PK-402 : Vickers Wellington. Another stray gets a home. FINISHED

[TonyW]

I'm starting to think I'm becoming a sort of Battersea Dogs Home for unwanted waif and stray kits.

 

A recent donation of a started Matchbox Wellington has now joined the Tempest and Me262 rescue kits already added to the Gallery. It's well under the 25% rule and it's also accompanied by a Churchill Bridgelayer that will hopefully make a showing here as well.

 

 

The first plan was to make a start later in the week but once I had given the plane a closer look, I fancied getting stuck straight in.

 

Work has started. A bit of part tidy up followed by painting the cowl rings and exhaust parts. Then the fuselage and wings saw a bit of satin black spray that has gone on very well indeed. The props have had similar treatment as well.

 

 

There we go then, another build joins my other unfinished ones.

I've not noticed the usual GB 'what have I done now' feeling yet, but that one can't be far away now. The only way to keep that  at bay is to get a completion or two done.

 

Best I get cracking then.

 

 

 

 

[JOCKNEY]

Well done Tony

Of the many great things this Group Build has achieved is the number of previously started kits being finished and gracing the Gallery.

Long may that continue and thanks for setting such a fine example. 

Best of luck with these.

Cheers Pat 

[Rabbit Leader]

So good to see another Matchbox Wimpy being built / rescued. I’m quite fond of this kit, this being my last successfully completed model and think Matchbox did a credible job replicating the fuselage ribbing and wing geodetic construction. In your hands Tony, Im sure it will be yet another graceful gallery entrant. 
Cheers and best of luck.. Dave 

[TonyW]

A bit more modelling took place on the Wellington yesterday, with more today with luck.

 

 

I'm going for a nearly out the box build here, kit decals and very few additions or modifications should see a smooth and relaxing experience.

The undercarriage doors have been fitted and painted and then added to the lower wings. A bit of Revell Dark Earth has also gone on the wing top surfaces.

 

One area of the kit that I couldn't leave alone is the fuselage glazing. As Mike points out, Matchbox have made a good effort in depicting the surface features of the plane. I think the glazing lets it down , with over thick mouldings and a mounting edge on them that highlights the thickness even more. I've thinned the window areas inside the fuselage as far as I dare without going right through to air. Plastic rod has been glued above and below the openings to hold some clear sheet. I'm hoping to snap the clear plastic into place between the rods without using glue. A trial fit of the sheet against one of the openings looks a whole lot better than the kit glazing.

I left everything to dry last night, and today should see the glazing fitted and the fuselage closed up. The fuselage inner will be finished in black, with no added anything in there. The cockpit area stays as Matchbox provide as another trial fit shows that once the cockpit glazing bars are added, there won't be much visible in there. I might come a cropper with my new clear windows highlighting an empty fuselage but I'll take that chance.

There's a bit of me that likes the idea of a cutaway model of a Wellington but the Airfix one would be the logical start for one of those.

 

More later.

[TonyW]

A bit of progress on the new windows.

 

 

Better than the kit ones, but still not sitting right, even though I can't safely remove any more of the fuselage, it's paper thin as it is. An attempt at cutting windows to the exact opening shape didn't work either as the mating edges still showed a bit to much for my liking. 

I've now tried filling the front face of the new window with a fairly thick layer of Glue 'n Glaze, hoping it's going to dry fully clear and eliminate the step down between the glazing and the fuselage sides. I'm chasing a flush fit here.

I'll be reporting back later with the result as it's propped up to dry for now.

 

 

[TonyW]

Don't post for a day or so and you're back to page three! This GB is really roaring along.

 

The window experiment work, to a point, but I'll have to try again. The first layer of added Glue 'n Glaze dried perfectly clear and shiny but very slightly concave. The reflections showed that a bit too much for my liking. If I'm going to all this trouble over the windows, I want them looking as good as I can get them. I added another coat over the first, hoping to level up the surface. It dried with a couple of air bubbles in it though, and they really stood out, so I removed the whole lot. It all peeled away just fine, leaving me back where I started.

 

 

To keep things rolling, I added some decals to the fuselage. Sol and Set got the codes nicely settled. The Matchbox roundel was printed off centre so I made one up using a couple of aftermarket ones.

 

I also added an orangy brown colour to suggest the leading edge anti icing finish. The first page of Allan Halls Wellington Warpaint book has a pretty much perfect shot showing the finish, as well as the engine cowl colour. I'll be copying both for the build.

The book itself is well worth getting. What surprised me was the number of variations of codes and roundels used on the plane. No two squadrons seemed to follow the same scheme, with various overpaintings and patterns used seemingly at random.

 

 

 

[Rabbit Leader]

Great progress Tony and I have to agree, the glazing really lets this otherwise excellent kit down a little however with a little TLC is can turn out half decent. You really notice the issues when you (unfairly) compare this kit to the new Airfix kit and although we are talking different marks, there are still many similarities between both versions. 
Cheers.. Dave. 

