Ruskin Air Services Posted January 1, 2021 Share Posted January 1, 2021 7 hours ago, Brigbeale said: Last night was another slow progress one. It took an age trying to get the fuselage bottoms to line up. I had to TET it in sections and hold it tightly to get the two halves as level as I could. The section under the cockpit floor was ok last night. I looked at it this morning and there’s a step on where the two halves join. The joys of a 60’s era kit, bad storage (and probably very worn moulds). I’ll load some more TET on the seam and try to level it. I also think I’ve found the problem with the glazing that this kit has a reputation for. I decided to fit the nose window (bomb aiming?) to help keep the fuselage halves level with each other. With the two top framing ‘fingers’ glued together the hole/fuselage nose narrows in at the top, hence the window won’t fit. When they’re released, the window fits but, obviously, there’s a gap in the framing which needs filling. Not that big of a deal, but it is what it is. I keep eying up the original cockpit canopy as it seems to sit quite well. The only problem is the instructions would have the two side windows fitted first. BUT, there’s supposed to be an upper framing ‘finger’ for them to fit into. On all the fuselage halves, they’re missing either through breakIng off or mis-moulding. I can see if they fit using Clearfix and add some strips to form the framing. If they don’t fit properly, they can easily be taken out and replaced with the Falcon replacement. At least I’ve got the option.....and it’ll be helpful for anyone wanting to build this kit to know. If your having problems holding the fuselage halfs together try some cable ties. Worked wonders on my valom B45! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brigbeale Posted January 1, 2021 Author Share Posted January 1, 2021 3 hours ago, Ruskin Air Services said: If your having problems holding the fuselage halfs together try some cable ties. Worked wonders on my valom B45! Getting the two halves together was ok as the mating seams were straight. It was one half of the fuselage had a different curve at the top and longitudinally the bottoms were eneven under the cockpit floor - if that makes sense 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruskin Air Services Posted January 1, 2021 Share Posted January 1, 2021 1 minute ago, Brigbeale said: Getting the two halves together was ok as the mating seams were straight. It was one half of the fuselage had a different curve at the top and longitudinally the bottoms were eneven under the cockpit floor - if that makes sense I may dig out my 1970s boxed blenheim that I started. Molded in the light blue plastic and with a lot of flash and try and finish it, but I must finish off my latest dakota project first! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brigbeale Posted January 1, 2021 Author Share Posted January 1, 2021 (edited) On 01/01/2021 at 10:50, Paul J said: The replacement vac clear parts will surely enhance it. After reading Paul’s reply, I decided not to chicken out of doing the best for this kit and fit the Falcon replacement canopy. I’m always dubious about cutting those canopies off the sheet, but it cut reasonably clean with a new blade. A bit of sanding and filing and it fitted nicely. I tried to use small cable ties while the Clearfix dried, but due to the thin material, it kept dislodging, so I removed the Clearfix and used TET instead. The seam under the cockpit floor would not reshape to where I wanted it so I simply scraped the high side gown to match - good job the bottom’s not completely flat (more sniggering from the back again!). For a thin filler, I saw a You Tube video where they suggested using a correction fluid ‘pen’. I was dubious at first, but I’ve used it on wing roots on my Buccaneer, Lightning and a few others. Clean up is relatively easy - once the fluid had dried, I just use IPA and a cotton bud(q-tip) across the seam. It fills the joint and doesn’t remove the rivets. If a depression is still there, I simply do it again. Heres the current state of affairs Edited January 4, 2021 by Brigbeale 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brigbeale Posted January 4, 2021 Author Share Posted January 4, 2021 (edited) Over the past few nights (I generally manage about 2 hours each evening on my modelling), I decided to tackle masking that greenhouse of a canopy. I did attempt using the original as a template. I don’t know if it was just me, the mood that evening or what, but I couldn’t get the masks to cut right. So, instead I opted for doing the masking using thin strips of masking tape to outline the windows and then fill the gaps with a masking solution. That took me 2 evenings. The upper turret was also masked using the same method (maybe not totally accurate but it’ll add some detail). I added the underbelly gun pack - it was already built by the previous owner - which took a little fettling and removing the massive gate from one side, to get it to fit. I set the fuselage to one side got the TET to start drying. Then I decided to start the wings. The instructions would have the landing gear built first and fitted to the lower wing halves with a small fillet added to retain the gear assembly. Unfortunately the shaft which the two oleos go onto appear too light in construction and will more than likely break - as the ends have half the radius removed leaving a hollowed out semi-circular ‘peg’. I built the assembly anyway and added the panel which sits above (or in front of if the gear is up) the wheel. This made the assembly sturdier but the aforementioned shaft is still too weak in my opinion and liable to break under the weight of the model (they’re that flimsy), so I will replace them with some 1.5mm styrene rod. Edited January 4, 2021 by Brigbeale 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brigbeale