L095 (Another) Les Mureaux 117

[Johnson]

Being quite a 'creative' hobby, I find that modelling can be quite draining, sometimes hard to muster the necessary enthusiasm (or is it just my 65 years conspiring against me?)

 

Anyway, I've enjoyed three aspects of your thread Heather;

• The plane (and the kit/build). Another wonderful French design I'd never seen or heard of before.
• The beautiful 1/43rd scale GWR 2-6-2T you're making.
• And 'Fossicking'. Never heard of it before, but what a wonderful verb. Had to look it up; 'mid 19th century (referring to mining): probably from the English dialect sense ‘obtain by asking’ (i.e. ‘ferret out’).'

Your Flickr photos, website etc. are great too, I could spend ages there (but it wouldn't help me get my kits finished!)

 

Keep up the great work!

[Heather Kay]

11 minutes ago, Johnson said:

I could spend ages there

Thank you!

 

I'm beginning to feel the siren call of the Mureaux. Perhaps things will happen this coming weekend.

[Heather Kay]

Wait, what? There was a weekend? 
 

Sadly, nothing got done on the Mureaux. I haven’t been feeling the love for it, the gawky, awkward looking thing. 

[Heather Kay]

Right, now, where were we?

 

Ah, yes, I seem to recall some model aeroplane thing going on. 
 

I had some remedial airbrush work to do on the extended loco build. I wanted to get that out of the way on Christmas Eve, so it could be drying over the festive period. Only...

 

 

My Iwata Eclipse decided to stop working. I’ve had no paint before, but no air? Not a jot of air was getting to the airbrush. After some time prodding and poking, I tracked the issue down to the air inlet valve, but no amount of cleaning solved it. I guess the tiny little O-ring at the top of the valve needs replacing, though I can’t actually see anything wrong with it.

 

Bother. I had expected to be using the airbrush over Christmas on the Mureaux. Double bother.

 

Hairy stick it is, then.

 

 

Rather than assemble the model, then paint it, I decided to do a first coat of paint while things were still in pieces. I marked out the rather complex camo pattern with a pencil, then slapped on a first coat of ColourCoats. The upper wing looks horrible! Here, you see the underside grey has been painted, and I guess I’ll have to leave that now to dry enough for a second coat. The underwing transfers can be applied and varnished before I assemble things further, and I sort of hope to have the fuselage together later today. That will need some work on seams, so the paint will need retouching.

 

Not quite the plan as expected, but it’s been that kind of year, hasn’t it!

 

While the paint dries, I’ve got some weapons grade tidying to get on with. À plus tard, mes amis.

[Heather Kay]

 

Looking a little less like a badly blocked-in watercolour now. I don’t think the fuselage will be buttoned up today. Perhaps tomorrow, or sometime before the new year. We shall see.

 

 

[JeroenS]

It's quite the creative pattern. Good to see you back at it 🙂 

[Heather Kay]

15 hours ago, JeroenS said:

Good to see you back at it 🙂 

It’s funny sometimes how you need to step away from things you enjoy. I’d just lost the interest for a short while, but I’m getting enthused again. 
 

 

I had completely forgotten the cockpit tub assembly slotted into the fuselage after the latter was joined up. I went ahead and glued the halves together (forgetting the pilot's instrument panel entirely, but you won’t tell anyone). The seams were pretty good, which appears to be a Heller trait. I’ve done a tiny bit of sanding, and a precautionary smear of filler along the joints, but otherwise it all looks good. In typical Heller fashion of the time, the radiator was completely devoid of internal detail, with daylight aplenty. I had already decided to back the fine grille at the front with card, and while I was about it I blocked the rear vent in a similar fashion. The nose top deck and the prop fairing have been fitted, and I’m in the process of repairing and recoating paint. Oh, and the tail feathers went on, along with the tail skid. 
 

I hope to have the wing underside varnished later and apply the large number transfer there. Then it should be simply a matter of arranging the various struts and whatnot to fit the wing.

