Pooley plane new look

 Introduction

For those of you who are avid readers of my site you will already know that I am a University lecturer and teach aerospace engineering. If you are new to my site then you now know what I do for a living! Anyway; I am currently on my annual leave (very welcome I might add), and I have decided to finally take on a little side project that I been wanting to do for a number of years; A Pooley plane. I am sure that you are wondering what a Pooley plane is. There's no other way to describe it than a few pieces of wood glued together in the shape of a very basic plane but it does have the ability to activate and use every control surface on that plane and that is something that is simply indispensable when teaching people how an aircraft is controlled in flight. Forget your fancy flight simulators or virtual reality or even simple computer graphics! This thing is one of the best ways to teach basic flight controls. I've been teaching this subject for over 25 years and trust me; this is a hill I'm willing to die on!

So what's the project? Well it's twofold. The first is simply something to make the Pooley Plane that I inherited from a member of staff who has just retired (Thanks Ade) and to make mine stand out from the crowd and I can think of no better way than a striking new paint job for it. Every Pooley plane is supplied with a very bright red paint job and that's it. No other paint colour choices, just red. Now I know that your probably thinking that there's nothing wrong in that but I am a very big fan of providing students with something to remember and when I visit schools to talk about aircraft I want the kids to remember it. A new paint-job is one way of doing this. The second is an addition of a handle underneath the plane. When you are using it you have to bodily hold the model whilst operating the controls and this can sometimes be a little cumbersome. To an engineer this is something that has always gotten on my nerves that it needs improving in some way. I have long considered the addition of a handle however I can see why the company that makes them does not add it as it would then make the aircraft very difficult to place on a tabletop when not in use. I intend on making it removable at will (at least that's the plan). Right I think that's enough of an introduction so lets get on with the re-vamp!

The choice's

Let's be completely honest there's no shortage of inspiration out there for aircraft paint jobs! A few types into google images and one is presented with a multitude of ideas to contend with. I spent around 3 months (not joking) looking around for a suitable design that's both memorable and achievable with an airbrush and some acrylic paints. I immediately ruled out anything camouflage as it needs to stand out, not blend in. I then ruled out the more outlandish designs like the tiger design as they were far too complex for something like this. I did think of imitating a polished aluminium effect but then that would be too reflective for a classroom with overhead lights. I had almost given up on the idea until I came across an image taken of an RAF Hawk in the Union Jack colours and realised that this would be an excellent design choice for the Pooley. I work in a UK University, the Pooley is already one third of the colour scheme and the design is simply straight lines. I say simply, but the Union jack is a complete bugger to get right due to the angles, especially on a curved structure.

The layout

I decided that the best course of action would be to restrict the flag design to the wings, tail and fin and then using a simple tri-colour striped design for the fuselage. The first order of business was the creation of a template. This was achieved by layering on some green frog-tape masking tape, trimming to fit the surface and then after peeling from the surface of the plane, sticking it down onto some paper and cutting to size. This then allowed by a flat surface some much easier marking out of the design. Once complete I can then use some extra masking tape to overlay on the template and then transfer to the plane for painting. The first step prior to painting was the removal of all of the hardware from the plane to leave the basic structure. This was a simple process and all of the parts were carefully stored in a bag for re-assembly once the modifications are complete. 

                                   

The paint stages

I decided to use Vallejo acrylic paints for the paint job as these are really easy to use with an airbrush and require minimal clean-up. I also use these all of the time on my models so familiarity is also a bonus. I did consider the wear and tear factors once complete so I will be re-coating the entire model with a hard wearing acrylic satin varnish before re-assembly for use. Stage 1 was rubbing down the wing areas to be painted just enough to "key" the surface and then airbrush with a light grey Vallejo primer. Once painted it was set aside and left for 24 hours to set-up and harden. The next evening I then laid out the white areas to be airbrushed, blocking out the blue and red areas. Another 24 hours later the whole masking process was repeated only this time for the blue. Once this was dried and hardened I turned my attention to the fuselage. I opted as previously stated for a tri-colour striped design as I felt that continuing the Union Jack design would make everything a little too fussy and it would also provide a nightmare of masking and marking out!

                                   

                                   

Changing my mind! 

I had originally determined to paint the entire fin of the aircraft in the blue upper fuselage colour but on reflection I felt that this also needed the union jack design. It wasn't too much of an issue to make another template for the design but in the interests of keeping things honest for this write-up I thought it pertinent to mention it. The downside of changing my mind was that this would add another two days of painting and allowing to cure before continuing on to the next stage. It also meant that I had already rubbed down and primed over the red so this will now have to be re-sprayed in red as well as white and blue!!!

