1/48 Halifax 346 Sqn PN365 (H7-B) - Finished!

[Timmas]

On 2/16/2020 at 8:52 PM, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

Simply superb.

It is. I've been quietly lurking as this has come together and it's fantastic work, very much like the Stirling Woody previously built.

[Cees Broere]

This is really getting to be the best FM kit build ever.

After the Stirling you are really setting new standards Neil, again.

Cheers
Cees

[LongMan2]

Hi Woody37,

 

Yeah its looking very nice....hope its on its wheels soon.

 

Keep up the good work...

 

PHIL.

[woody37]

On 2/18/2020 at 11:28 AM, Cees Broere said:

This is really getting to be the best FM kit build ever.

After the Stirling you are really setting new standards Neil, again.

Cheers
Cees

Hi Cees,

 

I've been struggling for motivation recently on the final bits before painting. I wouldn't go that far, but thank you for the kind compliment, you're is looking far more refined than this TBH so it's nice watching a master getting things done properly. 

 

I've formed another canopy out of the last sheet of 0.5mm clear plastic (below). I've tried forming one out of 1mm as it's all I have in the stores cupboard and it doesn't like it so I need to get some more 0.5mm stuff and I'll run you a few copies off

On 2/19/2020 at 5:18 AM, LongMan2 said:

Hi Woody37,

 

Yeah its looking very nice....hope its on its wheels soon.

 

Keep up the good work...

 

PHIL.

Hi Phil,

 

Hopefully the wheels will be on in the not too distant future

 

I've had the toaster out today for its second purpose in domestic life, softening PET plastic for canopies! The last one must of had a few specs stuck to the former that left imprints in when forming so a new one was needed. I've masked the lines ready for cutting but as usual, I've left everything oversize and will file it down until it fits as good as I can get it. 

 

 

 

@Cees Broere, the slight taper that you was referring too (I Think?)

 

 

 

Getting there incredibly slowly!

 

Cheers

Neil

[tomprobert]

Looking good... glad to see some progress on this beauty and I know what you mean about motivation as I’m suffering from the same!

 

I would love a copy of two of your canopies as well if possible - all costs covered of course. 
 

All the best,

Tom

[woody37]

1 hour ago, tomprobert said:

Looking good... glad to see some progress on this beauty and I know what you mean about motivation as I’m suffering from the same!

 

I would love a copy of two of your canopies as well if possible - all costs covered of course. 
 

All the best,

Tom

Thanks Tom,

 

balancing real life and bench activity can be demanding!

 

ill run several copies off once I’ve restocked the sheet so no problem

 

cheers

[woody37]

got the framework done in the rear cockpit this afternoon and the canopy trimmed. There is an overhead panel in the front section of the canopy so this needs to be built before fitting the canopy. I also need to cut a hole out for the astrodome.

 

 

 

Meanwhile, at the rear end, the plate that runs over the turret has been added and blended in although there's a little more tidying up needed yet. I'm hoping to use the kit turret transparency but will make a new rear section and base to better conform with the modified rear end

 

 

[phildagreek]

This is very nice!

[Cees Broere]

Hi Neil,

Yes, motivation is a strange thing. It can change all of a sudden. As I mentioned I have the same problem and with a pending house move in a few weeks time, that doesn't help much.

I still have to scratchbuild an instrument panel and somehow I don't have the motivation. With the next modelling session of my IPMS chapter I hope to do some more work.

Your canopy looks great and transforms the FM kit.

Thanks for helping the long suffering FM Halifax community.😉

Cheers

Cees

[heloman1]

Hi Neil, just caught up with your build again, I do like the canopy mould. Must try the PET bottle plastic, although I have some K&S sheet Buterite in stock.

 

Colin

[woody37]

On 2/24/2020 at 7:51 AM, Cees Broere said:

Hi Neil,

Yes, motivation is a strange thing. It can change all of a sudden. As I mentioned I have the same problem and with a pending house move in a few weeks time, that doesn't help much.

I still have to scratchbuild an instrument panel and somehow I don't have the motivation. With the next modelling session of my IPMS chapter I hope to do some more work.

Your canopy looks great and transforms the FM kit.

Thanks for helping the long suffering FM Halifax community.😉

Cheers

Cees

Hi Cees, moving house is supposedly one of the most stressful things you can do, especially if it's not something one does very often so a lack of motivation can be expected.

 

Last night, I started to apply thin tape to mark out the canopy frames and noticed a silly cock up. The side windows on both sides are the same height on my build when the starboard side should be much lower so I've gone wrong somewhere. Last night I made the corrections by raising the port side on the fuselage and cutting more off the starboard side away to get it to look more correct. I just need to extend the starboard side of the canopy former now to allow the extra depth so it's had a dollup of P38 added and I'll get it finished off later. The PET sheets arrived so all being well, I'm still on schedule to get the canopies done over the weekend.

On 2/25/2020 at 12:33 PM, heloman1 said:

Hi Neil, just caught up with your build again, I do like the canopy mould. Must try the PET bottle plastic, although I have some K&S sheet Buterite in stock.

