ZE419, a Sea King HAS5 that (temporarily) forgot how to fly

[Pete in Lincs]

I confess I didn't know about that rescue.

Yet I remember the Torrey Canyon.

Odd how the memory works.

 

Congrats on inventing the No11 Swann Morton standard.

In case anyone is interested, the factory is on a dual

carriageway in Sheffield and the pub opposite is called

the new barrack tavern. I deliver beer etc there occasionally.

(And for Humbrol fans I was in Marfleet yesterday)

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Small but satisfying mini-project.  

 

The jump seat (which is behind the two pilots, backed against the Broom Cupboard) - at the bottom of this:

 

Eduard PE offering:

 

Meh.  Flat, uninspiring (I forgot to take this pic until after I had started the next phase).  The real thing always has a characteristic sag caused by generations of lardy bottoms sitting on it to stretch the (fabric) seat.

 

So, remove seat cover from Eduard PE:

 

Add a wire frame to give the PE some depth (it will not be seen, so can be quite crude):

 

Cut out a piece of lead foil of the right shape (and bless your wife for having been a dentist so this stuff is pretty much limitless - but even if your wife is not a dentist, there's plenty of this around):

 

Fold the lead foil pretty much like the real thing so you get the sag:

 

Et voila; one improved jump seat.  The lead is not yet glued to the frame, which will help painting:

 

That took me an hour, but I think it was worth it.

 

More tomorrow

 

Crisp

 

P.S. One shot missing:

 

Why I bothered:

 

Edited November 2, 2016 by Ex-FAAWAFU

[Miggers]

Y'see Crispin,it's small details like this that make the job good.

 

Cometh the hour,cometh the Crisp.

[TheBaron]

A seat! At last a bit I recognize!  Worth the effort Crisp IMHO.

[Ascoteer]

Do all WAFUs have large lardy backsides then Crisp?

 

I mean I know JAFOs do, but all WAFUs?

 

[Pete in Lincs]

Navy ratpacks.

They have to eat the box too.

[Ascoteer]

I reckon it's all that pink gin...

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

25 minutes ago, Ascoteer said:

Do all WAFUs have large lardy backsides then Crisp?

 

I mean I know JAFOs do, but all WAFUs?

 

 

Enough of those who occupy the jump seat do to stretch the fabric a tad.  But to answer your question, Debs, I don't think it was compulsory, but observation tends to support my description....

 

Foreground, left (hmm - need to adapt design slightly); Exhibit A:

 

Incidentally, this shot shows the Broom Cupboard with much of its rear wall missing, so gives you some idea of why it is so called.  The rods are control runs, and the black box with coloured bits is the 4 channels of the AFCS (the black box wot flies you down to the hover at night over the sea).  You can see where they turn through 90 degrees at the top of the broom cupboard wall to run back to the gearbox etc.  They might even be using a rigging set like the one from the Car Boot...

 

The fuel computers, one of which failed to kick off this build, are out of sight behind the ribbed panel on the right.

 

The chrome cup on the end of a ribbed line (behind the dirty yellow electric cable - which is not part of the aircraft! - in this shot) is the pee tube.  I don't think I ever saw it used (not least because we had a perfectly good sonobuoy chute down the back end, and anyway the Grubbers tended to get very upset, which I readily understand, when they had to wash the cab afterwards).  It was common - and believed surprisingly often - to tell students that it was a last ditch emergency intercom to the right hand seat pilot in the event of electrical failure.  Many a stude - though not me, for once - was seen shouting into this and then cupping it against his ear to listen for a response...

 

I should remember what the pressure gauge is for, but I can't - some sort of accumulator, but I'm buggered if I can remember what for.

 

Crisp

Edited November 2, 2016 by Ex-FAAWAFU

[bzn20]

It took ten of us to shift those tweezers on the production line WAAFAFU. 2 hours later we got a MOD update to remove it because it interfered with the back end

locking up the AFCS rods was a pain too, right at the back, up top of the Broom cupboard. Had to buy some 10" long nose pliers for it! Then drop something in there! You keep reminding me of things I'd forgotten !

Edited November 2, 2016 by bzn20
Couldn't spell WAFAFAAFUFU

[moaning dolphin]

42 minutes ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

I should remember what the pressure gauge is for, but I can't -

Emergency undercarriage air cylinder pressure 

 

Nice idea for the seat fabric, looks better than sticky tape!

Edited November 2, 2016 by moaning dolphin

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

6 minutes ago, moaning dolphin said:

Emergency undercarriage air cylinder pressure 

 

Of course; as fired by the "Oxo Cube"?  (I have included one of them on my Broom Cupboard, though getting it black & yellow striped will be a bridge too far...)

