Avro Manchester 1/72 Scale

This is a conversion that I built back in the 1990s and received a Highly Commended at the IPMS Nationals competition.

The kit used was the Airfix Lancaster with DB Productions' resin engines and propellers, outer wing panels and the central fin were scratch built using plastic card. Tailplanes and the outer fins were adapted from the kit parts, the bomb aimer's transparency was replaced using the Aeroclub vacformed early Lancaster part. I chose to build an early production version of the type thus avoiding the need to find a suitable mid-upper turret.


Finished as s/n L7288 EM-H of No. 207 Squadron the model was airbrushed using Extracolor for the camouflage and Humbrol for the undersides. Decals came from Modeldecal, Almark and Extradecal generic sets except the Medium Sea Grey serial numbers which were hand painted onto clear decal film.


This work by Roland Turner is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.

Interview with Wing Cdr W "Taffy " Holden

In the post about my 1/48 scale Lightning F.1 I mentioned that the aircraft that I had finished the model as, had been taken on an unintentional flight by an engeneering officer, Wing Commander Walter "Taffy" Holden at RAF Lynham. By chance I came across the video below on YouTube, to be strictly accurate it is a still photograph of the actual aircraft preserved at Duxford as backgrown to a recording of an interview with the retired Taffy Holden on the BBC Radio 2, John Dunn Show some years ago.The matter of fact tone that he takes and his obvious concern for the safety of others in the predicament that he found himself in, only adds to
the admiration for his cool handling of a situation that would leave most of us jibbering!


Video from YouTube




This work by Roland Turner is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.

Handley-Page Hampden 1/72 Scale

This model was built back in the mid nineties and was actually awarded a commended in the Bomber Command Trophy at the IPMS Nationals in the year that it was finished. It still appears from time to time on the Bomber Command SIG (Special Interest Group) display table at model shows

It is built from the old Airfix kit with quite few improvements, the wing tips were reshaped and a lot of internal detail was added (Little of which is visible). The tail and tail boom required a fair amount of reworking and filling to correct gaps and areas were the tools appear to have been damaged resulting in moulding faults.

The paint used was Extracolor and the decals came from Modeldecals range of roundels, codes and serials.

Although it requires some work the Airfix kit is not a bad representation of the aircraft, for sure the moulds show their age, but the kit has been around since the late sixties after all.

Sometime in the future I intend to tackle the Fonderie Miniature 1/48 scale Hampden but must get a few existing projects finished first!
 


This work by Roland Turner is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.

Vickers VC-10 1/144 scale

The VC-10 holds a special place in the hearts of many aviation enthusiasts, few aeroplanes can come close to, and I would contend, that none can surpass it for sheer elegance. It is one of those aircraft that just has that certain something extra about it - call it charisma if you like.

Needless to say, by modern standards the design is uneconomic, grossly fuel inefficient and no doubt the greenies will claim it has a carbon footprint the size of Canada (Just what does a carbon footprint look like anyway!?). However the Royal Air Force continue to operate a handful in the transport and air-to-air refuelling rolls and will continue to do so for another four to five years, by which time they will have clocked up half a century of service.

Given its popularity, the VC-10 has not been well served by plastic kit manufacturers with only the Airfix 1/144 scale example being widely available. Originally issued in their "Skyking" range in the 1960s with BOAC markings it was retooled as an RAF Mk K.2 tanker.

I have always felt that the late BOAC livery of royal blue cheat lines and tail fin with the gold 'Speedbird' emblem was designed for the VC-10 perfectly highlighting the aircraft's regal lines and this was the scheme in which I wanted to complete my model. As I only had a K.2 version of the kit to work with this meant 'back converting' it to the airliner version and finding suitable replacement decals. Also I was working to a target date for completion, the model was to be part of an exhibition celebrating British Jet Aircraft in Birmingham's Central Library.

Converting the kit was fairly straight forward, the ventral refueling bulge was cut away from each fuselage half and the resulting hole filed with 40 thou. plastic card bent to match the curvature of the fuselage any discrepancies being corrected later with filler. The locating slots for the wing mounted hose reel drums were similarly filled with plastic card and rubbed smooth with wet & dry glass paper. A fair amount of lead shot was secured in the front fuselage with Milliput to ballast the model and prevent 'tail sitting' and the side windows were blanked off internally with plastic card and filled before joining the fuselage halves together.

