Heather's Workbench - Belgium, 1940

[Heather Kay]

1 minute ago, Marklo said:

RAF wire as used in most British WWI types were rectangular in cross section so the EZ line might be good for those.

If you can see it clearly enough to spot twists!

Meanwhile...

 

 

Apart from the end crosswires, that’s done on one side. A proper eyecrossing fiddle, too! It’s not helped by not drilling sufficient holes, and having to double thread in places. At one point, lots of little bits of tape held things in place before I was able to drop the glue in. 
 

It’s a learning experience, though. When I get to build the Airfix box again, I have acquired the SBS PE rigging set for it.

 

Tomorrow should be day job stuff, so it might not be until the evening before I get a chance to do the other pair of wings.

 

[Marklo]

Nice job despite the fiddle ness. I actually find rigging relaxing   Then again my maternal grandfather used to like ironing so maybe were just strange.

Edited April 19, 2020 by Marklo

[PattheCat]

A big like for your Renard.  Your overhaul of the Gladiator is impressive. 

Cheers from Belgium.

[Heather Kay]

4 minutes ago, PattheCat said:

A big like for your Renard.  Your overhaul of the Gladiator is impressive. 

Cheers from Belgium.

Thank you! I do like the Belgian colour scheme. It’s simple, but looks smart on almost anything.

[Gondor44]

At this rate you'll be putting bottlenecks in there too

 

Gondor

 

[CedB]

Nice work Heather and looking marvellous  

 

I too have converted to Uschi and my EZ Line stays in the drawer! 

[Heather Kay]

Thanks Ced!

 

 

All strung out. Now to fill the more obvious holes and repair the paint.

[CedB]

Lovely work

 

What patience you have!

[stevehnz]

The rigging looks very good Heather, as does the Glad it's on, a nice wee kit the old Matchbox one.

Steve.

[Heather Kay]

10 hours ago, stevehnz said:

a nice wee kit the old Matchbox one

It’s not at all bad. Interesting thing, though, is I was thinking of using a spare Airfix canopy - only it’s a lot narrower than the Matchbox fuselage. I will have to reuse the original one.

 

 

Some paint retouching this morning. The struts are, according to the paint guide, black. The prop painting has been refined, tyres painted, and the offensive weaponry painted. Thinking about transfers, and wondering whether Decalfix will do the job without the necessity of a gloss coat first.

 

I've also decided to use the Airfix markings as they come. I don’t think my hairy stick skills are quite up to painting a suitable numeral alongside the 3. So, G30 is the number. I certainly won’t be bothering with all the myriad stencils Airfix provides, though some will arrive in their kit when I get round to it.

 

More later.

[CedB]

Looking very smart Heather  

 

Decalfix without a gloss coat? I've only started gloss coating recently after being badgered educated by the BM hive… I seem to remember I had some small problems with the paint discolouring but that might be just a nightmare I had?

[Heather Kay]

12 minutes ago, CedB said:

I seem to remember I had some small problems with the paint discolouring but that might be just a nightmare I had?

This is a worry, and I’m with you on the BM hive mind about gloss before transfers - but I’m sure I used Decalfix on the Renard without glossing. Gloss coating over the aluminium Metalcote always gives me grief, as the little particles lift and drift about and get on the other paint. I will test an inconspicuous area before committing.

[ckw]

1 hour ago, Heather Kay said:

Gloss coating over the aluminium Metalcote always gives me grief

Yes, that's the nature of Metalcote - it won't respond nicely to anything brushed over it. I think the only option is to spray the glosscote

 

Cheers,

 

Colin

[Heather Kay]

Well.

 

 

I tested some Decalfix on the khaki green, and aside from leaving a little satin finish it was fine. So, I pressed ahead. To give Airfix their due, the transfers were commendably thin, well printed, and had no excess carrier around the edges. The roundels, particularly, show no visible clear edges. Decalfix was brushed on where the large underwing markings went, and so far, there’s no sign of silvering. It’s on a silver surface, so that probably helps!  