[Heather Kay]

 

That’s the third coat on. It might need another touch in here and there, but I think I’ll leave this alone now for a day or so to let the paint dry properly. Then I’ll risk a gloss coat to make it safer to handle.

 

While that goes somewhere warm to dry, I shall get on with my laundry.

 

Oh, in other news, I’ve found a source of Iwata spares. I’ll make up an order of replacement inlet valve parts during the week. They’re not going to be processed until the new year anyway, so no rush. Totting up all the bits is almost as much as a new airbrush itself! 

[Johnson]

That's coming along nicely Heather.

 

I know it's bad news about your airbrush, but would it have been any easier, or looked better, had it worked? I think the paint job looks excellent.

 

Cheers,

[Heather Kay]

19 hours ago, Johnson said:

That's coming along nicely Heather.

 

I know it's bad news about your airbrush, but would it have been any easier, or looked better, had it worked? I think the paint job looks excellent.

 

Cheers,

 

Had the airbrush worked, I may have attempted the camo freehand. I did it on my Potez 63.11 I built earlier this year with pleasing results. As it is, it’s turned out okay. A unifying matt varnish at the end will bring it all together.
 

 

Meanwhile, while paint dried, I assembled the Academy Opel Blitz fuel truck, and titivated the open I’d built a few years back. A bit of weathering and these will make nice set dressing for photos. I seconded an Airfix RAF driver for the tanker.

 

These Academy kits are superb, fit together nicely, and are well detailed for Braille scale. My only complaint is the front axle is very flimsy, and the various details around the front end susceptible to heavy handling. Overall they feel very delicate once built up. I’ve another open in the stash, which I’ll fit out with the seating.

[JeroenS]

That fueler looks great. IBG have a great range of 1/72 scale trucks, I'm working on a couple of them. 

[Heather Kay]

Suddenly...

 

 

The transfers were superb. Little in the way of carrier film, and the large underwing ones were individual pieces. Well done Heller. This bodes well for the recent copies of the Musée kits I have. I wonder if it’s worth getting that version of the Amiot, in case the Smer transfers don’t work? Hmm.

 

The only negative is the rudder stripes. I would have preferred to paint my own, with the maker and serial transfer separately applied. I’ve flooded things with Micro Sol, and they seem to be adhering well enough. The problem comes with how to trim them down to size. Not looking forward to that.

 

Anyway, once things have settled, I can matt varnish and think about the rest of the construction.

[TonyW]

Looking good there. The transformation with the third coat is remarkable and those decals look painted on.

[Heather Kay]

22 hours ago, TonyW said:

Looking good there. The transformation with the third coat is remarkable and those decals look painted on.

 

I have been very impressed by the transfers. Even the rudder markings have settled down well, and needed little actual trimming in the end. They reacted exceedingly well to Micro Sol, and conformed to every bump and rivet. Very happy.

 

 

Today I ventured back into the Covid-riddled world of humans in order to gather food for my tribe (that's me, Best Beloved and the cat). That out of the way, all safely stored, and a warming beverage consumed, I then caught up on some wider family stuff, and then it was time to eat again. I didn’t settle at the bench until early this afternoon. I brush painted a couple of coats of W&N Galeria Matt varnish, which has given the various surfaces a slightly worn but semi-matt finish. I think I’m content with it.

 

 

So to final detailing and beginning the task of mounting that huge plank of a wing to various skinny bits of plastic. Like many, I followed the instructions to assemble the main undercarriage legs - and got caught out by the instructions being back to front. The little torpedo-shaped bits where all the spindles meet should have the blunt bit to the front. Happily, the cement hadn't quite set hard when I caught it. I hope you like my ad hoc jig to hold the fuselage at a height so the legs set - hopefully! - square.

 

While the cement sets and things stop being wobbly, I shall contemplate the meaning of life for a bit.

[JeroenS]

24 minutes ago, Heather Kay said:

While the cement sets and things stop being wobbly, I shall contemplate the meaning of life for a bit.

