perdu Posted December 4, 2016 Share Posted December 4, 2016 You won't see the bottles once the covers are in situ, so I wouldnt worry about that but if you need little balls (Oi you over there, keep the concept in mind you rascals) have you tried those little round ended pins for corkboards? (Map pins I believe, as MrsP just yelled at me when I was pondering the name) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abat Posted December 4, 2016 Author Share Posted December 4, 2016 Ah yes, I do have a supply of supply of suitable plastic objects. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abat Posted December 11, 2016 Author Share Posted December 11, 2016 Some small progress. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heloman1 Posted December 11, 2016 Share Posted December 11, 2016 Nice work with the air bottles and guage panel cover. Colin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moaning dolphin Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 A very neat set of balls you have on display there! Much better than my effort although I do have the option of sticking the beak on should it all go pear shaped! Good work. Bob 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abat Posted December 12, 2016 Author Share Posted December 12, 2016 4 hours ago, moaning dolphin said: A very neat set of balls you have on display there! Much better than my effort although I do have the option of sticking the beak on should it all go pear shaped! Good work. Bob Thanks Bob, there's no hiding this stuff on a 31A! The engine cover thingy was the real key to making it all look half decent. It is a found object, a soft pliable clear plastic cone that just happened to be rattling about in my tool box and was cut to approximate shape. Still not sure what it was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abat Posted December 12, 2016 Author Share Posted December 12, 2016 On 11/12/2016 at 10:54 PM, heloman1 said: Nice work with the air bottles and guage panel cover. Colin Thanks Colin, I didn't use the bottles from the flotation devices, just my plastic baubles as covers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abat Posted January 2, 2017 Author Share Posted January 2, 2017 My modelling mojo has taken a hit lately so only slow progress over the last month. The last few days I've gotten the fuselage halves tidied up. I don't like the join between the rear fuselage and nose in this kit - it looks like they were mastered by two different people in different factories (possibly in different worlds). The rear fuselage has crisp detail and the nose soft detail with a poor alignment along the join leading to a raised bump. I did a fair bit of sanding and filling to flatten the join, rescribed most of the panel lines lost in the process and sharpened up some of the lines on the nose. Ive lost the panel line where the join is as I can't scribe over the filler but im OK with that. The next step was to fill the fuel points as they were in the wrong spot from my reference photos and drill a couple of new ones aft of the starboard window. The interior is pretty rough but will be hidden by a closed cabin door. The blue paint was me trying out exterior colours and mixes. I settled on Gunze H328, the colour I've used on previous RAN helicopter builds. That allowed me to paint the interior of the intake before closing up. Italeri include the "glass" for the square door window but don't provide a door with the corresponding hole. I drilled to corner points and cut between to get an acceptable result. I notice that the cabin windows all have a black rubber mounting edge which is represented as a raised ridge around the kit windows. To try and capture this I masked the windows, sprayed them black and then painted a blue outer edge. Once fitted, I'll mask over the top again before spraying the fuselage. Hope this works. More to come once I've closed up the fuselage. Andrew 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perdu Posted January 3, 2017 Share Posted January 3, 2017 Looks rather fine, you have a far better join between front and rear than mine on the Matchbox kit Rejoice! It seems funny to me, seeing the rubber seals shown on a kit (Matchbox one too) most other aircraft models pay no attention to this then when the makers do helicopters they do this instead of making realistic skin surface detail elsewhere 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abat Posted January 3, 2017 Author Share Posted January 3, 2017 Thanks Perdu, puzzling isn't it. One day I'd like to build something fleet air arm that falls together just out-of-the-box without any of these complications. Closest I got to that so far was the Airfix Vampire. Very satisfying build. At least this sharpens our eye and our skills. Cheers, Andrew 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moaning dolphin Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 Nice to see this moving forward, looking forward to seeing it closed up 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abat Posted January 5, 2017 Author Share Posted January 5, 2017 5 hours ago, moaning dolphin said: Nice to see this moving forward, looking forward to seeing it closed up Thanks, I appreciate the encouragement. It looks like closing may be delayed by all the replacement etch vents around the tail. Some surgery is needed before they can be attached and I think that will be easier with the halves seperate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abat Posted January 14, 2017 Author Share Posted January 14, 2017 After glueing the cabin/cockpit into the starboard fuselage I decided that it would be easier to fit the tail etch before joining the fuselage halves. So out with the xacto knives and sanding sticks to remove the moulded hinges and vents and on with the etch replacements. This time I used Gator's Grip rather than superglue. I'll let it harden overnight and then go about cleaning up the excess and quite possibly, closing up. You can see two of the re-located fuel points aft of the rear cabin window. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heloman1 Posted January 14, 2017 Share Posted January 14, 2017 The etched parts look great, especially the one on the tail rotor GB hosing aft section. I'm trying to replicate them with the grill that comes in the kit... nylon, it's fiddly. Colin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abat Posted January 14, 2017 Author Share Posted January 14, 2017 3 hours ago, heloman1 said: The etched parts look great, especially the one on the tail rotor GB hosing aft section. I'm trying to replicate them with the grill that comes in the kit... nylon, it's fiddly. Colin Thanks Colin, I'm glad I persevered as it does look quite nice, and will be even better with an undercoat I think. The rear-most upper grill will need a bit of filler to blend it in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MickE Posted January 17, 2017 Share Posted January 17, 2017 nice detailing with the etch. good job. Mick 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abat Posted January 18, 2017 Author Share Posted January 18, 2017 10 hours ago, MickE said: nice detailing with the etch. good job. Mick Thanks Mick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abat Posted January 21, 2017 Author Share Posted January 21, 2017 Here we are all closed up. It took for ever to get the IP console mounted securely and I also had some fun gluing in the cockpit windows - all done before the fuselage was closed. As I expected, there was lots of sanding and filling resulting in some lost panel lines. I'll freshen those up before attaching the rest of the fuselage detail and etch. The front grill also needs scratch building. And here's the underside with the corrected plumbing. I just noticed that I need to add some sonar. Gotta say that I've struggled a bit with this build but can see the way forward now the fuselage has come together. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perdu Posted January 21, 2017 Share Posted January 21, 2017 Nice work, on the undersides too Really coming together now, amazing how much difference windows make 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abat Posted January 21, 2017 Author Share Posted January 21, 2017 45 minutes ago, perdu said: Nice work, on the undersides too Really coming together now, amazing how much difference windows make Thanks Perdu. Slow and steady. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milktrip Posted January 21, 2017 Share Posted January 21, 2017 Coming together nicely, Andrew. "slow & steady" I really need to take heed of this 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abat Posted January 21, 2017 Author Share Posted January 21, 2017 38 minutes ago, milktrip said: Coming together nicely, Andrew. "slow & steady" I really need to take heed of this Thanks Aaron, lots of "challenges" in this build - a reminder to myself that I will get there and to enjoy the journey. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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