Globrey Blordiator Completed!

[ChernayaAkula]

Wow! That is some camo job!  Very imaginative for sure! 

[BlackOps]

SR, that paintscheme is brilliant! Too Cool! 

[Weaver]

Excellent - some cammo schemes are too subtle for their own good: let's have a return to literalism! 

[sequoiaranger]

The roundel-with-the-Maltese-Cross-in-the-middle looks as cool as I had thought. From all but up close it looks like the typical British roundel, yet has a little panache all its own. Only one of the Maltese cross decals (from an ANCIENT "Heraldry" set not found anymore) broke apart, and luckily it was on the bottom, and I can touch up the "broken" part. I put a small, red Maltese cross in the middle of the white "rudder ID stripe", too. I know that the Italians had a "House of Savoia" emblem similarly in the middle of their white cross on the tail, but I don't think it would have been confusing. It just looks cool to me (and of course that's really all that matters). I have some custom, hand-made decals to produce and apply (serial #s, Beurling's "Screwball", and motto), but the main markings are on.

I just feel a sense of exhilaration that the project is in its most FUN stage. To me, applying decals is the final phase of bringing the project ALIVE, and the rest of the fiddly-bits painting is just "frosting" on the "cake" (I wouldn't want to eat a cake that had NO frosting on it, though!).

I'm not going to post a picture at this time--there is really nothing worth seeing until the model is finished, hopefully by the end of this week for Friday's IPMS meeting. There is still the flat coat, six struts to place and paint once the top wing is affixed (four fuselage struts, and two aileron-connectors), top machine guns, prop, and detail painting. But I am so close I can SMELL it---oh, sorry, that's just the lacquer thinner!

To all who have commented, thanks for the encouragement.

[sequoiaranger]

>I have some custom, hand-made decals to produce and apply (serial #s, Beurling's "Screwball", and motto), but the main markings are on. I'm not going to post a picture at this time--there is really nothing worth seeing until the model is finished, hopefully by the end of this week for Friday's IPMS meeting.<

Nope. Won't be ready in time.

The custom decals I had made refused to stick, and curled up.    I had to make several more of each, as I ruined the first two sets trying to get them to work. I found, however, (and posted the findings on the recent "Tips, Tools, and Techniques" thread about making your own transfers), that a bit of window-gel medium and a **LOT** of patience and pressing-down (and pulling the uprooted transfer off one's fingers AGAIN and AGAIN) finally got the job done. All this took preparing and drying time and has set me back a few days.

HOWEVER!.....The Blordiator is looking really cool, IMHO, so it will be all worth it.

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

Inspired, simple as that.

Ian

[frank2056]

Craig - that camo scheme is just perfect! This is a really nice build.

[sequoiaranger]

Biplanes have rigging; this I know. That's one of the reasons I don't normally do biplanes. But I have "stretched" my skills and determination for this model by attempting/succeeding to put proper rigging on the present Blordiator. The Gladiator had more rigging than I am willing to make here, but the different and sturdier strut paradigm and general principles of whiffiness mean I can dispense with some of it. I have made four cross-wires for each wing, and a single "diamond" pattern for all around the tailplane (the Gladiator had two) so the "effect" is there without quite as much trouble.

I had planned for this eventuality by carefully drilling micro-holes in which to insert fly-fishing line for "rigging". I had in mind touching a tiny drop of Super-Glue to the hole, inserting the fishing line, then dabbing some accelerator on it. I have never done ship rigging before, so I had to just imagine how I was going to do it. I have been "successful", but the dabs of glue are WAAAY to prominent and lack uniformity. I also managed to put what I think is called a "batten" on the "cross-hairs" of the rigging, like good Gladiators should have.

Boy, is this exacting, detailed work!!

I have fully rigged one wing, and the tailplanes. When I will get around to the other wing, the wheels, engine, exhausts, canopy framing and other touch-ups is anyone's guess. I plod along.

I had an "accident" last night. I was dissatisfied with the non-parallelness of the biplane wings. The angles were slight, but from the left side, the two wings looked a bit like: > , with the top wing tilted "up" relative to the bottom wing. So of course I attempted to "fix" it and now the wings look a bit like: < , and reversing the mistake is impossible without re-doing ALL TEN of the struts.    I have to accept "imperfections" and less-than-competition quality but it galls me no end. "RELAX!", I keep telling myself. And eventually I do, but the steam coming out my ears makes the hobby room so humid!  

Pics will come when the Blordiator is done. No need to pictorially document every increment, methinks.

[Brian da Basher]

Rigging is fun, rigging is fun, rigging is...


My hat's off to you for tackling the more "authentic" (and therefore difficult) method of drilling holes and running line. I usually just cut bits of wire to length and glue them between the wings.

Looks like you're in the homestretch, SR! I very much look forward to the next round of updated pics.

Brian da Basher

[sotoolslinger]

That is effin brilliant

[sequoiaranger]

Whew!! Trials and Tribulations Galore, but...

I present the Globrey Blordiator as flown by George "Screwball" Beurling in the dark June days of 1940 over Malta when Italian bombing raids were contested by single or a few defending biplane Gloster Gladiator fighters.

(The SHORT version) An American aeronautical engineer coaxed local Maltese tradespersons, male and female, to ply their trades to help make and maintain aircraft in flyable condition. Cannibalizing several aircraft, including Gloster Gladiators, Bristol Blenheims, Fairey Swordfishes, and any other aircraft from which parts could be scavenged, they cobbled together a formidable interceptor. Larger overall than a Gladiator, the additional engine power, larger wing area, 20mm cannon and two additional Lewis guns attached to the upper wing made the "Globrey Blordiator" a bomber-killer. Local artists painted an abstract impression of Malta as seen from the air on the upper surfaces, and because this was a proud, communal Maltese project, a red Maltese cross replaced the center red dot of the otherwise British roundel and the fitting, though American, motto "E Pluribus Unum" ("out of many, one") was inscribed on the side. George Beurling was disliked by his air-mates for being too much of a lone-wolf, often abandoning wingmates if he saw an opportunity for a kill. But they recognized his fighting instinct and prowess, so let him go on his own way with the Blordiator.

Here is the Blordiator as completed that shows off the "Malta Harbor" camo:



Here is an under-shot that shows off the rigging, twin guns, tailhook, and personalizations:



Here is a front-quarter shot:



And finally, a shot comparing my decades-old "Gloster Gadfly" to the Blordiator. The Gadfly is merely a monoplane Gladiator, so one can see the size differential. The Gadfly wing is the same span as the Gladiator, so you can see how much bigger and longer the Blordiator is, yet keeps the "Gladiator" look to it.

P.S.--if you want to see the origins and beginnings of the craft, look in "Current and Finished Projects" under "Gloster Bleariator" about on page four.

[thedarkmaster]

Oh wow      just great 

[BlackOps]

You've got to be pretty happy with the end result.   

[jcf]

Kudos Admiral.

... and the rest of the story is that the Blordiator was tragically lost when it was hastily included in the attack on Palermo, Sicily
without a repaint.

[sequoiaranger]

>You've got to be pretty happy with the end result.<

Quite so. Despite several dis-satisfactions, I really do like how it turned out. Of the five models I have made in the last year or so (actually TWENTY years or so--a long hiatus) only two have really pleased me---the Jinpu-Kai and now the Blordiator. The Blordiator was the most complex and stretched my modeling skills into new territory the most. AND since I visited Malta last winter, I have been eager to pay homage to the gallant sacrifices of the Maltese and British during WW II. This Blordiator just rings my bell.

Thanks to all who have viewed and appreciated it.