moulded into the insert that roofs over this space. Now, I associate "drogues" with canvas bags on strings, used  for aerial gunnery and all that whatnot - but it would seem counterproductive to deploy one gunnery drogue, let alone two, right behind a snaggy, strut-brased, comparatively fragile, and generally quite crucial tail assembly , and then expect your mid-upper gunner to blaze away at it while not denting said tail, or the rear gunner sat within it! And if there was a Stranraer TT.1, which deployed said Bags For Life for others in other aeroplanes to shoot at, it's news to me. In fact, a bit of research suggests that these are in fact akin to sea anchors - also canvas baggy things, but used to keep the tail straight in a seaway. Much more sensible/nautically pleasing.

Anyway, here they are in place. They neatly hang down behind the gunner's position, and a) obscure all the sidewall detail aft of this, which I expected and so I didn't put it all in the first place, and b.) don't foul on the dinghy directly below.

 

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I'm feeling quite smug about these two small victories, so I'll say bye for now, as the finishing line (the rear gunner's cockpit, anyway) awaits!

Edited by Vulcanicity
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Hi Phil,

It's wonderful to see one of those multi coloured kits I grew up with and with the white additions you did it's even more so!!!

Both subjects are quite unusual but very interesting and with great personality!

Those interiors are fantastic!

Looking forward to seeing your next update!!!

Ciao

Massimo

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No issue from me on your chat at SMW Phil - it was good to see you :)

Nice work on the internals, especially the beds - I think they'll look good with some paint on.

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  • 2 months later...

Weeeeeeell it's been AGES but I'm back on this project, having built a mojo-restorative Chipmunk , eaten and drank my way through Christmas and New Year, and hacked away a bit further at the PhD.

 

If you'll recall, I was slowly trudging my way aftwards through the Stranraer, compartment by component, scratchbuilding anything that could plausibly be seen through the windows, open access door, and open gun positions.

Having mucked around with all the stoves and beds in the mid-upper gunner's compartment, it was time to add some spare magazines for the Lewis gun carried here. The AP which I examined at the National Archives reveals that five magazines were carried at each station.

 

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Unfortunately, it says nothing about where or how they were stowed, and none of my references was much help, so I sort of made it up. I hate making stuff up - I've only once done a completely fabricated interior (the Matchbox Seafox, years ago) but sometimes you just have to cut your losses and stick three magazines to starboard and two to port.

 

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Aft of the stove to port, you'll also notice I've added two large suitcases with wire handles which feature prominently in the "Big Plan", although the latter says nothing about what might be in them. I suspect it's tedious stuff like mechanic's tools, but I'd rather imagine it's bottles of vermouth and several changes of dinner/morning suit for all six crew  :)

 

That was just about it for that compartment, so on to the tail gun position. Mercifully not too much to do here, apart from the five magazines, again artfully and fancifully arranged.

The vague blob to starboard is a fold-down chair for the gunner, while the lower, smaller blob to port is a parachute. I have precisely zero references for this compartment, and these two features are going to be almost invisible anyway, so I didn't faff around with support struts, seatbelts, and parachute pack tie straps. I present this to you as solid evidence that I am, in fact, quite sane. :penguin:

 

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Nearly there! Just a few more odds and ends to attend to further forward. This is the kit instrument panel - surprisingly accurate as to the placement of basic instruments but rather of its time. I knocked up the replacement below from yet more plasticard stock.

 

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The very last thing was the bulkhead separating the pilot's cockpit with the bow - the one bit I chickened out of scratcbuilding! Apart from some tabs to hold the instrument panel on a good scale foot too far forward, there was no detail here and a clear view into the undetailed void ahead. My references suggest a corrugated sliding door, so it was out with the quadruple CD cases to cut the latter to fit:

 

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I then added a tiny pull handle for the door, plus some surrounding framework. The distribution of frames seems irrational until you see the bulkhead dry-fitted into the cockpit:

 

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And there we have it! One detailed Supermarine Stranraer interior! Easily the biggest scratchbuilding job I've ever attempted, but I'm pretty chuffed with the result. Somewhat astonishingly, it all still fits together! (more or less.)

 

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The only things missing here are the pilot's and wireless operator's seats and control column, which are staying out until after painting.

 

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The eagle-eyed will note one final, and vital, addition to the crew's comfort - the Elsan!

 

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That's it for now, once I've primed up I'm putting the Stranraer on the back burner and bringing the Heyford up to the same position. See you next time!

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Vulcanicity
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All that in only three pages, no wonder you,'ve needed some times out. I'm impressed to pieces with what I'm seeing, I may never go to this extent with mine but at least I'll know what I'm leaving out & more importantly what I'll need to put in, really useful stuff, bring on the Heyford now. :).

Steve.

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  • 1 month later...

Oh dear, another month!  Thanks for all the comments about the Stranraer! Limeypilot, the Dalek is a water tank, although I was making it with very few references except the very fuzzy Big Plan, so it may or may not have looked like that!

Anyway, I have not been idle, and instead have been cracking on with the interior of the Heyford.

You might remember I’d got about here:

38751886990_cc398c66db_b.jpg

 

So floor and all the structure is done, but not much else. Well then. Unlike the Stranraer, the Heyford III AP is full of glorious food pictures like this, so I’ve been able to crack on without too much guesswork.

