Coastal Command Neptune (Revell 1/72nd)

[bluesteel]

Nice bit of surgery there.

My favorite Lethbridge-Stewart quotation is "Just once I'd like to meet an alien menace which wasn't immune to bullets!"

Yep, Lethbridge-Stewart was one of the best foils for the Doctors character that the series has had I think. The new U.N.I.T. doesn't seem to have such sustainable characters, which is a pity.

[bluesteel]

Feeling around for seams that need addressing with the first coat of primer while I start assembling the engine nestles:

[Dirkpitt289]

Looking good.

[bluesteel]

Engine pods assembled and attached. Then I realised that two small blisters either side of the nose needed removing for the RAF version, which was easy. But also the larger undertail blister needed removing. I should have done that before sealing the fuselage. A bit of surgery removed it OK, but recessing and filling the hole with plastic card was a bit trick, but seems to have worked:

[Robin]

Hi Blue.

Sorry not to have replied to you sooner, unfortunately I have been rather busy this week with my RAF charity work, plus not feeling too good, also getting ready for my eldest Daughters wedding on Sunday, what it is to be retired. I have a spare copy of the Dec 83 SAM, and I will get a photocopy of the Neptune conversion article from the Oct 80 SAM, there is also an article that I have seen in a book by Bryan Philpott "Making Model Aircraft" from PSL which covers a RAF P2V5 conversion from the Hasegawa kit. Be in touch.

Robin.

[bluesteel]

Hi Blue.

Sorry not to have replied to you sooner, unfortunately I have been rather busy this week with my RAF charity work, plus not feeling too good, also getting ready for my eldest Daughters wedding on Sunday, what it is to be retired. I have a spare copy of the Dec 83 SAM, and I will get a photocopy of the Neptune conversion article from the Oct 80 SAM, there is also an article that I have seen in a book by Bryan Philpott "Making Model Aircraft" from PSL which covers a RAF P2V5 conversion from the Hasegawa kit. Be in touch.

Robin.

Thanks for the offer Robin, but I now have a copy of the article as Paul Bradley had it in his collection and scanned it for me. It's been useful already as it reminded me I had to remove the blisters on the sides of the nose and under the tail.

Julian

[Robin]

Hi Julian, no problem.

Rather interestingly, I was at a charities exhibition yesterday to be presented with a cheque for my charity, one of the other charities had a pile of second hand books on their stand, and amongst them I found a very good copy of the Airfix Annual No 4, knowing that someone may want a copy one day I bought it, you never know.

Robin.

[bluesteel]

I spent quite a while tonight tidying up and painting the fist block of engine cylinders:





Only to discover when the cowling is on virtually nothing can be seen. So I won't be spending so much time on the second one...

[bluesteel]

Engines in place, ready for cowling:





I also found four more small fuselage blisters that needed removing too.

[Dirkpitt289]

Those engines look great

[bluesteel]

Those engines look great

Yes, the kit has nice engines. Just a shame you can't see anything of them what so ever then the cowlings are put on...

[bluesteel]

Engine cowlings now on as well as the exhausts and cowling flaps, they were not the best of fits and very fiddly to glue in place. The an exploratory priming for the underside to highlight any areas needing further work:

[Dirkpitt289]

Those engines look great

Yes, the kit has nice engines. Just a shame you can't see anything of them what so ever then the cowlings are put on...

I was going to say something about that in my last post but thought better of it. Its not all that uncommon though.

[bluesteel]

Top now primed:

[bluesteel]

I've now undertaken the rather alarming surgery on the canopy to cut off the top bubbled part and replace with flat clear plastic card. It doesn't look too bad, it's still very slightly bubbled on the side, but it's hardly noticeable. Without the Falcon vacform canopy I think it's as close as I'll get.