Jump to content

Ex-FAAWAFU

Gold Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    8,191

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    49

 Content Type 

Everything posted by Ex-FAAWAFU

  1. Ex-FAAWAFU
    No, the black framing will come in due course. The howler is the centre overhead panel!
  2. Ex-FAAWAFU
    P.P.S. After taking the shots above, I realised that I can now unmask the windscreen - side windows will have to wait a bit longer. There is one inadvertent howler (fixable, so no sweat), clearly visible in this first picture: I have simply taken the masks off - no polishing or clean up. So on the whole I am pretty happy with how much is visible. It also solves the mystery of what has broken loose and is rattling around inside. I had sneaking suspicion that has turned out to be correct; this cab has no visible Orange Crop control box on the dashboard. Ah well! Crisp P.S. I now have two weeks to decide whether it is worth the effort of removing the canopy and retrieving the OC controller - it could be done, but would obviously mean a fair amount of remedial work to get the joins right again afterwards...
  3. Ex-FAAWAFU
    Right, that's me done with modelling for 2 weeks, so as I sign off I thought I'd have a bit of fun; I have borrowed a piece of flight deck from a passing Sea Vixen and photographed the Sea King on that - seems appropriate for her first outing on all 5 wheels. [Sorry this one's a bit out of focus, but I wanted to try to capture her nose on from low down, so we can see the wheels properly. Only partially successful.] [This one is pleasing, cos it shows that the roundels are aligned vertically - I hadn't noticed that before, but it shows that my measurements worked OK! It also shows that Hasegawa have nicely captured the look of a Sea King on the ground - they always look somehow as though they are light on the tail wheel] This is mostly self-indulgence, but it has also helped me add a couple of things to the "Snag List on Return". You will note that BOTH spine aerials were casualties of the walk way masking. Ah well; they were scratch built anyway, so shouldn't be any problem to repeat the process! Keep on having fun, and see y'all in a couple of weeks. Navy 346 chopping FLYCO, thank you for your service; good night. Crisp P.S. Incidentally, those rather poncey white axles on the main wheels are authentic. I hadn't remembered them at all, but the 1988 photo from Oz shows them loud and clear.
  4. Ex-FAAWAFU
    Awesome! As others have said, those counterweights must be ludicrously tiny. We salute you, Bill.
  5. Ex-FAAWAFU
    Thought you might want to see the walkways down either side of the tail rotor drive shaft. (The gleam is because this was taken a few seconds after a coat of varnish was sprayed). Oh, and what do we have here? Wheels! Close to buttoning up for the duration now. A few photos will follow before I go. Crisp
  6. Ex-FAAWAFU
    I love what you're doing with this, Antonio - especially since we know where it ends up! I had no idea Forgers were ever used in Afghanistan. Seems an odd place for them.
  7. Ex-FAAWAFU
    Not brown, hairy or prickly; "Sarum green" (a shade that is argued about almost as much as Interior Green amongst modellers!), un-hairy and actually pretty OK. Worry not; I will be back - and I haven't quite finished before I go. First up, the port side exhaust / footstep black marks, plus the spine walkways on both sides. Oh, and just to keep Andy & Bill happy, the port flot bag. Secondly, an angle that you haven't seen for quite a while, namely from beneath. Visible are the three white blade aerials (2 at tail, one under starboard nose), plus the two black blade aerials (both under tail, for sonobuoy reception) with the sonobuoy chute next to them. The small squares and the larger aerial under the nose are the Doppler system. And the sonar body is now visible once more, with its copper snub ring. The oval thing is where the lower anti-coll light will eventually sit, and the rectangle in front of it is the base for the VHF homer ("Violet picture"). Just about visible under the nose are the two bases for the sonobuoy homer (which will eventually be two rather garish yellow rods). Between the two sponsons are the SACRU fittings (5 of them), with the two oil collector cans level with the front of the stub wing. This is now ready for its layer of protective varnish. Both sides to follow later on this afternoon. Crisp P.S. ...and one for @hendie; not the new cutting mat, because I realised there is still life in the old one if I turn it round!
