1:48 Bristol Blenheim I

A fast bomber that grew old before it started

The Bristol Blenheim came about from a fast civil aircraft and in the middle of the 1930s it outran the fighters of the day. Before the war came, though, fighter technology leapt forward and nothing was left of the lead; crews then flew daylight raids with minimal defense. The Mk.I version has a shorter nose than the later forms and a dorsal turret with one machine gun seated right behind the cockpit.

The turret and the long glazing

Two glazed assemblies one above the other mean two different tasks. The cockpit has mild division and could be managed by hand, but the turret is small, round and with narrow posts, where tape cannot be given a shape. Anyone setting out to build any machine with a gun turret usually finds out only when he gets to it that he should have obtained a set. Here the turret is part of what the cut is calculated for.

The composition of the set

The clear parts have covering from both sides and the marks are enclosed in two complete sets. British roundels of the late 1930s tend to have a narrower blue circle, so it is good to keep their width exactly; when spraying through film that is settled by the shape of the cut-out, not by the modeler's hand.

Recommended procedure and accessories

Lay the work out over two sittings. First finish the cockpit and let the finish harden overnight, and only then set about the turret; small parts are damaged more easily and a fresh film peels away together with the mask. A suitable accessory here is fine tweezers with a bent tip and a simple stand in which the model is held during spraying without the fingers touching it.