realworkingsailor

Incidentally, John Dell has a great treatise on the origins and purpose of the black and white underwing colour scheme: https://dingeraviation.net/articles/blackandwhite.htm Andy

Ahem…. Resistance is futile! 😂 Now…. About that Beaufort….. 🤔

Count me in! Have you got an Anson to go with it?

Close, but the word is “Casemate”. Casement refers to the operating (opening) part of a window in your house. Casemate is the armoured enclosure through which the guns can fire. Andy

Very nice! You just need a figure of the gunner trying to clamber in the turret wearing that… um… contraption of a parachute/suit they needed! Andy

Thanks! I must admit, I’ve been “casually” looking at the Airfix Beaufort. I know at some point I’m going to “have to” add one to the stash. The issue I have is, because the Bolingbroke is kinda the lesser known fourth member of the Bristol twins, I’m going to have to look at a Blenheim too…. and right now that makes my brain hurt…. 🤪😅 Andy

Good morning everyone! Things have gone reasonably well over the last little while. After the lettering was finished I began to add all the extraneous little details, Propellors, landing gear, bomb bay doors, aerial masts and whatnot. A not too involved process. The landing gear went better than I expected, for once the parts actually fit as designed! After a final touch up, I sealed everything with a layer of Testors' Dullcote. And then the fun of removing all the masking from the glazing. The turret glass required a little studious work with a tooth pick to get rid of a couple of spots where the paint bled, but the nose and canopy area came out clean and crisp. From a lower angle it kinda looks like some of the photos I've seen of Bollys stuffed and mounted in museums: Overall, I think I managed alight. Not the best result, but given the fitment challenges with this kit, it will do. The bright yellow paint definitely highlights things we'd rather not see. (Yeah some of those seams could have been better, but from a distance, and in natural light they don't show so badly). I would say that this is not the best kit offering from Airfix, this is perhaps one that deserves a bit of a revisit in terms of their design work and tooling, as they are reissuing the Blenheim Mk I this year, it obviously must be a somewhat popular kit. Anyway, a quick final shot of my Bristol collection so far: I may do a little weathering yet, but I'm happy to call this one done. Thanks to all who have been following along, leaving kind comments and "likes", your support and feedback is always greatly appreciated! Andy

Hopping around the internet this afternoon I found a bit of the record card for Bolingbroke 10103: https://caspir.warplane.com/historycards_pdf/Bolingbroke-10103-RCAF-HC.pdf Some parts are slightly illegible, but from what I can decipher the plane entered service with the RCAF on the 22nd of February 1943, and was placed in reserve at that time. On the 20th of October 1943, it was assigned to 3rd Training Command. 3TC was headquartered in Montreal as part of RCAF Eastern Air Command, and oversaw training facilities in the province of Quebec and in the Maritimes. The record mentions the plane being a Bombing and Gunnery trainer. Two B&G schools were assigned to 3TC, No. 9 at Mt. Jolie, PQ, and No. 10 at Mt. Pleasant, PEI. The next entry has 10103 back in reserve on the 20th of June 1945. There are a couple of other entries I’m having trouble deciphering, before it was listed as “War Assets” on the 6th of January, 1947, and then subsequently sold. Andy

Good morning everyone! Work on the lettering is largely complete. I used elements of the kit supplied decals as well as markings from an Xtradecal set. The roundels really stand out on the yellow background! The bright red propellor warning stripes were excised from a large French fin flash in the Xtradecal set. On the overwhelming majority of prototype photos I found online, the trainer Bollys had at least one, and more frequently two red warning stripes. The small registration numbers on the nose took a lot of digging. It seems to have been more common on the later production Bollys (above serial # 10000), and only on trainers. The large serial numbers on the underside were the most challenging to place, simply due to their size, but the generous use of Micro Set and a lot of patience ensured a successful outcome. Next up is seeing to the landing gear and all the other sticky outy bits that would have been at risk while handling during the lettering process. Thanks, as always, for all the kind comments and "likes"! Andy

Thanks Ken! About the closest I could find online, image-wise, was this picture from the Australian War Memorial (image catalogued as being in public domain): It depicts some practice bombs as loaded in an Avro Anson. I’m guessing a similar kind of set up was used in the Bolingbroke. Judging by some of the photos taken of some salvaged Bollys at the Warplane Heritage Museum (if you scroll the the photo gallery), there doesn’t seem to be any kind of noticeable special modifications to handle any kind of practice ordinance. The only thing I can figure is they must have used off the shelf standard fittings. Andy

