Matchbox 1/72 Handley Page Halifax Mk 1

[adey m]

This old Matchbox kit has been hiding in my loft for a good number of years, so as I love old kits and Handley Page aeroplanes I decided to build it. The model is completed but I took a number of photos during the construction which I will share with you.

 

 

This was the model I built, an original Matchbox first issue from about 1980 resplendent in its multi-coloured plastics and multi-lingual instruction sheet and colour plan. The decal sheet was superb and spot on in register.

 

 

The problem was deciding which of the tempting three options to make. I knew that there were problems with the shape of the Mark 1 nose, it tapers too much from the cockpit down to the nose turret. The later streamlined glazed nose in the kit looked right and I was tempted to make a sort of Mark 2 with this nose and the triangular rudders and no dorsal turret. However, I still fancied building a Mark 1 so I studied the incorrect nose profile of the kit and thought I could do something to make the taper not so bad.....  ha ha

 

 

I also decided to build my own interior. The cockpit provided by Matchbox is okay but is too simplified and only provides the flight deck and engineer's position. This model was very disappointing for a Matchbox, the fuselage halves were very thin and difficult to match up. The alternative noses join the fuselage at the back of the cockpit and are a poor fit. I joined the nose halves to the fuselage halves so I could build up the interior. I had to provide plastic tabs to help line up the fuselage halves and provide somewhere to put the glue. The bomb bay floor in the kit is too low, so I have built another floor above it at the correct level.

 

 

 

Matchbox mould the flight engineer's floor level with the pilot's floor and also give the engineer a seat. This is not correct. The engineer's floor was lower than the cockpit floor and the engineer stood up, there was no seat for him.

So here I have removed the rear floor section and increased the height of the engineer's bulkhead. I have scratchbuilt the radio operator's equipment to go below the cockpit.

 

 

Here I have added detail to the port side of the nose where the radio operator and navigator table was sited. I have also drilled out the porthole for the camera. Look how thin the plastic for the nose decking is, I am going to have a job to alter the nose taper AND flatten part of the right hand side decking.

 

 

Test fit of the radio and navigation equipment and cockpit.

 

 

Not only is the taper of the nose too steep but the nose is symmetrical in cross section which again is not correct. The nose decking on the right side was flattened in profile to provide a better view on that side of the nose from the cockpit.

I have glued plasticard to the roof of that side of the nose to give me some thickness to work with. Bomb aimer's cushion, navigator and radio operator's seats in position and engineer's floor lowered. Note cut out in floor below navigator's table for the camera.

 

 

Plenty of trial fitting of the interior went on. The interior gave the thin fuselage halves some rigidity. At this stage I had not realised that there should be a window on the right side of the lower nose to match the one on the other side........... I would find out later how lucky I was that there was a gap between the bomb aimer's panel and the ammunition box where the window should be.

 

 

Camera in position below navigator's table.

 

 

Painting of interior complete. Matchbox bomb aimer in position with added bomb site. Other crew members provided from my spares.

 

 

Standing flight engineer in position. The front guns are still the kit's ones and are overscale, I would replace these later with more scale ones.

 

 

Fully populated. The pilot is from the kit but I have padded him out with PVA glue. I put a gunner figure inside the turret from my spares.

 

 

Rear gunner's rest seat and panel in place. Catwalk and tailwheel mounting block in place too. The rear guns from the kit have been replaced by more scale ones.

 

 

And at last it was time to glue the fuselage together. Plenty of tape was needed to keep the poor fitting halves together, was this really a Matchbox kit?

 

 

Lots of filler was needed. Bomb bay doors glued shut. These were very thin and flimsy and required supporting inside the bomb bay.

 

 

Bracing struts in engineer's cabin from plastic strut, roof lights over the crew rest area, which was provided with rest bunks between the wing spars. I have filed away the flattened profile on the right side of the nose.

 

 

Close up of the flattened right side of the nose decking. I have also built up the top of the nose with plastic card and filler to try and reduce the amount of taper.

 

I removed the thick and overscale framing on the cockpit and gun turret glazing with a file, then fine sanding and then polishing with T-Cut car paint restorer. The struts in the rear cabin were moulded on the glazing so had to be removed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 31, 2020 by adey m

[bigbadbadge]

Great work Adey, liking this a lot.  Cracking interior work too.  Looking forward to watching this develope. 

Chris

[dogsbody]

Lookin' great! I'll be watching this to see how the old kit turns out. Haven't seen one built in a long time.

 

 

 

 

Chris

 

[HOUSTON]

adey, 

NEAT ,super  start.

looking  impressive  from here.

 

 

 

 

[GrzeM]

Very impressive! I have one in my closet but I hope my son will build it someday.

[TheyJammedKenny!]

Very nice!  Like everyone above, I'm looking forward to seeing how this takes shape.  Also love your new profile pic, of the Whirlwind taking off from RAF Scarborough!  Alex

[adey m]

8 hours ago, TheyJammedKenny! said:

Also love your new profile pic, of the Whirlwind taking off from RAF Scarborough!

