Jump to content

Ready for battle: Airfix 1/48 Hurricane, refueller, truck and ground crew.


Recommended Posts

 

On 05/09/2020 at 03:29, Peter Roberts said:

Looking forward to the refueller; I have just pulled mine out too and came across your build while Googling for info.

Hi @Peter Roberts,

Thanks for your comments. How are you getting on over there in Melbourne - is the lock down being a problem for you?

I've assembled the refueller to the point where it is ready for painting. It was very enjoyable and I do like the look of it. I thought the tyres could do with some extra tread. I have a small lathe and it was a fairly quick job to add these using a slitting disc for the narrow cut.....

 

spacer.png

 

spacer.png

 

On 31/08/2020 at 01:36, Merlin said:

get rid of the BIG MISTAKE Airfix made and give it trumpet ends to the booms with hoses coming out from within,

I chopped off the carbuncles you mentioned @Merlin and put the trumpets into the ends of the fuelling booms. This was done by first drilling a hole into the centres and then paring to shape with a scalpel. A wipe with liquid cement smoothed the surface......

 

spacer.png

 

spacer.png

 

Here is the vehicle ready for painting......

 

spacer.png

 

spacer.png

 

spacer.png

 

The Bedford MWD has also been assembled to the same stage. Here are some photos of it alongside one I had made last year....

 

spacer.png

 

spacer.png

 

spacer.png

 

Many thanks for looking and any comments much appreciated,

Cheers,

Pat

  • Like 10
Link to comment
Share on other sites


Troy says

Quote

 

ref the Albion AM463, The rear maybe in shade, but it still looks too dark for white.  (note the white on P3166) and the similarity of tone on the shaded areas of the wing underside "sky" 

EDIT - Also, note the dial faces, which I presume are white, are lighter than the inside of the compartment.

 

 

Hi Troy, the rear compartment is in fact quite deep front to back at 26.5 inches and what you see is white in great shade, the dial faces are white and they are much nearer the front at 8 or so inches inside the compartment, (no time to find my CAD of that just now) . Zwicky supplied the tank and compartment, all welded together as one unit, also booms, hoses and all items assoc with the refueling side of things. Zwicky also did the same for the towed bowser trailers such as the Brockhouse 450 gallon . I have colour photos of these, including a double page spread, obtained primarily for the photo,  in a book :-

War in the Air The Second World War in Colour IWM Ian Carter.,

pasting a link to the IWM website which also has this photo to go and look at and instead it appears here, the magic of the www ! (go to IWM to download it) . In the book the triangles and area in sun is WHITE.bought recently from The Works £6 normally £14.99 .

Navla Air Station sees another sequence and the pump compartment is white in all of them. Very white ! I also have seen inside a few as I specialise in these refuellers and again where it has the wartime paint remaining its white (or was when applied, now a bit gone off, grimy etc)

large_000000.jpg?_ga=2.191584106.1973737

 

Thanks a million for the flickr link absolutely mega, tons there I needed, Hornchurch included, even one of the E pen I am drawing up. saw a very late even meal that day as couldnt stop clicking next !

I will read thrice the green brown as it takes some studying, I was going by articles I had read which said they took paint from stores. Again I have got rare colour photos of the Brockhouses and the Albion AM463 beside aircraft and the greens and browns look same.

Is the green on the tractor above the same as on the aircraft ?

 

For some images of the Albion AM463 350 gallon see this thread and again a white compartment. I have loads more, pity image upload is not drag drop but messing about cfeating URL's which take ages.

https://hmvf.co.uk/topic/40130-bowser-pump/?tab=comments#comment-456044

 

Merlin

 

 

Edited by Merlin
add quote box
  • Thanks 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Patmaquette, I just edited the post, see the link to hmvf and what I say about images, wish you to see the stunning references I have, as you are modeller #3 to have corrected the stupid ends of the arms, Airfix egg on face. cant believe though modellers dont even spot that, even the box art has it right. and they have all sorts of internal colours. Do note hoses a grubby canvas, brass knobs inside pump, and refuelling nozzles brass. Gunze Sanyo do a fantastic buffable brass think its real.

I may have to email you my pics, far quicker than messing about with URL's.

PM me your email address.

