Airfix 1/72 Armstrong Whitworth Whitley as Z6948 EY-F (Lost November 1941)

[elger]

 

The crash of Z6948 is described in Jan van der Veer's book about the air war over the southwest part of the Dutch province Friesland. In the early morning of November 8th, 1941, Whitley Z6948 was the first allied aircraft that was lost on the mainland of southwest Friesland during the war (aircraft had been lost in the IJsselmeer), it was also the first time that Allied service men were killed in action since the start of the occupation and as such the incident made a big impression. Van der Veer was not a good writer but a good storyteller, and he conjures up an impressive narrative about what might have happened on board Z6948, how its second pilot, 25-year old Pilot Officer McCombe bravely stayed at the controls desperately looking for a place to land the burning aircraft but to no avail - but unfortunately, none of the 5-man crew survived the incident so nobody knows what really happened.

 

What is known is that the crew of five consisting of the pilot, Sgt. J. W. Bell (21); 2nd pilot P/O G. M. McCombe (25); Observer G. T. Webb (25); Wireless Operator / Air Gunner R. Boucher (20) and Wireless Operator / Air Gunner D. Cameron (29) took off in their slow, obsolete and vulnerable Whitley bomber from RAF Croft at 22:31 on November 7th, 1941, on a mission to bomb Mannheim. Bell and his crew did reach the target; that night, a large force of RAF bombers reached Berlin, but a smaller force went to Mannheim as a diversion. Z6948 was part of this diversion. On the return leg of the journey, Bell's Whitley was intercepted by the German night fighter pilot Ludwig Becker.

 

 

Researcher Teunis Pats' has posted photos of the crew on his site; top left to right: Bell, McCombe, Webb. Below, left to right: Boucher and Cameron. (http://www.teunispats.nl/t1339.htm)

 

Around 6:30 AM a couple of farmers in Southwest Friesland noticed an aircraft flying low, towards the west, and burning like a torch. Just before it reached the IJsselmeer, one of the crew attempted to bail out; the observer, Webb managed to jump out of the escape hatch but the aircraft had lost too much altitude and he hit the ground before his parachute could open. When he was found, his watch was still running. Once over the IJsselmeer, the pilot Bell made his escape, but his parachute also failed to deploy. Bell's body washed ashore near Lemmer over 10 days later, on November 19th. Above the IJsselmeer, the aircraft turned back, heading east and inland. This is probably why it's believed McCombe, the 2nd pilot, was at the controls attempting to make an emergency landing. In any case, the aircraft hit the ground and a massive explosion followed, just outside of the town Nijemirdum. There were no survivors.

 

 

All except Bell are buried at Nijemirdum. (photo from http://www.zzairwar.nl/dossiers/959.html)

 

 

To build Z6948 I'm going to use a decal sheet from Xtradecal; it has the code letters EY of 78 Squadron, and I'll trim down the E into an F from one of the other options. I'll also use this sheet to create the serial number Z6948.

 

 

Back to the build: I had two very enjoyable days working on the Airfix kit. Actually the first thing I did was assemble photoetch flaps from Eduard. This was going to be one of the more tricky parts of the build so I wanted to get this out of the way first.

 

 

The kit's engineering is clever but not overly complex making putting it together an enjoyable experience. After 1,5 days the wings are entirely put together, and also the fuselage is coming along nicely. Next I'll be working on the interior details.

 

As always, thanks for looking!

 

 

 

Edited April 27, 2019 by elger
removed request from title of post

[cema_ga]

Great!

Would You use Eduard's brass for the interior?

[elger]

3 minutes ago, cema_ga said:

Great!

Would You use Eduard's brass for the interior?

Yes! Will probably leave the Wireless Operator's station alone because it will be mostly invisible, but I hope especially that the seats and the instruments panel can be improved.

[Christer A]

The Whitley! ❤️

It's a lovely kit of ugly aircraft that's for sure!

