GB-40 1/48 Vickers Wellington Mk. III - Heavy Hitters III

[Crimea_River]

Thanks for the feedback Geo. I've never used the stuff and have not yet found a need to. To get into the corners of canopies, I cut my masking tape into a sharp wedge, place the point into the corner and then do the same with the intersecting piece. The wedges are cut so that the intersecting pieces overlap.

 

[Airframes]

Don't know if this will help for detail and individual colours. It's a pic of a large photo panel (approx 4 feet tall) alongside the RAFM Wellington in the conservation center at Cosford, taken before everything was 'ripped out' for restoration.
Got a few shots of other details of the actual aircraft if you need them - interior, nose entrance hatch, turrets etc although they're mostly structure, as fittings had been removed.

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks Terry. Indeed very useful and one that I had found on the net and saved already. I have already painted the yellow and brown instrument details but just haven't updated my thread yet.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Crimea_River]

Terry I've seen the pics you have posted in Jeff's build thread. If you have some others around the entry hatch I would love to see them.

 

[Airframes]

No problem Andy, I'll sort them and send them via e-mail.

 

[Crimea_River]

Cheers my friend. The area between the nose turret and pilot is a bit of a mystery to me and will be seen through the hatch so some detailing may be in order.

 

[Gnomey]

Good work so far Andy!

 

[Crimea_River]

Some progress to share:

The finished instrument panel. The scratched compass has been painted and the landing gear (red) and cowl flap levers were added from stretched sprue. The two oil temperature gauges have been picked out in yellow and the two boost gauges at upper center have received red-brown bezels. A very light dry-brush with silver was then done to complete the panel.

It's important to me to catch as much detail as is reasonably possible in the cockpit as this area as well as the bomb aimer's position will be clearly seen through the nice glazing included in the kit. On the bulkhead behind the pilot's seat, I fabricated a lattice framework on the centerline to represent what can be seen in detail pics. Fiddly work for sure and not perfect but good enough to suggest that something is there. Also, the engineer gets a headrest made of styrene card. The bulkhead is temporarily held in place with tape for this picture as it needs to be painted separately. The "plate" behind the pilot seat is a bit of a question to me as detail pics of the Cosford restoration seem to show this as a canvas curtain. I'm not sure if this is part of the original aircraft or a tarp used in the restoration but I nonetheless scribed some rough seams to resemble that and will paint it a khaki colour unless someone has knowledge that this should be different. Also missing is what I believe to be a door to the w/o and observer's compartment which I will need to add. (I use as a reference the Eduard PE detail set instructions available on line which are very useful for scratch building detail. The detail set itself would be a great addition but the cost is prohibitive for me.)

The engine control console and trim wheel assembly next got my attention. Here's how it looks as provided in the kit:

And here it is after I put my tools down. Throttle and mixture control levers were added using styrene card and the pitch levers are stretched sprue. The knobs on the throttles are sliced stretched sprue. The rudimentary trim wheel was cut away and a new on built up using stryene card, rod, and stretched sprue. I also added the link to the control column and tilted the rudder pedals forward.

That's all for now. Thanks for looking in.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Airframes]

Nice work Andy.
That brown 'curtain', behind the pilot's seat in the Cosford pics, appears to be padded insulation. from what I've seen of wartime Wellingtons, there's a bulkhead here, as in the kit parts, and I presume the insulation is 'sandwiched' inside this.
Been trying to find the pics of the interior when it was still at hendon, but seem to have mis-filed them !

 

[A4K]

Great improvement in the cockpit Andy, well done.

 

[nsmekanik]

Does this help?

 

[SANCER]

It's a big breakthrough Andy, and I like how you got that IP.
Very good photo of nsmekanik..., I hope you consider adding one or another cable and wires ... (but not so many ... !!)

Saludos

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks guys. Yes, that pic is helpful and is typical of several I've seen of the Cosford restoration, including some good pics that Terry took. If you look closely, the area behind the pilot seat in that pic looks like a fabric material and that's what I was thinking to replicate. Looking further, The Eduard PE set has a solid wall there but also shows a grille of some sort, perhaps to allow cooling of the radio equipment behind the bulkhead.

Luis, I do plan on adding some of the hydraulic/pneumatic lines seen in the photo and have actually made a start. Ran out of CA glue though so that stopped me.

EDIT: Looking further, I think that the Cosford specimen is a T Mk X and has a different trim assembly than the Mk III. The manual shows this:

A change may be in order.....

 

[Airframes]

Yep, I should have clarified - the RAFM example is a T.10 navigation / radio trainer, which originally had a 'solid' nose, the front turret being a later addition from the first restoration for display, to represent a 'typical' bomber configuration.
As mentioned, from those WW2 photos I've seen, and wartime footage, there was a 'solid' bulkhead over the insulation, directly behind the pilot's seat, as provided in the kit parts.
Incidentally, the RAFM Wellington was the actual aircraft used in the movie 'The Dam Busters' (still in overall 'silver' with yellow 'trainer' bands) for the scenes depicting Barnes Wallis and 'Mutt' Summers testing the first bombs.
Note that the Brooklands Museum web-site had a 'virtual tour' of the 'Loch Ness' Wellington, but I couldn't find it the last time I looked.

 

[Airframes]

Further to my response in Post #56, I've had a look at some more photos and, from what I can see, there does indeed seem to be a 'solid' bulkhead behind the pilot's seat.
Also, the recent Airfix 'new tool' 1/72nd scale kit also shows this bulkhead and, from what I remember, Airfix consulted both the RAFM and Brooklands aircraft when designing the kit.

 

[nsmekanik]

Here's one of the backside, it's off the net just can't remember where

 

[Crimea_River]

Excellent, thanks guys! The door is evident in the first 2 pics. I think I will make the bulkhead solid and paint it black. Not sure what the grille on the Eduard instructions is about as I don't see it in the second pic above.

 

[Wurger]