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1:48 Blackburn Skua Mk.II *FINISHED*


Dunny

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Hi All,

 

Another quick update on what has been a strong day of progress! Here's a photo with the empennage and wing roots in position, which all went far too smoothly:

 

20211229-152437.jpg

 

In typical SH fashion there is no location between the wing roots and the wings themselves; in order to strengthen the joint I therefore added some location tabs top and bottom:

 

20211229-155732.jpg

 

The wings went into position relatively painlessly - there'll be some gaps to fill, but it could be worse:

 

20211229-162435.jpg

 

Finally, with the tape removed I couldn't resist a shot with the engine posed in place:

 

20211229-162950.jpg

 

Starting to look like a Skua!

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Roger

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23 minutes ago, mackem01 said:

For  slow burner this is moving quite swiftly,

and nicely too. I like your methodical approach and I've learned stuff too - l know

I wouldn't fancy being that third crewman!

Thanks for the kind words Mackem! I've learned from bitter experience with Special Hobby kits how to navigate their eccentricities - they do generally build up to accurate representations of the subject, but boy can they be frustrating!

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

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Wow, great progress indeed Roger, this has moved on swiftly, you have done a great job getting this one together .  I know you have built a few Special Hobby kits and can work your way through them very well, they do provide us with some great subjects . I do like the way you work through them too and find reading your threads very interesting and get a great level of satisfaction and inspiration seeing them develope into a fine model. You are a skilled modeller and always turn out lovely models and great subjects. 

Great work 

Chris

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39 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

Wow, great progress indeed Roger, this has moved on swiftly, you have done a great job getting this one together .  I know you have built a few Special Hobby kits and can work your way through them very well, they do provide us with some great subjects . I do like the way you work through them too and find reading your threads very interesting and get a great level of satisfaction and inspiration seeing them develope into a fine model. You are a skilled modeller and always turn out lovely models and great subjects. 

Great work 

Chris

Chris,

 

That's high praise indeed from a man of your considerable talent - thank you! I'm glad that we can share this great hobby - I don't think this one will make the '21 yearbook though 😉

 

All the best mate,

 

Roger

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Looking good Roger; you’re making one of aviation history’s ugly ducklings look like a swan.

 

Hard to complain about a lack of cricket given the reason, particularly the way the Boxing Day test played out!

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12 minutes ago, mark.au said:

Looking good Roger; you’re making one of aviation history’s ugly ducklings look like a swan.

 

Hard to complain about a lack of cricket given the reason, particularly the way the Boxing Day test played out!

Thanks for the kind words Mark - much appreciated. Sadly I am still an England tragic, even after 16 years in this fair land (and 11 years an Aussie too!)

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

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24 minutes ago, Grey Beema said:

Great work Roger.

 

You need to go back to your wing tips.  There should be a hand hold through the wing just by the tip.  It’s moulded as an oval but should be drilled through..

 

 

Good catch GB - the devil's in the detail. Thank you...

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6 minutes ago, Norman said:

Looking great ! im following this build with much interest 

 

Thanks Norman - good to have you aboard!

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

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Hi All,

 

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year, and I hope 2022 brings you peace and happiness! I'm chipping away at the Skua, and progressing rather well thank you very much! First job for the day was the landing light covers. As you can see from the photo below, the parts as provided are rather oversize:

 

20220101-110047.jpg

 

It was a simple enough job to file down the components so they fitted just fine:

 

20220101-112234.jpg

 

I also drilled out the wingtips to represent hand holds, as sagely pointed out by @Grey Beema (thanks GB!):

 

20220101-131953.jpg

 

There are still a few things bothering me about the colour scheme, particularly that of the propeller. A number of builds I've seen (including @Heather Kay's lovely recent 1:72 build) show the spinner with aluminium front faces, and black rear. This was rather curious, so I thought I'd see if I could find any photographic evidence for or against). Here's a selection:

 

3173693062-34e3236b66-b.jpg

 

Definitely not black!

