ICM 1/32 Gloster Gladiator (Belgian Air Force) and Gloster Sea Gladiator (Hal Far Fighter Flight, Malta)

[Stew Dapple]

Thanks Mark, thanks Chris  

 

On 3/9/2021 at 3:02 PM, Duncan B said:

up to now I have somehow managed to avoid raiding the stock room to have one of these beauties for myself but my resistance is weakening with every new post from you on progress!

 

First rule of modelling retail Duncan, don't get high on your own supply 

 

On 3/9/2021 at 3:02 PM, Duncan B said:

Please warn me before you start your CR.42 so I have time to forget my BM password or else the stock room will be getting another unsolicited visit

 

I would very much like to see your mottling skills applied to one of those

 

Well I don't really know what to say about the last 48 hours with the Belgian Gladiator, it sort of got out from under me and went rampaging off with me hanging on for dear life and taking photo's when I remembered to; I can't really compose a coherent travelogue but I'll let the photos do the talking as far as possible...

 

It all started innocently enough, painting the footplates on the upper half of the lower wing and threading the knitting-in thread through the holes I drilled earlier. 

 

 

I needed to apply some of the transfers before proceeding much further, for reasons that will be apparent in a couple of photo's time. Both the aftermarket sets of transfers I'd bought were disappointing:

 

 

The ICM decals are nice enough, colourful, nicely printed and seem to be of good quality; BUT the Belgian aircraft they offer in the set is an unarmed personal aircraft of a high-ranking Belgian officer (General Hiernaux) which does not carry the famed badge of 'La Comete' squadron which was one of the principal reasons I wanted to build a Belgian Gladiator in the first place. For what it's worth the set does offer options for Norwegian, Greek or Chinese Gladiators too. The other set was the LF Models set and this does include the 'Comete' badge, but the colours are a bit washed out, the printing is not quite of the same quality and the whole sheet is one big decal from which you have to cut what you need and remove as much excess carrier film as you dare to. In it's favour is the fact that it has three options (one of the aforementioned General Hiernaux's aircraft) and I think the underwing lettering is better in size and stroke than the ICM ones which are larger and thinner, but it's hard to find a decent picture of the underside of a Belgian Gladiator so you need to reach your own conclusions there.

 

The upper wings were fitted, the tail and rudder markings applied and the struts tidied up:

 

 

I used the ICM transfers for the national markings and the LF models ones for the codes and lettering. As you can see I broke the prong for the tailwheel off somewhere along the line, I drilled it and reinforced it with a bit of brass rod and re-fitted it. 

 

I don't even know what's happening here, but the tailwheel has been refitted and the rudder attached:

 

 

... the stabilisers, main struts and radiator(?) fitted:

 

 

This is why I needed to apply the transfers to the tail before going much further:

 

 

The upper wing was fitted and the various rigging elements threaded through their intended holes and glued:

 

 

... and finally the LF 'Comete' transfer was applied; these indicated every sign that they are going to silver like absolute sweethearts and I'll have to see what the various decal setting solutions can do about that.

 

 

So that's where I am; noticeably closer to the finish for the Belgian Gladiator and armed with a fair amount of experience that will help with the same process for the Sea Gladiator, I hope.  I do feel slightly dazed however as the last bits of the process just seemed to be me skittering from one almost disaster to another but never quite having an actual disaster. Sort of exhilarating, sort of terrifying. Perhaps I'll take the day off modelling today  

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[Bjorn]

Looking great! Interesting scheme also, I have never seen a Belgian one! 

[2996 Victor]

She's looking fantastic! Brilliant progress all round, and the rigging is incredible!

Cheers,

Mark

[Duncan B]

Brave man, decaling over matt paint.

 

Duncan B

[Biggles87]

Brave indeed, or did you embed them in Kleer. I’ve just tried that, although it was on a glossy surface, and am pleased with the results so far.

