Handley Page O/400- O/700 civil passenger transport

[Marklo]

Have this to read as soon as I finish my Typhoon book and recently read this. 

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

10 hours ago, Heather Kay said:

Looking forward to seeing this one progress. It must be almost as big as the HP42!

 

According to various sources, the kit dates from 1967. It was designed to make rigging as easy as possible, hence the odd split in the wings. In fact, the instructions have a rigging diagram and the original text-based version explained what to use and how to rig as you built the model. Quite advanced for the day, I would suggest.

Hi Heather

It is about 3/4 of the HP42, and looks and feels much smaller.

H.P. 0/400:

100 ft (30.48 m)

Blackburn Kangaroo:

74 ft 10 in (22.82 m)

H.P.42:

130 ft (39.62 m

 

It's bigger though, as you can see, than the Kangaroo:

 

I mentioned I suspected that (the rigging) could have been the masterplan behind that wing split. Talk about creating a bigger problem with a poor solution.

In any case, as Bilbo famously said at the end of the movie: I feel I am quite ready for another (modeling) adventure!

Cheers

 

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

10 hours ago, Jonners said:

I didn’t take an orbital sander to mine but probably should have done and, when I noticed that the fuselage (which glues together very firmly) was twisted slightly towards the tail,

 

Hi Jon:

This is the second time I hear of that vice. Will have to pay attention to that when the time comes.

 

10 hours ago, Jonners said:

The ‘70s disco crewman might be difficult to incorporate, though...

🤣
 

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

6 hours ago, fightersweep said:

Wow Moa! You are a one man modelling factory! After the superb vac form HP42, I think I would have needed a lie down, holiday or therapy....or maybe all three with several cups of tea on top!

 

I'm pulling up a chair for this one and following closely....it's going to be another uber build! 

 

By the way, not having had the 0/400 kit myself, those standing figures are very well done and nicely detailed for the time. I'm impressed.

 

Steve

Hi Steve

Yes, the HP42 left me really exhausted. I had to rest for about two hours. My wife was really concerned: two hours without approaching the building board!

I agree, those figures are quite good! and as you said, especially for the time. I guess Airfix went all out with this one, all the perks.

Cheers

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

6 hours ago, corsaircorp said:

Hello Moa !

Wow !! Another great piece of modelling !

Maybe looking at the one done by @The Spadgent recently !!

I'll pop in from time to time !

Sincerely.

CC

Hey CC

You are welcome anytime.

Will have a look at the model you mentioned.

Cheers

 

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

I can see on the Net that many of the 0/400 releases are pestered with flash.

This wasn't the case with this recent re-issue, but every single parts has some very little flash, and everything has mold parting lines.

Now, this is easily fixed, and actually this is a task I don't mind at all, as strange as this may sound. I abhor puttying and sanding and am always uncomfortable and anxious with painting, but this clean-up task is for me sedating.

Which is a good thing, since there are 3,684 parts to clean:

 

Easy peasy:

 

One by one they are cared after. The fit seems good:

 

Finally all flying surfaces are ready to receive a nicer rib detail. Phew!:

 

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

In order for the wing insets to fit properly, ALL OF THEM have to be sanded.

Don't get carried away, and check often, until both surfaces are flush. If you don't do this, the inset will won't meet the other surface, and you will have a step.

I can only image modelers naively following the instructions, only to find out, at last minute, that the parts do not fit properly. Now that is what I would call "bloody paralyzing":

 

Finally a good fit:

 

All of them undergo the same treatment:

 

 

As we know, conversion some time require decisions early during the build.

At the beginning, modified 0/400 used the bomb bay to actually bomb newspapers, using parachutes. The Germans also used this technique, and much later:

The HP 0/400 was adapted, of course, and the number of the cells (see below) reduced.

But if you are going for the newspaper dropping (that did not last long), you need to modify that grid accordingly, or blank it, if you are doing the pure passenger version:

 

Now, would you believe me if I tell you that those are chocolate and cookies tin boxes for the passengers? Nah, I didn't think so.

 

[Rob G]

33 minutes ago, Moa said:

Now, would you believe me if I tell you that those are chocolate and cookies tin boxes for the passengers? Nah, I didn't think so.

 

Being English, they would have been biscuit boxes, surely. Cookies are things eaten by the barbaric trans-Atlantic colonials!

 

That's some great work there with fitting the wings. You've managed to get a much better fit than I did with my much newer kit. The rest of the various pieces seem to be cleaning up nicely too.

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

The tanks were present in earlier conversions, but were later moved to the nacelles, which got longer. Since I am not decided yet in the specific plane I want to model, I assembled them.

The little trap door is a bit thick, sand it down or replaced for a sheet styrene item. The pillowing on the leather coaming, compared to photos, looks unrealistic and overstated:

 

The struts are of course affected, like many other parts, by ejector pin marks:

 

Some sanding and filling is in order:

 

The coaming as it is in the kit (I call it large intestine):

 

After some sanding:

 

All parts are now cleaned up:

 

 

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

30 minutes ago, Rob G said:

You've managed to get a much better fit than I did with my much newer kit.

Hi Rob!

You had a newer kit? I bought the latest release

34 minutes ago, Rob G said:

The rest of the various pieces seem to be cleaning up nicely too.

They did, all are ready now (see above)

Cheers

[Rob G]

Just now, Moa said:

You had a newer kit? I bought the latest release

 

Apologies for any confusion - I was referring to my Eastern Express Beriev Be-200. Which is a much, much newer kit than the AIrfix O/400.