Thanks, as always, for all the "likes", everyone! My main hurdle over the last couple of days has been figuring out the loading for practice bombs used in Bolingbrokes. I was able to establish that they were painted white, so that's a start, but I was unable to determine how exactly they were loaded in the bomb bay, and how many. I was able to find some pictures of the loadings used on Fairey Battles and other airplanes used for training, so I used a bit of modellers license to come up with something that sort of looks plausible. The Airfix kit includes some small bomblets as well as a bracket that is meant to be attached to the fuselage behind the bomb bay (as on the model there is a gun pack in that space). I first cut the brackets in half, so that each would hold two bomblets in the bomb bay cells. I initially trialed just gluing these to the bomb bay, but the bombs seemed to be too far recessed. Looking at as many Bolingbroke prototype photos as I could find (especially photos of post war scrap piles of partially disassembled Bollys), it didn't look like there were any special modifications made to the roof of the bomb bay. Taking this as a hint, I then used the bomb rack that was included in the kit as part of the bomber variant, and mounted the half racks on those, before trial fitting in the bomb bay. I was much more pleased with this look. The bomblets are not too recessed into the bomb bay, and I think it makes for a plausible load out. Now glued in place, I think it will work well enough for me. Once everything has had a chance to cure and dry, a coat of gloss and then on to lettering this yellow bird. Thanks again for the support! Andy

Good morning everyone! Time for another little update! I've spent the last few days working on the engines and cowlings. For the most part the engines are ok, detail wise. I painted the air intake ducts (behind the engines) silver, as opposed to the black called for in the instructions. I dulled this down with some dry brushed Humbrol gunmetal. The engines were painted black and the cylinder heads picked out in silver. I then dry brushed again with gunmetal to highlight the details and dull down the heads a bit. More fit issues cropped up with the cowlings 🙄 Unlike for my Beaufighter build, I couldn't hide the gap under an exhaust pipe. I had to carefully fit a bit of 0.020" square styrene stock to fill the gaps and paint accordingly. It's far from perfect but it will do. The exhaust collector rings and pipes were first painted silver, then dry brushed black, followed by a dry brushing of Floquil rust. I'm planing on drilling out the ends of the oil cooler intakes to make them look a little better. In the mean time, the engines have been mounted on the airplane. Before prepping the plane for decals, I am aiming to also do some work on the bomb bay. As of now I have the central bomb beam in place. I am planing on using the small bomblets included in the kit to represent a load of practice bombs. I'm currently hunting for any photos that may show how these were mounted. I'm thinking of just using the kit supplied exterior mounts and modifying them to fit. We shall see. Thanks again for the kind comments and likes! Andy

Thanks Andrew! I think there's a very good reason I can't seem to find many models of trainers, yellow is definitely not for the faint hearted! Well, two coats seems to have done it reasonably well enough! Some little tiny bits of touch up here and there, but nothing major! She's a yellow bird! (Can you tell me how to get......) The second coat went a long way to smoothing out the variations in the first coat. I will be modelling this bird with the flaps down and bomb bay open, if only to add a little variety to the overall yellow paint scheme. Thanks, as always, to all the kind comments and likes! Andy

First coat of yellow: Not bad. A little blotchy, but the white seems to have done its job. I was prepared for far worse than this. A second coat should go a long ways to evening things out, otherwise I'm happy with progress so far. Thanks for all the support and kind comments and "likes"! Andy

Thanks for the kind comments, guys, and all the "likes"! After fettling the nose section on to the fuselage, I managed to get the gaps down to an agreeable (to me) minimum separation. I followed this up by adding the greenhouse thus fully enclosing the cockpit. The fit was....ok. Not the greatest. It required some very careful use of styrene cement, and pressure applied just the right way to get it to sit. After setting, I began masking the windows, in preparation for paint and priming. I used the Eduard masking set for this job. There were a couple of small gaps (what more gaps?!) where the angled step of the nose rises to the level of the bottom of the windscreen that I filled with a little canopy glue. Afterwards I gave all the now masked glass a coat of interior green. This was followed by a full coating of primer. Finally I applied a thin layer of white. Hopefully this will help with the yellow top coat. I'm using Vallejo acrylics, and I've noticed that the yellow doesn't cover very well. I'm hoping that this player of white will help with that. So that's where things are at the moment. Thanks again for all the kind comments and likes! Andy

