A Mythical bird?- Finnished(!)

[Fifer54]

Phew! This GB sneaked up on me, that's why I'm late!

The mythical(?) bird in question is the Roc, not the one that carried Sinbad's ship away, but the one designed by Blackburn, built by Boulton-Paul (I never knew that until now!)and sold to Finland, but never delivered.

Due to the lateness of the hour, I'm not taking and uploading photos now, I'll do that tomorrow (hopefully)- I have an appointment with a half-built scooter tomorrow!

Blackburn's Roc was a turret-fighter version of their Skua dive bomber, a sort of Royal Navy equivalent of the same flawed concept that created the Boulton-Paul Defiant for the RAF. The Roc first flew in December 1938,

and production aircraft equipped 4 FAA squadrons, but only supplementing Skuas, none flew exclusively Rocs, which even before the start of WW2, were transferred to training and target-towing units. Some Rocs were embarked on HMS

Ark Royal on the outbreak of war, and later served at Hatston. They never encountered an enemy aircraft. By mid-1940, Rocs were being withdrawn from combat units and used by second-line units for target-towing or training.

Meanwhile, before he became Uncle Joe, Stalin's Soviet Union attacked Finland in what became known as The Winter War. Britain decided to sell 30 Rocs to Finland as part of a policy of extending help to that country. Finnish serials and insignia

were appllied, and then the insignia covered over as it was felt that aircraft emblazoned with large Swastikas in flight over the UK might attract unwanted attention from trigger-happy Anti-Aircraft Artillery units! The first batch of Rocs had flown

as far as Dyce (now Aberdeen Airport) in Scotland. The Winter War ended, and the Finns had no further interest in the type.

 

I will be building the Special Hobby 1/72 scale Blackburn Roc Mk.1 in Finnish markings for this GB. See more in the next post . . .

[Wez]

Interesting background to these aircraft Gaz, looking forward to the outcome.

[Fifer54]

I've just spent a few minutes taking and uploading this kit's mugshots, so here goes with my usual GB-opening inbox review!

The kit comes in a sturdy (better than Revell's!) end-opening box with a nice piece of artwork showing 2 Rocs on patrol somewhere.

 

Inside the box, the modeller will find a large polybag containing 3 sprues of parts, and another 3 smaller polybags, and the instructions

First, the airframe sprues:

There are no locating pins, and ejector pin marks are evident on internal surfaces. Sprue attachment points are fairly small for a short-run kit.

 

A small clear sprue is in the first smaller bag:

 

Inside the second smaller bag are the decals, a small PE fret labelled "Blackburn Skua" and a film for the IP.

The decals supplied provide markings for 3 FAA machines; 759NAS with a low demarcation camo scheme, 806NAS in a high demarcation scheme, 778NAS in overall Aluminium, and

a Finnish machine in a high demarcation scheme with provision for full Finnish Swastika insignia, or the plain white discs where they were covered over.

 

The final polybag contains resin parts; engine, wheels, air intakes, 18 individual exhaust pipes . . .

 

Lastly, an 12-page A5 instruction booklet includes a sprue map, full colour 3-views of all the scheme options, and colour exploded diagrams in 13 construction stages. As usual, consruction

begins with the cockpit.

 

Now all I have to do is build it . . .

 

[Heather Kay]

Have fun. I built this kit earlier this year. My only comment really is I think the fuel tank in the cockpit is incorrect for the Roc (but correct for the Skua) although you can’t really see it once the canopy goes on, and the undercarriage is a bit awkward to assemble. Oh, and I broke the arrestor hook and had to scratch a new yoke for it. 

 

Im looking forward to seeing how yours turns out. A seat in the front row.

[Giorgio N]

Welcome to the GB !

The story behind the Finnish Rocs is cery interesting, and personally I find the Roc a very interesting subject itself. I know, it was not really a good aircraft and I'm not trying to find any reason to justify the designers or anyone else... simply those were years of very fast progress, some concepts proved right and some didn't. The Roc was one that didn't.

This is also the kind of kit that goes on to show what kind of progress we've seen in model kits, it's a short run but really looks better than some mainstream kits from only a few years ago !

[Killingholme]

As far as I know there's only one photo of the Rocs on their way to Finland, taken at Dyce. The Finnish 'Hakaristis' are covered over with white distemper. If the Finnish blenheims are anything to go by, this was applied by hand- the edges of the circle are a bit rough.

 

Whilst it was important to make sure the aircraft were not mis-identified as German, part of the reason for obscuring national markings was to comply with international law when these aircraft transited over 'neutral' Sweden. When the Blenheims were sent over they were given civil registrations for the same purpose.

 

Enjoy. I have always wanted to do this same subject, but don't think I'm brave enough to tackle a short-run multimedia kit!

[Fifer54]

On 7/6/2018 at 7:35 PM, Killingholme said:

. . .  but don't think I'm brave enough to tackle a short-run multimedia kit!

Go for it!

They're not much different from a primitive old FROG or Airfix kit. Usually it isn't compulsory to use all the PE, and sometimes the same applies to resin parts (Sadly, not in this case!)

Most of the PE in this kit could be left out, and the detail level would still be better than a 1970s mainstream kit. However, the wheels, engine (including intakes and exhausts) and various other

miniscule parts are only provided as resin- I'll find that, shall we say, challenging?

Anyroadup, the fuselage on this is almost ready to close up. The interior is assembled and fixed in one fuselage half

 

Next, the turret . . .

[Killingholme]

5 hours ago, MadNurseGaz said:

Next, the turret . . .

 

Thanks for the motivation, but I think it's those three words which would put me off doing this one!

