Listening to the Solstice

[bigbadbadge]

Looking great Tony, great work.

Tony, I am no expert at all but if using black at all on an aircraft I mix some Humbrol Matt black and the same company's cockpit grey green and it can make a convincing night black colour.

Just putting it up incase it's of any use.

 

All the best

Chris

[giemme]

Lovely interiors job, Tony  

 

Ciao

[Stalker6Recon]

12 hours ago, Heather Kay said:

aid identification of friendly planes. 

Must have been (probably still is) a real problem being able to identify in combat, especially at night, who you were trying to kill. For the most part, planes look similar to each other, four wings, to fore, two aft, one fin. That is the basic shape of 90% of aircraft in WWII. Then you have the dilemma of being hidden, yet being seen at the same time and making sure that your friends don't kill you. I never even heard of the identification lights until joining this site, so I learned something new already, daily actually.

 

Today's military probably relies more on software to recognize friend or foe, since many engagements occur beyond visual ranges, even over the horizon, which is even scarier. By the time you get to the scene of the aircraft you just killed, it is not much more than fading smoke trails and a pile of burning debris 30,000 feet straight down.

 

Anthony

[hendie]

ah.... adding the touch of leek did it - looking much better now B.

 

oh, and thanks for the nod

On 5/19/2019 at 5:12 AM, TheBaron said:

For a true brassmasterclass Terry...

 

 

Q:  Would the leather seats have been black in those days?

 

Linky to original Anson seat for sale

 

I've only seen a few color photo's of aircraft seats of that era, and if my failing memory hasn't fallen over quite yet, I don't remember seeing seats in black leather.  Brown leather and green leather seen to have been the flavor of the day.  Perhaps the other team had used up all the black leather supplies.

 

Perhaps an opportunity for you to throw in a dash of color to break up the greenness?    (not that I'm implying the current interior is anything short of  outstanding!!!)

 

Caveat: 

   

 

about aircraft interiors, colors, fashion choices, or in flight entertainment of that era so I'm sure there are many BM'ers with much more valid input who should be along shortly to harangue me in the nicest possible way of course!

 

 

 

 

 

[Spookytooth]

Did they fit chintz curtains to the earlier models. 

 

Simon.

 

 

[bbudde]

On 5/19/2019 at 11:12 AM, TheBaron said:

I can't work out is that man eating that thing or is he trying to defend himself as it attacks him! 😱

Hello Tony,,  I guess both : First the Schnitzel attacked him very vastly and surely just before his death he could manage to defend himself in a heroric way for him and his fellows. He defeated it instantly with a hard bite. His fellows followed for sure then. These brave guys!. Cheers

Btw: Great interior. Like it that way. Cheers again

Edited May 21, 2019 by bbudde

[The Spadgent]

P.a.i.n.t!!!!!!🤸‍♂️👯‍♀️👯‍♂️🕺💃

shes looking better still, if that were even possible. Great stuff Tony. I need to do some interior green myself. 🤔 looking forward to more.

 

Jont

[TheBaron]

On 5/19/2019 at 6:23 PM, Heather Kay said:

We can go down all sorts of rabbit holes regarding colours

Can't we just?

Reckon if I just paint the undersides in alternating stripes of Silver Dope and Night Black then no matter what their views upon the matter, everyone will all be able to say:

'He got that bit right

That bit wrong,

That bit right

That bit wrong,

That bit right

That bit wrong,

That bit right

That bit wrong,

That bit right

That bit wrong,

That bit right

That bit wrong....'

On 5/19/2019 at 6:26 PM, bigbadbadge said:

Tony, I am no expert at all but if using black at all on an aircraft I mix some Humbrol Matt black and the same company's cockpit grey green and it can make a convincing night black colour.

