Over the last couple of years I did make several starts on a model. Three of these have been glaring at me lately, so I set aside a day this weekend to get them over the hump. All lapsed at that delightful stage of a build I like to call 'dealing with the &*$@%$ clear bits'.
This is an old Matchbox Wellesley, one of the first second-hand kits I bought (from Mr. Garrity at Rare Plane Detective). It is marked as an early service machine of 76 Sqdn. Being red with a yellow pinstripe surround, the '76' doesn't show up well in the picture. I was intending a 'nostalgia build' of three types that were part of the original RAF expansion scheme for bombers using only vintage kits, with but one or two small corrections allowed, and with crew figures. In this case the correction is the deck and headrest behind the pilot. The kit leaves a big gap instead.
This is a Mohawk IV (Cyclone powered Hawk 75), as employed by 155 Sqdn in late 1943 on the Burma front. I attribute powers of witchery to the wife, because I dropped the instrument panel, with glue on, into the fuselage maw, and some weeks later, when she had just come into the room, I had the thing in my hand, gave it an idle shake, and damn if the panel did not fall right out the cockpit opening. The model also managed some airborne time (not a toss, something got moved under it quite carelessly) at the end of which it shed tailplanes, and took a few scrapes and dents. There has been considerable tromp l'oeil correction to get the cowling to at least appear correct. I am a little proud of the yellow and Sky identity markings. They are not masked, but done free-hand, with the aid of a lightly scribed line, which stops the flow of paint, and fills as it does.
This is an old Heller Spitfire V, laid in for possible use of its nose in converting an old-tool Airfix Defiant. That kit got built OOB, and afterwards I was struck by some pictures of bare metal Spitfire Vs in Australia. This one is from a training unit, and has a quite odd back-story, regarding both its origins and its eventual fate.. Not my best foiling effort, but the camera is kind, and it's certainly a novel finish for an early-ish Spitfire. I took it up after doing an old-tool Airfix Spitfire I, in a 'let's play two!' spirit. I still have a new-tool Airfix Spitfire I on the shelves.
After setting up a sort of 'clear bits assembly line', doing frames, Future dip, and sticking on, to which Saturday day and night were devoted, here is how things stand....
First, the Wellesley, after a good coat of Tamiya matte, and with a bit of additional assembly...
Fit on the pilot's canopy is pretty decent. I fastened down the front first, and then the rear, which needed a little push to get lined up right.
The rear canopy is pretty poor. It is too narrow for the opening, and on the sides some of the painted frame at the bottom disappears into the hole. I will be doing a little touching up there, but that won't be difficult.
This thing is a bear to photograph, by the way --- hard to get it all in focus at once....
Here is the Mohawk IV....
This one needed a Falcon canopy, as the kit part had gone yellow. After putting in seat and stick, and a coat of Tamiya matte, clear bits went on. I had already made the 'rear vision' panels myself from 15 thou clear sheet, and had trimmed the canopy to fit. It went on without much drama.
Here is the 'silver Spitfire'...
The Heller canopy came in three parts, all awful small. The parts fit each other quite well, but the littlest bit at the rear is a tad high. This one may need a bit of work, but nothing too extreme.
The trio seem happy, and will be put aside again for a bit. I intend to do some work on each when next I have some bench time. I do want to get them done, I have the write-ups done already for two of them.
