Revell BAe Hawk T1 (Red Arrows 2014)

We've just passed through another one of those early summer heatwaves, with temps pushing their way up to 95. On those days, in a house with no a/c (like most in the Northwest) about all you can do is carry your electric fan around and plug it in wherever you plan to be for more than 30 seconds and sweat a lot. So no significant modelling work, certainly no painting, has been completed in the last couple of weeks. Plus I still haven't gotten the workbench straightened out after the work to reconfigure the hobby room so things are pretty inconvenient at present. However, I do still have a couple of completions to report.

First comes another in a long series of BAe Hawks (as well as a short series of Red Arrows variations). The only difference is that this particular model is the new-tool Revell Hawk. Although it is pressed in red plastic - which I hate - the fit was decent. There were some details you don't usually see on Hawks, like the pipes over the exhaust that generate their smoke. Otherwise, the construction is pretty standard. I used the kit decals, which went on fine with a little Super Sol. These are the most current markings, not including the 50th anniversary scheme that was on during that summer. All else being equal, I still prefer the modified Airfix Hawk T1.

Basically an uneventful build, which is nice to have once in a while just to be different.

This is completed aircraft #464 (#31 for the year), finished in May of 2016.

Airfix Bristol Blenheim

We now come to the sad tale of the Airfix Blenheim.

Since I do like early war aircraft, I was glad to see the recent Airfix releases of the Do-17, ragwing Hurricane, and Blenheim, especially given the overall quality of the last few Airfix kits that I had built. So it wasn't too long after I acquired the beastie that it found a place in my production queue.

And here my troubles began. I believe the origin was in my creation of the pilot seat. It is in multiple pieces, and (IMO) is not very well explained in the instructions. So of course I got it wrong, leading to the seat itself being too wide. There is so little room in the cockpit that such an error pushes other bits out of proper alignment. This lack of internal alignment exponentially increases the main difficulty of the kit: the canopy is in 3 pieces that don't really want to cooperate with each other. Even if they did, getting a good bond between all those clear bits is extremely difficult without glue damaging the clear panes. Then, as a final insult, once you get the cockpit enclosure together, it really does not want to fit onto the rest of the fuselage. Worse, the multipart nacelles and the engines - especially the forward exhaust ring - just don't want to cooperate either. 

I can fess up to many of these failings being my own. I have seen the kit built by better modellers (one actually won Best Aircraft at the recent IPMS-Seattle Spring Show) and those skilled fellows can turn it into a show-stopper. But for me it was practically a construction-stopper with a short sharp shock and a trip to a local landfill.

But my credo for this blog is to finish what I started, so I labored on to the end of the process. It is definitely a model that will be assigned a dark corner of the display cabinet. To put a bitter coda on the experience, I still had only semigloss sealer at the time this one was finished, so the model ended up being too glossy as well.

Time to concentrate on Hurricanes (which is a wonderully engineered little beauty), though this does make me suspicious of the Do-17.

This is completed aircraft #462 (#29 for the year), finished in April of 2016.

Working on the hobby dungeon

Wishing everyone a pleasant Memorial Day. Here in western Washington, we have a very sunny and pleasant 72 degrees, perfect weather for firing up the grill and cooking some ribs and a bison sirloin. Along with a crockpot full of homemade gutbuster baked beans, that should be enough to wreck my digestive system for the next couple of days at least.

I finally got the hobby room remodel project to an acceptable phase yesterday. The HDTV has been moved upstairs, most of the painting in the room is complete, and all the electronics have been hooked up and tested. We watched "Jurassic World" last night as a premiere session, and have "Star Wars 7" on tap for this week.

It's not modelling per se (though you can glimpse the edge of my workbench in the photo below) but it is most of what I've been concentrating on this week. I haven't gotten any of the wall adornments back up yet - a clock and movie posters of the original "Ghostbusters", original "Terminator", and a favorite from the 80s, "Brainstorm". But that is work for later in the week.

Modelling content to return shortly!

Matchbox Noorduyn Norseman

Today's completion is one of those odd projects that take on a life of its own. I originally had a notion to build a Noorduyn Norseman, a chunky transport aircraft of the type I seem to like, in American olive drab and gray markings. But that isn't exactly the world's most inspiring set of markings. So off I went to a google search to see what else was available.

Lo, I found myself a Norseman model from the British Army, in green and brown wraparound. Basic decals (though I would need to assemble the serial number from individual bits) and it was a wheeled variant, which I prefer. So I saved the model photo and started work. I'm always up for a good Brit scheme.

As the model was under construction, I began getting notes with skepticism that the Norseman ever served with the Brit army. I went back to my photo, tracing it to an ARC posting. And then I noticed the date of the posting - April 1, 2011. Oy. I'll admit to feeling pretty sheepish at that point, since I never even checked before adopting the photo. But then I do have a tendency to charge ahead, occasionally without looking to see what I'm about to run into.

But y'know, I had not long before finished a what-if 1:72 B-36, for heaven's sake. I've done numerous whifs in the past. So I certainly wasn't going to let the fact that the plane never existed stop me. It would simply be my version of what a Norseman in the British army would look like.

