Polish Wellington, RAF Syerston
Comments
72 10 August 2019, 15:55
Andy BallHi Slavo, as you probably know this Airfix offering has terrific detail for this scale. So far, I've added one stretch-sprued detail (from reference pictures at Brooklands), and the Airwaves RAF 'belts, (as surprisingly Airfix don't incorporate them). I may add Air-master's 0.303 metal barrels as the ones on the kit could be improved. Thank-you for your kind comments too.
10 August 2019, 17:58
Andy BallThanks Stephan and Cuajete, so kind,.....advanced the build today, and the engineering on this is superb. Nearly got the two fuselage halves together- just a bit more tidying to do then we'll crack on with the rest!
12 August 2019, 21:44
Andy BallProgressing nicely now, both sides closed, all flight surfaces have gone together well too. A few photos to show the detail before it's buried...
13 August 2019, 21:49
Slavo HazuchaReally nice - hope the clear parts are good enough to allow at least a few un-twisted peeks inside!
14 August 2019, 05:15
Andy Ball@Slavo, the transparencies are thin and clear, but alas will not totally resolve visibility-perhaps Airfix need to do a transparent fuselage edition?. @Maciej I hope I do justice to these guys who flew in her- the Poles were a brave breed in WWII, I have total respect for their achievements. @forestfan, I guessed from your moniker you're a Notts person! We have some WWII aviation heritage here in this county!?
15 August 2019, 21:23
Guy RumpLooking great so far, the interior is excellent. Shame you have to close it up and hide most of it.
19 September 2019, 19:59
Nikolaos KouzinisExcellent job Andy. The interior fantastic, especially the net metal corp needs many courage to paint it, Bravo
19 September 2019, 20:05
Maciej BellosYes Andy, the Polish pilots played an important part in the Battle of Britain and later on in the war. I haven't studied the bomber squadrons (shame on me), I only have a basic view on how the fighter squadrons fared. Eitherway, the RAF was a joint effort of Brits, Canadians, Aussies and New Zealanders, Poles, Greeks, Czechs, French, South Africans, American volunteers and many many more from other places in the world. Forgive me for not mentioning all of them.
19 September 2019, 20:17
Daniel KlinkHi Andy, great interior details and very nice progress so far!! Will follow this 👍
27 September 2019, 09:53
Slavo HazuchaGreat progress Andy, I am looking forward to what you'll unleash on the outside of the plane! 👍
28 September 2019, 06:02
Andy Ball@Guy, Nikolaos, Maciej, Daniel, Łukasz, Slavo and Oleg: thank you collectively for the interest and nudges!...I hope to put some exterior shots on soon. Progress is a little haphazard with my Spitfire side projects going too. I also had an issue with the varnish prior to decals- dried a strange white, so re-sanding, re- spray and re-varnish.
28 September 2019, 19:56
Andy Ball@Mark, thank-you for your comment. I am trying to gently sand the paint to reveal a contrast on exterior framework. It's an experiment, and hoping it'll pay off.
7 October 2019, 09:48
Andy BallI now declare her finished. Dedicated to the Polish crews here at RAF Syerston.
19 October 2019, 16:40
Andy Ball@Łukasz: indeed it is, they came to the base after the Canadians and before the Lancasters. Do you know the word "Elzunia"?, is it Polish?
19 October 2019, 18:24
Łukasz GlińskiIt's Polish indeed, but explaining it is a bit complicated. I'll have a try in steps 🙂
1. Elisabeth translates into Polish as Elżbieta (to be read as 'aelzhbee-etah' more less)
2. Then to sound nice and sweet you can denominate (is it a proper wording?) it to Ela, Elusia, Elka, Elżbietka, Elunia, Elcia and Elżunia of course
3. Now take into account we are talking about 1940s, today probably nobody would use anything else than Ela/Elka or Elcia in case of little girls; the other sound a bit archaic to me nowadays
I also found an English equivalent here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clever_Elsie, never heard of 'Elsie' name before 🙂
PS. 'Ż' used to be written as 'zh' by English speakers or 'j' by the Francophones.
19 October 2019, 20:17
Daniel KlinkYour Wimpy is a real stunner Andy 👍 Wonderful Details and great Job man Congrats 👍
19 October 2019, 22:15
Andy Ball@Daniel: those comments are welcomed from someone who's knocking them out of the park at the moment !
20 October 2019, 18:33
Łukasz GlińskiSeems to me that this is the closest equivalent, but I have stumbled upon 'Elsie' for the first time ever 🙂
20 October 2019, 21:01
Andy Ball@Łukasz "Elsie" was a popular name in UK, say, in the 1930-1960's. Fallen out of fashion now, perhaps I will crack a miniature bottle of champagne on the side of her to christen her! ????