Thanks Everyone! Work has slowly been progressing. I needed a bit of a break from the sanding and filing, so I started work on the cockpit. There are a few differences from the Blenheim. In a Bolly, the throttle quadrant was on the pilot's right. Thankfully, Eduard includes a replacement for the cast on quadrant, so it was simply a matter of removing that moulding from the canopy half, and glueing the PE replacement on the right hand console. The next noticeable difference was found in the instrument panel arrangement. The Blenheim featured a single set of instruments directly in front of the pilot. The Bolingbroke had a second set located below the right windshield. I used an appropriately sized strip of styrene to act as a backing, and used the PE instruments designated for the navigator's table to represent these. Arguably, there should be two rows of gauges and dials, but this will do as a representation. I left myself ample room for adjustment when fitting the greenhouse windows, but otherwise things fit well. For the navigator's instrument cluster, I used the panel that came with the Yahu IP set. The cockpit was then partially assembled and dry fit to the fuselage. Ugh.. looks like yet more gaps! I'll see what more tweaking I can do before glueing things up and adding the greenhouse. Speaking of which, doing some checking with the closed bomb bay door casting, it seemed the easiest course of action was to raise the middle section slightly with a piece of styrene, and sand that back down until the bomb bay piece fits properly. I do plan on having the bomb bay doors open, and a couple of "practice" bombs inside. I'm making a trainer Bolly, so I will need something to break up all that yellow! The fun and games continue! Andy

Not sure by how much European practice differed from North American, but typically the smoke box would be “painted” with a graphite coating, rather than any type of paint. Fresh, it would look almost a “gunmetal” colour, but as soot built up it would darken. Late in the stream era, if a locomotive didn’t see regular use, rust was also fairly prevalent. Andy

Nice job on the second (crackle?) paint job! That couldn’t have been an easy one to pull off! Andy

If you’re talking about the part mounted to the left of the smoke stack, it looks pretty much like a turbo generator (for the electric lights). The pipe running back to the cab would be a conduit for the electrical wires, as all the light switches are logically in the cab. Andy

Well, this is proving to be an..... interesting... build. Since my last post I have done a good bit of work. A bit more styrene and filler on the engine nacelles, followed by a coat of primer. I'm fairly happy with the way things are turning out. The primer has revealed a couple of obvious areas in need of further filling and sanding, but overall I think the modifications are looking ok. Since the remaining work seems to be minimal I decided to press on with the first bits of assembly. The kit starts off with the aft fuselage, followed by the landing gear base and wing spar. I assembled about as much as I could, before giving everything a coat of interior green. So far so good, although the kit is definitely beginning to show its age. I think the mould halves are beginning to "bed in" as there are considerable mould seam lines on the edges of parts, in certain areas, that required a fair amount of sanding to clean up. The edges of the wing spars, for example, had a small ridge running down them that had to be removed. I had quite a bit of fun with the green paint. Prior to assembling the aft fuselage halves, I fabricated and installed the windows glazing for the additional porthole. A little canopy glue to hold it in position was needed. The wing halves went together fairly reasonably, however a bit more tape and a few clamps were necessary than on other projects I've build. This seems to be a trend with this kit as I will discuss further on. It took a fair degree of sanding and filing to get the fuselage and wings to sit correctly. Aside from being naturally snug, the fit was less than perfect. there is a small nub that has to sit ahead of the wing spare, in order to allow the front fuselage halves to sit properly. Getting that little nub in position required far more work than it should have. The lower wing halves needed filing to fit, and despite getting every other surface to line up as close as humanely possible, I am left with a very noticeable step in the sides of the bomb bay, as well as a very prominent join line. Ugh... more work. Personally, I think this kit is over engineered. I understand that Airfix wanted to be able to produce both the Mk I and Mk IV Blenheims at a reasonable cost, but I think it would have been a better idea to mould two separate complete fuselages and design a better wing connection than trying this overly complicated, half-backsided approach. The fit here is, honestly, very poor. I am determined to see this build through to completion, regardless, and I hope things begin to improve from here. Thanks for all the kind comments and likes! Andy

