Tom's Mid-Ocean Wanderer **FINISHED**

[Ian]

Great progress. I haven't test-fitted my wings yet. Lets hope I don't need to fit a shim to mine, otherwise I'll be having to take my bomb bay out too.

[TomW]

Thanks Bruce and James, that mesh sounds just the ticket, I'll add a couple of sheets to my Huddersfield shopping list and Ian your Halibag is looking great, did you have any issues with the rear turret? Mine will have a whopping great gap between it and the rear fuselage fairing if I fit it as intended i.e moveable. I think I'll be cutting of the traverse mounting and mounting it further forward.

I know I said OOB but just like the Wellington on my Workbench thread I just can't stomach a see through fuselage or lack of floors when they're clearly visable, never used to bother me but modern kits have spoilt me a bit with supplied detail and now I can't leave well enough alone. So some rough and ready plasticard bulkheads cure the problem , piccies:




and with the nosecone tacked into place:



even unpainted they are hardly visable so the roughness of fit shouldn't pose any issues .

And hopefully this shot shows a minor improvement to wing angle, remember the nose isn't fitted yet so wont be this wonky (hopefully ):




More this evening everyone.

Regards

Tom

[Ian]

Yup on the rear turret. Clear daylight to the other side behind it.

[TomW]

Thanks Ian, I thought I had fitted the wrong backpiece to the turret glad to hear it's a feature of the kit.

Finished work till the 6th of March now so I can really enjoy the build of this Halifax even more. This is where things stand at the moment:




I have managed to get some time in the last few days and most of it has been spent in filling and sanding the sink marks near each of the fuselage attachment pins, I've nearly eliminated them all :






I've also continued to clean up and enhance the details on the engine nacelles, I've drilled out the chin intakes:



and thinned down the radiator outlet doors a little:




Nothing major but I'm hoping that time spent on these little details will pay off later.

Regards

Tom

[JamesPerrin]

Those little improvements are the things that give me the most satisfaction. Individually they don't add much but add them up and a you model is raised above the norm.

[TomW]

So true James. It is one of the things that has really come home to me in the last year, that the little details are what really make a model. So I'm trying to build my modelling skills by tackling these little things without resorting to aftermarket add-ons.



Not a huge amount of progress over this past afternoon, just lots of filling and sanding , I have fitted the nose section though:





I wish I hadn't


Still, such things are to be expected of a 30 year old model kit with multiple options. I relish the challenge

Regards

Tom

[shangos70]

Coming on nicely Tom . I hate those joins , I have a Privateer to do somewhere and its full of them .

[Jagewa]

Nice one Tom, engine details look good.

Cheers
Jim

[Molly-new]

Looking good so far Tom, I will be nicking the refinements on the engines for mine.

[bromo]

Great progress Tom, those improvements you have made make a difference as well.

[ShaunW]

This is looking like a challenge and a half - oh the joys of filling and sanding As you say though, it's to be expected of a kit of this vintage where the manufacturer provided for multiple options. You've made some good progress here though. I haven't got the wings on my effort yet!

[TomW]

As always gents I thoroughly appreciate the encouraging comments, especially with regards to my attempts at improving the base kit .

Had a busy weekend at Huddersfield with the CBK gang, spent far far too much money, but picked up a lot of very useful equipment and other assorted goodies. Chief amongst these were two different grades of fine metal mesh for me to try and scratch new radiators for the nacelles.

Here is attempt number one:








this is just a piece of thin plasticard shaped to match the inside of the nacelle and glued to match the curve of the prop boss with a square of the fine mesh carefully folded and superglued in place. What do you guys think?

Accurate it isn't but it is definately preferable to a blank plastic face in my books

Regards

Tom

[MerlinJones]

Mesh looks good, oh Coastal Command Guru!

[TomW]

Oh do behave Mr Leyland-Jones you and I both know that I know diddly-squat about Coastal Command.

Regards

Tom

[JamesPerrin]

Definitely worth the trip to Huddersfield in itself