From the S.O.D. 1/48 Classic Airframes Bristol Blenheim IV,Finished!!!

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After the fuselage codes, I took another look at the masks I made for th eaircraft number. As they were verry small, they weren't propperply cut and the "0" and the "3" were damaged during the plotting/cutting process.
After some thaught, I concluded that perhaps with some strips of masking tape, the missing diggits could be repared/replaced. So I wen't to work.



I used small strips of Tamiya tape and positioned them until I was happy with the result.
Next I loaded the airbrush with some medium sea grey and hoped for the best,

It came out much better then anticipated. There is only a little bit of touch up necesary. Now with all the codes and numbers on the model, I can proceed with the small parts and tackle the landing gear and hopefully finish this model as it lingered far to long on the s.o.d.

Looking at the codes and numbers, I'm not completly confident that the spacing is right. I don't think it looks bad, but calculating everything from a 72dpi pic of a 1/72nd scale decalsheet might have it's discrepancies, especially since everything is based around the position of the fuselage roundel, which might be a bit too far forward. Also the R.A.F. font I downloaded had a wrong type "W", so this was replaced with a "W" from another font that looked much closer to the original. But comparing the obtained results on this model with side vieuws and pictures of other NF Blenheim's, I think it looks ok.
It's just too bad I could not obtain the actual pic of the 600 Sq. Blenheim NF.

And this is how the engine "cooling rings" look now. I might give these a extra light coat with a copper/brown mix later on.



That's all for now, but I'm pleased with the result.
 
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Thanks all!

As expected, the landing gear is going to be a bit of a problem.
Since the main gear bay is resin, the suspension and landing gear legs plastic things did not go well.
After an evenening trying to get everything aligned, I came to the conclusion the gear as a whole is too weak to carry the weight of the model.
So, I took it all apart again (which was very easy as the gear almost collapsed from itself) and got to work.

First I drilled the axels of the wheels out. The kit parts are to weak and ill fitting giving the wheels a somewhat crooked look when inserted in the landing gear legs. I used brass for these and inserted a wider tube in the wheels, so the axle of the gear slides in the wheel making it sturdy, strong and much easier to instal later on.



Next drilled small holes at the attachment points of the landing gear legs where they attach to the wall of the landing gear bay.and inserted a pin in each hole to create a stronger attachment. The problem was that the kits attachment points for the landing gear to the landing gear bay are too small to support it.



Then I got the disered result. Again a lot of work, As you can see in the pics I also installed the exhaust pipe. I drilled out the ends to create some depth in these. The landing gear still needs some struts and other small parts installed and I hope these won't give me grieve.
I Hope that the upcomming Airfix 1/48 scale Blenheim has an easier and sturdier landing gear then this one...
But kudos to CA as the detail of the landing gear is pretty impressive, but once on it's wheels, not a lot of it will be seen... imho the whole contaption is just a bit too fidly as it all comes down on how you initially have installed the resin gear bay in the wing. The slightest misaglement will result in the gear legs not sitting right. I think this was the case with my model. But since this is the oldest CA release of the Blenheim, I think they altered this in the re-issue.
(Just a side note not to scare those who have the CA Blenheim in their stash )

Have a nice week-end and 'till next time
 
Great work on the codes and serials, and nicely done on the undercart too.
BTW, those are exhaust collector rings on the front of the engine cowlings. Each exhaust fed into this, and then exited via the twin exhaust pipes.
 
Airframes said:
Great work on the codes and serials, and nicely done on the undercart too.
BTW, those are exhaust collector rings on the front of the engine cowlings. Each exhaust fed into this, and then exited via the twin exhaust pipes.
Click to expand...

Thanks for clearing that up! Hence the reason for the discoloration on these parts. I will add a thin layer of bronze-brown over the dark aluminum to give it more "heated metal" look.

I almost have this "night bird of prey" on it's legs. Just a few bits and bobs to fit on the undercart. This I hope to do this evening... But so far the achieved results look promesing.
 
I "think" I'm almost ready to wrap this build up. I finally managed to get the fiddly props on (you really don't want to know how much trouble these were...) and the other small bits, again a lot of work, but the result is there...
However, there is one thing I can't get my head 'round... the gun pack of the Mk IV F.
There were at least two or three? types of the 0.303 four barreled gun pack in use on the blenheim. I "think" that the 600 Sq. Blenheims (as did most IV's) used a variation of what is know as the one on the Blenheim Mk. I., the flatter one. The later one had an extra "box" attached so the 0.303 barrels were lower, thus more away from the fuselage (and I think mounted oblique for anti shipping and straffing purposes)

Classic Airframes included the later gun pack, which I remodelled to represent the gun pack on the Mk IV. F night fighter.


Ofcourse a lot of speculation from my side. But all Blenheim night fighters pictures I've seen, all had the flatter gun pack attached. So, let's call it an educated guess that this was also the case for the 600 Sq. Machines.

Though the question that puzzels me is the way the gun barrels stuck out of the gun pack. A lot of profiles have the gun barrels all lined up. meaning the the barrels stick out of the gun pack at the same length. But a lot of aftermarket (mainly 1/72nd) gun pack for the blenheim have the two outer barrels sticking out more then the two inner barrels....( are you still following?)



So...which was it? C.A.'s resin barrels are of equal lenght, so this would be easy, but most drawings of this gun pack show eject ports at different distances, meaning the guns were mounted at different lenghts in the pack, so the guns could not stick out at the same lenght out of the gun pack... Though, it seams that the width of the different gun pack's also differed, so even more confusing...

Perhaps a detail hardly noticeble on the model, but since I put in a lot of work in this model, I'd like to get the gun pack right and move on...
 
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No conclusive photos on my end Jerry but all the line drawings I have, the guns staggered as in the last photo. Any photos that show the bottom of the aircraft in shadow and I can only see the outer guns
 
They would have to be staggered when that close together so that the feed and ejection chutes don't foul each other. It looks like the space in the middle is larger which could maybe allow the ejection chutes to butt up against each other. Mosquito, Hurricane, Spitfire all have staggered 303's so it stands to reason these would be as well.
 
Thanks everyone for your help! It's safe to say the guns were staggered, the outer barrels being placed more forward then the inner ones.
C.A. provides four 0.303 barrels of equal length. Though there is a longer set of 2 barrels included in the kit for the Blenheim Bombers under nose Nash turret.
I guess I can shorten these a bit and use them with two of the shorter barrels.

Even though it's difficult to see, but the difference in lenght between the outer and inner barrels is not as much as I initially tought. It seams it's just a bit more then the lenght of the flash supressor mounted at the end of the barrels, (which kind of makes sense as the difference in barrel lenghts must be about the same as the wide between the feed and ejection shutes for the guns, when placed staggered). So, the outer guns only stick out about 5 or 6 mm?, where the inner ones are at 3 or 4 mm? The flash supressors are about 2 mm in lenght in 1/48th scale, so I guess this is about right?

So, I'll give this option a try tonight and report back with some pics.
Thanks for the help!
 
Thanks Wojtek! this picture seams to support the theory that the difference in lenght is indeed the flash supressor.
 
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