 

Merlin

Edited by Merlin
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

A question. Am I right in assuming the entire vehicle - excluding the pumping enclosure and possibly the cab - were painted in Khaki Green 3, including the chassis? Or was the rolling chassis painted black?

 

Cheers,

Pat

Edited by patmaquette
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 9/13/2020 at 6:49 AM, patmaquette said:

A question. Am I right in assuming the entire vehicle - excluding the pumping enclosure and possibly the cab - were painted in Khaki Green 3, including the chassis? Or was the rolling chassis painted black?

 

Cheers,

Pat

At the moment I'm going with camouflage on the vehicle with matt-semi gloss black rolling chassis, as you have described, with eau de nil interior in the cab and either white or eau de nil inside the pump compartment, though the insides of the doors on the pump compartment look quite dark (?)

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Peter, eau de nil cab, WHITE pump compartment. Albion made the chassis, the RAF either themselves or using a contractor, made the cab, as the Fordson Tractor had the same cab roof design, and Zwicky made the pump compartments.  Zwicky used white in their engine area and pump area. Unless the RAF then repainted them as they liked eau de nil, and I very much doubt they repainted anything that was already finished, they would have remained white. We have to paint things in the colour they were,. If anyone can prove to me that Zwicky also decided to use eau de nil, and I cant see why they would, then I am always open to new data. Having had access to surviving examples I either see a grubby white or rust, have seen a dark green I seem to recall. I now have posted images showing the white interior in Zwicky bowsers rescued and to be restored.

Troy Smith has written of the camo colours in use for vehicles so that needs reading , what few colour pics I have of the towed bowser and the Albion AM463 show a green and brown looking very much like that on aircraft. See my posted images of these.

 

Merlin

Edited by Merlin
fresh data
  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi, now after some time, I have images in a host,

here are ORIGINAL (nor colorised) COLOUR images, and surviving bowsers, as said Zwicky painted their pump and engine compartments, and Albion painted the chassis and cab. Chassis in pics I have is somewhat muddy and brown, doubt any black is showing !

spacer.png

spacer.png

 

spacer.png

 

Dark Earth and Dark Green sampled from the book chart (paint samples) British Aviation Colours of World War Two, RAF Museum Series Vol 3 Arms and Armour Press 1976...('the bible' )

and Spitfire K9942 restored by M.A.P.S showing these colours in daylight. Colour scheme was researched in great depth by a member of Medway Aircraft Preservation Society, when I said it matches the book he said it should do, I went to a lot of trouble looking into the paints used at the RAF Museum Dept of Docs etc.

spacer.png

spacer.png

spacer.png

 

here above is the dark grren or black uppers with green lower scheme at a naval Air Station with a tatty Miles master (strewth !) and below is a later war Bellamy 900 gallon in mickey mouse uppers and a green lower colour, clearly a different green to the green/brown scheme of early war.

spacer.png

 

Fordson with a bomb train,  all Type B trolleys , such were in widespread use early years of the war.

spacer.png

Lancaster with Matador , a still from genuine COLOUR original footage.

spacer.png

 

and now the Zwicky white interiors seen on their Brockhouse 450 and 900 gallon bowsers. starting with a Brockhouse 450 gallon pump compartment.

spacer.png

and the pump compartment same type of bowser Brockworth chassis/Zwicky Pump.

spacer.png

and the Lister engine compartment in a Bellamy chassis 900 gallon Zwicky bowser

spacer.png

 

as said Zwicky used white in their pump compartments and engine compartments normally, I say normally as Duxfords Brockhouse has Dk Green walls !

 

Merlin

 

 

 

 

Edited by Merlin
add text
  • Like 1
  • Thanks 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I see from the photos that Airfix have not represented the rear wheel 'chimney pots' correctly as they are more prominent than that shallow ring they have ! Quite a distinctive feature, they were for wrapping a rope around and pulling vehicle out of trouble etc, clever ! Note the hoses also come into the pump compartment , from the pics sent. Note the leather clad boom winding handles in the roof., the bulb/light housing on lhs wall. the A.M. contents gauge on rear wall. The boom wire runs over a tall 'item' mid boom with a little wheel there trapped between tow thin plate side parts, one might wish to use brass sheet or plastic card there for finesse.

 

Merlin

  • Thanks 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wonderful information and photos there, @Merlin - many thanks!

