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Airfix 1/72nd Wellington Mk.Ic torpedo bomber, 458 Sqn. RAAF, N.Africa 1942-43


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Hiya Folks,

                I`ve been wanting to build a Wimpey torpedo bomber,...... also known as a `Fishington' for some time now and when I found photos of `Little Joe' of 458 Sqn RAAF I just knew it had to be that one, with a gun fitted in the nose! I used the nose turret blank from Alley Cat models, intended for the Trumpeter kit and also DK Decals,....here is the WIP if anybody is interested;

 

 

This was my first experience of Hataka brush painting paints and they were among the best of the currently available acrylics in this medium.

 

Although Wellington`s used in the torpedo bomber role had the rear bomb doors removed and a torpedo sight fitted in front of the cockpit, reference photos also show that when used for mine laying or bombing sorties the bomb doors were left in place and the sight removed and as this was the configuration seen in the reference photos I went for that.

 

Here is the real aircraft;

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And a general view of a Wellington torpedo bomber (in this case a radar equipped MkVIII) in its natural environment at 50 feet above the sea,....... which was usually at night and without radar assisted altimeters!

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Here is the model;

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Cheers,

            Tony

 

Edited by tonyot
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Another brilliant build, Tony. 👏👏👏

 

Also a great story, I never get tired of seeing all these weird and wonderful variants on Britmodeller.

 

Alan

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Thanks for your very kind comments folks,...... just glad you like it.

 

All the best

                  Tony

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Brilliant work again, Tony! I like the way you did the grooves on the front turret 'fairing' to represent what was apparently just fabric stretched over frames.

 

Regards,

 

Jason

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Smashing build Tony another great addition to the collection,you'd have to be brave toget one of these down to wavetop hight for a run

and braver still  to see it coming!

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Yet another terrific build, Tony, and good to see a representation of this somewhat overlooked part of the Wimpy story.  I'm dead chuffed that Alley Cat have produced the turret blank.  I've been wanting to build a post-War T.10 for ages.

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Another what I call a 'satisfying' subject from you. I always like the way you take a familiar aeroplane like Wellington and make it quite different from the norm. I had no idea there were Torpedo versions of the Wimpy well actually more likely forgotten as I'm a bit of a fan of the Wimpy. So must have known at one stage. 

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13 hours ago, russ c said:

Brilliant Tony, I never heard of torpedo Wellingtons, fantastic stuff

Yes, there definitely were torpedo Wellingtons. They worked the Mediterranean. It was a very dangerous job as my earlier post said.

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Think you might be getting the hang of this modelling lark Tony :D

 

Great model and something a bit different.

 

Dick

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