Airfix Scout AH1

[perdu]

A few weeks ago at 'club' a mate slid up to me rustling a small placky bag

"Fancy this?" he said as I peered inside

I could see a pair of Y shaped mouldings, all shapely and too darned skinny for their own good

AH HAH

Airfix Scout with transfers and instructions but no header or box, he knows my affinity for all things rotarial of course so I am usually a bit of a captive audience.

"How much" I asked expecting damage to a couple of tenners at least, it does build (if done careful like) into a pretty good model.

"How about three quid?" says my man (cheers mate) as I stuffed some metal in his pocket and whipped it outside quickly to hide it in the boot of my Midget

I remember my friend Ed Deeley used to sell conversions from C-scale and one they did was the Wasp conversion kit. I built a Wasp many years ago using Slater's rodding and lots of little wheels and the Airfix engine always looked too skinny butthe C-scale wasnt around those days

I looked at the Kits And Bits in Ebay, no C-scale or Airwaves Wasp bits but I could get the Airwaves etch set from Hannants, (so I did)

As I looked around the net I saw a few models that had been made using the C-scale engine but didn't really like them either. From my 'Bill's eye view' the C-scale unit looked as over beefy as the Airfix one looked undernourished.

So I stopped looking for the conversion, I wasn't much interested in building a Wopse anyway as my unit had a Scout attached to us on an excercise in Scotland in 1976 and I thought it time to pay homage to Army Aviation

So I began making a new RR/BS Nimbus engine to stick on the rear decking, drawings were trawled from the interweb and checked for scale sizing

Evergreen tubing came to my rescue at once when looking for the basic raw materials

You can see how thin the kit bits are here laid over the drawings, apologies for crap lighting and blurry picture

the shapely curve of the combustion area is the front of a large bomb I found in my weapons box (I don't have a useful spares box like the rest of you yet, I threw all my treasures from many years of modelling away when I stopped playing in '85)

The larger (front) compressor stage is an old drop tank piece and the ribs round the rear turbine stage are from Slater's strip. The rear tube is the Evergreen tube I started with

The front intake ring was part of an F4 drop tank skimmed down to suit

Here's the basic engine

 

Here is a piece of the puzzle for you to ponder 'til later

What is he using the depth charge for? This won't make you wonder for long, if you know what I like to do

 

 

Beginning to detail the basic unit now, Evergreen strip being curved round the casing and glued on

Glue fingerprints are later reduced honest

Gubbinses being tacked on the outside now, I'm buggered if I know what they are. Maybe Fozzy can tell us

 

More gubbinses port side this time. It looks like these doodahs may be fuel injection ports, style of thingmy with some kind of control box too

 

 

check size for fit on the rear deck, fine so far but need to keep checking for size creep during the task

Tailpipes and a (?) vent tube added now, reaching the end of the 'make' phase

the distinctive intake dome now in place

 

And now on with paint,

The jetpipes given pastel dust coats over Tamiya Flat Brown XF-10. Yellow ochre, golden yellow, black, grey, green and white combine to give the burnt, heated metal effect. Hope it works for you

Can you see what I used the rounded off depth charge for? Yup crash moulding the mesh dome that sits over the intake duct.

I moulded it from clear acetate trimmed to 'sit right' then took it outside well away from my missus's asthma zone and sprayed a couple of coats of Flat Varnish from Tamiya. This dried out slightly opaque and gives the effect of looking through a fine grey mesh shield

This Nimbus isn't perfect but it IS a better look to me than either of the commercial alternatives

So this is where I am so far, I have to learn how to manipulate etch next

Join me for loads of fun----

NOT

anyway here's Nimbus in its latest test fitting, deck over the plan and engine over the deck

What do you think, do I need to remake it or is it what I hoped for?

(p.s the deck is slightly undersize to the airframe but looks OK on the model)

When Photbucketof ditched us and countless pictures I didnt keep a very reasonable list of locations for pictures so I am still trying to locate all the ones I used, this is the best I can do for now but further digging will, I'm sure let me put in  the missing ones

 

Note the drawing of the Scout's tail section next to the Wasp plan view, the pencilled outline is where Airfix moulded it. The proper outline will be added when I get that far

IF!