Ditto from me on the rigging.

 

John

[bigbadbadge]

Looking fantastic Stew, great to see it come together like that, I love when building a biplane, watching the rigging commence and progress. They really start to come to life.   

Great work.

Chris

[Stew Dapple]

Thanks very much gents  - Duncan, the paint isn't quite as matt as it might appear and it does have a very smooth finish, but I am not a brave man nor a particularly reckless one and I did lay the transfers down on a layer of wet Klear  

 

And despite my suspicions I appear to have avoided the 'Comete' decal silvering, though it did require copious applications of both Micro-Sol and Ultimate Decal Setting Solutions:

 

 

I didn't take the day off modelling, and fitted the ailerons and completed the last of the rigging (apart from the R/T antennae). I had sufferered a couple of evenings confusion over the connecting wires for the ailerons so I mention the following for anyone who suffers the same... the wires attach just outboard of the wing struts, presumably to avoid flutter from the turbulence caused by the struts. To get the correct distances between the two wires (which should mirror the angle of the strut both in relation to it and to each other) measure back from the rear strut and use a divider if you have one to make sure the distance remains consistent over all four wings. The BM Gladiator walkaround has some great pictures for helping locate the locations the wires connect at.

 

Now I can concentrate on getting the Sea Gladiator up to the same stage, which will involve a lot of spraypainting, but inbetween that I can work on the engines, wheels and propellers; I did a bit of two-birds-with-one-stonery with that yesterday:

 

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[bigbadbadge]

Looking very impressive Stew, so good that we finally have a decent injection moulded large scale Gladiator.

Great work 

Chris 

[Stew Dapple]

On 3/12/2021 at 7:43 AM, bigbadbadge said:

we finally have a decent injection moulded large scale Gladiator

 

Thanks Chris, I'll go one further and say I can't imagine a better kit of the Gladiator being produced in the foreseeable future, plus it's been a nice vice-free build so far (appropriate digits crossed, of course, there's still opportunities to mess the whole thing up ) 

 

A quick catch-up; I masked the black section of the underside markings off: 

 

 

Also disassembled the engines (the main parts had been held together with Blu-tak for the base coat of black) and gave the cylinders a coat of Vallejo Metal Color Exhaust colour, the gearbox and pushrods got a coat of Klear to give them a fairly glossy appearance. The ancillary engine parts were added and were mostly Metal Colour Duralumin - the little strut parts look quite horrifyingly delicate on the sprue but as long as you fit them in the right places they are actually pretty sturdy:

 

 

One area where I did deviate from the instructions were the air 'trumpets' and their brackets that fit in the lower half of the engine... ICM would have you build these as complete units then fit them, which I did and it worked fine, but for the second set I assembled and fitted the tube and brackets and then added the 'cone' part later. This just meant I didn't have to get the angles for the bracket and the top of the cone correct before attaching the trumpet and hoping it all looked right when it fitted. That said it was only easier on my nerves, the first one that was assembled then fitted worked perfectly well as it was.

 

There was more preparing stuff for painting; the propellers were masked as needed and the tyres masked using the tape elements from the Eduard mask set. I don't usually bother with these but I'm glad I did in this case, they worked well. I also assembled the upper wing - on the Belgian Gladiator I left this in two halves until I had attached the rigging wires, but what I gained in convenience from that I lost in having to clean up the mating seam later and the gain wasn't really worth it.

