What's on the workbench!

[McColm]

Thursday 17th September 2020

The 1/72 kitbash Peacehaven AEW.1 has been scrapped. I've kept the Convair wings and returned the Cammett parts back to their box.
I received my 1/29 scale Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III diecast in silver but I don't think NACORAL S.A. ZARA80ZA  made in Spain got a licence to build the replica as the radiator grill is wrong,  so too is the flying lady,  oversized wing mirrors and alloy wheels weren't standard either. The heated rear window might be standard but the turquoise tinted glass does hide the lack of detailing in the interior.
Both front doors open,  so does the boot/trunk, and the hood/bonnet is split down the middle.
What impressives me most are the yellow plastic headlights and red plastic tail lights.
This could be Whiffed into the Bentley version,  this has a few scratches on the bodywork and there's a screw on the underside so this will definitely come apart,  well atleast the steering wheel is on the right side. The interior is black plastic. Something like 'pimp my ride ' comes to mind!
Who would have thought that the Revell/Matchbox HP Victor K2 and the Mach2 Martin SeaMaster would be compatible,  it's amazing what a bit of putty/filler can achieve.
This might not be in the same league as my fellow Whiffers but when finished it will be a great talking point.

[McColm]

Saturday 19th  September 2020

I've got four days left of my annual leave,  I had so many plans and where has the time gone? Yes some days I was organised and others the mojo wasn't there. The tidying up is now an ongoing process and sticking to one build at a time is the way to go.
The 1/72 Matchbox/Revell HP Victor K2 kitbash with the Mach2 Martin SeaMaster is full of surprises. PSR can be frustrating and also relaxing with the right sort of music playing in the background.
Couldn't sleep last night so I have already broken my rule of working on one build at a time and added floats from a Hasegawa Martin Marlin, to the 1/72 Starliner. On one side they fit extremely well on the other,  well it's out of line. I'll probably use some struts to sort this problem out.
Got a pack of Milliput Standard two part epoxy putty,  I have to remember not to use too much at one time.
On the 1/72 Vickers Valiant  AEW.1 , I need to find an Alleycat stockists or wait a while until I locate the parts for the Valiant B.2 Pathfinder landing gear. I have a collection of Victor drop fuel tanks which I think I can use instead. It's just a question of what did I do with the metal landing gear.
If you were thinking of using the Academy Boeing B-377/C-97 wings and engines onto the Revell Avro Shackleton AEW.2 kit they do work. For reasons that I can't think of at the moment I sanded off the location marks for the AEW  radome.  The C-97 vertical tail fin looks a wee bit big, I think that I have a B-29 tail fin somewhere or I can use the parts from the kit. Typical it has a flat nose,  DC-6B or DC-4 propellers fit this build.  The American Shackleton project.
There's something lurking about in the graveyard of started builds,  it's the 1/72 Revell Breguet Br1150 Atlantic ATL1. Well it's the rear end. I've always wanted to build a four engined variant,  I wonder if the engines from the Revell Airbus A400M  would do the trick?
My eyes are getting tired,  finally I can get some sleep. Have a wonderful weekend, stay safe and take care.

[McColm]

Sunday 20th September 2020

I finally managed to get a good nights sleep.
After listing all my current builds on lockdown. 2, I've been chatting with old high school friends on Facebook. Went down to the local recycling bins to fill up them up with cardboard and recycling materials.
Just having a lazy day 

[Tophe]

Being lazy is a hard job too...

[NARSES2]

Being lazy is a hard job too...

It's not a job Tophe, it's an art form 

[McColm]

Monday 21st September 2020

The tidying up has revealed a box of spares and repairs,  I vividly remember buying this at a Jumble sale. Inside it has 1/72 Canadian Arrow,  it's missing it's landing gear and rear engine exhaust pipes. There's a BAC Lightning F3 and the remains of a F-4 Phantom.
I haven't got a complete Airfix BAe Nimrod MR.2P but I do have a pair of vacform fuselage halves and I have the DH Comet 4C also in vacform.
Now is the time to match the builds with the parts available in the spares boxes.
Just had a thought if Britain had purchased the Convair B-36 Peacemaker would they add contra-rotating propellers to their aircraft?

