Bristol Bombay 1/72 Desert RAF Scheme - Valom Kit

[Richard Tucker]

I bought this kit a few months ago my local model shop in Ashby De La Zouch. I haven't built a Valom kit before and hadn't built a Bristol Bombay as a kid so I thought this would be an interesting plane to do. Other kits have since got in the way but this one is perfect for this MTO GB.

 

Here are some photos of what you get in the box

 

 

Instructions

 

 

Nice colour painting instructions

 

 

The instructions are quite full on... Lots of parts and not much showing you how they go together

 

 

The bag of bits

 

 

Nice looking decals

 

 

PE

 

 

Resin engines and exhausts

 

 

Clear parts

 

 

I couldn't find a mask set online so I'll do this one myself.

 

Nicely detailed parts with recessed panel lines and raised lines where necessary

 

 

 

More tomorrow when the painting and gluing starts....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[alt-92]

Yay, another Valom 3D puzzle  
As long as you're prepared for a total lack of positive locator pins and such, and don't mind testfitting too much, it's great base material to make a very nice, rare subject matter model. 

 

[JOCKNEY]

I have been trying to decide whether to build my Contrail one of these or go for this one.

I'm really looking forward to following this one.

Cheers Pat

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

3 hours ago, Richard Tucker said:

Nice colour painting instructions

 

 

Out of curiosity does the scheme call for Mid-stone or something else with the Dark earth. 

[Ozzy]

Nice edition to the group build Richard.

[Richard Tucker]

8 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Out of curiosity does the scheme call for Mid-stone or something else with the Dark earth. 

It suggests "Dark Earth" and "Pale Stone". According to the instructions, Pale Stone is  Humbrol 84, Model Master 1706, FS30266

[Graham Boak]

I suggest that the actual scheme used Light Stone, as this was an accepted colour and the painting probably preceded the introduction of Middle Stone into the Air Ministry range.  Light Stone is available from Colourcoats, and possibly other ranges as well.  Not sure how far H84 is from that - need to look it up, but probably close anyway.

[theplasticsurgeon]

Here's my Valom Bristol Bombay, built earlier in lockdown,

and my thoughts on the kit further down the thread.

Wishing you the best for it.  It looks great in the box - but is a demanding build.

[Richard Tucker]

1 hour ago, theplasticsurgeon said:

Here's my Valom Bristol Bombay, built earlier in lockdown,

and my thoughts on the kit further down the thread.

Wishing you the best for it.  It looks great in the box - but is a demanding build.

Thanks for the link. I can see why the landing lights were lost in the wing. There is very little for them to stick to. If I can achieve something half as good as yours I will be happy.

[alt-92]

On the Hampden I did for the BoB GB, I boxed off the landing light hole with thin plasticard, and added slices of transparent sprue (runner actually) as lights.
 

[Prenton]

You might be interested in this build, by CedB, last year:-

 

 

 

[CedB]

Thanks Prenton for the link  

Good luck with this one Richard. As others have said, Valom kits can be a challenge but they do provide interesting subjects so they're worth the effort IMHO.

Following along if I may.

[Richard Tucker]

Some progress over the last few days. I started by spraying the interior "Cockpit Green" which I (maybe incorrectly) assumed was the Duck Egg Green I've used on other RAF planes of the same era (Vallejo 71009).

 

I then started the eyeball busting task of painting and sticking the PE to the various small bits of cockpit plastic. I have not looked at the build thread by @Prenton. The cockpit PE on that thread is way better than mine but I'm happy with what I've got so far. The only thing that has beaten me were the throttle levers. They are too small for me.

 

The seatbelts were painted beige and steel and the attached to the 2 seats although I expect one will be hidden.

 

 

 

 

 

The radio compartment shelf wasn't my finest hour as my eyeballs were tired after sticking the tiny PE on the radio instruments. I've checked through the window and you can't see anything (as per @theplasticsurgeon's comments above).

 

The rear panel of the cockpit needs a little filling and painting and the panels on the side of the fuselage need some painting too.