 

 

The central boss and rear faces of the Belgian Gladiator's Watts Propeller were masked and the forward surface painted in an unbleached linen colour (in this case I used Colourcoats Chamois from the Armée de l'Air range):

 

 

I also painted the yellow tips of the Sea Gladiator's Fairey Reed Propeller. The white portions of the underside quick-recognition scheme were also painted as can be seen from the underside of the tailplane above, I didn't get a picture of the main model with the white paint on, I'd masked it by the time I thought to take another picture 

 

... and here it is masked, with all the parts gathered together that will need a coat of Sky Grey:

 

 

... which was applied with no issues:

 

 

... and the propellers are, pretty much, finished:

 

 

The three-blade Fairey prop for the Sea Gladiator was pretty straightforward Night with 4" yellow warning tips (about 3.2mm in 1/32 scale. good luck measuring that .2mm, I just made mine 'slightly over' 3mm ); the Belgian Gladiator was a more complex paint job altogether. The colours were more-or-less as per the current Airfix release of their Gladiator kit which includes markings for the Belgian Air Force's G-30 and shows the prop colour as 'Pale Stone' with a 'Medium Green' leading edge.  This may be inspired by the prop fitted on the preserved Gladiator at Shuttleworth which is in these colours, but in any case the pictures of the Gladiators of the Aéronautique Militaire Belge do show a pale forward-facing colour with a darker leading edge and in the absence of any better information I decided to go with Airfix's example. The 'silver' propeller boss still has to be fitted, but that's about it.

 

So, that's where I'm up to. Hopefully today I can get the Dark Sea Grey and Light Slate Grey applied to the upper surfaces of the lower wings, and then get started on the rigging for the Sea Gladiator  

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[bigbadbadge]

A great update Stew, good to see the  Sea Gladiator progressing well and quickly and the engines look fantastic, the props look good with the two blader looking fine in those colours   great work fella. 

Chris 

[2996 Victor]

Great progress, Stew, these two are turning into absolute beauties!

The Belgian subject looks splendid in its unit markings, and you've got the propeller to a "tee"! 

Looking forward to seeing your next instalment.

Cheers,

[woody37]

Gorgeous Stew, it's a rather attractive looking aircraft and you're doing it justice, lovely paintwork

[mark.au]

Both of these look great!  You knocked off the rigging like a pro - it takes me a week of procrastination to even begin it.

[Grunticus]

Fantastic work! I have one of these on the way and looking at this I can’t wait to start building it. ICM is certainly bringing us good stuff at good prices.

[Stew Dapple]

15 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

A great update Stew, good to see the  Sea Gladiator progressing well and quickly and the engines look fantastic, the props look good with the two blader looking fine in those colours   great work fella. 

Chris 

 

Thanks mate, I've been very pleased with the progress so far  

 

14 hours ago, 2996 Victor said:

Great progress, Stew, these two are turning into absolute beauties!

The Belgian subject looks splendid in its unit markings, and you've got the propeller to a "tee"! 

Looking forward to seeing your next instalment.

Cheers,

 

Thanks Mark, I was pleased with the way the propeller turned out, the first time I have been able to make Tamiya flexible masking tape actually do what I wanted  

 

12 hours ago, woody37 said:

Gorgeous Stew, it's a rather attractive looking aircraft and you're doing it justice, lovely paintwork

 

Thank you very much Neil  

 

12 hours ago, mark.au said:

Both of these look great!  You knocked off the rigging like a pro - it takes me a week of procrastination to even begin it.

 

Aw mate, I did a lot of procrastinating at the start as to what would be the easiest way and the least effort to do the rigging but it was time well spent as it just seemed to fly by once I started doing it  

 

6 hours ago, Grunticus said:

Fantastic work! I have one of these on the way and looking at this I can’t wait to start building it. ICM is certainly bringing us good stuff at good prices.

 

Thank you mate, you are in for a treat and I'm sure you will enjoy the kit, it's a beauty and was an excellent choice by ICM as there are plenty of markings options for both RAF, FAA and other countries  

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[Stew Dapple]

I did a separate post for this update as it's going to be pretty picture heavy...  

 

I bought this:

 

 

Specifically for this part:

 

 

It's the carburettor intake as used on the J-8 export model but also clearly visible on the Belgian Gladiators. It's not available as a separate part and the kit parts only include the standard RAF type and the tropical version in the Gladiator II or Sea Gladiator kits. On the plus side it does leave me with enough parts to build a Norwegian Gladiator in the future...