                                   

                                   

Mistakes!

Like every model building adventure there are always mistakes to be made and unfortunately this is no different. Aside from the normal over-sprays that usually happen due to my shoddy masking, there has been a few paint rips from the tape although this is now few and far between since switching to the wonderful fog tape low adhesion (yellow) tape. I also made a slight error in masking for one of the edges around the "cockpit" which I will sort out when I lay the blue on the fin. For the keen of eye among you I also missed two blue triangles of the Union flag on the rear tail plane! It took me a day or two to realise this but quickly rectified the issue with yet more masking and spraying!  

  

                             

     

Next steps

Aside from finishing the fin and rectifying the errors that I have shown above. I have also been presented with an opportunity. While discussing this plane with my daughter I mentioned that the only thing missing was the lettering for the aircraft as they always come with a registration. I said that it would be great to include my office number as it would go a long way to "sell" the image of an aircraft. When she asked why I was not doing this I said that the cost of ordering custom lettering like this was extortionate for what they are. It was at this point that she told me that her colleague has a Cricket printer which is capable of manufacturing the letters and a quick exchange of texts and I now have some aircraft lettering on their way (Thanks Hannah)! The lettering is however being supplied in white so an alternative area colour on the fuselage will have to be chosen for where the lettering will go. I have not decided yet whether to go with a black rectangle or a blue rectangle. Happily I don't have to make that decision until the lettering arrives. I have also ordered some small Welsh flags for the aircraft as I am after all Welsh and teach in a Welsh University. The exact placement of these are yet to be decided upon. Here's a few photos of the aircraft finished and matt varnished prior to applying the lettering:

The lettering

The lettering (big shout out to Hannah!) was made on a cricket printer and the quality is simply excellent. Hannah was very kind in making them in an aircraft style lettering and the the exact size that I asked for. Once applied to the aircraft along with some subtle small Welsh flags that I obtained from E-bay for a very reasonable £2 delivered I sat back and admired the finished paint scheme. Now I could have stopped at this point however I have the additional plan of adding a handle that can be removed once I have finished using it in the classroom allowing the Pooley to be stored a little easier. Here's some images of the finished article prior to the handle installation:

                             

                              

The Handle

I purchased some M8 wood screw inserts for the handle from Amazon. Although I only need one I have the feeling that once my colleagues see the handle modification I will be supplying them with the same inserts! To allow a good strong area for the handle to be inserted I elected to increase the thickness of the wood that the insert would be fitted to. I cut some scrap pine strip that I had spare to the size of the inner fuselage and glued it in there with some epoxy glue. I then re-assembled all of the aircraft controls to ensure that they had freedom of movement. 

                             

The next stage of the process was to mark a suitable spot under the fuselage, drill a tapping size for the thread and screw into the hole using a hex key. I then repeated the same step in the file handle and I was left with two female M8 threads in both the aircraft and the handle. I then applied a liberal amount of superglue to the bottom threads of an M8 bolt and screwed into the file handle. Once cured I then cut off the head of the bolt and using a file rounded off the thread at the tip. I was then left with an M8 threaded handle that could be screwed into the aircraft to provide a good hand hold during teaching and removable for storage so that the plane rests as intended by the manufacturer. 

                               

Finished photos and final thoughts

This was a project that I have been meaning to do since I first started using this wonderful teaching aid. Yes it's not exactly a scale model BUT it is a model of sorts. It's also a model that I use and I just had to put my personal stamp on it as well as adding to its useability for me. Is this going to be everyone's cup of tea? No, but then again it's a personal item to me and now I am the proud owner of the only Pooley plane in the world that has it's very own Union Jack livery. I'm over the moon with how this has turned out and I sincerely hope that you have enjoyed reading about this little upgrade and think it looks as good as I do. As always I forgot to take some photos of the bloody thing with the handle installed and I promise to upload the images when I actually remember to take them! 

Until next time..................

3D Printed figure holders

 Introduction

I like many of you I assume have tried a variety of ways of mounting figures to paint for either war gaming, display or in my case for use in dioramas. I have over the years tried the "traditional" wine cork to hold my figures with limited success, plastic drinks tops, alligator clips attached to sticks and also some more expensive options. Each one has their merits and each one has eventually become more of a hassle than a help as I continued to use them. For the larger 120mm or 1/16 size figures I use a manufactured figure holder which is absolutely superb (yes I'll get around to writing a review on that soon), but for 1/35 figures I needed a lot of holders that would be cheap to buy, plentiful in supply (I paint more than one figure at a time) and easy to replace should I subject them to too much abuse over the years. My answer came not from a manufacturer but from a creator on Thingiverse.

