Easter Monday - 1st April 2024
I am champing (how's that for a classy word?) at the bit to continue my project on the Eden Way but bad weather, especially the cold, which bothers me more than it used to, has intervened. And every time there has been a weather window it has coincided with some appointment or other.
I will return!
Meanwhile, after being encouraged by the use of an after market masking set for the cockpit windows on the Beaufort, I have embarked on what is probably one of the most windowed planes ever - the Avro Anson. Having all those windows lends itself to some illumination of the more than average detailed cockpit, so I have included an LED in the cockpit and also on the wing taxying light. They are now sealed in forever and I do hope they will work in spite of my rustic soldering skills when all is completed. I did test them at the last opportunity, but we all know about the Christmas tree lights that you put away in working order only to find non-doing when unpacked a year later.
The Anson was a general purpose aircraft but it had its moments in combat - from info that came with the kit:
"N9732 (the aircraft I am modelling) crewed by Pilot Officer Philip Peters, Sergeant D. Spencer and Leading Aircraftsman Pepper, from No 500 (county of Kent) Squadron RAF Detling, Kent shot down two ME 109s in the English Channel on June 1st 1940."
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| Note the anglepoise lamp over the chart table. |
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| I mocked up some seat belts that were not included |
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| Here you can see the masking set with some of its contents peeled off and applied. That means the windows can be put on the model. The items will first be sprayed with cockpit green so that is visible as the interior colour, and then over-sprayed when the main painting of the model follows. Applying the masking is like brain surgery but quite therapeutic and satisfying. NB a cotton bud above the unmasked window to give some scale. |
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| These two halves of the rear gun turret are only about 2 cms. in width so you get some idea of how small is each individual piece of masking. They are still attached to part of the sprue which gives attachment for a crocodile clip for handling. |
I feel the furcation. Better weather must be on the way.
ReplyDelete'frustation'
ReplyDeleteBC - There is such a word, not that I knew it, but the Oxford Dictionary tells me it relates to splitting in two, so perhaps there is some analogy comparing my walking and modelling ambitions?
ReplyDeleteAnsons were the planes most often seen in the sky from Gordon Terrace. Possibly exceded by Harvards (Were Hs always painted yellow or is this a facet of my retro-imagination?)
ReplyDeleteRR - that colour was generally used for RAF training aircraft. I remember Father telling us, in assertive manner, on our visits to Yeadon aerodrome that Harvards were "noisy."
ReplyDeleteRR - I did make a model of the Harvard. Yellow is a difficult colour to handle and is best provided with an initial white undercoat. See my post from some time back including a You Tube short video confirming Father's opinion.
ReplyDeletehttps://conradwalks.blogspot.com/2022/09/a-boyhood-memory.html
I saw an advert for battleship and other naval vessels models with 1650 to 1800 parts - all for only 60-80GBP: your time in the air is due for a splashdown, perhaps . . .
ReplyDeletegimmer - any particular British WW2 RN ship you would recommend. Preferably one with a glorious history rather than a heroic end? It's winning that matters, not taking part? A debatable maxim?
ReplyDeleteThe KGV class are probably the best known - and most survived the war (except the P o W, of course) but maybe the most interesting were the two 'sisters', the Nelson and the Rodney - the only ones with 16" guns in the fleet. Try fitting those into the model !
ReplyDeleteThere is the usual very informative wiki article about them all.
I believe you can get good 'professional' kits of a examples of both classes.