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1:72 Short Stirling Mk.1 *FINISHED*


Dunny

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30 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

The interior is looking very nice indeed Roger, the cockpit looks fab fella great work  it's a shame that some of that lovely interior detail won't be seen.  At least you and we, know it's there.  

 

Chris

 

Thanks Chris - it's actually a pretty detailed interior. I would say at least as good as Airfix' Lanc, although the bomb aimer's station looks incorrect. I've taken the approach that it will never be seen anyway so I'm not sweating it 😉

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

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Nice to see a Stirling in work.

 

Probably a bit late now but here's a pic of our Flightdeck in it's current form. https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=stirling+project+flightdeck&sxsrf=AOaemvJzjl-HuI8zzx_V20aSi5vyZyentg:1641721706457&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj8lIj5saT1AhWyoFwKHexOA_0Q_AUoAXoECAIQAw&biw=1280&bih=577&dpr=1.5#imgrc=f8JJGkqDBzx6ZM

 

Early on Stirlings where Cockpit Green from the nose through to the Navigators bulkhead at Frame 9, some were hand painted black in the BA compartment though although I believe that this was pretty rare. We have parts from the nose of Mk IIIs/IVs which are still painted green though. 

 

If you need any help, please feel free to ask

 

John

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14 minutes ago, 12jaguar said:

Nice to see a Stirling in work.

 

Probably a bit late now but here's a pic of our Flightdeck in it's current form. https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=stirling+project+flightdeck&sxsrf=AOaemvJzjl-HuI8zzx_V20aSi5vyZyentg:1641721706457&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj8lIj5saT1AhWyoFwKHexOA_0Q_AUoAXoECAIQAw&biw=1280&bih=577&dpr=1.5#imgrc=f8JJGkqDBzx6ZM

 

Early on Stirlings where Cockpit Green from the nose through to the Navigators bulkhead at Frame 9, some were hand painted black in the BA compartment though although I believe that this was pretty rare. We have parts from the nose of Mk IIIs/IVs which are still painted green though. 

 

If you need any help, please feel free to ask

 

John

Thanks so much for that John - not too late to incorporate some of that lovely detail! Much of it will be unseen but I'll see how we go. Amazing to see a 1:1 version of this iconic aircraft on the go,

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

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6 hours ago, TheyJammedKenny! said:

This is superb detailing work!  The instrument panel is amazing, and the hot water heater?  When's tea up?  I assume that's what it was there for--certainly not placed there to heat the aircraft interior...

Thanks for the kind words!

6 hours ago, VT Red Sox Fan said:

Just joining in--already have learned a lot--both about building and the Short Stirling--thanks for sharing your work and I look forward to your progress... best, Erwin 

Welcome aboard Erwin!

24 minutes ago, 12jaguar said:

I don't know where Italeri got the idea that there's a galley, on a Stirling; maybe on a MkV but not on any of the bomber variants

 

John

Yes, very curious - the wine cooler was a step too far though🤣

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Hi All,

 

I've had a busy day today, with not much to show for my toils! To be fair, most of that time was taken up with the construction of the undercarriage, which although fiddly ended up with two sturdy sub-assemblies - good job given the size of this thing! Once I'd constructed the tyres, finished painting and weathering them, it was on to the main u/c elements and the twin tail wheel bay. Here's all of those sub-assemblies finished:

 

20220115-143030.jpg

 

Just to give an idea of scale, these look to be about the same size as the main u/c from a 1:48 Beaufighter, which just shows how mahoosive these beasts were. Here's the tail wheel bay glued in position:

 

20220115-143541.jpg

 

Getting there! I also glued all of the fuselage windows into position, but didn't feel that was exciting enough to warrant a photo 🤣

 

I did, however, mask the canopy, so here it is posed in position:

 

20220115-151854.jpg

 

Fits very nicely - I hasten to add that the fuselage is not yet buttoned up. That will have to wait until tomorrow, after I've completed the front turret, which needs to be positioned in place before joining the fuselage halves. I need to do a bit more research on turret colours - I think they are aluminium:

 

Aircrew-walking-beneath-tnose-oa-Short-S

 

Certainly not black, although this aircraft was from a Heavy Conversion Unit, so not on operations - some nice detail of the cockpit curtains and the cowling colouring though. T'internet here we come,

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Roger

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Hi Roger

Undercarriage units look good along with the serious Canopy masking too.  Great work on those fella.  Great photo to, lots of useful info there thanks for posting. Looking forward to seeing the turret and fuselage buttoned up.  This is going to be an impressive model.

Chris

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24 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

Hi Roger

Undercarriage units look good along with the serious Canopy masking too.  Great work on those fella.  Great photo to, lots of useful info there thanks for posting. Looking forward to seeing the turret and fuselage buttoned up.  This is going to be an impressive model.

Chris

Thanks Chris,

 

What continues to surprise me is the sheer size of this beast. Even compared to a Lanc it is huge, and the extra height added to the undercarriage makes it so imposing on the ground,

 

Cheers,

 

Roger 

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8 minutes ago, Dunny said:

Thanks Chris,

 

What continues to surprise me is the sheer size of this beast. Even compared to a Lanc it is huge, and the extra height added to the undercarriage makes it so imposing on the ground,

 

Cheers,

 

Roger 

They do look massive and you could get vertigo just sitting in the front end on the ground 😉 it will certainly stand out in your display too. 

