Airfix 1/48 Supermarine Walrus MkI - Silver Wings COMPLETED (finally)

1943Mike

I've been really, really hesitant to post a WIP on this or any modeling site simply for two reasons: A) I'm not a top notch modeler and, B) The last WIP I posted turned into a disaster and I trashed it.

No need to be "Hesitaint" . We ALL have a few that didn't come out right.....

It's hard to tell , from this photo, but my "Airbrushing skill's  are just plain Rotten ! I got those wavy line's sooooooo thick,.... ( How thick are they ?.. ) that I lost some of the  detail under the cockpit. It's so thick, that it look's like the pilot has a step to get in !

If I can stand other's seeing this mess,  you have nothing to fear !

( You can alway's say "Little Timmy was in the room, and he MUST have done something to it, when I wasn't looking."   ... I won't mind ...)

P.S. : You may notice, that the Picture of the plane in Primer, has a propeller on the nose...... It doesn't have one in the final paint ......

I don't want to talk about it .............

WIP threads are good for this place. That is a neat looking aircraft and I'll look forward to following your progress.

As Timmy said, just have fun. And good for you for doing it.

Jimmy and Greg,

Thanks for the "push". I'm not too embarrassed at my work anymore unless I fail to take the time to read and understand the instructions and the order in which I need to build, paint, attach PE, etc.

I've put the Meng 1/35 French FT-17 tank on hold (waiting for a sprue from Meng - yes, I screwed up the engine!) and started what I thought would be a quick build just to get my confidence back (Revell's 1/48 Messerschmitt Bf109G-10) but managed to order a set of masks in the wrong scale - 1/32 instead of 1/48 - duh! So it's on hold as well . Now that was embarrassing!

So, within the next week I'll be posting some pictures of my preliminary steps on the Walrus - I hope.

Rambo

The best thing about a WIP or GB is if you run into a problem you have someone here who can give you advice to continue.

 

That's right!

Im in on this one.

Looking forward to following this WIP. I built the Smer 5$ from Ebay version. It turned out ok. I agree with you that its a nice looking and interesting plane.

Guys I've ordered a set of mini chisels from Jeff Bazos -man are we all making that guy rich - so my work on this puppy will begin tomorrow but only to sort out some parts for the interior green paint session inside the fuselage. I noticed over 50 sink marks on the interior walls so that's why the chisel set. I'll chisel down what is proud and fill in with thin CA glue. When that project is done I'll begin some interior construction and painting.

Jay Jay,

I think the interior detail is just fine! I just don't like having to clean up all the sink marks but, hey, that's part of this hobby.

OK, Here we go.

I wish I'd not attempted the PE.Two of the three pieces of PE visible in these images are screwed up badly but I'll let them sit since they'll not be seen when the fuselage is closed up.

I'm going to be extremely selective if and when I choose to include any more PE. I'll just do the parts I feel I can handle at my modeling skills pay grade if, indeed, there are any more at all.

There are nice instructions for the kit itself but, alas, the instructions for the PE always have me scratching my head as to which ones to do first since, as far as I can tell, the Eduard instructions don't necessarity take into account the trouble I might get into if I don't think both of the sets of instructions through thoroughly before gluing and painting. I might be wrong here ... Eduard's PE seems nice enough.. but I wish they'd cross reference their steps with those of the manufacturer in more detail. Then, for those of you who naturally think in logical progression, it probably is not a big deal.

I'm not sure yet whether or not I'll use the Mission Models paints I bought or Tamiya's paints. Maybe a bit of both. I like the MM paint that I've used so far on a test piece of plastic but since Tamiya cleans up so well from the A/B with just distilled H2O and 91% alcohol, and you can't use alcohol with MM paints, I may just go with Tamiya. When I cleaned my A/B after having used MM paints I had to use quite a bit of their thinner/airbrush cleaner to get my brush clean. We'll see. I'm at a painting stage right now so while it's raining outside (which it is supposed to do all day today) I'll make a decision.

