Blackburn Roc Mk.I

Soeren R.
One seat in the first row is booked for me! 🙂

Roland Sachsenhofer
Booked!
Did you see the gaping fuselage halfs? 🙂 Very short run here...... this project will be based on Cyanacrylat!😉

Jens
das schaut nach viel Nacharbeit aus, aber schön zu sehen , deine routinierte Perfektion 👍

Roland Sachsenhofer
While the big bombers have to wait for a moment, it is time to bring the Blackburn Roc to an desirable finish.
I can proudly declare, this kit has been awarded both with the DFC and with the DSC
That stands for: "Disfavored Frustrating Crassness"..... and "Disclosure of Severe Cracks".
I hope the new pictures are convincing enough that this is well deserved.
All the gaps have been sealed with cyanacrylate- glue; that will serve as a filler; now it is time to do some sanding.

Wim van der Luijt
Count me in for this filling and sanding bonanza!

Stephan Ryll
Roland I think I have to invest some money for shares of sanding paper manufactors 😉 but I'm shure you will bring it to an good end 👍

Roland Sachsenhofer
Thank you all for your encouragements!
I will share al my sanding joy and pleasure as soon as I have pictures from the tamed crack-monster 🙂

Roland Sachsenhofer
I will have to remove the struts stabilizing the engine- the look all too ugly.... and I have broken them during attachment. I guess I will rebuild them from stretched sprue.
The fuselage and wings are ready for priming and preshading- all the gaps you still see are covered with hardened cyanacrylate! 🙂

Dave Flitton
I think a "desirable finish" to this model may be a large firecracker in the cockpit!

Dave Flitton
That's like a lot of my builds lately

Erik Leijdens
Following with interest Roland, I like the Roc but do not like this kit😄. Think you will make the best out of it.

Roland Sachsenhofer
I had to laugh reading that! O yeah- a firecracker in the cockpit would be appropriate! 🙂
Apropos: there is such a strain on the fuselage construction, that the fuselage part forward of the windscreen did overwhelm the bonding forces of the glue.... I found the fuselage half gaping open this morning. Well... next round gluing, filling, sanding..... 🙂
Thank you for all your encouragement!

Roland Sachsenhofer
Pre-shading is done- and the re-glued forward part of the fuselage still has to be sanded.
The cowl has got it´s metal color- with a hint of copper over "steel" and "gunmetal" for the exhaust.
I am happy I have redone the struts inside the cowl; the look at least better than the original "stakes"

Alec K
Wow, the fit on this kit just looks atrocious. I am sad to see that, as I like the guys at Special Hobby (they bring a lot of unusual sublets to the market). I have the 1:72 version, and hope it's not just a reduced version of this bundle of troubles. I admire your tenacity to tackle it 👍

Roland Sachsenhofer
Thank you Alec!
Indeed, Special Hobby has to be praised for their model-policy, but undeniable..... this kit has to be counted to one of the worst kits ever seen. That´s especially concerning the fit of parts and... well, the general layout.
The Blackburn Roc/Skua is one of the older SH kits, that may excuse the horrible fit.
The upper surfaces are now masked, "Sky Gray" has been applied to the underside yesterday.
I decided to rebuilt the tailhook from brass- tubing as the SH part is all too ugly 🙂

Helmut Fraundorfer
Geeze Roland, it looks like it would have been a good idea to produce putty in a cement mixer for this one as the need for it seems infinite. Ones again though you have proven that you could build a model just from plastic shavings! I admire your effort your patience and initiative! I am sure the whole package will look great ones it is painted and weathered!

Roland Sachsenhofer
Thank you Helmut! Your words are motivating- I hope it will look like a "Roc" in the end..... 🙂
Anyway I am looking forward to an end of this multimedia- yes, I mean putty, sandpaper! 🙂 -experience!

Roland Sachsenhofer
Upper surfaces have been painted now- there are three pictures of the masked Roc before being sprayed with Extra Dark Sea-gray/ Gunze H333.

Stephan Ryll
Nice progress Roland 👍

Burkhard D
Kewl😎

Roland Sachsenhofer
Thank you Stephan and Burkhard! Decals done at last! I was very keen to see the effect of the colorful markings on the rather dark surfaces.

