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1:48 Westland Whirlwind


Dunny

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Hi All,

 

Happy Easter! I'm straight into my next build, which will be Trumpeter's 1:48 Westland Whirlwind. I was inspired to get hold of this kit after reading Niall Corduroy's history of this interesting type. Although used successfully in its limited service as a ground attack fighter, the Whirlwind was essentially a victim of supply chain restrictions (production of the RR Peregrine engine was choked in favour of the Merlin), and was eventually withdrawn from service in 1943.

 

content.jpg

 

I'm going to build P7116 of 263 Sqn, as flown by their commanding officer. The attached photos show the aircraft at RAF Colerne in Winter 1941/2 - at that time the CO was Sqn Ldr Thomas Pugh DFC, who was later killed in action in 1942 aged 23 (image copyright IWM).

 

large-000000.jpg

 

Westland-Whirlwind-1-1-1024x486.jpg

 

So here's the box art:

 

20200412-105416.jpg

 

And the sprues:

 

20200412-105629.jpg

 

20200412-105707.jpg

 

I'll be building mostly OOB, but I picked up a set of Montex masks - Trumpy's decals are riddled with errors, and the colours look 'off' to me too:

 

20200412-105518.jpg

 

I'll be finishing in the standard DG, OG & MSG - it appears that this scheme also had yellow wing leading edges so I shall add these. I may also chuck in a couple of 250lb bombs from the spares box. It also appears that Trumpeter have omitted to include a rollover brace, gunsight and rear view mirror, so I'll scratch these. Does anybody know any other significant shortcomings of the kit? Happy to hear about these before I get too deeply into the build!

 

Thanks for looking and stay safe,

 

Roger

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I can see tears before bedtime with the checkers decal on the tail. unless of course, they've figured out an easy way to do it.....

 

4 hours ago, Dunny said:

Sqn Ldr Thomas Pugh DFC, who was later killed in action in 1942 aged 23

:poppy:

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4 hours ago, Dunny said:

 Does anybody know any other significant shortcomings of the kit? Happy to hear about these before I get too deeply into the build!

 

Great to see a build of my all-time favourite aircraft 🙂

 

Being Trumpeter, it certainly has shortcomings, but I decided to just ignore them on mine and build it OOB.  The main external issue (certainly not limited to this kit) is the spurious wing root fairing. The original aircraft didn't have one; the fuselage to wing transition was a 90 degree butt-joint, with the fuselage transitioning from slab-sided to ovoid between the training edge and the rear cockpit /rear fuselage join. Not a difficult fix with some filler and a file. The forthcoming 1/32 Special Hobby kit (have a look in the Rumourmonger thread) )appears to have it right, but until we see the actual plastic...

The cockpit is pretty spurious, especially behind the seat. This is where I decided it was too far out to be worth the effort. The seat is about twice the width it should be, located too far back and the area behind the seat is pure fiction, Hopefully the photo of the Roy Sutherland-mastered CA kit cockpit (which looks spot-on to the references) will explain it better than I can

 

Trumpeter:

IMG_3830_small

 

 

Classic Airframes

IMG_3831_small

 

Cheers

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50 minutes ago, B_Bogus said:

Great to see a build of my all-time favourite aircraft 🙂

 

Being Trumpeter, it certainly has shortcomings, but I decided to just ignore them on mine and build it OOB.  The main external issue (certainly not limited to this kit) is the spurious wing root fairing. The original aircraft didn't have one; the fuselage to wing transition was a 90 degree butt-joint, with the fuselage transitioning from slab-sided to ovoid between the training edge and the rear cockpit /rear fuselage join. Not a difficult fix with some filler and a file. The forthcoming 1/32 Special Hobby kit (have a look in the Rumourmonger thread) )appears to have it right, but until we see the actual plastic...

The cockpit is pretty spurious, especially behind the seat. This is where I decided it was too far out to be worth the effort. The seat is about twice the width it should be, located too far back and the area behind the seat is pure fiction, Hopefully the photo of the Roy Sutherland-mastered CA kit cockpit (which looks spot-on to the references) will explain it 

Thanks for the tips @B_Bogus. Now you mention it, the seat does have a whiff of park bench about it 🤣. Will perhaps look at plans a little more carefully wrt the wing root too.

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Roger 

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3 hours ago, SoftScience said:

I look forward to seeing this as it happens.

 

3 hours ago, Biggles87 said:

Me too

 

Cheers Gents - good to have you aboard!

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1 hour ago, Pete in Lincs said:

I can see tears before bedtime with the checkers decal on the tail. unless of course, they've figured out an easy way to do it.....

 

:poppy:

@Pete in Lincs I figured I'd have a go at freehanding it - should be a walk in the park :worms:

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Hi Roger

Crikey you are like a machine.  Great choice fella, I have one on the go at the moment although it is the Classic Airframes kit with some additions.  I will have to crack on with it now. 