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Here’s the weird chassis thing that the pilot’s controls are attached to, which is much the same arrangment as in the Stranraer - only this time MB couldn't even be bothered to represent it as a vague blobby cuboid. Under this runs all the connecting rods for the control linkages, and the rudder pedals and throttle pillar are attached to the top side. I suppose it helps keep all the control linkages from being stepped on, or getting caught up in other equipment.

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Somewhat amazingly, one of these has survived in the RAF Museum store and is almost the only surviving bit of Heyford. I’ve devoted considerable thought to what might have made someone in the 1930s keep it while the aircraft themselves were getting scrapped, but I’m none the wiser. Torture rack? Weird dining table for a child? Wheel ramp for car maintenance? (You’d need two, surely?) Novelty hat? It at least confirms Interior Green for the colours, unless someone recovered it from a Heyford then repainted it that way, which would be even odder...

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Anyway, I built the base of this assembly fully attached to the floor, as it helps strengthen the bulkhead behind:

[38751885390_e903456400_b.jpg

 

However with the top installed permanently, it would be a nightmare to paint the insides behind those holes (yeah I know you’re barely going to be able to see it from above, but still…) so I built the top, complete with throttle pillar, as a separate assembly which just slots in and can be glued after painting. The throttle pillar is hollow (of course) and the whole lot is very difficult to photograph….

 https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4705/39666831415_aaf133f2d2_b.jpg[/img]

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I haven’t taken a photo with it installed for some reason, but I’m sure you can wait! On to the control wheel. There seem to be as many types fitted as there are images of them, but at least one of my references shows a spectacle type, which I knew I had an example of kicking around in the spares box. I’ve not the foggiest idea what it was originally from, but with the addition of a suitable mounting stick, it became a Heyford wheel. You’ll also notice the rudder pedals in situ here.

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After that it was just a matter of fitting out the rest of the details on the sidewalls. You might remember I built a trim wheel for the Stranraer which didn’t fit – so I saved it for here! It’s got four spokes and should have three, but you’ll just have to pretend you didn’t know that. If I can, then so can you!

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The two round things are fuel c0cks and feature in an AP diagram so at least these are accurate; the switch panel with wiring is “inferred” as a good view of the starboard sidewall is one thing I don’t have. The joys of building an extinct aircraft…

 

On to the port sidewall. This is dominated by the folding second pilot’s seat – the seat part folds down and the back folds, well, back. I spent a good half an hour trying to decipher this folding arrangement from my photo references, before eventually reading it spelled out verbatim in an old Flight article from 1933! At least I was correct and didn’t have to rip it out to start again… The smaller box is a document/map case.

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Next, the bomb-aimer’s compartment. The AP comes up trumps again here with a terrific photo, which I did my best to replicate.

 

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The tripod affair to port is a mounting bracket for the bomb sight (which more anon), and I’ve also added a compass, instrument panel with airspeed indicator and altimeter for the bomb-aimer (lazy man, couldn’t he just go back six feet and ask the pilot?), and firing step below the large window added on the Heyford II to improve illumination in this compartment.

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The large rounded fairing on the back of the bulkhead is to allow for the travel of the rudder pedals. On the real thing it would be hollow, but as you’ll see in a moment, it makes no difference at all that I’ve carved it from solid plasticard.

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The other side gets a piano stool which hinges out from a strengthened structural member, upon which the bomb-aimer sits to play the works of Bach on the Wurlitzer use the bombsight, and a panel of fuzing switches.

 40562094261_87eef4949c_b.jpg

 

After this, I went (went?) a bit (a bit?) mad, and built the correct mark of Course-Setting Bombsight, as well as some more Lewis magazines identical to the ones I made for the Stranraer. There’s a suspicious looking bracket just behind the piano stool which I reckon was used to stow the bombsight, so I’ve replicated this plus the sight principally to fill this empty space.

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With a few more controls added, and the magazines and bomb sight installed (well, actually just put there for the photo, there’s no way I can paint them in situ!) we’re nearly there for this bit.

 [/img]https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4703/25691372027_7cc482e20a_b.jpg[/img]

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The last job is to replicate the folding door which separates the bomb-aimer from his pilot and gave them both some peace. It’s definitely in two sections and I think it folds like this, over the rudder pedal fairing and neatly hiding the non-hollow end from view.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4748/40562090961_e014e337f0_b.jpg[/img]

 25691369487_fbcafcbc7b_b.jpg

 

Phew! Nearly there, just a few bit behind the pilot and I’ll be ready to prime this one too. Not before time, although I have been rather enjoying the Heyford – less time spent trying to join up the dots and more fun equipment building.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Vulcanicity
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Superb work there, beautiful detail in the Heyford forward fuselage.  That scalpel shot really shows how small the detail work is.

 

It is weird how odd bits of aircraft survive. 

Apparently one of the last surviving Heyfords was broken up at St Athan, and I do wonder if that pilots pedestal might have been used on the Flight Engineer School there.   They did have an odd array of cockpits and parts from within.

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Loving your work on those internals Phil - really bravura environments you're creating! :thumbsup2:

I think Ced may have introduced us at Telford but to my shame I didn't make the connection with this feast of structure.

 

You're PhD doesn't involve plastic by any chance? :D

Tony

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Beautiful interior detail! I think I may have an interior pic of a Heyford in my copy of "The Wonder Book of the RAF". I'll have a look....

 

Ian

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