Heather Kay Posted July 11, 2021 Author Share Posted July 11, 2021 Pleased with that. Now, squadron codes or not? Hmm. 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogsbody Posted July 11, 2021 Share Posted July 11, 2021 That's looking great, Heather! Those roundels are spot on. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather Kay Posted July 11, 2021 Author Share Posted July 11, 2021 1 hour ago, dogsbody said: That's looking great, Heather! Those roundels are spot on. Thanks Chris! It’s confirmed I was right to make the Cameo purchase. A few little tweaks here and there and I’ll be churning the things out like nobody's business! I decided to go for the codes in the end. With no photo references I can find from the first half of 1940 I went with the usual layout of lettering on planes in the Middle East later in the year. My first go was foiled by the inner spaces not wanting to come unstuck. I ran a second copy through the cutter with a slightly heavier cut, and two passes of the blade. That was a lot better. Scrap film was used as extra masking. In fact, the various off cuts will linger round the bench for other masking duties, so it won't go to waste. I am very pleased with my first effort at stencilled markings. I think it’s very much going to feature in my modelling life from now on. 15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stew Dapple Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 10 hours ago, Heather Kay said: I am very pleased with my first effort at stencilled markings. As you should be, an excellent result Cheers, Stew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roginoz Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 Now that's what I would call an outstanding success !! You're a great advert for the silhouette cutter, @Heather Kay, might have to invest in one myself.......... Hell, it's only money.........! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColonelKrypton Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 23 hours ago, Heather Kay said: Fantastic! Indeed. cheers, Graham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather Kay Posted July 12, 2021 Author Share Posted July 12, 2021 Ah, the joys of being my own boss. Being so close to the finish line with this build I let myself have today working on it. The first task was resorting to the kit transfers for the serial numbers, W/T markings and those lovely boot print markings. The transfers were very thin, and generally floated on well. As I elected not to gloss coat the entire model, I floated the stickers onto a bed of Humbrol acrylic gloss clear in the hope it would eliminate most silvering. It did for about half the time. I will need to spend a bit of time punching through and flooding things with varnish later. After a quick coat of W&N Galeria matt varnish, it was time to tackle the undercarriage and remaining strut work. The main gear legs look horribly fragile, but once glue has set and liquid cement done its magic, the assembly is quite strong. I glued in my made-up metal tail wheel and fitted the tail struts - none of which met with any of the location holes. I think a little filler and paint retouching will be required. The undercarriage all needs painting properly anyway. So, aside from the vulnerable bits like pitot, aerial masts and machine gun barrels, what’s left? Something bleedin' obvious. Can you guess? 15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry1954 Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 Looking good Heather. That last underside view is so "of the era". I feel sure that a moderately aware aviation person could nail the era not even knowing what exact type it was. Looking forward to seeing this one in its finished state. Terry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather Kay Posted July 12, 2021 Author Share Posted July 12, 2021 Well, despite my best intentions I haven’t finished this model today. Perhaps I might have tomorrow off as well. With the undercarriage attached, I spent a while painting it, and repairing some paint damage elsewhere. The silvered transfers were given some pricking and varnish treatment. They’re still not clever, but I have a plan that involves some careful weathering. The next thing was installing the engines. Yeah, well, that’s been vexing me for some time. The kit nacelles had a moulded square peg. At some stage, obviously, it had been intended to have an engine that fitted onto the plug. Somewhere, that good intention had been lost. So, the question was how do you attach a resin Pegasus in the right spot on the front of an oval nacelle, while simultaneously juggling the cowling and the exhaust ring? The instructions expect you to assemble the engine, cowling and exhaust ring into one unit. This is all well and good, but it isn’t immediately obvious how to then attach it to the nacelle. To cut a long story short, I decided on the following course of action. Dropping the cowling ring over the nacelle, I then held it in place with one hand, making it as square and central as possible. Applying a drop of CA gel to the nacelle front, I then dropped the engine moulding centrally within the cowling. It was aligned by eyeballing it, as the gel takes a little while to "grab" giving me some wiggle room. There’s every chance neither engine will be exactly aligned with the other, but I will have to live with that. Once the CA gel has set, I shall figure out how to fix the cowling, and then glue the exhaust ring in front. From above, you can see the cowlings are still loose. I hope there will be sufficient contact with the engine cylinder heads to glue the things in place. I then turned my attention to the exhaust rings. I had previously glued the exhausts in place, so the rings were stuck to some blutack, and then given some paint. It’s a concoction of Humbrol metallic enamels, namely polished steel and copper with a dash of matt black. This, I believe, constitutes all that remains to be attached to my Bombay. The donor DF loop and pitot have been given a wire peg to ensure some chance of remaining attached to the model. The wireless masts are currently just plain brass rod, but will be painted when glued in place. Slowly getting there, mostly waiting