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


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Still can't decide which I like best.

 

Martian, sitting on the fence so long that he has a very sore bottom indeed!

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Now very close to calling time on the rivets (though still the starboard sponson to do).

 

The nose is far from simple to do, but I think I am nearly there (only some more double rivets around the edge of the nose to go).

 

Seen from below:

34901089820_c9216f766c_c.jpg

 

From ahead:

35122257242_681e270c23_c.jpg

 

And the underside with (I think) all the detailed bits and bobs now complete:

35122257882_cd50344c83_c.jpg

 

Memo to self: still need to sort out those Doppler aerials.

 

More soon

 

Crisp

 

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Looking absolutely fabulous, to coin a phrase...

 

I've been on a deliberate absence from the forum, so I have a lot to catch up on on this (fantastic, grovel grovel) thread alone.

 

Scrumptious :).

 

Cheers

the alex. :sheep: says: "The alex is a very peculiar beast, best ignored."

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This might be hard to show in photographs, but I am going to give it a go.

 

As I get close to Peak Rivet, I have been experimenting with weathering work to tone them down.  This has always been my intention - they look too stark in their raw form - and my working hypothesis was that my preferred oil dot weathering technique would do the trick.  No photos, but my work on the Fulmar wing suggests otherwise; the oil work does its usual excellent job of adding subtle variations and fading to the base coat, but to a large extent it leaves the rivets unchanged.  So the Sea King will definitely be oil dotted in due course, but it's going to need other work to blend the rivets the way I want.

 

Yesterday, however, I was reading an article in an old SAM, where the author toned down some over-dramatic "exposed metal" chipping on the root of a Spitfire, and he used watercolour pencils.  I have used them in the past for small detailed chipping etc., but hadn't really thought of them for this.

 

One of the beauties of watercolour is that if you don't like what you have done, you can simply remove it with a damp cloth.  If you do like it, you seal it in with varnish.

 

So an experiment, which has pleased me greatly.  I decided to use the black access doors to the MRGB, because they will be covered with exhaust staining anyway in the long run.

 

First, the rivets as applied, with no weathering at all:

35298431746_87a993f26c_c.jpg

 

Second, the rivets after weathering (black section only) - and this was after literally 3 minutes' work as a test run:

35298432126_424c5bf61a_c.jpg

 

Even allowing for limitations of iPhone cameras, lighting etc, you can see the difference.  This merits more exploration, but I think it's very promising.

 

More soon

 

Crisp

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I may have to check out those watercolour pencils. I assume you can draw the colour on, then "wash" it with water to blend it in?

 

Ian

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2 hours ago, limeypilot said:

I may have to check out those watercolour pencils. I assume you can draw the colour on, then "wash" it with water to blend it in?

 

Ian

 

Yes, you can.  They are very adaptable (I nearly said flexible, but just knew someone would question the value of a wobbly pencil).  As with so many art materials, within reason it's worth paying a bit more for higher quality stuff - you don't have to go nuts; I bought my set from WHSmith (you can spend large sums if you go full-on high end arty-farty!)

Edited by Ex-FAAWAFU
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10 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

 

Yes, you can.  They are very adaptable (I nearly said flexible, but just knew someone would question the value of a wobbly pencil).  As with so many art materials, within reason it's worth paying a bit more for higher quality stuff - you don't have to go nuts; I bought my set from WHSmith (you can spend large sums if you go full-on high end arty-farty!)

 

I have 'full-on high end arty farty' watercolour pencils from Caran d'ache & Derwent & a tin from Smiths. Strangely enough I was using them earlier today in an attempt to change the serial decals on a Spitfire PRIV from white to grey (didn't have decals in the latter colour). Of the three, the cheapo Smiths ones actually worked best of all ! Unfortunately none of them really worked well enough for Mr. Picky Muddler, so I made use of that very useful facility you mentioned & washed it all off !

 

Keith 

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More stuff that is hard to photograph - and which certainly seems to entail showing things in close up that emphasises every piece of dust etc.  Still, please make allowances for the fact that she needs a good polish (fnarr).

 

I have been finishing off the "Dog Kennel" section of the aircraft, which does have some rivets - but has at least as many fasteners around assorted access panels.  On the real aircraft these have a black stripe on each side so that it is easy to see whether the fastener is lined up (and therefore secure).  I have decided to represent these with Archer black rivets - bigger and blacker than the thousands of HPW numbers already in place.  Not 100% accurate, but still contributing to the right "busy" impression that I'm after against the RAF BG background.  They're not terribly easy to see, even this close up - though they stand out better to the naked eye.

 

35300928471_7cdc20b203_b.jpg

34588530334_e27ffab92e_b.jpg

 

The other transfer-y thing I have been doing is to sort out the Barn Door - specifically the "stripes", which are in fact slots through which TKS anti-icing fluid (a nasty-smelling gloop with a low freezing point, pushed out by a very slow-running pump) oozes, thus preventing ice build-up in airframe icing conditions - roughly 0 to -10 degrees C.  You do not want lumps of ice breaking off and whizzing into the intakes of your Gnomes, now do you?

 

I had masked and painted it, but I wasn't very satisfied; the TKS stripes looked too feeble and not wide enough.  This is my second attempt, using Xtradecal stock white stripe, and I think it's much better (or will be once weathered and made to look a bit less in-yer-face WHITE).