Agreed! Although to give Airfix a little benefit of the doubt, it's perhaps possible that they couldn't get access/permission to scan the sole surviving Blenheim in Finland, and had to go with what they had. But the mistakes on the Mozzie.... 🙄 Time to crack on with the build! Of course my first job has been to work on the modifications to the engine nacelles and fuselage. The latter was fairly straight forward. Although I could find no accurate drawings, I was able to locate the extra window reasonably well using photographs. I first scribed the panel line representing the window frame, before I drilled and filed the window. A little bit of cleanup yet to do, but I'm fairly happy. The engine nacelles were next. Both the port nacelle extension and the starboard hump were created using layers of 0.015" styrene sheet. I started with the starboard side, as this seemed the simpler side to work with. The styrene has been sanded fair, but I think I need to make the hump on this side a little more prominent, so I will probably add one more layer of styrene over the whole thing, then fill and sand to shape. The port nacelle extension was fabricated using three pieces of styrene sheet, cut roughly to shape. It's still pretty rough looking, but some more filler and some careful sanding, and things should begin to look passable. To my eye, at least, the asymmetry is beginning to look somewhat correct for a wartime Bolly. Thanks to everyone for looking in and your "likes" Andy

For my next build, I've decided to take on a bit of a challenge (although, one starting with a reasonably simple kit). The Bristol-Fairchild Bolingbroke was a Canadian licence built version of the Bristol Blenheim light bomber by Fairchild Aviation Canada. Originally conceived as a maritime reconnaissance and patrol aircraft, it went on to fulfill other roles, most notably in the Commonwealth Air Training Plan. Of the 626 built, over 450 were built as Bombing/Gunnery/Navigation trainers. The Bolingbroke (or "Bolly") had numerous subtle features that set it apart from its nearly identical stablemate. As it was conceived as a maritime patrol airplane, provision was made for a 4th crew member, fulfilling the duties of the Radio Operator. To provide some light for his workstation, a window was added on the starboard side of the fuselage, just forward of the dorsal turret. As it was designed to operate in colder climates, it could be equipped with anti-icing boots on the wings, it also featured enlarged engine oil heaters. This last feature is only noticeable the starboard side engine nacelle as a beetle-backed hump. The port engine nacelle was enlarged in its entirety to accommodate a dingy, giving the Bolly a distinctly asymmetrical look when viewed from astern. On the Blenheim, the dingy had been stowed in a valise inside the fuselage, requiring the crew to wrestle it out, in the event of ditching. Most other changes were found inside the airplane, such as the instrumentation, although one Bolly was converted to a float plane. Numerous Bolingbrokes survive in museums around the world. Many were sold to farmers after the war. Shorn of their wings, they found new purpose as storage sheds or chicken coops. Many would later find their way into salvage yards, where they remained for many years until local civics groups and enthusiasts "rediscovered" them. Some basic history of the airplane can be found here, and some nice prototype photos can be found in this discussion thread here. The Airfix 1/72 Bristol Blenheim IVF will serve as the basis for my build. Keeping it short and sweet, this kit comes in the usual packaging from Airfix. The plastic is the typical blue-grey fare from Airfix. As this is the Mk IVF variant of the Blenheim, there is an extra sprue with parts specific to that variant, in addition to the basic components for building a Mk IV bomber variant. Pretty much bog-standard instructions and Cartograph decals are included in the kit. As for extras, I've picked up a few odds and ends to help me with this build. The Xtradecal set features lettering for Bolly 10103, in brilliant trainer yellow. I plan to build this version! I've also picked up the Eduard PE Blenheim interior set, as well as the Yahu models instrument panel. While it may seem odd that I've duplicated some things here, the Bolingbroke had duplicate instruments across the entire front of the cockpit. The extra parts should come in useful to model this feature. Finally, a necessary masking set, as this airplane features a ton of glazing, and I don't fancy masking that all by hand. I've begun work on the external modifications, and I will be posting a build update soon. Andy

Most likely due to whatever business arrangement the owner has with his supplier. Some small hobby shops aren’t extended credit from suppliers (the owner has to buy his stock from suppliers before they will ship it to him), this would make the retailer the “end user” as far as the supplier is concerned, so any follow-up is the responsibility of the retailer. Andy

From what I saw online, and in person, all sales of the affected products was to stop after December 31, and any unsold inventory to be turned in for disposal. There were no bargains to be had, however, prices remained at regular retail rates. Andy

So I think the time has come to call this build finished. Hooray! I've added a little light weathering with my usual PanPastel treatment. I've also dry brushed a little silver paint in the odd place to add a little more wear and tear. I'm no expert when it comes to weathering, but a little here and there helps, I think. Thanks to everyone who has been following along and to those who have offered their kind comments and likes, your support is greatly appreciated! Andy