A journey of optimism. Or utter foolishness. Three down, one to go!!

[Roland Pulfrew]

On 8/19/2022 at 7:26 AM, AdrianMF said:

Looking at the model, in some pictures it looks like the opening in the front of the cowling is very large - it might be worth doing some measuring of cowling inner opening vs outer diameter on both the model and photos of the real thing, and slipping in a ring of plastic strip if the kit one needs beefing up? Pictures like this one suggest there more of a lip to the cowling. It could on the other hand be a trick of the light in your photos, but I thought I’d mention it before you get the propellers on. I have an Airfix Blenheim (old one) that has not enough cowling lip, and it bugs me every time I look at it…

 

Regards,

Adrian

Thanks Adrian, I think you are right, the cowling on the kit does look too small in comparison to the photos of the real thing - you can see too much engine on the model.  Not quite sure how I can fix that at this stage, may be with a bit of toning down of the cylinders to make them slightly less visible (and more realistic).  But comparing the Harrow and the Welly engines (both Bristol Pegasus but different marks) the Welly nacelle does have a smaller opening and a larger front cowl.

 

 

But with the Harrow and Welly getting towards the final straight……
 

 

 

…… time for some work on the O/400.  
 

Does anyone have any ideas what the interior colour of a military bomber should be?  Airfix suggests olive drab, but I’m not convinced they would have gone to the lengths of painting the interior in WW1 and all the pictures I can find, are, of course, B&W.  

 

For now I’ve gone for a natural-ish linen colour, which to my eye, looks reasonable.  

 

 

Also been painting wood, but I may have gone a bit dark.  Again, not sure what type of wood, would have been used in construction, it maybe a pale pine or a medium oak, or a dark mahogany (latter a bit unlikely, I guess), but mine is quite brown, for now. A bit of a dark wash under the floorboards and I think that’s done.

 

 

Any suggestions greatly welcomed 

[Paul Thompson]

CDL is good. Shade of wooden floor depends on degree of tramping about by the crew. I'd say yours is okay. Longerons and other framework timber more likely a medium shade of reddish brown. Unless I have a photo to the contrary I use something like Humbrol sand, and overcoat it with something translucent and yellow/orange until I'm happy with it. A few minutes browsing the Wingnut Wings site pays dividends. Apart from downloadable manuals for all their kits they still have photos of real aircraft up, and some of those are reproductions from the Vintage Aviator stable. Normally I'd not recommend a repro as evisence of colour, but in these cases they followed original construction and finishing methods, and unless overpainted (like metal tubework on any Fokker) will look almost certainly  as the originals did. Ash and spruce were commonly used IIRC (the sort of thing you think you know until you come to type it, so don't just trust my memory).

 

Paul.

[Paul Thompson]

PS, you may want to add additional cross bracing - there's some all over the place, including diagonals crossed over the fuselage interior. Tape the panels together so you can peek in and figure out what's worth doing. And an addendum to your colour question, the nose area is plywood so I'd repaint that bit.

 

Paul.

[Roland Pulfrew]

28 minutes ago, Paul Thompson said:

CDL is good. Shade of wooden floor depends on degree of tramping about by the crew. I'd say yours is okay. Longerons and other framework timber more likely a medium shade of reddish brown. Unless I have a photo to the contrary I use something like Humbrol sand, and overcoat it with something translucent and yellow/orange until I'm happy with it. A few minutes browsing the Wingnut Wings site pays dividends. Apart from downloadable manuals for all their kits they still have photos of real aircraft up, and some of those are reproductions from the Vintage Aviator stable. Normally I'd not recommend a repro as evisence of colour, but in these cases they followed original construction and finishing methods, and unless overpainted (like metal tubework on any Fokker) will look almost certainly  as the originals did. Ash and spruce were commonly used IIRC (the sort of thing you think you know until you come to type it, so don't just trust my memory).

 

Paul.

Thanks for the tips Paul. I’ve just had a look at the Wingnut Wings website to see a great resource of photos.  A quick look at some of the WW1 aircraft (albeit fighters not bombers) show the colours I’ve picked as a reasonable starting point 😇

 

Thanks for the tip on the cockpit areas being plywood, I was wondering about the bomb bay areas too as I assume the plywood added a bit of strength to the construction.  I might add some additional framework to the fuselage, but only to keep the model square, nothing is going to be seen in there so it’ll be structural not realistic.