 

The last parts to be painted Aluminium were attached to a paint kebab and sprayed:

 

 

... and the top halves of the lower wings got their coat of Light Slate Grey:

 

 

I remembered to do the ailerons and the 'boots' of the relevant struts too  

 

 

I applied the Top Notch vinyl masks:

 

 

... the Dark Sea Grey was applied and the masks removed:

 

 

Hmm, the light's a bit harsh on my workbench but you get the idea... then I started on the collector rings for the engines; these are the last parts still on the sprues apart from some engine bits only to be used if you are leaving the cowlings off:

 

 

First of all they had a basecoat of black, then a couple of coats of Vallejo Metal Colour Exhaust Manifold. I remembered to do the exhaust bits on the cowling panels too:

 

 

Then the metal surfaces were sprayed with a light layer of Citadel 'Agrax Earthshade' brown wash - not that much, I didn't want to go full bronze on it:

 

 

The forward and rearmost edges of the collector rings were dry-brushed silver:

 

 

and

 

 

I think the brownish stain is a little more pronounced in normal light, we'll see how it looks later - that's pretty much as far as I got, although I have now fitted one of the engines to the Belgian Gladiator along with its wheels, so it is visibly nearer completion...  

 

Cheers, 

 

Stew

[bigbadbadge]

Lovely work Stew, and those collector rings look really good  i have to say you have nailed the effect a treat, especially with the silver drybrushed edges   they actually look very realistic. 

Great work 

Chris

[dogsbody]

Those collectors look great, Stew. Nice work!

 

 

 

 

 

Chris

[spitfire]

8 hours ago, dogsbody said:

Those collectors look great, Stew. Nice work!

Chris

Got to echo this, they look just right

 

Chers

 

Dennis

[Quiet Mike]

On 3/14/2021 at 4:52 AM, Stew Dapple said:

 

 

 

... the Belgian Gladiator was a more complex paint job altogether. The colours were more-or-less as per the current Airfix release of their Gladiator kit which includes markings for the Belgian Air Force's G-30 and shows the prop colour as 'Pale Stone' with a 'Medium Green' leading edge.  This may be inspired by the prop fitted on the preserved Gladiator at Shuttleworth which is in these colours, but in any case the pictures of the Gladiators of the Aéronautique Militaire Belge do show a pale forward-facing colour with a darker leading edge and in the absence of any better information I decided to go with Airfix's example. The 'silver' propeller boss still has to be fitted, but that's about it.

 

Loving the updates Stew, these are shaping up very nicely.

I had the same issues last year finding reference for two bladed props. I came to the same result, but without colour reference I used a dull brown for the leading edge.

 

[Stew Dapple]

Thanks very much gents

 

I've finished one!

 

 

I'll put up an RFI post later on  

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[bigbadbadge]

Excellent looking forward to seeing it in RFI . Great job fella.

Chris

[Tweener]

I have never built 1/32, and certainly don't have the space for it, but seeing this build has made me decide I *need* one of these kits just the same! I'll have to find a way to clear out a shelf somewhere...

[Stew Dapple]

2 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

Excellent looking forward to seeing it in RFI . Great job fella.

Chris

 

Thanks very much Chris

 

2 hours ago, Tweener said:

I have never built 1/32, and certainly don't have the space for it, but seeing this build has made me decide I *need* one of these kits just the same! I'll have to find a way to clear out a shelf somewhere...

 

It's not that big an aicraft; about the same wingspan as a medium bomber in 1/72 (though it is a deal taller, of course )

 

RFI for the Belgian Gladiator is here:

 

 

 

Cheers, 

 

Stew

 

[AliGauld]

That's inspiring work there,

I've got this bookmarked to help me with the rigging and the rest.

Off to the RFI.

 

Cheers,

Alistair