realworkingsailor

Thanks for the likes and kind comments!
 
As predicted, adding the spackling compound took a good portion of the weekend. First step was to add another layer to the raised "runway" area:
 

 
I did get a little bit of cracking, I suspect this was partly due to the underlying layer absorbing some of the moisture from the top layer, causing it to cure too quickly. Not a big deal as I just went over with a small amount to fill in any blemishes afterwards. I then put on a skim coat over the entire board. This was a very thin layer that will provide a nice base to which paint and scenery can adhere. Unfortunately, the only photo I have of this step turned out blurry and dark. Too much of a rush with the camera (the dog wanted to go walkies... right now!).
 
Anyway, once that was dry I needed to take care of the "muddy" areas.
 
I first applied a dollop of spackling compound into the recessed areas and smoothed it out with my putty knife. I wanted to create some wheel ruts and signs of travel. To do this I first covered the area with a layer of cling film (Saran Wrap). I then took a couple of "spare tires" from the Airfix kit that I hadn't yet glued to their respective vehicles (planning ahead here!), and stuck them on the end of a bamboo skewer with a bit of blue tack. Using the matching vehicle to gauge track width, I rolled the wheel through the wet blob of spackling compound. The cling film kept the compound from adhering to the wheels. By applying a bit of pressure as I rolled the wheels along, I could accurately reproduce the effects of a wheel, or a few wheels passing through mud:
 

 
After leaving my impressions, I carefully lifted off the Saran Wrap to allow the spackling to dry.
 

 
Resulting in a couple of rather stark looking mud holes!
 
As things stand now, I have a nice white base ready for an undercoat of paint:
 

 
I was able to get things fairly smooth with the putting knife as I applied the spackling, there were only a couple of spots where I needed to go over with a little bit of sand paper. I'm not fussed about having it completely flat. Even the most "level" ground has subtle undulations and bumps. Most of the ones noticeable on my board will disappear under the scenery anyway.
 
Time to get an order in for some scenery supplies!
 
Andy
 

Thanks for the likes and kind comments!
 
As predicted, adding the spackling compound took a good portion of the weekend. First step was to add another layer to the raised "runway" area:
 

 
I did get a little bit of cracking, I suspect this was partly due to the underlying layer absorbing some of the moisture from the top layer, causing it to cure too quickly. Not a big deal as I just went over with a small amount to fill in any blemishes afterwards. I then put on a skim coat over the entire board. This was a very thin layer that will provide a nice base to which paint and scenery can adhere. Unfortunately, the only photo I have of this step turned out blurry and dark. Too much of a rush with the camera (the dog wanted to go walkies... right now!).
 
Anyway, once that was dry I needed to take care of the "muddy" areas.
 
I first applied a dollop of spackling compound into the recessed areas and smoothed it out with my putty knife. I wanted to create some wheel ruts and signs of travel. To do this I first covered the area with a layer of cling film (Saran Wrap). I then took a couple of "spare tires" from the Airfix kit that I hadn't yet glued to their respective vehicles (planning ahead here!), and stuck them on the end of a bamboo skewer with a bit of blue tack. Using the matching vehicle to gauge track width, I rolled the wheel through the wet blob of spackling compound. The cling film kept the compound from adhering to the wheels. By applying a bit of pressure as I rolled the wheels along, I could accurately reproduce the effects of a wheel, or a few wheels passing through mud:
 

 
After leaving my impressions, I carefully lifted off the Saran Wrap to allow the spackling to dry.
 

 
Resulting in a couple of rather stark looking mud holes!
 
As things stand now, I have a nice white base ready for an undercoat of paint:
 

 
I was able to get things fairly smooth with the putting knife as I applied the spackling, there were only a couple of spots where I needed to go over with a little bit of sand paper. I'm not fussed about having it completely flat. Even the most "level" ground has subtle undulations and bumps. Most of the ones noticeable on my board will disappear under the scenery anyway.
 
Time to get an order in for some scenery supplies!
 
Andy
 

Thanks for the likes and kind comments!
 
As predicted, adding the spackling compound took a good portion of the weekend. First step was to add another layer to the raised "runway" area:
 

 
I did get a little bit of cracking, I suspect this was partly due to the underlying layer absorbing some of the moisture from the top layer, causing it to cure too quickly. Not a big deal as I just went over with a small amount to fill in any blemishes afterwards. I then put on a skim coat over the entire board. This was a very thin layer that will provide a nice base to which paint and scenery can adhere. Unfortunately, the only photo I have of this step turned out blurry and dark. Too much of a rush with the camera (the dog wanted to go walkies... right now!).
 
