Vickers Wellington Mk.Ic, Polish 301st squadron, Trumpeter 1/72
Herewith I present you the Vickers Wellington Mk.Ic from the Polish 301st squadron as used in September 1942.
At first I had the idea to build it straight out of the box but since it was a gift from my daughter I decided to make it even more special.
A PE set from Eduard was used to make the interior look even more busy and a bit more realistic, same counts for some exterior parts like the balancers on the vertical stabilizer, brake lines and horizontal antenna underneath the fuselage.
The kit had no option to show it with open bomb bay, although as you look on the net, nearly all photos show the Wellington with open bomb bay. It was also mentioned by Tom @tcinla, that this was normal behavior of Wellingtons.
I decided to cut the single piece bomb bay door into the thirty required seperate bay doors. The inside of the single piece was decorated with correct panel lines which made it a bit easier to perform the cutting proces. A lot of work I have to admit but I'm pretty confident with the outcome.
Painting was done with my preferred Vallejo acrylics paints. Dark earth and dark green were used for the upper part, black mixed with black grey was used for the lower surface. This dark lower surface was more difficult to weather than I expected. A lighter grey was used to create the exhaust stains. A mixture containing rust metallic was used to paint the exhaust collector rings and exhaust pipes.
After my return to this hobby, it was my first 1/72 scale. In the past I did build only 1/72 but it seems that age has caused 1/72 to become a much smaller scale than I was used to. Still it was a real pleasure to build this kit, with the help of a magnifier. The fitting of this Trumpeter set is really great. Interior has nice details from the kit itself but the Eduard PE set makes it more complete.
The entire build can be found here:
https://imodeler.com/groups/bomber-command/forum/topic/trumpeter-vickers-wellington-mk-ic-1-72-73/
I want to thank all of you who followed this thread and provided me with valuable information and motivating words.
And special thanks to my daughter who made it possible to get this wonderful kit on my bench.
23 additional images. Click to enlarge.
Paul Higgins said on June 20, 2022
Lovely work, John... I thought I did well attaching 12 separate bomb doors to a 1/48 He177, but 30...?! You evidently love your modelling... lol.
Notwithstanding, an excellent rendition of this famous aircraft, and very nicely painted... ;-).
Regards,
Paul
John vd Biggelaar said on June 20, 2022
@paulh, thanks for your kind words, Paul. I indeed enjoyed this build, although at some moments the miniature pieces did tend to break my nerves.
Dan Lee said on June 20, 2022
Very nice work on a historic, but modeler neglected bomber.
I've been looking at 1/72 on some subjects because as much as I prefer 1/48 stuff, I found that 1/48 ww2 medium and heavy bombers were going to clog up my self space quickly (also multi engine-ed planes take much longer to build). Doesn't hurt that there have been recently (Airfix, Hasegawa and sometimes Trumpeter) are some nice 1/72 multi engine bomber kits to build.
John vd Biggelaar said on June 21, 2022
@dbdlee, thanks, Dan. This is exactly the reason why I did build it in 1/72. Space to store the finished models is running out.
David Henning said on June 20, 2022
Very nice work!
John vd Biggelaar said on June 21, 2022
@kanddhenning, thank you, David.
John Healy said on June 21, 2022
You really put a lot into this one, John! All that extra detailing really made it shine. Thanks for sharing the build process too.
John vd Biggelaar said on June 21, 2022
@j-healy, thanks a lot, John. The kit itself is already a pleasure to build, therefore she deserved a bit of extra here and there.
Tom Cleaver said on June 21, 2022
Beautiful result @johnb. a pleasure to watch the project.
John vd Biggelaar said on June 21, 2022
@tcinla, thanks a lot, Tom. Your comments were very helpful during the building process.
George R Blair Jr said on June 21, 2022
Well done, John (@johnb). This build really captures the look of the bomber. It was fun following your build in Groups.
John vd Biggelaar said on June 21, 2022
@gblair, thank you, George. The Wellington is indeed gorcious to look at. It was my pleasure to have you following the building process.
IAN JACKSON said on June 21, 2022
H*ll of a build John, well modelled sir.
Ian.
John vd Biggelaar said on June 21, 2022
@ij001, thank you, Ian.
