Aircraft Detail for Modellers Group at Flickr.

As a result of some feedback that I have received and having reviewed my viewing statistics I have set up a new group on Flickr called “Aircraft Detail for Modellers”.

I was amazed to find that the most popular photograph on my photostream at Flickr was this picture of the pilot's seat from one of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight's aircraft. A conversation with a friend and fellow modeller explained the reason, he is building the Tamiya 1/32 scale Spitfire and had used my photo as reference for painting and detailing the seat in his model. This led me to think – it would be a good idea to create a resource on Flickr to enable modellers who are also Flickr members to post and share their photographs of aircraft details so that other modellers can access and use them?

The more I thought about this the more I was convinced that it would be of benefit to other modellers, I have often wished that I could quickly access a photographic reference rather than trawl through a pile of books and magazines to find that elusive detail that is needed to complete a model only to be frustrated and the model put to one side. The advantage of this group will be that, assuming modellers post their photos, any other modeller can view the picture and use it as a reference, this would be especially useful were there is only one example of the aircraft in a museum or collection thousands of miles away in another country so a day trip to take a few photos is out of the question.

To be truly effective the group needs to have lots of people posting their photos to build substantial pool of pictures, so if you are already a Flickr member please become a group member and post your detail photographs. If you are not yet a member, have a look at what is already there by clicking on the link below and if you like what you see and want to participate, open an account (The basic account is free, a “Pro account” is $24.99 a year) and start posting.


Aircraft Detail for Modellers at Flickr.


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

Dragon Focke-Wulf Fw-190 A-8

 

Dragon kits have a lot of very finely moulded detail but the fit often leaves a lot to be desired. Unlike Tamiya, their designers do not seem to keep in mind that the kits are going to be constructed by people with widely differing abilities, the plastic is quite thin and delicate and frequently the parts lack clear or positive location points making assembly something of a trial and error process. Because of this the major parts such as the fuselage halves usually require reinforcement otherwise things tend to come apart even with the carefullest of handling.

This Fw-190 A-8 is no exception and in particular the undercarriage legs proved to be an absolute swine to get symmetrical with just the right degree of toe-in. My first three attempts resulted in the model sitting at varying drunken angles to left or right with the third being the least bad. Although in all other respects it was finished, I put the model away in a box for about a year, not wanting to display the thing in that state. In the end I dug it out, took off the undercarriage and with a good deal of trepidation tried to get it right and, believe it or not, everything slotted neatly into place without the slightest problem at the first attempt!

The paint used was Extracolor (It was built before I had become a convert to acrylic paint) and the decals are from Aeromaster set No. 48-061.

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.

Normanrie Niemen Yak-3

This Yak-3 is built from the Eduard kit and is finished in the markings of Normandie-Niemen Regiment, the Free French fighter unit operating within the Soviet Air Force.

The model is built pretty much straight from the box and uses the kit decals, the paint is from the old (Original) Aeromaster acrylics range.

The Normandie-Niemen unit fought a distinguished campaign on the easten front from 1943 and one of its Yak-3s is on display at the Musee de l'Air et Aerospace at Le Bouget just outside Paris.

History of Normandie-Niemen at Wikipedia.
Normandie-Niemen Museum (In French).
Photographs of the preserved Yak-3 at Le Bourget.


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


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

IPMS Birmingham Club Meeting

Our hobby is fundamentally a solitary activity, most of us build our models in the privacy of our own individual work room or a shed at the bottom of the garden and it is easy for us to become somewhat withdrawn from society.

The antidote to this situation is to become a member of a modelling club and we are fortunate that we have an active organisation, the International Plastic Modellers Society (IPMS) which fosters our activities. Founded in London in the early 1960s the IPMS has grown to be a truly international society with branches in many countries around the world, as anyone who has visited the annual Scale Modelworld exhibition at Telford, UK will have seen.

I regularly attend meetings of the Birmingham branch of IPMS(UK) and our first meeting of 2010 took place on Sunday 17th January with a good attendance (Especially as annual subs were due!).


One of the themes for the meeting was restoring clear parts and a couple of members gave demonstrations of their methods of re-polishing scratched canopies and the like. Here George Green can be seen showing his technique to Dave Child and Ron Adams while others look on.








Of course other subjects arise, here John Duffield explains his preferred method of achieving a bare metal finish on an Airfix Lightning to Gareth Thomas and Terry Walton. I will return to John's methods in a future post as it is and interesting alternative to my own technique.

We also have a monthly competition and the winner for January was this superb battle ship, HMS Prince of Wales in 1/1200 scale built by Ron Adams.






The great thing about becoming a member of a club is that not only do you benefit from other modellers' knowledge but there is the added dimension of socialising with fellow modellers and over the years I have made a number of good friends, not just locally but throughout the UK and overseas. So don't be a modelling hermit, get out and, to start with, become member of your local club.

IPMS(UK) branches
IPMS Birmingham


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