Welling Model show and 'open day', Saturday April 15 2023

 

Welling in south-east London, England, in the borough of Bexley, 'used' to be in the historical county of Kent but is now just part of the huge suburban city sprawl....but it does have a model club and an annual show and 'open day' which a few members of our club attended on Saturday. We headed there on Saturday morning, just 60 miles up the motorway from Canterbury. By 10:00 we had our tables set up and we managed quite a respectable display. I was even tempted to put a few entries into the competition which was a bit of a 'first' for me. There wasn't really much point going up against a scratch-built BE 2a in 32nd scale or Rod Janes' Bristol F2b 'Crocodile' (eventual 'Gold' winner) or even his Junkers D.1 ('Bronze' winner), but still, the point was to support the club. Shame the competition categories were not 'broken down' into scales - Rod might not have won the 72nd scale class after all. In total there were only 67 competition entries, well down on the last 'pre-Covid' show's 200+.  And Medway/East Kent club member Callum's was the only entry in the 'Junior' category. A special shout-out to the bust and figure models from the Faversham club. A few pictures from the event follow.

Your blog host behind our East Kent Modellers table display.

 A selection of club colleague Bob's builds including a couple of superlative Airfix 48th Vampires and an Airfix Blenheim I in Finnish markings. Below these, his T-62 from Tamiya..

 Brush-painted Meng Fokker Dr.1 in 24th scale by David from the Gravesham club. A previous 'Gold' winner at the show..

Rod Janes' WnW  Junkers D.1 (above) and David's brush-painted Eduard D.V in 72nd

A couple of Andy's  Luftwaffe 32nd scale masterpieces

Cast of 'Dad's Army' in bust form by the Faversham club.

'Aircraft' class in the competition. 'Gold' winner was the WnW Bristol F2b and probably the reason why there were so few entries! The checkered masked and painted 'Brisfit' was Rod's 'covid lock-down' project! CSM Caudron was another of Rod's superlative builds...

Airfix new-tool Blenheim Mk I (F) 25 Sqd

My second Airfix new-tool Blenheim finished in 25 Sqd markings, ZK-I, RAF North Weald, February 1941. Fighter belly gun-pack taken from the Blenheim IV kit, decals by ROPOS models from Czech, a limited edition sheet printed to 200 copies that I found on Hannant's site.

Not a particularly 'photogenic' aircraft - difficult to get a shot I was happy with

Some of the Blenheim reference I used - the Airframe book from Valiant Wings is really very good and great value for money..as are the French-language monographs produced by Lela Presse

The Aircraft Restoration Company's Blenheim Mark One Night Fighter video by Malcolm Auld. Excellent video Malcom! A single click to watch here via the youtube 'embed' code

No. 211 Squadron RAF Blenheim Mk I UQ-R Tatoi, Greece, new-tool Airfix Blenheim I build review finished #5

Finally!  I've managed to finish the first of my new-tool Airfix Blenheim Is - although it 'looks' like a nicely detailed replica for a new-tool I have to say that I hate this kit! A terrible build experience, worse than the worst of any short-run non-fitting builds I've ever done. Be warned, nothing fits, apart from the undercarriage! Just about everything else required much fettling and filing and filling! My transparencies were short-shot and Hornby never came back with any replacements either. Fortunately a fellow-Britmodeller from Australia sent me a spare sprue that he had so it was while waiting for that to arrive that I very rashly decided to start a second Airfix Blenheim Mk I which I was a little happier with - but not much! Here's the first one in the markings of UQ-R of No. 211 Squadron seen in Greece in 1941 (note the 'R' was not displayed on the aircraft..)

IWM pictures of the machine modelled, licence-fee-free reproduction via the IWM site

Bristol Blenheim Mark I, L6670 ‘UQ-R’, of No. 211 Squadron RAF preparing to taxy at Menidi/Tatoi, Greece. Note the individual letter 'R' was not displayed..

Below; the Commanding Officer of No. 211 Squadron RAF, Squadron Leader J R Gordon-Finlayson, and his wireless operator/air gunner, Pilot Officer A C Geary, photographed in a Bristol Blenheim Mark I at Menidi/Tatoi, Greece, after returning from Corfu. On 24 November 1941, Gordon-Finlayson's aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire during a bombing raid on Valona, Albania. Unable to reach Menidi, he force-landed on a beach at Corfu, where he and his crew were toasted and feted before returning to the mainland by fishing boat and rejoining their unit. Gordon-Finalyson is carrying bottles of wine and other gifts given to them by their Greek hosts.

ROYAL AIR FORCE: OPERATIONS OVER ALBANIA AND IN GREECE, 1940-1941.© IWM (CM 292)

new-tool Airfix Blenheim Mk I build on the bench (5)

..slow progress on the two Blenheims but now that I appear to be over the worst of the construction 'difficulties' - 'shake and bake' this is not - I am starting to appreciate the detail on this kit..