😄

 

Please let me know if you think of anything 🙂 

[Johnson]

2 hours ago, Heather Kay said:

While the cement sets and things stop being wobbly, I shall contemplate the meaning of life for a bit.

 

When I do the same, I usually end up with a headache. Your contemplation may be healthier than mine  !

 

Your build is coming together very nicely.

[AdrianMF]

The scheme looks great - time to branch out into WWI lozenges? Airfix Hannover, just sayin’

 

Regards,

Adrian

[Heather Kay]

1 hour ago, AdrianMF said:

time to branch out into WWI lozenges?

I did think that as I was painting it. Then again, I think lozenges had gone out of fashion by 1940.

 

 

One of the known issues with this kit is the bracing struts at the bottom of the undercarriage. Essentially, the supplied V-struts are not long enough because the designers had made them attach too high up the main gear leg. With the first stage firmly attached, it was time to work out how to make new struts. I found suitable Evergreen strip in my stock, and did some measuring to work out lengths. I scraped the strip to give it more of an aerodynamic look, and spent a few minutes fiddling and faffing until the main struts were attached, like this...

 

 

Pleasingly, the slightly narrower strip is probably more representative of how the real thing looked.

 

 

Some further fiddling and faffing and I’d made the remaining struts. Some gaps due to failed angle cutting, but a smear of filler dealt with that later.

 

To give some idea of how short the kit V-struts are, I’ve laid one on my effort.

 

 

Having splodged some paint around the various struts atop the nose and around the undercarriage, it was time to attach the wing and the rear support struts. There remain two more pairs of short struts to install, paint to retouch, landing lights, bomb carriers, and the cockpit and glazing to fit, and I will be done.

 

 

[Heather Kay]

 

We are getting there. Three main items remain on the check list: landing lights, pitot tubes and bomb carriers. A job for tomorrow.

 

As you may have gathered, I’ve gone a little freelance in places. While I’ve used the camo and markings that came in the box, I’ve retained the spats because, well, spats! Who doesn’t like a plane with spatted wheels, after all? Another area I’ve gone off piste is to fit a pair of machine guns in the observer's cockpit. This was an option at the time, and I didn’t really like the look of the kit's single gun.

 

So, with a fair wind I’ll be getting gallery shots done tomorrow. 

[JOCKNEY]

Looks wonderful Heather, much bigger than I expected actually, so its going to be a great addition to your 1940 collection. 

 

Cheers Pat 

[Heather Kay]

10 hours ago, JOCKNEY said:

much bigger than I expected actually

Like the Lysander it’s deceptive. The wing is huge, probably to give it low speed landing and short take-off capabilities.

 

 

I call this done. Everything that remained to be fitted has been. Paint has been retouched as necessary, and a final coat of varnish applied. I’ll sort out gallery shots later.

 

 

[fightersweep]

Very nicely done Mureaux! It's a beastie isn't it and in the Stuka category. Fugly, but strangely attractive at the same time.

[Toryu]

Another of the uglier sort crafted into a great model. So many airplanes here that I didn't pay attention to. Thanks for showing us what was out there in the late thirties.

[Heather Kay]

Right, glamour shots done, and gallery entry posted. 
 

 

That’s me done for this group build. I set out to build three models, and succeeded with time to spare. 
 

55 minutes ago, Toryu said:

Thanks for showing us what was out there in the late thirties.

 

Thank you! It’s one of those side benefits of sticking to one year, 1940. Many pre-war designs were still in service at the stage of the conflict, and it makes things just that bit more interesting.

[PeterB]

That has come out very nicely in the end Heather.

 

I must admit one of my problems with French planes of this period is whether or not they had the big ID markings under the wings.  I believe that in the case of the single seat fighters they stopped painting them on by the time of "the Battle of France", but I belive that they did not bother repainting a lot of the existing  planes such as this one - in any case it looks good on it,

 

Up to your normal excellent standards.

 

Cheers

 

Pete