Posted January 5, 2021 Author Share Posted January 5, 2021 (edited) Tonight, I started with the landing gear mounting pins. I used my nippers to cut the ends and the middle of the pin out from between the oleo’s. The remainder was then drilled out and (as I couldn’t find my 1.5mm styrene rod) gradually enlarged to 2mm. A piece of 2mm styrene rod was cut to length, pushed through the newly enlarged holes and the assembly was dropped into the wheel wells as per the instructions (a small pin on each side of the wheel bay opening was removed as well). The fillets were fitted and the gear was left to set. The upper wings were attached to the lower halves and TET’d together and also allowed to set. Then the wings were attached to the fuselage without and real dramas but a small amount of fillings I’ll be needed just to hide the seams. I dry-fitted the engines to get an idea of the shape of the model and I was quite happy. The propellers were placed in their holes and a test blow to see if they were ok. They spin, but there’s a lot of sideways play and the propellers rock around as they spin. They may spin better when the small boss is fitted to the back - hopefully. Thats when I noticed an odd issue..... The starboard propeller near enough touches the fuselage whereas the port propeller has a gap between the blade tip and the fuselage. The engine spacings look equal. It’s not the propellers themselves as I swapped them over and it’s still the same. The engine is on straight and the fuselage isn’t distorted where the wing meets it. The simplest solution would be to nip the propeller tip and reshape it to look the same creating a gap - but not to overdo it. Edited January 6, 2021 by Brigbeale 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brigbeale Posted January 7, 2021 Author Share Posted January 7, 2021 (edited) There’s not much to write about on last nights progress. The starboard propeller had its tips trimmed and reshaped to look as they did. The tail wings were added The replacement tail-wheel was 3D printed (I’m not entirely happy with the size as it was the design I used for the Fairey Battles). I’ll try to reprint the one I used for the Beaufighter. The filler was cleaned up on the wing roots and some light flash removed from the wing tips and leading edges. The pitot tube was added under the port side of the nose. i’m considering removing the under-belly gun pack to make it look more like a bomber rather than a fighter version🤔 Edited January 7, 2021 by Brigbeale 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff G Posted January 7, 2021 Share Posted January 7, 2021 Looking like a Blenheim to me!! I left out the gunpack on mine because I prefer the look of the bomber. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted January 7, 2021 Share Posted January 7, 2021 Great too see this go together, i use liquid paper as a filler usually for ejector pin release marks. It sands too. That's a bit odd re the prop on the stb side. Looking forward to the paint going on now . Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opus999 Posted January 8, 2021 Share Posted January 8, 2021 That prop issue was weird. It's really looking good so far -- can't wait for paint! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brigbeale Posted January 8, 2021 Author Share Posted January 8, 2021 (edited) While I had a spare few minutes this morning, I decided (with a helpful nudge from Jeff G)to remove the gun pack from under the fuselage to make this a Blenheim bomber. The gun pack released with a bit of a fight which left the locator pin holes and two lines where it attached to the fuselage that needed sanding andfilling. I sanded those down this afternoon when I snuck another few minutes. I painted the underside Tamiya Sky last night before the gun pack was removed. The under-fuselage was repainted early this evening. It dried pretty quickly which allowed me to get on with masking the underside of the wings to stop the Mr Color Aqueous Dark Earth from ‘curling’ under the edges and getting on the Sky paint. The fuselage was also masked. The engine were masked and airbrushed separately. The upper surfaces were airbrushed with the aforementioned Dark Earth. The engines were placed back on for the camouflage pattern using rolled white tack strips and masking tape. That will be for tomorrow evening. I noticed that I’ve knocked the pitot tube off - the carpet monster has whisked it away somewhere - I’d like to see what he/she is going to do with all if these bits of models🤔. It’s a good job there’s another one in the other kit I can use. I’ll stick that and the aerial mast on last. Edited January 8, 2021 by Brigbeale 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogsbody Posted January 8, 2021 Share Posted January 8, 2021 Apparently I missed the earlier posting where you describe painting the engines. The central gear casing should be a semi-gloss black, as were all Bristol radials from the early 1930's to after WW2 ended. Chris 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brigbeale Posted January 8, 2021 Author Share Posted January 8, 2021 Thanks Chris for the heads up, I’ll repaint them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Medland Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 Our local airfield, RAF Bicester, had Blenheim's during the war. Nice looking build, looking forward to the progress. 