 

Blackburn-B-24-Skua-Mk2-HMS-Ark-Royal.jp

 

Again, definitely not black but I'm also struggling to see aluminium. 

 

l2950.jpg

 

I would say that's probably black, so I think I'll probably go with the black rear/front aluminium combo, as the second pic could be a very flat aluminium. Whilst I was doing this research, I came across this very interesting page:

 

https://www.dingeraviation.net/skuaroc/modelling_the_blackburn_skua.htm

 

There is a mine of useful information on the Skua and Roc, which I'd highly recommend for anyone who is looking to model this aircraft. I learned the following useful facts:

 

- The bomb cavity as presented by Special Hobby is incorrect - rather than the lozenge shape as moulded it should be rectangular

- The serial number range which I am modelling has only one landing light rather than two (shame I've just completed them - drat!)

 

I shall probably leave these errors in place, given that I'm currently applying primer 😞

 

On the upside, I am in a position to correct the following 🤩

 

- The bomb crutch as presented is incorrect

- There is a pair of wires running from the cockpit to the rear of the empennage. These were used to deploy and release an anti-spin parachute, which was added towards the end of the Skua's development. Rather than compromise the watertight fuselage, the designers chose to fix the lines externally. I may choose to add this detail (although I will have to do it pretty much  - well, now actually!)

 

I've also found a happy solution to the wing roundels. Rather than using the 'A' type roundels as presented, I want to replicate the above photo. As you can see, those shown are rather undersize compared to 'standard' B-type roundels. I decided to see how well a 1:72 roundel from the spares box would measure up:

 

20220101-122149.jpg

 

Rather well, as it turns out!

 

Anyway, I'm off to see about those parachute lines - wish me luck!

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Roger

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     Gidday Roger, I'm following your build as I did Heather's. I have three Skuas temporarily on hold and the builds of you both, plus the link in your post and other info are a gold mine to me when I reactivate my builds. But mine won't have the detail of your's and Heather's as they're a bit smaller, being 1/600 scale. 🙂

     Seriously, you're doing a great job. Regards, Jeff.

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9 minutes ago, ArnoldAmbrose said:

     Gidday Roger, I'm following your build as I did Heather's. I have three Skuas temporarily on hold and the builds of you both, plus the link in your post and other info are a gold mine to me when I reactivate my builds. But mine won't have the detail of your's and Heather's as they're a bit smaller, being 1/600 scale. 🙂

     Seriously, you're doing a great job. Regards, Jeff.

Thanks for the kind words Jeff - much appreciated! Disappointed that you won't be adding 1:600 formation lights 🤣

 

Happy New Year,

 

Roger

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10 minutes ago, mark.au said:

Coming along nicely.  I agree with you re the propeller.

Thanks Mark - there's a bit of latitude, so no-one can definitely say I'm wrong!🤣

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Hi All,

 

A good day's progress on the Skua today! Here's the state of play at the start of the day:

 

20220101-113427.jpg

 

Looking suitably Skuaey! Next I laid down a first coat of primer:

 

20220101-115915.jpg

 

That revealed a number of seams which required further attention (which they duly received!). Next a preshade using Nato Black:

 

20220101-144021.jpg

 

I actually took the pic once I'd started to lay down the Sky Grey, but you get the idea! :banghead: Here's the Sky Grey once finished:

 

20220101-145348.jpg

 

I can report that my first experience of spraying Sky Grey was a positive one (Vallejo 71.407 aqueous acrylic, if anyone is interested). It is, however, remarkably difficult to differentiate from the primer!. Whilst I was preshading I decided to spray the underside of the port wing Nato Black, which you can see here:

 

20220101-160320.jpg

 

Of course, I hadn't accounted for the fact that the wheel wells needed a further touch of Sky Grey, so I'll go back and sort that out later. Also, you can see where I've masked over the bomb cavity, which I've elected to colour Sky Grey (invoking Modelling Rule #1 - it's my model and I'll do what I like 🤣) The undercarriage bays are also Sky Grey, and therefore masked in preparation for laying down the B & W. Finally, you can see that I've mist coated the white to a satisfactory finish:

 

20220101-163713.jpg

 

You can see where I had a bit of spatter from the white - no worries as the black will cover it up! I shall let that dry overnight before I tackle the black and the camouflage tomorrow!

