Jump to content

On Heather's Workbench - Strike Hard, Strike Sure: RAF Bomber Command 1940


Recommended Posts

2 minutes ago, Graham Boak said:

The Falcon Halifax canopy parts are designed to fit, and correct, the Matchbox and Airfix Halifaxes


You are correct, of course. I bought the box chiefly for the Stirling parts, but should the Halifax parts fit I might swap them out.

 

I'm not sure about the AML parts, and I won’t open the pack until I’m ready to tackle the build. If I’m honest, I would most likely have built the original kit and been none the wiser!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It would be ungracious not to suggest that if you looked at the kit, and at photos of the real aircraft, then you would have noticed.  However I grant you that Halifaxes are complex beasts, with multiple variations, not all caught by even the best references.  However if you are doing a nice early Mk.I series 1 (as you probably are) then the cowlings are different again... best perhaps not to look.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Look forward to your first build on this project.  I have several of these old kits and I need some guidance from someone who knows what they are doing to do them justice.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

An excellent precis Madam,this area of the RAF's early monoplane bombers are usually one that is not particularly delved into, as one 

points out,modellers tend to think of Merlin Lancasters and The Dambusters.

Speaking of which(The Dambusters that is),Guy Gibson's autobiography,"Enemy Coast Ahead",gives a pretty fair account of those

early days of Bomber Command through his service with 83 Sqn flying the Hampden.

 

One will watch with great interest.

 

Dave.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Heather Kay said:


Ah, now, there’s a flaw in your logic there, I’m afraid. :frantic:

I've checked out your website and seen the very pristine, slightly weathered aircraft you have built.  I personally think being able to put a very clean aircraft on display with minimal weathering is harder to do than a kit with extreme weathering to hide all the flaws from the building process.  (Not that I would ever use weathering to hide my many flaws, big guffaw.)  You do good work and it looks like you are more than capable at building these funny little plastic kits into quite good and representative models.  I think I will stick with my claim  of "knowing what you are doing".

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, georgeusa said:

I think I will stick with my claim  of "knowing what you are doing".


I am not good at accepting praise, but thank you. My comment was meant as tongue in cheek. 
 

Today, I have mostly been diving into the background history of the Hampden and trying to choose an aircraft to reproduce. If anyone was wondering where 5 Group went, well, it was started up in 1938 and was full of squadrons of Hampdens. It was also commanded by someone called Arthur Harris. I wonder what happened to him?

  • Like 2
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Dave Wilko said:

An excellent precis Madam,this area of the RAF's early monoplane bombers are usually one that is not particularly delved into, as one 

 

points out,modellers tend to think of Merlin Lancasters and The Dambusters.

 

Speaking of which(The Dambusters that is),Guy Gibson's autobiography,"Enemy Coast Ahead",gives a pretty fair account of those

 

early days of Bomber Command t 

hrough his service with 83 Sqn flying the Hampden.

 

 

 

One will watch with great interest.

 

 

 

Dave.

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is a very interesting project, Heather.  Your timing is impeccable - I'm reading Max Hastings' Bomber Command and the account of the bomber ops during the early part of the war is as sobering as those of the massed raids later in the campaign.  It's not an area of history about which I know much but I'm finding myself absorbed in learning about it now.  I'll follow your thread with great interest.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/15/2023 at 9:22 AM, Heather Kay said:


I'm not in charge of the bar, but welcome aboard!

 


Ooh, noted. Thanks for that. I’ll peruse your threads shortly. I still have the Trumpeter Wellington. With the Airfix ones out there, I don’t think I can sell it on now. I might have to consider if I can make a third MkIc…

 

Now, I’ve just checked my sources for wheel and tyre diameters on the Halifax and Manchester. They all appear to scale out the same, and the Manchester matches the Lancaster. 
 

Now, I really must try and get on with paying work! Laters! :bye:

Following with interest!

 

I’m currently building a Trumpeter Wellington. I wouldn’t have done, the Airfix seem superior, but I needed to do a Mk III.

 

Agree re scale too - maybe the smaller twin engine stuff I could do 1/48, but the heavies - I don’t have space for them even in 1/72….