Hope you enjoy this one

b

[thomastmcc]

cool .. where did you get the drawings mate..

thomas

[perdu]

Hi Thomas

Google images found them eventually

They look like ex-Aviation News/Scale Aircraft Modelling drawings to me

Copyright Bob Hunt

[Hockeyboy76]

Will be watching this with interest. Have the same kit & airwaves etch from Hannants.

Like the engine.

[Fritag]

Aha. Ok so this will be a tiny helicopter in 1/72 scale right? And that engine is like multiple times life size on my MacAir screen right? Ok so I'm pretty darned sure it's what you hoped for and it should not be remade........

[Martian]

Great start! From what I can see the engine looks fine for a later Scout. The exhausts in the Airfix kit are OK for an early Scout, at least one of the preserved Australian Navy examples still has this pattern. I shall be following this build with extreme interest as I have the Hawkeye decals for the kit and will be building my example as one of the two purchased by the RAN in the not too distant future.

Martin

[Cheshiretaurus]

Love watching scratch building, engine looking good, Have couple of scouts in the stash, plan converting one to the prototype P.531 either G-APNU or G-APNV 1950s era.

Thread added to the watch list!

[perdu]

Been looking at the Airwaves etch set with a view to building a helicopter

It seems there were two styles of driver's seat, basic framed tubing and/or with a pierced side boxing for the back rests

I'm wondering if the pierced sides one is for Wasp and may contain survival gear for use if ditching happens

I wonder if anyone has more info before I comit to hacking lumps off the etch seats, which do look as if they will be awesome if I ever get the hang of gluing them together

There also seems to be redundant stiffening structures for floor and wall that are not obvious inside any Scouts that were photographed. Are they 'Wasp only' parts too?

I found many more engine and deck photos last night so the deck area is being better detailed now

Pictures later

[heloman1]

Looking good Perdu, always like a modeller who is prepared for a little challenge. Nice work on the engine.

As an aside there is a good account of the toughness of the Scout in 'To fly like a bird', the accounts of an AAC Scout pilot in the Radfan above Aden. Where the pilot flew with a seargent up into the mountians to an edge of the raiven landing spot, where he had to collect stores. After landing and told the seargent to load the store but didn't tell him how much. On arrivial back at the cab didn't check to see how much the seargent had loaded. It wasn't until he tried to take off that he realised the seargent had loaded everything!!! After a try at TO he realised there wasn't suffiecent time to unload anything as darkeness descended on the landing pad and the airfield in the valley below. He hauled on the collective and slid the cab over the edge of the rim and in what he called a gravity over rotor RPM uncontrolled descent, he only gained control of the cab as they crossed the airfield fenceline.

Apologies for the hi-jack.

Colin

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Dunno about the Scout, but the mighty Wasp had an over-torque / rotor under-speed system that simply consisted of a bell that rang in the pilot's headphones. I bet heloman's Radfan Scout driver had bells deafening him for days!

I am old enough that one of my course ended up as a Waspy on 829, and some of his experiences in hot & high conditions were alarming. My fave Wasp / Scout story was from this guy. Towards the end of their time in service, the engines had problem with "hogging" after shut-down; i.e. once you had shut down the engine you either had to flash up again within about 15 minutes, or wait at least 45 - in between and the differential rates of cooling meant that the rotating bit of the engine would graunch against the static bit, especially at the compressor stage.

So my mate has to take his Captain (from a Leander whose name I forget) across to... USS Nimitz, and land in a Wasp. Once the deck crew had stopped laughing and finished with the "Great aircraft, Mack; build it yourself?" jokes, he thought he'd have some fun with them, knowing that the CO would be at least an hour. After about 25 minutes, he ostentatiously walked out on deck and tried to turn the compressor stage of the engine with his fingers. Graunch. No turn. Scratches head theatrically, Calls for USN engineering assistance. They cannot help, but assume that they have a toy Naval helicopter stuck fouling their deck for the foreseeable future.

40 minutes later the Captain turns up, so he shrugs his shoulders, climbs in, says something like "I'll give a go" in best British stiff upper lip caricature, flashes up and takes off. The Yanks could not believe what they were seeing!

I only ever flew in a Wasp as a passenger, and that was frightening enough.

Edited July 17, 2014 by Ex-FAAWAFU

[perdu]

Guys don't apologise for entering in with this, I love the way BM gets the chatter flowing into/through our builds

Any more for anymore? I love it all.