 

Before I give an update on how the aircraft and vehicles are progressing, let me introduce the cast of players that will make up the diorama. My thoughts are to complete Airfix's "Ready for Battle" diorama in full, even though as @Kallisti mentioned early on, refuelling and re-arming would not be done simultaneously, and certainly not with the pilot scrambling into the cockpit! I will then remove elements from it to add to future builds.

 

Here are the cast of players all glued up and ready for paint......

 

spacer.png

 

spacer.png 

 

I do like the figures. They are caricatures with exaggerated poses, but good fun. They are also a tad oversize (although the seated pilot is way too small). Being 1/48 scale, a 6ft person would scale out at 1.5" or 37mm.......

 

spacer.png

 

The figures have been primered in black......

 

spacer.png

 

.... and "zenithal highlighted" with white paint directed from overhead by airbrush to leave the black base in the areas of shadow. Here are some examples of the results.....

 

spacer.png

 

spacer.png

 

Many thanks for looking!

Cheers,

Pat

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Stew Dapple said:

Looking good mate B)

 

In the split shot of the five figures I'm sure I saw Bez from the Happy Mondays at the top dancing with his steel helmet and maracas :lol:

 

Cheers.

 

Stew

I also think the figure with the tool box looks like Marlon Brando in The Godfather.

 

Pat

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Hi everyone,

 

Back to painting the two vehicles: Albion refueller and Bedford MWD.

 

Following Merlin's guidance, I painted the pump compartment of the Albion in white. Or rather, I undercoated it with a light neutral grey and then applied white where the light would catch so the back of the compartment appeared shaded.....

 

spacer.png

 

The pump itself and pipework was brush painted Revell SM-363 green, as being a reasonably close match to the colour in photographs. This was followed by a wash of Citadel Athonian Camoshade. Airfix supply decals for the three metering gauges, but a couple more are needed for the back wall and so something suitable was found from the spares box....

 

spacer.png

 

A couple of reinforced hoses hoses appear in photos which are not in the kit, so these were added from copper wire bent to shape....

 

spacer.png

 

spacer.png

 

spacer.png

 

Three handles in the compartment roof were added after these photos were taken.

Once completed, the compartment was glued together and the joint filled and sanded.

 

Before laying down the main colour, I applied small strips of masking tape to represent slits in the headlight lenses and airbrushed the lamps in silver and then grey. The arrangement used in practice during the war was most likely more complicated than this (going by what I found Googling)...

 

spacer.png

 

spacer.png

 

spacer.png

 

Having mentioned "zenithal priming" above for undercoating the figures, I took the same approach for the vehicles. First off, each was airbrushed in a dark brown enamel paint mix of Humbrol 29 Dark Earth and 104 Oxford Blue. Humbrol 93 Desert Yellow was then airbrushed from above to place a lighter tone over the upwardly facing surfaces. This was feathered into the dark undercoat around the curved tank using the airbrush so the transition wasn't too sharp....

 

spacer.png

 

spacer.png

 

The wheel hubs were given the same treatment, taking care to ensure they were correctly orientated for light and shade effects.

 

The Khaki Green 3 finishing coat was mixed from 5 parts Humbrol 155 Forest Green to 1 part 10 Service Brown (thanks once again to Mike Starmer for his recipe). This was airbrushed over the top sides of the vehicles. Light coats were applied to build up the colour trying not to obliterate the pre-shading. 

The Dark Green G4 was brush painted using Vallejo 70.893 US Dark Green (I don't have the 70.986 German Dark green Mike Starmer suggests, but the 70.893 looks reasonably okay to my eye). 3 or 4 coats were applied to build up the colour.....

 

spacer.png

 

spacer.png

 

Nooks and crannies were brushed with a dark coat mixed from burnt umber and indigo oil paints and left to dry fully. The vehicles were given an acrylic gloss coat.

The tyres were airbrushed Revell 74 grey all over, followed by Xtracolor X505 Tyre Black directed from below to create a shade effect.

 

I had a lot of trouble getting the decals to settle, despite using Microset and Microsol. Tamiya X-20A acrylic paint thinner was employed for the trickiest bits.

 

spacer.png

 

spacer.png

 

The vehicles are now in final assembly and weathering. I'll post some photos once they are done.

 

Many thanks for looking!

