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(Another) Westland Whirlwind MkI (second version)


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I know AdrianMF has already built and submitted an example of this kit, but I don’t think there’s anything in the GB rules to prevent duplicates.

 

 

I doubt I will be able to match Adrian’s cockpit detailing skills, but I’ll be lifting borrowing ideas from his build. The Whirlwind just fits neatly into my 1940 obsession, too, so you can guess which transfer option I shall be using.

 

The only nod to modernity will be a set of resin wheels that are more accurate than the rather skinny Airfix ones.

 

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My box dates to 1997.

 

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I can’t see any flash or moulding issues. I was rather perturbed to find the single transparency rattling round inside the box. These were the days when the box was shrinkwrapped, rather than the contents bagged. There’s no obvious damage to the transparency, so I think we’ve got away with it.

 

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The 1978 stamp is hidden away, almost as if Airfix was ashamed of it!

 

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Modernised instructions cover the relatively straightforward construction sequence. Internal paint details are called out, which is helpful. I quite like the fact the yellow propeller blade tip yellow is quoted as 1.41mm :frantic:

 

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I shall be finishing my model as a Whirlwind MkI of No 263 Squadron, RAF Fighter Command, Exeter, December 1940.

 

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The transfer sheet seems clean, still with its protective sheet in place. I shall risk using these, as it seems the aftermarket doesn’t cover the poor old Whirlwind.

 

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The resin main wheels.

 

I'm actually looking forward to starting this model. The build may be a little protracted, as I really have to get on with the paying work in the coming week, but we'll see how we do.

 

 

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Looking forward to seeing this one. I really like your Hurricane and Spitfire builds.

 

I only used the overwing B type roundels from the sheet on mine. They had a crescent of white showing around the edge and needed a touch up of camouflage colour. The fin flash 14 on your sheet looks like it will have some white showing at the end of the red bar, so it might benefit from some trimming before it hits the water. 

 

Regards,

Adrian

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Thanks Adrian!

 

I will give the transfers a better inspection in due course. Things like the fin flashes and roundels might be readily replaced from generic sets I have in stock. It’s just the squadron codes that might be an issue - and I don’t think my masking-fu is quite up to your standards!

 

Yesterday, I spent a while just pottering about with the parts, and digging around the internet for reference material. I think I have enough now to have a stab at the cockpit details, which also led me to consider replacing the wide bench seat with something a bit more prototypical. I have spare PE that will sort that out. There are a few sink marks that will need attending to for a start!

 

 

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This should be good.

 

I always thought the Whirlwind had a real Hot Rod look about it, all engine and great big cannons! 

The first issue came out in 1958. Yours is the later update. It got a new canopy and a bit of added panel detailing. The original had a very upright canopy and completely smooth airframe. It also had rather bulbous spinners that got De-Dagmared for the revamp. H HE was the original fuselage code.

 

Here endeth the lesson.

 

Tony.

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I always thought an inflight wheels up model would look so cool.  Micro electric motos installed and carefully mounted would make for a great model. As Tony suggested it just looks a quick aeroplane.  

 

A secondary benefit of the motorised props is that it'll act a a fan in the Cave....

 

There are picture of Whirlwinds with extensive weathering.  Are you going for that look?

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3 minutes ago, Grey Beema said:

Are you going for that look?

Probably not. :wink: I’ll have the wheels down, well, I have invested some dosh in the resin ones after all.

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21 minutes ago, Heather Kay said:

Probably not. :wink: I’ll have the wheels down, well, I have invested some dosh in the resin ones after all.

Sorry meant the heavy weathering rather than inflight..

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43 minutes ago, Grey Beema said:

Sorry meant the heavy weathering rather than inflight..

Ha! Me too! 

 

I think Adrian had planned on replicating the heavy weathering. For mine I’ll probably just do a light weathering.

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I make oblique references to my "day job" taking preference over the fun things in life. Well, one reason for this build not taking off (ho ho) as quickly as the Spit and Hurri is this lot:

 

GWR Broad Gauge coaches

 

GWR Broad Gauge coaches

 

 

This is is a set of four 1/43rd scale Great Western Railway broad gauge coaches. They are for a client who lives in Australia, and I’ve been working on them on an off for over a year. I’ve finally tamed the roofs, and beginning to get the lamp detailing sorted out. Then I have to letter them, glaze them, fit all the interiors, and then think about getting them shipped to Oz.

 

As well as this lot, I’ve got five British Railways Mark 1 coaches to the same scale, and several loco commissions under way. I keep having to fight the very strong temptation to just jack it all in and play with plastic plane kits!