[Martian]

Highly convincing Crisp, highly convincing!

 

Martian

[perdu]

Just lovely

 

Those control rods

 

Realised today that I HAVE to put the corresponding Wopse ones under the rotor gearbox because I have seen them

 

Just because

 

That jump seat is brilliant but the size of those naval tweezers is bringing tears to my eyes

 

ten burly (Is the term grubbers?) chaps to move them! 

 

You''d think the Royal Nervy had developed way past manpower and capstans for 'work-doing' by now

 

tssk tssk

[Fritag]

Love the madness of the jump seat Crisp.  

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Thanks, all.

 

I have been saying for a couple of days that the starboard fuselage is almost done, but after this morning's Rivet-Fest I think it really is done, so here you are (any shiny parts are newly applied rows, whose carrier film won't come off until tomorrow morning);

 

Nose:

 

...and tail:

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Actually, I have a better idea; some before & after shots using the one remaining kit I have yet to start preparing.

 

Nose:

 

...and tail:

 

That gives a much better idea of why I thought Hasegawa's "panel lines" were inadequate for a Sea King.

 

I am really pleased with how they are coming out... next stage is paint (and I have taken note of Fritag's experiments with polishing etc. [fnarr]).

 

Edit: actually the next stage is NOT paint - I simply meant the next stage in the riveting saga.  You Eagle-eyed Sea King spotters will already have noticed the marks to guide where the two aft Orange Crop aerials go; they will probably be added next.  Plus I then have to start taking a drill to this (oh yes!) to fit the weapon wiring studs and so on.  Still plenty of lumps and bumps to arrive before we go to full on paint - at one stage I thought I'd add a light mist of paint to help seal the rivets and protect them, but to my surprise they are pretty robust once on, so I doubt that will be necessary.

 

I have also left a deliberate gap under the tail, and have not done any on the front of the nose yet; once the join has been sorted out I can then add the rivets across it.  Doesn't apply to the top of the tail, because there are (almost) no rivets on the tail rotor drive shaft.

 

More later

 

Crisp

Edited November 3, 2016 by Ex-FAAWAFU

[perdu]

I might just have to stop following this Crisp, makes the lovely nw Airfix ones look so sad

 

Yours looks great, so much to change even before the rivetting, had a quiet  w o w will ya.  

[Fritag]

10 minutes ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

 

I am really pleased with how they are coming out... next stage is paint (and I have taken note of Fritag's experiments with polishing etc. [fnarr]).

 

 

That is one mighty impressive feat of modelling.

 

I have my fingers and toes crossed that theme there rivets survive the rest of the build and that she looks suitably stunning in all of her mushroom riveted aerodynamically compromised gorgeousness 

[hendie]

Absolutely stunning

 

Mere words just cannot convey the ........

 

 

Well ... ehrrrrr.... uhmmmm ... ehrrrrr .... 

 

 

What I just said

Edited November 3, 2016 by hendie

[Brandy]

Beautiful job. The comparison pic really shows how worthwhile all that extra effort was..

 

Ian

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

My poor Fulmar wing seems to be something more than a paint mule; rather more of a general test bed.

 

While rivets dry, I am working out how to do the various lumps & bumps on the airframe.  Specifically, in this case, two things; the triangle of attachment lugs for the hoist above the weapon carriers, and the aforementioned attachment points for the wiring.  

 

The weapon hoist.  Methods of lifting weapons onto the side / bottom of aircraft have not changed significantly in 80-odd years; they still require Bomb-Heads who can lift heavy weights, and preferably some kind of hoisting mechanism.  I have struggled to find a decent pic of this, and the best I could find is from Navy News a couple of years ago, showing a Lynx being loaded with a Stingray (allegedly - a PR "action" shot if ever there was one!):

 

 

The guy wearing the flying helmet is holding the hoist, which is basically a winding handle attached to a pulley system; this lifts the Stingray (in this case) out of its trolley and up to the weapon carrier, where the other chap is doing things with locking pins to make sure it is safely attached to the aircraft before anyone drops it.

 

If you think about this, for it to work the hoist needs to be attached to the aircraft in some way.  In the Lynx it sits on top of the weapon carrier, but in the Sea King you will see a triangle of large bolt heads above each weapon carrier, with the point at the top (on which hangs the hoist) and two lugs below (which are there to steady the hoist while you are working).  This is how it looks on the side of a Sea King:

 

Other things you can see in this photo (which is of the HAS6 masquerading as an HU5 at the FAA Museum - see earlier in thread for details).  From top to bottom:

 

Handle beneath ECU exhaust (climbers of aircraft for the use of);

Tie-down point;

Two steps (climbers of aircraft for the use of);

Cooling vent from electronics bay (hole visible under strut)

A vent hole from the fuel tanks (the tear-drop shape just below the upper hoist lug, plus part of another one top right);

A vent hole from the fuel bay (smaller tear-drop shape bottom left - there to deal with anything that leaks from the tanks into the boat hull itself);

Blanking plates for assorted weapon wiring plugs (the 2 rectangles and the circular thing centre bottom);

A bonding point used to disperse static electricity during weapon loads (the black unpainted circle);

Access plate to one of the fuel filters (the hinged plate at bottom right); and

Section of HF aerial (the line passing across the picture).

