Toms Czech Wellington **Finished**

[TomW]

After a bit of umming and ahhing I've decided on a Matchbox Wellington as my build for this GB. Mainly because (a) it is a fairly simple and easy build perfect for a GB and (b) the finished kit completes another missing type for the Coastal Command SIG. Its always nice to kill two birds with one stone after all

On to the customary opening post photo's:

















The markings that I'm planning to use depict aircraft 'Z' of 311(Czech) squadron RAF Coastal Command in 1943.

Looking forward to the 1st so I can get stuck into this one.

Regards

Tom

[PaulBradley]

Nice choice, Tom.

[Brickie]

How did the Czechs, from a completely landlocked country, end up in Coastal Command?

[TomW]

Well.....

The Czech crews of 311 Squadron were originally a Bomber Command unit that formed in 1940 on Wellington I's, after a plea from Coastal for more Lancaster and Halifax squadrons to try and plug the Atlantic Gap in 1942 they were transferred to Coastal instead. Mostly because 'Bomber' Harris would never release the long range aircraft, because he felt that continued heavy raids were the way to win the war.

311 were a fairly successful squadron in Coastal Command service. They took part in the sinkings of 6 U-boats as well as the sinking of the German blockade runner Alsterufer using Wellingtons and later Liberators.


Regards

Tom

[MDT]

Looking forward to see how this goes.The CC seems to suit the Wellington so well.
Have to admit the old Matchbox Wellington is a childhood favourite of mine.

[TomW]

And we're off just a gentle start today with some interior painting; for which I've tried acrylic Humbrol 78, assembly of the basic cockpit and getting the turrets together. I've also fitted the glazing to both fuselage halves as it cant be fitted later in the build. This means I'll have to be careful when filling and sanding as it can be all to easy to push the glazing pieces in by mistake (guess how I found that out )

Photos:









Regards

Tom

[PaulBradley]

Tom, what I do with internal glazing parts is to bathe them in Future/Klear, let them set overnight, then superglue them in place. The clear coat prevents fogging. Works for me every time - in fact, I just did that with my Caproni.

[fredk]

As Paul says. I use a glue looper to deposit superglue to the edge of the clear part, then it wicks all the way round.

[TomW]

Thanks for the advice guys I'll give that a try next time round. For now I've made sure that the pieces cant pop out by drowning them inside with PVA its worked on a certain Skyraider I'm building at the moment so it should work here. I'll post up more progress photo's tonight once I'm back from work to show the turrets and the nose sub-assemblies that I've finished so far.

I've also found my Xtradecal sheet which has a couple of other CC Wellingtons on it. So now I'm torn between the LeO451 or a Trumpeter Wellington as a second GB entry.


**EDIT**

Now with photo's

Wings are together:






Like I said the fuselage glazing inserts are in and hopefully not going anywhere:






And the turrets and front fuselage insert are together:






I've even managed to make sure the moving parts still move :






More at the weekend.

Regards

Tom

[VickersVandal]

Looking good so far. Like all Matchbox, I found this kit a delight to build.

Tom, what I do with internal glazing parts is to bathe them in Future/Klear, let them set overnight, then superglue them in place. The clear coat prevents fogging. Works for me every time - in fact, I just did that with my Caproni.

I might switch to this method. I use white glue but I find it's very easy to dislodge them, particularly smaller transparencies.

[TomW]

I actually got to spend a whole afternoon at the workbench today and the result is a buttoned up Wellington fuselage:






I also fitted the nose insert and the gaps aren't too bad for a Matchbox kit:






Whilst that lot was setting up I moved on to the wings, nacelles and engines. Just a quick bit of drybrushing and an oily wash for the engines brought the detail out nicely:








Next stage is to go gap and seam hunting with my favourite filler. The worst offender is the upper fuselage seam which opened up after glueing. It has been re-glued but needs a bit of tidying up Once that is done I'll get the wings and tailplanes on.

Regards

Tom

[Martin R]

Quick work, Tom!

[iggie]

That's coming on fast and well!

[MDT]

Engines look good - blitzing this one!

[Molly-new]

Coming together nicely.