Anyway, once that was dry I needed to take care of the "muddy" areas.
 
I first applied a dollop of spackling compound into the recessed areas and smoothed it out with my putty knife. I wanted to create some wheel ruts and signs of travel. To do this I first covered the area with a layer of cling film (Saran Wrap). I then took a couple of "spare tires" from the Airfix kit that I hadn't yet glued to their respective vehicles (planning ahead here!), and stuck them on the end of a bamboo skewer with a bit of blue tack. Using the matching vehicle to gauge track width, I rolled the wheel through the wet blob of spackling compound. The cling film kept the compound from adhering to the wheels. By applying a bit of pressure as I rolled the wheels along, I could accurately reproduce the effects of a wheel, or a few wheels passing through mud:
 

 
After leaving my impressions, I carefully lifted off the Saran Wrap to allow the spackling to dry.
 

 
Resulting in a couple of rather stark looking mud holes!
 
As things stand now, I have a nice white base ready for an undercoat of paint:
 

 
I was able to get things fairly smooth with the putting knife as I applied the spackling, there were only a couple of spots where I needed to go over with a little bit of sand paper. I'm not fussed about having it completely flat. Even the most "level" ground has subtle undulations and bumps. Most of the ones noticeable on my board will disappear under the scenery anyway.
 
Time to get an order in for some scenery supplies!
 
Andy
 

Thanks for the likes and kind comments!
 
As predicted, adding the spackling compound took a good portion of the weekend. First step was to add another layer to the raised "runway" area:
 

 
I did get a little bit of cracking, I suspect this was partly due to the underlying layer absorbing some of the moisture from the top layer, causing it to cure too quickly. Not a big deal as I just went over with a small amount to fill in any blemishes afterwards. I then put on a skim coat over the entire board. This was a very thin layer that will provide a nice base to which paint and scenery can adhere. Unfortunately, the only photo I have of this step turned out blurry and dark. Too much of a rush with the camera (the dog wanted to go walkies... right now!).
 
Anyway, once that was dry I needed to take care of the "muddy" areas.
 
I first applied a dollop of spackling compound into the recessed areas and smoothed it out with my putty knife. I wanted to create some wheel ruts and signs of travel. To do this I first covered the area with a layer of cling film (Saran Wrap). I then took a couple of "spare tires" from the Airfix kit that I hadn't yet glued to their respective vehicles (planning ahead here!), and stuck them on the end of a bamboo skewer with a bit of blue tack. Using the matching vehicle to gauge track width, I rolled the wheel through the wet blob of spackling compound. The cling film kept the compound from adhering to the wheels. By applying a bit of pressure as I rolled the wheels along, I could accurately reproduce the effects of a wheel, or a few wheels passing through mud:
 

 
After leaving my impressions, I carefully lifted off the Saran Wrap to allow the spackling to dry.
 

 
Resulting in a couple of rather stark looking mud holes!
 
As things stand now, I have a nice white base ready for an undercoat of paint:
 

 
I was able to get things fairly smooth with the putting knife as I applied the spackling, there were only a couple of spots where I needed to go over with a little bit of sand paper. I'm not fussed about having it completely flat. Even the most "level" ground has subtle undulations and bumps. Most of the ones noticeable on my board will disappear under the scenery anyway.
 
Time to get an order in for some scenery supplies!
 
Andy
 

Lag still exists. 
 
I'll look at this sometime this next week. As emails are still getting through, and some major email settings have been changed in WHM server panel, I'll add this to my list of jobs.

James asked me reply, to test the lag.

I’ve been working on world war 1 airplanes at the same time I was working on the Sharpie.  I tried build logs on one of the WW1 airplane sites, but wasn’t very good at keeping up with them there.  I’ve been watching the great work on plastic non-ships here and thought maybe if I put my logs on one site I’d be better about maintaining them.  I particularly like the Wingnuts kits.  I had purchased around 15 while they were in or phasing out of business, then inherited many more when my dad, who collected but didn’t build them, passed away two years ago.

