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


tonyot

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Good job on the nose glazing, working on transparencies is one of those things that I really hate ! I can see how Revell may have thought that such a ridge would have made assembly easier, but I still believe that there are other ways to avoid problems like the one you've had

Slightly OT, I strongly believe that manufacturers should start offering clear parts that include a sizeable chunk of non-clear areas, so to bring the junction lines in spots where it's easier to correct any mistake or simply to sand the junction without any risk for those areas that must remain clear. Some have already done something similar, I hope this approach catches on

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Cheers Fella`s and I totally agree with what you say Giorgio,..... Revell have made the same gaff with their B-17 kits too,..... the clear nose cones are abysmal!

 

Anyway,..... here is the model after its coat of rattle can black,...... the Halfords proved to be too rough on the 2nd coat so I sanded the model and applied a coat of Tamiya rattle can black instead;

 

DSCF4578

 

DSCF4577

 

The model is now ready for its brush painted upper surface colours,

 

Cheers

          Tony

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Hiya Folks,

                I`m still plodding on with this one,......the kit propellers are incorrect and too paddle bladed,... based I believe on the wooden replica blades of the otherwise excellent Halifax restored in Cananda,.... so I had a go at re sculpting one blade by sanding it;

 

DSCF4562

 

But then decided that life was too short and instead dug out a set of Aeroclub white metal propellers,..... which can be seen here along with a white metal Coastal Craft Vickers K Gun for the nose and also a H2S blister from the Matchbox Halifax which was found in the spares box that is the correct shape and better than the Revell kit part;

 

 

DSCF4626

 

 

I`ve also decided to use a set of wheels from an old Airfix Halifax kit which are larger than the small kit wheels;

 

DSCF4625

 

 

And here it is the model itself with the upper surfaces masked off and two coats of Pactra acrylic Dark Earth applied,..... it is a little thick and patchy looking for my liking and next time I may thin it when using it. 

DSCF4630_NEW

 

So the Dark Green next.

 

I have received the excellent book "Les Francais dans le Bomber Command" and the photos and artwork in it are brilliant,....(I cannot speak for the text as my schoolboy French is long forgotten),...... and there is lots of nose art that I have never seen,.... I just don`t think that my painting is up to replicating any of it and nothing similar can be found in the spares box! 

 

I cannot find photos of NP763, H7-N from the Xtradecal sheet,.....so cannot confirm the nose art from the sheet,.... I have found another H7-N serialled MZ490,..... with Free French Cross of Lorraine insignia on the nose,... so I will probably be going for this aircraft. I did really want to replicate LL553, H7-Q `La Victoire' with Joan de Arch artwork on the nose,.... but painting this is probably beyond me!

 

Cheers

           Tony 

Edited by tonyot
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2 hours ago, Giorgio N said:

Tony, do you have a good picture of the nose art on H7-Q ? Maybe it could be a candidate for a custom decal job

Here is a photo of the nose art;

French crew of Halifax III La Marseillaise

 

 

And this option appears on the decal sheet for the Fonderie 1/48th Halifax kit;

 

fm_halifax_decal1 (1)

 

 

There are some excellent colour artwork drawings in a book that I have,...... but I cannot afford custom decals!

 

Cheers

         Tony

 

Edit,.... here is the artwork from the book;

 

DSCF4663

 

DSCF4665

 

 

DSCF4664

 

 

Tony,

Edited by tonyot
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3 hours ago, Giorgio N said:

 

Tony, tried to PM you but I received a message saying you can't receive, wonder if your inbox is full ?

Hiya Giorgio,.... I had a feeling that might happen,..... I cleared some messages from my inbox yesterday so it might be worth re trying,.... sorry!

Cheers

           Tony

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Hiya Folks,

               Well I`ve now finished the painting,.... bar the yellow tips to the props and the exhaust rings,....;

 

DSCF4687_NEWDSCF4686

 

I`ve applied the gloss varnish tonight and left it to dry,....... the decals will be next,

 

Cheers

          Tony

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2 hours ago, Giorgio N said:

That was very fast Tony ! Hope the decals will come as quick as possible... 😁

Haha,..... hey no rush my friend,...... I just appreciate your help!

 

Speaking of decals,..... I got some applied today,...... although the red unit markings on the rudders fell to pieces in the water,...... splintering,...... but hopefully I have managed to recover enough to be able to overpaint them and complete the job.  I also suspect that the blue for the fuselage roundels and fin stripes may be too bright?

 

DSCF4693DSCF4694DSCF4695

 

Cheers

          Tony

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That camo looks really cleanly painted.

Shame about the fin/rudder decal but surely not beyond hand painting ?

 

I do believe the French aircraft had a lightly blue central on the roundel, pretty sure it is similar on the Elvington 'Halibag'

 

Ian

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 7/19/2018 at 9:16 AM, Giorgio N said:

Very disappointing when decals shatter in that way, more so when they come from well known companies that don't sell cheap stuff.. hope you can salvage the tail red pattern in some way

Hiya Giorgio,

                    I was wondering how you have got on with the decal artwork for the French Halifax my friend. If you have not got around to doing much then not to worry,.... I have found a photo of the real Halifax from the Xtradecal sheet which confirms their nose art,.... so I will be happy to press on with this option,..... the 1/48th FM Halifax kit has decals for the one with the great artwork that I sent to you,..so I might just build this aircraft in the larger scale? 

 

My family and I are visiting Italy again next week, we are going to Sorrento,... for a nice relaxing break with visits to Capri and Pompeii planned. 

 

I did try to message you, but like me your message folder must be full! 

 

All the best my friend,

Cheers

          Tony  

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6 minutes ago, Giorgio N said:

Hi Tony, my mistake, things have progressed but not as fast as I'd have wanted, I've been swamped with other things and had little time for modelling.

Will get back to you soon though !

 

Hiya Giorgio,.... I thought that you might be a busy fella,..... which is why I`m honestly happy to save you the further effort. I`d be quite happy to go ahead with the Xtradecal sheet now that I have a photo of the real aircraft and I`d rather you spend what little time you have on your own modelling rather than wasting it on me! 

All the best

                   Tony 

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  • 2 months later...

Hiya Folks,

                 Well first of all a massive thank you to Giorgio who has sent me some brilliant decals and masks to help me finish this model! I bought another Xtradecal sheet to have another go at the tail fins and fuselage codes too and stripped the fins down and re painted them black!

Now the excellent masks for the small codes on the fins went a bit wrong on my first attempt,.... probably because I was using rattle can paint,.....so the lump of paint was removed and I tried again,..... the yellow background was added and this time I painted the narrow mask section red and stuck it onto the model instead! We`ll see how it looks once I`ve tidied it up! For the code `Q' I used a sheet of red codes with yellow outlines from RAFDec but the first ones fell to pieces upon removal from the paper! I painted a coat of gloss varnish onto them and tried again and got most of the codes on, even though they still snapped,.... but these too will need to be tidied up!

The nose art from Giorgio was superb and thankfully went into place with no problem! 

Here is the current state of play,...... still awaiting the red sqn codes, red tail markings and French fin stripes plus the serial and bomb log which I`ll put together from the decal file;

DSCF4972DSCF4973

 

 

So once again,.... a massive thank you to Giorgio,.... you are a star my friend and also very talented,

Cheers

           Tony. 

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