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

[GimmeAnF]

Hi Woody,

As usual with your models, I'm quite impressed with the results so far. This is going to be a stunner!

Thanks for your magnificent work, it's such a tribute to my Dad's crew.

PS: Sad to say, the only surviving member of the crew, Roger Fourès (mid upper gunner) is poorly at the moment.

[woody37]

4 hours ago, GimmeAnF said:

Hi Woody,

As usual with your models, I'm quite impressed with the results so far. This is going to be a stunner!

Thanks for your magnificent work, it's such a tribute to my Dad's crew.

PS: Sad to say, the only surviving member of the crew, Roger Fourès (mid upper gunner) is poorly at the moment.

Hi Mike,

 

thanks for the kind compliment. I will upload the crew photos you sent me tomorrow. Hope Roger pulls through his illness, it’s sad that many of our heroes are no longer with us. I think I may have to add the yellow bands to the squadron codes by hand in the absence of decals available...gulp! Still lots to do before I get to that stage though!

 

cheers

neil

[Cees Broere]

Ah good to see you back again on this beauty. It may suck me into picking up mine again as well.😉

[woody37]

9 hours ago, Cees Broere said:

Ah good to see you back again on this beauty. It may suck me into picking up mine again as well.😉

As long as it doesn't slow the Manchester down 

 

This afternoon I marked out the frames on the cockpit ready for masking in the gaps. It's not fully pushed down at the moment but fits well after lots of fettling and quite pleased with the result

 

 

 

 

[tomprobert]

Glad to see you back in this, Neil - I’d missed it! 
 

Cockpit really looking the part - can’t wait to see this with some paint on. 
 

All the best,

Tom

[Turbofan]

Hi Neil,

Do you know the reason for the lopsided cockpit glazing?

Cheers,

Ian

[Cees Broere]

To have better visibility for the pilot to the right quarter. And speaking from experience it does provide a great view.😉

Looks great Neil. Speaking as a heavily obsessed Halifax fan I think you have nailed that canopy very well.👍

[heloman1]

Just catching up with your build Neil, excellent work with the canopy, I do like the astrodome. The bombbay is exquisite. Stick with it...

 

Colin

[SafetyDad]

Just lovely! Your canopy is a thing of beauty. This will look wonderful when finished.

 

 

SD

[woody37]

12 hours ago, Turbofan said:

Hi Neil,

Do you know the reason for the lopsided cockpit glazing?

Cheers,

Ian

To make modelling the damn thing more complicated 😂

4 hours ago, Cees Broere said:

To have better visibility for the pilot to the right quarter. And speaking from experience it does provide a great view.😉

Looks great Neil. Speaking as a heavily obsessed Halifax fan I think you have nailed that canopy very well.👍

Thanks Cees, I've never sat in the seat. Is your cockpit at Elvington now? It's a complicated design to get right.

2 hours ago, heloman1 said:

Just catching up with your build Neil, excellent work with the canopy, I do like the astrodome. The bombbay is exquisite. Stick with it...

 

Colin

Thanks Colin, still got those doors to get on yet which I'm not looking forwards too.

 

This morning Michel @GimmeAnF who's father was the Wireless Op on this aircraft informed me that the last living crew member Roger Foures sadly passed away yesterday. RIP Roger, safer missions ahead now that you're reunited with your crew 

Some time ago, Michel sent me photo's of the crew so with his kind permission, below is their photo's to put some humanity behind the build

 

     

 

  

 

Last night, I glued the canopy on after creating an overhead panel and adding a bit of framing and handles, a most fiddly affair. Next step is to mask the panels and remove the framing so that some final blending with filler can be done between the canopy and fuselage. 

 

 

 

 

[Gondor44]

That is looking good

 

Gondor

[Timmas]

Condolensces to @GimmeAnFon the loss of his dad. This build will be a wonderful tribute to him, the rest of the crew, and all the others in Bomber Command.

This is cracking workmanship and apart from everything else, the canopy looks amazing already and is crystal clear.