I started the AMC DH9 on New Years.  I have a few aftermarket things.  I’m going to build the lobster scheme:
Wingnut Wings - 1/32 AMC DH.9
 
There is a little history here.  I tried building this scheme a long time ago when WNW was still in business.  I had just gotten a stencil cutter and thought I would make stencils and paint instead of using the decals.  It turned into a little bit of a disaster with a lot of paint bleeding under the masks.  I ended up tossing the incomplete kit not realizing wingnuts would go out of business.  I got another DH9 from my dad’s collection so am giving it another try, this time with the decals.
 
I find on the WNW kits that getting going with the simulated wood and leather on the interior takes a while before anything starts coming together.  I've been putting some time in for the past month between work on the display case for the Sharpie and just reached the point where I thought there was anything worth taking pictures of.


I started putting together the photoetch instrument panel, but decided it wasn’t as nice as the one that came with the kit.
 

I think this is server side. Looking into it now.

We have had a recent core software update (a couple of days ago). Just checked notification settings and I didn't see anything unusual, except the auto-notification to a member who starts a topic. That was unchecked. I've now corrected that.
 

 
We've also had an update to the site's mySQL/MariaDB. As this site is driven by database queries, it could be that, but I would've thought it very unlikely.

I've had the same issue recently.

I’ve noticed over the last few days that my notifications are lagging. Alerts for responses to threads I follow don’t show up immediately after a new post has been added (as had been the norm).
 

 
For example I am set to follow King Derelict’s Loarre Castle build and a post was made 26 minutes ago.
 

 
As you can see here, no notification alert is indicated, yet (?). The last notification being issued an hour ago.
 
Anyone else having this problem? Any thing I can do on my end to fix it?
 
Andy
 
Edit at 9:17 the notification arrived saying the post was added “6 minutes ago”, which still means a considerable time lag.

Post One Hundred and Thirty-five
 
Inboard fittings (Part four)
The kit provides two sizes of shot 2mm and 2.5mm ø in shiny black acrylic.
The 2.5mm relates to the 24pounder longs and 42pounder carronades.
The 2mm relates to the 12pounder longs.
 
I didn’t really like the look of the acrylic balls, too black and shiny for my taste.
I replaced them with blackened carbon steel balls of the same diameter.
These were given an acid bath, followed by immersion in Aluminium blackening fluid (I didn’t have any for steel) but it seemed to work.
3400
The more muted colour of the blackened balls tones better with my build.

3415
The simplicity of these assemblies belies the time taken to complete and fit them.
 
The Binnacle
The design follows that as may be seen on Victory or Trincomalee.
Laser cut from Pear; this little assembly is a delight. The mortises and tenons of the parts slot together beautifully.
The unit is complete with brass compass rose and a brass chimney for the lamp or candle.
 
Even so, I couldn’t resist making a couple of tweaks to the design.

3450

3451

3454
Glazing was added using a strip of thin acetate sheet, and the central section on the aft facing side was blanked out.
 
Steering wheel.
I liked the wheel provided on Sphinx and this one is of the same ilk only larger and double.

3429
A fully detailed brass etched wonder that gave me little incentive to consider a wooden replacement.
 
The kit colour scheme of Red painted wheels with white spokes appears regularly on contemporary models.
Deviations include All red, Black with white spokes, and all white schemes.
The latter my be a reflection that Ivory was popular for the creation of ships wheels during the 18th century.
 
I have decided to go with the ‘Red’ scheme with spokes ivory coloured.

3457
The brass etched wheels were assembled and primed with VMS  Metal Prep 4K before painting.

3440

3441
Still pondering whether to add the tiller lines.
 
In practice the centre of the tiller line was nailed to the centre of the barrel with 7 to 9 turns.
Forward end to Starboard and aft end to Port.
By reference to Steel the tiller line for a 64 is of 4” circ which scales close enough to 0.5mm ø line.

3442

3462

3461
Ladderways up next.
 
B.E.
28/01/2024

Thanks for the comments and likes, everyone! 😀
 
@yvesvidal Almost every dio I've seen online has either a B-17 or a Lanc (or a bunch of Spits), Wellington dios are about as rare as hen's teeth!
 
Work has begun on the scenery base. I first plotted out where I wanted my terrain features to go with a sharpie on the foam board. I did this with the models in place to ensure the features would fit alongside them:
 

 
Apologies for the soft focus on this first picture. In order to differentiate certain aspects, I decided to create a slightly raised "runway" area in the bottom left. Any pictures I've seen of Wellington bases all seemed to have grass runways, so by adding some subtle elevation it would help to differentiate this from the rest of the base. I also wanted to include the effects of less than ideal weather by having a good sized mud puddle. All these other dios seem to depict operations as they would have appeared on a sunny early summer morning. I want to show the effects of a recent run of wet weather. I will also mix in some areas of static grass to detect some less travelled areas, where the grass hasn't been compacted by the comings and goings of heavy airplanes and other vehicles.
 

