1/72 Walrus II from Matchbox Kit

[acklington]

This one has been over three weeks in the making so far, and still far from finished. I decided to adopt a very unusual method of construction, but wasn't sure if it would work or not. So didn't post work-in-progress photos for fear of having to abandon it half way thorough, with much egg on face.

I have an original Matchbox 1/72 kit of the Supermarine Walrus, but decided to use the later Revell re-issue of the kit, as it has better plastic, much less shrinkage on the parts, and comes with some of the stencil markings applied to the real Walrus. My chosen subject is an RAF Walrus Mk.II of 281 Squadron, circa 1942-43, based at RAF Ouston in Northumberland, and later at RAF Woolsington (now Newcastle Airport). And then the difficulties started! There are loads of photos and markings for FAA Walrus Mk.1 aircraft, but very little of any quality for the RAF version. The two preserved Walrus Mk.Is at Hendon (an Aussie Seagull) and Yeovilton are both metal hulled ex Navy examples, and seem to differ in many details from the RAF wooden hulled Mk.II. Reliable colour scheme information for the RAF machines is scant, and various 3-view drawings and side view profiles all lack essential detail, or are just wrong.

Walrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (1) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
Started with the interior, which contained nothing, other than 3 crude seats. Didn't put too much effort in to it, as not much will be visible. The two side window positions were cut out and glazed.
Walrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (2) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
Walrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (3) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
All scratch built, apart from the control column from an Airfix Anson.
Walrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (4) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
Drilled holes for the rigging wires, and also used putty to create the missing aileron hinges. The Matchboc/Revell kit is reasonably accurate, but almost completely devoid of all the little details.
Walrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (5) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
Also drilled rigging holes in the wing floats.
Walrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (6) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
The engine nacelle with some of the 16 holes drilled in it!
Walrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (7) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
The fuselage together, with filler applied and sanded.
Walrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (8) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
This is my unusual construction technique for this model - anchoring the rigging inside the parts, before gluing the bits together.
Walrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (9) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
Same for the engine nacelle and associated struts. The bits of tape are to stop the rigging falling out, and to keep the correct rigging ends together. I did lose the plot several times, it was very complex!
Walrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (10) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
Walrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (11) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
Unusual construction continues, with the floats painted, attached and fully rigged, before the painted lower wing half is glued to the top half.
Walrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (12) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
I've never before painted, decaled and varnished a fuselage before attaching anything to it. Also, couldn't find correct sized dull-red code letters, so applied white ones, to be over painted after in dull red.
Walrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (13) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
This is the top surface of the lower wing, again fully painted, decaled and varnished, before joining to the lower wing half. Much time also spent agonising over whether or not to apply 'shadow shading' to the lower wing surface (i.e. lighter shades to compensate for the dark shadow created by the upper wing). However, shadow shading was officially discontinued in 1942, so I concluded that new-built RAF Walrus aircraft were unlikely to have it.
Walrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (14) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
Here is the engines nacelle and struts having the rigging wires glued to the fuselage, before attaching the plastic parts. The rigging would subsequently be pulled tight and glued. I would do this differently next time, and attached the rigging from inside the fuselage for greater strength and less visible super glue.
Walrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (15) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
Having attached the engine nacelle & struts, the tailplanes were attached next in order to give a 'level datum' for the splayed undercarraige legs. This didn't work as planned and one wheel had to be prised off and re-attached to try and level the model. The u/c legs on the model have very weak attachments, and this didn't seem to make sense for the real aircraft either. It was only after carefully studying photos of the real aircraft that it was discovered that there are in fact two very small struts on the back face of the undercarraige legs, and these lock on to the fuselage when the wheels are down. They are invisible in most photos, and completely absent from all 3-view plans!
Walrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (16) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
The lower surface of the wing centre section was then attached, and the rigging pulled through and super glued. But not before much difficulty in trying to get the centre section 'straight and level'. This involved much bending of the struts which did not align properly, and it was not caused by the 3-degree offset on the engine nacelle.
Walrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (17) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
Then the top surface of the wing centre section was glued in place. It is perhaps debatable whether or not RAF Walrus had the four-wire sling on this top surface, as there would not normally be any requirement to hoist RAF Walrus back onto ships? Also regarding the top of the canopy, at least one of the preserved museum Walrus aircraft has only two (thicker) frames, rather than the three depicted on the model. Published plans and 3-view drawings are no help in resolving this. Finally, a late 'discovery' was that the kit wrongly has a second bilge pump pipe on the starboard nose, so this was removed and the paint repaired on that side.
Walrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (18) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
Walrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (19) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
The kit's tail feathers are devoid of the various actuating rods, so these were scratch built and added.
Walrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (20) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
More missing details include the faired lower front struts, and the prominent blister under the rear of the engine nacelle. This is assumed to be some sort of 'sea spray guard' for the lower engine cylinders?

That's all so far, but more to follow ..............

