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
>^-.-^<