Jump to content

Vulcanicity's Stranraer and Heyford dual mega build!


Recommended Posts

Thanks all!

TheBaron, Don't worry! Was good to meet you at Telford. At the moment I really don't get enough time to follow many other WIPs on BM, so I have no grounds to get offended!

71chally: Maybe! An instructional aid seems the most likely cause for the pedestal's retention, although I'd have though a more modern type, plus a more complete cockpit assembly would have been more useful!

Tomoshenko: I'd love to, although as I currently don't have time to be a member of a model club, it'd have to be a show with a BM table.

limeypilot and dogsbody: thanks for looking out interior shots, although thanks to years of trawling you might not be surprised to find I've already got them all!!!!

The bottom two, of the rear fuselage and radio operator's position are from Flight in about 1933.

 

Unfortunately the top cockpit image is the only really clear shot which is readily available, but I'm 90% certain it shows the prototype Heyford J9130: the small round porthole to the right of  the bomb aimer's window don't appear on any production machines, and several bits of cockpit equipment and structure (eg the curved floor surface) are totally different to either the second, rather dark shot (probably a Heyford II or III) or to the Heyford III AP (see image further up). The differences between these two cockpit images gave me a great deal of headache until I realised that!

 

Anyway, on with the build!

 

A surprising amount of empty space is visible on the port side behind the pilot's bulkhead, simply by peering through the cockpit cavity. I've built a few open-cockpit biplanes, but none of this size, and the ease of spotting places where I haven't built any detail is rather unsettling (no, I can't "just ignore it"). Anyway, I ended up building the framework holding up the radios and operator's desk, along with the back and starboard sides of each radio, much as I did with the Stranraer. This was simple to make, as the ribbed floor is easy to drill through accurately!

 

26120818087_5d545564b1_b.jpg

 

I added a couple more fittings to this compartment. The wireless operator's seat really isn't very visible, even with young eyes like mine, so I cobbled together something roughly right from an old scrapped Airfix Bofors gun and a couple of bits of plasticard. This will do fine in the gloom. The other item is a reconnaissance camera - only the Flight cutaway (25th June 1936, if you're really keen) shows this, mounted in front of the radio rack. I can't find any data showing what mark of camera was fitted, or any clear photos showing the external underside of this section, so I've no idea what kind of window arrangement existed to allow photography through the floor. There was definitely a downward ID light here, and the compilers at Flight may have got confused by this and invented a camera mounting where none existed. However it adds some substance to this otherwise conspicuously empty area, so I copied a WW2 picture of an F24 camera to pad out the space (who says I'm a perfectionist?!)

 

26120816677_02e688dccc_b.jpg

 

As with the Stranraer, the kit had a vaguely correct instrument panel, although this one bore less relationship to the real thing. My scratchbuilt effort is above - it looks rough but primer has improved matters quite a bit. The large hole is for a compass.

 

40991652841_8bb43cd72a_b.jpg

 

Not much remained to do in the forward monocoque. I noticed from the AP that part of the dual control system (the second pilot's yoke) is stowed on the starboard sidewall just aft of the second pilot's seat. Having found to my surprise that the kit proides yokes (when you do this much scratchbuilding you forget what parts are in the box!) I sanded one down to a reasonable thickness and fitted it in the right place. Further forward, I added an attachment spigot for the second pilot's control column, and that was that!

 

39182546420_2a7b637d52_b.jpg

 

40991649961_24cf9e1f7e_b.jpg

 

On to the rear gunner's cockpit. As you can see from dogsbody's photo above, there are a *lot* of Lewis magazines (6 for each of the upper and "dustbin" gun positions), two parachute holders, plus a ladder stowed there.

 

26120813137_b8be0b1c6d_b.jpg

 

The odd thing that looks like a capital "N" is the framing for a folding seat which the top gunner sat on to play Solitaire while no fighter pilots were good-naturedly pretending to shoot at him from their Furies and Bulldogs.

This lovely "skin off" image from the AP gives you the idea.

