Throwing one back - building 'Gerti' - Done!

[Robomog]

EDIT  27/01/22  sorry guys I'm running out of space on my Flickr account so I am removing the construction pics, if you would like to see them again please PM me


Just setting a place holder.

Alt history is here to whet your appetite
http://beyondthesprues.com/Forum/index.php?topic=7914.msg141775#msg141775


Construction begins soon


Mog
>^-.-^<

[elmayerle]

Oh, that's going to be interesting.  Borrowing the "trapeze" from a suitable Ar.234 kit?

[Robomog]

Nope no borrowing, will be scratch built, still working out where all the hinges and rams are going to go, its one thing describing something quite a different can of worms making it in 3D! 

Mog
>^-.-^<

[Robomog]

And so it begins.

The subject model is an Airfix Wellington BIII.

Unlike some of my older kits it has not been stored very well and has been damaged by other kits lying on top of it. It is very dusty and the transparencies faded. Back in the day I went through a phase of using Sellotape to frame the canopies but this has not survived the test of time very well, on the plus side I do not have to clean much paint off the canopies. Another plus was I found a lot of the missing parts in the box it was in, but I am still left with only one mainwheel, very little of the undercarriage struts and two different exhaust pipes.

Here is the original Kit..............

by Robomog, on Flickr


And a shot with its intended Payload............

by Robomog, on Flickr


The following two pictures show the dust and the state of the transparencies..........

by Robomog, on Flickr

by Robomog, on Flickr


The first job was to give it a wash then split the fuselage apart to release the gun turrets and other transparencies. The original 1970's pilots with groin pain are still in there along with a paper control pane detail I will be leaving them in when I reconstruct the fuselage, no extra detail as you wont see much through the canopy.

The next job was to remove the decals simple enough job?  actually no, these buggers were stuck fast, no amount of soaking would touch them, trying to pull them off with tape just took off the edges, wet and dry only took off the raised detail and a little bit more. In the end I had to soak them with Microsol which barely gave me three seconds to scrape them off. Boy did they make some kick-ass transfers back then!

At The wet and dry stage.........

by Robomog, on Flickr


On the left, finally got the damn things off

by Robomog, on Flickr


Had a bit more luck with the transparencies after cleaning off the tape and sticky residue I gave them a rubbing with tooth paste an lo and behold they shined up a treat.

The turret gives you an idea of the state of the transparencies Before treatment.......

by Robomog, on Flickr

More to come when it happens.

Mog
>^-.-^<

[Robomog]

Hi All
Made some more progress, the fuselage glass is back in and the fuselage put back together, however despite cleaning it up the fit was worse than the original so lots of filler required.

  by Robomog, on Flickr

by Robomog, on Flickr


Also created the blanking plates for the turrets using Milliput moulded around plastic formers, great stuff this for filling big areas and you can shape it with a wet knife or wet fingers while it is still soft.

by Robomog, on Flickr


The rear plate was damn near bang on................

by Robomog, on Flickr


The front blanking plate less so,  its too wide and bulges above the nose line...........

by Robomog, on Flickr


I feel some serious PSR coming on .............

Thanks for looking.

Mog
>^-.-^<

[Robomog]

Hi All

I said earlier that the battered Wellington BIII had odd exhaust pipes, Just checked the old Airfix Wellington build instructions and it was manufactured with differing exhaust pipes one is an almost a straight through pipe the other is like a hedgehog. Assuming  Airfix have got it right why would a Wellington have differing exhaust pipes ?

Any Ideas chaps ?

Mog
>^-.-^<

[elmayerle]

Perhaps the hedgehog one would have some flame-damping ability and be on the nacelle side facing the cockpit while the other one would be on the opposite side?

[Robomog]

Hi Elmayerle

I think you may be right but for the opposite reason, the 'straight through ' exhaust is on the pilots side and I can't see any evidence of perforations, so it will carry any sparks/flames under the wing and not blind the pilot. This is conjecture  of course I really don't know the right answer.

