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Accidental Matchbox Provost.T/Mk1


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Hi All

 

This isn't what I was going to do next, honest.

 

Long story short, I was looking to try some canopy masking help for my Ju 88, and sort of got waylaid in Hannants. That site is a want vs need minefield.

 

The project I was contemplating next could also have benefited from canopy masking, and so could the one after that, and so on, until I suddenly had a shopping cart out of nowhere.

 

Anyhoo, while I await the delivery, my itchy fingers alighted on this.

DSCF6950.jpg

 

All there, soggy decals obvs (I suspect most of my bargain kits came from a Well Of Souls clear out)

DSCF6951.jpg

 

Basic cockpit

DSCF6952.jpg

 

DSCF6953.jpg

 

Mouldings all flash free and crisp, only disparity of profile looks to be the rear fuselage / tail junction

DSCF6954.jpg

Bit of filler should sort that.

 

I'd forgotten how satisfyingly basic matchbox kits were.

DSCF6955.jpg

 

OOB YAY!

 

 

Comments and suggestions welcome

 

Cheers

Steve

 

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 Nice. Plastic is a bit bright ! This was the first plane we worked on at Halton Jan 1971 . remove elevators , remove canopy , remove windscreen wipers , remove wings . Then Refit for the next lot. Seat pans were really shiny NMF ,the black had been worn away by 1000s of Apprentices !

 

Just remembered that hatch on the side towards the back end, think it had first aid pack in there. We hid some guys's bag in there ,he was going nuts .

Edited by bzn20
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Apart from the colour, it's got the feel of a kit that would respond well to detailing, cockpit, lighting, flight surfaces etc. 

 

I'm already in a battle against adding ip, control column, sorting out the seats etc, but I must be strong, it's a BASIC BUILD!

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5 hours ago, ProfSparks said:

I'm already in a battle against adding ip, control column, sorting out the seats etc, but I must be strong, it's a BASIC BUILD!

Give in; you know you want to.

 

Martian 👽

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      hi ALL ,

 

                     I built one of these MATCHBOX Models , it one of the roolly good MB Model Kits

                    I won a prize for it even after I reglued the Wheels back on inside out after transport to an Interstate Comp.

                  .......  as per our CAC Winjeel.

                    Great to recieve the 1/48  Provost T.I Model Kit recently

 

                                                                                                   cheery "modellin' " mumbas !

 

                                                                                                                                 Geoff

 

                                                                                                                              F.T.G. 3156

                     t

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I'd forgotten how satisfyingly basic matchbox kits were.

10 hours ago, ProfSparks said:

I'd forgotten how satisfyingly basic matchbox kits were.

I wish I had a few myself.  There is a bloke that attends the Evans Head Flyin who has old kits.  I had a few in my hand and put them back, now I wish I hadn't an interest in these old kits I now have.

Gonna watch as you build here,if I may.

 

Martian is right.

 

Stephen

Edited by StephenCJ
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42 minutes ago, StephenCJ said:

I'd forgotten how satisfyingly basic matchbox kits were.

I wish I had a few myself.  There is a bloke that attends the Evans Head Flyin who has old kits.  I had a few in my hand and put them back, now I wish I hadn't an interest in these old kits I now have.

Gonna watch as you build here,if I may.

 

Martian is right.

 

Stephen

Stephen,

I believe the chap that you're referring to is Tony from Modelnerds. I just picked up a string of old kits from him yesterday whilst atending our local (Brisbane) Model show. The Modelnerds website is down at the moment however he will be back online in September after doing a bit of a stocktake. BM hosted a great Matchbox Group build last Summer (Southern Hemisphere) where many a great Matchbox kit got built. There is currently a Classic Airfix Group Build taking place now and we hope to revive some Frog kits in 2019, should that Group Build get up during the voting stages.

 

Cheers.. Dave

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Hi All

 

On 8/25/2018 at 11:25 PM, Martian Hale said:

Give in; you know you want to.

 

Martian 👽

Yes I do.

 

No, wait, what?

 

NO I DON'T

 

You're a BAD Martian :fight:

 

On 8/26/2018 at 3:43 AM, StephenCJ said:

Martian is right.

Yes but no but, it's lucky if it gets a coat of paint.

 

I'm not building this, I'm just thinning down the engine fairings

DSCF6956.jpg

 

And painting the interior a decidedly non-distinguishable shade of black

DSCF6959.jpg

 

As there'll be little to see in there once the canopy's on

DSCF6961.jpg

 

DSCF6962.jpg

 

Just dry fitted to fly round the room once or twice

DSCF6963.jpg

 

Ahh, the irony, filling in time waiting for canopy masks by masking a canopy :banghead:

 

 

Comments and suggestions welcome

 

Cheers

Steve

 

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          hi ALL ,

 

                           I think Uncle Les aka Les APPLEBEE  produced a fine Vacform Canopy for this Kit

            ....... and NEVER put back an Offerin 'at a Swapmeet !

 

                                                                                         cheery mumbas !

 

                                                                                                  Geoff

                                                                                                 F .T.G. 3156

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Hi All

 

On 8/27/2018 at 6:39 PM, Martian Hale said:

What did I do?

 

Martian the Innocent :innocent:

Harrumph :pipe:

 

21 hours ago, G.E.SAUNDERS said:

 I think Uncle Les aka Les APPLEBEE  produced a fine Vacform Canopy for this Kit

That would be a good thing on a build that included any interior detailing, the kit canopy is a touch sturdy.

