Ranger_Chris61 Posted February 27 Share Posted February 27 So been a while as the move has ended up taking a lot longer then I ever thought it would, one of the down sides of moving cross country and trying to do it all yourself. Because of this I have not built anything in almost a year and could not fight off the urge any longer. Picked this kit up for free from my local IPMS club and decided to give this a good as my next project. Because of the age of the kit, 70s vintage, there is very little detail to most areas. This however is not that big of an issue in 1/72 scale as most of those details would be hard to see. But to help hide the areas where it would be a problem, mainly the main gear bays I am going to pose it in flight. One area that will be a problem is the decals. To say they are toast would be an understatement. So what I will do is try my hand at painting the most of the markings and remake the aircraft number as a new decal. This will be a bit of a challenge but one that I think will prove worth it in the end for the learning experience. Getting into the actual build the first thing was to assemble the main gear to test fit them in the close position to see if any adjustments would be needed. Thankfully they do fit nicely with the wing halves closed up. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
peter havriluk Posted February 27 Share Posted February 27 I've successfully used Testor's rattle-can 'decal saver' many times on decals that looked worse than these. And it'a good treatment on those ultra-thin decals that try to knot themselves up. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
andyf117 Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 (edited) On 2/27/2024 at 6:19 AM, Ranger_Chris61 said: One area that will be a problem is the decals. To say they are toast would be an understatement. So what I will do is try my hand at painting the most of the markings and remake the aircraft number as a new decal. This will be a bit of a challenge but one that I think will prove worth it in the end for the learning experience. Airfix decal sheets often stand the test of time quite well - and that one doesn't appear 'toasted' to my eye... ....an advantage of it having two markings options is that you can try using a couple of the decals from the scheme you're not going to finish the model in... ....or even just the 'nameplate' - which also always had carrier film, for use on the stands that used to be provided... Edited February 29 by andyf117 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Chris L Posted March 1 Share Posted March 1 I feel your pain. Moved here 23 months ago and have not been able to model since . I'm just about to crack a bottle of thin cement just to smell the glue . Cheers, Christian Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ranger_Chris61 Posted March 1 Author Share Posted March 1 On 2/29/2024 at 12:32 AM, andyf117 said: Airfix decal sheets often stand the test of time quite well - and that one doesn't appear 'toasted' to my eye... ....an advantage of it having two markings options is that you can try using a couple of the decals from the scheme you're not going to finish the model in... ....or even just the 'nameplate' - which also always had carrier film, for use on the stands that used to be provided... Its possible they are good, but what is not really properly conveyed in the photo is the paper is sticking to the decals, so am not really hopeful that they are still good. Will try with the aircraft numbering, but not going to hold my breath. Am still going to paint the roundels all the same though, if for no other reason but for the learning experience. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
andyf117 Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 On 3/1/2024 at 6:58 PM, Ranger_Chris61 said: Its possible they are good, but what is not really properly conveyed in the photo is the paper is sticking to the decals, so am not really hopeful that they are still good. Will try with the aircraft numbering, but not going to hold my breath. All is still not yet completely lost - I've experienced similar with protective sheets, but after careful peeling and gentle cleaning have successfully salvaged and used some. It is possible to remove residue that's become attached to the design using a damp (not wet) cotton bud... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ranger_Chris61 Posted March 6 Author Share Posted March 6 Fairly substantial update on the Blenheim today. First up I did the positioning of where the stand will go. After determining the location I progressively opened up the hole. After that I drilled the hole in the base. The next step was to decide on the height above the base it will be. The rod was then cut to height and a test fit was performed. With that done I primed and painted the interior parts. I then attached the wing halves together. Lastly I found several areas on pilot and bombardier figures that will need some cleanup. I also made the decision to swap which figure went where based on how much leg would be visible, moving the pilot figure to the bombardier position. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ranger_Chris61 Posted March 6 Author Share Posted March 6 8 hours ago, andyf117 said: All is still not yet completely lost - I've experienced similar with protective sheets, but after careful peeling and gentle cleaning have successfully salvaged and used some. It is possible to remove residue that's become attached to the design using a damp (not wet) cotton bud... Maybe so, but one of the main things I wanted to do with this project was to challenge myself and paint as much of what typically gets done with decals as I could. Treat it as a learning experience more then anything. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Prop Duster Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 looks like you have a good grip on what you are tring to acomplish with this build. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
