1/72 WW2 French fighter duet

[Desk Flyer]

think a bit like the "Flower duet" from Lakmé but with aeroplanes.

Hello everyone and welcome to my project. It was a simple project at first but then it grew in scope and then the problems begun and the learning curve was steeper than expected and... but lets take things from the beginning.

 

An old friend of mine was moving with his family into a smaller apartment so he shed off all his old 1/72 kits in the process and they ended up lurking under my then bench. I'm talking really horrible ancient kits like the Airfix He177 Greif (or more aptly 'grief') and the like (seriously now that kit taught me a lot but there was no way I could salvage that big lump of light blue plastic). But other kits were not so bad and some were even maybe appealing. Now 'appealing' as we all know is a strange term. In my case it was something about the history, or the colours, or the shape.

 

So I thought I would build the Heller Potez 631:

 

 

I convinced myself the decals were aged and deteriorating so I bought a decal sheet by Carpena / Colorado. (https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/CA72041)

 

Then I had the idea of trying a resin engine for the first time. I wasn't going to open any cowlings heaven forbid, no! But I thought this would be a good time to try. So I got two of Neomega's  Gnome-Rhone GR-14M4/M5/K/N (https://www.neomega-resin.com/gnome-rhone-gr-14m4m5kn-172nd-679-p.asp)

 

And as for paint, I got myself a HATAKA french camo set (http://hataka-hobby.com/products/early-ww2-french-air-force-paint-set/)

 

Right. So now I had everything I needed. Right?

 

Wrong.

 

I though that since I got the french paint set it would be a good idea to do another french WW2 aircraft in parallel. You know, during the dead time, while waiting for the glue to set, while waiting for the paint to dry etc. So i decided to build the Smer 1/72 Bloch MB.152 on the side. But I couldn't just leave it at that, nooooo. I thought I'd try replacing the kit's canopy, windshield etc with vacform transparencies. Also for the first time.

 

 

And to top it off, besides the almost obligatory decal sheet (https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/PSL72320) I got me a photo etched parts set from Brengun NOT designed for the Smer kit (https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/BRL72090)!

 

What could possibly go wrong?

[rob Lyttle]

1 hour ago, Desk Flyer said:

What could possibly go wrong?

🙉🙈🙊Good luck with this little lot, desk flyer! 

Engaging with an old shonky kit or two is indeed a character-building process. 

Throw in a few aftermarket extras, and you're good to go! 

[rob Lyttle]

1 hour ago, Desk Flyer said:

think a bit like the "Flower duet" from Lakmé

So, is that a bit like (_) Adams and Sporty spice Mel C singing "Baby when you're gone....."?? 🎤🎶🎶😃

[Wez]

Good luck with these two Desk Flyer.

 

Firstly, welcome to the Forum.

 

Secondly, well done for taking on these CLASSIC kits (not Shonky @rob Lyttle ), they may not be state of the art but but after all, we're modellers...   ...right?

 

Thirdly, if you have any more of these old Heller moulds kicking around, you may be interested in joining the Classic Heller GB later this year?

 

Fourthly, if you have any more French subjects, you may be interested in signing up for the proposed French Fancy 2 GB for next year.

 

Group Builds are where a bunch of us get together a make a model on a common theme over a given length of time - all skill and experience levels welcome!

 

Finally, have fun!!

Edited March 18, 2020 by Wez

[rob Lyttle]

You're quite right, @Wez. I take it back.

Delete "shonky". 

"Classic" is much better, I'll go along with that. 

Please don't misunderstand...... These are MY kind of kits and I like them! 

Just that they can be a bit....... Classic sometimes 😉

[RidgeRunner]

I like the idea of the Potez 631 :).. I'll be watching

 

Martin

Edited March 18, 2020 by RidgeRunner

[Desk Flyer]

14 hours ago, Wez said:

Good luck with these two Desk Flyer.

 

Firstly, welcome to the Forum.

 

Secondly, well done for taking on these CLASSIC kits (not Shonky @rob Lyttle ), they may not be state of the art but but after all, we're modellers...   ...right?

 

Thirdly, if you have any more of these old Heller moulds kicking around, you may be interested in joining the Classic Heller GB later this year?

 

Fourthly, if you have any more French subjects, you may be interested in signing up for the proposed French Fancy 2 GB for next year.

 

Group Builds are where a bunch of us get together a make a model on a common theme over a given length of time - all skill and experience levels welcome!

 

Finally, have fun!!

 

Thanks @Wez! And yes, I do have a Heller I want to build later this year! I'll probably be doing a German double build... 😉

 

But first, I need to finish these two!

[Wez]

12 hours ago, Desk Flyer said:

 

Thanks @Wez! And yes, I do have a Heller I want to build later this year! I'll probably be doing a German double build... 😉

 

But first, I need to finish these two!