[TonyW]

Memo to self:  Quit while you are ahead.

 

Despite me knowing there was next to no plastic left around the windows after the previous thinning process, I had to have a go at taking off a bit more.

 

 

I got away with it with the centre window, but the inevitable happened on the triangular one. It's fixable, but I should have known better. Lesson learned.

[CliffB]

Good luck with the window fix Tony.  I've used clear decal sheet to get flush glazing before now.  It works OK on smaller openings (mine was a 1/72 DC-2), but not sure how applicable it would be here?

 

Cheers

[TonyW]

A day heaving a wheelbarrow about yesterday saw me looking for an easy ride today. A fair bit of modelling got done rather than full size building work. Much nicer.

 

Humbrol 225 seems to be a very good match for the colour pictures of the wing leading edge anti icing finish.

 

 

The focus is a bit out, but I've tried to lay the kit wing over the book picture. It looks close to me. A coat of semi matt varnish will darken it a bit. The engine cowl finish isn't right yet, but it soon will be. The picture also shows yet more attempts at getting the fuselage glazing to behave. I'm getting there. I also forgot to post up pictures of the wing cammo going on. Revell Acrylics used.

 

By lunchtime today I had the side windows as good as I'm going to get 'em this time around. A bit of very basic seat detailing got done, along with thinning the prop blades down quite a bit. The kit ones would look good on a P47! I used the cover shot of the Warpaint book as a guide.

 

 

Once the seats were installed with superglue, the fuselage could be closed up. That lot dried off in the sun in short order. My drying area is the hood of a '48 Ford Coupe. It does the job. Masking for the fuselage camouflage followed, along with yet more drying. At times like these I like the speed Aquacolor dries. I'm less pleased when I'm brushing the stuff.

 

 

Back on the bench, canopy framed along with the gun turrets. Wheels and undercarriage legs painted and yet another paint mix for the exhaust rings on the engine cowls. Green added to the fuselage top and that took me up until afternoon tea. So far, so good.

 

 

To finish for the day, the aerial, DF loop and astrodome were added along with the turrets and canopy. There's no MG's up front at the moment. One has gone AWOL. I'll have to dig through my spares box for replacements.

The whole plane was then given a coat of acrylic semi gloss to slightly darken the finish. I may matt the finish down a bit, but that can wait until tomorrow.

 

 

I did think I might have finished this one today, but something or other would have gone wrong if I pushed it. Better safe than sorry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[bigbadbadge]

Very nice, intrigued about the Ford coupe???

Chris

[TonyW]

38 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

Very nice, intrigued about the Ford coupe???

Chris

 

It's a car I bought to restore Chris. It needs everything.

It sits outside the modelling shed and, being matt black, warmed up nicely in the sun we had today, Perfect for force drying a Wellington!

[JOCKNEY]

I had to google your 48 Ford Coupe Tony, my own classics being all British, looks the business, can we have a picture of yours when you get a moment please.

Oh the Wellington looks the business by the way 

 

Cheers Pat

[TonyW]

Two coats of matt varnish, two MG's stolen from an Airfix Stirling, re-fixed a couple of undercarriage doors that had fallen off, add exhausts and then a bit of a dark wash over the panel lines and some oil weathering around the engines. It's done!

 

 

I took a whole load of pictures, then spent ages whitening the backgrounds, cropping them, and generally giving them a buff and a polish. Only just now do I realise I haven't fitted the bomb aimers glazing. Curses. I'll do it in a minute, I'm not shooting the pictures again. 

 

 

 

 

Gallery shots are imminent.

 

Tony.

[johnlambert]

That looks really smart.

[bigbadbadge]

Great work, looks rather splendid Tony.

Chris

[Galligraphics]

Nicely done and that base finishes it off nicely 

[JOCKNEY]

Wonderful job Tony, and a well aimed KUTA for my own Wellington in this GB !

Cheers Pat

[Mike Dean]

Top Wimpeying! I've never really noticed the anti-icing panels on a Wellington before. That's a very nice detail.

 

It's a chunky looking thing and it sits well. I like that alot 👍

[PeterB]

18 minutes ago, Mike Dean said:

Top Wimpeying! I've never really noticed the anti-icing panels on a Wellington before. That's a very nice detail.

 

It's a chunky looking thing and it sits well. I like that alot 👍

Hi Mike,

 

As discussed in Enzo's build in the Bomber/Strike etc GB and mine in the Big and British, it was actually a paste the ground crew had to apply to all 5 leading edges - described as looking like mashed up brown figs, it was smelly, sticky and apparently not much use. It was not always used and probably discontinued by mid war.

 

Pete

Edited March 28, 2022 by PeterB

[IanC]

Excellent. An inspiring Matchbox build. 👍

[Adrian Hills]

WOW 😊