Airfix 1:12th scale Blower Bentley

[Des]

Nice work on the leaf springs Ian, the U bolts look excellent and the spring attachment points are looking good.

Des.

[RAGIII]

Outstanding updates! All of your details are certainly making this a Stunner!
RAGIII

[IanB]

 I've finally finished lacing the wheels!
All that's needed now is to file down the spoke ends and a quick blow over to touch up the paint. While I'm doing that I'll put some paint on the chassis too...



Ian

[RAGIII]

Absolutely incredible work on those wheels!
RAGIII

[IanB]

I had intended getting the chassis painted today, but I found more things that needed doing....so I filled the mounting holes for the headlamp brackets and narrowed the ones for the brake actuators, then added some bolt heads to the top of the chassis frame, replaced the moulded blobs on the front chassis spacer with resin nuts/pieces of .04x.04mm rod, and modified and fitted the horn brackets (and added more nuts!) NOW, I think I can get some paint on it......



Ian

[IanB]

Result, finally!





The firewall is going to have to be stripped and redone, I'm not at all happy with it. I'll remove all the plastic card that has been fitted and replace it so I have a good base to paint over. Other than that, a little clean up and sanding, then a second coat....hopefully it won't take as long as the first!

Ian

[Des]

Great to see some colour finally getting applied, a good shade of BRG Ian.

Des.

[IanB]

I've finally made a little more progress, mainly on the firewall which is now ready for paint again! I replaced the front and rear panels with .015" card instead of .005" which I'm much happier with, and shortened the moulding for the throttle pedal bracket a little. I also widened the hole for the dynamo drive, and that has somehow ended up off centre! Nothing I can do about it now though, fortunately it's not too far off!





I also added some detail to the front body frame/scuttle, but I'm not sure if there should be more gaps routed out to lighten the frame, my pics are a little dark here....



The last item I've been working on is the fuel tank, which now has the side screens on it and is ready for final painting.



 The chassis frame has been sanded down a little where needed and it is all now ready for final painting. Once that is done I can start installing the engine and firewall and getting on to some more fun stuff!

Thanks for looking in!

Ian

[Des]

Great to see you back onto this one Ian, the fuel tank look excellent, looking forward to seeing it painted along with the chassis frame.

Des.

[lone modeller]

What you are doing with this old kit is simply incredible. Your modelling skills certainly extend beyond WW1 and are clearly of the highest standards.

[RAGIII]

What you are doing with this old kit is simply incredible. Your modelling skills certainly extend beyond WW1 and are clearly of the highest standards.

I agree completely!
RAGIII

[WarrenD]

Some really, really great work here!  A friend of mine recently made a blog post entitled "In Praise of Older Kits". This one really IS old, but you're doing some great work on this one to bring it to life IMHO.

Warren

[IanB]

Since I've been snowed in all day and it's still blowing hard outside, I got a bit more done today.
  I actually managed to correct the hole I'd drilled in the bulkhead by lining it with 3/8 tube and redrilling. The original was close enough that the thickness of the tube was enough to enable me to move it over about 1mm. It is now in the correct place, central on the bulkhead! I also added another hole for the fuel lines, which will be covered by a "metal" plate, and mountings for the fuel tank. I have no idea if these are correct, but it had to be supported by something so I added a flange around its edge, and a strap at the rear which will attach to the scuttle.
 


 The radiator also got some attention. The attachment pins for the front were shortened by 2mm to move it back and leave room for a proper wire mesh grille over the front, which has been added, and the bottom edge has been trimmed with one piece of .015" card, cut and trimmed to shape. I think it's a big improvement!





Ian

[uncletony]

Sweet

[Ian from Doncaster]

Excellent work on the radiator mesh Ian!  What did you use?

For such a large and visible part, the offering by Airfix of a mesh molded directly into the solid radiator shape really isn't good enough - and is a bugger to paint!

On mine, I scraped off the molded mesh and replaced it with a plastic mesh, cut and pre-painted from a large-ish sieve.  I chose plastic because it was much cheaper and also because it was easier to flatten.  Sourcing a mesh good enough was tricky though.

The chrome parts are a nightmare, aren't they?