Brian's place - Models- Wellington III

Brian's place

Trumpeter 1/48 Wellington III

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Trumpeter 1/48 Wellington III

The Wellington was one of my most wanted kits in 1/48 scale. When Trumpeter released the Mk 1 I patiently waited, hoping for the Mark III version. Sometimes patience is rewarded!

It is a beautiful kit, very complex (as was the original aircraft, for different reasons). It has been roundly criticised for placing too much emphasis on the fabric effect over the geodetic structure, but personally I'm not too worried. A little less may be OK but it certainly looks the part to me.

There's only a couple of issues with the kit that I know of, one being the wing spar stubs in the wrong place (very easy to fix BEFORE you've glued them in place!) and the bombs in the bomb bay need additional locating pins to hold them in properly. Other than that, its straight from the box as far as I'm concerned. The red in the transfers looks too bright to me, in retrospect.

Here's the Wing spar stub after it had been hacked off and re-glued in a more appropriate position. All I did was make the wing centre on the broad outline on the fuselage. I did this by putting double sided tape on the mating surface, placing it in the wing, then offering the wing to the fuselage. The box stuck to the fuselage and I marked the corners with fine marker pen.

After that I removed the boxes, cleaned off the double sided tape, and glued them in place. I drilled a couple of holes and was going to add two plastic spars through the fuselage, but I got lazy and put a wire tie through it instead. Probably a bad move!

Here the wings have been glued, its beginning to take shape.

Tailplane added, what a lovely old aircraft.

Engines in place, seams checked, and canopy masked.

First coat of paint, this is Tamiya Dark Earth. I'm finding it difficult to source paints locally, I'm down to picking and mixing between Tamiya and Gunze. Humbrol Enamels are available but I prefer Acrylics.

Sausage Rolls applied, then the correct gaps filled with masking tape.

I cut the pilot's side window away from the rest of the canopy so that I can pose it open - just to add a little interest to the model.

Masking for the black areas.

Job well done, lad! Waiting for the spray booth (a.k.a. garage) to warm on a cold winter's evening.

After the black coat, then a dose of Johnson's 'Klear' (nee Future), decals, and Humbrol Matt varnish. I was playing with colours for the exhaust collector ring, this one is too bright!

A lot of dirtying to do on this model yet. The wheels are only pinned in place, I think will order some replacement from Hannants next time I order anything (Airfix Valiant perhaps?).

I really to like both the aircraft and the model. The Trumpeter 1/48th scale Wellington III really does capture the spirit of the full sized aircraft as far as I can see (and I am not a riveting accountant by any means).

My one model for 2009, *almost* completed! (Feb 2010...)

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