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OK already the once again enjoyable Bristle Bilvedere


perdu

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I spent long enough working up to it, probably to the irritation of many, so this will be the occasion of the build of the Airfix Bristol 192 Belvedere

 

It is said that upon the upper slopes of the hub-wise Ramtops seers have been anticipating the arrival of the Bilvedere with trepidation

 

If so I beg to advise such seers that this is only the first of er, many? No, Lots? No, some others

 

Let them anticipate the Tomovedere and some short while later the Cedvedere which are on the way

 

Shall we be conventional?

 

OK the box and its bits

15777194559964861844435687068295.jpg

 

15784291482565333316846980080074.jpg

 

This breed of Airfix plastic is, mmm, odd and feels almost like compressed particles glued into the required shapes, interesting times ahead I think

 

I found there was a massive split between the front cockpit halves and glue was a definite gotcha in waiting so I began the game with Millput and Micromesh and turned  the nose transparency into a buck for moulding

 

here

15784293395958534119837624013114.jpg Side windows will be moulded separately, different on each side see

 

madness

 

There is much to do inside so we began (Me and Mr Swann-Morton)

 

15785192390148897691166325365209.jpg

 

I began by grooving the inner wall and adding a stringer that will be much reduced, it isnt very prominent


Here is why, one of the very few pictures I have of the actual innards

belvedere-xg454-2-03-small.jpg

 

tiny isnt it..

 

My plan A was to groove all along the inner wall to represent the rows of rivetted panels and the lines of ribs that drop down the walls I'm not keen on this now but the way remains open

 

My plan B was .. well I bet you all took a look at the ribbed walls and thought here's an opportunity for an artist to make some etch, I know I did

 

See the little piece of paper in the photo of the port wall above, a possibility to make a etch pattern that will cover the only portion of the model that can be seen from any position


We'll see 

 

In my researching for this one I was lucky to come across the paperwork from the Maintrack Productions kit 72:40, the pity of it was that I couldn't come across the kit as well but the drawings will help guide me and keep me out of trouble

P1140434.jpg

 

 

There is very obvious discrepancy with the height and width of the fin structure which I will decide whether to deal with or not later

 

Tom and I spent over an hour poring over the Belvedere in Hendon and discovered that the rivets are far less obtrusive than even Airfix's rivetter could generate so I won't mind smoothing this down a lot

 

P1120467.jpg

 

Using the plan from Maintrack© I drew the plan on a plain piece of paper so I could plot out the likely to be visible interior detail

 

P1010224.jpg

 

There's a passageway at the rear by the engine casing cover

belvxg452coccab34.jpg

 

I am not yet sure whether this is one sided or runs alongside each part of the box structure

 

And there is a passageway at the front where crew access to each other seems uncomfortable

P1130547.jpg

 

and from in front

imageproxy-php.jpg

 

The green area behind the cockpit is where the front engine lurks

 

I think it is time to knock this off and look at a model, with a view...

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Am I the first one here? My round then Bill.  Whatcha drinking? Where's the bartender, by the time he gets here the front row will be full.

 

That's a good start! I must confess in all my years of making models & being interested in aircraft, I'd never come across the Belvedere. Are you going to be able to use those decals? How old are they?

 

 

Edited by chrislowe
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12 minutes ago, chrislowe said:

Are you going to be able to use those decals? How old are they?

I think I could if I took a few basic old decal precautions Chris, extra fresh gloss varnish and such

 

But as I intend building a Green, Grey and Silver one these can be discarded, maybe given to an emergency charity decal bank

 

Or a dustbin near me

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45 minutes ago, perdu said:

P1120467.jpg

 

9 minutes ago, perdu said:

Or a dustbin near me

 

Even in that small section there are a lot of stencils that didn't seem to make it on to Airfix's radar.

 

Is that a finger hanging down to 8 o'clock of the "28 volts" ? It's a weird looking antenna, that's for sure.

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Oooh goody, I've got one of these. I shall attempt to keep up & yea, comprehend, the wonders that I'm sure will be revealed, even though my eyes may appear glazed at times & the appearance of puzzlement is really just intense concentration. Carry on. :)

Steve.

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Not a huge helicopter fan, but I'm here for the pure nostalgia.  I probably built one in the distant past (it looks exactly like the kind of kit that would have been all that was  left in the local newsagents after all the Spitfires and ME109s were sold :) )

 

Also if the nose is anything to go by I may learn a thing or two about modelling as well.

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1 hour ago, Pete in Lincs said:

Methinks @perdu has already been behind the bar. This is probably not a kit to be approached when sober. I seem to remember that it is not the in service version?

But rather a late prototype?

Well Bert the barman wasnt here then

 

This is the late(r) prototype, the tailpanes and fins will need to be merged and realigned and several of  the underside boxes and gizmos need reshaping and often, made of mesh

 

But at the present I can only proceed some of  the way without finding a volunteer who can pop in to The Helicopter museum and ask how the resto of their's is coming along and "Oh will it be OK if I point a camera into the tail end? For a friend of course!"


Or make the trip myself to Weston

 

The Belvedere in Hendon has her doors resolutely firmly shut and  they discourage stepladders in visitor's hand luggage I understand

 

The plan now this is opened is to potter along gently, today for example I will be working on an inner structure draft drawing which it may be possible to turn into a photoetch inner wall  piece

 

12 minutes ago, lasermonkey said:

Not sure if it's helpful, but many years ago I scanned an old  SAM article on the Belvedere and it's still online.

 

Cheers,

Mark.

 

Mark thanks for that, I did remember there was an article but it was purged into the dustbin or recycled to another modeller back in  the eighties

 

Dumb or what?

 

Anyway now, with the exception of a couple of unobtainable images from the article I have that saved, thank you

 

So a minor modelling event begins

 

"On with the motley!"

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This will be both interesting and educational, as the Belvedere is not a type I know much about.  I always thought it looked rather ungainly on its stalky undercarriage, with a sit a bit like a Praying Mantis.

 

AW

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Room for one more at the back, promise to sit quietly look and learn.

Remember seeing the original 1:1 at the then annual Farnborough Air Show no pics: I'm afraid not old enough to have a camera then

 

              Roger

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