 
To add some depth to the terrain, I "excavated" the muddy areas with a rasp. A nice feature of working with foam is the ability to create below grade features. A good tip is to excavate these features a little deeper than you anticipate needing!
 

 
My personal preference for a  base material is DAP DryDex spackling compound. It comes ready to use and spreads reasonably well with a putty knife. It handles Woodland Scenics scenery paint just  as well as any other type of plaster, and any other products typically used for scenery, and it is less messy to apply and has a decent working time and once dry, it sands well. I should mention too, it's about half the price of WS hydrocal plaster!
 

 
The first area I applied the DryDex is the "raised" area. This will take a couple of thin layers as thick coats will be prone to cracking! As you can see the compound goes on pink, but it will turn white as it dries (you can see this transition just starting along the upper edge). The sub scenery should take me most of the weekend, a lot of time will be spent waiting for the DAP to dry.
 
Not much of an update, seems like an awful lot of words to say "Hey look, I made a pink triangle!" 🤪
 
Andy

Not much to report today.
I experimented with options for the path to the tower. A mix of matte mod podge and the stone block dust looks very promising. I’m waiting for a test piece to dry.
 
i selected some mounted figures and gave them a shot of Mr Metal Primer. Once that’s dry I will airbrush them with a light coat of Vallejo grey acrylic primer. I find that makes the details easier to see 
 
I just ordered the cut sheets of plexiglass for the display case from TAP plastics. They estimate that will weigh about 13 lbs. The $37 shipping from California bites a bit. I’m working with 3/16 inch sheets. I find 1/8 inch is too flexible at this size.
 
I can’t believe this is entering the final stages 
 
Thanks for looking in and all the likes and comments 
 
Alan 

To finish up chapter 4 and the forward platforms,  the breasthooks were made.  There are two of them.   These are laser cut for you in two halves.  Its just easier to work with them this way.  I usually shape one half and lightly tack it in position.  Then I shape the other half and fit it in next to it.   At this point they can both be removed and joined together.  Do a quick sanding to refine everything and add the bolts.  The bolts are 30 lb. black line.  
 
The lower breast hook has etched bevel lines because the side that fits against the frames needs to be beveled.  Its just a start because everyone's model will be slightly different.
 

Lastly..to finish off this chapter I made the riding bitts.  Like the fire hearth, this wont be glued in position yet.  But its good to have at the ready.   We will need it before framing out the rest of the forecastle deck later.  So the cross beam is laser cut for you.  Just clean it up and shape to suit.  I just used some needle files, etc.   The uprights are basically made from 5/16" x 5/16" strips.   Measure against the plans and shape the tops to suit.  Use the plans as a guide.  Nothing earth shattering with these.  
 

 
 
I will paint the riding bitts red above the gun deck.  I used the plans to determine where that break would be.   Here is what it looks like after being painted and test fit.  Note the string...this is good to get in place now too.  Its glued lightly to the center of the stem and then taped to the top of the stern post.  It will help guide you when setting fittings along the center line.  It helps a lot!!!
 

The fire hearth and riding bitts have been set aside for safe keeping.
 
Next up chapter 5 which will take care of the aft lower platforms and a few other odds and ends.
 

The figure is off scale for the model but looks really good just with the fire hearth.   So I made a mini diorama of sorts to display on my desk.  I used the old second hand aged stove, LOL.  Its one of Chris' figures as you would recognize.
 

Nice! Glad you can find them! 
 
Yeah, the Canadians had a very rough go in Normandy. While the Americans and British garner the lion’s share of attention from most historians, the Canadians have been largely forgotten.
 
And, yeah, the fighting was brutal. The Canadians suffered a higher casualty rate than either the British or the Americans (while the Americans did suffer a higher absolute number of casualties, in terms of casualties as a percentage of the attacking force, the Canadians had it much worse).
 
The text in the books is well supported by fairly detailed maps. I have the paperback editions and I had to keep a separate bookmark for the maps section as I kept flipping back and forth to follow along with the narrative.

