A Greek Tragedy? 1:48 Blenheim Mk.I *FINISHED*

[mark.au]

Ditto to Chris’ comments, Roger.  The Blenheim isn’t an aircraft I’ve paid much attention to up till now, this build is turning that around.

[Dunny]

53 minutes ago, mark.au said:

Ditto to Chris’ comments, Roger.  The Blenheim isn’t an aircraft I’ve paid much attention to up till now, this build is turning that around.

Thanks Mark - I'm certain you would enjoy the kit,

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

[AliGauld]

All looking really splendid.

Looking forward to paint.

 

 

Cheers,

Alistair

[AdrianMF]

11 hours ago, mark.au said:

The Blenheim isn’t an aircraft I’ve paid much attention to up till now, this build is turning that around

It is strangely handsome. Perhaps this is because of its origin as a (rather controversial in this case) civilian project? Like the Oxford, Anson and Hudson, to name a few others.

 

The model is looking good Roger!

 

Regards,

Adrian

[Ngantek]

11 hours ago, mark.au said:

Ditto to Chris’ comments, Roger.  The Blenheim isn’t an aircraft I’ve paid much attention to up till now, this build is turning that around.

 

3 minutes ago, AdrianMF said:

It is strangely handsome. Perhaps this is because of its origin as a (rather controversial in this case) civilian project? Like the Oxford, Anson and Hudson, to name a few others.

 

The model is looking good Roger!

 

Regards,

Adrian

I agree, I'm another one that never paid it a huge amount of attention but definitely thinking of getting one following this.

 

I tend to think they're just straight out handsome aircraft, the stub nose at least. Rather like the SB-2, both have pleasing lines, with slender fuselage and long wingspan. The G3M is another. All have, to my eye at least, an elegance that speak to soaring rather than bosching things.

 

Anyhoo progress is looking great! Masking for primer always turns into a faff for me too, I go to the bench expecting to give it a quick spray and usually end up going to bed 2 hours later having done nothing but masked off those 'few little things'.

 

Andy

 

[Dunny]

9 hours ago, AliGauld said:

All looking really splendid.

Looking forward to paint.

 

 

Cheers,

Alistair

Thanks very much Alistair - me too!

[Dunny]

40 minutes ago, AdrianMF said:

It is strangely handsome. Perhaps this is because of its origin as a (rather controversial in this case) civilian project? Like the Oxford, Anson and Hudson, to name a few others.

 

The model is looking good Roger!

Thanks very much Adrian - I think your point about origin is spot on

[Dunny]

24 minutes ago, Ngantek said:

Anyhoo progress is looking great! Masking for primer always turns into a faff for me too, I go to the bench expecting to give it a quick spray and usually end up going to bed 2 hours later having done nothing but masked off those 'few little things'.

Thanks for the kind words Andy - one certainly warrants the masking badge for this one!

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

[AdrianMF]

36 minutes ago, Ngantek said:

end up going to bed 2 hours later having done nothing but masked off those 'few little things'.

Only two hours?? Blimey, you're quick!

 

Adrian

[Dunny]

Hi All,

 

Some good progress has occurred across this week on the Blenheim! Here's the state of play before primer - you can see that the nacelles have been cobbled together rather than masking and painting the lot:

 

 

The first coat of primer showed up a few areas needing attention, such as this:

 

 

That was soon filled with a smear of good ol' Krystal Kleer wiped away with a moist cotton bud. There was also this prominent seam on the underside:

 

 

Also easily dispatched and re-scribed. The final coat of primer thus:

 

 

I completely forgot to take a photo of pre-shading, which was done as usual with Nato Black. I also forgot to take a photo of the undersides, but here we are in the process of masking. I've gone with a considerably lightened version of Azure Blue, as this was allegedly not adopted for these aircraft, rather a generic Sky-type blue:

 

 

Looks alright to me! Here's the masking completed:

 

 

The flap areas are already masked, before you ask! Next I started work on the upper surfaces with the Light Earth - again, Auntie calls out mid-stone but the consensus seems to be LE. Here's the start of the process:

 

 

And after lots more mist coats:

 

 

I think that looks rather splendid! The preshading is not quite so stark to the naked eye - in fact 👀 rather like it! 🤣. I've not been my best at taking stage photos, so here's after masking and an application of Dark Earth:

 

 

I used my usual method of a coat lightened with Mid-Stone for some tonal variation. Here's after the grand unmasking:

 

 

A few oversprays to deal with, particularly on the LE sections, but soon dispatched. Now if you've followed the thread you'll know that I'm now the proud owner of a mask cutter, but I am not yet the proud owner of the correct media (fear not @mark.au, the correct stuff is winging its way from Canada - thanks for the advice!). I therefore elected to use the kit decals, so laid down a gloss coat in preparation:

 

 

The kit decals went down mostly without incident:

 

 

I say mostly because the aircraft serial on the port side did misbehave:

 

 

No drama - I'll paint that in later. Here's a final shot with another gloss coat:

 

 

I'll let that settle down overnight before going out in a blaze of Flory tomorrow!