Thanks for looking

Mog
>^-.-^<

[Old Wombat]

One of the problems with this is that there were several different engine & exhaust arrangements for the Wimpy but the "hedgehog" exhaust is a shroud & flame damper & was, generally, used on the inboard exhaust or on all exhausts. The pipe exhausts (stub or long) were generally fitted to the outer exhaust or on all exhausts.

As per this;



Photo's below show this (not always clearly, I don't think exhaust systems were the focus of the images):









This video, at 23 min 39 sec does show it quite clearly;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzfkRhJ_nzE

[Robomog]

Wow OW !

Thanks for all that, interesting video too. 

Looking like the kit instructions are inaccurate, in the video the hedgehog exhaust is clearly on the pilots side, I may try to find a similar unit in my spares box to equal them up

Elmayerle you were spot on, that'll teach me to believe the instructions!

Thanks all

Mog
>^-.-^<

[Brian da Basher]

Since I have about 10 of this type in the pile ever since a friend sent me a brace of Hobby Craft Wellies, I'll watch with interest.

Brian da Basher

[Robomog]

Hi All

Three evenings of intense PSR later and things are looking pretty good.

The tail blanking plate ............

by Robomog, on Flickr


The Nose blanking plate ...........

by Robomog, on Flickr


I've also started the catapult assembly with the launching plate and hinges I will add the rams when its on the wellington ...............

by Robomog, on Flickr


With that done I have continued with the tail planes and the new twin rudders.............

by Robomog, on Flickr

by Robomog, on Flickr



Hmmmm looking from behind I think it looks like i'm reinventing the Whitley

More when it happens......


Thanks for looking


Mog
>^-.-^<



 

[Brian da Basher]

Well, the Whitley was under-appreciated.

I really like the look of those blanking plates. I've got a thing for re-purposed bombers with faired-over positions.

That sounds a lot racier than I meant it to.

The play-by-play is great and thanks for the update!

Brian da Basher

[Robomog]

I would agree with you there Brian, I've always liked the quirky shape of the Whitley especially the later ones in coastal command colours.

Mog
>^-.-^<

[Robomog]

Hi All

Just a small amount of progress, I have now given 'Gerti'  a coat of rattle can white to show up any join lines or serious surface blemishes also to give the acrylic paint a base on the previous oil paints.

by Robomog, on Flickr

Still Using my sophisticated spray booth with superior air extraction........

by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/54032744@N08/]Robomog, on Flickr

erm .......  moving on again....

I will be painting it in standard colours green/brown upper surfaces and black undersides,  for those of you who haven't read the back story the areas of the aircraft that have been altered or added to will be portrayed as the colour of the new/replacement materials so brace yourselves its going to look quite bizarre.

painting has commenced, more progress reports soon

Mog
>^-.-^<

[Robomog]

 Hi all

Having a bit if a mare with the painting as it is unusually hot here in The UK, I'm using Tamiya acrylics but the paint is drying almost as soon as its leaving the brush 

Someone has suggested adding a retarder so I will give that a try.

The progress so far if you zoom in you will see the patchy finish ................

by Robomog, on Flickr

Thanks for looking

Mog
>^-.-^<

[Brian da Basher]

That's looking like it's on the way to a superb finish.

My problem painting in hot weather is the fan. I can't paint when it's on and anything over 85F makes a fan necessary.

I'm very much enjoying watching your progress, Mog!

Brian da Basher

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Maybe the patchy paint work can be explained away as normal wear on the paint while carrying and launching your V-1? 

What is the retarder that you will use with your acrylics?  I have read some where that some folks use Windex or Alcohol as a means to thin the paints.  Would this also be useful as a retarder?

[Robomog]

Hi chaps
 
Brian - i think the photograph is more flattering than it appears to my mk1 eyeballs but thank you for your words of encouragement, Sounds like you are between a rock and a hard place when painting!