for paint to dry! 19 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookenbacher Posted July 13, 2021 Share Posted July 13, 2021 Just catching up with this one Heather, very impressive - the masked markings turned out fantastic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted July 13, 2021 Share Posted July 13, 2021 Wonderful progress Heather, I'm in awe of your markings, for a first attempt, superb. Like others, I can see one of these silhouette cutters in my Future, that much is Klear to me. Steve 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather Kay Posted July 13, 2021 Author Share Posted July 13, 2021 It’s done. A few bits of PVA here and there to act as navigation light lenses need to dry before I do the official portraits. Thoughts? This is my first Valom kit to be actually built. I read other build threads, so felt warned sufficiently of the odd idiosyncrasy. In the end, it really wasn’t that bad. I’ve certainly battled harder kits, the Pavla Airspeed Oxford for example. The butt joints on the tailplane have proved to be quite robust, as have the wing joints. Making the fuselage seam disappear was a chore. My comments about the robustness of the undercarriage need to be taken with a pinch of salt, though. The moulded stub axles don’t quite fit the moulded dimples in the main wheels. Doing it again, I’d drill the wheels out a bit deeper to make a better joint. I found inadvertent or accidental sideways landings on the workbench could unstick the wheels, so they’ve now been reinforced with CA and a memo sent round to avoid dragging the thing sideways! As ever, my paint job could be better, but it’s no worse than previous models. I’d like to weather more to show a well-used airframe. I think some gentle oil streaking back from the engine cowlings and round the cooler intakes would look nice, but I need decent photo references to get that right. Quite a lot can be seen through the big cockpit greenhouse and nose, so I’m glad I spent a while detailing in there. Hindsight would see me handle the cupola transparencies differently. Sanding down the prominent frame lines would be high in the agenda, as they were constructed out of riveted Perspex sheets. Having left them unpainted they look like a mistake. Anyway, there she is, a big Bristol. Time to clear the bench and set up for photography. 22 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stew Dapple Posted July 13, 2021 Share Posted July 13, 2021 She's a beauty Heather, I look forward to the RFI pics Cheers, Stew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roginoz Posted July 13, 2021 Share Posted July 13, 2021 Looks great, Heather, a first class build, especially the properly painted roundels and markings. That's a lot of fuselage to rid of seam lines ! No doubt about it, masked and painted markings look so much more natural than transfers. You've definitely influenced me into parting with folding stuff to invest in a silhouette cutter. Rog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Tucker Posted July 13, 2021 Share Posted July 13, 2021 Really Nice. I especially liked the painted markings. They blend into the model really well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
planecrazee Posted July 13, 2021 Share Posted July 13, 2021 That's a fantastic model Heather and so good to see a more unusual subject so perfectly represented. You've done a cracking job! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry1954 Posted July 13, 2021 Share Posted July 13, 2021 Great result all round Heather! You should be well proud of that one. Terry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather Kay Posted July 13, 2021 Author Share Posted July 13, 2021 Thanks everyone! I'm very pleased with how the model turned out in the end. All I have to do now is find somewhere for it to live! Gallery entry here: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VG 33 Posted July 13, 2021 Share Posted July 13, 2021 Hello Congratulations Heather as this one is very well done and I know how difficult the Valom kits could be. I will keep your build as reference and especially the painted markings as I have a Silhouette cutting machine as well. Patrick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather Kay Posted July 13, 2021 Author Share Posted July 13, 2021 7 minutes ago, VG 33 said: especially the painted markings as I have a Silhouette cutting machine as well You would be more than welcome to the file I created when the time comes. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob85 Posted July 13, 2021 Share Posted July 13, 2021 You made that look easy Heather, great finish and work. A fantastic 3rd addition to the gallery! Rob 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather Kay Posted July 13, 2021 Author Share Posted July 13, 2021 45 minutes ago, rob85 said: You made that look easy Heather Ta. I am actually quite surprised at how quickly that build went. It’s not a complex kit, just huge! I have just managed to squeeze it into my display cabinet. The only other Bristol aircraft I have in the stash is the Airfix Beaufort. I’m not planning on getting into that, but it seems a very popular choice for the GB! I shall sit back and enjoy the other builds here, before piling into the French Fancies 2 and High Wing GBs. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabbit Leader Posted July 13, 2021 Share Posted July 13, 2021 Wonderful and overall an excellent result. That has really turned out beautifully Heather and the colours, painted on markings and glamour photography are just spot on. Cheers and very well modelled.. Dave 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LorenSharp Posted July 13, 2021 Share Posted July 13, 2021 Heather, This is not only an impressive build but a massive one as well. You keep building these big brutes you may have to start hanging them from the ceiling for lack of space. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyot Posted July 13, 2021 Share Posted July 13, 2021 You`ve done an excellent job, it looks wonderful,...... congratulations. It looks lovely in those early war colours. Cheers Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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