 

 

 

 

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Yes, it's a pity about the day job at times but there are the bills to pay unfortunately! I think you are very lucky in that your day job is modelling and that is a career I would very much like to aspire to! As recently as yesterday, I was hunched up in my car at lunchtime trying to cut out tiny PE aerials and stick on to a 1/144 fuselage, all within the confines of a shoebox (to keep the car carpet monster at bay). All part of the modelling apprenticeship, well, mine anyway. Hopefully I will have 'served my time' by the time I can move from day job to full time modelling - paradise!

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12 hours ago, Grey Beema said:

I have the old Profile Pamphlet on the Whirlwind somewhere, I'll have to see if I can dig it out.  

 

Not sure if if this is any use to you...

https://boxartden.com/reference/gallery/index.php/Modeling-References/Aircraft-Profiles/Britain/WW2/Westland-Whirlwind

 

 

also on the boxartden

 

Meteor,%20Whirlwind%20&%20Welkin%2011%20

https://boxartden.com/reference/gallery/index.php/Modeling-References/Camoflage-Markings/11-Meteor-Whirlwind

 

whuch has lots of useful details about camo and markings... well worth a read

HTH

T

 

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Some useful information available from those links, so thanks everyone for that. :thumbsup:

 

I found some time this evening to do a little Whirlwind work.

 

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The first thing was to identify the sink holes. They were all associated with locating pins, and were dealt with by a wipe of filler and some careful sanding. I'm hoping to retain as much of the original fine raised panel linework as I can. 

 

I found a moulding flaw near one wing tip. Some kind of detritus had got into the mould when the plastic was injected. On inspection it turned out to be something rubbery, like a small ball of Copydex or similar. I did the silly thing of digging it out, in case it came back to bite me later on. I ended up with a fair sized cannon shell hole in the wing, which has been dealt with by filler. I noticed another inclusion on one exhaust, but decided to leave well alone!

 

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The next thing was to have a think about some internal detailing. Using Adrian's cockpit detailing as inspiration, plus a couple of very useful photos I dug up on the inter web, I sketched out likely frame lines and main component locations.

 

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Here's the result. I think it'll pass muster. Some spare PE from a Hasegawa Hurricane detailing set gave me a seat and an instrument panel. A coat of paint and some dry brushing later will do, I think.

 

If I'm feeling brave, I may stick the fuselage and wings together tonight. 

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Our feline friend woke me up stupidly early this morning, so I took the opportunity to finish off the fuselage and do a bit of fettling before breakfast. Now I'm procrastinating rather than getting on with the job I'm supposed to be doing - a photo session of a client's completed loco commission before it's packed up and shipped to Australia.

 

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The cockpit looks okay. The large canopy lets a fair amount of light in, so there has to be something in there to see. I'll sort out some masking tape belts. I'll mask the canopy and fix it in place in preparation for the painting to begin later.

 

The Airfix pattern maker had carefully arranged panel lines so they didn't cross the fuselage joins very often, which made tidying up a doddle. I made the effort to align the upper edges as cleanly as possible, leaving the less visible undersides with the most cleaning up if required. As it turned out I didn't need to use any filler anywhere along the join, which is a result and testament to the quality of the Airfix designers in the 1970s. They were pretty much at the top of their game, I reckon. I fitted the nose cone so it could be faired in at this stage, too.

 

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The wing halves went together quite well. There was a little variation in chord dimension at the outer ends, but nothing a little gentle sanding couldn't deal with. If I play my cards right, I reckon I can begin getting paint on this model this evening, and perhaps even complete it over the weekend! I couldn't say that for most of the modern kits in my stash!

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15 minutes ago, Heather Kay said:

The Airfix pattern maker had carefully arranged panel lines so they didn't cross the fuselage joins very often, which made tidying up a doddle. I made the effort to align the upper edges as cleanly as possible, leaving the less visible undersides with the most cleaning up if required. As it turned out I didn't need to use any filler anywhere along the join, which is a result and testament to the quality of the Airfix designers in the 1970s. They were pretty much at the top of their game, I reckon. 

I do agree, Heather - I made a bit of a scurrilous statement about fuselage halves appearing to be different sizes on the F.2B I am building but on looking again, I can see it's me making a mess of alignment when taping up. I have edited my post accordingly. Anyway, you are doing it right as evident from the quality of your build and I will have a re-think and aspire to follow suit! Cheers and thanks. Mike.

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13 minutes ago, Ventora3300 said:

Anyway, you are doing it right as evident from the quality of your build and I will have a re-think and aspire to follow suit! Cheers and thanks. Mike.

Thank you!

 

I decided, after test fitting - and I forgot to mention it in the post above - to ping the locating pins off to help alignment. I found the pins along the rear fuselage were ever so slightly causing a misalignment. With no pins abetting the process, it was much easier to get a neat join. It really only needed a little light sanding to remove the slight step these older kits generally have along the mating edges.

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Nice detail work in the cockpit Heather, this one is shaping up nicely too.