 

 

Applying transfers straight on to the matt surfaces, though, was a little more troublesome. Decalfix applied to the target area, followed by the transfer and some more DF over the top, worked for the wing roundels and fin numerals. The fuselage markings, though, were a different story. There are raised panel lines, and representations of the fabric surfaces, and the Decalfix simply made no difference I could see. Deploying the old standard Microset, and I could immediately see the transfers soften and begin to show the surface underneath. I’ve coated things with Set, and I’ll leave things to dry and see how they look later. 
 

Either way, once dry, I’ll be brushing some matt varnish over everything to seal it.

 

So, another point against Decalfix. I’m not sure what it is I’m doing wrong, but it doesn’t seem to work for me the way it’s advertised. 

[Heather Kay]

 

Microset has done the business. I think I need to dig out some unwanted transfers and experiment with Decalfix on my paint mule.

 

I'll let the model sit for a day or so, then get it varnished. Then it’s into RFI and the cabinet!

[Cookenbacher]

Oooh, I love an experiment and it looks like yours yielded promising results Heather. I go back and forth on the whole gloss before transfers philosophy, and it seems that gloss vs matt is just a small part of the equation, and I think the biggest factor is the decal itself (as well as setting solution interaction) - some just work better than others.

[Heather Kay]

18 minutes ago, Cookenbacher said:

I think the biggest factor is the decal itself (as well as setting solution interaction) - some just work better than others.

I think you’re correct there. In this case, Airfix seem to have decent quality transfers, made by a good company (Cartograf, I believe), and they’ve ensured there is as little carrier film around each transfer on the sheet as possible. They also seem to expect the things to be stuck on the Humbrol brand paints!

 

The lack of carrier round the fuselage markings means any silvering is hidden by the printed part anyway. The finished transfer is glossy, so a coat of satin or matt varnish blends everything together.

 

In any case, I think some testing and experimenting on my paint mule is needed. I have to work out how Decalfix is supposed to work, beyond it being a good bed to lay a transfer down on in lieu of a gloss finish.

[CedB]

I'm with Cookie Heather (of course) - depends on the type of transfers.

 

I expect you've seen the Humbrol Decalfix video that says you can apply over matt and, from (my untrustworthy) memory, it has worked for me in the past.

Mostly.

This guy's successfully tested it on matt too.

 

For me, I'm using Decalfix on Airfix transfers now and MicroStuff on 'things where I'm not sure'.

Initially this was to use up the bottle but I like the fact that DecalFix goes 'a bit sticky' as you use it so you don't end up chasing the transfer all over the place.

 

My gurus here say 'always gloss coat' as they say that always works.

I've had silvering after glossing though so I'm still in two minds (as if one wasn't enough) but leaning towards always glossing.

Mostly.

 

HTH  

[Heather Kay]

Wise words, Ced. I’m with you on that. I do gloss usually, but was willing to try Decalfix on matt surfaces - where it does more or less do what it says. It’s not so clever on the softening and conforming bit though, which I find bothersome. I suppose having a cocktail of solutions on hand is the way forward.

 

A mild disaster with varnishing on the Gladdy, so that’s waiting for a chance to do a bit of sanding back. Meanwhile, despite really needing to get on with some day job stuff, my mind is turning to a Belgian Battle...

 

The venerable Airfix Fairey Battle is known to have several shortcomings, particularly with general shapes. Quite how bad these are, and the effort involved in correcting them, can be found in this thread:

 

Ian is giving the old girl the works, and making a superb job of it. Sadly, I’m too lazy for all that shenanigans, rather hoping one of the kit makers might eventually take pity on us and make a 21st century kit of this important early war bomber, so I intend to build my brace of Battles more or less out of the boxes. Well, the RAF one will be - and in another thread one day - but the Belgian one is a slightly different matter.