I will watch with much interest.  I need to find your Tarpon thread as I need to catch up with that too. I don't get much time to get on here and modelling what with work, family and working on the house, still l have earned a day off so will do some modelling today, wahoo!!!

All the best

Chris

 

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3 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

Hi Roger

Crikey you are like a machine.  Great choice fella, I have one on the go at the moment although it is the Classic Airframes kit with some additions.  I will have to crack on with it now. 

I will watch with much interest.  I need to find your Tarpon thread as I need to catch up with that too. I don't get much time to get on here and modelling what with work, family and working on the house, still l have earned a day off so will do some modelling today, wahoo!!!

All the best

Chris

 

Cheers Chris - taking every opportunity with being houseboundish! The Tarpon is on furlough at the moment, although I'm still slow-burning a wing fold solution. Do you have a WIP on the CA Whirlwind? Be interested to see how the kits compare. The more I look at the Trumpy cockpit I see scratch required...

 

Happy Easter,

 

Roger 

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8 minutes ago, Dunny said:

Cheers Chris - taking every opportunity with being houseboundish! The Tarpon is on furlough at the moment, although I'm still slow-burning a wing fold solution. Do you have a WIP on the CA Whirlwind? Be interested to see how the kits compare. The more I look at the Trumpy cockpit I see scratch required...

 

Happy Easter,

 

Roger 

Hi Roger 

Try this one, 

It is up on its under carriage now but I need to make the mirror and then some additional items for the rear part of the canopy and will be able to get this finished.  I haven't really done a WIP  for a while.

All the best

Chris

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8 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

Hi Roger 

Try this one, 

It is up on its under carriage now but I need to make the mirror and then some additional items for the rear part of the canopy and will be able to get this finished.  I haven't really done a WIP  for a while.

All the best

Chris

Chris,

 

She's a beauty! I definitely need to add more cockpit detail - the Trumpy version is a mere shadow of this! Push on and get it done!

 

Regards,

 

Roger

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I won a Cooper Details Whirlwind at the IPMS Nationals many years ago, but sold it and bought one from Classic Airframes, then when we left the UK 15 years ago I managed to leave a cardboard box in the loft which contained amongst others,  the CA Whirlwind. By the time I realised what I had done and contacted our buyer he told me he’d given everything away.

 

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38 minutes ago, Biggles87 said:

I won a Cooper Details Whirlwind at the IPMS Nationals many years ago, but sold it and bought one from Classic Airframes, then when we left the UK 15 years ago I managed to leave a cardboard box in the loft which contained amongst others,  the CA Whirlwind. By the time I realised what I had done and contacted our buyer he told me he’d given everything away.

 

@Biggles87 bummer - from what I'm seeing the CA kit is the better choice. Sounds like you left the UK at the same time as us - hope La Republique is treating you well?

 

Happy Easter,

 

Roger

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Hi All,

 

A little bit of progress. I started looking at the cockpit, and the seat as presented looked far too wide. I therefore decided to scratch one. Here's the individual components:

 

20200413-121634.jpg

 

And the assembled version, next to the park bench original and prior to a final fettling:

 

20200413-130511.jpg

 

Next I turned to the IP. As presented I foresee issues with pilot access to the rudder pedals - nice one Trumpy :poo:.

20200413-130853.jpg

 

 

The panel layout doesn't look too bad, but the decal provided is completely unrepresentative of an aircraft IP. Here's a photo of the actual IP:

 

Cockpit.jpg

 

I think I'll modify the lower edge of the plastic to allow 'leg access', and use some of these beauties to make a more representative IP.

 

20200222-102637.jpg

 

I'll also add the prominent lever cluster using wire. The side panels are also completely devoid of detail, so I'll figure out some spare PE or somesuch to add a bit of interest. I got as far as painting the cockpit components but neglected to photograph them.

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Roger

 

 

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Hi Roger

Nice work on the seat fella.  I think Trumpeter have moulded the fuselage floor too high. Can the floor be lowered in any way ?

I have a 32 Nd scale Hobbyboss Spitfire Vb on the shelf of shame and they have done the same thing and it all looked too wierd so had to go and have been scratching and cross kitting a new cockpit interior for it.  Another one I must pick up again.

 

Keep up the good work

Chris

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11 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

Hi Roger

Nice work on the seat fella.  I think Trumpeter have moulded the fuselage floor too high. Can the floor be lowered in any way ?

I have a 32 Nd scale Hobbyboss Spitfire Vb on the shelf of shame and they have done the same thing and it all looked too wierd so had to go and have been scratching and cross kitting a new cockpit interior for it.  Another one I must pick up again.

 

Keep up the good work

Chris

Chris, you may well be right on the floor height. Maybe I'll look at the overall assembly, and look at lowering the floor with the IP raised on a plinth and a new rear bulkhead. Or if that looks too hard I might see exactly how bad it looks when buttoned up and pretend it never happened :lalala:,

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

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@bigbadbadge got me thinking about the cockpit floor being moulded too high. I thought the best way to determine this would be to look at the pilot's position in the actual aircraft. As you can see from the below shot the seating position is quite 'sit up & beg', which would aid in good overall vision for the ground attack role, one would guess.

