Blenheim Mk 1F, 1/48 Classic Airframes

[Mike N]

Hi all,

This is my first attempt at a group build submission, so please bear with me!

The subject of my build is Blenheim Mk 1F, L8679, BQ-O of 600 (City of London) Sqn. The Camouflage and Markings guide for the Battle of Britain has a profile stating it was at Northolt, July 1940. A photo of the aircraft in the same publication states possible black & white undersides, possibly dating it to prior to June 1940. The profile shows duck egg green/Eau-de-Nil, which is what I will go with for it during the summer of 1940. The same photo is in Aircraft of the Aces Blenheim Squadrons of World War 2 and it states Manston in Summer 1940.

Edit: I changed my mind to depict NG-Q as this is a bit less ambiguous in terms of colour scheme and period. This aircraft is also shown in the Camouflage and Markings guide for the Battle of Britain.

The kit I will be using is the revised edition of the Classic Airframes 1/48 Blenheim 1/1F. The revisions include new resin mouldings for the wheel bays and wheels, and new transparancies. The resin and transparent parts all look lovely, but the plastic sprues have flash around every component. I intend to build it pretty much from the box.

The box contents are as below:

The resin interior parts are here:

So far I have made a start by priming the resin bits for the cockpit, spraying them black, and then spraying Humbrol 78 at an angle to give some shadow effects from the black. I also gave the fuselage halves the same treatment, minus the primer.

I don't think this will be a rapid build, given my experience of other CA kits, despite it looking relatively straight forward. Maybe I'll be surprised?!

Hope you all enjoy the build!

Mike

Edited November 15, 2010 by Mike N

[rowmk9]

Hi Mike, I've popped my GB cherry with this particular group build as well. Everyone involved is really friendly and the encouragement I've had from them has really spurred me on, not to mention the tips and reference help. Kitwise, that looks like a challenging build, all that resin does look lovely though. It's nice to see one of the lesser types of the battle represented. I like the Blenheim alot, infact I like most aircraft with alot of glass in the nose (hence my Heinkel build). I'll be following this one make no mistake.

[AnonymousDFB1]

Ohhh I'm going to be watching this one I want to add and build a Blenheim to my collection, hopefully a 27 Sqd plane

[Doug Rogers]

Looking forward to this one Mike, all that resin should look really good! Good luck with the build!

[FZ6]

It is a lovely kit and with a bit of work I'm sure it will look fantastic. Nice progress so far and I look forward to seeing further progress.

Mark

[Mike N]

Thanks for the encouraging words, I'll try to keep you up to date with what I've achieved.

I've continued with the cockpit painting, picking out the details a little and adding a raw umber wash to all the parts. The seat leather effect I'm particularly pleased with! This was done by painting it a darkish brown followed by a drybrushing of a slightly lighter shade, and then adding the wash.

While that has been drying, I've turned to the other end of the fuselage. I'd read in a build review that the tailplanes are not angled correctly, and sure enough they are swept back somewhat. You can hopefully make out the elevator hinge lines which should be in a straight line with each other!

A bit of sanding quickly solved this, the softness of the plastic being beneficial here.

With butt-jointed tailplanes I prefer to attach them to the fuselage halves before the latter are joined: this allows me to more easily set the angle to the vertical correctly. This is shown here:

And the assembly completed so far:

More to come this weekend I hope.

Mike

[Calum]

Cool, I've never seen one of these built so I'm looking forward to seeing your progress.

I've got one one of these to build myself one day so feel free to point out some tips

[Smiffy]

Keeping an interested eye on this one for lots of useful building tips.

I have a Mk.IV in the stash.

[Mike N]

Just a brief update this morning.

I had thought I wouldn't need to paint the inside of the canopy, but a check through the (very clear) windows does show the difference between the green of the sidewalls and the green on the outside of the canopy. Serves me right for being lazy and not masking and spraying the canopy with the other interior bits!

While that was drying, I made a start on the wings. The first thing I noticed was that there is an ejector pin mark on the outside of the wingtip to be sanded off. The biggest task will be to improve the landing lights. The instructions state they should be painted or replaced with clear plastic. As I'm completely out of 'see-through' paint I'll have to scratch build the lights.

I started assembly on the wings by adding the wheel wells, after first checking the fit of the upper wing; having heard the horror stories of sanding down the inserts on the initial release of this kit I wanted to be sure! Thankfully the revised inserts are a near-perfect fit with no trimming required at all. I then added the aft bulkhead which is a bit narrow so I might fill the gaps later if they are visible.

The initial optimism of a simple build is looking tarnished, the cockpit assembly could be quite challenging. I'll keep you posted!

Mike

[CliffB]

The biggest task will be to improve the landing lights. The instructions state they should be painted or replaced with clear plastic. As I'm completely out of 'see-through' paint I'll have to scratch build the lights.

[Mike

Brilliant Mike! I'm going to have to do the same on my 1/72 Blenheim and am very pleased that you'll be doing it first

Cliff

[spitfire]

I will be watching this one carefully as I have all the different marks of CA Blenheims in the loft.

Cheers

Den

[Mike N]

Brilliant Mike! I'm going to have to do the same on my 1/72 Blenheim and am very pleased that you'll be doing it first

Cliff

Haha! I'm not quite sure how I'll be doing it yet, but will give it a go! I don't appear to have any good photos of the installation, so if anyone can point me in the direction of something that would be great!