Chris

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19 minutes ago, Col Walter E Kurtz said:

Hey Roger. Love what you've done so far. The details are really nice! I didn't the Airfix version some 20 odd years ago.

sadly I never completed it and have lost the decal sheet. Looking forward to seeing this one completed! 

Regards, Andy

 

Cheers Andy - welcome aboard!

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9 hours ago, Dunny said:

Thanks Chris,

 

What continues to surprise me is the sheer size of this beast. Even compared to a Lanc it is huge, and the extra height added to the undercarriage makes it so imposing on the ground,

 

Cheers,

 

Roger 

 

It was the biggest of the three 4-engined types used.

 

51822381988_9fcd5eac29_b.jpg

 

 

 

 

Chris

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8 hours ago, AdrianMF said:

Looking very nice! I find anything with more than two engines terrifying…*

 

Regards,

Adrian
 

* doesn’t seem to stop me buying the kits though :(

 

Thanks Adrian! I do quite like the complexity - you can fluff around with sub-assembly for ages and suddenly things seem to come together (hopefully!)

 

Cheers,

 

Roger 

4 hours ago, dogsbody said:

 

It was the biggest of the three 4-engined types used.

 

51822381988_9fcd5eac29_b.jpg

 

 

 

 

Chris

Chris,

 

That illustrates it perfectly. Roughly the same wingspan/area, a fuselage so much larger, and the same engines - hardly surprising they couldn't keep up!

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

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Great start! I'll be tagging along as I have this kit and it's been sitting on top of the stash pile staring at me for several months now. Do you have a plan to reduce the panel lines (Mr Surfacer etc.)?

 

Cheers,

Bill

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Just now, Navy Bird said:

Great start! I'll be tagging along as I have this kit and it's been sitting on top of the stash pile staring at me for several months now. Do you have a plan to reduce the panel lines (Mr Surfacer etc.)?

 

Cheers,

Bill

Thanks Bill - welcome aboard. To be honest, I was going to see how the panel lines looked under primer before I commit to anything,

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

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Hi All,

 

I've been doing a bit more digging around on colours for turrets, and I think I've settled on aluminium. My thoughts also turned to the engines, or more specifically the exhaust collector colour. Now this has been the subject of many a thread, but the Stirling does appear to have has some quite specific colours. Besides the usual discolouration of the steel, the front of the collector ring seems to had a white stove enamel applied. Here's a few examples:

 

Aircrew-walking-beneath-tnose-oa-Short-S

 

Stirling-149-Sqn-1942.jpg

 

Interestingly, here's one which appears to show one engine with, and one without the coating:

 

BI-0131-bi-downed-plane-4.jpg

 

A replacement engine perhaps? Could also just be a trick of the light, but my suspicion is that the coating may have been phased out after initial deliveries - any thoughts @dogsbody? Here's a photo of a Mk.V where the coating certainly isn't applied:

 

p-stirling1.jpg

 

Given that this is a run of the mill Mk.I, and other 149 Sqn aircraft in the photos appear to show the coating, I'm leaning towards a white front with 'normal' exhaust discolouration to the balance of the collector/exhaust, though will happily be persuaded otherwise. In other news, I couldn't resist checking the u/c against my Beaufighter theory:

 

20220116-110758.jpg

 

I'd say that's bob on (also shows another treatment for the mighty Bristol Hercules!) Right, I'm off to get on with the turrets,

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Roger

 

 

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Hi Roger

I don't know anything about the collector rings, I did see an image, I think it was on here a few years ago with one at night and the collector rings glowing, looked quite impressive if I recall, but no good over enemy territory!!! 

Looking forward to seeing the turrets and it's great to see that stunning Beau again with your cracking pain effects on those collector rings. 

Chris

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Aluminium for the turret mechanism although the inside of the cupola is black.

 

We made a mistake when we restored our turret and painted the mechanism black...doh! Short of taking it all apart again it will remain black🤫

 

John

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1 hour ago, bigbadbadge said:

Hi Roger

I don't know anything about the collector rings, I did see an image, I think it was on here a few years ago with one at night and the collector rings glowing, looked quite impressive if I recall, but no good over enemy territory!!! 

Looking forward to seeing the turrets and it's great to see that stunning Beau again with your cracking pain effects on those collector rings. 

Chris

Thanks Chris - yes, 4 glowing rings would be pretty obvious at night!

10 minutes ago, 12jaguar said:

Aluminium for the turret mechanism although the inside of the cupola is black.

 

We made a mistake when we restored our turret and painted the mechanism black...doh! Short of taking it all apart again it will remain black🤫

 

John

Thanks John - that was exactly my intent, so will go with it!

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

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8 hours ago, Dunny said:

A replacement engine perhaps? Could also just be a trick of the light, but my suspicion is that the coating may have been phased out after initial deliveries

The white bit you're referring to isn't part of the exhaust collector, it's a cooling air baffle in front of it. Your replacement engine just has a plain exhaust collector without the cooling baffle. 

Exhaust collectors on late war aircraft operating at night (bombers, nightfighters etc) were often painted with a special black paint which reduced the visible heat glow.

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13 minutes ago, Dave Swindell said:

The white bit you're referring to isn't part of the exhaust collector, it's a cooling air baffle in front of it. Your replacement engine just has a plain exhaust collector without the cooling baffle. 

Exhaust collectors on late war aircraft operating at night (bombers, nightfighters etc) were often painted with a special black paint which reduced the visible heat glow.

Dave,

 

Many thanks for the clarification - that makes sense! So white for the baffle it is...

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

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