21 October 2019, 07:25
Greg BakerAre you sure this is 1/72 scale? I think it's 1/48 and mislabled....
21 October 2019, 09:03
Andy Ball@Greg: thanks for the compliment!, but you raise a broader point perhaps?...72nd is now getting more detailed, more advances -no doubt in the recording of the machines with CAD -and ultimately the molding technology is opening up a new era for us 'brail-scalers'.
21 October 2019, 10:12
SpanjaardThere are some really small kits out there, with great details, even in 1/144! P51D from Plaz now by Edward, comes to mind....
21 October 2019, 14:56
Andy Ball@Spanjaard: that's good to know, as I was thinking of opening a third interest area on commercial planes: most of which gravitate to the 144th. I guess we're all benefiting from improving technology!
21 October 2019, 15:54
David JanuskaOh my, how could I miss such a treasure. Really nice one am perfect result. How was the built? Is the kit so good as was written?
22 October 2019, 11:33
Andy Ball@ David: not one single piece of filler. The 2 rear fuselage 'v' shaped (to mask the transparencies) sat a little proud and had to be sanded down, and a little CA was used to blend the join if I'm honest, but otherwise I think this is a 'game-changer' for the scale and Airfix. I'm building their Do-17z at the moment, and the few years' difference in molding philosophy is notable. Build one, you won't regret it.
22 October 2019, 12:39
David JanuskaWell Andy, thank you. I must say I admire your wood work, it seems like it is real wood. I have the same one in my stash, so I think the building is getting closer 😉.
22 October 2019, 13:38
Andy Ball@David, drop me a note when you're thinking of starting...I'll offer any support you need, but you probably won't need it!
22 October 2019, 17:44
MICHAEL WOODHOUSEGreat build especially interior as I have found out on my own kit extremely fiddly painting the Geodetic. You feel obliged to paint it all but most lost to the eye when closed up unfortunately. I am up to the camo stage and hopefully match you own finish. The kit is very good as you say but I had trouble closing it up perfectly probably due to all those interior bulkheads fighting the joints!
1 November 2019, 17:59
Andy BallYou're right Michael, the geo- mainly disappears, but when you're doing the 'photo-build' thing, you feel obliged!, jiggle those bulkheads...it will fall together. My only slight out-of-line was the crew hatch ventral-aft of the bomb aimer, and watch the 'V' s on either side of the fuselage, they stand a wee bit proud. Otherwise you'll have plenty of fabric-detail to highlight.
1 November 2019, 18:25
MICHAEL WOODHOUSEYou may have said earlier but did you free hand the Brown/Green Camo upper paint finish - difficult to say from photos but looks good. I have a new airbrush which might at last give me the potential to do this well.
3 November 2019, 19:33
Andy Ball@Michael: apologies for not replying sooner. I did mask them once the dk.brown was down. I also did some 'free-hand' airbrushing on patches that I wasn't happy with. That effect 'softens' some of the demarcation between green and brown. I use the excuse that maybe they would have repaired battle-damaged Wimpies leading to a less-defined green/brown finish! Bizarrely, I find the RAF upper sides difficult to reproduce as they seemed so keen to have a solid boundary between their colours. Best of luck with your airbrushing!
11 November 2019, 17:45
MICHAEL WOODHOUSEThanks for info - yes I did the same using paper masks for top camo - should have left the black until last as would have made the masking much easier - also didnt prime the black area and have had some paint pull off when removing masking - its like russian roulette!
12 November 2019, 19:59
Andy Ball@Greg, thanks for the message- you're no stranger to knocking 'em out the park yourself too! I've seen your work!
12 November 2019, 20:31
Andy Ball@Michael: I had an issue with my gloss varnish (Humbrol), it came out lumpy and dried milky, further adding to the spraying woes! I think black's always a good starter colour!
12 November 2019, 20:33
Łukasz GlińskiAndy, thanks a lot for another lesson on English idioms, lovely example! 👍
12 November 2019, 21:10
Łukasz GlińskiThat would kill all the fun of discovering them in their natural environment 😄
13 November 2019, 08:48
Slavo HazuchaNice work Andy! Kind of sorry to have all that interior beauty behind bars, but we all know it´s there!😉 And the exterior that hides it turned out so nice that it´s all good 👍
2 December 2019, 11:10
Andy BallAh Slavo, many thanks for your comments and good to hear you again. I'm stuck in a bit of a doldrum: new job eats into model-build time, and the area I make them in, (a brick lean-to on my house), makes for cold evenings in there. I will get my mojo back soon...gotta finish the Do-17z and Bf109-G6.