 

Colin

Thanks Colin, hope the knee is recovering well? I didn't know there was various types of plastic that you could use for vac forming, it's an area of limited knowledge, I tend to fumble my way through!

 

Cheers

 

Neil

[Cees Broere]

With fantastic results I may add.

[krow113]

Will canopy sets be available?

Along with these threads seems to be becoming mandatory if a guy wants to attempt this kit.

[dov]

Hallo

Nice to see.

I did both models also from FM. They were a challenge. Together with my wife, we built each one in 3 months. The Hampden fall down in a storm after a model show. A friend of mine repaired it for a MET flight.

Best detail photos I got from Canada, concerning the Halifax. During restoration.

Happy modelling

 

 

 

 

[bigbadbadge]

Wow Neil, truly looking absolutely stunning. Great work and good to see the engines sitting in place and wings on etc and the cockpit framing all looks flippin amazing fella.  

Keep up the good work

All the best

Chris

[tonyot]

This is coming along superbly Neil,..... I`m truly envious mate,........ your level of modelling is stunning,........ and I`d like to thank you in advance for the 1/48th scale Halifax shake and bake kit which will of course be just around the corner,....... if your past efforts are anything to go by!!

 

Cannot wait to see this painted mate and I have a French book about the Elvington Halibag`s if you`d like to borrow it,.... plenty of photos.

 

Cheers

           Tony

[woody37]

On 2/28/2020 at 9:34 PM, krow113 said:

Will canopy sets be available?

Along with these threads seems to be becoming mandatory if a guy wants to attempt this kit.

I won’t be selling the canopies but will run a few off for people, so hopefully there’s enough plastic and skill left to meet requests

On 2/29/2020 at 8:57 AM, dov said:

Hallo

Nice to see.

I did both models also from FM. They were a challenge. Together with my wife, we built each one in 3 months. The Hampden fall down in a storm after a model show. A friend of mine repaired it for a MET flight.

Best detail photos I got from Canada, concerning the Halifax. During restoration.

Happy modelling

 

 

 

 

Wow, what beautiful inspiration. You must of been distraught losing the Hampden, but it rose from the ashes magnificently.

 

ive taken a short break from the Halibag to do a Lanc for the group build, but your photo is great inspiration to keep going

8 hours ago, tonyot said:

This is coming along superbly Neil,..... I`m truly envious mate,........ your level of modelling is stunning,........ and I`d like to thank you in advance for the 1/48th scale Halifax shake and bake kit which will of course be just around the corner,....... if your past efforts are anything to go by!!

 

Cannot wait to see this painted mate and I have a French book about the Elvington Halibag`s if you`d like to borrow it,.... plenty of photos.

 

Cheers

           Tony

😂😂 I do hope my efforts result in a new kit release, we all have to take one for the team now and again!

 

that book would be great mate. I’m struggling with what to do on the decal front at the moment, I may have to paint some yellow frames around a correct code. Would you know what type of red would of been used on the codes and roundels? I’m not convinced they were bright red so just want to check. They may darken up over a black base too I guess.

 

thanks

[dov]

Hallo

Just for information: My Vac-Canopies from FM I threw away. Because they were all milly. Far away from a useful product. So, I contacted SANGER.

Here the Link for Sanger VAC

I got the Vac Canopies from them. Once I wanted to build all british bombers in Vac. I did not get along.

The drawings from Sanger were very useful for my plastic kits. 

Maybe it helps.

 

If you could make it happen: A new kit release on ALL british bombers from the Bomber Command, well, I would start them all over once again. The Lancy kit for instance. Maybe we will get a scale down version from WNW?

Happy modelling

[tonyot]

On 3/2/2020 at 8:04 AM, woody37 said:

that book would be great mate. I’m struggling with what to do on the decal front at the moment, I may have to paint some yellow frames around a correct code. Would you know what type of red would of been used on the codes and roundels? I’m not convinced they were bright red so just want to check. They may darken up over a black base too I guess.

No worries mate,..... as for the red,..... I would say dull red for the codes and it could be bright red for the roundels,..... I`m not sure. Your 1/72nd Halifax looked just right in French markings. 

Cheers

           Tony

[woody37]

On 3/2/2020 at 10:58 AM, dov said:

Hallo

Just for information: My Vac-Canopies from FM I threw away. Because they were all milly. Far away from a useful product. So, I contacted SANGER.

Here the Link for Sanger VAC

I got the Vac Canopies from them. Once I wanted to build all british bombers in Vac. I did not get along.

The drawings from Sanger were very useful for my plastic kits. 

Maybe it helps.

 

If you could make it happen: A new kit release on ALL british bombers from the Bomber Command, well, I would start them all over once again. The Lancy kit for instance. Maybe we will get a scale down version from WNW?