The Holder

The figure holder is simplicity itself. Its a 3D printed handle that is available in two sizes (for larger and smaller hands/grips) a "top-hat" section to place the figure onto and then a simple case of buying as many cheap 608RS bearings as required. I opted to buy a pack of six bearings for £3 from Ali-express. The designer did a fantastic job in ensuring that when the holder is placed on the printer bed it requires no supports whatsoever and can just be printed in cheap and readily available PLA. For those of you reading this that don't own a 3D printer but know someone who does; each holder printed works out to roughly 50p worth of PLA to print so they are extremely cheap when coupled with the bearing. The designer had ensured that the "cap" portion of the holder was roughly the same diameter as the frequently used figure bases for wargaming I believe that can either be bought or again 3D printed for pennies (of course I opted for the 3D printed discs). 

Once assembled the holder can be rotated with one finger thereby ensuring the holder remains comfortable in the hand (thanks to its ergonomic shape) while the figure can be rotated to each area that you wish to paint. In addition; thanks again to its design you can quite safely place the holder onto a flat surface where it remains quite stable while you pick up another figure and begin painting that one. In terms of attachment of the figure to the holder I  attach the figure to one of the 3D printed bases with a little superglue and then attach the base to the holder with a little blue-tack. This method has stood the test of time with over 5 years of use and no accident. 

                                   

                                   

                                   

                                   

Once you have finished painting the figure and are ready to place it onto your diorama or base of choice, the figure can be easily released from the printed stand with a thin blade and some light upward pressure. Superglue doesn't like shear loads so breaks away easily with no damage to the figure. I am still re-using the original plastic bases that I printed a few years ago. I would also add that even though the holders have been designed to be a friction fit for the bearings, I did glue the inner race of the bearing to the holder base and then the outer race of the bearing to the upper portion of the holder. This does create a more permanent fixing and probably doesn't need to be glued but the engineer in me wanted a "positive" lock for whole holder. 

I honestly cannot recommend this little figure holder enough. Its cheap to make, Is beautifully designed and robust enough to take a battering in the model tool draw when not in use. So far I have six of them but I've just placed an order for some more bearings from Ali-express to print off an additional six more as I have began painting more figures in one sitting. I also think that we are now at the point where if you don't own a printer yourself you probably know someone who does and is willing to print some off for you for a beer! 

I've included the links to both of these items that I have talked about below. At the time of writing this review they are both completely free to download from Thingiverse thanks to their generous designers. 

pedestal for figurines

Rotary Handle

I hope that you have found this quick review interesting and useful and if you do decide to give them a go I would love to know what you think of them in the comments. 

More reviews soon!

Tamiya 1/35 Wespe diorama

 Introduction

Off the back of my mono-wheel vignette I really wanted to get back into something a little bigger, possibly tracked. I delved into the attic stash and the Tamiya Wespe jumped out at me. Whilst taking a look through the box I realised that I had bought a Royal models aluminium barrel and an Eduard detail kit for this model as well. I must admit that I am a little worried as I honestly cannot remember buying these accessories for this kit! With the model chosen I then dug into my figure stash and decided upon some figures from a larger Stalingrad figure set that I bought a few months prior. I had no idea at this stage how I was going to present the model but I was eager to make a start:

                                 

The build 

The kit itself is textbook Tamiya; everything went together as expected, minimum parts cleanup etc; the most difficult part of the actual build was the addition of the Eduard etch parts. I had also not used an aluminium barrel before and was really surprised at the quality and detail of the item. This is something that I will definitely consider for my tank models in the future as long as the part isn't too silly on the pricing! I won't write anything further on the build for the sake of it so I'll let the images below do the talking: 

                                   

                                   

                                   

                                   

Primer

I decided to go with my favourite Vallejo black acrylic primer for the entire model so that I could get an good even base to build upon for the finished colour. At the time of priming the Wespe I had still not decided upon the colour scheme or the diorama theme. I was also really impressed at the way in which the primer took to the aluminium barrel. The whole gun assembly looked great even just in the primer: 

                                   

                                   

                                   

Colour choice for the Wespe

After spending a few evenings scouring the internet for a colour scheme that caught my intention I settled on one that was used in Normandy. Unfortunately there was no colour photos available but following a little investigative work on colours used by the Germans in WWII I was able to come up with an approximation of what colours I was going to use. It was only when I looked at Tamiya's decal guide in the instructions did I realise that the colour scheme that I had opted for was one that the instructions suggest to use!!!! After laughing at myself for a little while I must say that I am impressed with the research that Tamiya does for authenticity of their colour scheme options and in future I will spend a little time looking at what they suggest before getting lost in history websites! The whole model was sprayed in the yellowish base colour seen on many WWII German armour. After 24 hrs I then masked off the interior and took a deep breath as I started to freehand airbrush the camo scheme onto the body:

