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Heather's Workbench - the French connection, 1940 style


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14 hours ago, Martian said:

You have nailed this one Heather!

14 hours ago, Hamden said:

What he said!!!!!

Ta.

 

13 hours ago, Jur said:

That is looking brilliant!

9 hours ago, CedB said:

Agreed! 

 

I can't wait to see the masking some off that greenhouse… :) 

Thanks chaps! I’m keen to get the masking off, too.
 

8 hours ago, woody37 said:

Just caught up with this, it looks great. The French built some lovely looking aircraft and you're showing them in all their glory :)

 

Thank you. There are more in the stash, bigger and mostly uglier, leavened by one or two stunners.

 

31 minutes ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Thats looking quite nice Heather, I may need to start looking at more French aircraft. 

As modellers, we are quite well served by Heller and Azur making kits for French types, and it’s nice to see KP and others also picking up on the 1930s planes, too. I’m actually very pleased I decided to try and capture the flavour of aviation on all sides involved early on in the war.

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50205556946_2e39bbf52a_b.jpg

 

Rudder stripes on. I prefer to paint these, and luckily Humbrol 60 and 89 are a pretty good match. Of course, 89 isn’t available in the acrylic range - yet.

 

So, once the enamel has dried, I’ll risk a gloss coat and get the data markings applied. 

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3 hours ago, Heather Kay said:

Ta.

 

Thanks chaps! I’m keen to get the masking off, too.
 

Thank you. There are more in the stash, bigger and mostly uglier, leavened by one or two stunners.

 

As modellers, we are quite well served by Heller and Azur making kits for French types, and it’s nice to see KP and others also picking up on the 1930s planes, too. I’m actually very pleased I decided to try and capture the flavour of aviation on all sides involved early on in the war.

Some are quite ugly, but also full of character which I like

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50206337626_46f6aa317b_b.jpg

 

A rather flat and featureless matt varnish is done. I think some selective chipping and staining won’t come amiss to liven the model back up. 
 

It kind of looks like tomorrow for the greenhouse unveiling. Must be patient. I must be patient… :waiting:

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The tin said "quick air-drying varnish". They were right.

 

50207152531_d231e1c154_b.jpg

 

So, with anticipation, and a bit of trepidation, I made this little pile. Thankfully the vinyl masking came off without complaint.

 

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Ooh, shiny!

 

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Sadly, perhaps inevitably, a fair amount of dust is trapped inside. :angry: well, it’s there for good now. I might be able to persuade it to hide better with some clever static shenanigans. Or I might just leave well alone and live with it.

 

50207430257_780773f059_b.jpg

 

This shows the complex layout of panels in the nose nicely. Very pleased the masking set allowed for the thin bars between sliding panels. 
 

I have a hospital appointment tomorrow afternoon, so I think I’ll spend the morning just finishing this up, adding a few final details and a bit of weathering. 

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Cracking job Heather, that glazing came out really well, and I love the look now the matt coat is on

 

All the best

 

Geoff

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50209276858_601c255552_b.jpg

 

And it's done! The PE pitot won’t last a day, but it’s a complex shape and I’m not in the mood to recreate out of brass wire and solder right now. I’ve added some weathering powder exhaust stains and general dust, plus some scuff marks made using a 4B lead pencil. I need to get one of those silver pencils for that sort of job, really.

 

Anyway, when things cool down, and I’m back from my jaunt to hospital - it’s an assessment to make sure I’m fit for a general anaesthetic, as they need to knock me out completely to finish something started back in March - I’ll sort out the RFI images and post.

 

Thanks for watching this one come together. A quick head count on the stash shelf shows six more French planes to cover the land portion of the Battle of France. I haven’t even begun to consider naval aviation, I’m embarrassed to admit.

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15 minutes ago, Heather Kay said:

A quick head count on the stash shelf shows six more French planes to cover the land portion of the Battle of France. I haven’t even begun to consider naval aviation, I’m embarrassed to admit.

And don't forget the Vichy Air Force.....! ;)

Superb build, Heather - I'm looking forward to seeing the next one!

Kind regards,

Mark

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This Potez looks gorgeous, the way it has come out of your hands!

 

(It still has a huge nose though!)

 

I hope your hospital stuff goes allright. It is good to hear that they are finally back into providing treatment after the lockdown.

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1 hour ago, Jur said:

I hope your hospital stuff goes allright. It is good to hear that they are finally back into providing treatment after the lockdown.

It was fine. Big regional hospital, but the pre-op assessment is done in a separate building. All the Covid precautions in place, and numbers limited in the building at any one time. I have been deemed fit for the main operation, which will be a day case but general anaesthetic, in ten days. Before that I shall need to go for a swab test to see if I’m infectious with the dreaded lurgy.

 

Because the hospital is restricted to just patients and staff, parking is no problem, and it’s not crowded at all. I quite like it, in a funny sort of way. None of the hoipolloi kicking up a fuss and getting in the way.

 

Anyway, time to set up for some photos, I think.

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15 minutes ago, AdrianMF said:

Silver pencil?

I need to get one. I used a 4B graphite pencil, and it only really works if you catch the light with it. Proof of concept, though, and it works.

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Live the Potez, it almost makes me want to build all those weird Heller French types that I built as a kid because they were the only kits in the shop :) 

 

Good lick with the op, hope all goes well.

Edited by Marklo
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On 09/08/2020 at 00:17, woody37 said:

Just caught up with this, it looks great. The French built some lovely looking aircraft and you're showing them in all their glory :)

 

They built some extremely ugly ones too. But for every Farman F.120 you have a Latecoere 631, and for every Citroën AMI there is a Facel Vega. Well, perhaps not for everyone, but they do have some stunners to balance out the ugliness. :smile:

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