Airfix 1/72nd Vickers Wellington MkIC

[Heather Kay]

Vickers Wellington MkIC, L7842 KX•T, No 311 (Czechoslovak) Squadron, RAF Bomber Command, Honington, Suffolk, October 1940.

 

 

No 311 Squadron was a Czechoslovak-manned squadron of the Royal Air Force in the Second World War. It was the RAF's only Czechoslovak-manned medium and heavy bomber squadron. It suffered the heaviest losses of any Czechoslovak formation in the RAF. During the war 511 Czechoslovaks serving in Allied air forces were killed. Of these 273 (53%) died while serving with No 311 Squadron.

 

The squadron was formed at RAF Honington in Suffolk on 29 July 1940, although RAF records give the official date as 2 August. It was crewed mostly by Czechoslovaks who had escaped from German-occupied Europe. Some were airmen who had trained with the Czechoslovak Air Force, escaped to France, served in the French Air Force in the Battle of France and then been evacuated to the UK. Others were soldiers who had served in Czechoslovak Army units in the Battle of France, been evacuated to the UK and then volunteered to transfer to the RAF Volunteer Reserve in order to serve in No 311 Squadron.

 

 

The squadron was equipped initially with Wellington MkI medium bombers, which were soon replaced by Wellingtons of MkIA and IC. From 16 September 1940 the squadron was based at RAF East Wretham in Norfolk as part of Bomber Command's No 3 Group, whose commanding officer was Air Vice-Marshal John Baldwin. He said No 311 Squadron "put up a wonderful show" and had "the finest navigators in Bomber Command".

 

 

On 6 February 1941 six of the squadron's Wellington Mk IC aircraft took part in a raid on Boulogne-sur-Mer in German-occupied France. On the return flight one aircraft, L7842/T, the subject of my build, suffered navigation problems. Then it ran low on fuel, its commander Plt Off František Cigoš mistakenly judged that they were over England and he landed at Flers in northern France. Both the aircraft and its crew were captured. The Luftwaffe repainted KX-T in German markings and transferred it to its Erprobungsstelle (experimental and test facility) at Rechlin–Lärz Airfield in Mecklenburg.

 

After the end of the war, 311 Squadron was disbanded as an RAF unit and became the 6 letecká divize ("6th Air Division") of the reformed Czechoslovak Air Force.

 

 

The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber. It was designed during the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey. Led by Vickers-Armstrongs' chief designer Rex Pierson; a key feature of the aircraft is its geodetic airframe fuselage structure, which was principally designed by Barnes Wallis. Originally to have been called the Crecy, the aircraft was renamed Wellington, one of two bombers named after Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, the other being the Vickers Wellesley. Development had been started in response to Air Ministry Specification B.9/32, issued in the middle of 1932, which called for a twin-engined day bomber capable of delivering higher performance than any previous design.

 

 

After initial success on day bombing missions at the start of the war, the Wellington and Hampden squadrons were switched to night operations after increasing losses to German defences. During 1943, it started to be superseded as a bomber by the larger four-engined "heavies" such as the Avro Lancaster. The Wellington continued to serve throughout the war in other duties, particularly as an anti-submarine aircraft.

 

 

 

It holds the distinction of having been the only British bomber that was produced for the duration of the war, and of having been produced in a greater quantity than any other British-built bomber. The Wellington went on to be built in 16 variants and two post-war training conversions. The number of Wellingtons built totalled around 11,460 of all versions. On 13 October 1945, the last Wellington to be produced rolled out.

 

(Information and data edited from the Wikipedia entries.)

 

The Wellington kit was released in 2018, and is a joy to behold and build. I built it straight from the box, barring masking tape harness for the pilot, and included the entire internal detail as provided in the box. Painting was ColourCoats enamels, and Humbrol and Revell Aqua acrylics for detail work. I used an Eduard masking set for the clear parts, and design and made my own masks for the aircraft markings. The Wellington MkII has since also been released by Airfix, and is patiently waiting its turn on the bench.

 

Construction took place alongside a slower burning build of a Stirling, but the gist starts about here:

 

 

[jackroadkill]

Absolutely superb build, Heather, and a fantastic presentation and write-up.  It never ceases to amaze me how quickly you can build a larger and/or more complex kit so quickly and with such great results.  I wish I could have half of your output and creativity.

[Bertie McBoatface]

Well, that’s a lovely Wimpy. Very well done and photographed too. 

[Heather Kay]

5 minutes ago, jackroadkill said:

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly you can build

I can find the time - usually borrowed from other things I should be doing. Seriously though, while it’s a complex kit the Wellington builds really easily.

 

4 minutes ago, Bertie McBoatface said:

Well, that’s a lovely Wimpy. Very well done and photographed too. 

 

*bobs a curtsey*

[Samuraiwarrior]

Hi Heather, 

The official pictures do not disappoint, it looks amazing. Even better when posed with equipment. 

The added information just adds to a comprehensive build to be enjoyed. 

One to be proud of. 

Thanks for sharing 

Kevin 

[Chuck1945]

Very well done Heather, I’m glad to have been able to watch over your shoulder as this project evolved.

[Heather Kay]

34 minutes ago, Samuraiwarrior said:

The official pictures do not disappoint, it looks amazing. Even better when posed with equipment.