Here are a couple of pictures of the three peices of PE I've put on that are visible. They're a disaster but, as I said, they'll not be seen when I've closed it up. One piece not visible is an IP and it's behind some tape until I spray the interior green.

Mike, I admire you for tackling PE for this build. I don't have the patience or the skill to attempt bending all of those timy pieces then attach them to whatever model I'm working on. Good luck and press on. I'll be following your W.I.P.

Like the look of these seaplanes, received recently a Sunderland Mklll. Look forward to seeing future instalments. Good luck with the build. 

Very cool.  I dig sea planes.  I bet the PE will dress it up nicely.  At 1/48 should be a big model no?  Like a PBY

Frank,

The PE is giving me dizzy spells (just frustrating LOL) but I'll soldier on.

Est.1961,

Which scale did you recently get? I would guess the 1/72 although there is at least one 1/48 scale in resin .. I'm not familiar with any 1/48 kits in styrene.

In any case, best of luck building that kit my 59 year old Irish friend.

John,

The fuselage is about 8 1/2 inches in length. Each of the wing sections is around 5 1/3 inches. So, add the width of the fuselage and I would imagine that it's a little over a foot in wingspan. That should be smaller than the PBY. Remember this is a single engine biplane .. albeit a rather large single engine aircraft.

If the PE doesn't do me in before Covid19 or my natural sell by date, it should add a little to the model. I'm not using a lot of it though, just too difficult for me to work with.

OK, a small update.

I've more masking (both liquid and Tamiya tape) to do before I get around to airbrushing the bottom interior center hull. I've got to straighten out one side of the cables (PE) on the forward part of the yolk shaft and I have some cleaning up to do of some repair work ... not going into that .

That's all for now.

waikong,

Thanks for the generous comment. I've got a few mistakes already that I'll not be able to correct with the PE. C'est la vie.

I noticed you've built the Accurate Miniatures Grumman F3F-2. I've got that in my stash and need to get to it before my sell date expires. I built the F3F-1 but screwed up the wire braces in the rigging  - I couldn't get them to fit properly and they were bending. I'll be more careful next time. Yours is nice.

1943Mike

Which scale did you recently get? I would guess the 1/72

Thanks Mike, your guess was right I built a PBY Catalina a few years back also 1/72 and my eye is always turned by Walrus advertisements. 

Hope you have some Beatles playing while you work on this!

Jeaton01,

Since you mentioned it, I should play that song as I build the Walrus. It's going to be a magical mystery tour for me anyway.

OK, I'm halfway through the PE on the interior and have lost or mangled several of the little brass nightmares. There's nothing wrong with the PE, just its builder .. your truly.

Before I continue with the PE I'll paint (A/B) the interior green and then see if I can lift the masking from the interior windows with the frame glued on as I have it. If not I'll have to rip off the frames and, if salvagable, refit them before masking for a second try at airbrushing the interior. If I can lift the masking I'll probably reuse it (loosely fitted) for a second round of painting the interior after having fitted the last of the PE inside. I've some more masking to do before spraying interior green ... mostly liquid masking. It's going to be interesting to see whether or not I'm successful in removing the liquid masking from some tiny pieces of PE after having airbrushed the interior green.

And so it goes.

Another update.

Fought with closing up the fuselage sides .. many, many rubber bands (no purchase points for my clamps due to shape of the hull) and still needs some PPP. I can see a very tricky closing up of the top .. just hoping I can get it done.

These images show that I need some touch up work .. not sure how much I'll do since no one but me will know what's on the inside .. of course that means I'm committed to at least some touch up work .

Onward and upward.

Mike,

I think it looks great bud. Keep at it as I know you will. Are you going to try rigging this puppy? I hope so because I would like to see it come together. I also love your wood graining, it really looks awesome!

I too have the Walrus but the first release. I’ve been collecting PE for it slowly but surely. Although, I have a large back up on models in the queue already... Thanks for posting this, I think this might be the first 1/48 Walrus WIP here!

Steve