Handley Page Halifax MkIII 1/48

[Guest]

Ok here's goes tonights new photos, hope people can see them, i'll reattach if there's a problem again.

As mentioned the Hailfax fuselage was really flimsy so i added support within the wings and in the fuselage too. Having bought some expensive styrene rods i realised i had a large pile of sprues in the box so set about reusing that. Thought it would be best to lay the sprue pieces along the wing to prevent flexing and some standing pillars to prevent being able to depress the wing surface.

Wings......

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Fuselage....

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Turned out really well when when the fuselage pieces joined and the wings too, totally rigid. Cement this time to ensure a firm joint.

Nacelles were a nightmare to contruct and basically required hours of sanding to gain the correct shape.

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.....in fact the wheel wells were worst. Nearly binned them but in the end I WON and completed them.

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Wings joined.....and also some pictures to show the nacelles fitted....

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Now to add engines and start to but the fuselage together.......could have built a Tamiya or Academy or Revell etc kit in the time to get this far!!!!!

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[Guest]

Looking good and all that extra troubles will make it even more special

Sent from my GT-S5670 using Tapatalk 2

[Guest]

I have see a few other builds on the net where the fuselage was similar in shape to a banana fortunately when dry fitting i could see only a small bend and considered i would be able to straighten without having to use a jig of some description.

I also found that the two halves of the fuselage were not going to meet in various places either especially around the front of the plane so new i'd be filling quite a lot.



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As some photos above show around the pit i added more pieces of sprue to strenghten it. Still have some expensive styrene unsued in my tool box!!!

With a lot of patience i cemented the two halves of the fuselage together pushed the tail end that bent inside slightly against the opposite side and held (for ages) until the glue dried and i had what i considered a pretty staight fuselage. within the fuselage i glue all the bracing columns to the opposite sides to prevent the sides from moving in and out when held and to make stronger. I then covered all the seams and started many days of sanding and re-filling until i got a satisfactory finish.

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Post sanding.....

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Dry fitting the wings.....

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....didn't realise how big she is until then!!!

Having spent a short time sorting the canopy out (it was pretty straight forward thankfully - don't like vac formed ones) i then spent an evening masking up the canopy up!

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[Dave W]

Looking good Jer.A couple of years ago I made a vacform 1/48 Halifax B2.Looks like there is nearly as much work involved to build this kit.Your cockpit is a lot better detailed than mine though.

[Guest]

Cheers Dave, i have seen a vacform build on the internet and i'm pretty sure it's more diffcult than the fonderie miniature version. Do you have pictures of it?

Here are some more pictures, tail on now. Went on easily and again i cemented to weld it together.

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....again loads more fillling and sanding at the joins.

Reshaped the radar dome mutiple times until it sat snuggly on the fuselage.

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Before attaching the wings i added on the engines having secured them within the engine housing. Also ditched the kits cooling flaps as they were poor and created my own.

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Having completed the wing construction it was time to attach. In previous photos and below you can see the quite chunky bars that support the wings through the body of the plane.

I had obviously remembered to ensure within the wings all the supports didn't get in the way.........or had I......think it was luck rather than planning.

anyway the starboard wing was about 30mm higher at the tip to the port wing so when glueing i had to drop strips of styrene into the gap and applied lots of cement to weld to the wing to the body. I then filled and sanded to the arm ached.

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Landing gear attached, simple job luckily. Had to tidy them up and fill lots of gaps but the fitted ok and i was pleased with the outcome.

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Nose and mid-turret were in a good condition and i spent a few as masking up but the rear turrents (x3 of them) were damaged beyond repair. I had to create my own. "gulp"

Made a basic vac forming tool out of two bits of MDF with holes drill in one and the other made as a frame to pin the clear plastic sheet to the air bed. Then attached the hoover to the back.

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Carefully holding a piece of plastic card of the toaster (when wife wasn't looking) i waited until it bowed in the middle then dropped it over any small random item i could find that i had put on the airbed, pinched it togther with the frame and fired up the hoover.

After half a dozen practices i got confident to have a go probably.

Therefore I made a mould from one of the turrets that was in best condition using plain old DIY filler and then filling bubble holes etc with modelling filler and sanded till smooth.

........and here's the result. I was very surprised it turned out so well and that's another technique learnt!!!

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....mines the one on the right.....I hope it's obvious!!

Gun barrels were metal in the kit and looked like mini banana's so i used replacement resin ones.

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Mid turret guns Rear Turret guns Guns in new canopy

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[Guest]

Looks like you are really enjoying this one :-( Built two of them and they are swines!

[Guest]

Looks like you are really enjoying this one :-( Built two of them and they are swines!

Blimey 2, I've gone grey and lost a lot of hair building one! Do you have any pictures?

[Dave W]

Fantastic bit of scratch building for the Turret glazing.Havent got any pictures of my vacform build in progress.Only the finished model in my gallery.

[Guest]

Hi Dave, I had a look at your Halifax and I'm very impressed, spot on paint job, you've achieved a great finish. Love the rest of your of builds in your collection.

Cheers

Jer

[Guest]

Ok, here we go......the last set of photos!!

This is my favorite part of the build, the painting, weathering and adding decals i.e NO FILLING OR SANDING!!!

Having sprayed the underneath black,weathered using a light wash and dusted with MiG's rusyt i sealed and primed up the top side.

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Now i do some pre-shading on the panel lines and other areas in black

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Having covered the Halifax in (Hannants) RAF dark earth i mask up the camo patterns i want and add the RAF dark green over the top, then i crack down the seam so it's fill, sand, fill sand, primer and paint!!....and then it's done.

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Coated in Klear i wash the panel lines, spray over the panels with a highly watered down black over wings and fueslage and dust MiG black smoke and burnt blue over engine and exhausts. I also dusted black smoke to represent oil staining.

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Added on the decals and included the serial number of my mates granddad's plane W7751, after they had set i dusted over the top to weather them. Had to paint on yellow strips as the decals for them were see through.

Turrets on, and nose window on and off with the masking, added the props then heated a cut needle and pushed it through the canopy and attached lines.

Matt spray to dull the finish off and shes done.......so here we have Halifax W7751.

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Many thanks for your comments, i hope you have enjoyed the final results.

Cheers

Jer

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[Guest]

Jer this is one intense build,great job getting all the fit issues sorted! For some reason your latest attacthments are'nt valid and wo'nt open?

[Guest]

Errrmmmm W.O.W simply amazing loving the whole paint job and effect of the painting.5*s off of me,and a little bow

mobear

[Guest]

Cheers for the comments. I have re-attached the pictures and i can see them in the post, hopefully thats fixed.

Cheers

Jeremy

[Ian M]

Jep pictures are there, and WOW!

That is a fantastic build. This has got to be one of the best heavy weights, I have seen in a long while. I love the detail in the paint job as well-

Love it. *****

Ian M

[Dave W]

Fantastic build Jer.Thank you for your kind words,but my Halifax is not in the same league as yours.Stunning work.