1/72nd Revell Halifax, Free French, Elvington 1945

[tonyot]

Hiya Folks,

               Hopefully I`ll find the tim to get stuck into this and research it properly,.......I want to build the 1/72nd Revell Halifax Mk.III kit as a Mk.VII flown by one of the Free French squadrons that flew from RAF Elvington near York;

1-HN-Ac-Revell-HP-Halifax-B.Mk_.III-1 by Tony OToole, on Flickr

 

Using this decal sheet as a basis;

s-l300 by Tony OToole, on Flickr

 

Here are a few starters,.... which need to be researched;

9_25 by Tony OToole, on Flickr

9_18 by Tony OToole, on Flickr

 

At least one had spectacular nose art but linking these with serials is quite hard,... I especially like this one named `La Marsellaise", which appears on the decal sheet of the 1/48th FM kit;

French crew of Halifax III  named La Marseillaise 346 Sqn (GB II-23 Guyenne) walking from their bomber at Elvington in 1944 by Tony OToole, on Flickr

 

Here are some more ref pics;

81676004_o by Tony OToole, on Flickr

halifax rg669 by Tony OToole, on Flickr

jul09_14 by Tony OToole, on Flickr

80217846_p by Tony OToole, on Flickr

54404643_p by Tony OToole, on Flickr

54404643_p by Tony OToole, on Flickr

46745466_p by Tony OToole, on Flickr

 

And of course the Halifax reproduction at the Yorkshire Air Museum, located on part of RAF Elvington wears this scheme too;

ImageR by Tony OToole, on Flickr

 

There are so many Halifax`s that I want to build, but cost and lack of space is going to limit this,..... however a French one just has to be done,.... I do hope that I can find an interesting option,

Cheers

           Tony

 

[FalkeEins]

 a good place to start the research might be the Lela Presse book on French-crewed BC Halifax heavies. 

http://www.aircraft-navalship.com/produit/histoire-de-l-aviation/1406

There's a pdf extract on this page worth looking at, with some super nose art 

[modelling minion]

Great choice Tony.

I really hope Xtradecal have got the research right on this sheet as this is one that I too really want to do, fingers crossed! I trust your research completely and I am really looking forward to the upcoming sheets from DK Decal on the Wellington and Boston that I believe you have been involved in, and I also hope that they upscale the Boston ones to 1/48.

[tonyot]

Cheers lads,..... I`ve ordered the book FalkeEins,..... and looking forward to reading it (well at least looking at the photos as my French isn`t too hot!)! MM,.... yes I helped with the DK sets and am also looking forward to them myself,....... I`m still waiting for the RAF Ventura sheet to be done in 1/48th,.... so don`t hold your breath mate!!! Hopefully I won`t find too many `glitches' with the Halifax sheet eh!

 

All the best

                   Tony

  

[modelling minion]

5 hours ago, tonyot said:

I`m still waiting for the RAF Ventura sheet to be done in 1/48th

Me too! I've got a "couple" of kits in the pile waiting for them to get their fingers out and release these in 1/48. Perhaps as a contributor you can give them a friendly poke, though I daresay you already have. The book linked above looks very good, I wish more of this type would be translated in English, and that I had tried harder at French at school.

[dogsbody]

This profile was done by my very good friend John M. Smith.

 

 

 

 

Chris

[JMSmith]

this one and several more were commision jobs, started out as a profile for myself and ended up selling them to the four corners of the world, only matched by my Fairey Battle, if you want to see more of my rubbish check my Flickr page.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/22448264@N05/albums

[dogsbody]

Good stuff, John.

 

 

Chris

[Wez]

Tony,

 

Always liked this scheme on the Halifax, looking forward to seeing it come to fruition.

[Giorgio N]

That's one of the most interesting schemes carried by a Halifax, hope you can find the time to build this one too Tony !

[tonyot]

5 hours ago, JMSmith said:

this one and several more were commision jobs, started out as a profile for myself and ended up selling them to the four corners of the world, only matched by my Fairey Battle, if you want to see more of my rubbish check my Flickr page.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/22448264@N05/albums

Beautiful artwork sir,....... now if I could find suitable decals I would build the subject of your profile in a heartbeat as it is just the sort of thing that I`m looking for! Thanks for posting it too Chris. 

Cheers

          Tony  

 

PS,.... Just enjoyed looking through your artwork,.....they all look excellent! 

Edited June 25, 2018 by tonyot

[tonyot]

2 hours ago, Wez said:

Tony,

 

Always liked this scheme on the Halifax, looking forward to seeing it come to fruition.

 

13 minutes ago, Giorgio N said:

That's one of the most interesting schemes carried by a Halifax, hope you can find the time to build this one too Tony !

I agree,... I`ve always loved this scheme on the Halibag too,....... Woody37 did a model using the old Airfix kit some years ago which is excellent,.... 

 

If I can vaguely replicate this standard,....I`ll be over the moon! This is one of my favourite builds by Neil!

 

Cheers

         Tony    

[tonyot]

Hiya Folks,..... well I`ve made a start,.......

