phantom II
Master at Arms
Hi OD. Ditto on the wood finish !
Cheers, Christian B)
Cheers, Christian B)
-
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Wellington MK III
- Thread starter Old Dog
- Start date
Looks like wood!!
Great work!
Old Dog
Well-known member
Whoa, been six weeks since I last posted an update, bench time has been scarce lately and what time I have had was spent questioning my sanity for trying to replicate the innards of this beast. By my calculations I probably would have been done by now if I had passed on the interior. Ohh well, on with the show.
First up I needed replicate the blotchy coloring of the inside of the fabric covering, after some experimentation I decided to go with oils as I had better luck controlling the effect. Once I had the areas between the framework filled in I used a Prisma Color fine tipped paint marker and highlighted the framework. This worked OK on the center areas but the relief was too shallow above and below to make it practical so I decided to leave it alone. The framework as depicted on the model is way to shallow as it appears to be nearly three inches deep on the real thing. Anyway, with that much done it looked like this...
All in all a bit too stark so I over sprayed it with a thin wash of light gray to tone it down...
Still not great but considering it's not visible from the outside, I'll live with it. With that done pieces part begin to go in. Not much to show on the starboard side...
All the goodies go on the port side...
One of the things I like about this hobby is learn about things, when I think of waist guns the picture that comes to mind is a gun on a mount with handles on it and a guy standing behind it, however, not the case on the Wellington. The gun mounts to a sliding carriage. The operator uses a pair of handles resembling bicycle handlebars. Sliding the handles left and right moves the gun left and right and moving the handles up and down does the same for the gun. Looks clumsy to me but the view out the waist window was poor at best and this set up allowed the gunner to get closer to the window as well as keeping the two gunners out of each others way. Trumpeter did a pretty good job of duplicating this setup.
The turrets need to inserted prior to gluing the fuselage halves together, not the best in my opinion but we'll see what happens. The front turret is very nicely detailed, other than adding some hydraulic lines it's pretty well complete. I deviated from the instructions and went with interior green rather than black as I wanted to highlight the details more. I have a war time color photo of a BIII with the front turret in green so they apparently weren't all black inside. I added a few more lightening holes to the assembly but the rest is stock...
In case you are wondering I cut all the gun barrels off and drilled then to accept resin barrels which I will install near the end of assembly as I knew they wouldn't survive otherwise. The rear turret was rather sparsely appointed compared to the front so it got a black interior and I did not take any photos of prior to installing the glazings. It also was one of the few assemblies to date that I had any fit issues with, it turn out to be a real pain in the axe !
With the turrets in place, one last look before the fuselage gets buttoned up.
I have been test fitting as I go but so far everything is playing nice together. Next time we'll see how it went.
First up I needed replicate the blotchy coloring of the inside of the fabric covering, after some experimentation I decided to go with oils as I had better luck controlling the effect. Once I had the areas between the framework filled in I used a Prisma Color fine tipped paint marker and highlighted the framework. This worked OK on the center areas but the relief was too shallow above and below to make it practical so I decided to leave it alone. The framework as depicted on the model is way to shallow as it appears to be nearly three inches deep on the real thing. Anyway, with that much done it looked like this...
All in all a bit too stark so I over sprayed it with a thin wash of light gray to tone it down...
Still not great but considering it's not visible from the outside, I'll live with it. With that done pieces part begin to go in. Not much to show on the starboard side...
All the goodies go on the port side...
One of the things I like about this hobby is learn about things, when I think of waist guns the picture that comes to mind is a gun on a mount with handles on it and a guy standing behind it, however, not the case on the Wellington. The gun mounts to a sliding carriage. The operator uses a pair of handles resembling bicycle handlebars. Sliding the handles left and right moves the gun left and right and moving the handles up and down does the same for the gun. Looks clumsy to me but the view out the waist window was poor at best and this set up allowed the gunner to get closer to the window as well as keeping the two gunners out of each others way. Trumpeter did a pretty good job of duplicating this setup.