[woody37]

8 hours ago, Timmas said:

Condolensces to @GimmeAnFon the loss of his dad. This build will be a wonderful tribute to him, the rest of the crew, and all the others in Bomber Command.

This is cracking workmanship and apart from everything else, the canopy looks amazing already and is crystal clear.

Thanks mate. It wasn't Mikes dad, it was his friend and dads fellow crew member who was the mid upper gunner on their Halifax. 

 

Fettling the cockpit joins has fought me today. The masks are on and I'm still tidying bits up, but the scary part is that you don't get to see how it's turned out until the masks are off, good, bad or ugly. I know there's been some dust collection on the inside from static build up on the sanding so I'm going to leave the nose cone off until the end in case I need to get in and spray some air in there to remove any dust.

 

Cheers 

[SafetyDad]

14 hours ago, woody37 said:

I know there's been some dust collection on the inside from static build up on the sanding so I'm going to leave the nose cone off until the end in case I need to get in and spray some air in there to remove any dust.

 

Cheers 

That's a clever idea! I'll log that one away in the 'helpful tips' section. 

Thanks! 

 

SD

[Timmas]

15 hours ago, woody37 said:

Thanks mate. It wasn't Mikes dad, it was his friend and dads fellow crew member who was the mid upper gunner on their Halifax. 

Ah, I got the wrong end of the stick by not reading the thread thoroughly enough. It’s a failing of mine at times. I hope I haven’t caused any offence to anyone. If so, I’m extremely sorry 😔

[woody37]

5 hours ago, Timmas said:

Ah, I got the wrong end of the stick by not reading the thread thoroughly enough. It’s a failing of mine at times. I hope I haven’t caused any offence to anyone. If so, I’m extremely sorry 😔

Not at all mate, there's that much happening in Britmodeller at the moment, it's hard to keep track let alone read everything fully! 

 

Last pics before the paint starts to go on...at long last! Just the wing tip nav lights to go on. The engines can slide on and off which eases the masking work. Ideally I'd like to leave the wings off, but there's a slight gap so deliberating whether I can live with it for transport purposes or whether OCD needs them gluing and filling!

 

 

 

 

Another size comparison shot!

 

 

[woody37]

Whilst I'm getting ready to paint the aircraft, I've also started to look at solutions for the decals. I can't source 48" yellow bordered codes in 48th scale unless anyone knows of any that aren't coming up in searches? This narrows down my options somewhat. Now here's my dilemma.  I'm doing H7-B and the kit comes with the H & 7 decals already with yellow borders on but they are 27.5mm. The 'B' I have is 25mm but the decal edge is right on the edge of the code and it's somewhat thicker in chord so I've painted a yellow border on but obviously it's 2.5mm shorter in height which will be quite noticeable. Additionally, the red on the FM decals is a bit to bright IMO so I've over painted them to darken them up a bit whilst lightening the 'B' to match it best I can. I've been trying to research whether the aircraft would of had non yellow bordered codes at any time but photo's off '44 are scarce and most photo's show either artists rendering or models which don't give me any answers. 

 

I have some masks for the roundels as a back up to the kit decals but I've never used them before and they look rather fiddly to get right....maybe I need to bite the bullet and have a go.

 

If anyone has any ideas about the code problem or information that could verify whether the aircraft may of had plain red codes, it would be much appreciated

 

 

[perdu]

If you are happy with the yellow edged 7s, even if the things are slightly undersized, could you scan that sheet and stretch it vertically (just a mm or two) in a decent graphics program then print it on white decal paper with the numbers black outlined?

[woody37]

1 minute ago, perdu said:

If you are happy with the yellow edged 7s, even if the things are slightly undersized, could you scan that sheet and stretch it vertically (just a mm or two) in a decent graphics program then print it on white decal paper with the numbers black outlined?

Hi Bill,

 

I suppose it's about time I learned how to print my own decals, that way I could do all the codes. What software, decal paper and type of printer do you use?

[woody37]

Following uncle Bill's advice I've had a play around. Tried scanning some 1/72 decals and playing around in Photoshop but I'm a bit lacking in proficiency so had a blast in Powerpoint which I know my way around a bit more. Not perfect due to compression issues (making them taller and narrower) but not bad either, got them the right height too except for the bar on the H being central rather than slightly high but there has to be a compromise somewhere. 