Andy 

Not sure if you’ve ever delved into a regimental war diary before, but they contain a lot of information. My great-uncle was in the 2nd Medium Regiment, RCA. I went through their war diary last fall (over 8000 pages of records). An incredible amount of raw data, but I found it very much lacking in context. 

To paraphrase a sample entry: “Morning, guns deployed at position XYZ, zero lines established. Early afternoon, fired X rounds HE at target ###. Late afternoon X battery shelled by enemy, one OR sustained minor injuries” 
 
All great information…but what exactly just happened?? In my case I’ve been reading a series of books about the Canadian actions in the Italian campaign (where my great-uncle was deployed), finally I’ve been able to establish the “why” and the “what”, the context that was sorely lacking.
 
If you’re interested, and if you can get them, there’s a series of books by Mark Zuehlke that details the Canadian army campaign(s) in Europe. Three of them (Juno Beach, Holding Juno, Breakout From Juno), would cover the period you’re looking at. They’re quite detailed, but a reasonably easy to follow narrative (and, critically, no editorializing, save maybe a reflexive epilogue).
 
Andy

Thanks for the comments and likes, everyone! 😀
 
@yvesvidal Almost every dio I've seen online has either a B-17 or a Lanc (or a bunch of Spits), Wellington dios are about as rare as hen's teeth!
 
Work has begun on the scenery base. I first plotted out where I wanted my terrain features to go with a sharpie on the foam board. I did this with the models in place to ensure the features would fit alongside them:
 

 
Apologies for the soft focus on this first picture. In order to differentiate certain aspects, I decided to create a slightly raised "runway" area in the bottom left. Any pictures I've seen of Wellington bases all seemed to have grass runways, so by adding some subtle elevation it would help to differentiate this from the rest of the base. I also wanted to include the effects of less than ideal weather by having a good sized mud puddle. All these other dios seem to depict operations as they would have appeared on a sunny early summer morning. I want to show the effects of a recent run of wet weather. I will also mix in some areas of static grass to detect some less travelled areas, where the grass hasn't been compacted by the comings and goings of heavy airplanes and other vehicles.
 

 
To add some depth to the terrain, I "excavated" the muddy areas with a rasp. A nice feature of working with foam is the ability to create below grade features. A good tip is to excavate these features a little deeper than you anticipate needing!
 

 
My personal preference for a  base material is DAP DryDex spackling compound. It comes ready to use and spreads reasonably well with a putty knife. It handles Woodland Scenics scenery paint just  as well as any other type of plaster, and any other products typically used for scenery, and it is less messy to apply and has a decent working time and once dry, it sands well. I should mention too, it's about half the price of WS hydrocal plaster!
 

 
The first area I applied the DryDex is the "raised" area. This will take a couple of thin layers as thick coats will be prone to cracking! As you can see the compound goes on pink, but it will turn white as it dries (you can see this transition just starting along the upper edge). The sub scenery should take me most of the weekend, a lot of time will be spent waiting for the DAP to dry.
 
Not much of an update, seems like an awful lot of words to say "Hey look, I made a pink triangle!" 🤪
 
Andy

good evening everyone
standing rigging day 334-46 (lol about 6 weeks lost to puppy training and OCCRE Loco) 
 
well the build went back onto the table a few days ago, it was nice to see her back, 
even after a short break, it took a while to find out where i left off, but basically im still on standing rigging,
here a a few catch up photos

Hi all,
at the end of the last instalment, I said that I was ready to spray the gloss coat on the airframe. Well, actually I changed my mind and chose to color the remaining bits that need to be finished with a different color.
 
The resin panels on the lower part of the fuselage:


The resin panel on the spine and the black edge of the air intakes:


I also removed the masking material from the air intakes. Switching to the underwing loads, I sourced the Sparrow (Aires) and the Sidewinder (Eduard) resin missiles. 

Unusually, the Sparrows came split in two halves, so I added a central pin to reinforce the junction. Both types are immensely better than the crude reproductions that came with my previous F-15 model. In addition, I started scratch building the underwing pylons and the launch rails from styrene plates and stocks. I will just add some rivet lines to make them more interesting.

Now, I am really ready for the gloss coat.
Best regards,
Dan

I read Jablonski's books on the air war in Europe for the US. Eye-watering losses. That led me to read the RAF side. Again, heart rending losses. Then I went to Viet Nam and ended up escorting B-52s at night. Quite the air battles. I've read some decent appraisals of that battle, tying in the sorties from both sides. A pretty balanced read. I forget the title, but the author, Marshall Michel, is a fellow fighter pilot and an acquaintance of mine.
 