  8. Ex-FAAWAFU
    Superb. The only word for it.
  9. Ex-FAAWAFU
    You are right, of course, about the port flot bag - which may or may not be done before I go. DJ? What do you think I am? Some sort of pub singer? Strictly cassocks, boys; this is a Cathedral choir. And a cassock doesn't half take up a big wedge of your baggage allowance, an' all!
  10. Ex-FAAWAFU
    These might look like small differences, but they represent 3 hours of trying up in detail. As I stop this evening, I think all that is left for tomorrow is to mask and spray the black patches on the port side (exhaust and steps), plus the walkways down the spine; sort out the two white aerials under the tail; and paint the tail wheel. Then we are in varnish land and leave for 2 weeks. Til tomorrow Crisp P.S. Incidentally, if you are thinking that the new scheme on the Orange Crop RAM material is still too bright, you might have to wait until it's been weathered, varnished and generally finished before you pass judgement. If it looked right now, it would be too dark later.
  11. Ex-FAAWAFU
    Thank you everyone! I have persuaded @Fritag to appreciate the true beauty of a Sea King; my work here is (almost) done! Still working my way round adding transfers and detail painting before sealing the lot under varnish before I go on Wednesday. I have re-done the OC RAM material in Tamiya Tan (with a few drops of Flat Brown added), and think they are much better. The other details you'll have to pick out yourselves, but there are quite a few of them - NO PUSH / NO STEP stencils, JET INTAKE marks, using a tiny dental probe to re-open grille holes filled in with paint, and so on. Still a bit to do, especially on the Port side, but I am on track, I think - in particular, the transfers are now very nearly done completely. The very last thing will be a quick touch up of the RAF BG to cover a couple of minor bits of over-spray (by the fuel jettison pipe and under the tail in particular). Anyway, now off to walk the dog, so here is an all-round view for you to pick the bones out of... More later Crisp P.S. You know by now that I am inordinately pleased by small triumphs; my current grin is largely due to my success in getting a tiny piece of Hasegawa transfer (detached from its original parent) to adhere to my brass wire handles on the pilots' windows, giving them a nice black & yellow stripe to go with their 3-dimensional nature. MicroSol is King!
  12. Ex-FAAWAFU
    Yes, it is looking a bit shagged, isn't it? It's had a bit of a pasting in recent days with all the airbrush cleaning etc. I have actually acquired a new one, but will only install it once the worst of the painting is over. Which could be now, I guess.
  13. Ex-FAAWAFU
    Close of play tonight. Starboard: Port: Nose: More tomorrow Crisp
  14. Ex-FAAWAFU
    It will be gently weathered; the eventual aim is an in-service aircraft, parked in Fly 1 in Ark overnight, 8 lashings, Forth Road Bridge and full engine blanks. Front line aircraft were pretty well looked after, so don't expect loads of worn paint. Exhaust staining, definitely - all Sea Kings had a lot of that. I am toying with the idea of a visible line between a matt top of the aircraft where the Grubbers couldn't reach and semi-gloss lower down where they'd rubbed it with oil. See the photo of 014 ashore in Oz that is visible on screen in the background at the top of this page, which has exactly that look.
  15. Ex-FAAWAFU
    I share your disquiet about the OC RAM material, Andy - they are better with the naked eye, but even then they're rather too flesh-coloured for my liking. I will probably overpaint them with Tamiya Tan, darkened a bit. But those sections don't involve rivets, so can await detail painting when I return from the USA. Major masking ops on the tail now essentially complete. Starboard (note that I'd already had the same "what are you thinking of..." conversation with myself re touching up the black!) ...and Port: Both given a coat of sealing Mr Super Clear Flat (which in reality turns out a semi-gloss sheen, which is perfect for now). Some transfer work later - Starboard serial currently reads ZE 4_9, and port side not started - and then we're not far off where I want to be when I depart on the tour. By the time I come home, everything should be well and truly cured to a good hard surface, ready for riveting ops to start. You can see in the Starboard pic that I have started masking the sponson to paint the flot bag grey. Very happy with progress - and with how some of the more subtle details (like the bonding straps down the port side of the tail, which are simply MicroMark rivets) are still showing up nicely through this lacquer paint. More later Crisp
