Richard Tucker Posted August 25, 2021 Share Posted August 25, 2021 As my LeO was progressing, I had a look around the stash to see what else would fit the French Fancy GB. I thought I had built most of the French aircraft during the Heller GB but as the summer holidays took hold, I "accidentally" found myself in a few model shops on holiday and came away with a few kits - 3 of which were French subjects. I've got a Potez 630 from Azur, another Azur Loire et Nieuport LN 411 and this weekend, a Heller Musee Block MB210 from Clifton Curios. As I had mixed up the internal blue, for the LeO, I thought I'd make a start on this one and see how it goes. The resin parts are really small and quite tricky to get off the base. So far so good though.,... No breakages, Some good looking decals. I'll be doing the French scheme. I started with the cockpit as I had the blue ready to spray in the airbrush from touching up the LeO internals. I then left this in its box and occasionally did something to it while the LeO was drying. All of this work was during the LeO build a little while back. The current status is this : The cockpit went together no problem and the fuselage fitted together well. I've got 2 wings too. The area on the front of the engines isn't great but I don't know how the resin engines will fit and if it matters! I should be able to concentrate on this one more now the LeO is done and the Liberator (in the High Wing GB) is mostly assembled. 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogsbody Posted August 25, 2021 Share Posted August 25, 2021 Interesting. Chair pulled up. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyOD Posted August 26, 2021 Share Posted August 26, 2021 Going to be another beaut I’m sure. I’ll be along for the ride. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wez Posted August 28, 2021 Share Posted August 28, 2021 Good progress so far Richard. I like these Potez aircraft, yet another attractive French design. It's interesting to see how the driver-airframe got a nice comfy chair while the navigator and gunner got what look like bicycle seats, I wonder how comfy they were in combat? Good luck with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOCKNEY Posted September 5, 2021 Share Posted September 5, 2021 Great choice Richard That paint job on the box looks interesting ! Best of luck. Cheers Pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Tucker Posted September 6, 2021 Author Share Posted September 6, 2021 22 hours ago, JOCKNEY said: Great choice Richard That paint job on the box looks interesting ! Best of luck. Cheers Pat At the current time, I have no idea how I'm going to paint that but I bought this kit purely for that scheme! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Tucker Posted September 6, 2021 Author Share Posted September 6, 2021 I attached the wings and tail. They were quite straight forward and seemed to fit quite nicely which surprised me! I've then spent a few hours on and off over a few days cutting my thumb with a scalpel repeatedly cutting out the resin parts and shaping them so that they fit the complex curves on the cowlings. The engines were painted and black and then dry brushed with some gun metal. The cowlings were glued together. 1 pair fitted together really well. The other needed some sanding to get flush. The engines were then glued inside and the cowlings stuck onto the wings. This bit worked well. The resin parts on this kit are so small and have really complex shapes. I don't know why they couldn't mould these underwing scoops as part of the wing ?! It is coming together slowly. The next step is to cover everything up and prime it I think. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Tucker Posted September 8, 2021 Author Share Posted September 8, 2021 The Potez has had a coat of primer and looks pretty good. I did knock off a bit of resin from the engine while spraying it though 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandboof Posted September 10, 2021 Share Posted September 10, 2021 Looking very slick Martin H 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Tucker Posted September 14, 2021 Author Share Posted September 14, 2021 I've finally cleared most of the bench as the Liberator is done I think so I will be concentrating on this now. I did a little bit of pre-shading. I then attacked it with some AK Xtreme Metal Aluminium. I'll need to wait for the light to improve before I check if it needs another coat in places. It started chucking it down as soon as I finished this so it went gloomy and I can't tell if it needs more in places. If not, then I need to mask off the silver and spray the Khaki octopus shape, 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Tucker Posted September 16, 2021 Author Share Posted September 16, 2021 Some very strange masking and a bit of Airbrushed US Green paint and I've got this strange looking thing. 15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted September 16, 2021 Share Posted September 16, 2021 Very interesting scheme, one does wonder what the purpose was to do it in this way ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Tucker Posted September 16, 2021 Author Share Posted September 16, 2021 5 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said: Very interesting scheme, one does wonder what the purpose was to do it in this way ? I wondered if it was an anti reflection from the shiny metal finish but they didn't need to go to town on the spiky bits. Equally, they didn't need to paint the outside of the cowlings either, I then wondered if this camo really existed and bingo : It does! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Tucker Posted September 21, 2021 Author Share Posted September 21, 2021 The canopy has been sprayed and dry fits quite well. This was a vacform so lots of stress cutting this out and sanding it 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Tucker Posted September 21, 2021 Author Share Posted September 21, 2021 I sprayed the plane with some floor polish and began to work on the decals. At the same time, I was helping my daughter put some decals on her Hurricane (first time model maker) and was paying more attention to her work than mine. I soon realised that I had put one of the fuselage roundels on upside down. The white bar is not central through the roundel and I only realised this about 20 mins after I stuck it on After some light swearing and careful brush / tweezer work, I managed to get the offending decal off the aircraft but much to my daughters delight, it was folded up, slightly torn and a right mess, back soaking in the water. She thought my troubles were really amusing and by now had finished her Hurricane decals which were all perfectly positioned and looking good. I spent another 10 mins trying to rescue the ball of decal that should be the bar and roundel and managed to rescue 99% of it. You can see the small break in the tail end of the white bar but otherwise, after 10 mins of swearing and generally amusing my daughter I had won! i checked over the other decals and was about to declare the disaster over when I spotted the underside wing right roundel as not even on the plane anymore. Where was it! It had gone. I checked the table, the rest of the plane and then darling daughter pointed it out, upside down and folded on my thumb More hysterical laughter from the daughter as Daddy had b*llsed it up again. More water, more careful flattening out but there was no stopping the decal from ripping as I tried to separate it from my thumb. I have no idea how long it was there for. Some careful placing on the wing and it is pretty good but not perfect. At least I was able to amuse the daughter for 30 mins on how not to apply decals. Her Hurricane looks really good so that is something at least 12 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOCKNEY Posted September 21, 2021 Share Posted September 21, 2021 Hi Richard We have all done it mate, and usually with a decal unique to the particular model that can't be found in the spares box. Nice save on these. Cheers Pat 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Tucker Posted September 22, 2021 Author Share Posted September 22, 2021 I've done a little panel lining with a Fineliner pen as an experiment. It was mentioned as a technique on the 1/72 Facebook group and I thought I'd give it a go. It looks pretty good. I think a couple of areas need a bit of touching up but otherwise it was good. I made a few mistakes but a cotton bud with some water soon sorted it out. The undercarriage is on. The diagonal struts were too long and needed to be trimmed down to fit inside the wing but otherwise, it was straight forward. I need to paint the tyres a little more and stick on a whole host of little bits and pieces including the canopy and then it will be done 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Tucker Posted September 27, 2021 Author Share Posted September 27, 2021 I'm calling this one done. I've attached a small variety of PE parts and the canopy is on and fitting really well. Thank you for watching and giving all the advice. 15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyOD Posted September 27, 2021 Share Posted September 27, 2021 Love it. What an interesting paint job! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jean Posted September 28, 2021 Share Posted September 28, 2021 Hi Richard, top job on this model. It sure beats the old Heller Musee kit. I love your paint job. This type of minimalistic camo was applied to many planes when the Phoney War became a reality. A lot of Dewoitine D510 received the same treatment, and it makes for some interesting schemes. Congrats! JR 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie McBoatface Posted September 29, 2021 Share Posted September 29, 2021 On 9/21/2021 at 11:42 AM, Richard Tucker said: darling daughter pointed it out, upside down and folded on my thumb Nice finish and a lovely story of the decaling disaster we've all had at some time. 😄 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted October 1, 2021 Share Posted October 1, 2021 Really nice Richard, it is a beaut scheme & you've handled it very well. Pity these are a bit hard to find, I'd love one having seen yours. Steve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandboof Posted October 4, 2021 Share Posted October 4, 2021 Well done Great camo finish Martin H 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted October 5, 2021 Share Posted October 5, 2021 (edited) Well done, my apologies on the late response, Ive been slacking as of late. Edited October 5, 2021 by Corsairfoxfouruncle 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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