 

Anyhoo, small update on the rear

DSCF6965.jpg

 

Now being filled and smoothed and filled and smoothed filled and smoothed and filled and smoothed with PPP

DSCF6967.jpg

 

Looks slightly wonky from some angles

DSCF6968.jpg

 

But hey ho, fill and smooth the main wings and engine cowling until bored

DSCF6973.jpg

 

DSCF6974.jpg

 

And perhaps next time it'll all be the same colour...

 

 

Comments and suggestions welcome (except from those voices in my head :headphones:)

 

Cheers

Steve

 

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Hmm,  a classic MB kit, what's not to love? If it was doing it (which it may one day be, as a companion/comparison piece to my Airfix JPs), I'd be shimming underneath the tailplane with thin plastic card, to lift it level with the fuselage contours, thereby hopefully avoiding great chunks of time filling filling (well, it made sense when I wrote it...)

Looking good though, keep on!

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Wicked Earthling! Your fascinating build had me deciding that I haven't got enough Matchbox kits and I ended up accidentally purchasing another Stranraer kit on EvilBay. It's all your fault! :chair:

 

Martian 👽

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On 8/27/2018 at 6:13 PM, ProfSparks said:

 

Just dry fitted to fly round the room once or twice

DSCF6963.jpg

A great classic build unfolding. Have to tag along on this one, looking good so far.

 

31 minutes ago, Martian Hale said:

Wicked Earthling! Your fascinating build had me deciding that I haven't got enough Matchbox kits and I ended up accidentally purchasing another Stranraer kit on EvilBay. It's all your fault! :chair:

 

Martian 👽

Don't fight it Martian ............breath deep ............ relax .............. buy more 🤪

 

Terry

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Hi All

 

On 9/1/2018 at 10:45 AM, Martian Hale said:

Wicked Earthling! Your fascinating build had me deciding that I haven't got enough Matchbox kits and I ended up accidentally purchasing another Stranraer kit on EvilBay. It's all your fault! :chair:

 

Martian 👽

What did I do?

 

Profsparks the innocent 🙃

 

 

 

Anyhoo, not quite at the all one colour stage yet, masked off the walkways and nose

DSCF6975.jpg

 

Added most of the the remaining sticky-out bits

DSCF6976.jpg

And left it to consolidate.

 

Meanwhile, the Hannants fairy had been with these

DSCF6977.jpg

 

They were less than two quid each (including the etch as it was on special offer!), and will hopefully feature in soon to be forthcoming builds.

 

I figure the etch won't be called upon for a good while yet, and even then it won't be a large part of the detail as it's the wheel wells, so I can mangle it without remorse.

 

 

Comments and suggestions welcome

 

Cheers

Steve

 

 

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Hi All

 

NOW it's all one colour!

DSCF6978.jpg

 

DSCF6979.jpg

 

And now it's all a shiny Vallejo Model Air 71.062 Aluminium colour

DSCF6981.jpg

 

I do like these paints even if they are difficult to photo.

 

 

Anyhoo, unmasked!

DSCF6982.jpg

 

DSCF6983.jpg

 

I'll go with that. A couple of places to touch up and scrape off, but all in all not bad for me.

 

 

So while I was on a roll I thought I'd do some decalling.

DSCF6984.jpg

 

Now then, as this was one from Neptunes' personal stash, I thought there may be trouble ahead

DSCF6985.jpg

 

Yup, the backing paper lifted off with no bother, but left the decals firmly fixed to the protective covering sheet.

 

A tense couple of hours of easing a small brush between the carrier film and the cover, and Hey Presto!

DSCF6989.jpg

 

DSCF6987.jpg

 

That's a relief, I'd envisioned scratching through my off-cuts bag for anything similar.

 

She's sitting in a bath of Micro Sol for a while for good measure.

 

Nearly there!

 

 

Comments and suggestions welcome

 

Cheers

Steve

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Hi All

 

A couple of coats of pledge, a pair of wheels and a propeller, and here we are finished!

DSCF6990.jpg

 

DSCF6991.jpg

 

DSCF6992.jpg

 

DSCF6993.jpg

 

There's a ripple in the leading edge Orange decal on the Port wing, but considering I had to actually scrape them from their protection they've conformed pretty well.

 

The canopy is quite chunky (made even more so by my over enthusiastic spraying, must get that under control), but a vac form one would open up the wonderful opportunity to detail the cockpit interior.

Then you'd have to separate the control surfaces, fit clear lights, rescribe, etc etc

 

However, for what it is, a 1000 year old, basic pocket money kit, it has a great charm.

 

 

Comments and suggestions welcome

 

Cheers

Steve

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Charm - exactly right

 

It looks great, I always meant to build one of these but never got round to it then walking round Yeovilton last year this happened

P1130152.jpg

 

I'd never noticed them in service being a very young lad when they were, now I have one in my mind (and photo bank) I think I may pick one up and try to give it the attention it deserves

 

I really like yours, top job   👍

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Nice build and looking great! Still one of my favourite Matchbox kits, even now. Another one of those subjects that only Matchbox would have given us and introduced this 12 year old to the Piston Provost way back in 1981. I hadn't heard of it before, but then I wouldn't have. My limited knowledge only came from the few books I owned, the books I got from the library (remember doing that?) or enthusiastically leafing through my best mate's dad's ongoing issues of Encyclopedia of Aircraft from Orbis. That was it! So thank you Matchbox for the extra education.

 

Just finished a Matchbox Provost myself. I'll post it in RFI on September 18th.

 

Once again, great build and always wonderful to see another Matchbox Piston Provost built up....looking sharp!

 

Steve

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