woody37 Posted May 26 Posted May 26 Real life and the big yellow thing in the sky has kept me away from the bench over the last few months. Several kits were placed on it with the view to starting, but then removed, but I've finally made a start on 3 parallel builds. The bench looks like a plastic explosion! Several years ago, I did a twin Blenheim build before the new Airfix kit came out, so used the old Mk.IV and the Frog Mk.I: Quote I have recently been refurbishing some bases and took the opportunity to get the Frog one out for a picture This latest endeavour started out as twin build of the Blenheim I and Beaufort Ia and I was rather excited at being able to call the thread 'A lovely pair of Bristol's', but managed to get a copy of the Blenheim IV with the 'Lorraine' markings on and had to include that too. This is one of my favourite schemes, inspired by the original Airfix box top. So, the plan is this: Some pics of the bare plastic with internal sub assemblies done: The engines look a little basic on the Blenheim, so are being replaced by some resin ones and props too Painting has begun. The green looks dark here, but looks fine in real life I've got some seatbelts on order, but apart from that, I'm not adding any further detail inside as there is enough Really need to get some kind of working method to doing these three to keep some kind of sanity on the bench! Cheers Neil 20 1
Dunny Posted May 26 Posted May 26 Hi Neil, Will look forward to this one! With regard to L6670 I modelled this scheme a couple of years ago, and there is some debate over the colour scheme. I chose to model in LE/DE over Sky Blue, with aircraft codes in red. Here's the WIP if any help: Cheers, Roger 1 1
MOK61 Posted May 26 Posted May 26 6 hours ago, woody37 said: Real life and the big yellow thing in the sky has kept me away from the bench over the last few months. Several kits were placed on it with the view to starting, but then removed, but I've finally made a start on 3 parallel builds. The bench looks like a plastic explosion! Several years ago, I did a twin Blenheim build before the new Airfix kit came out, so used the old Mk.IV and the Frog Mk.I: I have recently been refurbishing some bases and took the opportunity to get the Frog one out for a picture This latest endeavour started out as twin build of the Blenheim I and Beaufort Ia and I was rather excited at being able to call the thread 'A lovely pair of Bristol's', but managed to get a copy of the Blenheim IV with the 'Lorraine' markings on and had to include that too. This is one of my favourite schemes, inspired by the original Airfix box top. So, the plan is this: Some pics of the bare plastic with internal sub assemblies done: The engines look a little basic on the Blenheim, so are being replaced by some resin ones and props too Painting has begun. The green looks dark here, but looks fine in real life I've got some seatbelts on order, but apart from that, I'm not adding any further detail inside as there is enough Really need to get some kind of working method to doing these three to keep some kind of sanity on the bench! Cheers Neil That is a very colourful decal sheet there, Neil. The interiors are very neat and crisp, too. That is usually where things go wrong for me. Everything looks great until I get the glue out and then suddenly everything starts to look as if it's made of cotton wool! I have vague memories, from about 55 years ago, of building a Blenheim with cross of Lorraine decals, or transfers I would have called them then, and not having the foggiest idea what they were. I was similarly confused the first time I saw a profile of a Finnish Blenheim. It was wearing blue swastikas! Liking the Bristol family build a lot. Murray
woody37 Posted May 27 Author Posted May 27 18 hours ago, Dunny said: Hi Neil, Will look forward to this one! With regard to L6670 I modelled this scheme a couple of years ago, and there is some debate over the colour scheme. I chose to model in LE/DE over Sky Blue, with aircraft codes in red. Here's the WIP if any help: Cheers, Roger Thanks Roger, I remember your build but only just realised it's the same aircraft. Thanks for that, I was aware of the light BM and have mixed some paint ready, but was going to do mid stone upper. I think I'll go the same route as you on the light earth 12 hours ago, MOK61 said: That is a very colourful decal sheet there, Neil. The interiors are very neat and crisp, too. That is usually where things go wrong for me. Everything looks great until I get the glue out and then suddenly everything starts to look as if it's made of cotton wool! I have vague memories, from about 55 years ago, of building a Blenheim with cross of Lorraine decals, or transfers I would have called them then, and not having the foggiest idea what they were. I was similarly confused the first time I saw a profile of a Finnish Blenheim. It was wearing blue swastikas! Liking the Bristol family build a lot. Murray Hi Murray, Thanks. There has been a lot of dry fitting to ensure that everything fits when I close the fuselages up. I use Tamiya extra thin to reduce the risk of glue blobs and glue as much as I can together before airbrushing. A Finnish one would be a good build too, lots of colour photos for reference on these too! Thanks Neil 1
heloman1 Posted May 27 Posted May 27 Ooooh! Interesting Neil. Three builds at once, lets hope you don't get parts mixed up! I do like the two tone brown scheme. Popcorn at the ready. Colin 1
