Airfix Stirling III

[mike romeo]

36 minutes ago, Paul Bradley said:

HI Martin - mind if I pull up a self-isolated chair at the back? 

 

I built this old beastie a few years back now, and it was a trial. Looks impressive when its done though!  You've done some fine work in the cockpit; looking forward to the rest. 

You're most welcome, Paul!

 

I vaguely remember your build.  Was it in Classic Plastic as a C.V?  ISTR a vac form nosecone?

 

Rgds

 

Martin

[Paul Bradley]

You remember correctly! 

 

stirling11 by Paul Bradley, on Flickr

[mike romeo]

And a general plea: does anyone have in their stash a spare Hercules oil cooler, specifically  the white metal jobber included with Aeroclub's Bristol Hercules engine and cowling? 

 

Having upgraded a few Beaufighters, I thought I'd have 4 in my spares box.  Unfortunately, after some searching, I have only found 3.  So, would anyone have a spare they'd be willing to sell me?  After the current restrictions have eased, obvs.

 

Rgds

 

Martin

 

 

[mike romeo]

27 minutes ago, Paul Bradley said:

You remember correctly! 

 

stirling11 by Paul Bradley, on Flickr

Nice job   pity I can't put invasion stripes on mine.

 

Rgds

 

Martin

[mike romeo]

And talking about colour schemes as we were - sort of - I invested in some PrintScale decals which look very nice; mine is going into represent EX-R of 199Sqn in 1945. 

 

 

I think that means it was part of 100Gp and therefore will have had a non-standard aerial fit (some of which can be made out in the photo of that aircraft in the decal instructions.  Haven't researched that yet, but one thing I would be interested in representing is the more elongated shape behind the bomb bay shown in the profile which I believe (but can't remember why I believe this) was a mod to help the dropping of Window.

 

Can anyone provide clarification of this point?

 

Rgds

 

Martin

[12jaguar]

4 hours ago, mike romeo said:

Work has slowed ("what!  Further?", I hear you say.)  Well, yes.  

 

I glued the fuse together in sections.  Despite this, I was left with some reasonable mismatches although the fuse is at least straight.  Anyway, I have slathered on layers of sprue soup to try to level up the worst of the joints and, perhaps, add extra strength to the join.  I now have to wait a couple of days to let this cure before sanding, making good, and rescribing the fuse.

 

In other news, I have located the main gear structure, started de-seaming, filled some sink marks and ejection pits with the aforementioned soup, and thinned one mudguard with a sheet of micromesh wrapped around the ol' Swann Morton as shown as, despite the somewhat industrial u/c design of the Stirling, the kit representation was a bit too industrial for me.

 

 

On a variation on a theme, the sprue soup has also been used on some truly well-like sink marks on the wing (check out the remains of the one on the nearer wing fillet).  These will also be left to cure before sanding, rescribing and trying to sort the wing bend.  Incidentally, the rivets, although extensive, are very fine and I wouldn't have minded leaving them extant.  However, given the somewhat challenging fit, this was never really an option.

 

 

So, as long as one realises this is a marathon (obvs run by someone in a fancy-dress outfit rather than Mo Farah) not a sprint, progress is being made.

 

Next jobs will be to get the u/c units together, sand and rescribe fin and stabilizers, and worry about what I'm going to do with the turrets!

 

Hope you're enjoying the build.  More in due course.

 

Rgds and keep safe.

 

Martin

Hi Martin

 

 a couple of points:

 

for a Mk III, the bombsight will be a Mk XIV or in other words exactly the same as a Lanc

Just seen that you've got an R1155 radio fitted to the Navs bulkhead, this installation was only found on Mk Vs as the W/Op position had to move due to the passenger/freight cabin

 

regards

 

John

[mike romeo]

Hi John,

 

Thanks for the info. on the bombsight.  Again, I need to see what if anything I will add here.

 

Re the radio box, yep you got me.  I've been using the pe for the Italeri Mk IV.  Now, I know it's wrong, I might remove it (although it's the first box I've ever successfully made from pe).  I think it'll be a while until the canopy goes on, so there's time.

 

Thanks again for taking the trouble to post.

 

Rgds

 

Martin

[12jaguar]

Hi Martin

 

I've made the MkIV and Italeri did a pretty good job even if they did include a Galley! I'm making a MkIII at the moment and am using the White ensign detail set although tbh I'm not using that much of it as it's pretty spurious in places LOL

 

cheers

 

John

[mike romeo]

Hi all, 

 

Does anybody know whether the rear turret on the Stirling was the same as that on the Lanc?

 

Rgds

 

Martin

[12jaguar]

depends when you're talking about. Initially they had FN4 tail turrets which had a rounder profile to the cupola than the later FN20s. Essentially, the FN4 shape is pretty much the same as that fitted to the Manchester IIRC

 

Oh and possibly Sunderland.

 

 

Edited May 4, 2020 by 12jaguar

[mike romeo]

Thanks, John.

