Hi everybody

A quick update on the Balliol



Last time I had closed the fuselage and put on the wings



Fit was good

But I had a strange problem with the seats



I had used the marked positions on the floor - and still they were off centre...



I removed the seats - and some parts in the back - to see what was wrong



The starboard side of the floor was much lower - giving the floor a serious angle

Rats !



How to fix this ?

While a rear bulk head (?) was in the way



But I was lucky enough to cut/break off some plastic - creating room to lift the floor up



To do this I drilled a hole in the bottom - because I needed to push the floor "up"



A second hole was needed



Much better !

Good thing it was not glued to the wall - because it didn't touch the wall



Closing the holes again



The navigation lights were not the best fits



Filler and sanding and polishing helped



The rear deck under the canopy was silver



Heck, I misted my instrument panel...



To clean it up - I removed it, including the control columns



Everything in place again



Including seats and all other parts



The radiator is a beautiful resin casting - with very good fit



Painted



Again a butt join, positioned with eye ball mk.I



At first the canopy was not a great fit - but things improved while gluing it to the fuselage



Though I ended up using filler



And sanding



And polishing with Tamiya Polishing Compound (in the background)

Then I treated it with Tamiya Modeling Wax - which I had bought 20 years ago to polish my collection of Dinky Toys



Tamiya Fine Surface Primer



I'm looking forward to the painting now - silver with yellow stripes

Thanks for your interest

* * *
William De Coster / Belgium / Plastic Stories

1/72 - Special Hobby - Bolton Paul Balliol T.2 : Part I
1/72 - Airfix - Hellcat : Part I

Just like the perfect woman doesn't exist, I will never build a perfect model.
Puts me on a par with God

look easy. The rest of us are mortals, you know.
Great saves, William.
George, out...........

And prone to angling cockpit floors

But I have to admit, when you goof around like me, you get good training in making fixes !)

Initially I wanted to cut open the whole floor to be able to push the cockpit floor upwards on starboard side... I'm glad my little light bulb came in time with the idea to just make a small hole - and use this to push the floor up

Polishing is not so difficult with Tamiya Polishing Compound, it's a great product - if it was not introduced to me by an old friend many years ago, who gave me a tube for free, I would never have tried it ("polishing models", yeah right!) and known about it - now I use it on almost every model - highly recommended

* * *
William De Coster / Belgium / Plastic Stories

1/72 - Special Hobby - Bolton Paul Balliol T.2 : Part I - Part II
1/72 - Airfix - Hellcat : Part I
Just like the perfect woman doesn't exist, I will never build a perfect model.
Puts me on a par with God

Really nice, William! I can see you and your girl friend in those seats right now. Wonderful job on the cockpit and landing lights etc. too. You are "The" expert on canopies and fairing those suckers in.

The scheme will be sure to please. Keep on posting.

While we are flying, "mind the birds" or "take a turn here"...

Blending in canopies - it's just the way I do my models most of the time now - I like it... but expert, hmmm... occasionally I still have problems with it, this time a few little white clouds showed up in the corners, don't know from where they came, I hope I can get rid of them with a post primer polishing session - but more about this next time

* * *
William De Coster / Belgium / Plastic Stories

1/72 - Special Hobby - Bolton Paul Balliol T.2 : Part I - Part II
1/72 - Airfix - Hellcat : Part I
Just like the perfect woman doesn't exist, I will never build a perfect model.
Puts me on a par with God

William, you must have a Gremlin in your hobby room

Very nice and imagitive correction - as always!

Cheers, Vic

I used them to try to catch that gremlin - without much success I have to add - so the mouse traps were promoted to modelling tools - with a little more success !

Good to hear from you Vic - by the way, next two weekends are model show weekends, including the first one in Prague - so stay tuned...

* * *
William De Coster / Belgium / Plastic Stories

1/72 - Special Hobby - Bolton Paul Balliol T.2 : Part I - Part II
1/72 - Airfix - Hellcat : Part I
Just like the perfect woman doesn't exist, I will never build a perfect model.
Puts me on a par with God

No matter what happens, you always come up with a clever fix, where most of us would probably have given up. I love your finished models, but I'm even more impressed with your approach to modeling. Very inspirational!

And the cockpit, canopy and that nifty radiator all look terrific!

Stuart (who really is going to get going on the CR 32)

In finding fixes - by making many mistakes - in the past - and in the present - and probably still in the future !

I'm really looking forward to some news from your CR.32 - I like these mainstream shadow subjects, but on the other hand you are doing a splendid job on that Airfix Hurricane, very inspiring work - and useful when I start on my Belgian Air Force Hurricane, one day soon...

* * *
William De Coster / Belgium / Plastic Stories

1/72 - Special Hobby - Bolton Paul Balliol T.2 : Part I - Part II
1/72 - Airfix - Hellcat : Part I
Just like the perfect woman doesn't exist, I will never build a perfect model.
Puts me on a par with God

how you sand away at canopies and get them back better than ever.

We are not worthy of you master!

Fred

Unfortunately - the canopies on my Zeroes were a mess - I'm terrible at painting canopy frames

And "not worthy of you master".... good lord Fred, I think you have been drinking Chimay again ! I hope to make one day a really good model, but I'm not there yet - and to be honest it's not the main target - I'm just trying to have fun and enjoy myself - and improve if possible

* * *
William De Coster / Belgium / Plastic Stories

1/72 - Special Hobby - Bolton Paul Balliol T.2 : Part I - Part II
1/72 - Airfix - Hellcat : Part I
Just like the perfect woman doesn't exist, I will never build a perfect model.
Puts me on a par with God

Great post, William - this bird is coming along nicely and that was a very imaginative save on the seating arrangement! How typical of you to go to the trouble to get it right. Haaa!
Best...Ted...

Current Build:
Mad About Migs Pt. 1; Mad About Migs Pt. 2; Mad About Migs Pt. 3; Mad About Migs Pt. 4; Mad About Migs Pt. 5; Mad About Migs Pt. 6; Mad About Migs Pt. 7; Mad About Migs Pt. 8; Mad About Migs Finish

Tall Tales:
Kanal Kampf: A Spitfire Story
Cold War Incident
The Lucky Mig

Previous WIP Builds:
Matilda Makeover Pt.1; Matilda Makeover Pt.2; Matilda Makeover Pt.3; Matilda Makeover Finish;

The Big Spit Pt.1; The Big Spit Pt.2; The Big Spit Pt.3; The Big Spit Pt.4; The Big Spit Pt.5; The Big Spit Pt.6;
The Big Spit Pt.7; The Big Spit Pt.8; The Big Spit Pt.9; The Big Spit Pt.10; The Big Spit Pt.11; The Big Spit Finish;

Me109 Pt.1; Me109 Pt.2; Me109 Pt.3; Me109 Finish;

Vickers Tank Pt.1; Vickers Tank Pt.2; Vickers Tank Pt.3; Vickers Tank Pt.4; Vickers Tank Pt.5; Vickers Tank Pt.6; Vickers Tank Finish;

Connies Pt.1; Connies Pt.2; Connies Pt.3; Connies Pt.4; Connies Pt.5; Connies Pt.6; Connies Pt.7; Connies Finish