 

[perdu]

There will be no stopping you once you can Neil

 

Software for image handling can be very expensive like Photoshop, the name of names for it

 

I use a variety of programs, MS Paint which is the basic image handler, and a free program that takes a bit of learning (don't they all) but is very good is Inkscape

 

If I simply wanted to lengthen an image as you need to for the Halifax I would simply load the image as a picture into Word and pull up or down on the horizontals to get what I need

 

The above was modified as I wrote it because you have got the necessary effect using Powerpoint instead

 

Microsoft have few peers when it comes to stretching and printing stuff

 

I use Word for the above task because it is even easier than PP, which IS good

 

You seem to only need to cut out the H's bar and edge it up a tad then redraw the yellow line.

 

Crafty Computer Paper is available online, in inkjet and laser printing versions and as white backed paper which you obviously know you need to print light colour ink in inkjet and it is also available for printing in clear too so you can do as I do to print black only characters

These test pieces have been used to test making coloured and black stencils for my Belvedere in word, it is easy to write stuff in big then impose smaller text into any pieces I highlight

 

Funny enough some of my earlier decals were made so a Halifax could get finished with the right nose art, you might remember Bambi

 

 

[woody37]

Hi Bill,

 

Thanks for that. I need to get some paper and decal sealant.

 

It was a Lincoln mate, the Burra Hornet, did you do Bambi for Chris Jephcott?

 

1 hour ago, perdu said:

There will be no stopping you once you can Neil

 

Software for image handling can be very expensive like Photoshop, the name of names for it

 

I use a variety of programs, MS Paint which is the basic image handler, and a free program that takes a bit of learning (don't they all) but is very good is Inkscape

 

If I simply wanted to lengthen an image as you need to for the Halifax I would simply load the image as a picture into Word and pull up or down on the horizontals to get what I need

 

The above was modified as I wrote it because you have got the necessary effect using Powerpoint instead

 

Microsoft have few peers when it comes to stretching and printing stuff

 

I use Word for the above task because it is even easier than PP, which IS good

 

You seem to only need to cut out the H's bar and edge it up a tad then redraw the yellow line.

 

Crafty Computer Paper is available online, in inkjet and laser printing versions and as white backed paper which you obviously know you need to print light colour ink in inkjet and it is also available for printing in clear too so you can do as I do to print black only characters

These test pieces have been used to test making coloured and black stencils for my Belvedere in word, it is easy to write stuff in big then impose smaller text into any pieces I highlight

 

 

Funny enough some of my earlier decals were made so a Halifax could get finished with the right nose art, you might remember Bambi

 

 

Hi Bill,

 

Thanks for that. I need to get some paper and decal sealant.

 

You did the Burra Hornet decals for me, think you must of done Bambi for Chris Jephcott? I remember he did one in this scheme

[perdu]

Yes Neil I got some practice in on Chris's Bambi, looked OK when he finished it

 

Still love that Lincoln too

 

As for decal sealant I just spray a couple of coats of Tamiya TS-80 matt acrylic varnish

 

First coat or two lightly so as not to saturate the ink then maybe a slightly denser coat when all the TS has flashed off

 

Nothing very complicated in that

[bigbadbadge]

Looking Splendid Neil, great work and a lovely tribute to the crew.

All the best

Chris

[woody37]

1 hour ago, perdu said:

Yes Neil I got some practice in on Chris's Bambi, looked OK when he finished it

 

Still love that Lincoln too

 

As for decal sealant I just spray a couple of coats of Tamiya TS-80 matt acrylic varnish

 

First coat or two lightly so as not to saturate the ink then maybe a slightly denser coat when all the TS has flashed off

 

Nothing very complicated in that

Thanks Bill. I've managed to raise the bar on the 'H', do you like my pun? 😂 All done in Powerpoint

 

Paper on order and ordered some sealant too. Have you tried spraying with Johnsons Kleer? I'll do some experimenting when the paper arrives