Modelhobby/FROGSpawn Whitley - KUTA with a slightly different slant - Finished

[AdrianMF]

I have - er - a fair-sized shelf of shame but this one is a bit different. A few years ago, I managed to get a bagged Whitley, moulded by Modelhobby (edit: "Meritko" means scale in Czech!)  from the original FROG moulds, for around a tenner. I started it slightly, thought about the amount of work that would be involved to make a "proper" Whitley from it, and pushed it to the very back of my Shelf of Shame, thinking that even for me it was too much work! 

 

I've just managed to snag an Airfix Whitley for under twenty quid on the bay, so the FROGspawn is now redundant. There's no part of it that I would even want to turn up in my spares box, so my first inclination was to toss it, but then I though I might as well try to make it like an old time Saturday Special - finish in a weekend with no modifications, no improvements. So this is just for fun!

 

The list of inaccuracies and crudities in this kit is long, and covers just about everything. On the plus side, it was the only injection Whitley on the market from 1972 to the Fly kit in the early 2000s. Thanks to that unique position it has always commanded a second hand price well beyond its intrinsic merits.

 

I took a picture of the parts when I first contemplated building it, but I can't find it, so here's one I found on the web:

 

This is late-ish FROG (1972), and I'm afraid that at this late stage their toolmaking had become quite crude; I initially blamed the weird ivy-like runners into the parts on post-FROG modifications, but they were there from the first FROG release. Compare and contrast this tooling to FROG greats. like the Master, Blenheim or Swordfish.

 

So I've let my inner ten-year-old out to play today, and he's delighted because he never got to build kits this big! Here's where he got to:

 

Note the spreadeagled bomb aimer! I might have to put the rest of the crew in and see if I can fudge up a wheels-up option. So tomorrow it will all get some sanding and filling and paint!

 

Regards,

Adrian

 

 

 

[jean]

Hi Adrian,

I never thought the Frog Whitley was so bad... I remember a friend of mine building the ASW version with aerials all over the fuselage top, and I was impressed!

I cannot see your photos... Only URLs and when I click on them, still nothing...

Is it me? Or is it you?

 

Cheers

 

JR

[AdrianMF]

6 hours ago, jean said:

JR

Hi Jean. I hope you can see the pictures now - I can see them from here. I think the postimages site gets removed from DNS or put on the naughty list by carriers quite often, so it may be that.

 

Maybe I was being a bit harsh when I implied that this is a horrible kit. It does have issues though, for sure.

 

And this marks the point where the OOB plan just falls apart... @spaddad take note!

 

The first issue that I wanted to address was the oversized Frise ailerons on the top side. I masked off the real aileron and puttied the rest with P38, then removed the tape to give a sharp line before sanding the other edges:

 

I am not going to address the undersized engine cowlings and propeller, the crudely moulded inlets and exhausts, the lack of radiator vent, or the poor and inconsistent fabric treatment on the wings and tail.

 

Next I remembered that I have a Falcon vac-form canopy set for this. This addresses the inadequacies of the kit transparencies. I’m going to crew up the cockpit and detail the front and rear turrets:

 

The tail fins are undersized too but I’m going to pretend I don’t know that

[AdrianMF]

A suitably animated crew:

 

I will have them wearing brown flying kit with yellow flotation gear, but stick to blue trousers.

[spaddad]

Hi Adrian,

you won't be surprised that I'm not surprised that the out of boxedness of the build didn't last long, I look forward to seeing just how deep this 'Saturday' build drags you in whilst all the while you are aware that lurking in the background is a state of the art Airfix job.

[theplasticsurgeon]

Oh this takes me back!   I bought a Novo Whitley from Kingkit in 1997  -  and the parts looked dreadful.

No possibility of undercarriage, or props.   Leftover decals from another bomber.

It went together quite well, leaving me surprised at how big a 'plane it is.

 

My son watching the Chicken Run film - "Daad, what 'plane is that? - can I have it in my bedroom?"

One look identified a Whitley, so that was where it went for the next few years.

[AdrianMF]

1 hour ago, spaddad said:

'Saturday' build

Sorry, I meant to say “Saturdays”...

 

Anyhow, crew. We won’t be seeing any of that in a state-of-the-art Airfix kit

 

[spaddad]

5 minutes ago, AdrianMF said:

Sorry, I meant to say “Saturdays”...

"Saturday Special - finish in a weekend with no modifications, no improvements." my a###e

Backslider.