Happy modelling

I’m not sure how similar the width is on the Sanger kit, it looked wider when I seen one built, but could of been just perception. The mould I’ve done is pretty accurate for the Fm kit. Now if we got one from WNW, that would be spectacular. Would prefer a Merlin variant with its unclean lines if they did!

3 hours ago, tonyot said:

No worries mate,..... as for the red,..... I would say dull red for the codes and it could be bright red for the roundels,..... I`m not sure. Your 1/72nd Halifax looked just right in French markings. 

Cheers

           Tony

Cheers mate, I thought they would be no different than normal. I did wonder whether the roundels are normal dull red simply reversed.

[heloman1]

On 2/27/2020 at 8:15 PM, woody37 said:

Hi Cees, moving house is supposedly one of the most stressful things you can do, especially if it's not something one does very often so a lack of motivation can be expected.

 

Last night, I started to apply thin tape to mark out the canopy frames and noticed a silly cock up. The side windows on both sides are the same height on my build when the starboard side should be much lower so I've gone wrong somewhere. Last night I made the corrections by raising the port side on the fuselage and cutting more off the starboard side away to get it to look more correct. I just need to extend the starboard side of the canopy former now to allow the extra depth so it's had a dollup of P38 added and I'll get it finished off later. The PET sheets arrived so all being well, I'm still on schedule to get the canopies done over the weekend.

Thanks Colin, hope the knee is recovering well? I didn't know there was various types of plastic that you could use for vac forming, it's an area of limited knowledge, I tend to fumble my way through!

 

Cheers

 

Neil

Hi Neil, knee doing well thanks. You gota start networking. Once I've vaced my canopy, I'll show the results. I'm non too active on BM for a while now. Ever since Photopucket kicked me out into the cold!!!

 

Colin

[perdu]

1 hour ago, heloman1 said:

Hi Neil, knee doing well thanks. You gota start networking. Once I've vaced my canopy, I'll show the results. I'm non too active on BM for a while now. Ever since Photopucket kicked me out into the cold!!!

 

Colin

Colin I am glad your knee is doing well, didn't know you'd hurt it tbh but I hope you know there are better, less finicky photo host than Photopukkit

I can take a photo on my phone or camera in Postimg.com and be online with it within a minute

 

Neil the way you make beautiful models is something I can only aspire to

 

Brilliant mate

[woody37]

On 3/13/2020 at 9:30 AM, heloman1 said:

Hi Neil, knee doing well thanks. You gota start networking. Once I've vaced my canopy, I'll show the results. I'm non too active on BM for a while now. Ever since Photopucket kicked me out into the cold!!!

 

Colin

Hi Colin,

 

Great to hear you're on the mend. I started using Flickr a couple of years ago after all the PB hassle and like it. The cost is reasonable, just hope it stays that way. 

On 3/13/2020 at 11:00 AM, perdu said:

Colin I am glad your knee is doing well, didn't know you'd hurt it tbh but I hope you know there are better, less finicky photo host than Photopukkit

I can take a photo on my phone or camera in Postimg.com and be online with it within a minute

 

Neil the way you make beautiful models is something I can only aspire to

 

Brilliant mate

Thanks Bill, you don't lack any skill, I've seen the way you turn these tiny rota thingy's in to little works of art

[Cees Broere]

Hi Neil,

 

Still working on the 'other'  sister?

 

Come on, get this beauty back on track. 

 

I have moved house last week and the mancave is already paying dividens as both the Halifax and Manchester have had some airbrush work. And the good thing is that I don't have

to clear everything away afterwards.

Cees

[woody37]

On 3/30/2020 at 11:30 AM, Cees Broere said:

Hi Neil,

 

Still working on the 'other'  sister?

 

Come on, get this beauty back on track. 

 

I have moved house last week and the mancave is already paying dividens as both the Halifax and Manchester have had some airbrush work. And the good thing is that I don't have

to clear everything away afterwards.

Cees

Back on it Cees!

 

If anyone is interested in the Manchester and a 1/32 one at that, see here, simply beautiful

 

https://forum.largescalemodeller.com/topic/4357-converting-the-hk-models-prototype-lancaster-into-a-manchester/

 

On the previous episode I noticed quite a pronounced cock up in that both sides of the cockpit were level when the left hand side should be much lower down. How I hadn't noticed this previously was beyond me, but it meant modifying the upper sidewalls and creating a new transparency. This set back necessitated a break for a while whilst I cracked on with some OOB stuff. Anyway, back on it now and the new transparency is ready for detailing. There's an overhead panel that needs to be created and fitted before it can be glued on so that's the next step. Another issue I has was with all the faffing around at the front end, the little side windows on the nose were very rough so I found some suitably sized etch rings in the stash and glued these over the top giving a much neater appearance. Just to give some scale to this kite, here it is next to a 1/48 Spit I'm working on in the spit GB

 

 

And the transparencies - I had to drill a hole for where the astrodome will sit. This is the really fiddly bit that I don't like as get it wrong and you have a glue, paint or cut mark across a prominent part of the model. I also broke some of the rear upper framework so having to reconstruct that too.