Old Collingwood

Thanks mate. OC.

Excellent info - just looked on Ebay for that Gator's Glue but no sign of it. OC.

The floor and sides had to have quite a lot sanded away to get the sides to meet, even still its a fairly tight join - not much wriggle room, I will have to join the bottom fist then wait till its fully set before pulling and glue-ing the top in, that way I will make the joins as tight as possible. OC.

Thanks craig, its very time consuming work. OC.

Another good day - kicked off by dry fitting the inner cockpit against both frontal parts to test fit, at first they would not meet so I did some investigating then light sanding - investigating - light sanding etc etc etc.........I eventually found the point where both side met with the inside cockpit inside. Next job was to start fitting all the pe side wall parts some were quite fiddly not just fitting but picking up with fine nose tweezers, it took a few hours to file off some plastic moldings not needed - and re fit with pe, I did this on both walls then starting on the one side a ran some black and green paint in thing layers to preserve the detail. I also made up the range finding device for the nose that is made up by transparency parts and some pe. So this is the stage so far - including a dry fit of the one side minus some more paint and dry brushing. OC.

Have a word with Craig I am sure he will have some tricks up his sleave. OC.

You could try a rattle can satin top coat after you have put the rest of the decals on and closed up the body, that might help, as I assume in action would they have had a slight sheen to the skin of the heli ? OC.

"Silvering" is always a problem with wet slide transfers I know everyone suggests putting them on a real shiny surface (gloss painted) then when fully set dulled with a flat or satin coat to choice after. Oh! and micro sol and micro set is supposed to really help if the surface has raised areas or rivet detail, to help the transfer settle down as it softens the decal. OC.

What a Great subject and set up - welcome to the club. OC.

Great work Kevin, those life boats looker super. OC.

Looking good denis, the weathering sure helps to change it from a plastic model into a realistic work horse. OC.

Another good day at the table, I firstly fitted the stearing column then the hand brake, next I worked on the instrument panel, this included pe front sections including the clocks, they had to be cut away then placed with watery ca onto a pe base plate, in all there was three sections, I left them to set then ran some nato black around the edges, there is also a back consul that covers the rudder pedals, this too was fitted then painted black After the assembly was set and dry I glued it into place on the front area. This completes the internal cockpit assembly - next off I will fit some pe parts to the inside walls of the cockpit area, then paint them accordingly. OC.

Indeed mark, my late mum used to work as an ATS working the land. OC.

Thank you for that, my late farther also did some light work on FAA Corsairs during the war, great plane over powered for their air frame, hence they needed to keep their power down - could have got a lot more horse power out of it. OC.

Thank you denis.🙂 OC.

Thanks mark, I will post the link when its Live. OC.

Another nice build on the cards Jack - loving what you do with them. OC.

Thanks mate, I have that stage to arrive soon (got the mask). OC.

Looks Super, very nice details. OC.

Welcome to the Clan, you have picked a nice build there Hasegawa have always made decent models. OC.

How do you remove the masks after painting - I assume a blade would be no good due to scratching the canopy parts. OC.

Also with the Mosquito society I am involved with - I was asked if I would do a write up about my late farthers involvement with Mosquitos and other aircraft during the Second world War. This is what I have come up with and submited for them to publish in there publication. OC. My Farther and his Aircraft Work This is a story about my farther and his involvement with military aircraft during his time-serving through the Second World War. He was Called J.J and his service life started by enrolling in the FAA (Fleet Air Arm) he was allocated his posting to HMS Daedalus (Lee - On - Solent) to do his basic training in Airframes and Engines, during his time here, he was shown most aspects of maintenance and stripping down of the aircraft that started with the Fairey Swordfish and went on to the Seafire and also the Corsair. Around this time the RAF was suffering with a shortage of front line workers, so this led to my farther being sent RAF West Mailing to undergo Deep maintenance training on Spitfires and Hurricanes, after a successful time here he then got his posting to Norfolk where he would spend the rest of his service life. RAF Downham Market and Marham are the two bases where he undertook maintenance on the RAF bomber fleet, he was thrown in at the deep end due to a serious shortage of staff, I remember my farther telling me he was delighted to get his hands on the larger aircraft. He was given some short training on the types in service there - Lancasters, Wellingtons, Short Stirlings and my fathers favorite the Mosquito. He told me a few stories at Downham one in particular involved a landing Lancaster that had been quite badly shot up during a raid over to Germany, the rear tail gunner had been hit - during the landing when the aircraft came to a halt on the runway, my farther ran over to the plane risked his own life as the plane was in flames as it had to land with no undercarriage, he ran to the rear of the plane and pulled the tail gunner out - getting burns him self in the process. With his time on the Mosquito he used to tell me of the repairs he used to do - one minute doing wood repairs to parts of the aircraft, then the next mechanical repairs to the Merlin engines, he found the Mosquito a lot easier going than the Lancaster due to the hight (lack off) with the Mosquito (suited him as he was not all that tall). He used to say to me that the Merlin engines were so powerful, that they were always needing to have there mounting bolts and screws checked to make sure they had not worked loose. Also how during taxi under power men would have to sit on the tail to keep it from lifting and spinning the tail due to the power from the engines. It was amazing to hear stories from my dad of faster and faster speeds being recorded in the Mosquito - out pacing the Spitfire no doubt not best pleased for the Spitfire pilots, I think he recalls one particular Mosquito nearing 450mph in a dive (how true that is im not sure). My farther was frequently servicing the RADS (Radiators) from the Mosquitos normally on the bench in the hangars as they tended to collect a lot of stuff from the speed they flew, this was time-consuming work but after doing one or two the rest were just like a production line. My farther would sometimes find him self posted over to RAF Marham about 4 miles away, this was only for short periods no doubt because of his skills and experience, again the same kind of work went on here I understand they had two operational Mosquito squadrons running up to D Day, he said "you have never seen so many black and white bands being painted on aircraft". He also mentioned the work done with the Bouncing Bomb - my farther told me about the trials done using a Mosquito to test the Bomb, as the trials were carried out in Scotland I am not sure if there was ever a visit to either Downham or Marham by that Bouncing Bomb conversion Mosquito. My farther ended his Aircraft work just after the war and ended in Europe, as he was shipped over to Australia by boat to undertake the role of stripping down "Lend Lease" aircraft that were used during the Pacific wars, these aircraft (Fighters) were dismantled down to a crate size for shipping back over to Britain. He spent a couple of years in Australia before returning back to Britain to be Demobbed. He loved the whole experience.

Not much to report just a bit of work on the front cockpit area, after cleaning up the edges I noticed that there was two gaps (reason unknown) in the entrance/escape way hatch, I decided to use two pieces of wood stock left over from my wood gratings, they were glued in place with ca, then when set I sanded/filed them flat with the surrounding hatchway frame. Then I applied several thin coats of green followed by painting the fittings/column assembly nato black. It is just dry fitted for now. OC.

Lou it isnt a problem as long as you enjoy it and have an idea what you want - Nothing else matters. OC.

Keys are - Good light - Good vision = glasses + magnifier, patience - tackling small stages at a time and believe it or not breathing control, I often find I cant speak as I kind of hold my breath while I am concentrating. I also some time do little diagrams of my stage of what I want to do and where parts should go. OC.