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Heather's Workbench - the French connection, 1940 style


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Not a lot of progress to speak of, at least with little French aeroplanes. Lots done in the day job, though, but that’s another story.

 

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Stickers going on. I knew the rudder stripes would be a nuisance, so I am going to have to paint them by hand. The MS406 still needs the fin data panels applied and a little paint retouching. The MB152 will now have to await the rudder stripes to be painted on, followed by the data markings. 

 

The D520 and the Hawk are waiting on me to pull out my finger and order replacement national markings. I’m rather keen to see these little planes completed and in the display cabinet.

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A little more progress.

 

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I found some almost correct colours in my paint selection. I was all prepared to do some mixing and matching, but amazingly I found Humbrol Matt 89 was a pretty good match for the pale blue. Matt 60 is close enough for the red, too. With that, and some careful masking, I painted the Hawk, Bloch and Dewoitine rudders. Happy days. I’ll let that dry for a day or so, then get gloss on, followed by the data transfers.

 

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You might recall the HobbyBoss Dewoitine had decal schemes for two Vichy French aircraft. On reviewing the sheet, there were sufficient wing roundels of two sizes without white rings to let me create the pre-Armistice markings. The HB decals behaved themselves quite well. I was prepared for some problems of splitting or cracking, but what occurred was easily dealt with. The decals did take several minutes to separate from the carrier paper, so patience was a definite virtue.

 

All of which means the poor old Hawk is now lagging behind. I’ve ordered some Model Art sheets, which will stand me in good stead for future Armée de l'Air builds. Until they arrive, the Curtiss will have to languish. By the time I get things done, I hope the weather might have warmed up enough I can get some matt varnish sprayed on the finished models. :yahoo:

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1 hour ago, stevehnz said:

Coming on nicely Heather

 

52 minutes ago, AdrianMF said:

I do like the camouflage and markings

 

13 minutes ago, TheBaron said:

fantastique colour-working all round!

 

Merci beaucoups, monsieurs.

 

And that is about the limit of my French, unless you want me to tell you my name, or ask how much something costs!

 

The oddly freeform camo colours make a pleasant change from the rather strict Luftwaffe and RAF styles. These planes will make an interesting splash of colour in the display cabinet.

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4 minutes ago, Marklo said:

tell me you didn't do them freehand

Ha! I wish my hand was that steady! The base colour all over was white. I referred to the decal stripes for sizes, and trimmed tape to match and laid it down the centre of the rudders. The red and blue were brush painted. I had the white lift on the Dewoitine, as the tape was removed, so I very carefully brushed in fresh paint.

 

It's not perfect, but I’m finding nothing I do these days is good as I’d like. Painting, in particular, I find something of a chore. Still, the end results usually end up acceptable to me, at least.

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Slowly, slowly!

 

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The Morane all stickered up and ready for matt varnish.

 

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I think the Bloch is my favourite of the four.

 

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Looking smart is the Dewoitine.

 

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The Hawk has unit and data markings, just waiting on someone with a set of compasses to paint the national markings!

 

I must not forget to fit the props, the missing pitots on two of the planes, the Bloch weapons, plus all the gunsights.

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1 minute ago, clive_t said:

 

Coming along very nicely! Are these gunsights the external ones mounted forward of the front canopy? If so, where are you obtaining those from please?

 

Yes, they’re the old-fashioned looking exterior sights. I’m using what the manufacturers supply. Only the Morane has an etched one, the others are injection.

Just now, fatalbert said:

whats next 😜

Ah, now that would be telling. I’m a bit restricted for display space at the moment, so anything larger than a single-seater is hard to squeeze in. However, I’m going to start an Airspeed Oxford for the Trainers group build.

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8 minutes ago, stevehnz said:

 

Looking pretty super there Heather, though I'm embarrassed to realise I called the Dewoitine a Morane in my earlier post,

 

I didn’t notice, and I won’t tell anyone. :wink:

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Although I am still awaiting the aftermarket decal sheets, the paint shop temperature had soared into the late teens Celsius. Too good an opportunity to miss, so messrs Morane, Bloch and Dewoitine have now had a squirt of matt varnish.

 

I would show you a photo of the trio incongruously sitting on the test track at the back of my workbench as they dry, but Flickr is having a bad panda day*.

 

Ah, it’s working again! Vite!

 

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*If you aren’t a Flickr subscriber, when things go spoggly on their site, a page shows with a little girl trying to drag a toy panda along a path. It’s their equivalent of a "page not found" error. Whimsical, but it can be annoying at times.

Edited by Heather Kay
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A slow reveal...

 

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I couldn’t resist unmasking the canopies. Just some small details, like scratching up new cannons for the Bloch, and these three will be ready for proper photos and some RFI entries.

 

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They're looking good, Heather. 

I'm enjoying the extra colour in the camouflage scheme, although I'm not a fan of the military "splodge" schemes in general. I like the metal look! 

 

Have you upgraded your photo account to Flickr Pro?? 

If you're still on the free account you'll be limited to 1000 pics, and subject to deleting of your older files. 

I thought it was worth paying for the service that they provide, as opposed to the ill behaviour of the infamous p-bucket and the crisis they brought about 

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5 minutes ago, rob Lyttle said:

Have you upgraded your photo account to Flickr Pro?? 

I did. I used to be a pro member before the Yahoo takeover. Changes were made that essentially negated being a pro but retained most of the advantages, so I stayed as a free member until the Smugmug takeover. With about a decade of images invested in Flickr, it was a no-brainer, as they say. I hope Flickr will thrive under the new management.

 

 

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