Wellesley x 2- FINISHED

[tonyot]

Hiya Folks,.....

                  Hopefully I`ll be starting another model soon in the form of the wonderful old Wellesley, here is the boxart from Scalemates, while I get the missus to dig my kit out of the loft;

 

I fancy doing it in a slightly different scheme,.....either the pre war desert scheme;

 

Also depicted on the box art of this Valom kit;

 

OR;

 

The mid war Temperate Sea Scheme painted aircraft circa 1943 when the surviving aircraft were used for anti sub duties;

 

This is L2712 from 47 Sqn which was one of the last two still flying on the 3rd March 1943, note the side gun positions and the open bomb doors on the sponsons;

 

 

 

 

 

Here is one of the long canopy variants with twin Vickers K Guns fitted and positions in the side windows too, also thought to belong to 47 Sqn for ASW duties;

 

 

 

 

A rather escoteric Wellesley which I don`t know much about is this Polish marked aircraft, thought to belong to a maintenance training unit in the Middle East;

 

Re the Polish Wellesley,......I have found another pic,..captioned,......Henryk Radecki, leaning on a Vickers Wellesley during his training at the Polish Air Force Academy (the Polish Air Force emblem may be seen to the right of Mr. Radecki) in Heliopolis, Egypt, 1945.

 

EDIT,..EDIT,...EDIT,.....Here is another photo of the `Polish' Wellesley,... I am getting closer!!

 

This is an excellent reference too,.....one of the better Warpaint books;

Edited November 30, 2017 by tonyot

[Beard]

Excellent. I do like the Wellesley but only have the Valom one, which I'm a little reluctant to do. (Heads off to find a Matchbox one.)

[modelling minion]

Nice choice Tony, pure Matchbox as nobody else at the time would have even contemplated kitting such an aircraft.

The Temperate Sea Scheme sounds interesting and different, though a well built Wellesley in any scheme is always nice to see.

[Martian]

This looks very interesting!

 

Martian

[Arniec]

Great choice Tony. Will watch this with interest. 

 

Cheers,

[Rabbit Leader]

Yes, another Matchbox classic - the  Wellesley. I’ve got one in the stash and am close to securing another.

This GB is tossing up plenty of great builds, the only problem is that it’ll all come to an end in Feb 18.

Can we extend it?? 

 

Cheers and another build I’ll be keeping both eyes on.. Dave. 

[stevej60]

Nice one Tony,another of the very few Matchbox kit's I've not tackled,look forward to progress.

[JOCKNEY]

Nice one Tony

 

Can I ask how you have managed to train SWMBO to get you your Wellesley from the loft for you ? 

 

If i were to ask Mrs Jockney I would probably need to engage a Proctologist to remove it before I could build it ! 

 

Look forward to following this one

 

cheers Pat

[TonyTiger91]

A kit that is very evocative of happy childhood days.

This was/is a great kit. I really like the way that Matchbox depicted the geodetic structure.

It has a surprisingly large wing span.

 

The photograph of the Polish example has me fascinated. A different engine/cowl?

 

Looking forward to this.

 

 

Best regards

TonyT

[tonyot]

On 25/10/2017 at 8:03 PM, JOCKNEY said:

Nice one Tony

 

Can I ask how you have managed to train SWMBO to get you your Wellesley from the loft for you ? 

 

If i were to ask Mrs Jockney I would probably need to engage a Proctologist to remove it before I could build it ! 

 

Look forward to following this one

 

cheers Pat

She won`t allow me to go up into the loft Pat due to my spinal injuries and my recent operations,......in fact I have just heard today that I have to go in for another on Sunday morning,....yikes! As much as I like going into the loft,...these days it just hurts too much and she knows that I`d probably still try to do it if she didn`t go up instead,...... I`m a stubborn bugger, which is probably why I`m in such a crap state now! 

Hopefully I`ll get started on this one next week,....depending how the op goes at the weekend! 

Cheers

          Tony 

[JOCKNEY]

Hi Tony

Im really sorry to hear you are still in and out of Hospital I had hoped you were getting some relief after your last treatment.

Take care and I look forward to following this build.

kindest regards Pat

[stevehnz]

Hi Tony, sorry to hear you're to go under the knife again, hope all goes well. Guess we'll have to wait on this one for a bit, no matter, I'm endlessly patient & the waiting will make the final result more appreciated. I've the kit & the book, so itching to see you work your magic on it.

Take care mate,

Steve.

[Arniec]

Sorry to hear that you are having a operation. I hape that everything will be ok in the end.

Take your time and your health is more important than building a kit.

 

Cheers,

[Rabbit Leader]

All the best Tony and God’s speed for the quickest of recoveries. I’m sure the hospital wouldn’t mind if you sneeked in a few files, glue and the odd pot of paint. Having wasted a few days in hospital myself a month ago - they are pretty boring places! 

 

Cheers.. Dave. 

[Beard]

I hope the operation goes well Tony and you're able to go up in your loft soon.

[CedB]

I hope the op goes well Tony and you have a great outcome. Best wishes

[wyverns4]

Hi Tony,  All the best for the OP!

 

Looking forward to seeing what you can do with the wonderful old Wesley.

