Quite a Luqa

This one, all the blues. Tropical filters will need to be scratch built. Kit does have a transparent loop aerial housing. 

The alternative use of a clothes line- spurs drying after their soapy immersion! 

Surprisingly quick to get the interior partially done 

Ingenious construction- I’m going to build as is, with some seatbelts from Airwaves or scratch  

After detergent wash and dry I have tried a Halfords’ Matt black spray as it’s a little less complicated than Vallejo’s black primer. We’ll go with Vallejo 71.126 interior green for most and some pick-out black etc… 

 

A quick dry run gets you here. The fit is tight and no real vices yet seen in the build. 

Some great details. I’ve only added Airwaves’ WWII RAF harnesses. Nothing else scratched. 

Cockpit all ready after about 1.5h 

Good details at this scale 

Side walls starboard  

Side walls port side 

Halves closed- real tight and very little required to be done 

The quality of this kit is up there with Tamiya for overall fit 

we got to this position in a few hours. 

Reference pic for torpedo  

Another reference for torpedo  

Not sure I’ll put 2 x Vickers guns in the front. If I do here’s the reference  

The D/F loop aerial (provided in kit but not used on Mk.I option) position reference. 

The front transparency F15 was a little too splayed out to conform to the pieces around. I believe this may be the moulding rather than my model making. So I have gingerly glued in sequences using the useless clamps I bought a few years ago. They have caused some stress marks within, but I couldn’t see how else to do it other than the risky option of heat and reform. 

Also, watch pieces E1 and E7 the exhaust fans at the back. I misread the instructions and glued them incorrectly- dry fit first as they look obvious where they align to, but in actual fact aren’t !! 

Curses! Nearly got away with it.....but the excellent Tamiya Extra Thin managed to run over the base of the transparency. Not sure how to remedy this, other than pretend it was on the aircraft. The upshot, though, I've got a smoother fit to the 4 transparencies that make up the front. 

Damn the torpedoes!
First attempt at airbrushing AK Extreme Metallics. H&S infinity CR at 1.5 bar. Seems to have worked?  

Damn the torpedos #2: AK Extreme Metallics’ aluminium/dark aluminium and duraluminium for the torpedo- slight cock up on the dur-al but I’ll live with it. As a side project I’m going to revisit my old Matchbox MiG-21 for a play with these techniques  

The reason for the hiatus on this project. The Royal Mail....these masks should have been with me last week. A week later, they arrive. And duly put in situ. Nothing outstanding to report about their use, other than a perfect fit around the transparencies. Next: interior green base coat, black over the top of that, and then some white pre-shading. 

Everything looks ok under the black - the canopies took a shot of 71.126 (Vallejo). Those are my definitions of tropical filters above the cowels. 

pre-shading to (hopefully) recreate those faded Mediterranean hues out of Malta….. 

Quite blue, really. I’ve really tried at this first pass to emulate the fading that no doubt would be present on Maltese-based aircraft- the darker blue needs a shot of ghost white to tone it down in places. 

Even on the underside.  

Piece D2 went missing somewhere down the line. A quick email to Airfix’s customer relations and a piece emerged a few days later! Cracking service!!! 

Shiny Beau, ahead of decals a few coats of Pledge 

Torpedo cradle installed and all readied for the decals. NB the underside roundels were overpainted according to the painting profile, so I used Azur with a drop of black to emulate the obliteration. 

Xtradecals were thin and in good register. Not many on this version. The Airfix stencils took up most of this evening's work. Tropical oil filters were scratch built, and I didn't have any good photo references on their mounting to the cowells. I have given them a coat of gunmetal, and again will dirty them with some oils. The exhaust collectors had Xtreme metallics burnt metal with a dry brushing of gunmetal to add some variation. 

Awaiting panel washes. I'll build on lessons learned from the double Lancaster build from last month, and use oils and brushes. I feel I'm in control rather than an air brush. I will first fade the panels some more. 

On short finals- upper camo faded and pin washed befitting the Maltese climate. Those wings aren’t glued, they’re pushed in. No hint of gaps between fuselage and their roots  

Bottoms similarly faded and washed with oils and some enamels on the tyres. The fit of the wings means you don’t need to cement them- they’re that good. In fact the whole kit was so tight- especially around the main landing gear doors. This could theoretically help in transit/display. 

L9965 “T”
Unknown Squadron.
Somewhere in the Mediterranean. 1942. 

I’d like to think this operated out of Malta.  

The wings aren’t glued in, this does not affect the look of the plane & will aid any need to store it. 

 

 

A great accompaniment to Airfix’s Blenheim- I’ve built the Mk.I and this one is better engineered and shows some of the changes Airfix’s made in their mouldings and the architecture in the build process