 

The Belgians were keen on the Fairey Battle, and acquired 16 planes just before the Second World War broke out in September 1939. The aircraft were famously involved in the unsuccessful attacks on bridges over the Albert Canal on 11 May 1940. I won’t go into details at this stage, saving it for when I kick the build off properly, but I was pondering some detail on the planes themselves. 
 

Belgian Battles had an extended chin radiator intake, compared to their RAF brethren. The Airfix kit only really represents the latter form. There were other minor detail differences, but the radiator intake is the most notable. As it happens, the intake is almost the same as that used for the Fairey Fulmar, a naval fighter very much developed directly from the Battle. Luck would have it I have two boxes of the Fulmar in the stash: one from Airfix, and the same plastic from Smer. With the best will in the world, I don’t really need a pair of Fulmars, but I had a notion I might take the nose section from one and graft it on the Battle destined for the Belgian collection. 
 

I have only taken a quick squint at things so far, and it might just work. More later, I suspect.

 

 

[Heather Kay]

 

And we are done. A full RFI post will follow later.

 

The varnish problem was cured by falling back on that pesky airbrush. It was the only way to cure brush marks that simply would not go away. Pleased with the final finish, though there are some details I should have attended to, such as a W/T mast, and perhaps a more accurate rear deck behind the pilot's seat. Then again, you can’t see through the thick glazing anyway. 
 

The Matchbox Gladiator was first issued in 1972, and last issued in a Revell branded box in 2010. I think it stands up well for all its five decades, and the abuse I’ve given it over the past few days!

[Heather Kay]

RFI up. Thanks for watching, and look for a Fairey Battle here soon-ish.

 

 

[Hamden]

 

Your Gladiator scrubbed up very well a nice addition to your collection, looking forward to the Battle now

 

        Stay safe      Roger

[Heather Kay]

Right, time to do Battle. There’s a pun in there somewhere.

 

 

The Airfix Fairey Battle was newly tooled in 1968. It’s classic Airfix, with rivets that will take the skin off your knuckles. It’s also very badly wrong, as you will have seen if you’ve taken a peek at @Brandy's thread I linked to before. There’s no need to go into the whys and wherefores, but I made the decision there was a Battle-shaped - or nearly Battle-shaped - hole in my 1940 RAF collection, plus the fact the type was sold to the Belgians. Knowing the problems with the kit, I decided to build pretty much from the box, warts and all, because I fully expect the finished models to be temporary stopgaps until we are graced with a superb new tool Battle some time this decade. Well, I can dream, can’t I?

 

I found two elderly boxings of the kit from the usual online sellers, on sale at silly prices. This box is the younger of the two, being the 1978 rebox. I’m saving the older box for the RAF version some other time. Happily, it includes Belgian markings for T70, though quite whether the transfers will survive an encounter with water remains to be seen. 
 

Belgian Battles had one or two differences to their British counterparts. There were additional undercarriage doors, for example, and more obviously an extended chin radiator. I pondered how I might recreate the latter as the more obvious difference.

 

 

Then I had an idea. A while ago, a fellow BMer donated a Smer boxing of the Fairey Fulmar. I already have the same kit boxed by Airfix, and I didn’t really need a second. Remembering the Fulmar was very much derived from the Battle design, albeit slightly smaller, I remembered it also had a longer chin radiator. I wondered if the Smer Fulmar might donate the nose to the Airfix Battle. A quick rummage in boxes, and comparison with the drawings, seems to imply it might just do the job.

 

I will need to do a bit more thinking and proper measuring to work out how to graft one to the other. Necessarily, this might mean this build may be rather prolonged in gestation. Still, it’ll be fun to see if it can be made to work. More soon.

Edited October 30, 2022 by Heather Kay
Change of member name

[CedB]

Oooh, this is going to be good

[Marklo]

Just reading about the Airfix battle kit, it was made from plans supplied by Fairey to Airfix however the supplied plans were from a development design not the production machine.