Airfix 1/48 Blenheim - A Fighter fit for a Millionaire?

[Fatcawthorne]

Thank you @Spit Fan and @dogsbody, you've both added to my knowledge bank and hopefully to that of the BM Hive Mind.

 

On 2/11/2019 at 6:50 PM, dogsbody said:

Wait! I found something. I was wrong in my first posting. The Blenheim DID have the radios aft of the turret.

 

http://113squadron.com/id96.htm

 

 

 

Chris

Really enjoyed the shots on that link Chris, if only a bit more would be visible it'd be a great area to go to detailing-town on.  Love the drawer!!!

 

On 2/11/2019 at 4:18 AM, Spit Fan said:

Graham Warner’s “The Bristol Blenheim, A Complete History

At £75 on Amazon it's a bit steep for my pay grade, however we only need one of us to have a copy!!

 

Beefed up the Dark Earth quote yesterday and then added some post shading to modulate the colour, mixing in steadily increasing amounts of Tamiya Sky Grey and X-20A thinner.

 

 

Lastly a very very thin coat of the unadulterated Flat Earth hopefully bought it together.  We're not aiming for a patchwork, however we're looking to give the effect that light (and therfore the colour) will be reflected/scattered in different directions by the variations in the panels.

 

 

Next is to break out the blu-tac, make loads of wiggly worms, wear every third one as a Goucho,  (or Fu Man Chu if I can roll one long enough) moustache, to make the camo masks and go through the same process with the Tamiya RAF Dark Green. 

 

Be good out ther BMers,

 

Until we have some Dark Green in our lives, Chris

[Fatcawthorne]

OK with it being a bit of a mammoth footy night in FC World, playing 6-a-side followed by a rush home to see the Mighty Tottenham Hotspur defeat the team that are top of the Bundesliga, Borussia Dortmund 3-0 at Wembley (wahoo!!!!), I wasn't expecting any bench time tonight.  However I hadn't factored in that I'd be a complete, well let's call it the stand behind the goal at Man City's ground that the Man U fans tried to name after Colin Bell in the public stand-naming vote, and I had left my clothes at 6-a-side so had to go back at 2200 to pick them up.  After driving back from the Col U stadium I didn't feel tired anymore and the man-cave was on hand to accommodate my temporary insomnia.

 

Therefore it was wiggly worms time.  Blu-tac worms are my second favourite type of worms after these (and there is an all night M&S opposite the Col U ground so happy days!):

However they do leave a much stickier mess on your paintwork than blu-tac does (don't ask).

 

So the correct worms and Tamiya tape later and we have:

and then a first coat of Tamiya's RAF green and tadah.........

............. and now the insomnia has worn off and it's time to climb the carpet hill to Bedfordshire.

 

Sleep tight all, make sure the bugs don't bite,

 

'til next time, Chris

 

[Fatcawthorne]

Tonight as a Valentines treat we put another thin coat of RAF Dark Green and some post-shaded lightened greens on the old girl and then a very very thin coat of unadulturated Dark Green to bring it back together again.

 

That gave us this.

 

  

Once this was all dry (doncha just love acrylics!) we whipped off the coverings and ..............................................................................voila!

 

 

As far as I can see, remedial touch ups are needed but are tiny, so all in all the job's a good 'un.

 

I'll sort out these little corrections and then I can start Futuring in prep for some stickers!

 

Hope your Valentines evenings are as romantic as they can be in your man-caves BMers, so until the Future is with us (see what I did there!), all the best.

 

Chris

 

 

[Fatcawthorne]

A little bit more progress to report.  By the inch it's a cinch is the watchword on this build.

 

Put a few coats of Future on the airframe (am using Pledge Floor Care now as opposed to the Lakeland's version that was my goto after my original Klear ran out), and the Pledge that I used was IMO every bit as good as the old formulation Klear. The Lakeland one used to bubble quite a lot even with the carefulest brushing, but the Pledge is bubble free and self-levels perfectly.  It seems Squaddie-proof so I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this as the definitive Klear replacement.