I can heartily recommend Montex masks instead of Eduard, since Eduard has forgotten a few windows...

[elger]

I could use some input regarding some of Airfix colour suggestions for the interior sections. I think Airfix is right to call for an interior green cockpit section. However, I'm wondering if the rear section of the fuselage (basically all the way back from the main wing spar, or perhaps even starting with the w/o compartment, whether the interior should be painted aluminium as other British heavies instead of interior green.

 

A similar thing for the wheel bays: Airfix calls for aluminium, but most British heavies (including Wellingtons) appear to have the wheel bays, but also flaps, painted black.

 

Does anyone care to shed any light on this?

 

- Elger

 

 

 

 

[elger]

I finished the interior and it looks like I can start assembling the main parts now.

 

 

Airfix' detail is lovely but I added some aftermarket. Some Eduard PE and the Vickers machine gun is from Miniworld. I ended up removing the gun sight before I painted and installed it into the front turret.

 

 

There was only one really big problem with the Eduard set and that is that the interior green of the pre-painted parts is very blue (almost the colour of Soviet jets). I repainted these components as well as I could with Tamiya XF71. I painted the interior back of the cockpit aluminium, like Stirlings and other early British heavy bombers.

 

 

 

The navigator's table is folded against the side wall, revealing the two parachutes stored underneath.

 

 

 

The way Airfix designed the kit is unusual but very satisfying. I've attempted adding rivets to the model. Wings are okay but they're not exactly straight on the fuselage.

 

 

The wheel bays I painted black (dark grey with highlights and shadows).

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for looking!

 

 

 

 

Edited April 27, 2019 by elger
fixed typo

[MarkSH]

Very nice work on the cockpit. I have one of these waiting in the stash so am enjoying watching this come together.

[StephenCJ]

Exceptional modeling elger

[(ex)Sgtrafman]

Lovely - great work on that cockpit.

 

Cheers

 

Iain

[noelh]

Nice work and it reminds me that I have an Airfix Whitley which I intend to build as a 502 squadron Whitley which came down in Galway Bay in 1941 just a couple of miles from where I'm sitting right now. This time there were survivors. 

I note the Xtradecal has a 502 subject which I can adapt for my Whitley. 

Great stuff. 

[ForestFan]

Ooh this looks nice 👍

[Jonny]

I’m watching closely, because I’ve a Whitley in my stash (along with LOTS of other kits ...).

 

Something is  puzzling me ...looking at Elger’s Very good photos of the cockpit, there seems to be a lot of solace under the cockpit and in front of it, before the nose bulkhead.  Looking at the bulkhead, how did the bomb aimer / node gunner get to the nose?  I’m sure Airfix correctly portray the visible parts of the cockpit and nose turret / bomb aiming positions but I’m just curious about access.

 

Apologies to you, Elger - I’m not trying to hijack your thread.  What I’ve seen of your work is brilliant, and thank you for the history behind the aeroplane you’re modelling.  Very moving.

 

Jonny

[dogsbody]

59 minutes ago, Jonny said:

I’m watching closely, because I’ve a Whitley in my stash (along with LOTS of other kits ...).

 

Something is  puzzling me ...looking at Elger’s Very good photos of the cockpit, there seems to be a lot of solace under the cockpit and in front of it, before the nose bulkhead.  Looking at the bulkhead, how did the bomb aimer / node gunner get to the nose?  I’m sure Airfix correctly portray the visible parts of the cockpit and nose turret / bomb aiming positions but I’m just curious about access.

 

Apologies to you, Elger - I’m not trying to hijack your thread.  What I’ve seen of your work is brilliant, and thank you for the history behind the aeroplane you’re modelling.  Very moving.

 

Jonny

 

Yes, I see what you mean. Airfix didn't leave an opening to get to the bomb-aimers position, did they.

 

 

 

Chris

[Christer A]

Great cockpit!