 

I have one of these on the shelf of doom, with the intention to finish as L2712. Nice to see that additional photos of her. One of the reasons why I stopped was the colour scheme as I could not work out what it was. If I can ask, what information do you have? Also, do you think the drooping pannier doors are 'tired' bungee cords, or could they be partially closed over a large bit of ordnance, say a depth charge...? (Please, please, please!).

 

Might have to dig it out and restart. I was detailing the cockpit and wheel wells with lots of small bits of plasticard, etc. 

 

Get well soon mate and crack on!

 

Happy hunting,

 

Christian, exiled to africa

[tonyot]

47 minutes ago, wyverns4 said:

Hi Tony,  All the best for the OP!

 

Looking forward to seeing what you can do with the wonderful old Wesley.

 

I have one of these on the shelf of doom, with the intention to finish as L2712. Nice to see that additional photos of her. One of the reasons why I stopped was the colour scheme as I could not work out what it was. If I can ask, what information do you have? Also, do you think the drooping pannier doors are 'tired' bungee cords, or could they be partially closed over a large bit of ordnance, say a depth charge...? (Please, please, please!).

 

Might have to dig it out and restart. I was detailing the cockpit and wheel wells with lots of small bits of plasticard, etc. 

 

Get well soon mate and crack on!

 

Happy hunting,

 

Christian, exiled to africa

Cheers Christian,...... the only info that I have colour wise is the role, plus comparing it to other types which were known to be wearing the TSS in this theatre at the same time,.... so just an educated guess really,...... it looks like a very faded TSS and what else could it be? I`m still not sure of the underside colour,....but may go for Azure Blue?

As for the weapons panniers,..... I have seen pics of the doors removed and depth charges fitted,..... and I have read that the doors had to be kept ajar if they remained fitted when depth charges were fitted too. My guess in the pics is that the bungee`s had been disconnected in order to load the panniers,.....or to remove the doors.

 

Good luck with your model too,

 

All the best

                Tony

[tonyot]

Thank you everybody for your very kind comments and good luck wishes,....... they mean a lot!

 

Back to the model,...... my lovely missus went p into the loft today and returned with this;

 

Those of you with keen eyes might notice that the kindly modeller who sold me this kit at a show had put a vacuformed canopy from a 1/48th scale fighter of some kind into the box in leau of the actual kit transparencies,.....very nice of you sir! I`ll search my spares box to see if I have anything suitable,...... but  also have a Falcon set which I`m hoping has a set of Wellesley canopies etc. I thought that I had a couple of these kits but it seems that this was the only one..... shame! 

 

The surface detail on this kit is lovely and here is a closer look;

 

Cheers for now.

                     Tony

 

[tonyot]

Might have a go at adding some interior detail, here are some ref pics;

 

 

 

Cheers

        Tony

[Rabbit Leader]

Tony, should your Falcon set not include a canopy for the Wellesley, Pavla also make a stand alone set for this kit that won’t break the bank. 

 

If you can work with this tricky medium, they look much nicer than the kits parts. 

 

Cheers.. Dave 

[stever219]

26 minutes ago, tonyot said:

Cheers Christian,...... the only info that I have colour wise is the role, plus comparing it to other types which were known to be wearing the TSS in this theatre at the same time,.... so just an educated guess really,...... it looks like a very faded TSS and what else could it be? I`m still not sure of the underside colour,....but may go for Azure Blue?

As for the weapons panniers,..... I have seen pics of the doors removed and depth charges fitted,..... and I have read that the doors had to be kept ajar if they remained fitted when depth charges were fitted too. My guess in the pics is that the bungee`s had been disconnected in order to load the panniers,.....or to remove the doors.

 

Good luck with your model too,

 

All the best

                Tony

I've an idea that the pannier doors had to be propped open with jury struts for weapons loading.  I'd never heard of a Wellesley in Temperate Sea Scheme camouflage before, or that a few had survived in service as late as 1943.  Now if Airfix would like to consider this as a land-based companion to their wonderful Walrus in 1/48th.

 

I hope all goes well for you tomorrow and best wishes for a speedy recovery.

 

[modelling minion]

Good to see that you wife managed to find your Wellesley Tony.

I'm really sorry to hear that you have to go back into hospital and have more operations, I really hope that all goes well for you and rest assured that there are a lot of us here on Britmodeller who are wishing you well.

[tonyot]

On 25/10/2017 at 8:19 PM, TonyTiger66 said:

The photograph of the Polish example has me fascinated. A different engine/cowl?

 

Looking forward to this.

 

 

Best regards

TonyT

Hiya Tony,..... I have found out a bit more about the Polish Wellesley and added another pic to the original post,...... it was an instructional airframe at the;

Polish Air Force Academy in Heliopolis, Egypt, 1945.

 

I have seen other pics of this aircraft in a book or magazine somewhere,..... when I`m able to I shall have a trawl around for them. I agree that the engine and forward cowlings look to be from another Wellesley,

Hope this is of use,

Cheers

          Tony  

Edited October 29, 2017 by tonyot

[old thumper]

Enjoying reading through this and especially so looking at the old pics. There was a very interesting article in Flypast a year or two ago about the Wellesley's use in East Africa against the Italians, if memory serves me right those were the later long canopy versions though.