 

26122100747_42dceb935e_b.jpg

 

With those prepared, it was on to primer! I'm *very* chuffed with with way everything looks under the good old grey, until you prime you can't quite be sure how many cack-handed glue runs are present, but on the whole the result looks pretty good to me.

 

40282371484_1fcc957e40_b.jpg

 

I've actually since scraped the dust and mould of months of idleness from my brushes, and done some painting, but that will have to wait until next time!

Edited by Vulcanicity
  • Like 21
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi 

Just found this thread.  There is some great detailing work.  I have these two kits in the stash also and will watch with much interest.

There's also some great reference material on this thread which is very useful. Thanks to you and all that have posted.  Great tip with regards to the CD cases too.

 

All the best 

Chris 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Colour me gobsmacked. Excellent effort, that man!

 

Would you consider doing a resin and etch set to assist those of us with (a lot) less ability than yourself to make something more akin to a silk purse than the otherwise ensuing sow's ear? Because there's no way that my attempt at either of these kits will in any way approach yours.

 

I'm amazed. Great work.

 

Edit to add- it's quite odd to see how many of us have both of these kits in the stash. It seems that if you have one, you also have t'other. Must be a disease...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Aww thanks folks!

Rob G that's very flattering - although I haven't really got the resources to go into the aftermarket detail industry! However I think I might do a reference thread for BM with all my discoveries and photos from the AP in one place, so others can benefit from my research without expending so much effort! The Heyford in particular is pretty well-served with references, and with the AP photos there's enough to detail most areas.

 

Paint!

 

I mused for a fair while as to the interior base colour for the Stranraer. The RAFM example is Interior Green throughout, however it was gutted and partly restored in the 1960s so I don't really think that's much help.

All my references suggest that the pilot's cockpit at least was some kind of matte colour that isn't Alumninium, but most of my contemporary photos of the rest of the interior are less helpful. All the good quality ones I'm at least 75% sure are of the prototype. K3973. They appear to show natural metal or painted aluminium, but I'm not convinced this is representative, as I've also got one or two very poor photos of wartime aircraft that show a darker, or at least less shiny colour.

In the end I had a brainwave - Supermarines famously mixed their own green colour which was lighter than standard Interior Green. This is the colour applied to Spitfire cockpits, which is arguably closer to Sky (my usual mix is 50% of each). I've not read whether this was applied to flying boats but given that the Stranraer came along only slightly prior to the early Spitfires, I've decided to go with Spitfire interior green throughout.

 

40991646521_98087d036c_b.jpg

 

The Heyford was done in Interior Green, largely on the evidence of the surviving throttle pedestal thingy (see last page), apart from the rear fuselage which was doped and therefore a scruffy red colour. I've never had much luck making the uneven red-stained canvas hue of doped biplanes, it just looks badly painted if I try and do it. So I went for continuous brick red, sacrificing a bit of accuracy for looking neat here is fine by me.

 

40991644531_aa289f8ea4_b.jpg

 

I gave the Stranraer's structure a bit of a gentle wash, as although I shall be finishing mine as a silver machine when they were relatively new, I figured flying boats would get mucky and bashed more quickly than most aircraft.

A bit of tidying up still needed here, but it looks not too bad.

 

26120802407_d5bb53025e_b.jpg

 

That's all for now! I'm off to Paris next week to talk about tropical rodents at a conference, then an Easter break in Cornwall but I should be back with more painty fun next month!

 

 

  • Like 16
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Beautiful work on insides!

I have those two not deep from top of my stash, I do not think that I will be able to follow your way of detailing but some general concept how insides shoul looked like I will try to copy...Thanks for sharing!

J-W

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is a wonderful build!!!

And an aircraft I didn't know!!

Recently I got in touch with a guy selling one  , but I opted for other Matchbox kits, as I've got no experience with rigging!:headbang:...not for me

I'll watch yours instead...much better to do so!!!:clap::yes:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Evenin’ all!

I'm Back from a week at a conference in Paris, plus a pleasant holiday in farthest Cornwall, which has relatively little aviation heritage (save  a couple of gate guards at Culdrose, plus the fire dump at RNAS Predannack, which is another story) but on the flip side looks like this.