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Welcome, one and all!

 

An itch I have to scratch. Day job can go to blazes - for now. I need to dig around what I have planned. I've already noted I've started reading in some depth the background to the Hampden, and as I've already intimated that's the first kit to be started let's have a squint in the box.

 

Valom Hampden MkI

 

Two grey sprue frames. The engraved detail is nice. I like Václav Lomitzki's kits. He's served us well over the past few years with some nicely obscure interwar British airliners and transports, and long may he continue!

 

Valom Hampden MkI

 

I bought this kit from a fellow BM member. It is the boxing for the sole Swedish HP53/P5 Hampden, but included the conversion kit for the RAF HP52 Hampden torpedo bomber and standard RAF bomber configuration. Only the one Hampden ended up in Sweden. The intention was to use the aircraft for coastal reconnaissance, fitted with interchangeable floats. In the end, Sweden decided to buy some Heinkel He115 floatplanes instead, and for various reasons the Handley Page offering fell through. The second prototype remained in Britain and was converted to the prototype Hereford, with Napier Dagger engines in case the supplies of Bristol radials ran out. The production "Dagger Hampden" retained the HP52 type number. The Herefords suffered from engine problems, mostly overheating when running on the ground, and were mostly used for training in the end. I don't think I'll open the bomb bay, but I may fit the wing crutches and 250lb bombs.

 

Valom Hampden MkI

 

The mask is of the vinyl type. I'm not keen, so I may see if I can do some skulduggery and convert it to yellow masking tape. The transfers, obviously, won't be needed. I will probably attempt some home-brew paint masks. Behind the transfers is a sheet of PE, which will be needed, and you can just make out the acetate instrument panel nestling in the bag there.

 

I'm quite looking forward to properly starting this build, and I'm sure you're keen to see how it turns out, too! That day job keeps nagging me.

 

 

 

 

  • Like 18
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 16/03/2023 at 16:52, AdrianMF said:

I built the Airfix one a while back and thought it was a nice enough kit


Ye Olde Airfix Hampden isn’t all that bad, but the copy I had showed its age with lots of flash and rubbish Humbrol era transfers. I threw an Airwaves set at it, and it mostly scrubbed up okay, but the aftermarket markings let it down. I am almost tempted to break it for some of the brass bits, but I can’t bring myself to.

 

Anyway, it begins! First, an adventure in things that will never be seen again.

 

Valom Hampden

 

First job with PE is to chemically blacken it. This gives a bit of a key for later paint, as I rarely prime things so small. While the instrument panel was still on the fret I used canopy glue to attach the acetate film instruments behind it. 
 

Valom Hampden

 

Construction begins, as is traditional, with the pilot's office. The IP has been glued to the plastic panel, and then, since it was a smidge over size, carefully filed down to match the backing piece. Hopefully it’ll fit in the fuselage nicely. The cockpit floor has the seat and control yoke parts glued on, followed by some more PE bits. The instructions would have you glue the rudder pedals to the compass on the floor. The throttle quadrant levers are horribly thin and I couldn’t get them to attach. I ended up drilling two holes for some 0.4mm brass wire replacements, which have been given PVA knobs. I reckon the seat harness is a bit chunky, but the height adjustment lever is very fragile. It may succumb during paint, in which case more brass wire will be used. In fact, as I typed that, I thought I might as well pre-empt the inevitable! By the time you see it all painted up, that lever will be replaced.

 

The next few sequences are making up sub-assemblies of things like engines and undercarriage, as well as installing bits in the fuselage for the crew. I’m tempted to add some more details, but I know most will never be visible. I think a bit of photo study will be repaid during this stage of construction.

  • Like 19
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Slow progress. I always get bogged down a bit with internals, even when a kit only has simple detail.

 

Valom Hampden

 

The kit has fairly decent sidewall detail, certainly for the quality of the transparencies anyway. I’ve slapped interior green about the fuselage, and picked a couple of bits out in satin black. I may throw a very dilute black wash around once the cockpit and bomb bay parts are in place. The real aircraft's fuselage was only 3ft wide and, from a photo I found via the Wikipedia entry for the type, the cockpit was crammed with stuff. The kit looks a little bare, but under clear plastic it will hopefully suffice.