2 December 2019, 16:25
Andy Ball@Robert: sadly yes, but I'd be uncomfortable with them omitted!!, (actually, you can see most of them by taking out the front and rear turrets, plus through the bomb-bay)
6 December 2019, 17:40
Chaz GordonOutstanding detail in 1/72nd, glad I'm not the only painter of detail that will be forever hidden. But hey, that's what photo albums are for.
6 December 2019, 17:49
Gary KitchenAndy- a fabulous reference for me. I think this airfix kit blows the trumpeter one away for internal fittings (needless to say your build was fab) I think the exterior of the trumpeter looks like a match for the geodesic/stretched skin look. Also happier with my red dope now Ive seen yours which was tonally darker but I wasn't too far off. 👍
8 September 2020, 05:58
Andy Ball@Gary: thanks for popping by. I'm really impressed with yours and Trumpeter's kit- I guess the next MkIII in town?, I'm not sure the red-brick dope went everywhere, (note pilot's station area), and I think you've started the tedious interior aluminium cross hatching too?, that should make it really "pop"
8 September 2020, 07:31
MickySuperb work my friend!! Interiors are impressive. Paint job outside is very good as well showing the stress in the wings. Last but not least is the historic reference that you always put on your models. Congrats!!
14 October 2021, 13:28
Andy Ball@Micky: It's all credit to Airfix's attention to the geometric design, you merely bring it out with a bit of subtle highlighting over the "Night" (black).
As you probably know my 2 Lancs are still on their constructive-journey: once complete that's my homage to 4 RAF Syerston machines- perhaps Grog's Shot crew was trained here at 5LFS?, who knows!?
15 October 2021, 10:57
Andy Ball@David and @Robert: again, thanks both for your interest. Promise I'll have a peek at your work shortly!, I'm in a bit of hiatus at the moment as my "studio" is being built. I really am itching to get back at this crazy hobby soon!
15 October 2021, 10:58
Andy Ball@Micky: there's no economies of scale in building two that's for certain!
15 October 2021, 22:11
Andy Ball@David: paused. Hiatus whilst I get my studio built! But I have to finish it…it's personal! 😉
15 October 2021, 22:12
Łukasz GlińskiHave you noticed A., that the Merlin variant will have the same Sqn markings included OOB? 😮
Vickers Wellington Mk.II (Airfix A08021, 1:72)
1 November 2021, 18:30
Andy Ball@Łukasz: I think that's when they left Syerston and moved to Lindholme and got Mk II's? What you realise is how much turnover there was in equipment, locations, and sadly crews, in such short periods of time.
1 November 2021, 22:20
Andy Ball@Alex and David: I appreciate so so much those comments and hope your modelling is going from strength to strength!
1 November 2021, 22:22
Łukasz GlińskiYou made me re-read my sources A. 🙂
Mk.II is said to be used between VII'41 and VIII'42, than exchanged for Mk.IV.
That means you're perfectly right 🙂
2 November 2021, 11:34
Andy BallMy word Łukasz, if I've made you check the history of the Squadron I am humbled! I don't suppose you know what happened to Elzunia?
2 November 2021, 12:33
Andy Ball@Łukasz: R1123 may have been moved from 305 squadron to an OTU as it crashed in 1942 at RAF Wymeswold (not far from Syerston) killing 2 (non-Poles). There is a good account of 305 Sqdn losses on the web too.
2 November 2021, 13:45
Charlie Spitfirelovly i resently made this kit and i had a lot of truble with the cris cross patturn so good on you for makeing it look good and to reashoure me that i painted the right places
26 November 2021, 01:25
Robert PodkońskiWhat more can I say here - really good work, Andy, congrats! I must also say that weathering is perfectly adequate, IMHO.
26 November 2021, 05:49
Andy BallThanks dear mates for your comments- and apologies for the late acknowledgments. @Robert: yes, just a subtle one for me, I think the geodesic design needs a slight highlight to give some depth-Airfix did a good job there.@Charlie- used all the pieces - we obsessive modellers do that sort of thing with no logic!!
30 January 2022, 09:07
Charlie Spitfiresame with mine why would you not unles you like fast building
30 January 2022, 23:38
Charlie Spitfirei love looking back at the instructions and know that every little detail is inside the model even if you cant see it my wellington was a game changer for me as it was by bigest model but not for long i am thinking of getting a Lancaster soon
10 February 2022, 17:56
Andy BallThank-you Jan… dedicated to our brave Eastern European lads who may have seen Nottinghamshire countryside as their last landscape…
19 September 2023, 22:46
Andy BallSebastian- thank-you, it means a lot from a great model maker such as yourself!
5 February, 19:58