I can guess what that would be.

 

Anyway if you decide to join us just follow the underlined links in my post above and that will take you to the relevant GB's, it would be good to have you join us.

[Brandy]

Is the Bloch the same kit as the Heller issue? I built that as a kid and loved it just because it was so differant. However, if you want to build it wheels up, they'll need some serious surgery to get them thin enough.

 

Ian

[Wez]

15 minutes ago, limeypilot said:

Is the Bloch the same kit as the Heller issue? I built that as a kid and loved it just because it was so differant. However, if you want to build it wheels up, they'll need some serious surgery to get them thin enough.

 

Ian

Ian,

 

Yes SMER issued a lot of Heller kits in their boxes, this is one of them.

 

A kit like this, a Heller mould in somebody else's box would be eligible for the Classic Heller GB later this year, I notice you haven't signed up for that, you'd be very welcome if you had anything like this lurking in the stash.

 

Apologies to @Desk Flyer for hijacking his thread.

[JasonC]

The Potez is a handsome plane. As for the Bloch, no comment! 

 

J.

[Marklo]

Lovely subjects. I particularly like the Potez.

I remember building the Airfix  Grief as Kid, just like the real thing everything went wrong, I even remember running out of hellblau and switching paints only to have the two react and go all orange peel on me. Doesn’t it have horrible raised rivers all over it.

Edited March 19, 2020 by Marklo

[Stevejj]

Raised rivers Marklo?

Mine only had raised rivets!! You obviously had a special release lol

Edited March 19, 2020 by Stevejj
Typo

[Desk Flyer]

OK time for Episode 2...

 

The Potez:

 

The wings come in three pieces in total including the nacelles. The panel lines are not engraved but they are not raised either. Heller tried to give the impression of overlapping metal sheets of sorts. I don't know how accurate that is but I like the looks of it and this was one of the reasons I decided to build this one.

 

 

 

Rivets are abundant.

 

 

The rest of the kit is "simple", "crude", or "spartan" depending of your view of things...

 

 

 

Starting with the cockpit we find that there isn't much in there in the way of detail

 

 

I decided to make things worse by trying to improvise. First I added some of the fuselage structure on to the sides of the cockpit using Evergreen styrene strips. While Heller's rendition was too abstract for my taste, please try to remember I'm aiming for "Impressionism" rather than "Realism".

 

 

And that's it for Episode 2.

I'd like to hear some feedback on this post please. Are the photos ok? Am I doing this right? Is there something I need to do differently?

 

Thanks!

[Marklo]

19 minutes ago, Desk Flyer said:

Am I doing this right? Is there something I need to do differently?

So long as you’re enjoying it you’re doing it right.

[Wez]

You've made a good start there with what is a very old kit.

 

Personally, I like Heller's representation of the lapped panels and the raised rivets, far more accurate than the divots made by so-called riveting tools.

 

Carry on as you are, you're doing fine.

[Brandy]

Looks good from here, and I do prefer that overlapped panel look to either raised or scribed panel lines. Much more realistic!

 

Ian

[Desk Flyer]

Episode 3: The Other One.

 

The Bloch 152 is equally crude if not worse. Nothing on the inside (no floor - just a seat from the stone age) and raised panel lines on the outside. And to make things worse, there were some obvious errors. So obvious that I couldn't ignore them.

First we have the elevators and rudder. Wrong shape and it is resembling a fabric covered rudder when the 152 had metal skin control surfaces. Same goes for the flaps; the kit suggests they were plain type fabric covered when they were split type metal skin.

 

 

So I will try to correct that...

 

 

with putty (squadron green, vallejo acrylic and mr. surfacer) and sanding repeated ad nauseam 

 

 

(yes, these brushes are that old!)

 

In the process the raised panel lines were removed and the whole wing assemble was treated to a 1200 grit wet sandpaper rub.

 

That's all for today.

[Desk Flyer]

Episode 4: more Bloch 152

 

Hi everyone. I went on to torture the Bloch some more in the past few days...

 

This is what was included in the way of engine, prop and cowling:

 

 

The situation was a bit better with the Potez though:

 

 

So for some perverted reason I decided to use one of the Potez engines for the Bloch (both aircraft had Gnome-Rhone 14 engines in real life) and buy a couple Neomega resin engines for the Potez. (Spoiler alert: I soon regretted that but it was too late).

 

 

As can be seen above I added my own detail (valve push rods). Then the engine was painted and a black wash was applied.

 

 

Then it was fitted inside the cowling

 

 

Then the cap that included the cowling flaps was added. Two of the flaps were replaced with rectangular metal foil pieces, Some putty was required and then some sanding but in the end it came out reasonably well.