 

Whilst this was drying I took the opportunity to do a little bit more on the power eggs, a bit of dry-brushing on the exhaust and collector rings and then a Future wash into the gaps between the exhausts and the cowling panel to neaten stuff up a tad.  Yes I know I had painted the exhausts earlier in the build but the gluing process made a mess of them in a couple of spots so I took the surgical spirit to the whole cowling and started again, this time masking off the exhausts after painting the surrounding panels. Not quite as neat as I'd originally envisaged but still up there in the good-enough category.

 

 

I also applied a Future wash after dry-brushing the Vector Resin Vickers K, which is a huge improvement over the kit supplied gun even if it's not 100% the correct version.

 

 

Ooooh shiny-shiny!!!

 

 

Right we're ready for some stickers.  Nothing's getting done tonight though as I'm heading off to Southend in a tick to see the Kaiser Chiefs at the Cliffs Pavillion.  Unfortunately I've booked rooms for an overnight stay and they're in the nearby Wetherspoons pub, what a dreadful thing to put myself through eh!!!  Need to get a blood test done tomorrow so I fear the results may be a bit "tainted".

 

Until laters mon amis.

 

Chris

[AdrianMF]

That paint finish looks like a good un!

I have been carefully tending a jam jar of rather thick Future for a few years now. When I get back off this trip I will be following your recommendation and getting some Pledge. It looks "promising"... 

Regards,

Adrian

[dogsbody]

Those collector rings look great. Nice work.

 

 

Chris

[mick b]

Chris

 

I looked at the new book by Wingleader on the Blenheim at the Bovington show today and there are a number of images of 601 Squadron Blenheims in there.

 

Mike

[Fatcawthorne]

On 2/17/2019 at 2:39 PM, AdrianMF said:

That paint finish looks like a good un!

I have been carefully tending a jam jar of rather thick Future for a few years now. When I get back off this trip I will be following your recommendation and getting some Pledge. It looks "promising"... 

Regards,

Adrian

Adrian, I too have about a quarter of a jar left of the original formula, but IMO this new incarnation is every bit as good, if not better as it's newer and less viscous.  Another benefit over its milky-coloured "New Formula" Klear cousin (which I also have a bottle of) is that it doesn't have that disinfectanty smell with it. 

 

I had also been using the Lakeland Floor Polish product but found that even with careful brushing with a wide-soft brush it still bubbled quite a lot and the Pledge doesn't bubble at all in my hands.  However in the great scheme of things I am an assembler as oppossed to your modeller, so I think you will get even better results with it.

 

5 stars out of 5 for the Pledge.

 

On 2/17/2019 at 7:56 PM, dogsbody said:

Those collector rings look great. Nice work.

 

 

Chris

Ah we're looking at the monkeys and infinite typewriter conundrum here Chris, I've given them about 9 differing shades of dry brush over the last few weeks and I think I now have the Merchant of Venice!!!!  

 

21 hours ago, mick b said:

Chris

 

I looked at the new book by Wingleader on the Blenheim at the Bovington show today and there are a number of images of 601 Squadron Blenheims in there.

 

Mike

Mike, the Wingleader site has been bookmarked for a trip back when the wallet has recovered from this weekend's shennanigans.  Thank you for this tip, most appreciated.

 

Now I got back to my hotel room just after midnight last night buzzing after a stellar performance by the Kaiser Chiefs (they were superb even though I suspect Ricky Wilson was nursing a pretty bad sore throat as some notes were a bit croaky!) and a couple of swifties as a nightcap in the Wetherspoons bar below our rooms, and started replying to your posts on my iphone.  OK I was a couple of sheets to the wind but not insensible; a good hour I was tapping away, amazed at my own wit and banter until I hit the wrong field just as I was about to submit and all them words just disappeared off into the Apple designed ether never to be seen again.  You gotta love Apple now haven't you.  Now I know the forum posts don't autosave on them stupid devices unlike my laptop so won't be doing that on my iPhone ever again - Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

 

Anyways after spending most of the day mooching around Southend (I was vetoed with my choice of nipping to the airport to see if the Vulcan was still there), we headed back to Colly and I've had a little bit of benchtime.  I have to say that it's been quite frustrating though too.  There's always a bit in my builds where Pete Tong throws in a surprise appearance!  Still it wouldn't be modelling otherwise would it!