Wish I knew about that Vickers nose gun, it looks a lot better than Airfix rendition.

[Martian]

Beautiful work thus far!

 

Martian 👽

[elger]

Getting ready for paint. I had bought an Eduard mask set before hearing that it's incomplete, but I found that well, technically it's incomplete but only in minor ways. The only things that are missing from the mask set are the round windows (the little round window behind the cockpit, and the two little round windows in the back of the rear turret. All the other windows are covered, but they're not on the instruction sheet. Also the windows on the side of the bombardier's window don't quite fit but that was a really minor issue.  Other than that I was pretty pleased with the Eduard masks.

 

 

In the mean time, I painted the wheels and tires. Went with Mig products and I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out:

 

 

Speaking of Mig Ammo products, my wife and I are having our first baby and given the pregnancy my wife has been a little paranoid about some of the paint smells (even though I have a vent hood that takes care of the fumes and I'm very careful with everything) but I've agreed to phase out MRP and anything with Leveling Thinner for the time being. Seems like a minor sacrifice to make on my part.

 

So I've been trying Mig Ammo paints this week, since they're advertised as non-toxic (and yes I know if you thin them there's still fumes from that). There was quite a learning curve coming back from MRP, but after hours of experimentation I have the feeling I'm beginning to figure it out and making it work.

 

I started by trying to spray the paint straight from the bottle which it's supposed to be able to do but I found I couldn't do any fine work that way. I quickly found that Mig's own thinner doesn't really work for me: I got a lot of dry tip and it was difficult to get a fine spray with that either.

 

Kind of a breakthrough for me came today when I discovered that Mr Hobby Aqueous Hobby Color Thinner 110 works really really well with Mig Ammo paints for me. Tamiya X20a works fine too (unlike what you read in places on the internet) but the Aqueous thinner gives me the most control. Haven't quite been able to do a proper "marble" finish yet but mottling I've got down I think.

 

Here's a 1/32 Mosquito nacelle painted with a Luftwaffe inspired mottle; Mig's RLM 76 thinned with Mr Hobby Aqueous Hobby Color Thinner 110 base coat sprayed at about 18 PSI and then mottled with Mig's RLM 75 thinned with Mr Hobby Aqueous Hobby Color Thinner 110 sprayed at 22-24 PSI, followed by a filter of Mig's RLM 76 thinned with alcohol:

 

 

Rather a learning curve with these acrylics but I think I'm beginning to make it work.

 

I will really miss the ease and perfect look MRP - but I have to say, the lack of smell and the ease which which it cleans up is a bigger advantage than I expected - it actually makes painting a much more fun experience.

 

I had been planning to paint the Whitley with black Mr Surfacer (thinned with Level Thinner) and Gunze and Tamiya acrylics, but based on my experience with the Mig stuff I'm going to use those paints on the Whitley too, starting with black One Shot Primer which I have also successfully experimented with.

 

More to come in the next few weeks!

 

[TheBaron]

Really admire your sensitive colour work Elger.

[elger]

Painting has begun! Started with black Mig One Shot Primer, followed by a thin white marble coat.

 

 

 

Up next: a dark blue grey filter, and a little bit of black along the panel lines.

[elger]

blue and black filters on, followed by a clear coat:

 

[Johnny_Sokko]

That's inspirational work. Just beautiful.

[VT Red Sox Fan]

Well done--cant wait to see how the filters work with the final coat... best, Erwin 

[elger]

12 hours ago, VT Red Sox Fan said:

Well done--cant wait to see how the filters work with the final coat... best, Erwin 

Thanks for your comment - I thought I was done, but you made me reconsider and I gave it another filter coat misted on and now it looks more subtle.

[clive_t]

Nice paint work!

[elger]

Decals on, weathered, and clear coated. On the home stretch of this very enjoyable build:

 

[Terry1954]

Very fine modelling indeed. I had not appreciated how beautiful the Whitley was.

 

Top job so far.

 

Terry