Mark Harmsworth Posted December 1, 2018 Share Posted December 1, 2018 As I'm new here thought I'd introduce myself by showing one of my recent build from a few months back. It comes with a bit of a story. On 6th September 1943, at about a quarter past eight in the evening, U-617 fired four torpedoes at HMS Puckeridge in the Mediterranean about 40 miles east of Gibraltar. Two torpedoes hit and HMS Puckeridge sank within 8 minutes. Of the 191 on board, 129 survived. This was the eleventh sinking by U-617. It was to be the last. Just before 2am on 12th September U-617 was located off the coast of Morocco and attacked by Wellington GRXIV 'P' of 179 squadron from Gibraltar. Later it was judged that this attack (depth charges aided by the Leigh Light) resulted in U617 being 'mortally wounded'. 'P' remained in the area and radioed information back to Gibraltar. Wellington 'J' of 179 sqn arrived and made a series of attacks during which the rear gunner was mortally wounded by return AA fire. This image shows U-617 after the attack by the Wellingtons. Further rocket attacks were then made by Hudsons and two Swordfish from Gibraltar. Finally there was gunfire from HMS Hyacinth and HMAS Wollongong. Photo reconnaissance established that, rather surprisingly after all this attention, U-617 was then a total wreck. And the donkey? From the reconnaissance it was believed that the crew of U-617 had made it ashore as an encampment was spotted - including a donkey beside a tent. In fact the entire crew had survived and, as this was Spanish Morocco, they were eventually repatriated to Germany. The historic info comes from uboat.net and from the Operations Record Book (ORB) of 179 Squadron for September 1943 which contains a detailed hand-written account of the action of the 12th (including the donkey). As the ORB makes no mention of serial nos (that seemed to vary a lot) I have gone with MP774 which is the serial of 'P' after the squadron returned to the UK from Gibraltar as shown here. On to the model and my attempt at Wellington 'P' of 179 squadron. This is the Trumpeter 1/72 Wellington GRXIV. I've installed eight RP3 rockets as it was fairly common to see these on Coastal Command Wellingtons - although to be honest I've no idea if they were fitted to 'P'. I used thin card to replicate the blast sheets where the rockets were attached. I'll own up to not bothering with a lot of the internal detail (which is pretty good in the kit) as 'P' had the fuselage windows painted over and it wouldn't be seen. Even the cockpit is pretty dark. The nose area is completely empty in the kit which is a bit daft as it's so visible. So I added a floor, chair and machine gun and carved one of the rear fuselage bulkheads to fit. The framing on the nose transparency seems imaginary when compared to photos so I removed it. The horizontal tail was strengthened with brass rod – it's really floppy otherwise. My method for installing the waist guns didn't work (me being stupid) and I haven't quite got round to doing anything about that, so they are a bit absent . Extras were the RP3 60lb rockets from Pavla and canopy masks from Eduard. Paints were Ultimate acrylic primer and Xtracrylics. Decals from the spares box. Weathering is pastels for the exhaust stain (which you can't see at all) and Winsor & Newton oils. Comments appreciated. All the best Mark 51 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpha Delta 210 Posted December 1, 2018 Share Posted December 1, 2018 Welcome to BM. I love the Wellington and look forward to seeing more of your work. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piotr Sudnik Posted December 1, 2018 Share Posted December 1, 2018 An interesting story and a great model 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWM Posted December 1, 2018 Share Posted December 1, 2018 Very nice result! Welcome to BM J-W 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buzby061 Posted December 1, 2018 Share Posted December 1, 2018 Lovely work. It's always nice to have a story with a build. Pete 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Law Posted December 1, 2018 Share Posted December 1, 2018 (edited) Very neat nice model. What paint colours did you use? Edited December 1, 2018 by Greg Law 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinChipmunkfan Posted December 1, 2018 Share Posted December 1, 2018 Welcome to BM a great first start. Stories behind the model are always interesting. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael51 Posted December 1, 2018 Share Posted December 1, 2018 Great build, and nothing quite like a context-rich RFI. It reminds one that the model represents an event as well as being a kit, Michael 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan_RAFBC Posted December 1, 2018 Share Posted December 1, 2018 Just lovely 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogsbody Posted December 1, 2018 Share Posted December 1, 2018 I wish to register a complaint! The pictures are too small to see the lovely job you've done with this Wimpey. Anything in the 600x800 pixels range fits well on the forum. Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevej60 Posted December 1, 2018 Share Posted December 1, 2018 Superb build and finish! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Harmsworth Posted December 1, 2018 Author Share Posted December 1, 2018 2 hours ago, Greg Law said: Very neat nice model. What paint colours did you use? Hi Greg I'm an acrylics guy so white Ultimate Primer then Xtracrylics white, Dark Slate Grey and Extra Dark Sea Grey. Mark 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyot Posted December 1, 2018 Share Posted December 1, 2018 Love your model and the back story research,.... I have to say though that I`m not aware of operational Wimpey`s equipped with rockets,..... only trial Wimpey`s from Boscombe Down,.... although I would love to be proved wrong! Great to see a Coastal Wimpey built so well, Cheers Tony 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted December 1, 2018 Share Posted December 1, 2018 Hi Mark, a great intro to the forum, nice to have you here. Love the Wellything & the story, its a beaut. Steve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RidgeRunner Posted December 1, 2018 Share Posted December 1, 2018 A great first post :). Welcome to the mad house Martin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baldy Posted December 1, 2018 Share Posted December 1, 2018 Great story and a nice model. It seems crazy to imagine firing rockets from a Wimpy but I guess why not and it was effective - what great old workhorse it turned out to be. Cheers Malcolm 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opus999 Posted December 2, 2018 Share Posted December 2, 2018 Beautiful job and thanks for the fascinating story to go along with it. I always like hearing the stories behind the aircraft. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spitfire31 Posted December 2, 2018 Share Posted December 2, 2018 A great first post – very neat modelling and captivating write-ups on both the historical context and on the build! Looking forward to what you might have in stock for the future. 😉 Kind regards, Joachim 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andwil Posted December 2, 2018 Share Posted December 2, 2018 Welcome on board. Nice work, model looks just like the real thing and you can’t do better than that! AW 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Pete Posted December 2, 2018 Share Posted December 2, 2018 Nicely done and an interesting story to go with it... What's not to like? Welcome aboard (from me, the eternal newbie). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted December 2, 2018 Share Posted December 2, 2018 Beautiful work on your Wimpy and an interesting bit of history. I wonder if the crew were transferred to the eastern front as punisment for losing a precious submarine. ? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Harmsworth Posted December 2, 2018 Author Share Posted December 2, 2018 13 hours ago, tonyot said: Love your model and the back story research,.... I have to say though that I`m not aware of operational Wimpey`s equipped with rockets,..... only trial Wimpey`s from Boscombe Down,.... although I would love to be proved wrong! Great to see a Coastal Wimpey built so well, Cheers Tony Hi Tony On reflection, and after a bit of checking, I think that I must've picked that up from a build elsewhere - it isn't in any of my references. With the benefit of hindsight if it was common why did I struggle to find pictures. The few I have are probably not of operational aircraft as you say. One of my problems is a daft need to do research on anything I build - so there's always a story. Thanks for the nice comments. Mark 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now