[McColm]

Tuesday 21st September 2020

PSR
Yes I have come to the conclusion that I have too many started builds,  whilst the idea of recycling is an option, all my started builds are independent of each other.
I used up the 2 part yellow and grey Milliput  filler/puty on the; Starliner,  Super Lincoln,  Duchess of Erith,  Valiant AEW.3,  Sea Victor MR.1 and the Fairey-Bell Sea Phoenix ( Extended Rotodyne fuselage with Chinook double rotor stacks and fuel tanks).
With a little bit of water the filler is easier to work with before it sets rock hard.

[McColm]

Wednesday 22nd September 2020

The kitbashed Avro Lancaster and H.P Halifax in 1/72 scale now has the Combat Conversion Avro Lancastrian-Nene engines set added to it. The Nene engines have been used on a previous build.
I did a lot of sanding today,  I just have the last 5 large cardboard boxes to sort out,  then it's job done.

[McColm]

Thursday 24th September 2020

I have temporary ditched my interpretation of the Lockheed Martin SC-130J
Maritime Patrol Aircraft in favour for the Lockheed C-130J 'Mad Hatter' AEW.1,  as the rotodome from the Grumman E-2 Hawkeye is a very good fit on top of the vertical tail fin. I might change the engines to turbofaned or turbojets. Or a pair of turboprops from the Revell Airbus A400M.
The Mad Hatter retains the lumps and bumps from the AC-130U but not the guns as the Airfix Bristol Superfreighter has them.

[McColm]

Friday 25th September 2020

At last an unmolested 1/72 Revell-Monogram 85-5710 Convair RB-36H Peacemaker.
As the 1/72 Modelcollect B-52G early type Stratofortress was only bought as a donor kit for the Convair YB-60 project.
I'm still wondering however if I can swap over the wings,  with the gap created by the shoulder joint on the B-52 I could draw a template and then fit the new wings.
I'd need to square off the tail on the RB-36H and add a few coins to the B-52 wing to get it to droop downwards.
The next thing is where to put the finished builds.

[McColm]

Saturday 26th September 2020

The curse of the secondhand kit has struck again,  the 1/96 Bristol Britannia with Royal Air Force Transport Command decals and with a bargain price of 10/6 in old money with a piece of sellotape stuck on the plastic bag,  a few of the parts are missing.
I have checked the kit for a makers name and there isn't one,  I know that Eastern Express sell this kit.  I might be able to use a stand on this build and cut out the rotating propeller blades in some clear plastic to simulate the aircraft in flight.
I have been listening to the  BBC Radio Goon show whilst PSR has taken place. I thought that I had listened to all their radio shows but it would appear that I have missed a few.

[PR19_Kit]

That Britannia was originally a FROG kit, but like most of them it got shifted around all over the Eastern Bloc eventually.

But unlike many others it didn't end up with Revell.

[NARSES2]

I have been listening to the  BBC Radio Goon show whilst PSR has taken place. I thought that I had listened to all their radio shows but it would appear that I have missed a few.

Some may have been lost and then re-discovered ?

I used to drink in the Grafton Arms in Strutton Ground where the Goons met to draft the shows when was working. Still had loads of scribbled notes on the ceiling, naturally  , protected by Perspex.

[The Wooksta!]

That Britannia was originally a FROG kit, but like most of them it got shifted around all over the Eastern Bloc eventually.

But unlike many others it didn't end up with Revell.

The only Frog stuff that ended up with Revell was, for obvious reasons at the time, the Axis stuff.  Hence why those moulds are in vastly better condition than anything churned out by Novo or whoever has the moulds now.  In addition, many of the former frog moulds have disappeared - the Hornet, the Wyvern*, Bristol 148, DH Comet racer, the Oxford, for example.  Much of the stuff now with ARK (and being released in Novo-esque boxes) is well and truly shagged.



*According to "Dodgy" Derek Durham, the moulds for which were in Grozny when the Russians flattened it.  The last production examples of the Novo Wyvern were around 2002 and showing considerable wear.  Interestingly, the kit DID appear in a Mistercraft box at some point in the mid/late '90s as I picked up one for 50p(!) at the Chiltern show at the Mosquito Museum in 2000.

[PR19_Kit]

... plus the rivet ridden Shackleton MR3.