  16. Ex-FAAWAFU
    As far as we know...
  17. Ex-FAAWAFU
    Ah! So that's what it says... Probably not going to bother to correct small gaps in black surround, since this will be hidden inside the fold. Orange Crop aerial RAM painted Mr Color "Radome". I've also got as far as "ZE 4" on the serial. A little tidying to do, especially around the fuel jettison pipe, where my masking clearly failed completely! More tomorrow Crisp
  18. Ex-FAAWAFU
    Thanks, everyone. Gradually inching forward - particularly agreeing with Andy's advice re one serial at a time (been there, done that!). So far, therefore, she is just "Z" (barely visible in this photo, underneath the L of ROYAL). There is nothing better than having a contemporary photograph of the exact airframe you are modelling. Painted 14 yet to be re-instated. Using an 820 NAS crest from a set of 4+ transfers designed for a pre-war Swordfish gives me a very satisfactory feeling of continuity. It is one of the very few Naval squadrons that has been in almost constant commission since the RN got the FAA back from the RAF in 1938. There was a 3-year gap between de-commissioning with the Whirlwind in 1960 and re-commissioning with the Wessex 1 in 1964, but otherwise there's a steady thread Fairey IIIF - Seal - Shark 1 & 2 - Baffin - Swordfish - Albacore - Barracuda - Avenger 1, 2 & 4 - Firefly 5 & 6 - Gannet - Whirlwind 7 - Wessex 1 & 3 - Sea King 1, 2, 5 & 6 - Merlin 1 & 2. Rather closer shot of the nose, complete with MicroSol that's still wet! More later (around the rugby) Crisp P.S. Incidentally, you might notice that both pitot heads have departed from the airframe. Both safely held, but not to be re-instated until after I have finished lying the aircraft down (like, after rivets!) HF masts are likely to follow a similar path.
  19. Ex-FAAWAFU
    Incidentally, the tyres are the first non-lacquer paint used on this build - still Gunze, but Mr Hobby Acqueous "Tire Black". Sprayed like a dream with a bit of the indispensable Levelling Thinners. These Gunze paints have seriously impressed me; I might just be a complete convert. Easy to airbrush (by no means a given), dry quickly, robust (vital on this one for rivet reasons). I have long been a Tamika devotee, but my experience with these is really opening a question in my mind...
  20. Ex-FAAWAFU
    Oooh, and look what the Carpet Monster just spat out. Must be the Da-Glo; they don't like Da-Glo. One I-Band transponder can, ready to be re-attached under the tail.
  21. Ex-FAAWAFU
    Back in the saddle. More masking fun, but the outcomes are most pleasing. Starboard side: Port side: The observant amongst you will note that the wrongly-positioned 14 has been sprayed over on the starboard side, and will be positioned correctly over the weekend. The black stuff - ROYAL NAVY and 14 - is much the most complex / time consuming to mask, so is best done in relatively small doses. I will now add the black borders and DAN / GER (as appropriate) to the tail - these are transfers. Also the ZE419 on the starboard side, underneath the ROYAL NAVY - also transfers. Each digit separate, which calls for a certain amount of counting to 10! My pot of Mr Color radome tan arrived from Hong Hong today, so the Orange Crop aerials and tail wheel fairing might get a squirt over the weekend, too. I am off on the cathedral choir tour to San Francisco on Wednesday, and hoping by then to have it painted and be-transferred sufficiently for me to seal it with a coat or two of varnish, which will then get almost 2 weeks to cure completely before I do anything else to it... like add rivets, for instance! More soon Crisp P.S. We also have main wheels getting closer. I do like Eduard's laser cut masks; they don't half take a lot of faff out of things.
  22. Ex-FAAWAFU
    ...after all, it's not as though they're Seafires. Let alone Sea Furies.
  23. Ex-FAAWAFU
    This is being written in a spirit if companionable ibservation, rather than criticism... ...but don't the NO STEP markings suggest you have the stripes on back to front? More likely they wouldn't want Grubbers standing on the flaps...?
  24. Ex-FAAWAFU
    These were the original design of anti-collision light, but they evolved during the type's service. All RN Sea Kings eventually had HISLs, but they only came in during the 90s; this cab is depicted as it was in 1988
  25. Ex-FAAWAFU
    Edit - I stand corrected! It seems 848 were NOT X codes
×
×
  • Create New...