I second EG's recommendation of reading the US CoS's recommended reading list. The current CoS is USAF and a bit of a cyber fan. He includes podcasts to the usual book list.

Thanks for the comments and likes, everyone! 😀
 
@yvesvidal Almost every dio I've seen online has either a B-17 or a Lanc (or a bunch of Spits), Wellington dios are about as rare as hen's teeth!
 
Work has begun on the scenery base. I first plotted out where I wanted my terrain features to go with a sharpie on the foam board. I did this with the models in place to ensure the features would fit alongside them:
 

 
Apologies for the soft focus on this first picture. In order to differentiate certain aspects, I decided to create a slightly raised "runway" area in the bottom left. Any pictures I've seen of Wellington bases all seemed to have grass runways, so by adding some subtle elevation it would help to differentiate this from the rest of the base. I also wanted to include the effects of less than ideal weather by having a good sized mud puddle. All these other dios seem to depict operations as they would have appeared on a sunny early summer morning. I want to show the effects of a recent run of wet weather. I will also mix in some areas of static grass to detect some less travelled areas, where the grass hasn't been compacted by the comings and goings of heavy airplanes and other vehicles.
 

 
To add some depth to the terrain, I "excavated" the muddy areas with a rasp. A nice feature of working with foam is the ability to create below grade features. A good tip is to excavate these features a little deeper than you anticipate needing!
 

 
My personal preference for a  base material is DAP DryDex spackling compound. It comes ready to use and spreads reasonably well with a putty knife. It handles Woodland Scenics scenery paint just  as well as any other type of plaster, and any other products typically used for scenery, and it is less messy to apply and has a decent working time and once dry, it sands well. I should mention too, it's about half the price of WS hydrocal plaster!
 

 
The first area I applied the DryDex is the "raised" area. This will take a couple of thin layers as thick coats will be prone to cracking! As you can see the compound goes on pink, but it will turn white as it dries (you can see this transition just starting along the upper edge). The sub scenery should take me most of the weekend, a lot of time will be spent waiting for the DAP to dry.
 
Not much of an update, seems like an awful lot of words to say "Hey look, I made a pink triangle!" 🤪
 
Andy

One thing is for certain, when you have momentum, things can happen quickly! I stopped by my local hardware store this morning and picked up a piece of foam insulation board. It's not pink, or white, or green, but a neutral grey colour.... anyway, it's the good high density foam board perfect for my needs. It's a 2" thick board so it is more than rigid enough for my purposes.
 
Of course, I couldn't wait to cut off a chunk of that 2' x 8' board and try out some ideas on how I want to see everything arranged.
 

 
I started off with a piece 18" x 24", which worked out to be about the same size as my cutting mat. I am a big fan of empty space in a scene. I think a subject needs space to breathe in its surroundings, and the more things that are "happening" in a scene, the more space it should have. Rest assured the "empty" space won't be entirely empty, nor will the ground be a generic green carpet of "grass". I will endeavour to make the landscape look suitably trodden and driven over, maybe even a mud puddle or two (England is stereotypically known for being a damp country, accurate or not).
 

 
To bring the viewers attention to the exposed engine, I figured this "maintenance" scene would be enough to draw people in. 
 

 
While on the other wing, refuelling is underway. 
 

 
Out in front a bomb train with the night's payload is getting into position while some other airfield traffic is passing by on the verge of the grass runway/taxiway. Realistically, if you follow the film I previously posted, the incendiary bombs would travel, and be loaded separately from the conventional bombs, but I've only enough parts for one bomb train. The figures will loose their bases when it comes time to place them about the finished scene, so they will shrink by about a scale foot.
 
Time to make a shopping list for the scenery items!
 
Andy

So I've been kicking around this diorama idea since I started working on my Vickers Wellington bomber. Although I haven't yet begun construction of the diorama, I've been busy messing around building the little detail bits that will add to my fictional scene.
 