Having allowed 48 hrs for the cement to thoroughly dry a quick inspection revealed a problem, the tail fin, moulded integrally with the fuselage was leaning over to starboard at very noticeable angle. There was only one solution, cut the ******* thing off and re-mount it. It soon became clear the plastic along the joint between the fin and the fin was very thin (causing the problem in the first place) so it was necessary to insert a plasticard plug onto which the now separate fin could be attached and all resulting gaps filled with Milliput and sanded down.

The kit engines were discarded and substituted with Bra.Z Models resin replacements picked up at Scale Modelworld, click link below for their full range of resin kits.

The wings tailplane and painting will be dealt with in a future post.

Bra.Z Models kit list


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Airfix's new releases for 2010

It has been rumoured for some time that Airfix would be producing a 1/72 scale Vickers Valiant, now that has been confirmed on their website along with a few other goodies.

The Valiant will be a 'Limited Edition' kit so, depending on the quantity of the production run, it could become scarce quite quickly and it may well be worth buying a spare or two to lay down for the future. Finally, all three of the V bombers will have been kitted by a mainstream, mass production manufacturer in 1/72 scale, something we aircraft modellers have wanted since the 1960s!

The other new tooling that Airfix have announced that caught my eye were a Spitfire Mk XII in 1/48 scale - the first Griffon engined version of the Spit. No other kit manufactured has done this variant before in this scale (or any other scale that I can think of), excellent choice Airfix.

Also in the pipeline in 1/48 are a Seafire Mk XVIIc two versions of the Bf-109E and two Westland Lynx helicopters (Army and Navy).

In 1/72 scale there will be a Spitfire Mk Ia, F-86F Sabre plus Canadair Sabre Mk 4, two versions of the Bf-110 (a C/D and an E) a Hawk T.1 and a Harrier GR.9

Of course there are a number of other subjects, for instance a 1/350 scale Trafalgar Class submarine, which I think is a double first for Airfix. Unless my memory is failing me I don't think they have ever kitted a submarine before and I am pretty sure that they are new to 1/350, if you know better please let me know.

It is great to see that Airfix is now in a position to produce new kits that modellers really want. Perhaps, now that it is part of the Hornby empire, they have a marketing team who understand their customers, in the past I have often felt that they still believed that their principal market were 7 t0 14 year old boys rather than middle aged men who were of that age group back in the 1960s and 70s when Airfix was at is peak.

For more information click on this link to go to the relevant page at Airfix's website:
Airfix new for 2010

This work by Roland Turner is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.

Airfix English Electric Lightning F.1 - 1/48 Scale

Built pretty much straight from the box this Lighting is finished in the markings of 74 Squadron, circa 1961. It represents serial no. XM135 the first Lightning to enter squadron service with the RAF and is now preserved at Duxford. It was in this aircraft that Wing Commander W Holden, the senior technical officer at RAF Lynham made an unintentional flight when he inadvertently engaged reheat while running engine tests on the airfield's main runway. Despite his lack of experience (The only plane he had flown before this was the DeHavilland Chipmunk basic trainer) he managed to land the Lightning with only minor damage on his fourth attempt after making three abortive approaches to the runway, a considerable feat of cool headedness!

Click link to hear an interview with Wing Cdr. W "Taffy" Holden on YouTube.

The metallic finish has been achieved using Alclad, using chrome for the intake ring, nose probe and other highly polished areas with a variety of shades of aluminum for different panels. I find Alclad to be the best medium for representing bare metal on models, so long as the instructions are followed a good result can always be obtained. Preparation is the all important factor both in terms of actual surface of the plastic (or whatever medium you are working in) and the priming prior to application, different shades require their own priming - for example chrome needs to be undercoated with gloss black enamel - the instructions on the bottle give the relevant details.

Petition on Facebook for Airfix to re-issue the 1/48 Lightings.



This work by Roland Turner is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.