The turrets need to inserted prior to gluing the fuselage halves together, not the best in my opinion but we'll see what happens. The front turret is very nicely detailed, other than adding some hydraulic lines it's pretty well complete. I deviated from the instructions and went with interior green rather than black as I wanted to highlight the details more. I have a war time color photo of a BIII with the front turret in green so they apparently weren't all black inside. I added a few more lightening holes to the assembly but the rest is stock...
In case you are wondering I cut all the gun barrels off and drilled then to accept resin barrels which I will install near the end of assembly as I knew they wouldn't survive otherwise. The rear turret was rather sparsely appointed compared to the front so it got a black interior and I did not take any photos of prior to installing the glazings. It also was one of the few assemblies to date that I had any fit issues with, it turn out to be a real pain in the axe !
With the turrets in place, one last look before the fuselage gets buttoned up.
I have been test fitting as I go but so far everything is playing nice together. Next time we'll see how it went.
The innards turned out really well, great idea about toning down the interior, I think it worked out well. 
:
:
Nice detailing there. One hint, if you ever worry about people seeing the metal framework on the inside, get some of MicroScale's (I think SuperScale also makes them) metallic strips decals. Or you could just buy the metal shade decal and cut strips.
Here is MicroScale's 1/16th inch silver decal stripes for only $2.20USD:
Click image to go shopping
Also available in 1/32nd inch, 1/64th inch, or larger up to 1/4 inch wide. I used the 1/64th inch red stripes on a Monogram P-61 and was impressed at how much nicer it was than the kit decals.
Regards,
Here is MicroScale's 1/16th inch silver decal stripes for only $2.20USD:
Click image to go shopping
Also available in 1/32nd inch, 1/64th inch, or larger up to 1/4 inch wide. I used the 1/64th inch red stripes on a Monogram P-61 and was impressed at how much nicer it was than the kit decals.
Regards,
phantom II
Master at Arms
Looks very nice OD. Much detail indeed !
Cheers, Christian B)
Cheers, Christian B)
Got till December. Who's got the over/under on Gary making it?
Old Dog
Well-known member
If that's a friendly prod, it's not necessary, I have made progress since the last post just haven't taken any photos to post, I expect to finish with time to spare :woohoo: Rob, the kit contains 639 parts but I think about 250 of those are bombs and I'm going with a closed bomb bay.
Old Dog
Well-known member
OK, well I've had this on ignore for long enough, time to get cracking again. Actually shortly after my last installment post I glued the fuselage together. Considering all the crap that was inside it went rather well. The only trouble maker turned out to be the tail gear bay that I had apparently not glued in quite straight but it eventually gave up and popped in place. Fit was pretty good except on the bottom front near the bomb aimers position which wanted to buckle inwards. After everything was dry I was able to put a piece of styrene strip that pushed it back out flat like it was supposed to be and once painted black, it disappeared. I ended up with a step under the molded on antenna on the bottom and decided to just cut it off and do my own when the time comes. The canopy and the bomb aimers glazings both had issues but I eventually worked them out as well. Everything is masked up. Next will come the wings and tail feathers.
Woooo....nice! Anytime you have such a long seam it can be tricky. Good job Gary
Old Dog
Well-known member
Wings and tail feathers on, WOO HOO, it's beginning to look like an airplane !
Wing and tail fit was excellent will need only a couple small spots of filler. I did need to modify the wing mounting pieces to achieve it. Not bad for such large wings !
A bit of body work to do and masking then a coat of primer. Hope to be laying down color over the weekend !
Wing and tail fit was excellent will need only a couple small spots of filler. I did need to modify the wing mounting pieces to achieve it. Not bad for such large wings !
A bit of body work to do and masking then a coat of primer. Hope to be laying down color over the weekend !
phantom II
Master at Arms
Looking good OD. I bet it fill's up your work table > I know my 1/72 scale version amazes me every time I get a glimpse of it.
Cheers, christian B)
Cheers, christian B)