 

I did try dry fitting the 2 halves of the fuselage together. It reminded me I needed to buy some bananas..... It meets in the middle but both the tail and nose are out by a few mm. Hopefully nothing that a bit of glue and tape won't be able to fix.

[Richard Tucker]

Does anyone have tips for replacing 2 tiny glazed windows that went pinging across the room and are now lost 😔

 

They are the 2 very small windows at the front of the right half of the fuselage. 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

How about these ? 
 

https://www.amazon.com/Pacer-Canopy-Glue-Flexible-2oz/dp/B0006O8EVM

 

https://www.bluerailhobbies.com/products/100-460-114?variant=31388371550267&cmp_id=10365579109&adg_id=109914736784&kwd=&device=m&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI7cnbiu_u7AIVRvDjBx1HNwFQEAQYDyABEgLVmvD_BwE

 

https://www.amazon.com/Testor-Model-Master-Cement-Window/dp/B0006NDZDU

Edited November 6, 2020 by Corsairfoxfouruncle

[JWM]

31 minutes ago, Richard Tucker said:

Does anyone have tips for replacing 2 tiny glazed windows that went pinging across the room and are now lost 😔

 

They are the 2 very small windows at the front of the right half of the fuselage. 

Use a glue like Clearfix by Humbrol  to fill the window opening then left overnight to get nice window.

All small windows here

 

or here

are made by such simply trick

Regards

J-W

 

 

 

[CedB]

Nice work Richard  

 

I can second J-W's suggestion to use Clearfix and it should be easy to source in the UK. There's a good tutorial here.

I've used it on several models and, as long as you wipe it around the hole first and then pull it across, it works a treat.

[Graham Boak]

But is this any improvement over Xrystal Klear as described elsewhere?  Certainly I would use KK for small windows such as this, but the method does not work for larger ones.  Even for smaller ones, the difficulty is maintaining a constant thickness to the transparency.

[JWM]

I think they are equal. Since it fix by evaporation the thickness is larger on borders then in middle a kind of concave happens. On small windows it is not important.

Regards

J-W

 

[DaveyGair]

Watching with interest as I have this kit.  Like everyone has said, test fit, test fit and test fit again!

I use Krystal Klear for small windows rather than the kit parts sometimes.

 

Best of luck.

 

Davey.

[Richard Tucker]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I spent another hour on the floor greatest and the floor monster gave up one of the windows. I will look into getting some clear fix. 

[dogsbody]

Also don't follow their engine painting guide. It's wrong. 

 

 

 

Chris

[Richard Tucker]

After another period of wrestling with the bits of fluff on the floor, I have both windows. I also have some clearfix on order. I'm not happy with a couple of the windows so will try to make some new ones from Clearfix.

 

I left the fuselage work for a little while and turned my attention to the engines. I began to trim off the excess resin and snapped off one of the branches of the engine. This is a gift that keeps giving

 

 

I left that to glue and started on what previous modelers have described as the exercise bicycles. I can see why. The instructions in this area are just wrong. It doesn't correctly describe where to put a couple of the parts and would have left them off if it hadn't been for the advice in the build thread.

 

 

Finally I popped to Aldi for some essential shopping and came back with 3 non essential Airfix kits for £4.99 each 

 

 

 

Edited November 9, 2020 by Richard Tucker

[CedB]

Good work on the bikes Richard  

 

That engine's a pain - looks like a casting bubble eh? Pleased you've sorted it.

[Richard Tucker]

While I wait for the clearfix to be delivered, I decided to continue with the engines. The parts just don't fit.

 

 

The engine part is too large for the cowling. I trimmed the edges of the cylinders down a little snapping another of the cylinders off once again

 

Once the trimming was complete, the engine does fit into the cowling and the ring on the front of the engine fits well on the cowling. The next step is to trim the plastic nub off the wing assembly otherwise, the engine will be very proud from the wing.

 

The next issue is with the tail assembly. The tail strut is far too short to fit between then the holes marked on the vertical and horizontal tail planes.