Vulcanicity's Whitley

[Vulcanicity]

Here's my first COVID lockdown build 😷🤒. I have a peculiar affinity for the Whitley (perhaps I am a lumbering, oddly-shaped, relatively mediocre performer myself?) and was absolutely over the moon when Airfix brought out their kit a few years back - it knocks the Frog and Fly efforts out of the park and generally goes together very nicely with few fit problems. There is a bit of a step in the fuselage sides above the wing if you follow Airfix's complicated recommended assembly sequence - but as I discovered it is possible to construct the fuselage in its entirety before attaching to the wing/centre section, which makes it much easier to eliminate the step by clamping the sides as they dry (or inserting a spacer if you prefer).

 

This is my attempt at representing my all-time favourite individual Whitley subject: T4131 EY-W of 78 Squadron, RAF based at Middleton St George in 1941. Aftermarket additions include the Eduard Zoom interior set (I know it's there...), resin 500lb bombs from CMK (I was feeling lazy), and the Xtradecals set. From the latter set I replaced the serials (the digit styles were not quite right), and the upperwing roundels, as I am led to believe that the supplied 75-inch variety are only correct for early Whitley Vs which came off the production line at Baginton with four-colour Type A1 roundels, which were then overpainted to Type B. I replaced with 84 inch roundels which better matches archive photos of later Whitleys.

 

I am aware that T4131 had a non-standard proportion A1 type roundel on the fuselage (narrower yellow ring) - I would normally replicate this by overlaying different sizes of Type A and A1 but I couldn't think of how to do so while replicating the dulled-down grey centres, so I left it as is. I have literally just noticed that the real aircraft had the bomb tally in a continuous line not in groups of five bombs as Xtradecal would have it! Grrrrr....

 

I added a fair bit of internal scratchbuilding to the turrets, both to replicate extra details and to allow training and elevation of the guns. This is mostly because I am a 12-year old modeller trapped in a 30 year old modeller's body 🙃, but it turns out to have a valuable practical application - the Whitley fits inside my display cabinet with a gnat's hair to spare - but only with the rear turret trained sideways!

 

I also added a few minor bits of external scratchbuilding which Airfix missed (two small vents/scoops on the port nacelle, a pole aerial under the rear fuselage and a vent on the spine aft of the DF loop acorn.

 

Paint is Humbrol 33 from a rattlecan (although largely overpainted with Revell Aqua due to a varnish near-disaster), with an eye-balled mix for the leading edge de-icer paste (it's called "Kilfrost! How wonderful is that?!) I have attempted an artist's impression of the heavy exhaust staining seen on this machine but I have erred on the side of caution rather than overdo it.

 

My thanks to @dogsbody for finding conclusive photographic evidence for black wheel bays and bomb bays, to @vildebeest for info on the roundel sizes, and @Rabbit Leader, @Graham Boak, @72modeler (among others) for entertaining discussion on the colour of Kilfrost here.

 

Photos!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Heather Kay]

Splendid work. It looks rather menacing in overall black.

 

Just one point, though. Have you stuck the undercarriage doors on the right way round?  

[Cookenbacher]

That is super cool Phil.

[Vinnie]

That is a very impressive model, Phil. I'm especially impressed with the canopy/turret paintwork. Is there a masking set for it or did you do it yourself?

[Vulcanicity]

1 hour ago, Heather Kay said:

Splendid work. It looks rather menacing in overall black.

 

Just one point, though. Have you stuck the undercarriage doors on the right way round?  

Damn!

[dogsbody]

Very nicely done! I didn't even notice the u/c doors until Heather mentioned it. I like how the turrets rotate. It give a different look that that straight fore and aft you usually see. 

 

 

 

Chris

[Heather Kay]

10 minutes ago, Vulcanicity said:

Damn!

Don’t be too hard on yourself. I made the same mistake on mine!

[JohnT]

Wouldn’t have noticed the u/c doors myself. Lovely build. Bravo 👏 

[binbrook87]

That is very nice indeed. Black isn't an easy colour to work with... but the subtle weathering you've achieved is superb 👍

[DaveyGair]

2 hours ago, Heather Kay said:

Splendid work. It looks rather menacing in overall black.

 

Just one point, though. Have you stuck the undercarriage doors on the right way round?  

Note to self, don't glue the undercarriage doors on the wrong way round when building my two Airfix V's and Fly Mk III.

 

Really nice build and finish. For Black I use 'Ultimate' black primer, always gives a smooth finish.

 

 

Davey.

[72modeler]

I don't usually care for aircraft in overall black, but your Whitley is an exception- that is one handsome brute and FWIW, I think you have portrayed the anti-icing paste perfectly- no mean feat in 1/72 scale...I'm not worthy! Would you consent to sharing your materials and technique, as I would like to try to come close to what you have done. Yowzah!  I am overwhelmed to be mentioned along with Dave, Graham, and Chris...you made my day!

Mike

Edited May 29, 2020 by 72modeler
corrected spelling

[RMCS]

Lovley 

[Baldy]

Lovely looking Whitley Phil - looks great. I like the fact that you have not tried, like so many people do, to make it "scale black" which usually to my eye looks - er - well grey usually. 