[The Spadgent]

If I remember right it is plywood. I did a bit of research on my build.

Your colours do seem to match what I did.

I did keep the struts and flooring a little lighter but the linen seems the same. 
Have a look at the WIP as I remember there being something about the bomb bay section too.  😇

Glad this one is back on its feet again. 🤩

 

 Johnny.

[Brandy]

The 0/400 is looking great and the colours look good to me. Do you have any thoughts yet on how you are going to deal with the wings?

 

Ian

[Quiet Mike]

On 8/29/2022 at 8:29 AM, Roland Pulfrew said:

…… time for some work on the O/400. 

Does anyone have any ideas what the interior colour of a military bomber should be?  Airfix suggests olive drab, but I’m not convinced they would have gone to the lengths of painting the interior in WW1 and all the pictures I can find, are, of course, B&W. 

For now I’ve gone for a natural-ish linen colour, which to my eye, looks reasonable. 

Also been painting wood, but I may have gone a bit dark.  Again, not sure what type of wood, would have been used in construction, it maybe a pale pine or a medium oak, or a dark mahogany (latter a bit unlikely, I guess), but mine is quite brown, for now. A bit of a dark wash under the floorboards and I think that’s done.

Any suggestions greatly welcomed 

 

Spotted at Stow Maries recently, may be of some help?

 

Stow Maries Great War Aerodrome by Mike, on Flickr

 

Stow Maries Great War Aerodrome by Mike, on Flickr

[Paul Thompson]

12 minutes ago, The Spadgent said:

If I remember right it is plywood. I did a bit of research on my build.

Your colours do seem to match what I did.

 

I did keep the struts and flooring a little lighter but the linen seems the same. 
Have a look at the WIP as I remember there being something about the bomb bay section too.  😇

Glad this one is back on its feet again. 🤩

 

 Johnny.

Plywood is usually right for panels like the nose area on this one, and also large sections of DH4 fuselage, and similar (as well as entire fuselages for German aircraft like Albatrosses). 

That's a nice job - I bet you were pleased when you found out how much was invisible later (been there, done that).

 

Paul.

[Roland Pulfrew]

18 hours ago, Quiet Mike said:

 

Spotted at Stow Maries recently, may be of some help?

 

 

 

May be of some help?  You’re not kidding, that’s an excellent bit of help!  Thank you

[Marklo]

Lovely work in the HP interior. I found the fuselage assembly very difficult to keep square and straight. Perhaps some kind of a jig might help.

[Quiet Mike]

11 hours ago, Roland Pulfrew said:

May be of some help?  You’re not kidding, that’s an excellent bit of help!  Thank you

 

Even just the cockpit section is impressive, bravo to those invloved! I remembered I hadn't uploaded the details -

 

The Paralyser Group by Mike, on Flickr

Look forward to following your progress Roland 👍

[Roland Pulfrew]

With @Quiet Mike’s excellent photos from Stow Maries to hand (thank you) I’ve changed a few of the colours and made some progress on the 0/400.   I think I’m at the stage where four hands are needed! 
 

 

Quite pleased with how the plywood areas look, but could really do with knowing whether the upper gunner’s position was similarly reinforced if anyone knows.

 

 

[Roland Pulfrew]

On 8/30/2022 at 2:01 PM, Brandy said:

The 0/400 is looking great and the colours look good to me. Do you have any thoughts yet on how you are going to deal with the wings?

 

Ian

With trepidation?!!

[The Spadgent]

12 hours ago, Roland Pulfrew said:

but could really do with knowing whether the upper gunner’s position was similarly reinforced if anyone knows.

I don’t think it was. I would have checked at the time. Your painting is superb. 👏👏👏

 

 Johnny

[Paul Thompson]

24 minutes ago, The Spadgent said:

I don’t think it was. I would have checked at the time.

 

 

Same here.

 

Paul.

[Roland Pulfrew]

This morning I think I made an important step forward with the realisation that both the Harrow and Wimpy now just need decals and a few aerials, so it was out with the Klear for a gloss coat and no more progress for the next 24 hours or so whilst this sets!  
 

 

Slightly concerned its back to work next week and these still might not be finished!!