Jim Crabb said on June 21, 2022
Some have criticized the Trumpeter kit for exaggerated appearance of the Barns geodesic structure. Personally I think that this feature on the kit is appropriate in that it illustrates this brilliant structural design. And in the photos I’ve seen of Wimpys operating in the cold altitude this feature is quite evident. Very nice build!
John vd Biggelaar said on June 21, 2022
@angus64, thanks, Jim. When opening the box I also thought the geodetic structure was too exaggerated. However, now that all is finished and looking at some of the pictures on the net, I think Trumpeter did a great job on representing this structure.
Jim Crabb said on June 21, 2022
Geodetic. Barns was not Buckminster Fuller!
Spiros Pendedekas said on June 21, 2022
Amazing result, John! Your Wellington looks very realistic and it is hard to believe it is only 1/72!
Your improvements definitely show, the opening of the bomb bay was a big job that you carried out in excellence.
Your build thread was an equal joy to watch.
Congratulations!
John vd Biggelaar said on June 21, 2022
@fiveten, thank you, Spiros. I doubted a lot before starting to cut this bomb bay into all those seperate pieces. Pleased with the result myself. It was my pleasure to have you following the thread with supporting comments.
Lis said on June 21, 2022
It was pleasure to follow Your build! I like Vellingtons very much! Great build and good paintjob! Open bomb bay is masterpiece! I think I will not try to open it 🙂 After heavy looses in 1942y some crews from 301 squadron was moved to my fav 138 Special Duty Squadron to Polish 1586 Flight. Rest of them was moved to 300 Polish squadron.
John vd Biggelaar said on June 21, 2022
@lis, thank you, Lis. It was a pleasure to have you following the thread. Thanks for sharing the historical background of the 301st crew members.
George Williams said on June 21, 2022
I remember the first version of the Airfix kit, must have been in the late 1950s, so I couldn’t resist reading your WIP, a masterclass in itself. Now it’s in the Headlines all that work must seem well rewarded, and I’m sure your daughter is impressed as well. What is she going to buy you next?
John vd Biggelaar said on June 21, 2022
@chinesegeorge, thanks for your kind words, George. If, when and what will be my next gift is always a surprise 🙂 .
Felix said on June 21, 2022
Awesome build @johnb, love the colors! How much of the interior can still be seen through those tiny windows? I was thinking of buying the Airfix kit, your build is very much inspiring.
John vd Biggelaar said on June 21, 2022
@fxrob, thank you, Felix. Around 10% of the interior remains visible, not a lot unfortunately. The Airfix kit looks great and will absolutely turn into a nice build as well.
Bernard Bedeur said on June 21, 2022
Nice work of an Iconic plane John. Barnes Wallis would approve !
I wanted to ask what delineated the camouflage masking and how you do this. Tape first then putty ? Looks like a good technique.
John vd Biggelaar said on June 21, 2022
@bernardbedeur, thanks for the kind words, Bernard. The demarcation between the black paint and the upper camouflage was done with masking tape. For the demarcations on the surface camouflage I used patafix, created small worms from it, and filled the open spaces with masking tape.
Bob Torres said on June 21, 2022
Impressive work John to an excellent looking Wellington.
John vd Biggelaar said on June 21, 2022
@v1pro, thank you, Bob.
Greg Kittinger said on June 21, 2022
Excellent build! Love all the extra detail - well done!
John vd Biggelaar said on June 21, 2022
@gkittinger, thanks a lot for your kind words, Greg.
Eric Berg said on June 21, 2022
Bravo, John. You put a huge amount of effort and care into your Wellington and it sure shows. Really enjoyed your build thread.
John vd Biggelaar said on June 21, 2022
@eb801, thank you, Eric. It was a pleasure to have you following the thread. And your motivating words inspired me to get the best out of this kit.
Stephen W Towle said on June 22, 2022
John,
Five stars on many levels. Making a gift that keeps on giving . I enjoyed reading your comments, photos and the model turned out to be real jewel.
Two thumbs on some strong work.
John vd Biggelaar said on June 22, 2022
@stephen-w-towle, thank you, Stephen.
Trachsel Martin said on June 22, 2022
Very beautiful Wimpy. Great work John.
John vd Biggelaar said on June 22, 2022
@Matra, thank you, Martin.