Jeffry - I too have heard that using Windex or isopropyl alcohol will act as a retarder but cannot get hold of either, as i am having particular trouble using Tamiya paints I have ordered a bottle Tamiya retarder. However in the meantime I have purchased some artists acrylic retarder from our local Hobbycraft. Initial tests look promising but I need to do a test on a model sized batch to be sure.

Since the photograph was taken I managed to get another slightly better coat of paint on the Wellington so maybe a little weathering as you say and a coat of matt varnish will do the business. I will let you know how I get on with the retarder later.

Thanks all

Mog
>^-.-^<

[Robomog]

Made lots more progress on Gerti just haven't had time to update thread so a massive update here

Given my problems with push painting I whimped out and did the black underside using masking tape and a rattle can. The result was very good, I don't think I would have got a finish like this by brush painting.

The top shortly after spraying ............

by Robomog, on Flickr

And the bottom .............

20180711_224014 by Robomog, on Flickr

And with the masking removed .............

20180720_193849 by Robomog, on Flickr


As an aside I thought a twin tail Wellington was pretty good whiffery, however I have just found this picture on the innernet of a twin tailed Wellington fitted with a 40mm Vickers S gun so not quite as unique as I thought !  It would make a cracking conversion for a model though.

wellington_mk2_l4250_40mm_1 by Robomog, on Flickr

Sigh........


Moving on ......

I normally build my models with the wheels down but as I only have one wheel and one and a bit undercarriage legs in various pieces I have decided to complete this one wheels up. I did try and scratch build a new undercarriage using aftermarket wheels but they were flimsy and wouldn't have lasted long.

There was still some fiddlies to do to complete the undercarriage, the first was to recreate a missing wheel door. Then, as the Wellington had part of its wheels exposed,  I cut the one wheel I had into two and mounted each part on some scrap card and a piece of sprue so they they would stick out at the correct distance.

The undercarriage components.........
by Robomog, on Flickr

Can you guess which is the replacement door ?

The assembled undercarriage ........
20180721_141711 by Robomog, on Flickr

And the completed installation.......
20180721_151619 by Robomog, on Flickr

Some filler will be needed to close some of the gaps.

When the undercarriage construction had set I installed the catapult.

by Robomog, on Flickr

That's the lot for  now the next big bit is to create the protective skinning on the spine of the Wellington behind the V1  .....  watch this space

Thanks for looking

Mog
>^-.-^<

[Old Wombat]

Can you guess which is the replacement door ?

Lower right , but it's very good!


Gerti is coming along beautifully, by the way!

[Robomog]

Got it in one !

Thanks

Mog
>^-.-^<

[Brian da Basher]

That's a mighty fine update, Mr Mog!

Will keep in mind the tip about rattle cans.

I like the twin tails and if I had a buck for every time reality skunked me like that I could buy you all a round.

Brian da Basher

[Robomog]

Thanks Brian

Here's another small update, this is the last of the structural additions before painting. In the alt history to avoid singeing the fabric when  firing the V1 the team  plated  the spine with recovered aluminium sheeting acquired from their aircraft graveyard. This  is a modelling equivelent of shooting yourself in the foot as I now have to reproduce this on Gerti.

I experimented with tin foil  which gave a good representation, but was difficult to paint and very fragile. In the end I settled on using paper thin polystyrene plastic that I had retrieved from some packaging of a computer ball mouse (I think). This was cut into squares and attached with gel superglue and curved around the fuselage with masking tape, I have deliberately used a random pattern as this was carried out in a last minute rush and no time was given for aesthetics. It will be painted in a similar fashion.

The plating, held down by masking tape...........

by Robomog, on Flickr

All done, in a rather fetching green .................

by Robomog, on Flickr

I am actually further through the build than I am showing here,  i just want the paint job to be a suprise.

I'm hoping to complete Gerti tonight and will post the finished project before the deadline, although I believe the contestants have a Forty something hours buffer due to a hiccup at the beginning. We shall see.

Thanks for looking

Mog
>^-.-^<

[Brian da Basher]

I think those spine plates will look great!

Looking forward to the big reveal,
Brian da Basher