 

So the Lanc had an FN20 too.  I had thought of adding the turret from the old Airfix Lanc.  However, it appears to be a lot higher than the kit one, sitting up about 3mm higher than the rear fuselage upper profile.  I seem to recall pics / profiles of the Stirling with such a rear turret placement, but photos in my references don't show this.

 

Confused . .  .

 

Rgds

 

Martin

[Gondor44]

Looking at "British Aircraft Armament Vol1" by R Wallace Clarke which says

 

FN4a Whitley IV and V, Manchester I and IA, Stirling I, Wellington III and the FN4B Lerwick

 

FN20 was used in the Stirling, Whitley, Wellington, Warwicj, Manchester and Lancaster

 

Gondor

 

 

 

[mike romeo]

 

7 hours ago, Gondor44 said:

Looking at "British Aircraft Armament Vol1" by R Wallace Clarke which says

 

FN4a Whitley IV and V, Manchester I and IA, Stirling I, Wellington III and the FN4B Lerwick

 

FN20 was used in the Stirling, Whitley, Wellington, Warwicj, Manchester and Lancaster

 

Gondor

 

 

 

That's what I mean, Gondor. 

 

A Stirling Mk III should have the same rear turret as a Lanc.  So why doesn't my old Airfix Lanc turret come close to fitting?  I'll post pics showing what I mean this evening.

 

Rgds

 

Martin

[Fozzy]

I love this Monster aircraft!....will be watching this!

[mike romeo]

You're most welcome, Fozzy. Just don't expect realistic and to scale detail.  Or rapid progress.

 

Rgds,

 

Martin

[mike romeo]

So, here are the rear turrets.  From the kit:

 

 

. . . and the one from the previous Airfix Lancaster:

 

 

Rgds

 

Martin

 

[mike romeo]

Aaaaand, here's the latest:

 

 

 

Seams on the fuse treated.

 

 

Undercarriage put together and drying (just using attachment points as a jig, not glued).

 

Rgds,

 

Martin

[AdrianMF]

Quite a lot of Milliput! Or maybe it shows up a lot because it’s white over black. Are you going for bomb doors open?

 

Regards,

Adrian

[Gondor44]

I would just use the turret from the kit as looking at the two different turrets the mould makes got the dimensions a little bit wrong. Without a set of accurate plans or an aircraft to check the kits dimensions against there is no way of knowing which is correct.

If you did start checking dimensions you are likely to find that a whole bunch of other dimensions are wrong to a lesser or greater degree and that will lead you down a whole different kind of rabbit hole.

 

Gondor

[mike romeo]

1 hour ago, AdrianMF said:

Quite a lot of Milliput! Or maybe it shows up a lot because it’s white over black. Are you going for bomb doors open?

 

Regards,

Adrian

Hi Adrian,

 

No, there is indeed a lot of milliput on there!  

 

The bomb bay cover fits quite neatly, and detailing the interior is a step too far for me on this build so the doors will be closed.

 

Rgds

 

Martin

[mike romeo]

26 minutes ago, Gondor44 said:

I would just use the turret from the kit as looking at the two different turrets the mould makes got the dimensions a little bit wrong. Without a set of accurate plans or an aircraft to check the kits dimensions against there is no way of knowing which is correct.

If you did start checking dimensions you are likely to find that a whole bunch of other dimensions are wrong to a lesser or greater degree and that will lead you down a whole different kind of rabbit hole.

 

Gondor

Thanks, Gondor.

 

You should see the glasswork on the kit version . . .

 

I am wondering whether the FN7 had different dimensions to the FN20.  Some photos do hint at some sort of increased rear turret height beyond the fuselage top line, but they are few and far between - and it may be wishful thinking on my part.

 

Rgds

 

Martin

[Gondor44]

12 minutes ago, mike romeo said:

Thanks, Gondor.

 

You should see the glasswork on the kit version . . .

 

I am wondering whether the FN7 had different dimensions to the FN20.  Some photos do hint at some sort of increased rear turret height beyond the fuselage top line, but they are few and far between - and it may be wishful thinking on my part.

 

Rgds

 

Martin

I can't find anything in the book I previously mentioned saying that the dimentions were different. I would assume that the FN4 and FN20 turrets would be near identical as far as their external dimentions are conserned, the feed system was the main difference.

Best thing to do is to look at lots and lots of photographs as they will show any difference.

 

Gondor

[Martian]

I'm loving this build, it just oozes nostalgia and happy memories.

 

Martian 👽

[AdrianMF]

23 hours ago, mike romeo said:

So why doesn't my old Airfix Lanc turret come close to fitting?

Just use the transparency and trim off the bottom until it fits?

[mike romeo]

1 hour ago, AdrianMF said:

Just use the transparency and trim off the bottom until it fits?

Hi Adrian, 

 

I'd like to use the bottom bit as it has the gun mounts moulded in, plus some nice cartridge chutes.  I'll see if I can lose some of the height somehow, though.

 

Rgds

 

Martin