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Type 45 Flight Deck Railings


Jasonb13

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Hi there,

 

I'm doing my first ever ship build, so apologies in advance for any stupid questions/incorrect terms etc.

 

I'm building the Cyberhobby 1:700 Type 45, and I have a choice of two sets of PE for the railings around the landing pad. One is vertical and one is horizontal.

 

I understand that these railings can be dropped horizontally, but I don't know when or why they might be, so I'm unsure of whether I should drop mine or not. If it helps, I plan to have the Lynx on the pad, I don't know if that affects the railings position or not?

 

Thanks in advance...

 

J.

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Hi Jason,

 

two answers to this:  for the landing pad. the rails are lowered when the ship is at flying stations; when the Lynx is being launched and recovered etc.   The remaining side rails would normally only be lowered around the gun area;  during firing whether practice of operational.

 

Mike

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Hi Mike,

 

Thanks for your reply. So basically, if the Lynx is on deck, either just after landing or before take off, the rails are down? Would it be common for the Lynx to be on deck and the rails up (say if it's not flying soon)?

 

Thanks...

 

J.

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This depends on how long Flying Stations are in force for.  Operation of the flight deck is under the control of the Captain and Flyco and the order to go Flying Stations comes from them.  Once all flying operations have been completed, i.e. for the day, then the order would be passed to stand down from Flying Stations.  This is when the rails could be raised again, for safety.   There are variations to these basic rules, depending whether peacetime or operational environments, and so you could have the rails up or down and whether flying or not.  The main point of the rails of course is safety of those out on the upper decks and so they are normally raised as soon as flying is finished. Maintainers work on the aircraft on the flight deck as well as in the hangar and so you would see the rails up with an aircraft on the deck.

 

HTH

 

Mike

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Great, thanks for explaining that Mike, it sounds like it's really up to me what I'd prefer.

 

And Panzer, I hadn't thought of that, but it's not in any kind of a Diorama, it's just on the kit supplied stand.

 

Thanks...

 

J.

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Much depends on how you wish to depict your model. It would not be wrong to range the helo with the flight deck netting in the raised position at sea,  at anchor or alongside in harbour. Equally Flight Deck nets are struck to the horizontal during flying stations although this is not so common at anchor or alongside. However if the Flight Deck nets are struck horizontal then the ensign staff is never rigged! The other thing that you need to consider is the position of the hangar door. If the aircraft is on deck for maintenance the hangar door would be open. If flying the door would be closed  or partially closed.  A quick Google search should  help.  

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Thanks Paul, that's interesting...

 

I already have the hanger door open, so I guess that means that I should have the Flight Deck nets raised. I could try to add a partially closed door though, I'll see. Or I might just leave it as is, go with the horizontal nets and hope no-one but yourself notices! A lot will come down to how the PE parts look and fit.

 

Thanks...

 

J.

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Hi Jason,

I would not worry too much about it. Fundamentally any combination would work. It is feasible to have the helo ranged onto the spot with rotors spread and flight deck netting struck and the Hangar door open. This may occur during preparation for flying or at the end of the flying serial, however the door would be shut (it appears the T45 operate with the door fully shut) when the rotors are turning.

I would be interested to see how your model comes out as I have been considering building one of these with the PE set.

  

 

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Thanks Paul...

 

You've raised another question! In general, is there a particular place on the pad that the Lynx should be? Not for maintenance as such, but after landing? Is there a 'point' they aim for?

 

I'll probably put up pics in the RFI section but don't get your hopes up for the result! :)

 

J.

 

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In rough weather RN helicopters have a harpoon under the fuselage that is fired into a grid on the flight deck. If the weather is not bad enough to need the harpoon, then the helicopter will still land roughly in the same area. Once down it may be tethered there. Of course, it could be tethered elsewhere depending on the future flying operations.

 

Here is a good picture of a Lynx on the flight deck of a T45 Destroyer with a Lynx ranged on deck. On the extreme right is part of the circle that surrounds the harpoon grid.

 

Dave

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Hi Jason,

 

In answer to your question the front wheel of the Lynx should sit on the intersection of the white athwartships line and the circle. In the picture Dave has provided it would be roughly where the "Green Death" are standing at the extreme right of the  picture.

 

 

Edited by Paul E
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Excellent lads, thanks a lot for all your help! I presume, if the front wheel is on the intersection of the white line and circle, the Lynx is facing forward, in the direction of the ship's bow, correct?

 

Again, apologies for the stupid questions, but sometimes I like to get the little things right to make up for the build issues I have made a mess of! :)

 

J.

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3 hours ago, Jasonb13 said:

I knew that was a stupid question!

 

J.

No it isn't. Again it depends on the circumstances and which way the wind flows over the deck. Normally the helo faces forward because as the ship manoeuvres so the wind flows forward to aft. However if for some reason the ship cannot achieve flying course the helicopter will rotate on the spot to face  in to the wind for take off.

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Me again...

 

I just realised that, at least on my model, if I place the nose wheel of the Lynx on that spot, then the tail/tail rotor is overhanging the stern. So I'd be putting the railings down in that case, but is the scale/placement of the circle correct? Should the tail be overhanging?

 

Thanks!

 

J.

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The spot position is quite a long way aft as the flight deck is sized for the much larger Merlin helicopter. I found this image of a Wildcat (The Lynx replacement) ranged on a Type 45 Flight deck which should help.

33342526461_a6f533d904_b.jpg

 

 

 

Edited by Paul E
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Thanks once again Paul!

 

It looks like the position of the circle or the scale of the Lynx is slightly off then in this kit, as the tail definitely overhangs a little. No matter, I'll still aim for the nose wheel on the top of the circle.

 

I'm almost finished this, and then a bloody piece of PE broke and pinged off, so now I have to fashion a new one to replace it before finishing!

 

Thanks for all your help...

 

J.

 

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pilots seat should be in line with the white line that crosses deck athwartships (touches the "top" of the circle - this white line is known as the "bum line" for that reason. (either that or ALL WAFU B'strd pilots are bums!).Picture of Wildcat above shows helo spotted in that position

 

On a 42 (proper Destroyer!) the helo could be ranged with the nose just inside the hangar - ready to be pushed back to launching position, but relatively safe from weather......not sure if they do that on a 45 - looking at the distances involved it might actually take a day to get it there.

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