Roland Sachsenhofer
There seems to be a major bug in the SH manual: look at the instruction, affecting the modeler to glue the gun barrels on the breech blocks! That can´t be right 🙂 I decided to get the barrels into the fitting holes on the opposing "backside".
By the way: the barrels are a little bit on the crude side.... Drilling them out and sanding them in a more proper shape should make them a look a little bit better.

Bart Goesaert
This is a real transformation from an ugly duckling into a swan..

Roland Sachsenhofer
I am really glad to read your words, Bart and Lode!

Burkhard D
Nothing that can't be fixed😉 👍

Roland Sachsenhofer
Thank you Burkhard- you are perfectly right for sure 🙂
But..... fixing that mischief- I have to say that- was quite hard work. Today I tried to get it finished...at last. While cleaning up the inside of the canopy with tweezers- I had to remove reluctant masking material- the whole construction exploded suddenly under the force with which I operated the tweezers.... The rear panel, windscreen, canopy, even the seat- all had broken loose...
It was hard work to bring all in
their places again.....
Another matter making troubles had been mounting the glassing on the turret: The muzzles showed to be too wide to fit through the openings of the canopy struts..... I had to cut the muzzles off, glue the turrets glassing in place, followed by the re-mounting the gun muzzles.

All in all, I am relieved to finish that long-time project! No award winner of course- but finished a last!
These are the last pictures of the building process- the only thing left is putting the prop on the shaft 🙂
The masking tapes are securing a tight fit of the sliding canopy part during gluing.

Tomorrow I should be able to get the Blackburn Ric photographed.

Erik Leijdens
Fantastic work Roland!

Roland Sachsenhofer
Thank you for your comment Erik!
Here are the final pictures of this challenging project. Finished at last! 🙂
This kit was over two years in limbo between workbench and dustbin.... now i am glad I could get it done somehow.
Thank you for all your interest and comments, mates!

Razvan Coman
Excellent work

Wim van der Luijt
glad you pulled through, the pictures are really good, the Roc is really something to see

Alistair Graham
For what looks to have been a frustrating build, the result is fantastic. Nice to see this rarer aircraft.

Soeren R.
Fantasic work Roland! 🙂

Stefan Fraundorfer
Am Ende ist dann doch noch alles gut geworden. Ich glaube, der Großteil der Modellbauer hätte die Roc in die Mülltonne geworfen. Aber du nicht! Du hast durchgehalten, alle Widrigkeiten umschifft und ein schönes Modell auf das Fahrwerk gestellt. Gratuliere!

Alec K
Excellent result with what is surely a challenging build 👍

Roland Sachsenhofer
Hello mates! Thank you a lot for all your incentive comments! You truly gave me the boost to go through this project, thank you for your time and interest!

scalemates
Nice!!!

Roland Sachsenhofer
Wow- that was fast help! Thank for that- and your kind comment! 🙂

Jens
ich schreibs mal deutsch, mein Translate ist da nicht so geschult 😠, einfach wunderschön die beiden Vögel, und wirkliche Meisterwerke 👍 👍 👍 obwohl ich dann auch sagen muß, dein BB hat mich vom Kauf abgehalten, bei mir wäre der Weg in die Tonne vorgezeichnet 🙂

Dave Flitton
Excellent !! Save the firecracker for something else - you done good!!

Choppa Nutta
Nice!

Stephan Ryll
Outstanding job Roland! That's a hell of a job that turned into real beauties 👍

Alexander Grivonev
Unbelievable Roland, kocking them out like a conveyor belt....Henry Ford would be proud!

Roland Sachsenhofer
Jens, Dave,Choppa, Stephen, Alexander, thank you very much for your very kind words and motivating comments! Dave, firecracker is disarmed and reserved for another candidate. 🙂
Jens, vielleicht erbarmt sich ja einmal jemand und bringt eine wunderschöne Roc raus- TRumpeter hielte ich da für einen Kandidaten! 🙂

Choppa Nutta
I didn't realise this model was complete because of the out of date teaser😉

Jens
jooo Trumpeter wäre eine Adresse , ICM könnte da aber locker mitspielen 😉

Bart Goesaert
Glad you finished this one, nice and obscure model. The filigrane construction of the bombrack sure looks very nice

Roland Sachsenhofer
Thank you all mates! Indeed, ICM maybe a candidate! The bomb rack was a
fairly easy arranged and bent bunch of etched parts- but its really looking good

Roland Sachsenhofer
Many thanks Lode, your words make me quite proud!