 

Thank you Alex, I wanted to replace that grumpy fella I had before  ...................

 

regards, adey

[adey m]

 

Tape removed and time to start sanding down. The Mark 1 had beam gunner positions either side of the fuselage and no dorsal gun turret.

 

 

I sprayed the wing undersurfaces, propellers and vertical tails with a can of Humbrol Matt Black. I brush painted the undersurfaces of the fuselage with Humbrol Matt Black after brush painting the upper camouflage pattern with Humbrol Light Earth and Humbrol Dark Green enamels.

Something else which I had overlooked earlier was that there was a porthole either side of the centre fuselage where the crew rest area is. So it was a good job I noticed this before glueing the wings on which made it easier to drill them out.

A clever feature of the kit is that the propeller spinners can be glued to the revolving shafts last thing as they are held in place in front of the engines.

 

 

I found as many photographs of the real aircraft as I could so that I could get the camouflage pattern correct. I made my own aerial masts as the kit's ones were too thin.

 

The cockpit glazing came up nice and clear after I removed the thick framing and polished them, I was yet to realise what a total mess-up Matchbox had made of the shape of the cockpit canopy ....................

 

I glue my cockpit canopies to the fuselage of my models with white PVA glue, it is water based and does not damage the glazing, the glue dries clear and any gaps can be filled with the glue and smoothed with a wet finger.

 

 

I brush painted the cockpit glazing which was a challenge as there were no frames left to guide me. The nose turret is removeable, so I can peer in and view the internal detail.

The overscale gun barrels of the kit have been replaced.

 

I thought Matchbox had made a mistake by moulding a frame over the rear of the astrodome and was about to start removing it. Thank goodnes I found photographs that show that this astrodome  frame was present on the Mark 1, 2 and 5 Merlin engined Halifaxes. The Mark III and VI had a round one piece astrodome without a frame.

 

 

And then the time came to attach the wings to the fuselage. I have filled the slight gap at the join with white PVA glue which I have smoothed with a wet finger.

The porthole has been glazed with Humbrol Clearfix.

 

 

The rear turret is also removeable which allows me to peer inside the fuselage. Rear gunner's rest seat and instrument panel is visible.

[adey m]

 

I have returned to this photo because it shows the incorrect shape of the cockpit canopy, Matchbox made it a completely symmetrical square shape both in plan and cross section when in fact the Halifax windscreen dropped away lower on the far side, and the pilot's windscreen should come back at more of an angle. How was I going to fix this ............... without making a mess of the finished model  ............. people keep telling me that scale modelling should be fun  ........ ha ha

[bigbadbadge]

Very nice indeed Adey.  I bought one of these off ebay a few years ago and when I got it there was no fuselage present when desc as complete   the vendor refunded me and said to keep  the wings etc .  I wonder if they can be joined to the newer revell fuselage .  I will have a play I think.

Great work fella

Chris 

[adey m]

23 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

I bought one of these off ebay a few years ago and when I got it there was no fuselage present when desc as complete   the vendor refunded me and said to keep  the wings etc .  I wonder if they can be joined to the newer revell fuselage .  I will have a play I think.

 

Hi Chris, if the wings will fit the Revell fuselage it will give you a Mark 1 with an accurate nose and cockpit profile. 

 

regards, adey

[bigbadbadge]

15 minutes ago, adey m said:

 

Hi Chris, if the wings will fit the Revell fuselage it will give you a Mark 1 with an accurate nose and cockpit profile. 

 

regards, adey

Fingers crossed fella I hope they fit.  I will have to get the panel lines sorted on the wings to match the newer kit.

Chris 

[adey m]

To correct the canopy will take a bit of thought, then a plan, then a lot of courage .............. but firstly I need to try and understand how the pilot's windscreen was actually constructed as there appears to be more glazing on the Mark 1 then on the later Marks.

 

 

Cockpit of a Mark 1. Note the large glazed panel below the windscreen.

 

 

Cockpit of a Mark III. Note that the glazed panel below windscreen has been panelled over. Note also how the right hand side windscreen falls at a steep straight angle in line with the flattened contour of the nose on that side

 

I finally worked out what was going on and then it was time to put the plan into action.

 

 

First I tackled the pilot's side of the canopy. I applied Tamiya tape around the edges of the canopy that I had to remove, then I drill a line of small holes with my mini drill right around the edge of the part I need to remove.

Then I carefully cut along the drilled lines with a fine very sharp new modelling blade and gently tease out the part that needs removing. Then I clean up and straighten the edges before applying the new glazing panels.

Here I have glued the new glazing with white PVA glue and blended them into place with a wet finger. The white glue will dry clear.

 

 

Then I applied the same procedure to the middle and right hand side windscreens.

 

There was a gap around the front turret. I sealed it by glueing small wires inside the opening and then smoothing them with PVA glue, as can be seen here.

 

 

The corrected cockpit canopy. It is not perfect but it looks more convincing than it did and I am happy.

