That MPM/Italeri Wellington!

[Heraldcoupe]

I started building this one against my better judgement. Having got close to the end of a troublesome build of the MPM/Italeri Lockheed Hudson, I have started work on the same companies' Wellington MkX.

Plenty of reviews of the original MPM Wellington have mentioned the fit of the undercarriae bays and other issues, none I have seen mentions the almost completely fictitious cockpit! I initially assembled the cockpit components according to the instructions, but I couldn't work out why it didn't match any of the pictures in my references. In the end I worked out that the pilot's floor was considerably too short, and that the inside face of the front access hatch is suspended about three scale feet above the hatch itself if built as instructed!

The front floor section was lost into the carpet as I hacked it out, so a little more scratch building for that - it was hopeless in any case. I'm not going to add significant detail as little will be visible, but I want what's there to be right.

I've also added a sliver along the top of the nose, to widen it so the canopy fits, and thinned down the inside of the rudder to improve the trailing edge.

Maybe some more progress tomorrow.

Cheers,

Bill.

Edited March 20, 2008 by Heraldcoupe

[Heraldcoupe]

Well having been sidelined on other projects, I got back to the Wellington this evening. I've been pondering how to represent the wing spar through the wheel wells, I finally opted for some paired plastic rods, with cross pieces from plain plastic strip. I used the kit bays, with the upper part cut away for most of the length, and a slot cut to accomodate each spar. I also added a representation of the liferaft compartment at the top of the starboard bay, hopefully it can be seen in the pictures.

I may dress up the front face of the well as the seam is rather prominent. Lots of undercarriage related gubbins to go in there though, so I'll see how it looks once that's mocked-up in place.

I've decided to complete this as the all-white FAA aircraft pictured in the 4+ book, so currently working on losing all the fuselage windows. More on that later,

Cheers,

Bill.

[rdxtnt]

Mmmmmm! A white FAA Wellington Looking forward to seeing this one. Good work on the wing spar Bill.

Gary.

[dahut]

Now see right here - this is modeling. None of that 'shake and bake' stuff, no sir. Fix whats wrong and add whats needed; that's the stuff.

Some might complain and liken it to an Airfix kit, but not me. Me, I LIKE it!

Smashing work. But why is it red inside?

[Heraldcoupe]

Some might complain and liken it to an Airfix kit, but not me. Me, I LIKE it!

Smashing work. But why is it red inside?

That's the colour of the doped linen, it's a pinky washed-out red. It's academic in any case, I'm closing up all the fuselage windows since changing my mind on the colour scheme! That white one is just soooo different.....

I live in fear that this soon will be an Airfix kit. They have a couple of 1/72nd Wellingtons due for release soon, and a rebox of the MPM kits seems likely. While it's not as challenging as the MPM Hudson, it won't make them friends at the inexperienced end of the kit market. Maybe I'm wrong and they're actually re-packaging the Trumpeter kits?

Cheers,

Bill.

[AnonymousA667]

But why is it red inside?

The red primer soaks through the linen and leaves a streaky pink effect. Here's a sample:

peebeep

[AnonymousA667]

I live in fear that this soon will be an Airfix kit. They have a couple of 1/72nd Wellingtons due for release soon, and a rebox of the MPM kits seems likely...Maybe I'm wrong and they're actually re-packaging the Trumpeter kits?

Interesting question. Re-boxes so far would make it look like an MPM, whereas new tooling is oriental. Great stuff on your Wimpey.

peebeep

[Alan P]

It's a terrible kit mate, good luck!

[Ian Lanc]

this may be of some use !

ian.

[Heraldcoupe]

this may be of some use !

Current dilemma is working out what colour to paint the undercarriage bays. The Hendon MkX is largely black, most contemporary pictures seem to show a mix of interior green and bare alloy. So what's most likely with an ex-bomber command aircraft transferred to the RN?

Cheers,

Bill.

[Ian Lanc]

i would go for doing all the undercarriage/wheel bays alloy silver the brooklands wimpy is all silver and 'trumpeter' tells you to paint the undercarriage silver on their wimpy, so something tells me go SILVER

ian.

[Nev]

Good luck Bill - I am one of those aforementioned reviewers you mention. My defence is that I had no reference photos of a Wimpey cockpit (and very little can be seen anyway).

Good luck with the kit - you'll need it! Might be worth getting the Prozac in now before you start on the turrets...