 

Valom Hampden

 

While the early sections of the instructions cover the internals, it also has you make up the tail. This involves - shock, horror! - a bit of fabrication. A block 2mm high by 3mm wide by 5mm long has to be glued in, and a 1mm diameter hole drilled for the tail wheel to fit into. The tailplane still needs some fettling.

 

Valom Hampden

 

The engines and cowlings, and the main undercarriage, are also constructed around this stage. I found the plastic needed a quick squizz with washing up liquid and a stiff brush, so I’m now sort of stuck while the sprue frames dry. Anyway, the cockpit tub has been coloured in, the radio gear has been partially assembled (nothing will be seen where it lives, but I’ll dry brush silver to bring some detail out anyway) and the instrument panel detail painted. The cockpit photo referred to earlier seemed to show the IP a pale colour, with the central six instrument block black. I assumed interior green. The panel really needs some colours, like reds, yellows and perhaps even brass, here and there, but without a colour reference this will probably do. Perhaps I’ll dry brush silver while I’m doing the radio stack to bring out some detail.

 

When I bodged built the Airfix Hampden, I had problems with the rear upper gun position. By the middle of 1940, the single Vickers gun originally installed had proven inadequate for defensive purposes. The C-in-C of No 5 Group, Air Vice-Marshal Arthur Harris, took it upon himself to organise a twin gun mounting system for the Hampdens under his command. The problem I encountered was with the guns fitted the rear clamshell transparency wouldn’t fit. There were no slots for the guns to poke out of, because the guns were not able to be shipped inboard when not in use. This kit has the same problem. Obviously, I could just file two slots in the transparency. I did that in the Airfix bodge build. The same problem will occur in the ventral gun position, which also has a pair of Vickers in. Some thought may be required, including whether I can hack the upper transparency so it fits in the open position. That will, sadly, lead to it being obvious there’s quite a bit of missing internal detail in the area. Let’s not even start worrying about the missing bulkhead and door…

 

Anyway, slow progress, but things are moving steadily.

  • Like 15
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Something doesn't look right with that cockpit. The control wheel is shoulder high and just as wide! It looks more like something to practice bull riding!

 

Ian

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, Brandy said:

Something doesn't look right with that cockpit.


You're right, Ian. I shall have a think and a bit of rummage to see if the Bits Box has anything more suitable.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice to see this thread/line start. I am looking forward to the Manchester as I have that conversion set although mine is going onto a BI/III kit. Also looking forward to the Halifax and Stirling builds as well.

 

Gondor

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I bought this set of Hampden Aftermarket clear bit a few years ago. They are for the Valom kit. Can't say if they're better that what comes in the box, but they are supposed to fit better.

 

52756252910_c4de9eeb85_b.jpg

 

 

 

 

Chris

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 minutes ago, dogsbody said:

Can't say if they're better that what comes in the box,


Thanks Chris! They look much the same as what I have already. A trial fit earlier this week seemed to show most parts fitted just fine, with just the upper half of the nose glazing seeming a little wide - though that may have been the fuselage sides bowing in a bit.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't know if it is me, but the rudder pedals look too wide, it looks like you have to bend your Left leg around the throttle box.

 

https://www.google.nl/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinterest.co.uk%2Fpin%2F175570085444911910%2F&psig=AOvVaw1dYwKmI2U6IOq8VS9j4RzS&ust=1679264360215000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAwQjRxqFwoTCNjCnq_B5v0CFQAAAAAdAAAAABAE

 

HHampden_cockpit_WWII_IWM_CH_1207.jpg

Edited by RAF4EVER
found picture
  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, RAF4EVER said:

it looks like you have to bend your Left leg around the throttle box.


Again, correct. The seat's too small, too, and lacks armrests. There are limits, and I think rudder pedals being too wide will have to remain. They’re not going to be seen once in the fuselage and under the canopy.

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...