Special Hobby 1/32 Westland Whirlwind Mk.I 'Crikey!'

[Stew Dapple]

Big, you say? Well okay. It's almost the biggest model in my stash, the Special Hobby Westland Whirlwind Mk.I.

 

It's big:

 

 

And it's been unstarted for too long:

 

 

Did I mention that it's big?

 

 

While waiting in the stash it has accumulated quite a bit of aftermarket; a set of seatbelts:

 

 

Some resin wheels and cannons - I'm not that comfortable with the idea of the resin cannons which I think would be more vulnerable to breakage than the kit's plastic ones, but if they look much better I would probably go with them:

 

 

... and finally, canopy and camouflage masks. What can I say? I'm lazy and I'm prepared to pay any company that offers to indulge my laziness  

 

 

So I'm set. See you at the start line gents 

 

Cheers, 

 

Stew

 

P.S. It's big

[modelling minion]

This should be an interesting project, definitely one to watch.

 

🇺🇦

[trickyrich]

very nice choice Stew, I have been eye off one of these for a while. my club has one in it's monthly raffle, have spent a small fortune on the raffle......prob could have bought it buy now!! 

 

..and you have extra AM stuff as well!!!!  

 

Are those IF masks vinyl or kabuki? If vinyl then they will be a pain, thin kabuki tape is the way to go.

 

Anyway good luck with the build I'll be especially following this one.....and I blame you if I end up buying one! 

 

[spitfire]

Great choice, one of my favourite subjects, I even build one in 1/48 scale once as I could not get one in 1/32.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[FG2Si]

It's a very nice kit. I've started mine but not finished it yet. The only issue I found with the fit is the bulkheads in the nacelles. The mounts for the landing gear need to be notched a bit to fit properly. 

 

The one on top is the stock part. The lower one is the modified one so that it fits. 

 

 

Other than, I've been very happy with how it goes together.  

 

Carl

[stevej60]

Excellent choice Stew I've built their P-39 and Tempest both with very minor fit issues easily sorted I found it was  all about trial fitting first, looking forward to this one.

[Stew Dapple]

20 hours ago, trickyrich said:

..and you have extra AM stuff as well!!!!  

 

Are those IF masks vinyl or kabuki? If vinyl then they will be a pain, thin kabuki tape is the way to go.

 

 

Haha yes the AM just kept following me home... off the internet  

 

The LF masks are thin vinyl, I've used them before and got on okay with them - I would definitely eschew vinyl masks for canopies unless nothing else was available as they need to stick to the clear parts while the interior, exterior and varnish coats are applied which can be days or even weeks... Kabuki tape doesn't have an issue with that but I'd rather not rely on vinyl for it. However for the camouflage masks, they just need to be applied long enough to have the disruptive camo pattern sprayed over them, so they're stuck onto a painted surface rather than unprimed clear plastic, and they need to stay there maybe one hour? I may come a cropper this time, but I'm reasonably confident they'll do the necessary  The canopy masks are Kabuki, made by ASK, I'm not sure if they also make the masks for HGW, they look very similar.

 

16 hours ago, spitfire said:

Great choice, one of my favourite subjects, I even build one in 1/48 scale once as I could not get one in 1/32.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

 

Thanks Dennis, I hope that you have picked one up now?

 

14 hours ago, FG2Si said:

The mounts for the landing gear need to be notched a bit to fit properly. 

 

That's good intel Carl and thanks for the illustration, that may save me a deal of frustration  

 

10 hours ago, stevej60 said:

Excellent choice Stew I've built their P-39 and Tempest both with very minor fit issues easily sorted I found it was  all about trial fitting first, looking forward to this one.

 

Thanks Steve, I remembered there was a build of one of these on the forum and for some reason I thought it was yours   I've built a couple of Special Hobbies small scale kits and got on all right, this will be my first biggie of theirs so hopefully I will muddle through  

 

Cheers, 

 

Stew

[spitfire]

3 hours ago, Stew Dapple said:

 

 

 

Thanks Dennis, I hope that you have picked one up now?

Sure have Stew, just waiting to get my eyes fixed before I start  building again, but there's a Kotare Spitfire and a Revell Hurricane IIb calling to me as well.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[galgos]

Good choice Stew, they flew Whirlwinds from an airfield near me (Warmwell), lovely plane with so much potential but for the unreliable engines.  I look forward to seeing this progress.

[Stew Dapple]

Sorry for the delay in getting started gents; just had to clear the workbench  

 

 

Hope to have some progress on the Whirlwind over the weekend  

 

Cheers, 

 

Stew

[galgos]

On 05/05/2023 at 13:30, spitfire said:

Great choice, one of my favourite subjects, I even build one in 1/48 scale once as I could not get one in 1/32.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

Spoken like a true LSPer Dennis! 😁

[galgos]

Good looking Spit Stew, Kotare? 

[Stew Dapple]

41 minutes ago, galgos said:

Good looking Spit Stew, Kotare? 

 

The very same, indeed  

[trickyrich]

That is very nice!!!  I got to have a look at one of those Kotare models last club meet, gosh it's lovely.

 

Could almost tempt me....... though sorry not a Spitfire fan....sacrilege I know!!

[Stew Dapple]

8 hours ago, trickyrich said:

That is very nice!!!  I got to have a look at one of those Kotare models last club meet, gosh it's lovely.

 

Could almost tempt me....... though sorry not a Spitfire fan....sacrilege I know!!