 

Anyway, once you know the hoist lugs are there, they are very prominent (if that makes sense); in other words, I need these on my cab!  

 

My proposed solution is to drill a hole and push a section of brass rod through, of which the head has been pre-filed into shape; in the Fulmar wing test, the larger brass rod seen top right is the trial run.

 

 

The row of smaller brass dots bottom left is how I plan to do the wiring attachments - same idea, but smaller rod / hole.  They look like this on the real aircraft (without wires above, with wires below):

 

[In that pic you can see one of the wiring plugs in use (blanking plate in earlier picture)]

 

My model will have wires, but as you can see from that picture if they are just glued to the aircraft skin they will look completely wrong - they need to be be away from it.  

 

I think it will work.

 

Test complete - though this too will be painted 'ere long to check that it works OK under paint.

 

Crisp

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 3, 2016 by Ex-FAAWAFU

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Pleasurable though banter about the Hitch-Hikers' Guide... on poor Procopius' thread might be, there is work to be done.

 

I bring news, plus a warning.

 

News?  We have Orange Crop:

 

This aerial does not overlap any carrier film, so can be fitted now.  The upper one will follow in the morning (you might also note the marks that show preparation for drilling operations...)

 

The warning?  In previous posts describing HGW rivets and the process of using them, I mentioned that Microsol helps.  Please delete that; it is ESSENTIAL (which, to be fair HGW pretty much say in their instructions).  [Other brands of transfer/decal/sticker softener are available].

 

My evidence?  As you would expect, I have started work on the port fuselage half.  

 

M'lud, I proffer Exhibit A: a tail pylon on which Microsol was not used (because I thought it un-necessary on such a flat surface - aka got lazy):

 

Not the ones to the left - they were already there; the ones in the centre of the picture, near the tail.  No, you are right; there are none; every single one of them peeled away with the carrier film.  There were three rows of them, and no survivors.  

 

Exhibit B: the nose, done on the same day, using the same rivets, but this time with Microsol (on the grounds that these had to cope with some curves and the like):

 

The prosecution rests.

 

More soon

 

Crisp

 

Edited November 3, 2016 by Ex-FAAWAFU

[Ascoteer]

Aha! That's what Orange Crop looks like on the Sea King.

 

And there's me thinking that bulge was some form of MAWS.

[71chally]

22 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

It was common - and believed surprisingly often - to tell students that it was a last ditch emergency intercom to the right hand seat pilot in the event of electrical failure.  Many a stude - though not me, for once - was seen shouting into this and then cupping it against his ear to listen for a response...

 

Crisp

'Whaaat, it's not a Gosport tube' - they shouts as fluid comes rushing towards their ears!

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

19 minutes ago, Ascoteer said:

Aha! That's what Orange Crop looks like on the Sea King.

 

And there's me thinking that buge was some form of MAWS.

 

ASW 1980s Sea Kings didn't have things like MAWSes.  

 

Even Orange Crop was regarded with a little suspicion when it first came in, I think mostly because Sea Kings never had an autonomous ASuW weapon a la Skua.  ("It's Lynx kit, but they do surface search as their bread & butter; Pingers ping, and submarines don't transmit on radar nowadays..." - conveniently ignoring the fact that Pingers did about 90% Passive by then).  

 

Until the Sea King fraternity learned to use it properly, that is!  

 

The 1991 Gulf Lynx crews say that it was fantastic - and since they walloped half of the Iraqi Navy with Sea Skua, I'd say they were right.  826 Sea Kings did quite a lot of their TI with / for them, which somewhat transformed Orange Crop's reputation in the ASW world.

 

6 aerials (2 on the nose looking either side, 2 on the sides looking abeam and two under the tail looking backwards, of which this is one); almost identical to the Lynx 3 / 3S.  Relatively basic ESM kit, but a well-trained operator could get a ton of information out of it - and 2 or 3 aircraft could get a targeting solution that was silent right up to the point where the victim heard Sea Spray lock on, at which point the Skuas were about 6 miles away and inbound.  For a small ship (which was what Skua was designed against) that was a bad place to be...

 

All the same, I only really became an OC Ninja when I converted to the Lynx in 1989.