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Roger

Edited November 4, 2022 by Dunny
Spelling

[mark.au]

Primer to decals in one post, quite the omnibus edition!  Looking good, are you going to weather the decals to match the paint?  
 

In hindsight I could have sent you a piece of masking vinyl…. 🤦‍♂️ 

[Dunny]

19 minutes ago, mark.au said:

are you going to weather the decals to match the paint?  
 

Sure am boss - was planning to put a little light grey in the flat coat...

[Dunny]

21 minutes ago, mark.au said:

In hindsight I could have sent you a piece of masking vinyl…

A most kind offer, but the gear should be here soon!

[woody37]

That's looking great. What paints did you use?

[bigbadbadge]

Crikey , a cracking update Roger, looking wonderful with the paint and decals on .   Great work as usual.   You'll have this finished very soon at this rate.

 

Chris

[Dunny]

50 minutes ago, woody37 said:

That's looking great. What paints did you use?

Thanks very much Neil - undersides Vallejo Azure Blue (lightened), Light Earth AK Interactive 3rd Gen, Dark Earth AK Interactive - all aqueous acrylics

27 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

Crikey , a cracking update Roger, looking wonderful with the paint and decals on .   Great work as usual.   You'll have this finished very soon at this rate.

 

Chris

Thanks very much Chris - a bit of a shame I didn't test out the mask cutter but I'm not displeased with the result!

[bigbadbadge]

1 minute ago, Dunny said:

Thanks very much Chris - a bit of a shame I didn't test out the mask cutter but I'm not displeased with the result!

 

It does look very impressive Roger.  I have the other boxing although am tempted by this scheme too with the large fin flash or an FAA one hmm🤔 Looking forward to seeing what you can do with the mask cutter.

 

Chris

 

[AliGauld]

Jings you have been busy and what a cracker she's turning into.

Looking forward to the rest.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

[jackroadkill]

Grrr, how the hell did I only see this thread now?!  Cracking build of a handsome airframe.  I have the same kit in my stash (well, the mk1F) and need to give some thought to actually building it at some point.

[Dunny]

2 hours ago, AliGauld said:

Jings you have been busy and what a cracker she's turning into.

Looking forward to the rest.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

Thanks Alistair - I also actually fired up the Portrait this morning to do some masking for the exhaust collectors. A small but important milestone!

1 hour ago, jackroadkill said:

Grrr, how the hell did I only see this thread now?!  Cracking build of a handsome airframe.  I have the same kit in my stash (well, the mk1F) and need to give some thought to actually building it at some point.

Thanks very much JRK - the kit is a cracker and I'm sure you'll enjoy building it! Thanks for the kind words...

[stevehnz]

Stunning progress there Roger, that has come on brilliantly. 👍

Steve.

[Dunny]

13 minutes ago, stevehnz said:

Stunning progress there Roger, that has come on brilliantly. 👍

Steve.

Thanks very much Steve - I have to confess I am enjoying this one!

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

[Dunny]

Hi All,

 

Some more progress today! First job of the day was a black Flory wash. Here's a shot part way through removing the excess:

 

 

Here's the underside:

 

 

I'm not displeased with the effect. Once that was all removed I turned to the small paint repair jobs. Firstly a gap at the front of the fin where the flashes did not meet up. Here's before:

 

 

And after a careful touch up with a hairy stick:

 

 

That's better! You can also see that I fixed up the port serial number. Once that was all done I applied the flat coat - I added a couple of drops of light grey in order to fade the markings:

 

 

 

Again, quite pleased with the way that is looking! 🤩

 

Next unmasking the glazing - you can see how visible the cockpit is through all that glass:

 

 

Glad I made the effort with the bomb sight! Next the undercarriage was finished off - I added some Flory weathering pigment to the wheels, as the squadron were operating from a dusty airstrip:

 

 

Next the engines were assembled and treated to an oil wash (they went together very nicely):

 

 

You can also see where I masked and sprayed the front of the exhaust collectors to remove the heat staining - you can see the effect quite clearly in this photo:

 

 

Here's those lovely Bristol Mercuries in position:

 

https://i.postimg.cc/zvzDdZ0J/20221105_152744.jpg

 

The final job for the day was finishing off and adding the payload as well as assorted other underside components such as flaps:

 

https://i.postimg.cc/W1C3sybn/20221105_160005.jpg

 

So now there's the turret and a few fiddly bits - I reckon I might finish this tomorrow with a bit of luck,

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Roger

[bigbadbadge]

Ooooo looking absolutely stunning Roger, cracking paint and weathered finish. Love the look of these with the glazing and it certainly looks impressive with the frames painted too.

Great job all round fella.

Chris

[AliGauld]

Wot he said. 

Quick question.

I've just surfaced so may not have read everything correctly.

To knock back the code decals did you add a couple of drops of grey to the clear coat.

I like the effect and will be forced to nick it.

 

Cheers,

Alistair