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1/72 Refuelling Pump by Maestro Models


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I'm not sure this qualifies as armour but this seems like the best place for this. This is the towed fuel pump to go with my GMC fuel tanker (RFI here) and Flying Banana (RFI here). Eventually I will make a diorama out of them all. Somehow I have to get the wires for the lights in my helicopter to the battery that will be under the base. This little pump will provide the means to do that, I hope. The details have still to be worked out.

This is what I have:

P1060908_zps4e9cd22f.jpg

Obviously its a resin kit and the mouldings look pretty nice. The worst feature of this kit are the instructions which are terrible:

P1060910_zps9339253d.jpg

The kit includes a little tanker which I won't be using so putting that to one side here are the fuel pump parts:

P1060909_zps83977f0b.jpg

The first job was to separate the parts from the flash and sort them out into parts I could identify on the instructions and those that were a holy mystery:

P1060939_zpsd8b57ac5.jpg

I know those little things with two legs are for the fuel hose but I don't think I will be using them. I have no idea what the planks are for and there are three or four other parts I can't work out. I think it will be busy enough anyway.

Starting with the easy stuff, this rod is meant to be the axle but is an obvious candidate for replacement with some brass rod:

P1060938_zpsc92efb18.jpg

It measures at 1mm in diameter but I might use something smaller like 0.8mm.

Anyway, there we are - now to start cleaning up the parts properly and get gluing.

Bye for now,

Nigel

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I love it when there are mystery parts. I am starting a build that has those also. Hopefully you can sort them out and not discover that they are indispensable after you have glued parts together.

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Besides these 3 models and those cheery fellows mistakenly branded as NATO crew, what else will be there in your diorama Nigel?

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Good question Vanja, I have been putting some thought into the diorama base today. It will be just slightly smaller than a sheet of A4 with the models positioned something like this:

P1060940_zpsfd1fa3f1.jpg

As well as the big H under the Banana I think I will just have a triangle of grass in one corner. Helipad markings seem to come in all shapes, sizes and colours but I think I will go with the standardized marking linked to in the tanker thread and I am leaning towards white for the markings. So if I use the figures (which is debatable) it will be quite simple. I have sent off the dimensions of the custom base for a quotation from "The Rugged Company" who can supply bespoke bases. I had a chat with them at the Scottish National show about my requirements and they did not foresee any problems. As an aside I have also sent them dimensions for my Dalek base.

This is what the dimensions for the base look like:

P1060941_zpsfadf68fc.jpg

My initial thinking was that I would paint the pump yellow like the tanker but when I looked at the decals I realised that yellow was the one colour I could not paint it otherwise some of the decals would disappear. Instead I am thinking of this dark blue:

P1060943_zps76c2a155.jpg

Comments and thoughts welcome as ever.

During clean up of the bed one of the mudguards broke off:

P1060944_zpscadfa842.jpg

Fortunately it is the side with the number plate so I can use that to reinforce it when I glue it back.

I drilled out the wheels as much as I dared and started on the new 0.8mm axle:

P1060946_zpsc14e06a2.jpg

I suspect those triangular webs either side of the tow hitch should be removed but I am thinking of keeping them for strength reasons, again thoughts welcome.

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Sounds very good to me Nigel. I like that you plan to keep it simple, I've seen some dioramas that are great but tend to steal all the attention. Your H-21 and GMC tanker certainly don't deserve that.

As for pump colour... That midnight blue looks nice, it should provide a nice contrast for those decals. Still, I think it would make things a bit too colourful (unless colourful is what you are going for there)... On the other hand, I think I've seen somewhere that red is your favourite colour, as is mine (with yellow in very close second) and I have to be partial here - there ain't enough red in there... :D So, red gets my vote, unless you find a nice picture that shows their common colour.

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Ha, Vanja, red was my second choice for the pump but I my minds eye I think blue will be better as it has a contrasting affinity with yellow (if that makes any sense). The tail of the Banana is all red so I think there is enough of it in there.

I appreciate your thoughts for sure.

I have not bothered looking for any reference pictures of the pump as I thought it unlikely that there would be any but perhaps I should at least have an attempt. You never know what's out there.

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Don't know what your thoughts on the base are at present, but I was very impressed by the effects used in this diorama: http://hsfeatures.com/features04/he177jm_1.htm

The wet concrete and melted snow effects look very good to me and Japan does get pretty cold in winter. :cold:

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KT, you are a hard taskmaster. First you get me changing my mind about the fuel source, making the fuel pump, adding figures and now you want fecking snow and puddles. I had imagined it a semi tropical scene, I think I will stick with that thanks.

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Thanks KT, it was a lovely model and maybe I could include a few dried out puddles like I got by accident on my Natter base:

1a4db0e6-a533-4402-9676-e3d9ec63e1f7_zps

That was due to a rain storm outside the Dewars centre in Perth at the Scottish Nationals.

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With regard to the diagonal braces on the pump, in theory I think the skin of resin should probably go, but I could easily see a tray being fitted to just such a spot for additional stowage of pump related items.....Maybe you could add some mesh sidewalls, a toolbox, rolled tarp etc. to fill it up and simultaneously add strength to the model? :hmmm:

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Thanks KT, there are already side walls but I love your your idea of putting stuff in there, I will look for tools and things that could go in there tomorrow. :speak_cool:

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Have I got this right or am I 'indisposed' from alcolysing myself during Holland Costa Rica

You are going to mount the refuelling pair on a PP3 battery...

