Narses2's Blog - or what I'm slowly making progress on

[NARSES2]

Right got started again after the hiatus caused by the stash reshuffle. Still need to sort and identify the Humbrol Authentics I found however 

Started with an Academy Tempest and as 2015 is the Year of the Twin and because the resin shelves had raised a petition complaining about being ignored for a bit a Czechmaster Welkin. This will be real world as I could only come up with one scenario and have decided to save that for the night fighter version I have 

[Thorvic]

Wot no Heinkel !!!! 

[PR19_Kit]

A Welkin! 

Now THERE'S an aircraft that DOESN'T need longer wings. 

[kitnut617]

a Czechmaster Welkin. This will be real world as I could only come up with one scenario and have decided to save that for the night fighter version I have 

I've got both the Mk.I and NF.II in the stash.  In one of the back-issues of Air-Britain's Aeromilitaria, there's an article about what Westland was going to do to make the Welkin go faster (didn't matter how more powerful the engines were, it would only go so fast before the wing stalled at speed), they had an answer to the wing problem which was to increase the chord length by 20%. I'm planning on doing that to the NF.II

[Rick Lowe]

A Welkin! 

Now THERE'S an aircraft that DOESN'T need longer wings. 

 
...Who are you, and what have you done with the real Kit??

 

[PR19_Kit]

A Welkin! 

Now THERE'S an aircraft that DOESN'T need longer wings. 

 
...Who are you, and what have you done with the real Kit??

 

Hehehe. 

Well alright, it could maybe do with another 30 ft or so. 

[Rick Lowe]

A Welkin! 

Now THERE'S an aircraft that DOESN'T need longer wings. 

 
...Who are you, and what have you done with the real Kit??

 

Hehehe. 

Well alright, it could maybe do with another 30 ft or so. 

That's Better! 

[NARSES2]

Wot no Heinkel !!!! 

I'm still looking at it and purring Geoff  Besides I want to find out what the bits at the tail are that they want you to chop off in stage 6 ? Be rude not to know before I wield the knife  . I'll probably get her started next weekend.

[NARSES2]

a Czechmaster Welkin. This will be real world as I could only come up with one scenario and have decided to save that for the night fighter version I have 

I've got both the Mk.I and NF.II in the stash.  In one of the back-issues of Air-Britain's Aeromilitaria, there's an article about what Westland was going to do to make the Welkin go faster (didn't matter how more powerful the engines were, it would only go so fast before the wing stalled at speed), they had an answer to the wing problem which was to increase the chord length by 20%. I'm planning on doing that to the NF.II

I read up on that after you'd mentioned it previously  It's beyond me I'm afraid mate but I'll be interested in seeing it done. Mine is going to be RAF attached to the BPF base at Manaus to keep off some Japanese recce jobs. In all honesty their Airships were determined to justify the expense of the project and were owed a favour by their Lordships at the Admiralty. So they got sent out there to pass away quietly 

[Thorvic]

Wot no Heinkel !!!! 

I'm still looking at it and purring Geoff  Besides I want to find out what the bits at the tail are that they want you to chop off in stage 6 ? Be rude not to know before I wield the knife  . I'll probably get her started next weekend.

I think they may be fixed tail guns in alt locations as I think only space for one in the tail cone

[NARSES2]

That's what I thought but I can't find any information on them in any of my books. I'm building a very early war version which won't have them anyway but I was intrigued.

The build in the Airfix Magazine didn't mention them either

[Thorvic]

That's what I thought but I can't find any information on them in any of my books. I'm building a very early war version which won't have them anyway but I was intrigued.

The build in the Airfix Magazine didn't mention them either

That help 

[NARSES2]

It does indeed Geoff. I never knew about that at all - thank you

So do we assume a future H-3 variant ? Finally tracked down a reference in one of my William Green books

[Captain Canada]

I bought that Airfix mag this week. Hey, if we can't have the kits at least we can read the article ! lol

[NARSES2]

Right some progress this week  

The Welkin is basically together but I've had a problem with her and it may well be down to the size of the wings   The wing/fuselage joint was the one problem area in the casting of this kit. There had obviously been a large air bubble which had then opened up and left very little joining surface. Anyway I fixed that and then put a spar into each wing to take some of the weight of the things. I couldn't put a spar through the fuselage as it would have gone through the detailed cockpit "tub". Anyway wings are on and I'm cleaning up the joint which needed a bit of work at the front and "crack" the fuselage has opened up ! Now part has opened up along the join, which has had a week or so to dry but the nose appears to have split along a very fine hairline crack to the left of the join   In all honesty it's wasn't a problem to fix as the crack was very fine. So now I'm going to leave it for a few days before gently getting back to sorting the wing joint out. I just wonder if the weight of the wings and the downward moment pulled the fuselage halves apart ?

The Tempest is also together and the quite large amount of work I've done is being cleaned up. So far I'm quite please with this.

Started on one of my Telford builds yesterday and basically got her together by this afternoon. Another Airfix Mk I Hurricane. This one will have a pair of Freightdog's 20mm cannon pods and be in desert colours for the early War period. So probably brown/stone over sky ? As this is a production cannon Hurricane I'm thinking of retaining two Browning's per wing as well as the 20mm's. Hopefully remember to keep the box top for the display as discussed previously. I've also used the Yahu pre-printed instrument panel on this. Very neat and a lot simpler to use to the Eduard one, you just stick it to the existing panel. Also cheaper. Eduard probably have the edge in overall terms but if you just want an enhanced panel have a look at their range 

Building this got me thinking. Now in the real world we have Hurricane Mk I, Mk II A, B, C & D and Mk IV. Now if the Mk I had been produced with 20mm cannon would that have been the Mk I B ? Therefore might the 12 gun Hurricane II have been the Mk C, whilst the cannon armed one was the B ?