Now then

This arvo I have been doing 'non chemical uninvasive modelling techniques' 'cos of Mrs P's nasal intolerance regime

(always awful at this time of year with pollen and other sniffy whiffy airborne nasties)

Time I thinks, to hack out the rear doors ready for moulding the bubble dome doors I'm adding to Scouty

A dollop of modelling clay (eight colours from LIDL, £2.99 I couldn't find yer actual Plasticene TM) onto the modelling pad and the fuselage half slubbed down on to it

To make the fuselage half less likely to bend or break when cutting the doorway out

Tiny holes to mark the corners then cut out a vee of line ( \ / ) with the Swann Morton number one blade

 

 

I think the actual moulding of these little birds is superb considering the size and age of them

No side panels were distorted during this uberphysical operation, look how thick that plastic is

 

 

Now with both sides opened out I've taped the halves together so I can see what access I'll have if I close up before adding the etch stuff. The part finished top panel pops on easily and it looks as if I could add the etch trimmed floor after closure

Not yet sure about that, advice sought chaps.

There is quite a lot to do first. The Airwaves instructions advise priming the etch pieces before making them up

Will that not make finding the closures and bends more difficult to do?

I'm really quite worried about this stage, my first time with etch

 

With the door holes cut out and more accurate trimming on for tonight I began to make the blown doors

I was going to mix up two dollops of Milliput, knead them into the rough shapes then polish

So that's an hour or two shaping, a few hours setting time and more time fettling and polishing

I didn't like that idea much so went back plan A from 1980, what I always did do for moulding

First take a large wooden clothes peg, a plan and a pencil

 

A saw and Xacto knife

 

 

And a six inch half round second cut file

 

And get working

The result of about an hour anna huff this arvo

When the Roket superglue is hard on these I ought to be able to pull a few door mouldings off

I used Roket because it isn't aggressively fumey and should save my missus's and MY nostrils from cyano killer nose ache

I really do need advice about the etch section of this build, when I close the fuselage I can get detailing the pipes, filters, motors and pumps that abound on that upper deck.

And just a tad of work on that bijou rotor head

Only a tad mind, I can't work as small as milktrip does

Hope you like this

[Fritag]

Only a tad mind, I can't work as small as milktrip does

Aye - but he's nowt but a lad isn't he? His eyes have yet to suffer the decline of years

(added by edit - yep - I went to his profile page - he's 30! It's just not fair.......)

Anyways - not sure I believe you. That engine is pretty bloomin small......

Edited July 17, 2014 by Fritag

[phildagreek]

Looks good, nice tip about the modelling clay for when some hacking is required, never thought of that before.

[Miggers]

I'm going to say it again,another bloomin' 1/72nd kitchen sink merchant .

You're in damn good company here (as you already know!!!),Stevie"Eagle-Eyes" Fritag

and Aaron"Beady-Eyes"Milktrip will keep you on track and upto speed for the rest of

the Great Unwashed BM Massiv.

In addition to his Gazzle HT.1,Clockwork Mouse Sioux and Bolkow 105,Aaron Milktrip also has a teeny-weeny

Aeroclub Skeeter to play with,that should be good when he gets time off looking after his new babby daughter.

Keeping an eye on you and this Scouty cab Mr Perdu,should be good

[milktrip]

Yay! Someone's building a scout

Excellent start and hope you don't mind but I may have to 'borrow' some of your ideas. As Mark has mentioned I have a Sioux and Bölkow on the go. Been itching to start the skeeter but thinking building the skeeter and a scout at the same time. I've been on the hunt for the airwaves kit for the engine. I was thinking about waiting for the freightdog Wasp kit but I've not seen any updates - for the bubble doors I was going to try vacforming around some milliput but your clothes peg idea looks a lot better.

I've taken my seat and looking forward to this one

[perdu]

Funny you should mention Gazelle, Sioux and Bolkow Miggers me old bean

They're on my shelf and on the soon to do list too, the Bolkow was a part built given to me by a club member with antilittlemodelitis

However I know my limitations, I'll try but never get to the degrees of intricacy that they and most of you can achieve

I notice a tendency to get sloppy when finishing off, one reason I'm trying out etch

That must take a higher degree of self control to get it looking right

I have been polishing the side door moulds, stuporgoo is great to achieve a shiny polish on

Pretty poor pictures my first moulded pieces were too thin and much too large to really fit the holes.