 

 

The corrected canopy on the other side. I have cut out and added the missing lower window in the nose by using the same drill and cut method.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 31, 2020 by adey m

[bigbadbadge]

Great and brave corrective work Adey. 

Chris

[dogsbody]

2 hours ago, adey m said:

 

Hi Chris, if the wings will fit the Revell fuselage it will give you a Mark 1 with an accurate nose and cockpit profile. 

 

regards, adey

 

 

The wings might fit onto the Revell fuselage, but it would take some work on those Matchbox wings.

 

 

 

 

 

Chris

[adey m]

 

This photograph taken from my copy of Aircraft of the Royal Air Force since 1918 is of one of the subject options in the kit, a 76 Squadron Mark 1 with an interesting wavy demarcation between the camouflage and night black undersurfaces. There is quite a strong contrast between the dark green and earth camouflage colours so that is why I used light earth on my model. I find that the new generation of dark earth colours from the paints I use are too dark on small scale models.

 

I decided to model the other Mark 1 option in the kit, another Yorkshire based aircraft of 10 Squadron at RAF Leeming in 1942. There is such a variety of camouflage demarcations on the Mark 1s when you search photos of them whereas the later Marks had a standard straight demarcation.

 

 

The Mark 1 had a non-retractable tail wheel. I use a reliable method of fixing tail wheels to my models. I glue a short length of brass rod into a hole drilled in the tail wheel leg which then just push fits into a hole drilled into the fuselage. In this case I glued a block of plastic inside the fuselage to support the tail wheel. This method is strong and also allows the wheel to be posed in a swung over position.

 

I inserted a gunner figure in the rear turret from my spares.

 

 

Next I will show you what I did with the main undercarriage which I made retractable just like on the old Airfix Halifax III kit.

Edited January 1, 2021 by adey m

[ColinChipmunkfan]

Brave work on the cockpit canopy Adey- I don't think I would have dared try it - perhaps that is one of the reasons why I follow your builds.

[TheyJammedKenny!]

Wow!  That is some bold corrective surgery on the canopy.  I take it that you replaced the flat windshield parts with sheet styrene?  I'm not averse to making changes to clear parts, but not this far along in the build/paint phase.  This is really superb modeling and quite the inspiration.  Thanks for sharing!  Alex

[adey m]

 

The instructions for installing the main undercarriage  show that it would retract if the support struts were hinged and not glued solid as intended. This got me thinking about the Airfix Halifax I built when I was 15 which had a retractable undercarriage as Airfix intended. in that kit the rear support struts were hinged and free to move clear of the tabs in the wheel wells so that the undercarriage could be retracted. The Airfix Halifax is long gone but I always keep anything that might be useful for my spares collection. Well I thought I would have a look in my spares just in case, and guess what, I found both support struts from my old Halifax in there. They happened to be the correct length and had the right gap for the wheels on the Matchbox kit to retract within, all I had to do was devise a way of hinging them and to provide some locking tabs in the nacelle.

 

So I did just that .............

 

 

So here we can see the Airfix support yoke which is free to pivot inside my mounting brackets. But does it work  ................

 

 

It does, but obviously the doors do not.

 

 

But it means I can pose the model like this ...................... retracting the undercarriage just after taking off

 

 

 

And so, my Halifax is complete and ready for service with Bomber Command.

 

Next stop will be Ready For Inspection.

 

regards, adey

Edited December 31, 2020 by adey m

[adey m]

24 minutes ago, TheyJammedKenny! said:

I take it that you replaced the flat windshield parts with sheet styrene?

 

Thank you Alex. I always try and use suitable plastic kit glazing from my spares whenever possible because I have had problems with sheet styrene turning yellow after a few years.

 

The flat windshield parts are plastic, but I had to use sheet styrene for the curved glazing below the windshield.

 

regards, adey

[Learstang]

Brilliant work on that Halibag!

 

Regards,

 

Jason

[bigbadbadge]

Excellent Build Adey, love your folding undercarriage work too.  You have done a cracking job there  fella.  

Happy New Year 

Chris

[adey m]

15 hours ago, adey m said:

Thank you Alex. I always try and use suitable plastic kit glazing from my spares whenever possible because I have had problems with sheet styrene turning yellow after a few years.

 

 

This is my 1973 FROG Whitley and many years ago I replaced the kit's bomb aimer's glazing with a scratchbuilt one made from clear styrene sheet.  And then look what happened after a few years, it turned yellow. I decided I could not live with it like this so I built a new one using clear plastic this time.

 

 

This is my rebuilt nose glazing made from clear plastic , should last my life time now ...................

 

regards, adey

Edited January 1, 2021 by adey m

[adey m]

15 hours ago, adey m said:

Thank you Alex. I always try and use suitable plastic kit glazing from my spares whenever possible because I have had problems with sheet styrene turning yellow after a few years.

 

My FROG Whitley represents a 10 Squadron aircraft just as my Halifax does, the Halifaxs replaced the Whitleys.

 

regards, adey

Edited January 1, 2021 by adey m

[bigbadbadge]

Lovely Whitley Adey

Happy New Year 

Chris