 

[AdrianMF]

Well, I’m trying (very, according to Mrs MF):

 

Falcon canopies are just placed on for now.

 

I did have a bit of a panic when I realised that the props weren’t in line (left engine points more skywards) but some brute force twisting seems to have done the trick!

 

The undercarriage is a plug-in unit so I might make it swappable with the closed doors. I have cut out the stand slot so I can display it in the air if I want  it.

 

[edit] it turns out it depends which two blades are pointing upwards to compare. Some of them line up, some of them don’t! I am not sure I’m going to get a certificate of airworthiness for this one...

[spaddad]

1 hour ago, AdrianMF said:

some brute force twisting

One of my favourite tools.

[dogsbody]

I built one of those FROG kits way back in the late 70's, in the Coastal Command scheme. That used up a lot of white paint and lots of paintbrush time.

 

I now have 2 bagged kits from somewhere east of Prague, but as I can't read Cyrillic, I'm not sure from just where.

 

 

 

Chris

[AdrianMF]

5 hours ago, theplasticsurgeon said:

can I have it in my bedroom?

Let me know if he wants another one!

 

 

[theplasticsurgeon]

12 minutes ago, AdrianMF said:

Let me know if he wants another one!

 

 

Ha ha - thanks for the offer.  He's 26 now - so I think that will be a Non

[AdrianMF]

Top join was great, bottom join, not so much, but sorted now:

[AdrianMF]

In the midst of a flurry of crude, poorly-shaped, ill fitting parts and lots of filler, we suddenly have this:

A mounting for an offset DF pod, which fitted almost perfectly after a trim!

[AdrianMF]

Well Saturday morning has come and gone, but I’ve had breakfast and finished the front turret:

 

 

[AdrianMF]

The Falcon set comes in for a lot of (unjustified IMHO) flak for only including the front half of the front turret. I found a bit of spare home made vac (backup Privateer coast guard rear observation bubble) and cut it to shape:

 

Here under the whole transparency:

[jean]

Hi Adrian,

impressive work on the turret structure, especially with the circular shape of the base.

I am impressed with your cutting dexterity of vacform canopies. Not something I have mastered yet.

 

Great show!

 

JR

[AdrianMF]

Thanks @jean. I run my scalpel lightly and repeatedly along the fold between the backing and the canopy until it goes through, and then sand a bit at a time. They are a joy to use.

 

After being wifenapped for an afternoon of chores and shopping, I’ve got to the rear turret:

Machine guns are the twin window guns from the old He 111, mounted in a half Mk44 torpedo tail ring from the old Airfix Sea King. Never throw anything away!

[jean]

1 hour ago, AdrianMF said:

Never throw anything away!

Hi Adrian,

 

that is O so true with this hobby! I am just using a Vought Kingfisher aerial mast on a Morane Saulnier 406...

And thanks for the tip with vacform canopies.

 

Cheers

JR

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Impressive work on the nose turret. 

[mike romeo]

9 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Impressive work on the nose turret. 

Wot 'e sed!

 

If you ever want to do a tutorial on building up styrene rod into structures like the turret arch, I for one would be very interested!

 

Rgds

 

Martin

[AdrianMF]

Rear turret done, with a black base and then a roughing coat of interior green and some gunmetal:

 

Now I can work out where the aerials go, stick the canopies on and get painting!

[AdrianMF]

Nearly ready for painting:

 

GS hypo cement has worked really well on the transparencies.

 

The rear turret is much wider than the fuselage. I am hoping that the streamlining flaps will make it less noticeable, and it has crew in it now, so I’m calling it done. On the web, there are various solutions ranging from narrowing the turret through widening the fuselage. I should either measure it and compare to published specs or compare it to my shiny New Airfix kit but I won’t .

 

I need to do the turret flaps and rudder counterbalances, and a tiny bit of scribing for things that open, then I can paint. Aerials, pitot tubes and undercarriage can happen after.
 

I plan to make the undercarriage swappable between retracted and down - the kit is quite modular in that respect and comes with a stand (and yes I did open the slot!).

[AdrianMF]

Blobby acrylic paint that has sat around open for a bit too long has its uses:

 

It has filled quite a few gaps, and it’s the right colour*. When it has dried out overnight I will add some acrylic filler and do some gentle sanding when that has dried thoroughly.
 

(*) although I’ve since read somewhere that the early turret interiors should be silver not interior green...