Pat

  • Like 10
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks for your kind comments and likes everyone :thumbsup:.

After what seems an age, I have slapped some paint onto the diorama's cast of players and here they are ready for dress rehearsal. They were good fun to paint and a useful exercise as I get to learn how to paint figures with acrylics (which is proving a long journey!).

Everything is now coming together and should be done before the clock runs down at the end of the month.

 

Here are some piccies. Please be kind - the figures are small and so the photos enlarge all the mistakes!.....

 

spacer.png

 

spacer.png

 

spacer.png

 

spacer.png

 

spacer.png

 

spacer.png

 

spacer.png

 

spacer.png

 

spacer.png

 

spacer.png

 

spacer.png

 

Many thanks for looking and any comments would be most welcome!

Cheers,

Pat

  • Like 8
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd say you've pretty much nailed your figure painting Pat, nice work - painting the eyes on a 1/48 figure is as good a test of eyesight and steadiness of hand* as any I can think of! Some of the highlights perhaps look a little bold in the pictures, but given that the pictures are, what, four times the size of the originals, it may be simply an effect of enlargement. In any case I could not approach that level of quality of work and you should be very pleased with those results B) 

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

 

* And sanity, of course :D 

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you @Stew Dapple. Yes, I have given the figures bolder highlights than I would do normally, but I think they should work well on the diorama at this small scale. I also treated them somewhat as caricatures as their poses and expressions are exaggerated, but there is a surprising level of fine detail in them which becomes apparent when you paint them. Kudos to Airfix as I really like what they have done and are great fun.

 

A few words and photos about the Albion refueller now. The left rear door has instructions for operating the refueller and it would have been nice to have this as a decal. I made mine from a rectangle of white decal with some stencil decals from the spares box applied on top. These were sealed under a coat of Klear before a some Citadel Agrax Earthshade diluted in equal parts was washed over to dull them down a smidgen.....

 

spacer.png

 

spacer.png

 

The convoluted filling hose needed some time to clean away the moulding seams. I airbrushed this mid grey all over before shading with Tyre Black directed from the inside, followed by a wash of Citadel Nuln oil. The end connections were painted brass, washed with Citadel Seraphim Sepia and highlighted with AK True Metal brass which gives a lovely lustre.....

 

spacer.png

 

spacer.png

 

Here are a couple more photos of the cab before the roof was glued on. I used clear plastic sheet rather than the moulded windows supplied in the kit....

 

spacer.png

 

spacer.png

 

I have also replaced the moulded fuel delivery hoses with ones bent from copper wire.....

 

spacer.png

 

These have been painted a dirty canvas colour.

 

I've started work on the base and will post some photos of that next.

 

Many thanks for looking,

Cheers,

Pat

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have cut bases for the 1/48 Hurricane diorama and the 1/72 Spitfire from a sheet of MDF. The Spitfire base is identical to bases I have made in the past for Spitfire models: the curved shape being inspired by the elliptical profile of the aircraft's wings. Here it is before painting....

 

spacer.png

 

For the Hurricane diorama base, I started by positioning the models over a sheet of paper. A curve was drawn around (a flexible ship curve that gets used about once every ten years proved useful to get a smooth shape).

 

spacer.png

 

The board was cut to shape, sanded and the edges sealed with a couple of layers of acrylic varnish.

Items were positioned on the bases and patches sketched on for areas of shadow. These were airbrushed Humbrol 98 Chocolate.....

 

spacer.png

 

spacer.png

 

spacer.png

 

spacer.png

 

Humbrol 103 Cream was added to the residues of H98 in the airbrush paint cup to give a pale dried soil colour for spraying around the edges of the bases and lighter areas - such as the foreground and each side of the fuselage by the cockpit - places where you want the viewers eye drawn to. Remaining areas were filled in with a mix of H103, H98 and H62 leather as a medium shade.

 

Here are the painted bases ready for static grass to be laid on (hopefully delivered tomorrow)....

 

spacer.png

 

spacer.png

 

spacer.png

 

spacer.png

 

spacer.png

 

Many thanks for looking 🙂

Cheers,

Pat

 

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is all looking great Pat! I like the painting of those figures - they are small and you have done some very fine work there. Some very innovative work on those bases too! Notes being taken! :) 

Edited by Peter Roberts
  • Thanks 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...