Like wise Chris - there seems an inexhaustible amount to learn about colour (and light!) and I'm conscious of the depths of my own ignorance in so many regards. Have been trying to get my eye in on NB (bearing in mind the biases of the original photochemical film stock) by having a gander at Etienne du Plessis' superb colour archive over on Flickr:

 

 

On 5/19/2019 at 7:11 PM, giemme said:

Lovely interiors job, Tony

Praise from the Maestro. 🙏

On 5/20/2019 at 7:25 AM, Stalker6Recon said:

Must have been (probably still is) a real problem being able to identify in combat, especially at night, who you were trying to kill.

Remind me to wear bright clothing if we ever meet Anthony!

On 5/20/2019 at 5:38 PM, hendie said:

Q:  Would the leather seats have been black in those days?

A; Possibly! 😆

Don't think you'd find one of them red leather jobs in a Mk.1 in 1940 however H - the vendor of said seat handily posted a photo of the frame with the upholstery stripped-off and you can see that it's a non-folding seat from a later (Mk.IX?) passenger variant:

What was that underslung tube for? Umbrella? Baguette for the continental routes?

 

No qualms about admitting my paucity of knowledge on contemporary colours for the Anson upholstery: best you can tell even from the manuals is 'something dark'. A brief perusal here:

and here:

is at least reassuring in pointing out a lack of definitive technical documentation, but with some interesting insights re: brown leather of the period  darkening to black quite quickly. Somewhere in a stray neuron I have a half-remembered nuggest that items such as upholstery could frequently be determined by what the sub-contractor had access to at any given period in the production run, though I can't recall whether the source of that was book or documentary.

 

I like you notion of A Study in Brown being a bit more colourful around the interior so got busy with a Burnt Sienna oil wash last evening to turn black to brown:

Actually I'll have to file that 'highlighted black under sienna wash' technique away as a good method for approximating  abraded brown leather.

 for prompting the change!

On 5/20/2019 at 5:38 PM, hendie said:

Perhaps the other team had used up all the black leather supplies.

Similarly, try popping into Selfridges to buy a bronze eagle in 1939-45. Nary a one to be had for some reason...

On 5/20/2019 at 5:40 PM, Spookytooth said:

Did they fit chintz curtains to the earlier models.

It's not beyond the possibility that they did Simon.  Along with an Aspidistra beside the relief tube for the complete Edwardian experience...

On 5/21/2019 at 5:46 PM, bbudde said:

These brave guys!

Schnitzel-medals all round.

On 5/21/2019 at 7:26 PM, The Spadgent said:

I need to do some interior green myself.

Get the right one Johnny. They'll tear you apart on here.

Dunno if this of any use Johnny but occasionally find some of the photos appearring here of use working out details:

http://www.spitfirespares.com/Hurricane parts for sale.html

 

 

Some more painting and detailing work has taken place in fits and starts since the weekend.

 

One of those rather intense 'do a bit - go away for a bit - come back and do some more' jobs was to get the side glazing of the cockpit done on both sides:

Each side section consists of three separate sections of transparency that needed gluing into place one after the other - hence the need to take breaks so that the glue had time to cure between sections in order to avoid knocking them out of alignement. You can see I played it say by using thin strips of tape to hold them into place, having learned from the Iron Chicken days that using wider strips of tape tends to pull of either the masking, or the part itself away on delicate jobs such as this.

I used Gator's Grip thin-blend on this job and remain deeply impressed by its adhesive qualities. Diluting it down even further so that it would (in hendie's inimitable phrase) 'wick' in and around the seams was a godesnd with such large transparent panes.

 

Rear bulkhead leading to the AG position was also wiggled inside the framework and epoxied into place permanently:

Then it was the turn of the engines to get their finishing touches. Spiders of fuse wire for the ignition wiring:

Trimmed, bent  and CA'd into place:

After that I then added the supply and return runs for the oil pipes that pass directly into the pump underneath the central down of the engine at the front:

On the unexposed port engine this is as much as you'll see in the end:

Starboard one however is fully visible:

I've left those pipe-runs overlength as one needs to pass down to the oil cooler and the other directly back through the firewall to the oil tank:

Plonked-on to the engine-bearers for a quick shufti:

Looks Ok so far but out of contentration energies tonight now. Next task will be to attach the exhaust ring to the back of the engine - a fiddly job in terms of keeping alignment and angles correct all the way around so that can wait for fresh eyes and mind.