The other info I'm lacking is on the gunsight. The only interior shot I have of a Blenheim doesn't show one (as its caption notes) so again any details would be welcome.

No progress since yesterday, but hopefully will get a bit of work in soon.

Mike

[AnonymousDFB1]

Looking good Mike

[Mike N]

Just a quick update tonight. I've been working on the wings, as they need some modifications to make them more acceptable. The first thing I did was to drill a hole in the leading edge of the port wing to represent the single machine gun carried. I also scribed an access panel although I struggled to find references showing the location of these. I then cut out the landing light area which is moulded solid. Last cutting was saved for the tip lights, the backs then painted black.

I then scoured the spares box for some appropriate clear sprue for the tip lights and found one from an Airfix Sea Harrier. This was both thick enough and also moulded with a flat face so this would save me sanding down a mating face. I cut small pieces of this, and sanded them to suit the 2 faces of the notches I'd cut. I couldn't find clear photos of the lights so guessed that the bulbs were coloured and the covers clear. I drilled a hole in each and then added red (port) and green (stbd) into the holes, followed by black behind. Once dry the parts were superglued to the wings.

After some sanding and polishing, the lights looked a lot better than grey plastic!

Finally, I boxed in the landing light bay, the intention is to then add the lights and a formed piece of clear plastic card after construction is complete, before painting as it looks like there is a stiffener strip down the middle.

In other news, the fuselage is progressing slowly, I've joined the halves and am adding the turret area roof. I'm trying to clean up the joints as much as possible before adding the cockpit glazing to minimise the risk of sanding dust getting stuck inside!

Mike

[CliffB]

Hi Mike, that's looking very good - I particularly like the 'bulbs'.

A question though: are you sure that the rearward facing wing tip lights are coloured? It's been suggested to me that they might be white. The source of this suggestion wasn't sure though (and I don't have clue!).

Cheers

Cliff

[Mike N]

Hi Mike, that's looking very good - I particularly like the 'bulbs'.

A question though: are you sure that the rearward facing wing tip lights are coloured? It's been suggested to me that they might be white. The source of this suggestion wasn't sure though (and I don't have clue!).

Cheers

Cliff

Hi Cliff,

Thanks for the comments. I have no idea what colour the aft bulbs were, I assumed they would be the same! I think I will keep them as they are, since I've done the work!

Mike

[Davec_24]

Nice, good to see a Blenheim being done up witha bit of TLC like this!

I'm in the middle of doing some very similar navigation lights for my Hurricane. The result you achieved there is a source of inspiration for me to carry on with those, so thanks for sharing!

[AnonymousDFB1]

Looking good

[perry]

I've not seen one of these being built so I'll be watching this!

[CliffB]

I think I will keep them as they are, since I've done the work!

Mike

Good answer Mike

Cliff

[Mike N]

It has been a little while since my last update, so here's some of the progress.

I joined the fuselage halves together and added the turret area fuselage roof; this wasn't a very good fit, I think due to the internal frames and turret mounting web that were added. Anyway, a bit of sanding and filler have been applied so I'll have to see what shows up under the primer later.

I've also been working on the cockpit. The instrument panel is very nicely moulded with the back showing the instruments' bodies (i.e. not just a flat piece with dials on the pilot's side!). Being as visible as it will be through the glazing, I decided to try something new (to me anyway). I drilled out the centre of each instrument's body and superglued in a piece of fishing line I'd painted black to represent the cabling.

I didn't like the rudder pedals supplied as they look nothing like the real aircraft's pedals, and more like car foot pedals. After scouring the spares box and some etched frets, I checked one of my Tamiya Beaufighter models and sure enough the pedals can't be seen! I therefore robbed them from my unmade Beaufighter kit as they are a very good match (unsurprisingly I suppose!). However, they are designed to attach to the rear of that kit's instrument panel, and on the Blenheim the panel is both cluttered on the back and doesn't look up to the job structurally. Not having a clear picture of what the arrangement was actually like, I cut the pedals off, notched the resulting fork, and then glued the pedals back on such that it could then be mounted to the floor.

Before:

After:

The only other problem was the jump seat next to the pilot's seat. The photo I had showed this seat, but the instruction sequence makes no mention of it. I scratchbuilt my own from some wheel hubs, only to then see the jump seat in a build article on the Mk IV. Sure enough, the resin seat part is also included in the Mk I kit, but marked not for use!?!

Anyway, with that painted, I installed all the various cockpit parts, all the while test fitting the glazing to ensure everything would fit inside.

So that's where I'm up to, next step is to get the clear parts attached and then the main assembly can be wrapped up I hope!

Mike

[AnonymousDFB1]

Looking good Mike

[Matt Roberts]

Dang...never realized that CA released these things with a revised wheel well.

If you notice over on the Seafang thread I mention royally screwing up this build trying to get those stupid wheel wells to fit. Short of a belt sander or an milling machine to grind the wing piece there was no way I was going to want to hack at it for enjoyment purposes, only if I was held at gunpoint and tortured.

Bad thing is I like Blenheims and fortunately was able to sell the Mk IV and Mk V for something I would want to build.

Still hope for a fully injected one one of these days.

I'll keep up on this one

[CliffB]

Mike

I really like your treatment of the instrument panel - should look great through the canopy.

Cliff

[Max Headroom]

Mike!

Just caught this thread and saw you want some references for the port wong gun installation. These aren't the best, but I took these of the Bolly in the RAFM

and

Whilst I'm at it, here's one of the engines

and

Hope these help.

Trevor