Blohm und Voss BV 138

[Kiteman]

yeah! Come on slacker, ist about time you made an appearance

[Wizzel]

Good evening all.  Apologies for the long absence; a refurbishment of the hobbies room including the dismantling of my bench, the Christmas rush at work combined with various other commitments such as daughter's exams and college visits for next year have all conspired to keep me away from ALL THINGS MODELLING.

Things will get back to normal tomorrow when my bench gets rebuilt and I get sat back at it.

See you again soon...

Dave

[Wizzel]

I'm pleased to report that the bench is now complete - in so much as it is finished in it's latest form as these things have a habit of developing as needs change or become apparent.  I am sat at it now as I type this!

So, on the go again is the BV 138 AND the Officers' Mess (note the correct placement of the apostrophe) for the Thirtle Bridge Camp diorama.  I'll not bother reporting this as a project but will bring the finished building to the January meeting.

The BV 138 now has the cockpit installed in the port fuselage pod and now awaits the placement of the crew when the fuselage halves will then be joined together.  The location is fairly approximate as the instructions are vague, although there is a line scored in the fuselage to line up the rear of the floor, which sits on an integral moulded box at the bottom of the fuselage/hull.  There are no other tabs, pins or holes so it's a case of chucking some glue down, dropping the cockpit on the glue and holding the fuselage halves together to ensure the cockpit remains level until the glue sets.

Turrets:  These have now been glued together and the joins need cleaning up then the panel lines painting.  The instruction will have you fit the turrets when joining the fuselage together as the bottom of the turret has a lip running around the edge which sits, supposedly, in between 2 horizontal, circular profiled ribs in the fuselage.  It doesn't work, so I've cut some platforms to glue between the ribs and will sand off the lip of the turret so that I can drop them in the holes and onto the internal platforms at the end of the build.

Work on the small parts such as the floats, tailplane and  props is also underway so it shouldn't be much longer before I get to assemble it.  Pictures will follow.

I have been using the Vallejo acrylics - model colour, not model air as I am brush painting - as I have a fair old collection of these now and although I also have Humbrol enamels, I don't like what I am reading and hearing about the new generation of them.  The sit nicely and the colours look nice together - how exactly accurate they are is not something I am overly concerned about; I place more importance on them being pleasing to the eye. 

Well, on with the show then and I'll update you further tomorrow as I am getting rid of DCOS for a few hours so will have some peace and quiet.   

[Wizzel]

PS, since my last post on this matter, I have been sat quietly trying to get "into the zone" again.  DCOS has been sorting the bookshelf out in the hallway and has been in no less than 4 times to place food magazines she's collected on my bench with a request to "have a look through and see if there are any recipes you want". 

Is it any wonder I never get anything of my own done!!   

[zak]

Get some photos posted, its always nice to see what is going on.

[Wizzel]

As requested then, a couple of pictures for you as evidence.  There's one of my latest bench set up - previously, it was just the 4' length along the wall with the shelves.  I have now extended it into the corner and along the back wall.  The corner piece is a "pop out" insert which can be removed and stored under the bench, then the piece along the back wall can be "unlocked" and slid into the corner in it's place, thus freeing up some floor space for an air bed for guests (this was at the request of DCOS!)  I now have much more space and am happier sat at the bench.

The other pictures show the cockpit in place - pilot and co-pilot are just placed, not stuck for the moment and the control columns are not fixed in yet.  The paintwork on the figures will be tidied up once they are stuck in as there is plenty of room to get at them, even with the fuselage together.  The turrets I thought would prove to be a bigger problem than they were.  initially, I was going to cut strips of painted sticky label for the framework as it is quite intricate and started to do this on one turret but it looked a touch messy.  I then had a go at hand-painting the other one as I used to do as a youngster and am getting on fine like that so will carry on.  It's a long process as I will need a couple of thin coats on and am taking my time, doing a small section and giving my eyes a rest while it dries and I'm also allowing the paint to dry properly which I never used to do as I was keen to get it finished in record time.  They should be done by bedtime tonight though and tomorrow, I will check them over and tidy the lines as necessary, scraping off any overpaint with a cocktail stick.

I mentioned the lips on the turrets.  I'm now leaving them on and will hold the turrets in place with a small bits of Blu Tac, until the fuselage dries.  After experimenting earlier, I found I could dislodge the Blu Tac by turning the turret and then gently shake them out of the cockpit opening.

In the meantime, as I said, I'm assembling the props, floats and other gubbins.  I'm confident things will crack on at a quicker pace now.

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[Kiteman]

Zzzzzzzzzz!

[Wizzel]

yes, yes, I know.  As you know I've been a bit under the weather so EVERYTHING has been on hold - no point modelling when you've no energy and don't feel like it.  It's been all I could do to get the crocodile anything like for taking to Huddersfield as it is.

So I have about 4 days' work left on the crocodile and then it will be back to this thing. 
HONESTLY!!!

[zak]

The croc looked ok at Huddersfield.

[Bigkev]

Seconded!!
You were like a little schoolboy today at Huddersfield. Good on you mate. Thanks for bring my Tes....cle cleaner.
Bigkev

[zak]

Yes, well done, his parts will be very clean now.

[Wizzel]

hahaha, thanks.  That cleaner is ideal for bringing a shine to the tiniest little bits! I loved Huddersfield - just submitted a field report under the general conversations heading so if anyone has any pictures to back up my story..... 

I shall be adding to the Crocodile project later tonight in anticipation of continuing this thread in it's true form by the weekend :-)

[Wizzel]

Finally found time to get on with this again.  The fit of things is okay only and so a little bit of attention is needed filling and sanding but that's okay as for me that's what modelling is all about.  The boom to wing joints have already been filled, sanded and primed - there are a couple of very small areas that just need smoothing slightly but as I can get to them easily when the thing is together and it will only take a very light touch to sort, I thought I'd get the major components joined.  The joins between the fuselage halves have been attended too already but not quite finished or primed but as I'm getting the hang of what to do and how to do it, everything is becoming easier.  For the delicate areas around the turrets, I'm using Little Cars sanding sticks which have no abrasive on the edges but I have turned the turrets backwards and have also put some protective strips of Tamiya tape on the glazing just in case.  Glad I took the guns off back at stage 1 of turret assembly now so I can get them 180 degrees.  Tomorrow then will be wing to fuselage roots and tailplane to fin joints then the whole thing primed and checked.  Until then, here is evidence that the BV Flugzeugbau Withernsea is back in business!

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[zak]

I had almost forgotten about this.
Keep plugging away.

[Kiteman]

coming on nicely Wizzel....keep it coming