                                   

                                   

                                   

                                   

                                   

The figures

Once I had decided on a colour scheme for the Wespe which also determined the location of the diorama it would be placed in I then started examining the figures from the Stalingrad set that I had brought out of the stash. The entire figure set gave me a feeling of morose or shock and desperation. I then realised that that was probably everything that the German forces close to the landing zone probably felt the day after the landings had taken place. I then decided on what the title and theme of the diorama would be. More on that when I talk about the base below. I chose three figures from the Stalingrad set and one of the two figures provided with the Wespe by Tamiya. Each of the figures were assembled and then mounted into my 3D printed figure holders which I now use for every 1/35 figure I make. I sprayed each of them in black primer and then let them cure for 24 hours before painting them:

                                   

                                   

                                   

                                   

I used "standard" German colours provided for by Vallejo for the figures; I did however decide to try a technique of painting the tanker figure that I had seen done by a You-tube account that I frequently watch Night Shift Scale Models. If you haven't checked out his videos yet I would definitely recommend his channel for 1/35 kit builds. He suggests lightly dusting the figure from above in a light sand colour and then gradually blending in grey tones over the black primer to achieve a realistic black tankers uniform. I must say for a first attempt using this technique I was pleasantly surprised at the outcome: 

                                   

                                   

The Base & Theme

As previously mentioned, I had decided upon a Normandy colour scheme for my Wespe and picked some quite morose figures to compliment the model. It seemed like a logical choice to therefore base this diorama on or near the Normandy landings. I settled on the day after the landings and to imagine a group of soldiers taking a breath behind the German front lines as makeshift defensive positions were being made. The base would be a simple grass area in the French countryside where the Wespe had been quickly parked up in a vain attempt to conceal it from Allied aircraft. Some French hedges could be quickly made up from some seafoam trees and static grass. I had also bought some very reasonably priced scale flowers from a new website called Temu and was pleasantly surprised at their comparable quality to flower packs five times the price from scale model web sites. The base itself is my usual Ikea frame bought from the sale section (every time I go to ikea and see small frames in the clearance section I buy every one of them to use at a later date) Some blue foam was cut to raise the base and then some cheap pre-mixed filler was placed on top of that to provide a good base for the groundwork and it was then painted in some cheap brown acrylic bought from a bargain shop:

                                   

                                  

Finishing the Wespe

While the initial stages of the base dried I the returned my attention to the Wespe once again. I began final assembly of the model and applying the decals. once the decals were fixed in place the whole model was coated in Vallejo clear varnish and once dried I began the process of weathering. For this piece I opted for some very light weathering in the form of a black oil wash followed by shades of browns. The tracks and suspension components were coated in the dried mud I use followed by staining it in the brown oils used for the rest of the model. I figured that before the landings the crews had time to clean and get their kit in good order so at this stage in the battle for France the Wespe would be quite clean and only have signs of moderate to light wear and tear. 

                                   

                                   

                                   

Finishing the base

The first layer to add to the base was a good coating of the dried earth that I get from work (leftovers from experiments at the university I work at). Once that dried I then added some static grass followed by positioning the sea foam trees in such a way as it looked like the Wespe had driven into a natural gap in the hedgerow. I then sprayed the trees in some hairspray (thanks to my wonderful wife) and added some static grass to the now sticky sea foam trees. I then fired up the compressor and started adding light coats of various Vallejo greens to achieve a nice summery colour that you'd expect for France at that time of year. Some of my newly bought flowers were added and then some areas of light brown were sprayed onto parts of the base that were not really well covered in static grass:

                                   

                                   

                                   

                                   

                                   

                                   

Final thoughts and naming the diorama

With everything now complete I mounted the Wespe in its final position and glued it to the base. I added some additional Sea foam branches to the front of the model and fixed them in place with some glue. The figures were then added to the base with one of the sitting soldiers just on the ground on his own, two figures looking at each other and the final sitting soldier taking refuge inside the Wespe. Imagining what the two soldiers would be saying to each other I landed on the name for this diorama: " Was zur holle sit paessiert? What the hell happened?" I'm really happy with the finished model and I hope that the pictures convey the feeling that I was going for. As always, if you've gotten this far I would love to hear your comments and I'm always happy to answer any questions you may have on how I made this model.

More models soon