[acklington]

Back again, following several days without internet. Work on the Walrus continues;

Walrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (21) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
The rear hatch of the kit comes without the glazed panels, so these were carefully opened out. Also the two missing runners were scratch built, plus the two small struts that hold the hinged part open.
Walrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (22) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
Painting of all the fuselage, centre section and tail completed. The Pegasus engine and prop ready for mounting. The engine in the kit is missing the exhaust system, but I couldn't figure out how to do it, so this is the main missing detail that I have left off (for now). The two mooring bollards on the nose have been scratch built and added, plus other details like the three folding steps up the centre section forward struts.
Walrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (23) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
The lower wings glued on, but even when the glue was dry they wobbled alarmingly. Work also started on the main struts. On the real aircraft the rear struts are much broader than the front ones, I think to incorporate the actuating rod for the upper wing ailerons. So I made them broader by gluing some stretched sprue on the back edge, and blending it in with filler. The pitot tube has been scratch built and added to the port front strut.
Walrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (24) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
And then the disaster started! Due to my unusual construction method, I needed to first glue on the bottom halves of the upper wing. However the bottom halves don't have mounting tabs, these are only on the top halves. Everything was flopping about all over the place, but in trying to get it together, it became obvious that some of the struts were not long enough, this being due to my centre section being inclined too much at the front. Even without my unusual construction method, this problem will manifest itself only when gluing starts, and this is a nasty problem with this kit. So I took it apart and started again, this time holding the upper wing halves in place with elastic bands, and using super glue to attach the lower wing parts. The struts were left off till the lower wing halves had dried.
Walrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (25) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
The struts took quite some work to lengthen them here and there, but eventually it went together, still in the upside down position shown in the photo. When thoroughly dry the two elastic band were cut off, and the two upper wing halves removed, not having encountered any glue.
Walrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (26) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
The two upper wing halves have fabric surfaces where there should be the two fuel tanks. So these flat surfaces were created with filler. Also the centre section on the Walrus should be metal covered, not fabric, but I have left it as provided in the kit, complete with the four wire sling.
Walrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (27) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
Here is the kit still without the upper wing halves. All the 16 rigging wires (previously attached to the lower wings) have been pulled through and super glued tight.
Walrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (28) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
And finally the upper wing halves have been glued in place and the edges sanded smooth. Fuel filler caps have been scratch built. Note also the navigation lights previously scratch built onto the lower wing tips. Each of the main rigging wires have had the small aerodynamic fairings added where they join the wing surfaces (top and bottom), using filler. Not visible in this photo are the two prominent fuel pipes that have been scratch built using fuse wire, and added between the upper wing and the top of the engine.

That's all for now, more to follow ..........

[acklington]

Final painting has commenced, but will take a few days to allow drying between coats.

Walrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (29) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
In the meantime the final few scratch built parts are being made, including two windscreen wipers (essential sea going equipment!); a rear view mirror (many Walrus had them, but what for is not obvious); and my crude attempt at the exhaust system for the Pegasus engine, made out of a bit of discarded y-shaped sprue.

More to follow in a few days ................

[acklington]

Many interruptions to progress, and a few setbacks with the model. However, it is now finished and decent photos will follow shortly. In the meantime, here are some of the final wip photos;

Walrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (30) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
The windscreen wipers and rear view mirror in place. I've also painted the small black square thing below the cockpit, but I'm still not sure what it is. It looks like a small window in some photos?
Walrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (31) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
This view shows the scratch built engine exhaust system in place.
Walrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (32) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
This view is to show what happens to the two aerial wires when they come down from the top wing. This is often missed on other models. There were in fact two different aerial arrangements, the one shown here, and a different one where the upper wires vanish in to the top wing surface, and re-appear further inboard on the wing before connecting to the rear of the cockpit area.
Walrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (33) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
This view shows the two fuel pipes coming down to the engine from the tanks in the top wing. Also the exhaust system is shown, and the aerial wires. I've also added (in the front of the top wing centre section) another navigation light, slightly offset. On some Walrus this light is mounted on a pole on the top of the centre section.
Walrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (34) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
A very annoying late discovery is that there is (on some or all later Walrus), a cut out in the centre rear of the top centre section, matching the position of the top engine cylinder. I couldn't do anything to alter the model, but I have painted the 'cut out' matt-black, just to show that I know it should be there!

Decent photos of the model to follow ...........

[csnewton2701]

Cracking job there. Definitely looks the part.

Chris

[jetdragon]

Superb work as always - I wish I had the patience.....

[acklington]

Many thanks for the comments, and here are the completed model photos.

Walrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (38) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
Walrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (41) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
Walrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (50) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
Walrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (56) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
Walrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (59) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
Walrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (61) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
Walrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (68) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr

Just a comment about the accuracy of the scheme, as it is based on a partial photo of some erks stood in front of the rear fuselage, and obliterating most of the code letters. The 'FA' and the hyphen are correct, and the colours are red, unlike some RAF Rescue squadrons that used yellow. However, the individual code letter 'B' could be a 'D' or even a 'G' as only a bit of a curved letter can be seen. RAF Rescue squadrons only had a few aircraft each, to include the Walrus and Defiants, later replaced by the Anson. The highest letter known for 281 Squadron is an Anson coded 'F'. As the Walrus came first, early alphabet letters are likely, thus choosing 'B' for this model of Z1768.

[maverick]

Absolutely FA-Bulous.. the detail and your dedication is astonishing. Congrats.

If one exists I'd love to see you do a HP.42. Hannibal, etc.

[digit]

Fantastic quality and attention to detail!

GC

[marpleman]

Absolutely amazing
It looks stunning