😉 👍🏻 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 On 05/01/2021 at 20:45, Brigbeale said: The starboard propeller near enough touches the fuselage whereas the port propeller has a gap between the blade tip and the fuselage. The engine spacings look equal. It’s not the propellers themselves as I swapped them over and it’s still the same. The engine is on straight and the fuselage isn’t distorted where the wing meets it. Ah. So it wasn’t just me then. I couldn’t work it out either, just filed stuff off until it didn’t catch... You are doing a marvellous job on a - er - challenging kit. I’ve built the MPM, FROG, New Airfix and this kit, and I can say with some confidence that this is by far the worst of the bunch in every respect! But somehow I do like it, and plan to build my two others soon.. Looking forward to your progress from here. It’s looking great. And I knew Chris @dogsbody would be along soon about the crankcase colour Regards, Adrian 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 Looking good with some paint on. Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogsbody Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 17 hours ago, AdrianMF said: Looking forward to your progress from here. It’s looking great. And I knew Chris @dogsbody would be along soon about the crankcase colour Sorry! I just can't help myself. Once an anal-retentive old man, always an anal-retentive old man! Chris 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brigbeale Posted January 9, 2021 Author Share Posted January 9, 2021 Repainting them now! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brigbeale Posted January 9, 2021 Author Share Posted January 9, 2021 (edited) Tonight, (as well as repainting the ‘gear casings’),I started applying the Mr Color Dark Green. As previously mentioned, I used strings of White Tack with masking tape to mask off the Dark Earth areas. The green was then airbrushed on. After an hour or so, the masking was removed - I prefer not to leave it on too long if I can help it to stop the adhesive drying out and removing the previously applied paint. I’ll leave it overnight to let the paint cure before I give it a coat of floor polish. Edited January 9, 2021 by Brigbeale 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted January 10, 2021 Share Posted January 10, 2021 Looking good! BTW, a little square (*) of clear sellotape wrapped over the leading edge works well as a landing light cover. You can mask over the clear bit when you do your matt varnishing and the overlap pretty much disappears. It might be easier than wrestling with the kit part. Regards, Adrian (*) not quite a square but you can trace out the shape you need on some masking tape first. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brigbeale Posted January 10, 2021 Author Share Posted January 10, 2021 5 hours ago, AdrianMF said: Looking good! BTW, a little square (*) of clear sellotape wrapped over the leading edge works well as a landing light cover. You can mask over the clear bit when you do your matt varnishing and the overlap pretty much disappears. It might be easier than wrestling with the kit part. Regards, Adrian (*) not quite a square but you can trace out the shape you need on some masking tape first. Thanks Adrian, That's what I generally use for replacement landing light covers anyway. Just got to make sure there's not a dirty fingerprint on the sticky side though😯 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brigbeale Posted January 10, 2021 Author Share Posted January 10, 2021 I made an adjustment to the Dark Green paint. The green trailing edge patch on the starboard wing was the wrong shape. The green 'V' in the port wing was (in my opinion) too narrow and there was too much Dark Earth on the nose. I hand brushed their adjustments on a d I'm happy to say it hardly notices. A third tail wheel was 3d printed and attached as I managed to break both of the previous ones off😡. The floor polish was applied this morning to seal the paint for decalling. The two sheets I have are both for the same depicted aircraft - they're just laid out different and one is more glossy than the other. The matt one (which I would have preferred to use), has an issue where one fuselage roundel has the yellow and blue rings off centre with each other, so it looks like I'll have to use the other set and matt them down afterwards. Which reminds me.....I have been using Humbrol Matt Cote. It's kinda ok but not very matt looking - semi gloss at best - no matter how hard and long it's shaken and stirred. Any suggestions for a one coat matt varnish? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted January 10, 2021 Share Posted January 10, 2021 Looks lovely with the camouflage on . I use the Humbrol matt coat and the older stuff is better with the newer bottle not as good however I tried giving two coats and it was slightly better. Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted January 10, 2021 Share Posted January 10, 2021 Windsor and Newton Galeria Matt Varnish. Acrylic, water based, works well after a good shake, very forgiving. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brigbeale Posted January 10, 2021 Author Share Posted January 10, 2021 (edited) Well, I did the decalling tonight. They were absolutely the most frustrating decals I’ve used. I don’t know if it was due to age, how they’ve been stored or whatever, but the upper wing roundels and the fuselage identification decals were not willing to cooperate. They were soaking for around 5 minutes before they would move on the backing paper with some force while trying not to split them. The roundels moved eventually, but the fuselage identification decals wouldn’t move. I ended up getting a toothpick under one end and gently peeling them off the backing. The rest of the decals were fine. With the use of Micro Set and Sol, they appear to be settling into the rivets nicely. The lettering turned out a bit darker than I would have liked - I might see if I can carefully repaint the lettering somehow🤔 Anyway here are the pictures (The engines and propellers are just placed on at the moment as I’ve got to paint the exhaust collector rings) Edited January 10, 2021 by Brigbeale 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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