 

 

Haha I dunno Rich, it always strikes me that you get a certain masochistic pleasure from wrestling a kit into submission and you probably wouldn't get the same thrill from a kit that fits beautifully and doesn't need anything sawn-off and replaced with resin  

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[trickyrich]

4 hours ago, Stew Dapple said:

 

 

Haha I dunno Rich, it always strikes me that you get a certain masochistic pleasure from wrestling a kit into submission and you probably wouldn't get the same thrill from a kit that fits beautifully and doesn't need anything sawn-off and replaced with resin  

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

 

 

That's why I love to throw some resin and Trumpeter models in the mix to keep me on my toes!!! 

[Biggles87]

Another one I might have to add to my “ honest dear, I will build it one day “ stash, so I’ii watch yours to see how you get on with it.

 

John

PS: that’s a very clean cutting mat, do you use a new one for each build?  😜

[Stew Dapple]

18 hours ago, Biggles87 said:

that’s a very clean cutting mat, do you use a new one for each build?

 

Haha no John, it's been rotated 180 degrees a few times but I don't do my spray-painting there and generally just try not to spill stuff on it anyway  

 

I've not been as remiss in my modelling as my silence my have suggested but I have been shockingly bad at documenting my progress... so to catch up, I've more or less completed the fuselage interiors:

 

 

 

... and a few bits that don't attach to the fuselage sides:

 

 

I added a few Airscale decals for the wall-mounted compass and some other instrument faces on the fuselage sides. There's still a few bits to be added to the floor section and I think I may have to repaint the Aluminium section of the floor in Interior Grey-green. I went off-piste from both the assembly and painting instructions almost immediately; with regard to assembly I just did as much as I could of the parts to be painted Interior Grey-green as if I had followed the instructions and painted as I built it would have meant about six airbrushing sessions rather than one. For the painting instructions, I made a couple of deviations from the Special Hobby recommendations which I'll explain, but with the caveat that my opinions are based on a vague feeling rather than any real knowledge and you may agree or disagree as you see fit...

 

The first thing was in the very first assembly sequence where they suggest (what is presumably) a fire extinguisher is painted red. I'm not even entirely sure it is a fire extinguisher, as it can't be accessed by the pilot and the fuel tanks etc. as far as I know are in the wings - however if it is a fire extinguisher my understanding is that painting them red was a post-war convention and that they were generally a bare brassy/bronzy colour in early WW2. As it turns out it will be invisible as far as I can tell, but it was no more effort to paint it bronzy than it would have been to paint it red anyway  

 

The second thing was the interior colours... SH recommend that you paint the entire interior - every internal part in effect -  Interior Grey-green, but I believe that IGG was a paint primarily used for crew areas and not some sort of overall primer like RLM02 for example. I think the box-like area below the rear-shelf behind the bulkhead for the pilots seat with the flare tubes in it should more likely be Aluminium paint, along with the intake interiors in the wings and the main and tail landing gear bays and gear door interiors. I didn't paint the flare-tube area Aluminium as it won't actually be visible anyway so there's not a lot of point, but I will be painting the air intake interiors and gear bays etc. in Aluminium. Unless someone conclusively corrects me in the meantime of course  

 

Cheers, 

 

Stew

[Mottlemaster]

Just a thought Stew,did the seat have a redish resin/paper mache type seat like the Spitfire ?

Cheers Alistair

[stevej60]

Great work on the cockpit Stew looks very nice indeed.

[Stew Dapple]

On 6/6/2023 at 6:53 AM, Mottlemaster said:

Just a thought Stew,did the seat have a redish resin/paper mache type seat like the Spitfire ?

Cheers Alistair

 

Hi Alistair, I've not found any evidence to conclusively say that no Whirlwind ever had a Resin composite seat, but it seems unlikely from what I've been able to dig up; the Whirlwind Project recreated the seat and they noted that the original was made of pressed, welded and riveted aluminium components:

 

On 6/6/2023 at 10:22 AM, stevej60 said:

Great work on the cockpit Stew looks very nice indeed.

 

Thanks very much Steve, nearly finished the instrument panel and seat straps too, two bits I hadn't been looking forward to but I think they're going to be okay  

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[CedB]

Lovely internals Stew. Good job matey. 

[Luke1199]

Looking good, Stew! 

[Stew Dapple]

Thanks very much gents  

 

I've finished the IP - Special Hobby provide the instrument panel decal in 3 pieces and while they are very good quality - Cartograph, indeed - transfers, in my experience you can't place a big decal over a part with any sort of texture or relief on it and expect not to get air pockets left which rather ruins the effect afterwards (and the thought does occur that maybe I'm just not very good at applying transfers, which to be honest cannot be discounted). 

 

Anyway I cut the decals into individual dials and applied them that way; it took longer but I didn't mind spending the time in return for a potentially better result:

 

 

... and then I took a rubbish picture of it. Sorry  

 

Here's the seatbelt set; the observant among you will notice it says it's for a Spitfire, but it's a standard Sutton harness that you could use in a Gladiator, a Hurricane or indeed a Whirlwind because they were all the same:

 

 

A couple of hours work brought me this far:

 

 

There's a couple of bits missing, particularly the tiny tiny photoetched parts which have a tendency to simply vanish, but I still think these HGW harness sets are better than etch or 3D-printed decals, or the other options.

 

For some reason Special Hobby want you to leave the seat out of the cockpit and fit it nearer the end; they may have a good reason for this and if they have no doubt I will find out to my cost, as my thinking was that I really don't want to be trying to fit a seat to a bulkhead in a closed-up fuselage, so I fitted mine now, when I could still see what I was doing.

 

 

... and that's where I'm at right now. Thanks for your attention  

 

Cheers, 

 

Stew

[Mottlemaster]

You're IP looks superb ,each dial clearly recognisable and centered. Definitely time well spent.  Think you made the right move on securing the seat now . Love the HGW belts with their drape .

Cheers Alista