 

whirlwind-mk-i-263-sqn-exeter-in-flight-

 

I then stole a spare pilot from my recently completed Sea Hurricane build, and fitted him in his shiny new seat (I was inordinately pleased with how well he fitted too :angel:)

 

Manoeuvring him into what looked like the correct position made it clear that the floor is indeed 3-4mm too high - good call Chris!

 

20200416-100241.jpg

 

Based on this I think I'll use a combination of the existing floor in a lower position, along with a scratched taller rear bulkhead and mounting the IP on a plinth to give it the correct height. Not sure what to do with the cockpit side panels yet - more to follow!

 

Thanks for looking, 

 

Roger

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Hi Roger

Excellent work so far There are some photos online which may help.  I used some old Scale Aviation Modeller International articles to help , the issues are February 1997 and October 1999 . The first one offers photos from Pilot notes book and the second is a build of the CA kit.  The cockpit details in the CA kit apoear quite accurate and I believe they are the same ones as used in the Cooper details kit.

 

If it will help I can scan the articles and email them to you. I can also recommend the 4+ publications book on the type and the Valiant wings book too. I have been advised that there could be errors in the book however it has helped no end and has shown me the correct placement location for the canopy strengthening plates which are often put to far aft.

It may be a too expensive to get the books however if you do more than one kit they're very handy.  I have built the 72 Special Hobby kit. The CA kit and am awaiting the 32 Special Hobby kit to be released. Do have been a worthwhile investment.

All the best

Chris

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Awesome Chris - I'd be grateful for the articles, although my skill levels will probably extend to crude butchery in any case! Some of the photos earlier on the thread are giving a much better indication of what's going on behind the pilot's seat, and I'm getting a much better sense for the lie of the land. I'll probably try & rough out the structure this weekend, so any tips will be much appreciated!

 

Cheers,

 

Roger 

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31 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

Hi Roger

Excellent work so far There are some photos online which may help.  I used some old Scale Aviation Modeller International articles to help , the issues are February 1997 and October 1999 . The first one offers photos from Pilot notes book and the second is a build of the CA kit.  The cockpit details in the CA kit apoear quite accurate and I believe they are the same ones as used in the Cooper details kit.

 

If it will help I can scan the articles and email them to you. I can also recommend the 4+ publications book on the type and the Valiant wings book too. I have been advised that there could be errors in the book however it has helped no end and has shown me the correct placement location for the canopy strengthening plates which are often put to far aft.

It may be a too expensive to get the books however if you do more than one kit they're very handy.  I have built the 72 Special Hobby kit. The CA kit and am awaiting the 32 Special Hobby kit to be released. Do have been a worthwhile investment.

All the best

Chris

@bigbadbadge sorry forgot to tag you!

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1 hour ago, Dunny said:

Awesome Chris - I'd be grateful for the articles, although my skill levels will probably extend to crude butchery in any case! Some of the photos earlier on the thread are giving a much better indication of what's going on behind the pilot's seat, and I'm getting a much better sense for the lie of the land. I'll probably try & rough out the structure this weekend, so any tips will be much appreciated!

 

Cheers,

 

Roger 

Hi Roger

PM me your email and I will scan in the articles and send to you.  I am at work at the moment and got to get outside after work for a while and then I will scan in and send .

All the best

Chris

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Hi All,

 

Some good progress this weekend. Thanks to the fantastic reference materials provided by @bigbadbadge (thanks Chris!). I was armed with sufficient information to crack on with scratching the cockpit. First of all the higher rear bulkhead:

 

20200418-132131.jpg

 

I then set about making some mounting brackets for the seat - here they are in position:

 

20200418-140503.jpg

 

And with my 1:48 mate in place just to check fit and height - all good!! :angel:

 

20200418-153112.jpg

 

Next I started the IP - done in 3 layers :

 

20200418-150543.jpg

 

And then cleaned up, airbrushed, decalled and flat coated (I also busied it up with some spare PE switches). Macro photography is not kind but I'm not displeased with the outcome:

 

20200419-132622.jpg

 

Buoyed by this small victory I cracked on and put in new location tabs for the floor:

 

20200418-141055.jpg

 

I then started adding rib detail and the instrument side panels (you can also see the original side walls on the sprue):

 

20200418-155303.jpg

 

Here's the throttle quadrant added:

 

20200418-171056.jpg

 

And finally, painted, detailed, belts added and oilwashed:

 

20200419-142002.jpg

 

20200419-142023.jpg

 

Although it's far from perfect, and a long way short of some of the amazing detailed work I see on this forum I think it's a big improvement on Trumpy's offering, and it passes the squint test!

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Roger

 

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