A Wonderful Wimpy

[planecrazee]

2 hours ago, Lord Riot said:

This Wellington is superb, and a brilliant interior, craftsmanship at work there! 
 

It makes me want to try some WW2 bombers myself, but the stash is already too big. If I made everything it’d fill a whole spare room. I’ll just watch yours instead, it looks a lot better than I’d manage anyway.

 

Looking forward to seeing the camo colours added.

Thanks Riot - you are definitely way too kind but your comments are very much appreciated 

I can sympathise totally about the stash - they just seem to get bigger and bigger and yet there's still more that you want - especially with the constant stream of new kits.  Well if you did fancy a bomber - I can highly recommend the Wellington.  Yeah I'm looking forward to getting the camo on to - then she'll really start to look like a representative of bomber command!

 

Kris

[planecrazee]

1 hour ago, spruecutter96 said:

Blimme! Airfix have definitely stepped up their game enormously. You're doing a great job. 

 

Thanks for sharing with us.

 

Chris.  

Thanks very much Chris - appreciate your feedback.  Yeah Airfix have done a great job with the Wellington as they have with many of their new kits - this is part of the reason I have so much in the stash because I keep buying all their new toolings!! 

 

Kris 

[planecrazee]

Afternoon BMers,

 

Hope you're all well and busy modelling away (like we have many alternatives anyway at the moment)!! 

 

Just thought I'd do a quick update on the Wimpy and where we are now.

 

From my last update - any remaining filling and sanding was done and the whole model was primed again to check all was well.  Following this I've marked out roughly in pencil where I want the camouflage scheme to be and made a start on the Dark Earth.  I'm actually using AK Real Colours for the first time with this build as I wanted to give them a go after hearing relatively good things about them and I've got to say I'm relatively impressed. It thins and sprays nicely - very Tamiya-esque and so far I'm impressed with the colours as they are meant to be accurate representations of the historical versions.  I'm also using their own brand thinners for the paints just to ensure all is well.  Then it will be on to the Dark Green.  Just for info these are RAF Dark Earth - RC287 and RAF Dark Green - RC286.

 

I've also pulled all the other miscellaneous items together which you'll see in the pics such as the Props, engine covers, spinners, wheels & undercarriage, exhausts (including drilling out the openings), bomb rack and bombs and machine gun turrets.  They're all in various states of completion but not much work to do on them.  The cowlings and exhausts are still in their primer so these will need painted up appropriately.

 

So hopefully get a bit of masking done tomorrow and then I'll be ready for the Dark Green and then it will be waiting for that to dry and masking up to finish off the black - I'm using Tamiya NATO Black XF-69 to give a much nicer 'scale' appearance to the black.

 

Then get a nice gloss coat over the whole thing to seal it because the only drawback to using Tamiya NATO Black is that it's so matt you daren't touch it or you leave a scratch!

 

Hopefully update you soon when she's looking more like a fully fledged member of bomber command - give or take a few bits and pieces that will need added/finished 

 

Hope you enjoy the pics - take care everyone and stay safe 

 

Kris

 

 

 

 

 

[modelling minion]

Just been reading through your build Kris and I am seriously impressed, both by the Airfix kit and your building and painting.

The interior is fantastic, the level of detail is excellent but its your painting that really brings it to life.

I shall be following along for the rest of the build, once you have finished your Skyhawk of course.😉

[planecrazee]

Thanks very much for your kind comments Craig - think you're being way too generous. The Wellington is on my list to get finished - just got sidelined with the GB's for Panzer III and of course the Skyhawk. There's not much left to do so hopefully I'll be able to get it completed as soon as possible and then you'll be able to see the finished product 

[Putty Animal]

Well your mojo is certainly back

[bigbadbadge]

Just caught up again and the Wellington looks wonderful can't wait to see the dark green ho on now .  Great work. 

I have finally anaged to get hold of one of these now , a bit later than everyone else but I have one!!! Don't know when i will get around to building it though!!!

Chris

[planecrazee]

7 minutes ago, Putty Animal said:

Well your mojo is certainly back

Thanks very much - got myself involved in 2 group builds as well at the moment so I'm definitely back in the saddle 

[planecrazee]

2 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

can't wait to see the dark green ho on now .  

Hey Chris - great to hear from you. The Dark Green is on - just a few bits to finish with the engine nacelles. I need to get photos up as the build had moved on since the previous pics but as I said I got distracted by 2 group builds so never got the pics up. Will definitely get another update up ASAP. Nice to hear you've managed to pick one of these up Chris - it's a great kit and you'll love it. I suggest you get it on your bench as soon as you possibly can 

[bigbadbadge]

1 hour ago, planecrazee said:

Hey Chris - great to hear from you. The Dark Green is on - just a few bits to finish with the engine nacelles. I need to get photos up as the build had moved on since the previous pics but as I said I got distracted by 2 group builds so never got the pics up. Will definitely get another update up ASAP. Nice to hear you've managed to pick one of these up Chris - it's a great kit and you'll love it. I suggest you get it on your bench as soon as you possibly can 

Excellent,  looking forward to the photos,  I have had a look and would love to start it but must get my Ventura over the line and then a couple of others first. It does certainly look like a cracking kit.