 

Thanks for looking-in: I hope your respective weeks are going tickety-boo, if n otm outright beezer and pukka.

 

I'd like to leave you tonight with a final flourish from one of Scotland's greatest native savants, Bob Servant:

 

'20 yrs ago a young man said to me “I have no qualifications, poor eyesight + I’m not a people person but if you give me a job then I’ll give you everything I have” I said you start tomorrow. I believe in people. Sacked him 2 days later for gross negligence but point still applies.'

 

 

Tony.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[The Spadgent]

1 hour ago, TheBaron said:

 

 

Starboard one however is fully visible:

These are ace!!!!!

It’s all ace but in fairness these are my favorite. 

Bravo Tony and thanks for the warning, I’m fully aware of the colour monkeys of BM. 🙊🙉🙈

 

Johnny

 

[giemme]

52 minutes ago, The Spadgent said:

These are ace!!!!!

How can one not agree?  

 

The engines and internal framing are a true work of art - this is probably a repetitive comment, but what the heck! You're so damn' good at it, Tony!  

 

Ciao

[Pete in Lincs]

2 hours ago, TheBaron said:

What was that underslung tube for? Umbrella? Baguette for the continental routes?

Bottle of Champers old boy! Chin chin! 🥂

[Stromness]

2 hours ago, TheBaron said:

Can't we just?

Reckon if I just paint the undersides in alternating stripes of Silver Dope and Night Black then no matter what their views upon the matter, everyone will all be able to say:

'He got that bit right

That bit wrong,

That bit right

That bit wrong,

That bit right

That bit wrong,

That bit right

That bit wrong,

That bit right

That bit wrong,

That bit right

That bit wrong....'

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sounds like a good way to get rid of „Hexperts“ through attrition.

Edited May 22, 2019 by Stromness

[Stromness]

„What was that underslung tube for? Umbrella? Baguette for the continental routes? “

 

Swordsticks. No weapons inside the plane. Same as today. 😎

[bigbadbadge]

Wow Tony, the bits you have done look flippin amazing. The  exposed engine is a work of art and so is the framing.

Great work fella.

All the best

Chris

[hendie]

4 hours ago, TheBaron said:

He got that bit right

That bit wrong,

That bit right

That bit wrong,

That bit right

That bit wrong,

That bit right

That bit wrong,

That bit right

That bit wrong,

That bit right

That bit wrong....'

 

or vice versa!

 

4 hours ago, TheBaron said:

What was that underslung tube for?

 

Sorry, I'm not going there!

 

 

4 hours ago, TheBaron said:

 

 

all I can say is..

 

 

 

4 hours ago, TheBaron said:

 

 for prompting the change!

 

lemme see now.... even when I get it wrong... you still end up doing it better!!!     I do think that oil wash brings a nice bit of life to the proceedings though - very wartime looking

 

 

 

 

[Stalker6Recon]

15 hours ago, TheBaron said:

Get the right one Johnny. They'll tear you apart on here.

To be honest, I couldn't care less about how accurate the colors are for your build, you could do the interior in blazing pink, but after you apply your dry brushing and oils, it would look as real as any photos of the real McCoy from your above reply.

 

Any doubt about the outcome, should have been squashed the moment you announced your intent to build the Anson.

 

That said, I bought a bunch of very outdated model magazines, and funny enough, there is a huge layout of the Lancaster in post war paint configurations. I wondered first, if this was the same as the Anson you are building (showing my true ignorance, but I am not afraid, pretending you know something is far worse than admitting you don't, and asking questions to learn). Anyway, one bit of interesting info I gained, shortly after the end of the war, pilots were so bored at not being shot at, that they started to fly at extreme low levels, Piddling off the local farmers and sleepy villages. Because of this, the Air Ministry sent guidelines to the DOR (directorate of operational requirements) and the MAP (ministry of aircraft production) that all Lancaster aircraft will have their serial numbers painted on both wings, large enough to be easily read from the ground, whether the aircraft was coming towards the person, or flying away.