 

Cheers

 

Malcolm

[Jonners]

That's impressive - very nicely done. 

Jon

[Murdo]

Cracking job!

 

It's got a really stubborn, determined look to it. Those wings look huge.

[Rabbit Leader]

Lovely work all round. That’s turned out beautifully and top marks for getting both a convincing black finish and that kill frost colouring. Love it!

Cheers and well modelled.. Dave 

[SAT69]

Good looking model. I like the "used" look; very convincing.

[dogsbody]

3 hours ago, 72modeler said:

I don't usually care for aircraft in overall black, but your Whitley is an exception- that is one handsome brute and FWIW, I think you have portrayed the anti-icing paste perfectly- no mean feat in 1/72 scale...I'm not worthy! Would you consent to sharing your materials and technique, as I would like to try to come close to what you have done. Yowzah!  I am overwhelmed to be mentioned along with Dave, Graham, and Chris...you made my day!

Mike

 

Yes! What Mike said. Please share how you did the Kilfrost and your weathering. 

 

 

 

Chris

[woody37]

All black is hard to get right, but you've delivered! Gorgeous build, love how you've painted the de-icing paste, it looks real

 

[Wulfman]

A black beauty ! Great modelling.

 

Wulfman

[Bangor Lad]

Great work! Always difficult to pull off a monochrome scheme but you've done a great job.

[Michael51]

A brilliant piece of work,

 

Michael

[adey m]

16 hours ago, Heather Kay said:

Have you stuck the undercarriage doors on the right way round?  

 

Just like Airfix Humbrol did ...................... 🤪

[Vulcanicity]

Gee, thanks everyone! The positive comments are much appreciated

I shall attempt to fix the U/C doors - definitely a case of not reading the instructions properly! I am so used to the "standard" aft-retracting style of undercarriage (as per Lancaster, Halifax, Mosquito etc) that I completely failed to notice that the position of the spars in the Whitley mean that the undercarriage hinges forward at the "knee" and therefore the wheel recess is at the front of the doors!

 

On 5/29/2020 at 10:24 PM, Baldy said:

Lovely looking Whitley Phil - looks great. I like the fact that you have not tried, like so many people do, to make it "scale black" which usually to my eye looks - er - well grey usually.

Thanks Malcom! It's probably more a lack of skill and experience in painting than a matter of personal preference, although I suppose I've always thought the "scale colour" effect is so subtle that it's not worth trying to replicate. That, and a coat of matt varnish tends to lighten colours nicely anyway.

 

On 5/29/2020 at 9:00 PM, 72modeler said:

 Would you consent to sharing your materials and technique, as I would like to try to come close to what you have done.

 

On 5/30/2020 at 12:18 AM, dogsbody said:

Yes! What Mike said. Please share how you did the Kilfrost and your weathering.

Thanks both! The exhaust staining (and the weathering/finishing in general) replicates what I tried on this Defiant a few years back but on a larger scale. I use a roughly 1:1 mix of Dark earth and Medium Sea Grey (Humbrol Acrylics) to get a washed out greyish beige, which seems to me to be the usual effect of hot exhaust gases on a black aircraft. Then it's simply a case of drybrushing with sweeping strokes over the main areas, trying to replicate the effect of the airflow.

 

I have a few tricks for drybrushing, learnt over quite a few years. The first is to leave off exhaust stubs/pipes until after this process to allow you to get a even finish around this area. The next is to cultivate a specialist drybrushing brush (or several, of different sizes). Mine is a knackered old watercolour brush, with fluffy split ends and curled bristles - the more beaten up the better I find - as long as it started off as a fine, high-quality brush!  I start by wiping the brush dry on a convenient object (invariably the back of my left hand) until it is depositing no visible fresh paint with further wiping. Then I start on the kit, building up the faint dust of colour with successive strokes. I try to make sure that I concentrate around the exhaust port when I've just prepared the brush, then as the colour added gets fainter and fainter I cover the areas further away to get the fading.

 

The Kilfrost is an off-the cuff colour mix using Humbrol Acrylics - I've already forgotten the precise mix but it was roughly 7:3 Hu24:Hu78 I think, with a dash of Hu165 Medium Sea Grey to dull the mustardy hue. It's applied in much the same way as the exhaust staining, except that I used a strip of Tamiya tape  to mask, placing it along the first parallel panel line back from the leading edge, which matches photos showing the area the stuff was applied. As I understand it the real paste tended to gradually flake off in the slipstream and needed reapplying occasionally, so I drybrushed backwards from the leading edge on both sides to give a patchy effect. Looking for a wetter, streakier, less smooth effect I wiped the brush on my left hand much less extensively so there was more on the brush when applied to the model.

 

As you can image, after doing the weathering on this model my left hand looked like it had a dose of some terrifying skin disease.

Edited June 2, 2020 by Vulcanicity

[Viking]

That is a lovely Whitley Phil, very interesting to see the 'Kilfrost' leading edges, I've learned something new there.

As for the U/C doors, lets just say they are fine. It's the aircraft itself that is pointing the wrong way!  (Easily corrected I'm sure, we've all done worse in our time)

 

Cheers

 

John