Chris

[planecrazee]

Evening BMers,

 

I promised @bigbadbadge that I'd get some photos up this evening to provide an update on where I got to with the Wimpy before I was side tracked with my 2 group builds

 

So here goes - quite a few pics so apologies, but it helps to be able to explain what's been completed to date.

 

First up here are some shots from above and from the sides of the fuselage:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So what's changed:

• The obvious thing is I've now completed the main painting and added the Dark Green and Black/Nato Black to tidy up and finish off the sides and underneath of the aircraft.  You will notice that the only thing left to paint up are the engine nacelles.  I decided to do those once in situ so I can make sure the demarcation lines between the colours all line up properly.
• The main undercarriage legs as well as the tail wheel have been added and will need washed and weathered when I get to that stage.
• Given a gloss coat and all the decals have been added 

The underside of the aircraft is looking like this:

 

 

 

 

Ignore the engine nacelles for now as I've explained - these will be black underneath and won't be staying the dark earth colour.  As mentioned above, the undercarriage, tail wheels and few decals required have all been added.

 

I've also been working on all the remaining parts of the kit which are all the smaller items and other bits and bobs that will need to be added to get her completed.  Here's the progress:

 

In the first two pics you can see the wheels (ignore the scratches - this was from needing to remove them after I put them on) - they'll get touched up again, the props (need their yellow tips) and the machine guns etc.  The glazing for the nose and tail guns still needs to be done and are pretty much the last things for me to work on.

 

 

 

Here we have the exhausts - already painted up and weathered with a bit of a worn, blackened and rusted effect...

 

 

…and last but not least the parts for the bomb bay including the bombs themselves.  Now I did a bit of research (please correct me if I'm wrong) and I believe these were 250lb General Purpose bombs.  I managed to find a couple of pics and did my best to paint and weather the bombs as such.  For a little extra detail, I've added the coloured stripes which would denote the type of bomb i.e. what was in them and that they were live etc.  This probably isn't 100% accurate but I thought it just adds a little something as the bombs would have been like this in reality and not just completely plain coloured:

 

 

So that's where I am to date.  Obviously a few jobs to do to get her finished, and then there'll be a panel line wash, flat coat and weathering to add once all the bits and pieces have been added.  I'm looking forward to removing all the masking from the glazed parts as this should really help to bring her to life.

 

Thanks for checking in and hope to have another update for you as soon as possible 

 

Best wishes

 

Kris 

[modelling minion]

Excellent work Kris.

Your painting looks superb and the attention to detail such as painting the bombs is helping to make this a stand out build.

[planecrazee]

Thank you very much for that Craig - those are very kind comments indeed 

 

I do try where possible with some extra little details where I can (as is the case with the Skyhawk build), but avoid getting too bogged down as I'm not the fastest builder in the world and getting too involved with details would mean I'd never get anything completed 

 

Kris

[bigbadbadge]

Thanks Kris, it's good to see the updated progress I must say the Welly looks great you have done a cracking job and  I do like the chipping on the bombs.  The turret details are fantastic in the kit. Great paint job too the camouflage looks fantastic .

All the best

Chris

[planecrazee]

Thanks very much Chris - your comments and feedback are very much appreciated   I said I'd get an update up for you so I did - a promise is a promise!

 

Hopefully once the shininess has gone from the model when the flat coat goes on and the weathering starts then all the paint work will start to pull together.  Always think models can look particularly stark at this point when they're shiny and the colours aren't really 'wore in' as such - don't want the showroom shine effect!!!

 

Kris

[bigbadbadge]

Thanks Kris,  yes I know what you mean , the matt varnish does tone down the paint suitably.  Great work.   I am looking forward to building mine, I have pledged other builds first though so must do those, plus I have wanted to build the next builds for ages .

Looking forward to seeing it all come together and weathering too.

Chris

[planecrazee]

I'd really like to see you start yours Chris - would be really good to see what you make of the kit too. You mention that your next build is one you've wanted to do for ages - what's it going to be - I'm intrigued now 

[bigbadbadge]

10 hours ago, planecrazee said:

I'd really like to see you start yours Chris - would be really good to see what you make of the kit too. You mention that your next build is one you've wanted to do for ages - what's it going to be - I'm intrigued now 

Hi Kris

Currently building a 48th scale Ventura TT and next will be an All yellow FAA Anson and a PRU blue Hudson. 

 

Chris 

[2996 Victor]

Hi Kris,

Just found this thread. Wow!

It's a bit late, but I'll follow along if I may, as I'd quite like to do a Coastal Command Wimpy.

Heard great things of this kit, and your build bears that out.

Interior is fantastic, and the camo is looking great.

Next instalment eagerly awaited!

Cheers,

Mark

[planecrazee]

Thanks very much indeed for the kind comments Mark 

It is a fantastic kit and I bought this version before the coastal command version was released otherwise I would have probably gone for that. The wimpy, in particular, looks great in that sheme so hopefully you'll be able to do it. Will try to get another update out as soon as possible but my bench is currently occupied by models for GBs!! 

Best wishes 

Kris