Surely not, no doubt I will be back on the ball tomorrow afternoon after 'Classic Cars' duty with the Midget

And it will be obvious that I was twotting about again, so sorry folks I got it wrong

The webs

Interesting question

TBH no 'Military trailer' I ever dealt with had filled in webs, metal unneeded is metal you have to drag around with you

Undoubtedly the pump equipment will be ex-service kit after all

I'd clear the webs but if it seemed a good idea I'd add stiffness from cyano plating the webs

Added stiffness with minimal 'see-ability'

Looks fun anyway

I'm in the "Watch" team mate

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All the bits I've got are probably too industrial for your purposes, pickaxes, shovels etc. I've got a fair few resin tarps and the like but by and large they aren't much cop, and you could easily make better with lead-foil or milliput (or both). Green Stuff is apparently highly rated for this sort of thing, I've got some, but haven't got round to trying it yet. :rolleyes:

I wasn't thinking of metal filled webs, rather a board used to create an impovised stowage space, but If perdu reckons such a stowage area is out, you might be wise to follow his advice.....It's from the horse's mouth so to speak, whereas I tend to think in terms of WWII tanks where stowage often appeared to be strapped to just about everything! ;)

PS - Those braces look to be about 0.3mm x 0.5mm to me.....Good luck with that Nige! Red_Colorz_PDT_37.gif

PPS - How about heavily worn olive drab for the pump, it would reinforce the ex-military character and tie in nicely with the GMC cab.....Plus yellow looks good on OD! :coolio:

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I am still thinking about those webs, they might have to go.

I glued on the new axle:

P1060947_zpsb153d230.jpg

I checked it against the kit axle which is actually way too short:

P1060949_zpsd5c7d5a3.jpg

There is this little engine which I cleaned up and drilled out for the exhaust. I thinned down the end of the exhaust and cut a length of 1mm brass tube to slip over it:

P1060950_zpsddd4bb61.jpg

Here it is assembled:

P1060951_zpsb74a7e9e.jpg

I also added a short length of plastic tube to give something for the fuel hose to the tanker to connect to:

P1060952_zps6443f71b.jpg

I glued the small round tank to the main one and tried to workout the layout of the main parts:

P1060954_zps6c865345.jpg

That piece at the rear I am thinking of scratching out of brass.

I have looked for reference material but can't find anything. Cleaning up these tiny parts is hard work and the poor instructions are most frustrating. I suppose I should remember this is just a means of connecting the power to my Banana and if some of it is the work of my imagination it does not matter too much.

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Excellent work as always. I am gong with constructing the pump to make the electrical connections to the Banana as easy as possible and use whatever artistic license you need to use. As long as it resembles a motor and looks like it could work, then go for it. And just to confuse you more, what about the pump being in a desert tan that would complement the tanker but not disappear into it. Get out that color wheel and find a complementary color. You look like a summer!!

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As a general rule, The refuelling vehicle must be able

to drive away forwards in the event of a problem.

Refuelling a machine of this vintage would, I imagine,

Be by gravity at the filler point. Just like a car.

(Modern aircraft use pressure refuelling with a sealed coupling)

So, I'd say the pump could stay hitched up. In the event of a problem,

drop hose, run to bowser & go like wossname. If the trailer was not

hitched up, You'd have to disconnect a fuel hose from it before driving.

Plus you'd have to earth from the trailer, to the pump, then to the aircraft.

Having said that. It's your build, So whichever is easiest for you, Nigel.

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Of course you will finish you helicopter hendie, why would you not?

I have made quite a bit of progress this afternoon. First the hose broke off the fire extinguisher during clean up (the carpet monster is still munching on it) so I replaced it with some 0.44mm copper wire:

P1060955_zps235de617.jpg

I had a good long think about the best way forward and decided that I should make a secondary floor for the trailer out of brass sheet:

P1060956_zps4d4bbf91.jpg

This will give me something sensible to mount things to.

Using a scrap of PE fret I started on the rear thingie:

P1060957_zps03822abb.jpg

That brass plate soaks up a lot of heat and needs my biggest iron.

Next I started to make the uprights which I am sure are there to coil the hose around:

P1060959_zps24a77e9a.jpg

I used 0.8 and 0.6mm brass rod which is finer than the kit parts, that's one done three more to do.

As if by magic here they are all done:

P1060961_zpsd27699d0.jpg

I soldered the first on to the base using this sort of set up:

P1060962_zpsa4096ac6.jpg

Note the wet tissue and heat sink pliers.

Here are all four done:

P1060963_zps820e9b93.jpg

I then started on the back frame using 0.6mm rod:

P1060964_zps5eea9591.jpg

During soldering that, one of the front uprights broke:

P1060965_zps4d17130e.jpg

That happened to two of the others during construction but I think I am winning.

The flux tends to leave a greasy residue so I cleaned that off with some thinners:

P1060966_zps0d5bbc87.jpg

After a bit of tidy up this is what I ended up with:

P1060967_zps683d6c4f.jpg

I will have a think about what to do next while cooking dinner.

Bye for now,

Nigel

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