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Roger

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5 hours ago, Dunny said:

These were used to deploy and release an anti-spin parachute, which was added towards the end of the Skua's development.


The landing lights thing caught me out, too. At 1/72nd I elected to ignore the parachute cables - and I’d missed that detail in the Roc anyway, so at least both planes match! 
 

Glad you found the Dinger site. Lots of useful info there. Does it help if I say the wheel wells were often painted to match the under wing colour? (Walks away, slowly…)

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4 minutes ago, Heather Kay said:


The landing lights thing caught me out, too. At 1/72nd I elected to ignore the parachute cables - and I’d missed that detail in the Roc anyway, so at least both planes match! 
 

Glad you found the Dinger site. Lots of useful info there. Does it help if I say the wheel wells were often painted to match the under wing colour? (Walks away, slowly…)

Rule #1 Heather 🤣. I've not managed to spot the parachute lines in any photos, so I'm of a mind not to bother, in a mood of New Year laissez faire...

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4 minutes ago, Heather Kay said:


Indeed. I invoked the same when painting my bomb well, too. :laugh:

 

Your Skua is looking great.

Thanks for the kind words - I hope it ends up half as nicely as yours!

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Happy New Year Roger..

 

I have seen the Anti Spin Chute lines on early Skuas but examining later photos it doesn’t appear to be there so I’m not sure how consistent the fitting was (it wasn’t on the Skua I based mine on).

 

The last Skua that I did was the COs Aircraft 803 NAS HMS Ark Royal flown during Operation Catapult Mers-el- Kébi (French Algeria).  Dakar July 1940.  803 seemed to act as escort to 800 NAS who carried out the Dive Bomber Operations.  I suspect that the bomb crutch was removed for 803 for this operation.  I have also seen a third hand reference to a blanking plate for the bomb recess.  I’ll take another look and see if I can find it..

 

 

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9 minutes ago, stevehnz said:

Nice going Roger. Although my kit is in Heather's scale, there is much useful Skua lore on display here, something I'll look forward to using come the day.

Steve.

Thanks very much Steve - I knew very little about this type but it has been great learning more. Every day's a school day...

8 minutes ago, Grey Beema said:

Happy New Year Roger..

 

I have seen the Anti Spin Chute lines on early Skuas but examining later photos it doesn’t appear to be there so I’m not sure how consistent the fitting was (it wasn’t on the Skua I based mine on).

 

The last Skua that I did was the COs Aircraft 803 NAS HMS Ark Royal flown during Operation Catapult Mers-el- Kébi (French Algeria).  Dakar July 1940.  803 seemed to act as escort to 800 NAS who carried out the Dive Bomber Operations.  I suspect that the bomb crutch was removed for 803 for this operation.  I have also seen a third hand reference to a blanking plate for the bomb recess.  I’ll take another look and see if I can find it..

 

 

Happy New Year to you too GB - I've chosen to omit the lines, as they are absent from most of the photos I've examined. Interesting that the Skua was dual role. I read that although it only carried 4 x .303s rather than the Spit/Hurri, it carried twice their ammunition, therefore doubling firing time. One would imagine that would be helpful when engaging a ponderous bomber rather than going head-head with a Bf109, and may account for its success in the early days of conflict. Enjoying learning more about this as well as the Roc, which is heading rapidly up the bucket list!

 

Cheers,

 

Roger 

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Happy New Year to you too Roger, good progress with the paint going on , this is looking very nice indeed, great work fella.  Thanks for posting the link to that very useful site  that looks good and there is TT info on there which is brilliant as yellow and black is how I want to do mine, I am sure that won't come as a surprise to you 😉 

Now the paint is going on you'll have this one wrapped up in no time!!!

Chris

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