Jump to content

Bloch MB 220, France 1940, scratch conversion from Heller MB 210


Recommended Posts

Hi,

The Marcel Bloch 220 was a French modern airliner from 1937, 16 of them were constructed. Each one had individual name of French province: 

Alsace (F-AQNO), Anjou (F-AQNK), Aunis (F-AOHE), Auvergne (F-AOHD), Berry (F-AOHI), Champagne (F-AQNN), Flandre (F-AOHG), Gascogne (F-AOHB), Guyenne (F-AOHC), Languedoc (F-AQNL), Lorraine (F-AQNP), Poitou (F-AOHJ), Provence (F-AQNM), Roussillon (F-ARIQ), Saintonge (F-AOHF)  and Savoie (F-AOHH).

When WW2 started they all were impressed into military service. Mine is No 4, F-AOHD Auvergne in apearance from 1940.

Model is made using parts of Heller MB-210 Verdun and scratch parts. WIP is here

 

Here is result:

50038157327_7cbbe26582_b.jpg

50037350308_946b816dca_b.jpg

50037892571_ce3e4c9b7b_b.jpg50038157797_0a7803db08_b.jpg50037350838_93b09722ab_b.jpg50037893056_99e6c67aa9_b.jpg

50037893191_cb1ac5b89e_b.jpg

50038158322_8249c5275a_b.jpg

50037893461_0f8f84711b_b.jpg

 

Comments welcome

Regards

Jerzy-Wojtek

  • Like 36
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Proof positive that the product is greater than the sum of all those unrelated parts! Wow! That's actually a handsome twin engined aircraft, unlike a lot of French designs. Truly a labor of love, and you should be proud of the finished model! 👍

Mike

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Vinnie said:

Nice MB, Jerzy. How did you get on with the fit of the windows? I'm struggling with an MB200. The fit of most parts is not good and the clear parts are truly terrible.:headbang:

Here, in scratch  build of fuselage of MB 220 I used a trick - the whole set of windows is a clear styren sheet and separate windows are made just by masking. This makes sure alignment which is difficult to get when you glue separate windows one by one.  I did MB 200 (as well as 210) many years ago (both are on RFI). In many cases the fit of separate windows causes troubles.  If I may suggest what I would try now is to use Tamiya tape strip (~2 mm wide) from outside of fuselage for temporary positioning all windows, when you get all in one surface checked by reflections - gently fix windows position using tinny droplets of CA (or even better by clearfix - but in that case left it for two days to dry before removing tape) . 

Wulfman, Beard, Chris, Mike, Jon, Vinnie - many thanks for your comments.

Regards

J-W

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Miguel, many thanks. That is true, that MB 220 is not very popular, however the French prime minister Eduard Daldier went to Munich to sign pact with Hitler on board of this type, so it must be consider a prestige one.

Here more on real thing

https://www.dassault-aviation.com/en/passion/aircraft/civil-bloch-aircraft/mb-220-221/

Regards

J-W

 

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great model and interesting subject!

It looks strange for the pre war French machine. Rounded engine nacelles and not square fuselage is not something you expect seeing Bloch or other French manufacturers names :)

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 6/24/2020 at 10:01 PM, Dennis_C said:

Great model and interesting subject!

It looks strange for the pre war French machine. Rounded engine nacelles and not square fuselage is not something you expect seeing Bloch or other French manufacturers names :)

Dennis - thank you!.

To be honest, many airplanes from early thirthies were very ugly, not only the Bloch one. The Mb220, although based on late variant of ugly bomber MB210 showed directions where engeneers of designers bureau of Marcel Bloch go. It has many common things with Bloch 131. I used some resin copies of parts from Mach 2 kit of Bloch 131 in this build.  

 

 

I forgot to add, in first post that there are kits  of MB 220 (resins in 1/72 and 1/44 - https://www.scalemates.com/pl/topics/topic.php?id=53494  )

and my choice of scratch conversion was a kind of challenge I wanted to try.  To be frank, maybe this was a question of beeing a bit stingy.... :)

Cheers

J-W

 

 

Edited by JWM
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jerzy, a cracking result there and a very attractive subject compared to the starting point of the conversion the MB210!

 

Very well done!

 

Do you think you could be persuaded do something similar for the French Fancy 2 GB?

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wez, thank you very much. I am actually intending to do series of 10 French airplanes, so far three (two Mureaux and MB 220) are done, currently I am playing with conversion of Potez 540 into Potez 651 machine. But it is advanced maybe more the required for GB build 25%. How about another airliner in war time scheme? - the Dewoitine 338 (Broplan vacu). I have to look for GB what are the dates and other stuff...

Regards

J-W

P>S>

I 've just looked at GB and it is only restricted to Heller, am I right?

Still I have some Heller kits in stash (Leo 451, MS 230, MS 225) so there is something to go in...  Not too big choice anyway.

 

Edited by JWM
added PS
Link to comment
Share on other sites

41 minutes ago, JWM said:

Wez, thank you very much. I am actually intending to do series of 10 French airplanes, so far three (two Mureaux and MB 220) are done, currently I am playing with conversion of Potez 540 into Potez 651 machine. But it is advanced maybe more the required for GB build 25%. How about another airliner in war time scheme? - the Dewoitine 338 (Broplan vacu). I have to look for GB what are the dates and other stuff...

Regards

J-W

P>S>

I 've just looked at GB and it is only restricted to Heller, am I right?

Still I have some Heller kits in stash (Leo 451, MS 230, MS 225) so there is something to go in...  Not too big choice anyway.

 

Hi Jerzy,

 

There are two GBs, there's one already scheduled for this year and that's the Heller Classic GB, all of the subjects you mentioned would be very welcome in that.

 

Then there's the French Fancy 2 GB which is a proposal that's in the bunfight for a slot for next year, your Dewoitine 338 would fit in nicely to that GB if it gets through the poll.

 

Your participation in either or both would be very welcome.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

OK, now I understand. Few days ago I had cut out Dewoitine 338 parts from vacu plate so I will go with it now, but still I have some French machines to go with them in GB...

Thank you for invitation for GB :)

Regards

J-W

 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...