 

I like the GWR coaches, they will look spectacular with the lettering and lining on along with the interior details. All that lovely work makes my attempt on completing a Ratio kit, which has sat on the shelf for almost two years now, look very feeble. However, it has inspired me to make the effort to complete it this year, so thanks for that.

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On 10/08/2018 at 16:00, nimrod54 said:

I like the GWR coaches, they will look spectacular with the lettering and lining on along with the interior details.

Cheers John. I enjoy building coaches, even with the repetitive nature of several on the go at once. I can get into an almost Zen-like state working on the same thing over and over and over… The lettering is the next phase for this lot, and that's going to take a while. Really looking forward to that session. :lalala:

 

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I felt in the mood for a Whirlwind day, with a view to pushing towards completion. I fixed the wings and horizontal stabilisers, and left things propped up like this until the glue had set. I also prepped some 1mm masking tape to use as seat belts, and masked the canopy.

 

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The canopy went on with some canopy glue. Things are looking like a Whirlwind now.

 

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I spent a while thinning the gear doors, and then making a right horlicks of fitting them. Got them in the end.

 

And so, into the paint shop.

 

I think I rushed things. I use a bog-standard acrylic car primer for most jobs. I think I failed to shake it long enough, and made the mistake of accelerating the drying with a hairdryer. Still, it seemed okay, so I got the airbrush out and sprayed Xtracrylic RAF Sky on the undersides. As is so often the case, the mixture of temperature, humidity and paint/thinners didn't quite hit the sweet spot. The brush needed constant cleaning, the nozzle kept clogging. I should have walked away.

 

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It all seemed fine in the end, so I did a quick mask to paint the black wing. I couldn't get the tape quite close enough and cleanly enough to the cannon cartridge box on the centreline - it's a bit of a fiddle as the demarcation is not on the fuselage centreline, but just kisses the faired box - so I decided to do as best as I could and then brush paint a bit later. This is what you see here. Looks okay, so I did a slightly better masking routine, and filled in the bit I couldn't do with a brush.

 

Off came the tape...

 

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Oh, fudge. :swear: :tmi:

 

I've had this before. Not just the paint layer came away, but also the primer. As I said earlier, I think it's because I tried to accelerate things. So, nothing for it but to patiently remove all the paint. Doing that, of course, the gear doors came adrift, the canopy came off, and I lost the rudder aerial pole. 

 

I will go and redo the primer stage, then leave it until tomorrow. Is it obvious why I still like brush painting over airbrushing?

 

Ack.:waiting:

 

 

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36 minutes ago, BIG X said:

so which primer did you use...

I think it’s Car Plan. I have a friendly open-all-hours family hardware shop near here which stocks the stuff cheaper than Halfords. This is only the second plane to suffer this issue, and it seems to be my accelerated drying technique that causes it.

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Hmm weird - I thought you were going to say stynlrez or similar - if you pick at the remaining painted areas with something 'really sticky' - like some masking tape pressed hard on your finger or some white / blutak and the paint 'balloons' up then I've seen the problem before and you may as well keep picking away as it's just going to peel off like a bad case of sun tan.

 

I hope you get it sorted - it is a real pain - personally for all it's faults I really don't think you can beat Halfords grey primer.  I've had a 1 in a hundred problem with it - but the other 99 times it has been perfect.

 

Good luck - Steve

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10 minutes ago, BIG X said:

as it's just going to peel off like a bad case of sun tan.

Which is exactly what it did. I just cleaned it all off, tidied up, filled some obvious problem seams (oops!) and it’s been given another bout of primer.

 

The common step here seems to be forcing the drying time with a hairdryer. It seems the primer fails to "grip" the underlying plastic, and just lifts off in sheets. Before I attempt any further top coats, though, I’ll test the latest covering with some tape. If it lifts off this time, I guess I need a rethink. 

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1 hour ago, Heather Kay said:

Which is exactly what it did. I just cleaned it all off, tidied up, filled some obvious problem seams (oops!) and it’s been given another bout of primer.

 

The common step here seems to be forcing the drying time with a hairdryer. It seems the primer fails to "grip" the underlying plastic, and just lifts off in sheets. Before I attempt any further top coats, though, I’ll test the latest covering with some tape. If it lifts off this time, I guess I need a rethink. 

Personally... and I don't have your experience.... but I have tried loads of things....  I think acrylic primers simply don't 'bite' into the styrene - they sit on the surface and as long as you are doing sloid colours they work fine - but if you add masking tape or blue / whitetac - they show they haven't actually gripped and melded with the styrene.  I never tried to force dry mine - but after 24 hours - or up to a full week - the problem remained - it's not your method - it's the primer...  :D

 

Rant against acrylic primers over for now... let me know how you get on though - it's was looking great :thumbsup:

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