woody37 Posted June 5 Author Posted June 5 On 5/27/2025 at 9:05 AM, heloman1 said: Ooooh! Interesting Neil. Three builds at once, lets hope you don't get parts mixed up! I do like the two tone brown scheme. Popcorn at the ready. Colin I have got sprues mixed up in boxes mate, that has caused some confusion along the way! Haven't updated for a bit, but have taken a few photos along the way so here they are: Assembly of the fuselages has continued. I've really enjoyed building the Beaufort, but the Blenheims are fiddly around the nose trying to get everything aligned. I deviated from the instructions in that I glued the nose fuselage halves to the rear before assembly, but not sure that really helped. I've also glued the nacelles on as these will be painted with the rest of the fuselage and the engine / front rings fitted afterwards. Each clear part was fitted and the glue allowed to dry before fitting the next. Aftermarket seatbelts fitted which was holding the assembly up: You can see here that there is some work to do to sort the alignment of wings and fuselage out. In the end, I had to trim a little of the wing root that is part of the fuselage due to the step left. Eduard window masks fitted (these really do take the sting out of complicated window arrangements!) and interior green sprayed before the external coats are applied Upper part of Mk.I canopy fitted. Not the most fun I've had! Beaufort - all clear parts now fitted: I've taken two spare Vickers guns from the Blenheim's and fitted them to the nose of the Beaufort as the kit doesn't include an armed set up. Holes were drilled and the barrels will be fitted after painting because there's sod all chance of me not breaking them off if I add them now! A top coat of primer and they're beginning to look quite tidy around the front now. I've added some rivets to improve the surface detail, just enough to add interest: The landing lights in the Blenheim kits are just solid bits of clear plastic so I've used some plastic discs and Selotape as the landing light cover. Just need to take care not to squash them! And this is where they are up to. Just need to mask the Beaufort then we're onto paint. I might do all the detail bits such as turrets and undercarriage before then as I lose interest in those bits after painting! The other bit I've noticed is that there is a bullet proof windscreen panel on the Mk.I Blenheim that isn't in the kit so I might scratch one out of thin acetate. Cheers Neil 17 1
Trumpton_Orbital Posted June 5 Posted June 5 Hi Neil, great progress so far - I really like your idea of the triple-build too. Kind regards, Paul. 1
bigbadbadge Posted June 5 Posted June 5 Nice trio Neil, great progress so far, your certainly not hanging around. Chris 1
woody37 Posted June 10 Author Posted June 10 On 6/5/2025 at 6:03 PM, Trumpton_Orbital said: Hi Neil, great progress so far - I really like your idea of the triple-build too. Kind regards, Paul. Thanks Paul, I'm finding it is a useful approach as it allows time for glue and paint to dry whilst working on one of the others. On 6/5/2025 at 6:49 PM, bigbadbadge said: Nice trio Neil, great progress so far, your certainly not hanging around. Chris Thanks Chris, got the sleeves rolled up! Done a little more progress since the last update, all three are ready for paint now. I bit the bullet and assembled all the engines. 36 cylinders and 36 exhausts had to be glued on! The detail is more refined than the kit parts, although one has to question whether its a worthwhile investment when not much will be seen, but the intakes are much larger than the Beaufort. Also got the Beaufort engines done. I'll mask the intake rings off ready for camouflage paint. The colour is a mix I've made using various MRP paints, the base being burnt steel I think but with some red, silver and dark earth mixed in. I replaced the nacelle supports with some thinner rod, the kit parts are overly thick. The fit of the parts is excellent, I usually struggle with seam lines on radials but very little effort was needed to hide them. The wheel and bomb bays will need to be masked next ready for paint. And where they are now: Cheers Neil 12
John_W Posted June 10 Posted June 10 Great progress. Are you going to go for the quartet and add a Beaufighter? 1
woody37 Posted June 10 Author Posted June 10 12 hours ago, John_W said: Great progress. Are you going to go for the quartet and add a Beaufighter? I'll be all Bristoled out after these, but possibly later in the year! It will be a Blackburn Beverley next! 1
bigbadbadge Posted June 10 Posted June 10 Cracking work, those engines look superb. Dod you get their Blenheim Props too, thy are lovely . Chris 1
heloman1 Posted June 11 Posted June 11 Blackburn Beverley! What are you thinking Neil, even it's mother didn't like it!!! Think there is an opening for a Monty Python song, 'Lets try flying backward'. Mind you, at our club mid-month breakfast this am, I mentioned Neptunes and RAF! I don't build crab out of habit and the Neptune is rather large. So, I don't know where I was going with the idea!!! Not as though, I haven't got enough to build, without shooting off on a tangent. Still, each to his own. Colin 1