Now they're thin enough for when there is acetate there too

Here's the mould tools sitting atop two of my favourite 99p shop buys

4 Manicurists buffing blocks for 99p, they have 'file', 'smooth', 'buff' and 'shine' faces and work very well

The mould tools are ready for the first 'pulls'

All the grain has been filled by cyanoacetate and sanded and buffed to a nice finish

I use a tea light flame to soften the acetate, try not to get too close to the wick 'cos 'blackness' happens if you do

 

This acetate was too bluey and the colour was visible in the plastic

uh uh discard

The chosen one

This was from the newly thinned and polished mould, tacked into place with Formula 560 canopy glue

It won't need it but it is going to have 24hrs to set before I trim out the inside excess plastic from the moulded bubble

the bubble being tacked into place

I'll trim it tomorrow

 

Tonight I'm playing at etchmeister

Well playing with the etch morelike!

wish me luck

[Hamden]

Stunning start to this project. Looking forward to following this and learning lots of new tricks!

Roger

[perdu]

Aaron, if you want to represent the engine and all its wires pipes and lumpy bits the Airwaves/C-scale engine will do

I don't see you being happy with it though, it's awfy beefy in cross section

I think that the master modeller for C-scale tried to make the unit inclusive of pipes, hence its thickness

I prefer to start with the right size then detail SOME of the pipes etc

My name isnt Spartacusmilktrip

I wish I'd had that Skeeter though, I feel a new scratchbuild approaching after Chrimble

Must find drawings, I have some photos from Stondon museum

b

[Nigel Heath]

Amazing work with the crash formed bubble windows. I also thought the finish you got on the exhausts was very effective. I have had an Airfix Scout in my stash for many decades, still sealed up in the blister pack, I also recently purchased the Airwaves PE for it. Reading the instructions they only propose priming after assembly, I would definitely not add any paint before bending as it will just flake off.

[Martian]

Those new doors will make all the difference! I must check to see what sort the Australian Navy Scouts had on them.

Martin

[huvut76g7gbbui7]

Nice work. I'm keeping an eye on this one and borrowing ideas

I will eventually build XV130 towards the end of its service.I had an excellent trip in it to the B-29 crash site in Argyll and was most surprised when we landed and shut down on the hillside. My first experience of Army flying...I'm sure ekranoplans flew higher!

Richard

[Fritag]

Tonight I'm playing at etchmeister

Well playing with the etch morelike!

wish me luck

Good Luck....

As a fellow etch novice I'm hoping for some inspiration. I've got several tiny little etch ariels to attach to the fuselage and there doesn't seem to be any obvious alternative to butt joining them with cyano (they don't come with any stem or some such that could be glued into a drilled hole) - but that seems both crude and not likely to be terribly secure. Can't get on with etch at the mo.....

I didn't like that idea much so went back plan A from 1980, what I always did do for moulding

And a six inch half round second cut file

Hope you like this

You and your files Bill. Not as much filing as on the Sherpa tho' (hopefully?)

Steve

PS like the door mouldings. Elegantly done sir.

Edited July 19, 2014 by Fritag

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

A Skeeter?! Now I am definitely all ears.

Love the doors.

[Cheshiretaurus]

Windows looking good Bill, like the Idea of carving it from a clothes peg. The engine exhaust looks very real too, I'm going to have a practice at that technique sometime.

I had an excellent trip in it to the B-29 crash site in Argyll

Never knew that one was up there, I've visited the B29 at Higher Shelf on the Pennines. Just been reading about the one in Argyll has an interesting story about diamond smuggling around it, although the story should probably be taken with pinch of a salt.

[perdu]

Steve

Small puddle of cyano on a sheet of sweetie paper (think crackly Quality Street type wrapper, thin and flexible)

hold etch aerial upright with tweezers

breathe heavily on surface of puddle so the moisture makes the cyano 'set'

let dry for a bit then remove puddlyaerial from the sweetie paper

Then trim puddle near to the size of the aerial and "hi unca bobby"

Small mounting plinth for the aerial at its base that will take a fresh drop of cyano for model fitting poipoises

(well its what I am planning to do for these ridiculously underscale thickness devices)

Edited July 19, 2014 by perdu