34588529604_9fbf7f0453_c.jpg

 

More soon

 

Crisp

 

P.S. 2 more shots, just because you haven't seen her from a more representative viewing distance for a while.  Barn Door balanced, not glued.

35264615652_63e924ea34_c.jpg

35264615182_d54d78a57f_c.jpg

 

 

 

Edited by Ex-FAAWAFU
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Starboard sponson - the final part of the airframe until now devoid of rivets - gets its vertical lines:

34660582433_62f0eb6b3d_c.jpg

 

And the top of the stubwing - which will in due course be painted black - needs larger rivets to represent the huge great agricultural things under the non-slip coating:

34660582593_09eb50bd39_c.jpg

 

[Lest you doubt the sheer size of these things - almost Soviet in their lack of subtlety - here's what the real thing looks like:

34660643343_ab0f36a40a_c.jpg

 

See?]

 

Away for the weekend at a family wedding, so nothing now until Sunday.

 

Crisp

 

Edited by Ex-FAAWAFU
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Close inspection of the pitch (spacing) leads

me to suspect that they are standard 1/8th rivets.

(Maybe the thickness of the nonslip misleads the eye?)

There are two just forward of the orange panel that

have washers under them. This was a standard repair

for enlarged holes using special washers.

On the orange panel we have various blind rivets,

some of which are more domed than the others.

Enjoy the weekend off.

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Love the treatment the rivets are getting now

 

As you know I have been a tad worried about contrasty rivets all over the RAF BG paint but this looks just like 'the way' to cure it

 

Have a good wedding, even if it's not your own. ;)

 

Easier to enjoy someone else's every time

 

See ya later rivetater

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36 minutes ago, Pete in Lincs said:

Close inspection of the pitch (spacing) leads

me to suspect that they are standard 1/8th rivets.

(Maybe the thickness of the nonslip misleads the eye?)

There are two just forward of the orange panel that

have washers under them.

 

Yes, I think they are standard 1/8th rivets - but they look bigger because of the non-slip coating.  Since my non-slip will be merely a coat of black paint, I needed to find a way of making them look different.  Hence Archers instead of HGW

Edited by Ex-FAAWAFU
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23 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

 

34660643343_ab0f36a40a_c.jpg

 

 

 

My young, naive self was more than slightly concerned, when, excited at my first trip in a big 'black' Sea King beast (nicknamed Double Duck - 00) I clocked that the wheel things weren't actually fixed to the helicopter! This was at Culdrose in 1989(?) and I soon had more to worry about when I was told to sit at the door chair. Once strapped in and up, up and away, the aircrewman swivelled the chair to face out whilst him up front did the usual 'let's-terrify-all-on-board-with-oh-my-god-we-are-going-to-crash' manoeuvres. All good fun though and a very memorable experience for an impressionable young Sea Cadet!

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13 hours ago, rich2010 said:

 

My young, naive self was more than slightly concerned, when, excited at my first trip in a big 'black' Sea King beast (nicknamed Double Duck - 00) I clocked that the wheel things weren't actually fixed to the helicopter! This was at Culdrose in 1989(?) and I soon had more to worry about when I was told to sit at the door chair. Once strapped in and up, up and away, the aircrewman swivelled the chair to face out whilst him up front did the usual 'let's-terrify-all-on-board-with-oh-my-god-we-are-going-to-crash' manoeuvres. All good fun though and a very memorable experience for an impressionable young Sea Cadet!

 

It's possible - though unlikely, unless it was very early in 89 - that I was "him up front"...

 

The wheel things are connected; they hang off two bloomin' great hinge things; you can see the rear one in the ditance in that pic above, and the bracket for the other.  They aren't, like, wings (despite being called "stub wings"), so they actually NEED to be able to hinge from the root, rather than flex to the tip like an aircraft wing.  So your young, naive self was right; they are connected to the aircraft, but not fixed

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Stub wing Archer rivets complete, but hard to photo on an iPhone.

35363905492_cd6eb40a00_c.jpg

34721790843_90c36a592f_c.jpg

 

As you can see, the sponson rivets are now almost done - the inner side of about three rows at the back end is all that remains.

 

I have also just about completed the über-fiddly detailed sections of rivets and attachment points underneath the stub-wing, all connected with the weapons station.  The real thing is much more complex than this, but there will shortly be a weapons station added here, which will obscure much of this, so I am not going to go overboard.  (The unsightly glue is fresh Gator added to reinforce the rear joint, which has a habit of wobbling - it will disappear once dry, therefore).

35363904692_17bfa7eb42_c.jpg

 

That will leave just the underside of the sponsons to do, which won't take long at all.

 

I have also started designing my first (ever) attempt at home-baked transfers - things like the "RADOME - NO NOT PAINT" signs for the Doppler aerials, and markings for the ECU blanks.  I've scanned a sheet of Hasegawa transfers, not because I want to copy them, but because they give me a very good idea of size.  I think I know how to do this, but there's bound to be a bit of trial and error.

 

I want to do the home transfers soon, because they are the last that need to be added - I can then seal the whole lot in place and start on the weapons stations and associated wiring... which is all that is separating me from the Forth Road Bridge and (of course) the rotor head.

 

The build has slowed down a little because there is quite a lot of real life going on at the moment; equally, completing the rivets is in sight (should happen this week, I reckon), which will feel like a serious tick in the box.  

 

I am happy enough with how it's going, anyway.

 

More soon

 

Crisp

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