40611508875_67244983dc_b.jpg

it was time to crack on with detail painting on the Stranraer!

I’ll let the photos speak for themselves. I'm almost done, apart from the dinghy on the starboard side of the aft compartment, which I'm still trying to work out the colours for.

27633481398_96b0ff023d_b.jpg

26634826307_b7a417e1a8_b.jpg

Having painted the pilot's, navigator's and wireless operator's seats, I finally stuck them in!

27633478488_45684533b3_b.jpg

26634823547_355b129569_b.jpg

40611442745_bb00c07554_b.jpg

27633475778_5aa82ca9d2_b.jpg

The eagle-eyed might notice from the last shot that I've made a start on applying the windows. That's right, I've had to cut some parts of the sprue! I think the last time I did this was several months ago: dust needed shaking off.

These have massive flanges around them, which I have been diligently sanding off, at least in the windows which one can see from inside. I'm not used to having to make fuselage windows look good from both sides! The good news is that they aren't very clear, so you will only be able to see detail where I have put it, i.e. where it's visible though holes. No sneaky peering at the blank aft section of the wireless operator's compartment for you!

26634828637_ac333a9609_b.jpg

That's all for now, but I'll leave you with the exciting prospect that the Stranraer hull halves aren't far off being ready to stick together. It's only been eight months...

  • Like 12
Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 minutes ago, Vulcanicity said:

I'm Back from a week at a conference in Paris, plus a pleasant holiday in farthest Cornwall, which has relatively little aviation heritage (save  a couple of gate guards at Culdrose, plus the fire dump at RNAS Predannack, which is another story)...

...and the Cornwall Aviation Heritage Centre at St Mawgan!

 

Superb interior detail work on the Heyford and Stranraer, definitely bringing two rare old types to life!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great stuff.  The similarity between the internal layout of the Stranraer and the Walrus is very striking.  Not surprising, I guess, but if you compare your stunning work with the recent Airfix Walrus (a candidate for their best ever kit, IMHO), in places they are almost identical.

 

Anyway.  Love it!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Thanks everyone! Another long wait - these builds are a bit intense for keeping up a WIP as well!

 

A milestone!:

 

41370069604_162759de1c_b.jpg

 

27219589307_e42f1e1372_b.jpg

 

Yes that's right folks, I glued a kit part to another kit part! So far a rare circumstance on this build - and finally, the Stranraer's interior is behind me!

A few gaps:

 

27219584737_f8377a7fcd_b.jpg[/url]

 

41189172915_8a3ff47881_b.jpg[/url]

 

Considering how much homemade, well, stuff  I jammed in there, I don't think that's all that bad.

 

Before I did the deed, I made sure to get some good photos of the finished interior, the longest and most complicated scratchbuilding job I've ever attempted in 19 years of modelling. Since the last post, I painted the instrument panel and liferaft, added windows, some control linkages in the roof I'd planned months ago but forgotten about, and added an anglepoise light for the navigator. Inevitably I'll have missed something, but c'est la vie.

 

 

I'm pretty chuffed with the result, and considering the paucity of reference material available, I think this is about the most accurate Stranraer interior I could have reasonably made without recourse to a time machine.. Some of it was guesswork, but hopefully at least educated guesswork!

 

40282233050_282fb9e6b3_b.jpg

 

40282227260_ae37219318_b.jpg

 

41370098674_335bd031f2_b.jpg

 

28216573438_e954333af5_b.jpg

 

42089054111_c0b95c53ea_b.jpg

 

42089048341_a7e4b0800b_b.jpg

 

42089036601_7e3d955cfd_b.jpg

 

28216561468_1d85b806e5_b.jpg

 

40282205360_163574da76_b.jpg

 

42089028891_cfb0d97fa4_b.jpg

 

 

I've spent much of the last week or two (when not trying frantically to finish my PhD) getting the Heyford to the same stage, but I'll leave that to the next post!

 

 

  • Like 16
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm really pleased you gave us another look at that marvellous interior before closing her up Phil. Great work should always be recorded! :) 

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...