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From Failure to Failure


06/24

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5 minutes ago, 06/24 said:

Looking at the pictures again it's apparent that the fuselage seam has not disappeared as I would have liked. Putty and sanding in my future I fear.

 

Iain, I was very doubtful about going back to enamels, the slow drying times and smell made me think they wouldn't be "family friendly" but although the drying time is slower, with Jamie's dryish spray method it's not too bad, just need to plan ahead and paint at the end of a session. 

As you can probably tell from the time it took me to paint mine I'm an impatient so and so, when I did the tail I was masking over the white about 10 minutes after I'd sprayed it and the red and the blue went down within 5 minutes of each other and the masking tape removed straight after that ! To be honest it was more luck than judgement that no paint lifted, although each colour was neat when I sprayed them which does help.

 

How robust are the colourcoats paints when they've dried are they robust enough for handling? 

 

Iain

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Too soon to tell, but looking at the abuse re-work Ced had to do on his Spitfire recently I think they'll be fine. The brush painted Zero (must get on and decal that) has certainly dried to a very hard finish.

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Nice sticky out bits Jon, good job :)

That night looks good too - lovely stuff the Colourcoats isn't it?

I was a bit worried about you having a drink the same colour as the paint though - hopefully you had no mix ups? :D

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7 hours ago, (ex)Sgtrafman said:

How robust are the colourcoats paints when they've dried are they robust enough for handling?

I brush-paint Colourcoats. Like any enamel, once dry, they are very robust and can be handled without a care.

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Filler slathered on both to cure the seams (I hope) - Mr White Putty on the Mk IV as I figured it would have more tooth over/through the paint, simple Humbrol on the Mk I which hasn't been painted yet. I'll leave both overnight to dry and hopefully they'll be ready to sand back tomorrow - I have to take 06/24 minor for a regular hospital check up at lunchtime, so have the rest of the day to work over these and hopefully get them into order.

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Well that was 50% a waste of time, the aged humble Humbrol adhered beautifully, dried quickly and has sanded back well. By contrast the Mr White Putty just formed a rubbery, latex-y skin and did not adhere to the plastic at all, even though I had cleaned the paint off the join line - rather than waste tomorrow I have stripped it off and redone with the same humble Humbrol as the Mk I.

 

Perhaps I should have left the MWP longer but I got the feeling it was just not going to adhere, ever!

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Sorry for the limited posting and nil progress, but to paraphrase Admiral Beatty, something seems to be wrong with my bloody children today and every day. Yesterday Winston figured out how to open his door, effectively ending naptime, forever; threw himself off a chair and into a table after I'd warned him for the ten thousandth goddamn time that he'd fall if he didn't sit down; sucker-punched his brother, and tried to garrote me with mardi gras beads. Tonight he was given two slices of my mother's chocolate mousse, as Mrs P was under the impression it was made with decaffeinated coffee (it's made with espresso). By the time the children were all in bed, it was 9:15 PM, and it was all I could do to weakly surf the internet. I now know time travel was never invented, because surely I would have gone back to stop younger me from inflicting this living death upon myself.

 

EDIT: I forgot to mention Winston locked himself in a toilet stall at swim class and played cheerily in the bowl while a host of adults scrambled to force the door. 

 

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Jon - sad news on the Mr White Putty. It made me panic a bit that 'acrylic over enamels' was causing the problem as I'd just used some Vallejo on Wacky. Just checked and it looks OK though. And after a quick search on BM I read that it's not acrylic? Hmmm. :(

PC the Winston events sound trying... I can only suggest you keep a record to embarrass him when he's older. They're not called 'terrible twos' for nothing! :)

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Yeah, chin up PC, we all survived and so will you, and Mrs PC, and W & G (should you have a third, might I tentatively suggest Grace as a moniker?) But survival will not be without a few dents and dings along the way!

 

In an effort to counterbalance PCs quiescent  period, I can report that the humble Humbrol did an equally splendid job on the Mk IV, and the MWP is now firmly condemned to the back of the shelf of usefulish stuff. However sanding back was dusty and so the MK IV required a quick wash and is back in the low bake oven* drying before I refresh the Night undersides.

 

While that is happening, I made a start on the sticky-out-bitstm of the MK I, which you will recall is being modelled with its drawers doors down. I figured the central pairs of doors would protect the pitot from harm, since they would form a tough spine underneath. Well that's my theory anyway. I thinned the doors before fitting them, partly to remove mould release pin marks, and partly because I could, seeing as how the real things would be thin alloy and not 2" steel plate!

 

39141665254_933b3b89b5_c.jpgSticky out bits begin by jongwinnett, on Flickr

 

 

 

 

*airing cupboard, not a real oven...

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1 hour ago, Procopius said:

to paraphrase Admiral Beatty, something seems to be wrong with my bloody children today and every day.

 

If we're drawing an absolute parallel then the something would arguably lie with you :think:

 

However, I trust your parenting is better considered than Beattie's tactics!

 

 

Jamie (who falls on the Jellicoe side of that rift!) :D

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I wonder what terrifying things Childe Procopius performed on his parents?

 

 

Don't worry though Eduardo, children rarely die due to self imposed vilenesses

Let that console you as you guide the offspring through the utter awfulness of it all

Try not to let it depress you instead

 

Arise Sir PC and conquer

 

(Other, nastier advice is available)  😈

 

It occurs belatedly that I ought to be mentioning these Blenthingies

 

Both sets of Bristolses are beginning to pass excellent into stratospheric niceness

Edited by perdu
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I read Herr PC's missives re der Kinder, und thank my lucky stars that I didn't manage to procreate. It all sounds... very troublesome,  vhat?