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.p...p;hl=wellington

[Heraldcoupe]

Good luck with the kit - you'll need it! Might be worth getting the Prozac in now before you start on the turrets...

Well I kind of got a head start there. The reason I brought this one out of the stash was to provide some spares for another project. Around 20 years ago I had abandoned a Frog/Novo Wellington at my parents house. To anyone who's not examined this one, it is quite horrible. Not least of it's problems is that the tools were obviously never finished to a production standard before the demise of Frog. The MPM/Italeri kit provided it's surplus set of Pegasus engines, and I cobbled together the spare rear gun turret. As it happens, there was no way that turret was going to fit the Frog fuselage, so I cobbled up the Frog turrets and used copious amounts of Klear to get a reasonable shine, if not clarity! The MPM turret actually went together quite well, though the instructions were no help whatsoever! The FAA Wellington I'm now building has no guns installed in any of the pictures I've seen, so that will save some heartache....

The Frog kit was finished wheels up as R-Robert, it hangs happily from my son's bedroom ceiling, keeping a P1127 and Grommit's aeroplane company. It's not great, but it gave me the buzz for building a proper Wellington. To an eight year old lad it looks pretty cool!

Cheers,

Bill.

[Heraldcoupe]

I've done some more work on my FAA Wellington. After reshaping the undercarriage doors to properly represent those of the MkX, I needed a break from the undercarriage!

Having had one go at the cockpit, I decided to revisit it to create a more detailed floor and pilot's seat.

I've decided to run with dual controls on this on, though I'm not certain how NC826 was actually configured in FAA service. I've added the floor extension for the second pilot.

Still plenty to do. So far I've used no aftermarket parts, though I will probebly invest in the Eduard Zoom set intended for the Trumpeter Wellingtons. Etched instrument panels achieve far better results than I can manage in 1/72nd, and a set of belts won't go amiss!

I've also filled in the side windows with plasticard, inevitably losing much of the stringer detail in the process. I'll see how I get on reinstating the detail as I think that will be something of a headache...

Cheers,

Bill.

[Heraldcoupe]

Some more progress. The aircraft I'm modelling flew unarmed, so the turrets are being built without guns. One image I have shows a substantially stripped out turret, with daylight showing where none can normally be seen. Rather than just omitting the guns, I tried to replicate the basic structure with plastic card and rod. I also raised the height of the gun mountings, and fabricated sides to the turret base a little more like the actual pieces. The front shoruds which close off the gun slots were also added form card.

I assembled the four-piece turret glazing, but I wasn't too happy with the result. To cap it all, a split appeared suring polishing - back to square one!

I mentioned earlier that I had already constructed the "spare" FN5 rear turret for another project, but had not ended up using it. As the front turret on nearly all Wellingtons was also an FN5, I reasoned this would work instead - wrong! MPM's rear turret is slightly fatter and a few mm longer than the front. After some pondering, I reckoned the width of the rear turret was actually better, so I prised off the back panel, and went to work rubbing down the back faces of the side glazing. A few minutes work and it all lined up nicely. I reattached the back panel with Johnson's Klear (is there no end to the uses of this stuff???) and I think it looks pretty good.

The one at the front is the modified rear turret, the one with the painted rear panel is the original one - notice the split!

I've splashed some paint on the interior, no photos yet as I need to tone it down with a dust coat from the airbrush. I can't do that at night as the compressor is too noisy!

Cheers,

Bill.

[Heraldcoupe]

Slow progress now, I've been trying to get as far as closing up the fuselage. Trial fitting the rear turret was an eye-opener, the fuselage simply isn't designed to accommodate the FN20 rear turret which is included with the kit!

I failed to take any photos beore I started hacking plastic, but here it is after minimal work:

The fuselage under the turret needs to be shallower, and shorter ahead of the turret. The fairing under the rudder needs to go, with the top of the fuselage raising at the end to meet the height of the larger turret. Out weith the plastic cars and superglue.

Then trimming back and sanding to shape.

I got the turret to fit, there will be a bit more filling and shaping once the two halves are together. I'll ned to reinstate the tringer detail, but that was already on the cards after filling the trapezoidal windows.

Most of the interior detail is in now, but it needs a flat coat before I photograph it. With most of my modelling done at night, using the airbrush with it's noisy compressor needs careful planning!

Cheers,

Bill.

[Maxidad]

Don't suppose you got any further with this, did you?