Valom 1/72 Handley Page Harrow Mk II heavy night bomber

[AltcarBoB]

It is a very nice kit of a plane that the big manufacturers probably wouldn't touch with a 1/72 scale barge pole. I built the Sparrow ambulance plane version last year.

 

The undercarriage legs in the kit are horrible and flimsy so I scratch built new legs and struts from plasticard and brass rod. Not entirely to the original design but I wanted something that was sturdy, sat level and looked good from a viewing distance. 

[TheyJammedKenny!]

Very nice!  I might have joined the wings and landing gear struts before painting the fuselage, but that's just me.  It's cool to see how many ways you can work this with excellent results.  It looks like an ungainly aircraft, but nothing like what the French were using at the time--Farmans and such.  Alex T.

[adey m]

6 hours ago, AdrianMF said:

Strange that they had both this and the Bombay in the RAF at the same time. I find it hard to tell them apart!

That's easy Adrian, one was a bomber transport and the other was a transport bomber .................... simples

 

regards, adey

[adey m]

3 hours ago, AltcarBoB said:

The undercarriage legs in the kit are horrible and flimsy so I scratch built new legs and struts from plasticard and brass rod. Not entirely to the original design but I wanted something that was sturdy, sat level and looked good from a viewing distance. 

We are on the same thinking matey

[adey m]

So once the tailplanes had set I decided to fit the vertical stabilisers..........OH DEAR .........they do not fit, their concave bottom edge does not match the aerofoil section of the tailplanes ............... is it me, have I stuck the tailplanes on upside down, no, they do not fit underneath either, mmmmm, so how am I going to fix this ............

 

 

I fixed it like this

 

 

here we have the offending stabilizers with my plasticard strips waiting to set before the carvery starts ............ I'm getting hungry now

 

So what shall I do while they set, have a cup of tea, yes, then what, I know, let us talk about another blooper with the kit, the mid upper or dorsal turret ...........

 

 

 

From all the photograhic evidence it appears to me that the dorsal turret was an Armstrong Whitworth one just like that fitted to the Avro Anson, and there are plenty of photos of them on the web, like that above, so why has Valom gone and got the framing and gun slot wrong on both the turret options in the kit. The kit provides one with an open ' slot ' and a supposedly closed one. However, the ' slot ' tapers to a point at the top so it is an upside down V shape ............ I have drawn it below and how I tried to correct it

 

 

so I have had to use a bit of artistic license to correct it

 

I have decided that I cannot use Valom's turret,  what is PANTS in Czech I wonder. It will probably translate as " your turret is a pair of chinos ".

Airfix could do a convincing AW turret on their Anson way back in 1962 and yet Valom cannot, even with all the readily available references online.

 

I had a good carving session with the stabilisers and got them to fit. Then it was PAINTING time .......................time to grab a big brush

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 4, 2020 by adey m

[Heather Kay]

Nice save on the turret. I had similar issue with a vac form turret on an Airspeed Oxford.

[adey m]

I can hear popcorn ..........................is that you Martian ................... dammit

Edited May 1, 2020 by adey m

[adey m]

1 hour ago, Heather Kay said:

Nice save on the turret

Thanks Heather, I found an AW turret from an old Airfix Anson in my spares ............. hooray..................it is too small ...................boo

[Aeronut]

Quote

Note also how polished the wheel spats are, I have noticed this on other Harrows too, maybe to do with RAF Bull and polishing ones boots.

I doubt it has anything to do with spit and polish. Those spats are sat beneath radial engines and would catch any drips of oil. The 'Erks' would wipe the oil off the spats but it would still end up leaving a nice shine.

Look at photos of the wheels of parked WW2 bombers and you will see the oil drips on the tyres or the tyres covered to keep the drips off the rubber.

Aircraft engines had (still have) a total loss oil system.  If they don't drip, its an indication they need filling up.

[adey m]

 

Two coats of Humbrol Matt 119 Light Earth applied overall first by big brush, then, after studying many photographs to try and ascertain if the Valom colour painting guides were accurate or not, I then committed to brush painting Humbrol Matt 30 Dark Green camouflage over the Light Earth.

 

 

The problem for me is that if you compare the camouflage patterns on the two kit options you will see that they are not the same, and I thought that camouflage patterns were applied in the factory to a strict agreed pattern.

There would usually be two different patterns applied to production batches in the factory, but they were actually the same pattern only in reverse on some aircraft, or Mirror Camouflage effect.

But these are not Mirror patterns, as the waves flow the same way on both aircraft. So what is going on, have Valom made one up or were there some odd patterns applied to some aircraft.

 

 

In this line up of Harrows we can see examples of Mirror Camouflage. The nearest aircraft is different to the one immediately behind it and you can see there are two different patterns amongst them.

Compare the patterns on the tailfins of the nearest two aircraft, you can see that they are the same, just swapped around.

 

 

On this aircraft the nose is earth colour. The nose should be green on the other side so there should be a demarcation somewhere, probably midway under the turret.

 

 

And then I find this photo, where the green has spread over the top of the nose, but note that otherwise the patterns on both aircraft are the same.

 

 

So my conclusion after much study is that the pattern on the 115 Squadron aircraft is correct apart from two ommissions which I have drawn in blue ink. The tail should be green around the rear turret and under the tailplanes on both sides and a wing pattern just needs extending. As for the 214 Squadron aircraft I do not know where Valom found that pattern.