 

As has been said, the Blenheems are indeed looking spiffing, from all contenders.

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1 hour ago, 06/24 said:

I figured the central pairs of doors would protect the pitot from harm

That sounds like a plan, IF you don't put the model down nose first. What are the odds?

Nicely thinned doors Jon. :)

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Cheers!

 

So I've reached the point where all of the sticky-out-bitstm of both Blenheims are all done. Both airframes are ready for paint, then it's just collector rings, undercarriage, decals and aerials to go.

 

24982644417_5b4372405b_c.jpgBlenheims, various by jongwinnett, on Flickr

 

39821106862_f4ce969ec2_c.jpgBlenheims, various by jongwinnett, on Flickr

 

Its been a very long time since I got an airplane build to this point, and all credit to @Procopius and all our friends on here for encouraging me to get this far.

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Bang on with the bottoms

 

Ooher missus, no listen, I mean really no stoppit perlease

 

I infer, of course, on the bottom sides of the two Bristles

 

 Nice stuff

Edited by perdu
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3 hours ago, 06/24 said:

Love the smokiness of the Night, but also rather taken with the Azure blue, a wonderfully difficult shade to pin down.

Azure Blue is the first paint from Colourcoats I ever sprayed, and I have a more than sentimental fondness for it. I'm convinced it's even slightly nicer than all their other paints. There's just something about it. 

 

4 hours ago, 06/24 said:

Its been a very long time since I got an airplane build to this point, and all credit to @Procopius and all our friends on here for encouraging me to get this far.

Jonners, the power was in you all along.

 

6 hours ago, Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies said:

Jamie (who falls on the Jellicoe side of that rift!) :D

As do I (my last cat was named Jellicoe, which lead to all sorts of confusion as people thought he was named for what had to be the absolute nadir of T S Eliot's work), though after reading Andrew Gordon's The Rules of the Game a few years back, I feel slightly less antipathy towards Beatty. 

 

 

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On 1/20/2018 at 1:53 AM, amblypygid said:

 

But, judging by PC's pictures, wouldn't that risk having the cowlings sink below the level of the collector ring? The problem appears to be that the cowling pieces are a little too short.

I think for the next set, I may try assembling the cowlings and then putting in the engine? (He stated, his voice pitching up nervously into a question near the end.)

 

On 1/20/2018 at 5:32 AM, DJJunis said:

ps Edward too bad we're not a bit closer I could have dropped some plastic off.

Alas! Stupid Chicago's endless urban sprawl.

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13 hours ago, Procopius said:

I think for the next set, I may try assembling the cowlings and then putting in the engine? (He stated, his voice pitching up nervously into a question near the end.)

So I did do this! Can't say it worked much better, though it was done in haste. POSSIBLY, doing it veeeeery slowly might yield different results. If one proceeded with extreme care, for instance, rebuilding the parts on a subatomic level by sheer force of one's godlike will as one went, for instance, I feel confident they'd fit. But that solution may not work for everyone! 

 

24996438687_ec224be017_b.jpg20180123_222106 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

They were surprisingly difficult to photograph and capture the results on (well, my fault, really, I was going for the faux-modelling magazine look), but here were my findings: this way is not appreciably better, I don't think. The engines of course act to brace the cowling from toeing inwards anywhere, though I do think I was able to get the gaps a little tighter. The gaps don't seem prominent on the real thing, so I think this is one of those things you gotta do to live with yourself outside a miasma of bourbon-laced breakfasts and rye-soaked nights. (Which actually sounds pretty good right about now.) Behold: 

 

Bristol_Blenheim_-_Algeria_-_Royal_Air_F

 

En passant, it seems this Bisley has a rear-view mirror added above the windscreen, as well as a bulged window in the bomb-aimer's skylight. Oh well!

 

I mostly spent my modelling time this evening puttering around with the cowls, smoothing out lumpy areas on the Bisley, and doing minor homework-type chores to get closer to primer. 

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I have to agree with both of you about the Azure Blue, it is a very difficult colour to photograph (though there are some close approximations in some of the pictures Ced took for his Wacky Wabbit build) and it is a special colour; Jamie took a great deal of time and trouble to match it to the MAP chips and I understand it was every bit as difficult to match as it is to photograph - fortunately Jamie is a perfectionist and made damn sure it did match the MAP chips :D 

 

With regard to the cowlings; I found them difficult and frustrating too; as I did with the cowlings on Airfix's Gladiator and Dornier Do17, something of a bête noire for me or perhaps a weak spot for Airfix though in fairness I can't think of another way they could be moulded.

 

Anyway good work gentlemen B)

 

Cheers,

 

Stew 

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Bristol must have had a flaming massive ugly stick in its design dept. The Blenheim Mk I is pleasant enough in a functional way, by the time the IV came along, the port nose & starboard nose teams appeared to be taking it in turns to use the ugly stick on each others efforts, which must have become an absolute frenzy of ugly stick assaults by the time the Bisley emerged. Great God, what were they thinking?  I'm sure you'll make it look as good as it is humanly possible though PC, great efforts so far.

Steve.

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Nice undersides Jon (see, I have reformed!) :)

PC good work on the cowlings, one of the trickiest bits of lots of kits IMHO :)

 

Stew, Jamie should be rightly proud of the Azure Blue - as Gill pointed out to me at Telford, it's a beautiful colour :)

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