 

I was fitting the engines into the cowlings, and they are a really tight fit, so tight that they pop the panel join seams as you push the engines back to their correct placement.  Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr again!!!!

 

 

Therefore I have now re-glued the seams with TET but on one a slightly larger gap occurred.  The daft thing is that with that gap the collector ring fits perfectly but when closed up it overlaps - doh!  The gap got filled with sprue gloop.

 

The seam on the no-gap cowling was sanded out again but this has now all but obliterated the cylinder head blister, so I have used some sprue gloop again to fashion another. We'll see what it looks like under paint when it's gone off properly.

 

 

Once I've smoothed out the gappy one I will repeat this blister rebuilding process on that cowling too.

 

Now the future wash has dried on the exhausts I'm happy with how that looks, so at least something went right tonight.

 

 

Well I enjoyed my night as part of the Angry Mob yesterday but this getting old business means I am fair bushed tonight so I think I'm going to knock the man-cave action on the head before I really screw something up.

 

Sees you all soon.  Chris

 

Edited February 18, 2019 by Fatcawthorne
Spling

[Fatcawthorne]

Right we're getting close to a finished thing on the bench now but there's still time for those "Muck Up Fairies" to make yet another appearance before we put this one to bed.

 

Firstly we had a night of stickering things up, no real problems yet.

 

 

 

These got sealed with a coat of Pledge after adding the nacelles and wheels etc, but this is where my impatience/stupidity struck I gave the thing a Flory wash (Grime on the darker colours and Grey on the white bits - yes I know Dark Dirt is in the photo but I never touched it guv - honest!!) but I had only left the Pledge a few hours to dry rather than overnight.  Anyways here's with the wash on - gotta love a really dirty photo of your bird!

 

 

The Flory and the not quite dry Pledge became Fledge^TM, which is my new word for the 'orrible mess that ensued.  It's too late in the day to start again so I'm going to give it a coat of W&N Matt Acrylic as a topcoat, bung in the turret and Vickers K, slip on the props (after having found where the carpet monster has hidden the missing carb intake from the starboard engine), pull off the window masking and then call it done.  I will leave the W&N overnight before handling in a classic case of bolting the stable door after the horse has done one!

 

 

At least the turret looks OK!!!

 

Right I'm off to prepare for the NATO/WP 50's GB on the other channel, catch you all later with a final update and hopefully an RFI if I've calmed down with myself!!

 

Chris

[Fatcawthorne]

 

OK so we made it over the line - just.  The clear parts reveal did show up some flaws, some from the snapped part which I was expecting (although it wasn't as bad as I'd anticipated) plus a big smudge over the "driver's" window that I wasn't; I can see him needing to rub that with the back of his flying suit cuff before take off to see out of that!

 

I'm not sure the turret is fully seated yet but as all three clear parts that had originally been Araldited together fell off during the insertion (they've been Kristal Kleared back on this time), I wasn't going to press it further (in both senses) at this point in time. 

 

Lastly I haven't reclaimed the lost carb intake from the carpet monster yet, in fact I think it's more likely to be a victim of the Bin Troll as it probably got stuck to the masking tape over the engine.  A lovely job in prospect there then and fortunate only in that I only empty my man-cave bin once a year or so whether it needs it or not!

 

RFI is here.

 

 

Thank you for following along and for your sage advice, support and encouragement.  I have to say that if the build from the Flory Wash onwards would have been as smooth as the earlier parts of the process I'd be raving about this kit and would only be disapointed that it all had to end, but the "Fledge^TM" episode has left me quite deflated and at the moment I feel that if I tried to kick myself up the backside I'd probably miss!!!

 

Cheers Buds.

 

Chris

[Biggles87]

Great result, it looks like it was well worth the effort.

 

John