[Fritag]

On 9/1/2022 at 8:39 AM, The Spadgent said:

your painting is superb. 👏👏👏

 

Seconded 

[Roland Pulfrew]

Definitely on the final straight with the Harrow.  Lumpy bits and aerials now added. Decals all now on, but nearly had a disaster.  I probably should have let the Klear set for another day before using MicroSol and Set on it.  First couple of decals nearly stuck straight to the softened Klear and I almost had a disaster in moving them

 

 

Still, lesson learned and I transferred all the rest from backing paper almost straight into position.  I have to say the decals are all lovely and have softened and settled to the body really nicely, sucking themselves down into the panel lines. 

 

Final stage now in sight for this one.  Just the props, a coat of clear matt varnish, the removal of my nemesis (the taped up transparencies 🤞🏻) and a bit of light weathering and the first of the Journey of Optimism will be complete!!

 

 

 

[Gondor44]

So a Harrowing experience with the decals

 

Glad to see that you managed to solve the problem ok.

 

Both builds are looking great

 

Gondor

[Roland Pulfrew]

Thanks to the dog wanting his breakfast (at 6 AM!  On a Sunday!! 🤦🏻‍♂️) I decided to crack on with the Harrow.  Matt varnish sprayed.  Then my nemesis moment - unmasking the masked transparencies.  
 

 

Didn’t turn out too bad, just a little tidying up required.

 

 

Then it was on with the propellers and a little application of some Flory modelling wash to add a bit of depth and hey presto, one down and three to go!!

 

 

May just need to wipe a little more of the wash off, perhaps a little too obvious in this view.

 

 

 

 

 

Just noticed I’ve missed a bit of wash that needs cleaning up on the port rudder, but once that’s done I declare this one complete.

 

It’s been a long time in the construction, but I have enjoyed building this aircraft, one I knew very little about when I started.  The Valom kit has a few foibles, but it builds into a good representation of the aircraft.  The shape and fit of parts is good (stand fast the cockpit window which needed a little more work for a seamless fit).  The undercarriage is both surprisingly strong, but also fragile, so perhaps the sanded cocktail sticks or wire and tube might have been a good idea, but it seems ok for now.  Time to finish No 2.

[Roland Pulfrew]

Damn!  Whilst researching a completely different subject, I came across the Montex Mask website and....... they do masks for the Valom HP Harrow glazing!    Why didn't I think about looking there earlier??  They also do a set for the Wellington  Unfortunately, they don't do one for the B-29/Washington that is No 4 in this set of builds.  

[Marklo]

The harrow is looking amazing. Looking forward to seeing the HP get to the same stage.

[Roland Pulfrew]

Tonight I ‘ave mainly being decalling. Into the final straight with the Welly. Aerials on, decals on (although some may have to come off again) and now waiting to see how the Sol/Set works on them.

 

 

 

Annoyingly, the wing roundels seem to have suffered from exposure to heat/light/cold/dark/something and have fractured.  They aren’t settling at all well where they have fractured

 

 

 

If they don’t settle, I may have to add some roundel masks to my order for the B-29 transparency mask. Anyone got any top tips on spraying roundels and what the best paint/colour to use?

 

 

 

 

[Marklo]

For roundels I treated myself to a DSPIAE circle cutter and a roll of 50mm masking tape. I do also have some kabuki tape which works well but is a whole lot dearer than the masking tape.

And I’m now using it for the second time for the rounders on my F100. And by around the fourth project it will have paid for itself vs precut masks.

 

 

For WW1/WW2 vintage RAF roundels I just use Tamiya X4 and X7. Inter war and post war roundels are both different shades, hope that helps. 

Edited September 8, 2022 by Marklo

[The Spadgent]

20 hours ago, Roland Pulfrew said:

Tonight I ‘ave mainly being decalling. Into the final straight with the Welly. Aerials on, decals on (although some may have to come off again) and now waiting to see how the Sol/Set works on them.

 

 

 

Annoyingly, the wing roundels seem to have suffered from exposure to heat/light/cold/dark/something and have fractured.  They aren’t settling at all well where they have fractured

 

 

 

If they don’t settle, I may have to add some roundel masks to my order for the B-29 transparency mask. Anyone got any top tips on spraying roundels and what the best paint/colour to use?

 

 

 

 

I have used a little bit of another roundel decal in the past. Works a treat. If not standard Tamiya blue works well if I remember correctly.  Xf-8. Might need to do a bit of a mix. 
 

Johnny

 

Great progress by the way.