Narses2's Blog - or what I'm slowly making progress on

[NARSES2]

The Spitfire has been matted so just needs the nav lights dotted in, canopy and prop fitted and she's done 

No real progress on the Wellesley and Beaufighter but the Planet kit (it's a Douglas project by the way  ) has had the interiors painted and installed and the fuselage is together. Will have some filler applied tomorrow. The cockpit is really well detailed with lovely moulded in situ seatbelts which have a 3D effect. It does look a little large for 1/72 though, almost 1/48. However the aircraft in discussion did have a large cockpit area and indeed could probably have accommodated a 3 piece suite and coffee table 

[Dizzyfugu]

It's suprising how "modernish" - in WWII terms - the Wellesley looks in the grey/green scheme and without the engine fitted. It's the cowl that really ages her.

Totally agree. Mine has a Hercules engine grafted to the front, coupled with the streamlined LRDA front end, and this changes the overall look of the aircraft dramatically!

[NARSES2]

Well here's the finished Spitfire - details here http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,37643.msg610753.html#new

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[NARSES2]

Cold has cleared a little bit (touch wood) so some progress.

The Beaufighter and Wellesley are on their backs with their legs in the air waiting for the glue to dry. I was really surprised how strong the Wellesley's undercarriage location points were. Looking at then for dry fitting I thought "problems here", but no, went well  As for the Beaufighter this may well make the top ten as far as Hasegawa's best engineered kits are concerned. I'm impressed with with it. Little more detail in the cockpit and rear pit and it would be really up there.

The Douglas project has had some filler added on the fuselage join and will get sanded over the weekend. I've also thinned the resin on the cowling edge as this makes the fit look a little more natural. I'm also going to add some extra cooling gills on the edge of the cowling. These will hide the over thickness of the part and along with the inlet I'm putting on top of the cowling will go towards solving the engines cooling problems 

[NARSES2]

The Beaufighter and Wellesley have started the process of getting their transfers -----do Hasegawa transfers ever come off the backing sheet ??  Both starting to look good even if I do say so myself.

The Douglas project is now a complete airframe and after thinning the back of the cowling I think I can get away without adding the extra cooling gills. It looks ok, to my screwed eye sight anyway.

I used epoxy on to glue the wings on this rather then my usual superglue just to see if there was any difference. Not really by the time the epoxy gets to the "hold" stage then you haven't got that much time to fiddle with it anyway. Went back to my usual method of pinning/supergluing the tailplanes.

[NARSES2]

It looks ok, to my screwed eye sight anyway.

Talking about this I noticed something today which may explain some of the problems I sometimes have when lining up fuselage halves etc. Whilst cleaning up some jet exhausts I noticed that through my "magnifier visor" at some distances they looked oval ! Moved head back a touch and they are perfectly round ! Now I do have a severe astigmatism and that's why I don't drive, but this may go to explain why sometimes when I glue fuselages together they look ok and then I look at them latter and they are not actually true. It's the vertical plane I have problems with. Must try and figure out what the optimum distance for my eyes is. Next time I have my full eye check (for other reasons) I shall ask.

[NARSES2]

Anyway to progress -

The Beaufighter and Wellesley have had the transfer phase concluded and thus move onto the completion stage. Having fallen for this before no predictions as to when that will be. 

The Douglas project has had it's first psr session and been washed down and doesn't look bad. Will prime the seams tomorrow and see what more work is needed.

Opened and started to clean up an Anigrand Black Hawk. Usual Anigrand stuff, some quite industrial sized pour stubs in places but his resin is easy to clean and work with. I think I got a Tuesday casting, whatever you do don't get a Friday afternoon one    Major parts are very good and didn't require much work at all. Anyway the fuselage halves have had weight added in the nose and I'm waiting for that to dry. The rest is cleaned up as I said so the hour and a half spent on that should speed the build. All the small parts are sitting on their little sticky pads awaiting paint.  I didn't realise how big this beast was but mine will be USAAF in Korea being used for night intruder operations like the Marine Tigercats. 4 x 20mm cannon (not in the nose turret) and lots of dangly things under the wings.

[NARSES2]

Not much progress today but the Black Hawk has had the fuselage halves joined and it's a really good fit over a long way.

Priming of the Douglas Destroyer has revealed a load of pin holes. Not a problem but there are a lot of them  Other then that the moulded detail is superb even down to the rivet/screw heads which are really well done but unfortunately won't survive much priming. Sometimes these good levels of detail in resin kits are just waiting to be covered up/sanded over ?

Back to the Beaufighter and Wellesley tomorrow

[NARSES2]

Beaufighter and Wellesley just need to be matted and then the clear parts added and they are done. If the weather is ok Saturday I'll spray them out on the balcony then.

A little bit of work on the Destroyer and the Black Hawk. All the latter's sub assemblies are together. However this cold of mine is really getting to me. I don't know if it's paint/glue fumes or sanding residue but something is triggering Niagra in my nose. Going to give these a break for a couple of days and hope it finally clears up.

[NARSES2]

Well all I wanted to get done this weekend was a little varnishing. Got it done but ................

The Beaufighter is ok but I had some crazing on the underside of the Wellesley. Humbrol acrylic spray varnish over White Ensign enamel. I've not had a problem with this combination before. I was initially really annoyed but after a nice cup of tea I looked at it more calmly and it will just need a little sanding followed by paint and varnish. Still annoying though.

This is not the only problem I've had with Humbrol spray varnish lately so I might have a quiet word with them on the Sunday at Telford

[NARSES2]

Wellesley and Beaufighter have their clear parts on. Slight problem as I lost the Wellesley's rear canopy inside the fuselage  Eventually managed to tweezer it out !

The Black Hawk has had some psr and I'll prime the fuselage and engine pods tomorrow to see what more work needs doing. Easier to get this done before I assemble the rest of the kit. From dry fitting the wings look a superb fit to the fuselage.

[Dizzyfugu]

Looking forward to the Wellesley! 

[PR19_Kit]

We've almost got enough Wellesely fans here to start a SIG of our own. 

[Gondor]

I am going to keep my eyes open for a Wellesely as I want one for my British Bomber theme.

Gondor

[Librarian]

We've almost got enough Wellesely fans here to start a SIG of our own. 

How about a build off. I'm game. Wellesleys and Wellesley inspireds maybe...any takers?