Hi there

Well, I guess this could be a triumph of enthusiasm over common sense - but I'll make it official and start a thread for my Bombs Away build! The subject will be Fonderie Miniature's short-run 1/48 scale Halifax Mk.III.



Taking the picture of the boxtop could well be the last easy part of the project! I'll review the kit in the next week or so, and will post pics here as I make progress on the build - it's a good job Bombs Away is a long Campaign; I'll need all the time I can get to finish this monster...

All the best

Rowan

Sweet! And good luck!

I love big 1/48th scale bombers and have been on the fence on purchasing that Halifax, so I'll be happily following your progress on the build.

Hi Rowan!

I wish you good luck on this one... that's a HUGE project! Do you plan to add all the rivets! :-)
Off course you are doing the French decoration!

Jean-Luc

Hi Jean-Luc

You're absolutely right - photos of the full-sized aircraft show it was covered with absolutely thousands of raised rivets and actually could be clinker-built (at least in places) too! Of course, replicating these wouldn't be practical on a short-run injected kit - it'd probably be a recipe for disaster if they tried.

I'm still pondering what to do; the only real solution would be to skin the whole kit with individual pressed panels - and, for the sake of my sanity, I'm certainly not going to try that! But I may well add some embossed rivets to the plastic as a trompe l'oeil effect - it'll look far too clean without something, at least.

The colour scheme... that's still a long way off! There's plenty to worry about before making that decision...

All the best

Rowan

Blimey, this I've got to see :-) if this gets finished by the closing date I'll eat my shorts :-)
Seriously Rowan, nice one, all the hints in my top draw didn't get me one of these for christmas. There have been a couple built so it can be done, no excuses then
Mal

Merlin, nice choice cant wait to see it

tree

Hi Mal

:-) If ever there was encouragement to finish a model! I hope you have someone there to take a picture for us! :-)

Seriously, as daunting as this beastie is, I'm pretty stunned and incredibly grateful to have received such a wonderful Christmas present!

All the best

Rowan

Go Rowan go Rowan :-) . We should make this a campaign called " Pester Rowan to finish a kit " :-) .
Can't wait to see progress on this bomber.


Will you be wanting fries with that .
Andy (++)

Fries yes and super size me while your at it :-) I'm bozwellocksed if Rown does finish it
Mal

If there's been a review of this kit then I've missed it. What's it like Rowan? Obviously as a short-run kit it won't fall together like a hasemiya model would, but if it's not too bad I may just get one someday.

(Please complete it ontime - Mal eating his shorts in public would be a hoot!!

Hi Dave

I got the pics taken yesterday, all ready to write the In-Box review this week.

All the best

Rowan

I have total confidence in the fact that Rowan will not finish this kit, by the deadline of the "Bombs Away" campaign, my shorts are safe :-)
Mal

Mal - statements like that will make your nose grow :-)

Hi all!

I asked Rowan a favor lately, I wanted him to finish a kit for the "Teeth" Campaign... Rowan if you read this, I withdraw this request and I ask you to build that Halifax instead! :-)

Jean-Luc

Rowan, once you have made a promise you must keep it You know the Halifax is at least a year long project, so you might as well do the "Show us your Teeth" campaign
Mal

Cheers guys!

It's grea to have so many of you keen to see me live up to my New Year's Resolution and actually finish something! LOL!

At the moment I've got the following builds planned for 2006:

Bombs Away - Halifax
Show Your Teeth - P-40 Warhawk
Fighters Under The Midnight Sun - Lysander?
Flat-Tops - Grumman Hellcat
Club Med - Gloster Gladiator

On top of those, there are a JG300 Luftwaffe multi-build, still my old "Nightfighters" Defiant and review-builds.

I hope this list doesn't come back to haunt me too badly this time next year - I'd like to have crossed off at least a few as "completed".

Plus, of course, we all want to see the photo of Mal eating his shorts! :-)

All the best

Rowan

Hi there

Some pictures to send shivers through Mal's shorts! :-)

Well here's a surprise - not least to me! - I've actually made a tentative start.

FM supply sidewalls to fit inside the nose area. This is a good idea in principle, because it avoids the potential problem of sink marks caused by the heavy interior framework. Of course, this being a short-run kit, "in principle" is actually a way of say that they bring their own new problems; namely the sidewalls bear no resemblance to the contours of the fuselage!



The two obvious answers are to:
a. Build a new framework from scratch, or
b: Sand the parts until they are flexible enough to fit.

I've tried the latter, sanding until the parts are wafer thin:



and the result isn't bad:



I still may end up (at least partly) scratch building because, as is clear in the last picture, the framework doesn't reach around the roof. It's also tempting to carry on sanding to leave just the framework - it seems strong enough to stand it. We'll see...

It's obviously very early days, but first impressions of FM's Halifax are that you need to approach it rather like a vacuform - you just have the advantage that the major parts have already been basically prepared for you. Every part will need major clean-up and refining, but the basis is definitely here for a very impressive model.

I'll post again as and when...

Rowan

Rowan, I truly feel for you! I received a belated Xmas present, Airfix’s Halifax B.III. Upon opening it I thought there might be a Braille code accidentally stuck to the plastic. Looking at various sites, especially Elvington and RCAF Memorial Museum’s reconstruction of their Halifax Bombers, it looks like they have the raised detail about correct.

To add all those rivets would drive me mad (better you than me). :-)

Go Rowan! Go! :-) ... and don´t let Mal discourage you with those rivets! They are barely visible in 1/48 scale... in fact you can´t see them anymore on such a small model! Simply forget those bloody rivets... :-)

Jean-Luc

Looking good rowan, how long did it take to get that side wall to fit and how many parts are there to this thing?

My shorts are safe :-)
Mal

Don't worry Mal

This certainly won't be a quick build..., but Bombs Away doesn't finish until Dec. 31st - there's plenty of time for you to buy a new pair of knickers! :-)

All the best

Rowan

Hi again

As promised, I'm finally going to make a serious start this weekend! The first obstacle in a small, over-cluttered workshop is simply finding space to tackle the beast...

The next is that the rather flexible fuselage halves and the wings need a lot of cleaning-up to get decent gluing-surfaces before the real work can even really begin. In a way, tackling this injected kit needs a similar approach to building a vacuform - so I've attached abrasive-paper to a piece of wood (to give some idea of the size of the kit - the wood is from a self-assembly bookshelf kit!):



The wings are going to need massive thinning to overcome the slab-like trailing edges, so I think the vacuum cleaner's motor is going to get over-strained clearing up after this stage of the project!

Ohh well, time to stop talking about it and to get on with the sanding! :-)

All the best

Rowan

Hi Rowan,

Looking good. Try and get it done for the Nats then we can make Mal eat his shorts in public at the biggest show in the UK. Know that has to be worth getting it finished :-)

Ross

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA,
Great minds and all that!
You beat me to it Ross,,I was just thinking the same thing!!
Rowan,,take the next 2 months off work to finish this and I'll bring the camcorder to Telford!
Nige

Ha ha, Rowan can't get to Telford, My shorts are safe :-)
Mal