Simon's Kastor

[SJPONeill]

This is the Classic Plane conversion of the Mach 2 Blohm & Voss Bv-142 back to the original airliner version...it includes new resin fuselage and clear parts with the original kit...building the original as the Luftwaffe version would have been somewhat problematic as the clear parts quite simply aren't - not that there's much to see inside...

From a quick comparison of the parts on the sprues it looks like they will all marry up reasonably well, so the only challenge will hopefully be adding some cockpit detail - no point in developing the passenger compartment as the windows are tiny...

Colour scheme is essentially the same as the FW-200 and G-38 airliners: light grey all over with black nacelles...

[SJPONeill]

PS: better pics of what's in the box once I get some more camera batteries next week...

[bromo]

Another monster were going to have some rather large models with this GB

[SJPONeill]

It's actually not that big - the box it's in the the pic is just a normal A4 filing box so only about 12"x9" and the wings are really short...

I am still keen to have a crack at doing the Bv-238 but I'm doing two jobs at the moment so available spare time has been somewhat diminished...

[SJPONeill]

Curses - did a run into town today and forgot the damn camera batteries!!! Will have to make do with the phone for another week or so...

Am prepping hard for this GB - loads of chin-ups, sit-ups, skipping, etc - there isn't a great of info on details in either the original kit rf the conversion, and precious little on either version on that interweb thingie.

As they are about the same era, I wondering if anyone has the instructions for the Revell Condor airliner from about the mid-90s? If some kind soul does, could they please tell me what the main colours for the cabin interior and main gear bays are, and also if the nacelles are also black on the undersides?

The cabin windows are quite small so I'm not going to build an interior but would like to get the interior shade rightish...

Any assistance much appreciated...

[SJPONeill]

Ok here are the 142 parts in more detail, and now that we have passed the kick-off time, I have separated out the unnecessary parts from the original kit and added in the resin conversion parts from Classic Plane...

Main parts: four limited run injected sprues that feel like fine sandpaper, and in lighter green some very nice resin parts...



Instructions for the conversion parts:



...but you still need the original instructions for the rest of the aircraft, shown here with the civil decal sheet which I will ensure to scan before attempting to apply...



...and here are the discarded parts from the Luftwaffe version...these may appear on a Queen Mary one day...

[SJPONeill]

Didn't do much else last night except start preparing parts for assembling, removing the massive injection stubs from the Mach 2 parts and sanding off the fine remnants of the Classic Plane resin pours...

[SJPONeill]

Got some minor sub-assemblies done last night - always nice to see the first parts even if quite small, assembled - contributes to a sense of assembly...

No major issues so far - although the injection stubs on the Mach 2 parts are massive the plastic is quite malleable and they clean up easily enough...

The interior of the fuselage seems to be a light grey or silver paint but I'm having trouble with the interior colours for the nacelles and undercarriage bays - the military version calls for RLM 02 but I'm not sure that would be the same for a civil version...anyone have any thoughts on this?

[dknights]

A Classic Plane conversion of a Mach 2 kit? Sir, you are a man among men. I congratulate your testicular fortitude.

[SJPONeill]

Cheers...I'll take any compliment offered but actually, I have to say that I am quite impressed with the Mach 2 kit after all the bad press I have heard about Mach 2 in general over the years...so far the parts are going together well with none of the legendary Mach 2 fit issues - the clear parts leave a bit to be desired but that is not exactly uncommon amongst limited run kits - personally, I'd prefer vac canopies but we don't always get what we want...I only own one other Classic Plane model and that is the vacform Staaken E.4/20 airliner - still unbuilt but looks OK - certainly none of the warning signs of a potentially feral vacform...

Righty-ho, then...progress today has been limited as it has been an outside day, finally getting the new sump dug-in by the garage...actually did it twice and the first attempt wedged itself sideways in the hole and was sitting too high - damn that thing was heavy....anyway, have done some more research on the issue of colour for the nacelle and gear bay interiors: found so good info at Britmodeller and have it down to choice of light grey, silver or trusty RLM 02. I think it'll be a toss-up between the silver paint as this was quite a common anti-corrosion finish in this period or the RLM 02 because it is easy - either one will offset the overall light grey of the exterior...if silver the for gear bays, then it'll be silver for the interior; if 02 for the bays then light grey for the fuselage interior as the pictures I have certainly (even in B&W) look like 02...

[JamesPerrin]

I'm intrigued to see this one come together. Not my bag but it's unusual looking with that skinny fuselage and almost as thick wings.

[SJPONeill]

You're right, James, it does look quite odd with that beautifully delicate fuselage and the blunt slab wings...

Progress has been slow this week. I started today with the best of intentions of doing some of the interior painting but the sun came out and I got drawn into a bunch of jobs around the house and by the time the days started to cool off, I found myself quite knackered...

I did, however, take the time to sort out my various silver paints and have decided on Humbrol Silver Fox for the interiors and Citadel Mithril Silver for the alloy gear legs etc...

[JohnRatzenberger]

So maybe the B&V and A.W. designers were related ?

[bromo]

That is a strange looking aircraft,real aerodynamic looking fuselage and then big slab like wings,looking forward to seeing it take shape.

[SJPONeill]

You'd have to be crying, though, wouldn't you?! Mach 2 as a base kit, with vac conversion bits. Ordinarily, the vac bits would be the weaker of the links in a conversion

Resin conversion bits although Classic Plane does do vac bits as well for some of its other conversions...

Maybe I've just got lucky with the one iteration of a kit from Mach 2 that is actually quite buildable - their biggest weakness does seem to be clear parts and I think they would be better off just subcontracting this out, but the rest of the model looks OK. Sure the weapons for the original Luftwaffe version are just little blobby things but these are easy enough to replace from after-market and/or the spares box, but really it is going together quite nicely so far and I am seriously regretting not crash-tackling the guy I saw carrying a Mach 2 Ju-352 out of the Kit Swap area at Telford or picking up the Mach 2 Valiant that was going for a whopping 5 pounds...

Of course, having made such sweeping statements ringing with positivity, the hammer is about to fall...