woody37 Posted June 11 Author Posted June 11 17 hours ago, bigbadbadge said: Cracking work, those engines look superb. Dod you get their Blenheim Props too, thy are lovely . Chris I thought I replied this morning Chris, but mustn't have clicked 'Submit reply', yes I have the props too but they are fiddly to align. 21 minutes ago, heloman1 said: Blackburn Beverley! What are you thinking Neil, even it's mother didn't like it!!! Think there is an opening for a Monty Python song, 'Lets try flying backward'. Mind you, at our club mid-month breakfast this am, I mentioned Neptunes and RAF! I don't build crab out of habit and the Neptune is rather large. So, I don't know where I was going with the idea!!! Not as though, I haven't got enough to build, without shooting off on a tangent. Still, each to his own. Colin They say 'If it looks right, it will fly right'. I bet they triple checked their parachutes before boarding for the Beverley's first flight! More progress today. The Blenheim IV and Beaufort are MRP Azure blue, whereas the Blenheim Mk.I is an approximation of Mediterranean light blue main comprising some MRP Oxford blue and White....see below as I changed it The contrast between the two blues. On reflection after taking this pics this morning, I think the MLB is too light as it should be darker than Azure Blue. So I added some MRP Marking blue to the mix and it now looks like this: The Mk.IV. This was going to have the bomb doors open but after the fight I had with the Mk.I, they are now closed! The Beaufort: I've started masking the Mk.IV ready for upper paint. A few years ago, I bought one of those cutters for doing curves and it's great for adding curved masking such as below the leading and training edges of the wing That's all for now, cheers 7 1
woody37 Posted June 12 Author Posted June 12 The Mk.IV has its colours on now. I decided to paint the rudder rather than fighting the decal included in the kit. I was expecting the blue in the roundels to be lighter, but the discussion in the thread below and several photos appear to indicate that the blue used in the crosses and roundels are normal RAF blue or at least a deeper blue than the light blue often associated with French aircraft. Additionally, the photo below reassures me that the cross was in fact blue although they may have been red at an earlier date. Quote Great photo to get some ideas for weathering! This is where it's up to. It's MRP dark earth and mid stone although I've lightened the mid stone by adding some white and very lightly over sprayed the dark earth with mid stone to lighten that up too. MRP Marking red and blue used for the rudder over a base of white I'll get the Mk.I and Beaufort painted next so that they are all at the decal stage. Cheers 9 1
Trumpton_Orbital Posted June 12 Posted June 12 That's a lovely smooth paint job so far! I always thought the ventral turret under the nose of the Blenheim IV was a bit odd; I wonder if it rotated or if the guns just moved up & down instead? Kind regards, Paul 1
woody37 Posted June 13 Author Posted June 13 On 6/12/2025 at 5:01 PM, Graham Boak said: It rotated. I didn't realise that, I wonder how effective it was
TheyJammedKenny! Posted June 14 Posted June 14 Wonderful work on this trio! You have a miniature Bristol plant going, and the speed of your output is amazing. I've heard the Beaufort is a delight to build and it appears so; that augers well for my own intended build. 1
woody37 Posted June 16 Author Posted June 16 On 6/14/2025 at 1:34 AM, TheyJammedKenny! said: Wonderful work on this trio! You have a miniature Bristol plant going, and the speed of your output is amazing. I've heard the Beaufort is a delight to build and it appears so; that augers well for my own intended build. Thanks, I'm enjoying building the Beaufort and based on this one, I'll probably get a few more. So many great schemes to choose from. On 6/14/2025 at 9:03 AM, bigbadbadge said: Looks superb so far Neil, great work on the paint. Chris Thanks Chris, the colours on the Beaufort have had me scratching my head a bit but here we are... Like a kid with a bag of sweets, I couldn't hold off getting some decals on so there has been lots of progress over the weekend. Fathers day was a free ticket to watch the 24h Le Mans whilst cracking on! Firstly, the Blenheim: The Beaufort colours have caused questions, not just over the colours, but the shades of colours too. The thread below is a useful reference for anyone doing this scheme in the future: Quote In the end, I've gone for Temperate Sea Scheme, however even this is a can of worms! Colour photo's of 217Sqn operating from the UK show very dark upper camouflage colours, but a photo of a Mk.II based in Malta from IWM appears to show the colours somewhat bleached in comparison although this could just be the bright sunlight, but the EDSG looks 'lighter' than the DSG: There is also this close up of DD959: From the available resources, I've tried to replicate the shades on the Mk.II above taken in Malta and come up with this. I've actually changed the shade on both colours twice before getting to this point! I've lightened the MRP EDSG quite a bit and added a touch of neutral grey to tone down the strong blue colour and added a bit of dark olive drab to the MRP DSG to create the contrast. The DSG looks lighter in real life compared to the photos so I'm happy with how it's turned out. Still more decal to go yet. I've used thin strips of silver solar trim to replicate the silver (ish) rings that can be seen on pictures of the exhaust rings. I'll tone them down once a mat finish is on with some pastel. Cheers 6 3
PeteH1969 Posted June 16 Posted June 16 Great work Neil I love the paint job on both models very factory looking. Pete 1
heloman1 Posted June 16 Posted June 16 Hi Neil, great work with the silver rings. Ids the Solar film self adhesive? Colin 1
woody37 Posted June 16 Author Posted June 16 3 hours ago, PeteH1969 said: Great work Neil I love the paint job on both models very factory looking. Pete Thanks Pete, I need to catch up with the Mk.I Blenheim now! 3 hours ago, heloman1 said: Hi Neil, great work with the silver rings. Ids the Solar film self adhesive? Colin Thanks Colin, yes, it's adhesive backed so just required thin strips cutting and applying. The self adhesive isn't that strong on thin strips and paint doesn't adhere very well to it but its great for little jobs like this. The varnish helps to keep it in place though. 1
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