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

48 minutes ago, Rob G said:

 

Apologies for any confusion - I was referring to my Eastern Express Beriev Be-200. Which is a much, much newer kit than the AIrfix O/400.

Sorry, my misunderstanding.

 

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

10 hours ago, corsaircorp said:

Hello Moa !

Wow !! Another great piece of modelling !

Maybe looking at the one done by @The Spadgent recently !!

I'll pop in from time to time !

Sincerely.

CC

Oh, I see. It was about two years ago. I was looking for recent posts, since you said "recently".

Nice model, but you seem to have missed the bit above where I said "no military".

Still, well done. Not my cuppa, at all, as you know 😉

Cheers

 

[corsaircorp]

8 minutes ago, Moa said:

Oh, I see. It was about two years ago. I was looking for recent posts, since you said "recently".

Nice model, but you seem to have missed the bit above where I said "no military".

Still, well done. Not my cuppa, at all, as you know 😉

Cheers

 

Not really military if you read the thread !!

Sincerely.

CC

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

10 minutes ago, corsaircorp said:

Not really military if you read the thread !!

Sincerely.

CC

Well, I saw machine guns on the model and run for cover.

Enough deterrent for me. Immediately lost interest. If it looks like a duck...

Again, does not reflect or is a judgement on the merit of model/modeler, which is high, just not my stuff.

 

 

[Space Ranger]

2 hours ago, Rob G said:

 

Being English, they would have been biscuit boxes, surely. Cookies are things eaten by the barbaric trans-Atlantic colonials!

 

 

Mmmmm! Me like cookie! Biscuits for scrambled eggs!

Edited September 27, 2019 by Space Ranger

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

I am always amazed at how much it can be learned from photos.

Even more surprised comparing photos with renditions (drawings, plans, profiles, etc.) and seen some interesting divergences.

Another source of amusement are the contradictions between publications or sources, and again, how can they differ from reality (photos).

The moral is: without research, the chances of producing a credible, accurate replica greatly diminish.

I would admit that is not at all easy to compile date from planes created and flown long ago, and many times the accounts, even by contemporaries, are misleading or blatantly incorrect.

I do appreciate any material I can get my hands on, but then I question it deeply.

I have amassed a large amount of info on this beast, and I am having a blast going through it, taking notes, realizing that corroboration is desirable regarding any little piece of knowledge you think you may have achieved.

I can see how certain planes were modified through time, generating confusion regarding the type they belong to. As it is frequently the case, even among the same types, the ancillaries changed, of the planes were repaired and therefore altered, and some were even made from pieces of the wreckage of others.

Still, this is a hobby, so let's not get too obsessive -or frankly annoying- regarding this or that nitpicking, but as long as it fun, let's get at it.

I just realized, among a myriad of other things, that in general it had double flying wires and single landing wires, which will make rigging so fun!

I had to force myself to cool down, because at this point I really have to make a decision about which specific plane I want, and for that I have to go through a lot of material, and duty is calling, so the model went for the moment to the box.

The main choice as explained above is either early types with the fuel tanks still in the fuselage, two small cabins fore and aft of them, which needs not great mods, or the later types, with the full cabin (with full height, thus the roof at the front must be changed) tanks on nacelles (they have to be extended and their securing bits altered) and some times two small cylindrical tanks hanging from the upper wing. The engines exhaust arrangement had some variations.

Location of door and windows varied too.

There were some conversions at the very beginning that were used in an official capacity, but I am not interested in those.

There were two planes that were sent to India. There are few images of them, enough perhaps to do the exterior, but nothing I can find on the interiors, so those are left for the moment aside.

There was even one that changed its Rolls-Royce engines for Jupiter radials.

 

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

As I did with the Kangaroo, I would like to add a bit of interest presenting an open engine gondola with the RR Eagle.

Aeroclub produced one, but now, being OOP long ago, is hard to get. Engines & Things has one, so I will most likely get one from them.

 

[busnproplinerfan]

After all the cleaning up of parts and cookies eaten, you could have scratchbuilt the plane. Is the designation oh 400 or zero 400? Just wondering because no one know what zeros are anymore.

Edited September 28, 2019 by busnproplinerfan

[busnproplinerfan]

just added a question as you reacted.

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

6 minutes ago, busnproplinerfan said:

just added a question as you reacted.

O or 0..... hum....I think it's an eye 👁 

I hope it's not Sauron's!

 

[Rob G]

It was Oh, not zero. The Type O followed along from the Type N and Type M in H. P. 's design nomenclature. The /400 is a sort of subtype designator, coming after the O/100.

 

[The Spadgent]

On 9/28/2019 at 12:28 AM, Moa said:

Well, I saw machine guns on the model and run for cover.

Enough deterrent for me. Immediately lost interest. If it looks like a duck...

Again, does not reflect or is a judgement on the merit of model/modeler, which is high, just not my stuff.

 

 

Hya. Moa.

Glad to see this old bird getting some love. As CC mentioned the one I built although “all green and markings” was the aeroplane that travelled the country after the war. But she’s still “all green and markings” hopefully you can use the build to avoid some of the pitfalls. 🙌  I’ll look forward to watching another one come together. The rigging is something else. ❤️
 

John.

Edited February 21, 2020 by The Spadgent

[Brandy]

Ooh, I'm looking forward to seeing you work your magic on this old beast!

I have the new rerelease almost at the top of my "to build next" list

 It will be done with wings folded.

Double flying/single landing wires were standard on all British types as far as I'm aware.

 

Ian

Edited September 28, 2019 by limeypilot

[Stevejj]

Going to press the follow button for this one Moa I built one in 1968. No rigging, and the upper wing was never quite square! My only excuse is I was only 13!