 

 

Even the patterns on the spats took some working out.

 

This pattern is accurate to the best of my knowledge your Honour.

 

 

Edited May 1, 2020 by adey m

[Martian]

5 hours ago, adey m said:

I can hear popcorn ..........................is that you Martian ................... dammit

Oops! Guilty as charged, bang on the cuffs, chink, chink, I' m nicked. (again!) 

 

Martian 

[adey m]

 

One of the resin Bristol Pegasus XX 925 hp engines in position. Each cylinder required a valve sleeve adding to its front which the builder has to scratchbuild.

 

 

Assembled cowling ready to be installed over the engine. With a layer of paint inside the cowling and on the engine cylinders the fit of the cowling over the engine is snug enough so as not to require any glue.

 

 

With not being glued to the engine the cowling can be adjusted to suit.

 

 

Just like on the real aircraft you can see past the engine cylinders through the cowling.

 

 

a little teaser

Edited May 2, 2020 by adey m

[adey m]

 

Now to get the night black undersurfaces painted

 

 

Deciding to fit the aileron mass balances at this stage would prove a mistake as both got knocked off later, but luckily the carpet monster went hungry ...............

[adey m]

 

The four undercarriage bracing struts still attached to the sprue.  The model is now suprisingly heavy and these kit struts just do not look up to the job. The kit plastic is quite soft and the struts also look a bit underscale, so I decided to find something stronger from my spares.

 

 

Here we have my replacement bracing struts on the right with the kit's struts at the top. On the left we have my replacement main legs. Brass rods drilled into the struts will locate into holes drilled at the fuselage and wings attachment points.  I have made all the replacement struts exactly the same lengths as the kit's ones ..................... what could possibly go wrong ?

 

The replacement struts originated from various 1960s and 1970s kits when plastic was harder and stronger, The main leg struts actually came from my long gone Airfix Catalina's wing bracing struts, hard and strong.

 

 

Brass rod bracing wires attached.

 

 

And so we had arrived at the stage I was worried about, the attaching of the main undercarriage.

 

It was time to do battle .......................

 

For the next hour I battled with the damn things, I would get two legs into their attachment points and then when I tried to get the third one in everything looked stressed, struts were bending or springing back out, the wheels spats were pointing all over the place except where they were supposed to and I started to despair with it. Maybe the legs were the wrong lengths.

 

And then suddenly as if by magic, the first undercarriage was all in place with the spat pointing forwards, how did I do that ...............  then I had to do it all over again .....................I thought scale modelling was supposed to be fun and relaxing ............

 

 

And finally all in place and suprisingly strong.

 

 

and now time for engine tests. Don't stand there too long ......TOTAL LOSS ENGINE OIL SYSTEM ...................

 

 

 

Edited May 4, 2020 by adey m

[Heather Kay]

Well, it worked! When I finally get to build my Sparrow (and the Bombay), I am seriously considering whether to make replacement undercarriage strutwork from brass section rather than plastic. 

[adey m]

 

The kit's faired tailwheel is far too narrow to be realistic, Valom have moulded it as though the wheel was just mounted to the spat. In reality the tailwheel would be attached to a yoke as usual and the fairing would surround both.

To widen the spat I glued shaped plasticard to each side. When set I filed and sanded them to shape and ended up with something that looks like the rear end of a Vespa scooter ..........................

 

 

That's more convincing I think.

Edited May 2, 2020 by adey m

[Pete in Lincs]

It looks good up on it's legs, Adey. Good idea to have the Erk on standby, just in case.

 

BTW, The difference between the Harrow and Bombay, One of them has better curries.

[adey m]

 

Small window added in front of windscreen.

 

 

Glazing for portholes above fuselage done with Humbrol Clearfix.

 

 

 

Cables for the two levers which were mounted on the cockpit roof, don't know what they were for, possibly for propeller pitch ?

 

 

[Timmas]

Looks terrific. I'm also impressed by your neat and tidy workbench. Mine is often like that at the start of a new build but within five minutes or so it looks like a bomb's dropped. And it stays like until I've finished. I really must up my game...

[AdrianMF]

That is amazing! Those transparencies are so clear, and I love the scheme too.

 

Regards,

Adrian

[adey m]

 

Close up of  the widened kit's tailwheel fairing.

 

 

And then I was lucky to find this head on shot of a Harrow which illustrates the width of the tailwheel fairing.

[adey m]

 

The altered kit's dorsal turret is in the foreground. I was not happy with it, it appears to be overscale and not the right profile and dominated the upper fuselage too much,

So I decided to use the dorsal turret from an old Airfix Anson which is to the correct scale and more accurate in profile.

Firstly I had to reduce the diameter of the turret opening in the fuselage with plastic strip. Then I had to think of something to support the turret and prevent it from falling inside the fuselage, so I came up with this support structure.

The legs straddle the catwalk inside the fuselage and butt up against the rear of the bomb bay.

 

 

Ready to be installed.

 

 

Being lowered into position.

 

 

That looks better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 3, 2020 by adey m

[Martian]

Miles better Ady!

 

Martian 

[adey m]

 

Dorsal turret " borrowed " from an Airfix Anson.

[TheyJammedKenny!]

Fantastic work, and looks like she's almost done!  Great problem-solving along the way.  I must've missed it: did you clear coat this?  Your paint work is superb.