 

And the parts;

 

 

 

My first job was to break the sprues down and put them into a smaller more manageable box with a lid rather than end flaps,...... then the interior, engines etc were given a coat of black from a Halford`s rattle can;

 

 

 

Next I`ll be adding Interior Green Grey to the pilots flight deck, then dry brushing everything with silver to highlight the detail,

 

Cheers

          Tony

 

[Blitz23]

Looking forward to this Tony, have an early Revell Halifax in the stash but been keen on the mk iii so I'll be keeping an eye on this build 👍🏻

[dogsbody]

Chair pulled up and liquid refreshment opened.

 

Please proceed.

 

 

Chris

[tonyot]

1 hour ago, Blitz23 said:

Looking forward to this Tony, have an early Revell Halifax in the stash but been keen on the mk iii so I'll be keeping an eye on this build 👍🏻

Cheers,

          If you have an early Merlin engined version I would suggest buying an aftermarket set for the engines and propellers as the kit items are a joke and make the model look awful.

 

1- For easiness the Freightdog Models sets are the best,..... not fully accurate but a very good way to make your Halifax look acceptable,..... I have used around 4 sets so far on my models. 

2- For accuracy,.... the Aeroclub sets are the best,...... although they are harder to use and require some cutting and may be hard to find now.

3- Pavla also do sets,.... I have one but have not used it yet.

 

Cheers

          Tony

[Blitz23]

7 hours ago, tonyot said:

Cheers,

          If you have an early Merlin engined version I would suggest buying an aftermarket set for the engines and propellers as the kit items are a joke and make the model look awful.

 

1- For easiness the Freightdog Models sets are the best,..... not fully accurate but a very good way to make your Halifax look acceptable,..... I have used around 4 sets so far on my models. 

2- For accuracy,.... the Aeroclub sets are the best,...... although they are harder to use and require some cutting and may be hard to find now.

3- Pavla also do sets,.... I have one but have not used it yet.

 

Cheers

          Tony

Yeah I think eventually it will end up on eBay and I'll replace it with the kit you are building 👍🏻

[TEMPESTMK5]

Hello Tony

Another very interesting build 👍

 

Patrice

[cngaero]

Mind if I tag along with this one Tony? 

I've always thought that the MkIII was the most elegant of all the Halifax series. You'll certainly guild the lily with the Free French markings. 

Good luck with the build. 

 

Chris. 

 

[tonyot]

Hiya Folks,.... thanks for the kind words,..... no pressure then eh!!

 

I`ve had a bit of a splurge on this model over the last day or so and here we go;

 

- Here is the cockpit and fuselage interior on its way to being finished,.. the kindows that are only found on the earlier versions have been securely glued into place and then covered with filler on the outside,.... this also includes two of the portholes in the rear fuselage;

 

Before joining the fuselage halves the outer set of bomb bay doors were cut out and fixed in the opened position too.

 

The fuselage halves have now been joined and the bars which are missing from the roof of the Flight Engineers position were fitted using plastic rod. This position did not have a seat, so the mount for a seat was removed from the floor too;

 

 

Cheers for now,

                Tony

 

Edited June 28, 2018 by tonyot

[tonyot]

Hiya Folks,.....onto the wings and tail;

 

Had a go at getting the wings done this morning,.... starting off with the wheel wells and I also got on with the tail and undercarriage, although the kits wheels are too small and I might use a set of the replacement resin wheels from Freightdog Models;

 

 

Then onto the engines and nacelles by lunchtime,....and yes the butty was lovely,.... cheese salad! Although I may not look like it these days,... but I have never been one to dodge the salad cart;

 

Then onto the wings,..... wheel wells in place;

 

 

And before long the wings were finished;

 

The tail was fitted to the fuselage next;

 

 

And then the wings were test fitted,.... I will fit them after painting;

 

 

Cheers,

             Tony

[Giorgio N]

Good work ! Love the cockpit and the way the kit seems to assemble pretty easily. I've read a lot of discussions on this kit but I have to admit that this is the first time I watch one being built

[Mancunian airman]

Coming together really nicely . . .

[modelling minion]

Excellent work Tony and very fast too.

It looks like the kit goes together very well and it certainly looks like a Halifax to me.

You are certainly selling it to me.

[tonyot]

Thanks everybody,..... I got some sanding done today and the model is almost ready to paint, the wings and tailplanes are dry fitted for now and will be fixed after painting,..... the first and last portholes on the rear fuselage have been filled in too along with the nose windows which were not needed;

 

Now my main bugbear with this kit is the bloody awful nose `bubble' which has ridges moulded within the clear plastic which is extremely thick in places, as seen here,...... the black of the interior colour ends up reflecting in the glazing, causing an unsightly thick band of black around the inside! I also added a strip of plastic rod to the top of the intakes above the engines to provide the ridge found on the real things.

 

 

 

 

So,.... the plastic had to be thinned from the inside,...... this was done using a craft knife, a fine sanding stick and polished using toothpaste and my little finger!;

 

 

In order to fit the nose gun a hole has to be opened up and although the kit provides a Browning machine gun for the bomber variant it should really be a Vickers K Gun and I`ll be using a white metal gun from Coastal Craft;

 

 

And here is the nose of the Elvington Halifax;

 

 

I have also got a coat of Halfords rattle can Black on the model,.... but the light has failed me for a pic,.... maybe tomorrow,...

 

Cheers

            Tony

Edited July 2, 2018 by tonyot