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Tim's Airfix Wellington - COMPLETED


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4 hours ago, theplasticsurgeon said:

Spotted that on the photos Tony.  I thought it might be a contaminated brush.

But that's the reason I'm not calling this completed  yet.

 

I`ve found that brushing on some gloss varnish or even Klear sometimes helps cover it,.... then try again with a different matt varnish,...... or just repainting the areas,...... personally I`d go for the latter if there are no decals involved,.... sometimes a quick dry brushing over the top with the same colour sorts it out,... but then I`m an old school hairy sticker. Hope I`m not teaching you to suck eggs?

 When a bottle of varnish starts doing that I just keep it for small interior parts etc. I hope you sort it,.... it is well worth doing so as the model is fantastic,.... be a shame to spoil it mate,

Cheers

          Tony

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Thanks Tony, I use Klear with Tamiya Flat Base as my matt varnish.  It's been given another overall coat.

 

Calling this model completed now.

Airfix-Wellington-1-C-FP.jpg

Airfix-Wellington-1-C-FS.jpg

Airfix-Wellington-1-C-RP.jpg

Airfix-Wellington-1-C-RS.jpg

 

Sadly for Sgt James Allen Ward, he was killed during another raid on 15 Sept 1941.

His VC was awarded to his parents, and is now on permanent loan to the Auckland War Memorial Museum for display.

 

 

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13 hours ago, stevehnz said:

That is a super job on this old kit Tim & a fitting tribute to Ward. I've long though he deserved better than to be chucked back into the fray so callously. :poppy:

Steve.

 

I always think it is sad when a VC holder dies in service later,.....but plenty did unfortunately. If he had been taken off ops I dare say that he would have been embarrassed at leaving his mates to carry on,..... although in my own view an act of bravery which warrants a VC also means that you have done enough and that is it. People who were removed,.... like Gibson and Nicholson always wanted to get back on ops and both of them paid the ultimate sacrifice too,... the special thing about brave men is that they always want to do their duty.  So was Ward callously thrown back into the fray,..... or did he just consider it to be his duty to carry on? 

Cheers

          Tony

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On 2/26/2021 at 10:33 AM, theplasticsurgeon said:

Thanks Tony, I use Klear with Tamiya Flat Base as my matt varnish.  It's been given another overall coat.

 

Calling this model completed now.

Airfix-Wellington-1-C-FP.jpg

Airfix-Wellington-1-C-FS.jpg

Airfix-Wellington-1-C-RP.jpg

Airfix-Wellington-1-C-RS.jpg

 

Sadly for Sgt James Allen Ward, he was killed during another raid on 15 Sept 1941.

His VC was awarded to his parents, and is now on permanent loan to the Auckland War Memorial Museum for display.

 

 

What a great save,...... and a beautiful model! A fantastic tribute to a very brave man indeed.

Cheers

          Tony

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21 hours ago, tonyot said:

I always think it is sad when a VC holder dies in service later,.....but plenty did unfortunately. If he had been taken off ops I dare say that he would have been embarrassed at leaving his mates to carry on,..... although in my own view an act of bravery which warrants a VC also means that you have done enough and that is it. People who were removed,.... like Gibson and Nicholson always wanted to get back on ops and both of them paid the ultimate sacrifice too,... the special thing about brave men is that they always want to do their duty.  So was Ward callously thrown back into the fray,..... or did he just consider it to be his duty to carry on?

On 2/27/2021 at 1:23 AM, stevehnz said:

That is a super job on this old kit Tim & a fitting tribute to Ward. I've long though he deserved better than to be chucked back into the fray so callously. :poppy:

I think there was a bit of both Tony and Steve, and a bit of indecision at the highest level.

Ward's unassuming personality, was seriously overawed when he met Winston Churchill  -  so he probably dislike the attention that the VC drew.

 

He was given a new crew, and became an aircraft Captain, on return to 75 Squadron - flying an uneventful mission to Brest.

 

Despite the above, the RNZAF thought that Ward and his VC would inspire the youth of New Zealand, and be great for recruitment and training. 

Plans became orders, being issued on 15 Sept 1941 for a recruitment tour.  Ward was never aware of this.

That same night, Ward set off for his second mission with his new crew to Hamburg.   The aircraft was shot down by a nightfighter, with only two of the crew parachuting and becoming POWs.

Ward and the remainder of the crew were still aboard and killed when the aircraft crashed.  He is buried at the Commonwealth War Grave Cemetery Ohlsdorf in Hamburg.

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6 hours ago, tonyot said:

 So was Ward callously thrown back into the fray,..... or did he just consider it to be his duty to carry on? 

I'm sure it was the latter Tony, everything I've read of the man leads me to believe that, though I've long thought it was a crying shame he didn't even get to receive his VC in person & undertake that tour of his home country to train & recruit. I'm sure after that he might well have clamoured to go back on Ops & who knows how that might have turned out, as you say, Gibson & Nicholson did so with sad results. Come the day, a visit to a War Cemetery in Hamburg has long been on my list of to does, & somewhere along the way, I hope to produce a Wellington model with the same markings as Tim's superb build & will try to make it close to as good.  :) 

Steve.

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38 minutes ago, stevehnz said:

I'm sure it was the latter Tony, everything I've read of the man leads me to believe that, though I've long thought it was a crying shame he didn't even get to receive his VC in person & undertake that tour of his home country to train & recruit. I'm sure after that he might well have clamoured to go back on Ops & who knows how that might have turned out, as you say, Gibson & Nicholson did so with sad results. Come the day, a visit to a War Cemetery in Hamburg has long been on my list of to does, & somewhere along the way, I hope to produce a Wellington model with the same markings as Tim's superb build & will try to make it close to as good.  :) 

Steve.

Aye Steve,..... just tragic,..... war is an a-ss. I`ve always found James Wards story so very sad,.... a supremely brave man ,..... to climb out of that astrodome and then crawl down to the wing and on to the engine to put a fire out...... and take his parachute off because it was in the way,.... shows how far he would go to save the lives of his mates,...... he had nothing more to prove and to modern eyes it seems strange that he was not removed from ops and sent home, I so wish that he had been,...... but back then,.... with a war going on and no end in sight,..... it was considered `the norm' to press on and carry on. I hate to say it,.... but had he been an officer,..... he might well have been removed from ops and considered for a PR tour sooner? Back in those days earlier in the war some officers didn`t even know the names of their NCO crewmates! 

Cheers

           Tony 

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6 hours ago, tonyot said:

Back in those days earlier in the war some officers didn`t even know the names of their NCO crewmates! 

Having read this I've struggled with this as a concept, different times, different folks, at least we've moved on from there. I think. :unsure:

Steve.

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Lovely stuff. Makes me want to go out and do a 75 Sqn Wellington. I have a Trumpeter 1/4" scale Wellington in the pile, but need somewhere to put it a bigger house before it goes much further -  the Wellington was a big beast. I don't think it will be Ward's machine, perhaps it will be "Cuthbert" with the dice playing skeleton?. 

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