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


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Given the failure to get going on a couple of other projects, and whilst we await the outcome of next year’s Bunfight, I have decided to do something very optimistic.  Or utterly foolish. I’ve decided to try and build a couple of models flown by a local squadron.
 

A mini group build perhaps, and knowing my propensity for failing to meet GB deadlines, this should be a laugh.  So, without further ado, the topics:

 

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A Vickers Wellington that’s still to arrive, and

 

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As I say, a journey of optimism.  So where to start? I’ve never built a biplane, so that might be a daunting start, and the B-29 may take some time and experimenting with Alclad laquers (and I’ve only dabbled with them in the past).

 

So, I guess the staring point is an aircraft I’d not heard of until recently, the Handley Page Harrow.  So here are the obligatory sprue shots:

 

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Seems simple enough 🤦🏻 Wish me luck, I have a feeling I’ll need it.

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I won’t bother with a description of the aircraft and the kit as @adey m has already done that on his excellent build thread.  I will just say, particularly as this is my first ever Valom build, that the plastic is really nicely moulded and appears quite “firm”, so it’s going to see how that cleans up, particularly without destroying the details.  First bit of progress is the easy bit and I’ve added a bit of colour to the interior.

 

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If you’ve never built a. biplane then the Airfix HP O/400 isn’t a great place to start; I’m currently in the later stages of wrestling with one and it’s a tough build. 

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There are two good wips by @moa and @The Spadgent on the forums and of course mine :) 

 

Otherwise an interesting trio and will watch with interest.

Edited by Marklo
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I will be following this with interest too Roland. Your Harrow is the exact boxing as mine was and looking at the parts layout has taken me back to April this year when I started mine. Good to see the obligatory mug of beveridge too.

 

When I was furloughed back in March I decided to build some Handley Page bombers which I had in my attic. I completed a Matchbox Heyford, then the Harrow and finally the Matchbox Halifax. I also have an Airfix HP 0/400 like yours just tempting me everytime I go in the attic ............

 

kind regards, adey

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16 hours ago, Roland Pulfrew said:

I will just say, particularly as this is my first Valom build that the plastic is really nicely moulded and appears quite “firm”, so it’s going to see how that cleans up, particularly without destroying the details.

First time for everything :P

The plastic cleans up pretty well, is not too hard or too soft so even rescribing or re-adding lost rivets is pretty easy. I didn't have major issues on the Hampden (see .sig) .

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12 hours ago, Marklo said:

If you’ve never built a. biplane then the Airfix HP O/400 isn’t a great place to start; I’m currently in the later stages of wrestling with one and it’s a tough build. 


There are two good wips by @moa and @The Spadgent on the forums and of course mine :) 

 

Otherwise an interesting trio and will watch with interest.

Thanks @Marklo . I don’t suppose you can point me in the right direction of the 0/400 builds can you? I couldn’t find them using the search function

 

12 hours ago, adey m said:

I will be following this with interest too Roland. Your Harrow is the exact boxing as mine was and looking at the parts layout has taken me back to April this year when I started mine. Good to see the obligatory mug of beveridge too.

 

When I was furloughed back in March I decided to build some Handley Page bombers which I had in my attic. I completed a Matchbox Heyford, then the Harrow and finally the Matchbox Halifax. I also have an Airfix HP 0/400 like yours just tempting me everytime I go in the attic ............

 

kind regards, adey

Sorry to hear about the furlough @adey m but on the bright side, you managed to knock out some lovely models.

 

Just to complicate matters, this turned up in the post today

 

 

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What have I done?!!?  Particularly now next year’s Group Build calendar has been published and the first one I signed up for starts on 20 Feb 😱


 

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In a moment of utter madness I opened the newly arrived Airfix Wellington. Wow! I’d heard good things about the kit and I have to say it’s quite impressive.  As the airbrush was out I got a bit of colour down.  Well when I say colour, I mean aluminium.
 

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The geodetic design is pretty well done. Not sure how close to scale it is, but it looks effective. 
 

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It’s going to take a bit of patience to add some shading in here.  I don’t suppose anyone has any colour interior shots of the cabin walls they can share, do they?

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  • Roland Pulfrew changed the title to A journey of optimism. Or utter foolishness.

Moas thread.

 

And yes much as I love Britmodeller; I’m afraid I have to admit that the search function is pants. :) I knew what I was searching for and it still took me nearly an hour to find the threads.

 

wrt the HP I can summarise in two sentences; the wing trenches are overscale and need addressing; and the fuselage is a dog to keep square and straight, otherwise not a bad kit.

Edited by Marklo
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Good luck Roland , this is very ambitious  along with your GB commitments  too.  Will try and tag along as have the 0/400 and am after an Airfix Wellington  myself.

 

@Marklo, try a Google search and add Britmodeller to the end of your search line will speed up searching.