 

Will

[Giorgio N]

Good start on the cockpit, like it a lot !

I share the view on short runs like this one, they may look more challenging but really anyone who can do a good work on a '70s Airfix or Frog kit can easily build one of these. The main problem is the lack of alignment pins but to be honest I sometime find myself cutting away these in the most recent Airfix kits to get a better fit, so maybe not having pins can sometime be a good thing. The alignment of parts like landing gears and interior structures can sometime cause some head scratching but with some care all these problems can be solved.

I should also mention that short runs are becoming better and better every year, among my latest builds was the RS Re.2005 and found this easier than many recent Airfix, Revell  and Italeri kits...

Really companies like Special Hobby, RS or Sword are the only ones from which we can expect kits of lesser popular subjects like the Roc. I believe that this is a subject that would never repay a company like Airfix of the initial investment needed for a "mainstream" mould. On the other hand they fit perfectly with the numbers needed by the companies above using short run manufacturing techniques.

Edited July 12, 2018 by Giorgio N

[Grey Beema]

Nice work on the Roc, an aircraft with some unique characteristics.

 

I like the SH short run kits, although I only build in the remedial scale.  You can make up for the lack of locator pins or tabs by cementing yout own in made of short lengths of plastic strip.  That what I did for wing and fuselage alignment on the Skua I built earlier this year.  Firefly next but I'm waiting for the Pacific War GB before starting.

[Fifer54]

Thank you, everyone, for your kind comments.

Now, where was I? Oh, the turret. Ah. Yes. The Turret . . .

 

There is a 2-piece clear plastic "cupola" which I felt might need greater strength than PVA or canopy glue could give. So, a very thin film of tube cement(!) was applied to the joint and left to dry. I then masked up the cupola for paint.

It is my belief that the cupola framing was finished in black- this is backed up by the well-known photo of Finnish Rocs at Dyce, the framing looks very dark. I had had my doubts whether these aircraft would have had armament fitted

for a ferry flight, but the same photo makes it clear that they were armed.

 

The turret interior consists of a 2-piece (top & bottom) "block" that has a vertically disposed pair of MGs on each end, and what I take to be a little suspended "perch" for the gunner.

Great, you say, but when it's assembled, the barrels of the guns are more widely spaced than the slots in the cupola! So, saw block in half, sand down joint faces and trial fit. Repeat until

guns fit slots!

When this is painted it will go into the turret and the fuselage will be closed up. I'm hoping construction after that will be straightforward, taking note of Ms Kay's caveat regarding the landing gear.

[Giorgio N]

The turret is the most prominent feature on an aircraft like this, makes sense to spend some time on these parts.

Pity that the block was too wide but glad to see you've sorted this

[Fifer54]

Is it really a month since I posted anything on this? I just haven't done much modelling, work has been manic, and I've finally (!) finished dismantling my scooter's engine unit, ready to build the transferred parts onto the new one.

I have done some work on it; here she is now:

The engine is an interesting little piece of resin, that needs 18 tiny exhausts adding to it! After a bit of paint it looks like this:

There are a couple of gaps in the exhausts- the carpet monster got those!

 

[Giorgio N]

I share your feelings, my model is not receiving much attention either...

The Roc is looking good ! That engine in particular is very nice, even without all the exhaust tubes... I have a love-hate relations with this solution, sure can lead to great results but at the same time it's hard not to lose at least one of the tubes... don't know how many I lost myself in the past 😁

Bending some plastic rod should provide suitable replacements

[Fifer54]

Thanks for your kind comments, Giorgio!

It feels like ages since I posted on here (again!), but I've been away on holiday to here:

A week of peace and quiet by Lough Corrib in Galway, Republic of Ireland.

 

Anyway, enough of that. I've done quite a bit on the model, and now she looks like this:

 

As you can see,, painting and decalling is now under way, and hopefully this little bird will soon be ready for its photoshoot!

[Giorgio N]

Holiday is always good and I really can't think of many places that are more peaceful than certain villages in Ireland, can't blame you for spending time there rather than building models 🙂

The Roc is looking good in her paint scheme, I noticed that you seem to have needed very little filler in the build. Says a lot about how far short run kits have come in terms of moulding quality and engineering. I've built mainstream kits that required much more

[Fifer54]

I am now cursing Special Hobby decals. What a mess! The decals WILL NOT move once they contact the model, no matter how much water or decal setting solution is flooded onto it. There is no margin for error! Attempts to move them result in wrinkling or tearing.

There will now be a short interval while Finnish national insignia are sourced (Techmod decals from Hannant's arriving any day now . . .)

[Giorgio N]

Sorry to hear you've had troubles with the decals ! Unfortunately SH used for a while this kind of decals (IIRC they were from Techmod), very thin but impossible to move once they touch the model. The only solution is to apply them onto a lot of water, so that they float until put in place. Someone told me that saliva is the best liquid to use with these decals but never tried... for some reason the idea of spitting on a model sounds too strange to me  😁

[Fifer54]

Well, the decals are applied-check, matt varnish is on-check, landing gear and detail parts added-check, so she must be

finished!

More pix in the Gallery soon (after lunch!)

[stevehnz]

Brilliant, looking forward to the RFI.

Steve.

[Grey Beema]

Great work, well done - she looks good...

[Giorgio N]

Well done, this is really an unusual subject with an interesting history and I'm glad to have pictures of this model in the gallery.

Thanks for taking part in the GB !

[Wez]

Gaz,

 

In spite of the troubles you had, you've certainly achieved a great result well done!

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Very well done on your Roc 

[dogsbody]

That Roc's!

 

 

Chris