 

 

Then I sanded and filed away that nasty mould mark between the cowling bulges as best I could. I thought to completely sand everything down and make new bulges out of epoxy putty but when I realized what I was going to do I had a drink, lied down and I quicly came to my senses.

 

I sprayed Vallejo 71.062 Aluminium thinking I might try some chipping later on.

 

 

And in between stages I painted and dry brushed the prop.

 

 

And that's it for tonight's episode.

[woody37]

Lovely progress, I do enjoy seeing these French kites being built

 

[Desk Flyer]

Episode 5: Interior decorating

 

Here's another update for you guys. Again working on the Bloch 152 and its interior or lack thereof.

 

In the beginning Heller created the fuselage and the wings. And the cockpit was without form and void. And my gaze moved upon the face of the plastic.

 

(So I added some details with styrene strips & rods and thin led wire)

 

 

And I said let there be photo etched. And there was photo etch (by Brengun). And I saw the photo etch. And it was for a different kit.

 

(But I knew that and so went on to use as many parts as possible)

 

 

I then raided the spares box for a suitable seat and added some of the PE details...

 

 

Life Color UA086 (FS 14108) was used for the interior (as per the Squadron-Signal book on French WW2 fighters)...

 

 

 

And then some detail work and painting was in order...

 

 

then the seat was installed on an improvised cockpit floor

 

 

and the cockpit sides got a wash etc

 

 

and while the cockpit floor, instrument pedestal, stick & rudder pedals were introduced to one another, the instrument panel was painted as well...

 

 

(Note the "lantern" type aiming sight WIP next to the main instrument panel)

 

That's all for now. Thank you for looking/following!

Edited March 30, 2020 by Desk Flyer

[RidgeRunner]

That’s all wonderful stuff, mate. Yes, the photos are perfect (better than mine) as are your descriptions. The Potez looks great. I’m beginning to like these Heller oldies more and more! Keep up the good work.

 

Martin

[Desk Flyer]

On 3/30/2020 at 3:13 PM, RidgeRunner said:

That’s all wonderful stuff, mate. Yes, the photos are perfect (better than mine) as are your descriptions. The Potez looks great. I’m beginning to like these Heller oldies more and more! Keep up the good work.

 

Martin

Thank you for your kind words 

 

[Desk Flyer]

Episode 6: Another (late) first for me.

 

Good evening and welcome to Episode 6 of... hmmm who knows?

 

So eventually the two fuselage halves were joined together after countless dry runs with and without the cockpit floor/seat/etc assembly.

 

 

I first attacked the rudder and tried to correct its shape and remove the fabric impression as you can see.

 

In between stages of the above process, the wings were assembled and the same problems were addressed:

 

 

 

Some interior detail was added during a previous stage with styrene strips and lead wire:

 

 

Back to the fuselage, I decided to use vacu formed transparent parts to replace the ones provided with the kit but also and most importantly, to replace the windowed section right behind the pilot's head.

 

 

 

Note the new blade. I felt more like a medieval executioner than a surgeon to be honest. I hope the kit forgives me.

 

Anyway, the offending part was removed and the fuselage was de-burred. A 'shelve' was also added:

 

 

The clear part was cut free of its sheet and was masked:

 

 

A coat of the same interior green was sprayed on the new parts. The clear part was then dry fitted on the fuselage, sanded down a little bit, then dry fitted again, then sanded down a wee bit more again and the whole process repeated about a few hundred times. Finally it was glued in place and some putty was added to seal off the seam.

 

 

And then some more green was sprayed. Hopefully this will be visible on the clear part from the inside.

 

 

Meanwhile, the landing gear struts got some PE details and after that they were painted:

 

 

Then the main instrument panel was... inserted in place and the floor/seat/etc assembly followed:

 

 

And that's all for tonight. Thank you for looking and for your encouragement!

[Desk Flyer]

Good morning and welcome to Episode 7: Wings

 

With the fuselage closed and the cockpit floor etc in place it was time to glue the wing assembly. But first I thought it would be a good idea to add some wheel well detail so that at least you won't be able to see all the way through the model.

 

So I added a deck using styrene sheet and then added some structure using Evergreen styrene strips and rods:

 

 

When the glue dried I sprayed Vallejo gloss black primer:

 

And then I sprayed Vallejo Aluminium:

 

And then I applied black enamel wash:

 

In between stages I started working on the wings. Scribing was never my strong point...

 

Then I tried riveting for the first time. I find it hard to keep a straight line...

 

And then I added the navigation lights at the wingtips:

 

Then I tried to re-scribe some of the fuselage panel lines: DYMO tape rules OK.

 

 

Finally, when everything had been tortured enough it was time to introduce the wings to the fuselage:

 

It wasn't perfect but it wasn't that bad either...

 

That's it for today. I hope you like it. Thank you for looking.