Airfix provides a couple of useful kits for this purpose. The largest being their WW2 RAF Bomber Resupply kit, which I picked up back in November last year. This kit includes a variety of appropriate vehicles and other paraphernalia that would have been right found on many airfields. I have been slowly picking away at building these elements over the last little while. I don't have any in-progress shots as I found this kit a bit of an annoying one to build. I can't quite put my finger on why I feel that way about this particular kit, but there it is. It's not like it was particularly challenging to build, it is somewhat repetitive (hand painting the tyres on 32 different wheels), maybe that's why it begin to feel like more of a grind.... but I am happy with the results.
 
Over a year ago, I also bought a set of RAF figures, also from Airfix). I will be using these to populate my scene as well as a couple of the vehicles. They are marked as being 1/76 scale, but they don't seem to be out of proportion for the 1/72 vehicles.
 

 
I had some fun before Christmas painting this gang of miscreants. Not sure how many I'm actually going to use, but I feel I have a nice selection to choose from. For whatever reason, they were moulded in a soft acetyl plastic. It was a bit of a pain to remove the flash, and although the paint seems to have adhered, it won't stand up to too much abuse.
 
The first vehicle in the bomber resupply set is a Bedford MW:
 

 
The kit comes with provisions to build the Bedford as either the MWD cargo version or the MWC water carrier (some people think it is a fuel truck, but it is not). I elected to build the cargo version, as the water truck was for refilling the radiators of liquid cooled engines (Merlins, or Napier-Sabers). Since my bomber has a nice set of air-cooled Bristol Pegasus radials, the water truck was pointless.
 
The next vehicle in the kit is a 12Hp Austin Utility (Tilly):
 

 
Another pretty straight forward vehicle. I performed some surgery on one of the Airfix figures, so I could show the Tilly being "driven". My Tilly doesn't exactly follow the Airfix prescribed paint scheme, but I think it still looks good.
 
Following the Tilly is a tractor/tug:
 
 
 
The kit tractor is a David Brown VIG1, but I made some non-prototypical modifications. I thought the front fenders on the VIG1 looked kinda hokey, so I cut them off to make my tractor look more tractor-ish with the open front wheels. The kit also supplies parts for a recovery winch and anchor spades, but I left those parts off as my tractor will only be hauling bomb trolleys. I suppose I could have hunted around for a 1/72 Fordson. But I'm going with my version. As the tractor was an open vehicle, a figure also had to be surgically modified to fit. He kind of looks like he's driving, although he's a bit casual looking, leaning back staring up at the sky.
 
Speaking of bomb trolleys, the kit provides 3:
 

 
There are two Type "C" trolleys. I built these as per the instructions. Nothing too fancy.
 
The remaining kit supplied trolley is a Type "D". This trolley was designed to carry the HC 4000lb and 8000lb bombs, both of which are too big (and too late) for my Wellington (the later Wellington Mk III and Mk X could carry the 4000lb "Cookie", but that required changes to the internal framing of the bomb bay). In most photos I've seen of Wellingtons being re-armed in the earlier part of the war, the bombs were hauled on a Type "B" trolley. This consisted of a suspended centre beam with the bomb cradles sticking out like ribs. To be able to show a more complete load out for my Wellington, I decided to try my luck at scratch building one of these types of trolleys:
 

 
I found a few useful photos on the internet to help get the basic structure. I did keep a couple of parts from the Type "D" trolley, the front and rear axles, the wheels and the draw bar, the rest was styrene strip and a little bit of brass wire.
 

 
There is a fair selection of other bombs included in the set I have yet to add the decals to these yet. The grey boxes are Small Bomb Containers, these contained the incendiary (thermite) bombs used by the RAF.
 
Getting back to the maintenance side of things, the last large "vehicle" is a 450 gallon Brockhouse bowser:
 

 
For reasons I can't fathom, Airfix supplied decals for this as a lube oil bowser (boring). I would have much rather seen this as a fuel bowser instead. These were typically marked with "100 Octane" in large white letters on each side (rather than "OIL" stencilled on one end). As I wanted a fuel bowser, I left the "OIL" stencil off, but snagged the roundels from the Bedford water carrier that I didn't need. 
 
The final item build is this rather spindly maintenance tower:
 

 
It will fit nicely beside the engine that I left open to view on my Wellington.
 
For the rest, there is an assortment of other items like oil drums, fuel canisters, tool boxes, chocks, that will be added later when things get going. I will revisit this log when I finally get underway with building my diorama. I need to purchase some scenery materials as well as a base. I am planning to build on a slab of 2" thick insulation foam. This is common in the model railroad community, as it provides a lightweight, stable substrate.
 
 
 
Andy