 

Cheers! I've been trying to gather suitable vehicles and ground support equipment for years. My goal, if you like, is to try and replicate period photos of aircraft on airfields, at dispersal, or under maintenance of some kind or other. I can trace this fascination right back to my early teens. My secondary school library had a fantastic book filled with model aircraft set in dioramas and vignettes, carefully photographed to emulate the real thing. I believe a Matchbox catalogue of the very early 1980s featured the actual built models in vignette situations, too. It's something I am constantly trying to emulate, at least in a temporary fashion. I don't have room for large dioramas to be set up permanently, sadly.

 

7 minutes ago, Chuck1945 said:

Very well done Heather, I’m glad to have been able to watch over your shoulder as this project evolved.

 

Plenty more bombers still to come in the WIP megathread! I think the Stirling will come to the fore again, and I'll start to consider the Lancaster-to-Manchester conversion. I am partly very much looking forward to that, at the same time as dreading it!

 

 

[Dave Slowbuild]

Super build and photos, to echo the earlier comments.

But I think a pat on the back for the publicity dept is also due for the excellent write-up!

[Heather Kay]

10 minutes ago, Dave Slowbuild said:

But I think a pat on the back for the publicity dept is also due for the excellent write-up!

 

You mean a pat on the back for getting the Roneo machine working properly as they lifted copy from Wikipedia... 😇

[Guest]

Fantastic job on a great aircraft. Over 11,000 of them were built compared to just over 7,000 Lancasters. A shame that there are only a couple of non-airworthy survivors. One would be a great addition to the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.  Thanks for showing, Heather. 

[Brandy]

I honestly think this is one of your best so far.

Lovely paintwork - so often that curvy delineation lets a model down but definitely not this time!

 

Ian

[Heather Kay]

5 minutes ago, Brandy said:

I honestly think this is one of your best so far.

That’s very kind of you to say, Ian. I am very pleased with the finished model, I admit. Every build I try to improve on the last.

[Keeff]

Outstanding work Heather! 👏 

Nicely presented and a lovely build.

 

 

Keith 😁 

[keith in the uk]

Lovely job Heather , have a couple of these in the stash ( Airfix & MPM )  I now feel inspired.

[Zephyr91]

Echoing the sentiments expressed above, I'd like to say great build, great result, great photos, great write-up Heather.  An inspiration to we less gifted modellers. 

 

Thanks for sharing it all.

 

Regards

 

Rob

[AliGauld]

A stunning build and photos.

She's a beauty.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

[Spitfire31]

Heather, you do have 'the knack'. That top photo just looks like – reality.

 

And it's a good idea to crop the bottom fourth or third of the photos, that would otherwise kill the illusion by being out of focus (and boring).

 

Doffing my hat to your eye!

 

Kind regards,

Joachim

[ColinChipmunkfan]

Excellent model Heather complemented by very atmospheric photography.  The black and white photo is particularly realistic.  I look forward to the MkII.

[TheBaron]

Congratulations Heather. A splendid piece of work.

[stevehnz]

That is a bit wonderful.

Steve.

[Terry1954]

That really is a superb looking model of the Wellington. You should be very proud of that Heather!

 

👏👏👏

 

Terry

[Heather Kay]

17 hours ago, Keeff said:

Outstanding work Heather! 👏 

 

Thanks Keith! 
 

17 hours ago, keith in the uk said:

Lovely job Heather , have a couple of these in the stash ( Airfix & MPM )  I now feel inspired.

 

I would be tempted to say build the MPM first. That way you will appreciate the Airfix kit all the more. 
 

16 hours ago, Zephyr91 said:

An inspiration to we less gifted modellers. 

Thanks Rob. One thing I love about BM is the variety of skill levels. I don’t feel anywhere close to being an expert builder/painter, but I appreciate that my travails are a help to others. I’m always learning.

 

15 hours ago, AliGauld said:

She's a beauty

A funny thing to say about such a dumpy aircraft, but I agree!

 

13 hours ago, Spitfire31 said:

Doffing my hat to your eye!

Joachim, thank you. What I try to do is study photos of the real thing, and then attempt to replicate them at smaller scale. I’m dissatisfied with my current scenic efforts, and have plans for something much better. Time is my enemy at the moment.

 

1 hour ago, TheBaron said:

Congratulations Heather. A splendid piece of work.

 

3 minutes ago, stevehnz said:

That is a bit wonderful.

 

2 minutes ago, Terry1954 said:

That really is a superb looking model of the Wellington. You should be very proud of that Heather!

Thanks all! It’s not hard to build a superb model of Wellington from such a lovely kit.

[Eric Mc]

Gorgeous.

 

Regarding your bombs, what is your source for the yellow trail sections on some of them. I've painted the bombs for my Hampden build yellow but if red tail sections are applicable, I'd like to paint some of the bombs with red tails if appropriate.

[Graham Boak]

Prewar bombs were painted in Buff, which usually photographs as Yellow.   Wartime bombs were a dark green - Deep Bronze Green?  Red was not used, except for the warheads of dummy torpedoes to assist recovery.

[Heather Kay]

Cheers Eric!

 

10 minutes ago, Eric Mc said:

Regarding your bombs

I bow to @Selwyn's expertise here. With his help, I’ve been able to get a bit closer to the correct colours for 1940 period bombs. The main colour was buff, a sort of light sandy brown. The cast front section of the bomb, with the explosive and fuzing, was often scuffed and filthy from being in the bomb dump. The tail sections were supplied in special cases and generally cleaner when fitted to the bombs by the armouries prior to heading out to the planes at dispersal. The red tail denoted a time delay fuze was fitted. Such bombs were randomly loaded onto aircraft alongside the "normal" bombs. 
 

Hope that helps.