 

This has been so far, the biggest gain in knowledge for me, regarding the RAF in post war era. Really cool stuff. There are pages and pages of paint configurations, and most have the "night black" on the underside, even those with a white top color. Really interesting and fun, now I want to build the Anson and/or Lancaster GR.3!

 

Cheers

15 hours ago, TheBaron said:

Gator's Grip

Did you know that this glue is made by a guy in the basement of his home? I was able to contact him, and found out his story regarding the glue. The formula is something he was taught in college as an art major. Now he mixes and bottles the glue by hand from his home after returning from his day job.

 

15 hours ago, TheBaron said:

AG position

Assistant gunner?

 

Cheers, can't wait for the next bits, this is too much fun and definitely a "master class", a term I first learned from MotoGP!

 

Anthony

[Hamden]

 

@Stalker6Recon AG stands for Air Gunner

 

  Roger

[TheBaron]

Friday already!

Some more fiddling around has taken place in and about; rather fired up at the moment tbhand making good progress on various little jobs as bits of time become freed up. Let's see what turned-up in and around the voting cards this morning...

On 5/22/2019 at 7:17 PM, The Spadgent said:

These are ace!!!!!

Kind of you dear ♥️! 🤗

On 5/22/2019 at 8:11 PM, giemme said:

You're so damn' good at it,

And I thought my best days were behind me Giorgio! You're too kind as always.

It is all made up on the bench spot of course, leavened with a large dollop of good fortune.

On 5/22/2019 at 8:40 PM, Pete in Lincs said:

Bottle of Champers old boy! Chin chin! 🥂

De rigeur I would surmise young Piotr. 🍸

Probably with Poirot dozing up at the front  and Lady Agatha having the vapours as her Pekinese gets its tongue stuck in the relief tube...

On 5/22/2019 at 9:13 PM, Stromness said:

Swordsticks. No weapons inside the plane. Same as today

Air rage was more civilized back then....

On 5/22/2019 at 10:29 PM, bigbadbadge said:

The  exposed engine is a work of art and so is the framing.

And it's doing my eyes in and no mistake Chris!

On 5/22/2019 at 11:05 PM, hendie said:

Sorry, I'm not going there!

U ok hun?

Should I call a doctor?

On 5/22/2019 at 11:05 PM, hendie said:

all I can say is..

You'll do your eyes in with those fancy contact lenses H. Makes you look like Wolverine.

On 5/23/2019 at 9:50 AM, Stalker6Recon said:

I was able to contact him, and found out his story

I presume that the kidnap and interrogation charges were later dropped....

On 5/23/2019 at 11:54 AM, Hamden said:

AG stands for Air Gunner

One of the unreleased songs from The Sound of Music I believe Roger! 🎼

 

Where was one?

Progress was mentioned.

More than I can say for those venal monkey-nuggets over at Flickr who are going backwards faster than Doctor Who with a demented Zarbi shoved up his time-tunnel. Having to upload images one-by-one excruciatingly slowly tonight. Never had this before paying their ransom fee. What are the feckwits doing? Stuffing the cash into the servers and making them overheat? 

If any of the photos below aren't loading for you, don't waste your time reloading. I think their tech department must be on the mescalin margaritas this evening and doing sod all.

'We're aware of the problem and are fixing it.' My arrssss™

 

Exhaust on:

Needs a touch-up in a couple of places where I flaked some lacquer off but otherwise pleased to have got that into place without too much ado. Get (all 7) of those short runs of pipe that lead out of the cylinders into the exhaust ring was a tricky proposition and need several dry fits before I was confident about going for it with epoxy on.