southwestforests Posted March 8 Share Posted March 8 On 3/5/2024 at 4:07 PM, andyf117 said: but after careful peeling and gentle cleaning have successfully salvaged and used some. It is possible to remove residue that's become attached to the design using a damp (not wet) cotton bud... Will second that motion, although the local variation on the theme done some years back used a fairly smooth cotton cloth. (I pulled yesterday's undershirt out of the hamper) (didn't have cotton buds, washcloth and paper towels seemed to have too rough a surface) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
southwestforests Posted March 8 Share Posted March 8 On 3/6/2024 at 12:58 AM, Ranger_Chris61 said: pilot and bombardier figures Those fellows certainly do date the kit's origin! 😄 Glad to see there's going to be somebody home. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ranger_Chris61 Posted March 28 Author Share Posted March 28 Been a bit since the last update, was out of town working on the new house. So after getting back I decided as a easy way of getting back into the flow of this project I decided to start work on the lower turret. So I clipped the plastic barrels and set to work attaching the replacement metal ones. Unfortunately I ran into a bit of an unexpected problem, my CA glue had gone bad. Even using accelerator did nothing to get it to set up. Thankfully I did have a small tube of glue that was still good. Lesson for the day, only buy the smallest tube of CA glue you can get as they can expire and or go bad on you and stop working. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ranger_Chris61 Posted March 28 Author Share Posted March 28 Having to split this update up as trying post the entire thing as a single post seems to keep ending with an error message. So after that I was able to get both barrels on. While not perfect they are still not bad in terms of alignment and look significantly better then the kit's plastic one. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ranger_Chris61 Posted March 28 Author Share Posted March 28 Moving on so as to give the glue some extra time to make sure that it is fully set up I started on some of the detail work on the cockpit. The first thing was to add a wash to deepen and detail the aft bulkhead. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ranger_Chris61 Posted March 28 Author Share Posted March 28 Next was the yoke which receive a coat of paint on it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ranger_Chris61 Posted March 28 Author Share Posted March 28 Lastly, was the base coat of black on the instrument panel. Will drybrush the dial details once the black has fully set up. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ranger_Chris61 Posted April 5 Author Share Posted April 5 So here is the Blenheim progress from the last couple days. First I started work on the turret. I removed the bit sticking up, which the instructions did not show as being a locator plug so will make due when it comes time to attach. I the attached the barrels from the last update and the locking peg to seal it all in. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ranger_Chris61 Posted April 5 Author Share Posted April 5 Next I moved back to working on the fuselage. Main thing this update was getting the side windows installed. One of them required a little more work to get it fitting correctly, but it did eventually fit into place. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ranger_Chris61 Posted April 5 Author Share Posted April 5 Last bit is a major change of plans. I initially planned to use the kit's parts for the rear turret, but the more I looked at them the more I knew they looked like crap. So I was fortunately able to find some stl files to print the rear guns. These parts also came with the supports already placed so I was able to just place them in the slicer software and go. As a precaution and save time and ensure my math was right I printed a couple extra at slightly smaller size. These were ultimately not needed as the initial size worked perfectly. After checking some references I, and checking that the metal barrels would still fit size wise, I clipped the barrels off the 3D printed parts and attached the metal ones. Personally the metal barrels perfectly complete the look on these. My only issue now it mounting them as I believe I already sent my scratch build box to Florida. However, even if it was still here I am close to certain that I don't have the right size of plastic for these guys, so will get some next chance I get. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ranger_Chris61 Posted April 14 Author Share Posted April 14 Spent most of today working on the pilot figures so we can finally close up the cockpit. For figures like this i am using Vallejo as that is what i have available. Started with doing a base of Medium Flesh Tone on the B/N, only figure in the crew with exposed skin, which I unfortunately did not grab a photo of. I next did a rough 50/50 mix of the initial skin tone with Basic Skintone. This was applied a little more conservatively sticking more to the high areas of the face. After this I used just Basic Skintone keeping even more to the high areas then before. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ranger_Chris61 Posted April 14 Author Share Posted April 14 After this had dried I then made a 50/50 mix of Basic Skintone and Light Flesh and did a heavy drybrush. Finally I used a light drybrush of just Light Flesh to finish his skin off. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ranger_Chris61 Posted April 14 Author Share Posted April 14 I then moved onto working on the uniform. For the base I am using Blue, however it did not come out as dark as I wanted. So I will be looking for a darker blue tomorrow to try and do a thin over coat to tone it down. I then worked more on the uniforms, painting a base khaki color. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ranger_Chris61 Posted April 14 Author Share Posted April 14 This was then drybrushed with a lighter mix to catch the highlights. I then moved on to the flight caps and gloves. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ranger_Chris61 Posted April 14 Author Share Posted April 14 These were then painted with a lighter mix color focusing on the high areas. Lastly I painted the goggles and oxygen masks. Aside from a few touch ups the figures are done and I can star work on closing up the fuselage. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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