Chris

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The 0/400 huge rib tapes sand off easily enough, it's just elbow grease and takes a long time. I replaced mine with decals strips. You also need to make a stab at the triangular bits where the wings folded. No need to get too obsessed with the interior except the cockpits because most of it is invisible. It's a fairly easy kit to build out of the box though, so long asyou ditch the Airfix rigging method from the start. The pre-formed holes are too large, and the sticking the wings together after running thread through them method is fairly disastrous to follow and it doesn't look very good either. Also, if you can stretch to it I'd advise getting the Windsock double Datafile on the type. Airfix omit half of the rigging. The only scary nit really is the control wires to the tail section. That is fairly complex, and to avoid tears later I recommend using elastic thread.

 

I converted one to the earlier o/100 years ago as part of a group build on a Dutch forum. I'm afraid the text is in (bad) Dutch,  but most of it also applies to the stock kit so if you need them I can dig out the photos.

 

Here's one photo of the completed job:

 

  353184539.jpg

 

 

 

Paul.

Edited by Paul Thompson
Improved formatting (ish).
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1 minute ago, Paul Thompson said:

The 0/400 huge rib tapes sand off easily enough, it's just elbow grease and takes a long time. I replaced mine with decals strips. You also need to make a stab at the triangular bits where the wings folded. No need to get too obsessed with the interior except the cockpits because most of it is invisible. It's a fairly easy kit to build out of the box though, so long asyou ditch the Airfix rigging method from the start. The pre-formed holes are too large, and the sticking the wings together after running thread through them method is fairly disastrous to follow and it doesn't look very good either. Also, if you can stretch to it I'd advise getting the Windsock double Datafile on the type. Airfix omit half of the rigging. The only scary nit really is the control wires to the tail section. That is fairly complex, and to avoid tears later I recommend using elastic thread.

 

I converted one to the earlier o/100 years ago as part of a group build on a Dutch forum. I'm afraid the text is in (bad) Dutch,  but most of it also applies to the stock kit so if you need them I can dig out the photos.

 

Here's one photo of the completed job:  353184539.jpg

 

 

 

Paul.

Rigging! I’d forgotten about the rigging!! 🤦🏻 You’ve just reminded me why I don’t normally “do” biplanes!!

 

Thanks for the offer on the photos, I may take you up on that, and for the tips on everything else. Definitely not going to go overboard on the interior as mine will be built as a bomber version, and, as I’m trying to do this quite quickly, I don’t see much point on doing work on an interior that won’t be seen. 

 

Nice looking finished product you have there though.👍🏻

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20 hours ago, Roland Pulfrew said:

I don’t suppose anyone has any colour interior shots of the cabin walls they can share, do they?

 

Hi Roland, I found this interior view on the internet which sumarises much of the fuselage interior. I believe the floors were wooden like the bulkheads.

 

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regards, adey

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2 hours ago, adey m said:

 

Hi Roland, I found this interior view on the internet which sumarises much of the fuselage interior. I believe the floors were wooden like the bulkheads.

 

 

regards, adey

@adey m that’s excellent, thanks.  I am amazed that so much of the interior was wood, hardly the least flammable construction material available.  Then again, we did build one of the best fighter, bomber, maritime strike and recce aircraft of the war, almost entirely of wood! 

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A little bit of slow progress tonight, starting work on the cockpit elements and also putting a bit of colour on the engines.
 

Both cockpit seats have been damaged, so will need a bit of extra work, but they look nice.  Love how the engines look. Beautifully detailed, just got to work out how to shave off the resin base without damaging the cylinders. 
 

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Wood was a non strategic material whereas dural and other aluminium alloys were in limited supply. The Germans even experimented with building aircraft out of steel because of supply issues, and of course tried (disastrously) to emulate the mosquito.

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On 02/12/2020 at 08:51, Roland Pulfrew said:

Rigging! I’d forgotten about the rigging!! 🤦🏻 You’ve just reminded me why I don’t normally “do” biplanes

🤣🤣 oh gawd you’re in for a treat with the O-400 . Hence the name of my thread. 😂😂😅 I really enjoyed building her mind. 😍Looks like an interesting bunch of aeroplanes you have here. I’ll tag along if that’s ok.

 

Johnny.

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Well I thought I ought to start getting a move on, so had the daft idea that it would be easy to start putting the fuselage together. Logic suggested just glueing the fuselage extension pieces to the main body on a flat surface.  All seemed to be OK

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But after the fuselage section had dried

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looks like a bit of work is going to be required to square things up a bit

 

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Very slow progress with any of these, I’m afraid to say. Oh I wish I lived in just one location - with all my modelling kit in the same place.  A little bit of work on the cockpit parts and the engines from the Harrow

 

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Also done a bit of work on the woodwork inside the Welly. Still needs a bit more work, but I’m glad of the picture of a Welly interior (above) as reference

 

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Also got these in the post from Coastal Craft, so that has at least made finishing one of the kits a little easier.

 

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All I have to do is build the aircraft!!

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Fiddly bits coming together on the Harrow. 
 

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I’m definitely not going to do the cockpit detailing done by @adey m on his Harrow build,partly because I haven’t got any circular plastic tubing with me, but mainly because it would take me forever.  I have tried stretching some sprue, just in case though!  I’ve also decided not to lower the cockpit floor in the rear compartment. I know it would be right to do so, but again time......

 

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