A small bit or a wiring loom to add around the magnetos at the back but I'll come back to that later as I'm a bit tired of engines at this stage and moved on to the front cockpit instead. IP and control collumn have now been added:

Along with the pilot's seat and the collapsible one for the 2nd pilot to starboard:

As per usual it's only in the photos that I noticed I managed to chip a bit of the leather off of the 2nd pilot's seat:

What a giveaway it's not real cowhide...

In need of some variety I finally decided to attack the problem of the propellers. Having alreaady lost one of the kit ones yonks back, it was lucky I'd taken a reference photo of the remaining one as that too had gone awol in the interim. The actual shape of the kit prop looks pretty good but the thickness of the leading/trailing edges made me want to try something in metal, traced here for producing some cutting masks in the Silhouette software:

These were then fire out to some Washi sheet on the cutter and applied to some 0.8mm brass sheet blanks and cut out using the jeweller's saw and final shaping with diamond disk in the Dremel:

I then started working the leading and trailing edges, using as a reference this beautiful side-on shots of Anson prop from Etienne du Plessis' treasury:

Here I am with the leading/trailing edges done on the lower of the pair, and the upper one juest gettin first shaping of the edges:

Once the main blank had been cut out, the bulk of the shaping and edge profiling was done initially with the sihrsc, followed by sanding boards, followed by W&D and a buff up at the end with a felt roll on the Dremel. Simply wouldn't be able to get such a knife edge at thsis scale in anything but metal:

Needs more done on getting the overall aerofoil chord done still:

But those edges will do for tonight:

Once the chords are done in each,  I need to look at building the central bosses and working out how to put the required opposing 'twist' into the metal so that each blade is correctly angled as per the reference shot posted above. This hasn't felt like work so much as a rather joyful sense of freedom learning to work the metal a bit better with each new job tried.

 

The minces are predicatably aching a bit after that sesh now so I'll bid ye all have a good evening and speak more at the weekend.

Adieu,

adieu....

Tony

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[giemme]

11 minutes ago, TheBaron said:

But those edges will do for tonight:



 

      

 

Ciao

[The Spadgent]

So you lost the props? Simply by accident? Just had to make them again did you. 🤔🤣

 

Great work kid. 

Aaand what the hey with Flickr? 😩 glad we all paid eh. 🙈

 

Johnny

 

[Stalker6Recon]

7 hours ago, The Spadgent said:

So you lost the props? Simply by accident?

I was about to make the same..........errrrr........aaahhhhh............insinuation (accusation seems a bit harsh). Funny how things just "go missing", I have a feeling that a check around his work bench, we would find all the "missing" parts, lined up like little army men in formation, he just likes doing things that we mere mortals can only drop jaws over. Can't blame him, if we had the skills, we would be "losing" parts as well. Sometimes I wonder why he buys the kits at all. It looks like the end result is 90:10 scratch/kit. We could probably give him a few parts from our spares box, and he would build a new bird out of shi'ts and giggles!

 

Don't tell him I said this, but watching him work is like being in the viewing room at Harvard medical school, watching a neurosurgeon repair the spinal cord of conjoined twins in preparation for a separation procedure. I think it will go to his head.

 

Cheers,

 

Anthony

[Heather Kay]

7 hours ago, The Spadgent said:

Aaand what the hey with Flickr? 😩 glad we all paid eh. 🙈

As I pointed out elsewhere, Flickr has just been moved to new premises - like BM did the other week. It takes a while for the dust to settle and the paint to dry, so expect the service to be be a bit flakier than usual for a few days yet.

[Massimo]

Haven't followed for a while and....WHAT A GREAT PROGRESS!!!!

Those interiors are outstandingand the engine can speak!!!!

You're doing great!!!!!

[hendie]

Aye, s'nae too bad I suppose...  for a first attempt.    

 

[Brandy]

49 minutes ago, hendie said:

Aye, s'nae too bad I suppose...  for a first attempt.    

 

There will no doubt be a second, as it simply won't be good enough for his baronship! 😉

 

Ian