The kit is the elderly Matchbox plastic, but it still assembles very well considering its age. Some of the transparencies are a bit tricky and don't want to seat into their assigned spots. A couple of windows I left until after painting and filled with Kristal Kleer. This however caused some downstream issues since the open windows allowed sprayed paint into the cabin and affected the main forward windscreen. Next time (and the second Norseman is already in process) I will definitely install and mask all windows in order to prevent the overspray.

Markings came from Xtradecal white lettering, and as I mentioned the serial number was assembled (badly) with individual numbers. That is meticulous work and my inborn impatience got the better of me on that one. But it didn't come out too badly overall. The second Norseman will be a real world commercial aircraft from Ear Falls Airways. There might even be a third on the horizon, since I have the Lima November Norseman sheet.

This is completed aircraft #461 (#28 for the year), finished in April of 2016.

Huma Junkers Ju-287

Over the years, I have built probably 70% of the models that Huma released in their line. I loved them in the old days, and was sorry to hear that they folded up a decade or so back. There are still a few I haven't attempted - mostly biplanes - but I decided in 2014 that I was going to start one of the larger and more distinctive shapes that they put out: the Junkers Ju-287.

The Ju-287 was developed in response to a couple of very specific requirements - outrun enemy fighters and deliver a significant bomb load - and used a variety of experimental technologies - forward swept wings and jet engines. This wasn't one of the purely paper Luft46 designs; the airframe was actually built and flown. It actually accomplished 17 flight tests before being put into long storage in early 1945 as things in Germany were in the process of complete collapse.

There were a number of planned variations on layout. I believe Planet has done one or more of these alternate Ju-287s in resin. But this Huma kit is glorious plastic, and even incorporates the last of Huma's innovations: what amounts to plastic photoetch. These bits (mostly cockpit or RATO struts) are devilishly delicate, and require attention while using them. But at least they can be glued using regular plastic glue and don't require cyanoacrylate.

This kit was just started prior to the great Lost Year of 2015, so it was one of the first I got back to work on post surgery in early 2016. It does require some attention to the seams, especially around the forward jet pods, and the canopy masking takes a while, but it is a very buildable kit. The forward landing gear are also very delicate and broke off during the painting process. I just painted them separately and reattached after decals. The decals themselves are from the kit in some cases and from spares (mostly crosses and swatstikas) in others.

It is not a small model, probably comparable to a B-25 in size. I'm fairly happy with it, and it joins the other completed Huma kits in the display case. I'm still eyeing the Triebflugel, but haven't decided to make the jump just yet.

This is completed aircraft #460 (#27 for the year), finished in March of 2016.

Airfix Hawker Hurricane ragwing

I'm going to try and work my way through the backlog of completed projects since I haven't spent much time at the workbench recently. Today's completion is the latest in a long line of Hurricanes, but there is a difference.

This the relatively new-tool ragwing Hurricane. It is really a delightful kit, especially since I was rassling with the Blenheim during much of the time I was getting this one done. Nice detail, good engineering, restrained panel lines, and a Hurricane variant that I had never built before. Can't get much better than that.

Decals were more of an issue. Early war Hurricanes are fairly boring in terms of markings. Lots of letter code combinations, and a few underside variations, so I decided that I would steer clear of RAF markings for this one. As it happens, the other option in the box is for the Belgian AF. Probably not one I would normally choose, but I do have a subset of foreign Hurricanes, so I figured why not. As with the recent Airfix decals I've used, they went on with the use of a little MicroSol quite nicely.

This kit may also be the best gateway to a Hurricane prototype. Someone needs to do the canopy and exhausts; we already have decals. 

Fairly satisfied with this one, though there are always things I should have been a bit more patient with. It is the 19th Hurricane in my display case. Next up will be a captured German version.

This is completed aircraft #459 (#26 for the year), finished in March of 2016.

A setback

Unfortunately I have to report a minor setback in the recovery of the king of 72 Land. Last Saturday night, around 4.30am, I had to make a late night bathroom stop. I was feeling pretty lightheaded anyway, and as I was returning to bed - or trying to - I passed out and landed on the floor next to the tub. My wife, understandably, freaked, and apparently I was out for a couple of minutes. I have a recollection of going down at a high rate of speed, but then nothing until I started to come out of it. Lots of dry heaving and sweating later (hope no one googles that phrase and ends up here by mistake), I was pretty much back to normal. I decided not to make an ER visit unless things developed badly from there. Pretty scary stuff.

So the main question was whether the implanted defibrillator fired. If it did, that would mean there was a fatal arrhythmia going on. If not, there was some other explanation.

Won't bore you with the details, but the device did not fire. It appears that this was a manifestation of the low blood pressure readings I've been getting in the last couple of weeks. A visit to the cardiologist and they're in the process of adjusting my BP meds. Hopefully this is a one-time experience.

I haven't been at the workbench too much in the last week. I did get a chance to mask the Hasegawa Eurofighter. Next up at the masking station is an RAF B-17.

Tug, the secret power behind the throne here, was not too thrilled with the weekend's excitement. 

Hopefully we will be back to our regular 72Land programming shortly.