RNZAF Wellington Mk I

[Bruce]

Hi guys,
thought I would post a few pictures of my Wellington Mark I as mentioned in another thread (thanks for all the suggestions, and especially Talon for producing some awesome white serials)
This is NZ300, one of only 6 Wellingtons to wear NZ serials, used for training the NZ flight prior to ferrying the Wimpys back to NZ. the 30 NZ machines were later handed back to the RAF and the NZ flight eventually became 75 sqn. The first 6 machines were Mark Is with Armstrong manual gun turrets, which in NZ training do notappear to have carried guns. All the NZ machines were to be delivered straight off the production lines, but were finished in standard prewar RAF colours.
This model is a hybrid kit using parts of an MPC (US marketed Airfix) Mark III and a Mark IB produced by an unidentified Russian company (Bought it on eBay without a box) which I suspect may be based on the Frog Kit. The Russian fuselage had the right Window arrangement (above the wings) but the MPC kit had a better representation of the Geodetic pattern on the wings, and generally less "chunky" moldings of the undercarriage etc. I had to build a vac forming machine (something I was meaning to do for a while) and molded the Armstrong turrets over Fimo moulds.
other minor differences for the mark 1 are exhausts on the outer side ofthenacelles ratherthan the inboard, and the lower airscoops moved from the nacelles onto the cowlings. The model doesnt have much internal detail added and wouldnt be a prizewinner, but I wanted a model of an unusual Wimpy Variant in a historically important RNZAF scheme. anyway, heres the pics:









Talons Under wing Serial decals:



As an aside, it is worth noting that very few of the NZ Wellington order actually served with 75 sqn, contrary to popular belief. all the mark Is went to various OTUs according to "ADF Serials".
It would be interesting to conside what colour schemes the Wimpys would have worn had they reached NZ, the RAF night bomber scheme wouldnt have been much good in NZ, especially if the aircraft were used for maritime reconnaissance. Perhaps the RAF Ocean Grey / Slate Grey / Sky scheme - what about "Pacific" blue?

[Dave Homewood]

Well done Bruce. Those decals look good Talon.

I would imagine that in NZ service they would have initially been white, like the Vildebeests which were doing the same job. I doubt they'd have been silver and black like the Baffins but that's another possibility I guess. Later I'd imagine white sides with camouflage tops like Coastal Command (and like our other GR Squadron Vickers bombers) and later still the duck egg blue undersides.

I'm not sure if they would have gone into the Pacific area, would they? Would the heat, humidity and coral dust be too detrimental on fabric covered aircraft? Or would they be ok? I know Wellingtosn served in India but that country was a little more civilised than the Solomons.

Isn't there a recent newly moulded Wellington in 1/72nd? I'm sure I read about one somewhere not too long ago. I may be thinking of the lovely new 1/48th kit soon to be available though.

I was surprised to see there are no fin flashes but then I rememebred they were not introduced till about 1940.

[agalbraith]

Nice work Bruce

I do like that colour scheme, with the NZ serials.

I wouldnt be so hard on myself if I was you mate, you really have done a great job. Especially considering the crosskitting and vac-forming!!

That is a fine example of true modelling, congratulations

Cheers

Anthony

[Bruce]

MPM (not to be confused with MPC) have recently released a Mark III, which looks extremely good, and revell does a very good Mark X, unfortunately the difference in fuselage window positions (which varied between marks quite considerably) and the Mark X's Hercules engines would make the mark I coversion significantly harder - but would make great base kits for 75 sqn examples. Of course Trumpeter have just released a 1/48th Wimpy which looks absolutely superb!
Wellingtons shouldnt have had too much of a problem in the Pacific, as thier basic structure was metal, and therefore not prone to the heat and humidity problems wooden aircraft like the Dominies suffered. Fabric could tolerate the conditions, remember the Corsair wing panels were fabric covered. The big question would be whether the Pagasus engines could cope - they had a few problems with the Peggies on the Sunderland IIIs.

On the mark I I had to do a lot of research to determine if the infamous Fraser Nash retractable ventral dustbin turrets were fitted. I eventually found that very few Armstrong turreted Mark Is had them, (for centre of gravity reasons) certainly not the NZ ones, but all the Ia's and most of the Ics did, and neither the MPC / Airfix or the Russian Mark Ia's have that as part of the kit.

[agalbraith]

Mmm that is interesting reading Bruce, you have done good research for me too! For when I eventually do a Trumpeter one.

Cheers

Anthony

[Craig Sargent]

Damn that was quick. Nice to see the serials worked. Good work on the cross kitting. Nice result all round Bruce.

Care to give some details as to how you went about building the vac-former?

BTW, the Revell Wellington is the reboxed Matchbox kit (and was generally considered to have very good geodetic pattern representation).

I've got the MPM kit to eventually do as Ward's aircraft. One of my few OOB builds as the kit is pretty complete (only because that aircraft has the mid-fuselage windows painted over).

[Dave Homewood]

If anyone needs vacuum forming done, I have two machines that my late father used professionally in his model business. I used to assist with the big jobs so can probably work out how to do it I think.

One of the machines is small and simple, the other big and complicated. I can try to take photos if you want to build one and need ideas Talon. Dad built both of his. Mind you, he could build anything!

[Bruce]

I Built my vac former up out of some spare aluminum and bits surplus to my "big aeroplane" project. It is essentially a rectangular metal box which attaches to my workshop vacuum cleaner. the top of the box has a metal plate perforated with many small holes. Separate to this I made frame to hold an A5 sized sheet of plastic - clamped between two layers using countersunk machine screws. At the moment the machine will produce 1/72 scale bits (useable size is only 150 x 100mm) off male masters, but the next step is to add an additional frame on top to accomdate female moulds resin cast off the masters. To use, the masters are blu - tacked onto the top plate. the plastic is inserted in the frame, and I heat it up over my workshop gas cooker (also used for casting lead mass balance weights for my 'plane) - holding it a decent height above because it doesnt take much, fire up the vacuum, and when the plastic starts to sag, place it over the masters on the machine. it will almost instantly form the shape of the master. The trick I found was getting the right plastic. The "Evergreen" plastic card is styrene, which is hopeless. the best stuff I have found so far is the clear plastic covers sold in stationery suppliers for use with Spiral binding machines. This softens quickly but doesnt melt / catch fire / tear or blister as some other plastics do. I'll get some pictures of the machine when I'm out at the workshop next.

[Dave Homewood]

You need 'acetate' plastic for vacuum formorming successfully. As you say, styrene is not suitable as it melts.

Dad's large former could do around 1.5 feet square from memory, it was made for big canopies (r/c aircraft and boats, which Dad manufacturered professionally).

Dad's small former is the same systen as your's Bruce, though he used a bar heater and a hot air gun, not a gas cooker. The big one is much more complex and produces fantastic results.