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Return of the King - Seaking HAS5 ZE419 of 820NAS, HMS Ark Royal 1988


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The for'd part of the strake is now at least cut & filed to the right shape.  It needs a drop of metal primer, then I can fix it into place:

39756693070_ea14bd92d4_c.jpg

 

And speaking of fixing into place, the I-band transponder "can" is now re-fitted (IFF aerial on the left as we look):

39756693900_32e6a9667f_c.jpg

 

...as are the tail wheel and lower UHF & VHF aerials (sonobuoy receiver blade aerials on the left)

39756694370_6ac3218d0f_c.jpg

 

Coming on nicely.  Thanks for all the compliments!

 

More soon

Crisp

 

Edited by Ex-FAAWAFU
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All your hard work is coming together, this will be the definitive go to thread together with part 1 for building an accurate Sea King!

 

  Roger

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33 minutes ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

It needs a drop of metal primer, then I can fix it into place:

Quick question, what do you use for metal primer on the etch?

 

Coming along great I must say!

 

Terry

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15 minutes ago, Terry1954 said:

Quick question, what do you use for metal primer on the etch?

 

Coming along great I must say!

 

Terry

40854790264_cce468afb8_c.jpg

 

I have always had excellent results from this stuff, though others on here have said it doesn't always work for them.

 

C

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10 hours ago, Terry1954 said:

Ah, right I've seen that stuff. Can it be airbrushed?

To be honest, I have no idea - there is lots of text on the label, but it's all in Japanese!  I just brush it onto the bare (clean, de-greased) metal and let it dry, and though I use PE a fair amount (almost every build, I think), it's always in small, intricate details rather than large areas, so hairy stick application isn't really a problem.  You certainly don't get visible brush strokes, if that's what worries you.  Once it's all dry I then airbrush as normal on top of it - and I invariably base my paint schemes on a unifying base coat of primer anyway.

 

Hope that helps!

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From my extensive knowledge of Japanese, the first line (Yellow text) translates as something like "Father Hobby" whereas the red text appears to read "Mr. Metal Primer". I'm struggling a little with the smaller text below. Think it may be my eyesight.

 

(I know Crisp. I'm sorry. It's not even vaguely on topic. I just couldn't resist.)

 

Kirk

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I think the de-greasing might be the key to using the metal primer successfully.

 

Martian (Trying to be sensible for once)

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6 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

Hope that helps!

Very much so, thanks!

 

Your build and this thread are very inspiring. The 1/48 Hasegawa HSS-2B in the stash has now seen daylight several times in the last week, but with several (eight) 1/72 aircraft currently in progress, I daren't start that one ................ although there are demon voices telling me it would be the ONLY 1/48 on the go, so doesn't really count does it .....?  :idea:

 

Cheers

 

Terry

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One thing that can help is to use a fibreglass scratch brush on any etch to roughen the surface slightly. I usually do mine on the fret as a whole, before applying any.

And de-greasing certainly helps any paint to stick to it.

 

And now back to your in-regularly non-scheduled ex-faawafu!

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36 minutes ago, Richard E said:

I've never used it but if it helps it is also available in an aerosol spray.

Ooh, is it?  I shall look out for that (though I still have plenty in my trusty bottle; it doesn't take much).

 

And yes, as @Bigdave22014 says, a bit of rough can definitely assist.  Fnarr.

Edited by Ex-FAAWAFU
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12 minutes ago, Richard E said:

Crisp: look no further than the Frome Model Centre: Mr Hobby Mr Metal Primer

You can't beat the South-West, eh?  I've never been there (the shop, not Frome!), but since my favourite Salisbury LMS has just died (though we're lucky enough to have another), that feels like an excuse to explore...

 

 

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20 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

40854790264_cce468afb8_c.jpg

Have looked up this product thanks to much help from you folks, and yes indeed you can get an aerosol version, but have you also noticed there seems to be two versions of both the bottled variety and the spary. One is Mr Metal primer, and the other is Mr Metal Primer-R. The later seems to be a cloudy/milky variety. Anyone know what thats all about?

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No idea what the difference is, if any; I did find one reference to the -R version having an internal brush (mine doesn't), but I don't know whether that's all.

 

Anyway.  Today's update will be a little different.  The work on weapon carriers continues - I now have both aft stations complete, and the for'd ones are coming together nicely... but they all look pretty much the same as far as progress shots are concerned, so I will spare you.

 

Shaping of the brass tail strake is now done, and the base of the forward section is glued in position.  I have a cunning plan for the rest, but for now I want it to cure good & proper before I do anything else.  I am, however, much happier with the way this conforms to the Sea King's luscious curves.

40691309655_00d6d829a9_c.jpg

 

So, with all that said, what's different today?  The rest of this post concerns what's about to happen, rather than what has already.

 

When I started this build off again, I mentioned 3 elements - the weapons carriers, which you know about, plus the Forth Road Bridge gear and the rotor head.

 

1.  Forth Road Bridge.  For those who don't know what this is, it is the more robust of the two standard methods of securing a folded aircraft - specifically, holding the rotor blades securely so that they don't flap about in high winds etc and damage themselves or the aircraft spine (they are easily flexible enough).  This cab (a "downbird" HAS5 being towed from Predannack back to Culdrose) has it fitted - actually, it has BOTH the Forth Road Bridge and the more common tip socks fitted; clearly they didn't want to take any chances!

39775994190_dc69c53b49_b.jpg

 

Some time ago a kind fellow-BM'er sent me a copy of the relevant drawings from the AP101C (Aircraft Maintenance Manual) [alas, I have forgotten who it was - I know I have thanked him once, but thanks again, oh mysterious one!].  The drawings show the layout clearly:

40691308275_db4938fecd_c.jpg

 

Much of this is fairly simple to model, being lengths of rod.  The more challenging bits are the parts which grip the blade itself (of which more in future posts), and the arrangement at the bottom, which is today's puzzle.  I long ago drilled the appropriate holes in the tail by the transportation joint - if you look at Step 4, top left, the horizontal bar feeds through the holes I'm talking about, and forms the base of everything else that follows.  The next step is to design the things which act as feet for the vertical sections, as shown in the next picture: A & B attach to the horizontal bar, and C to the tie-down point immediately above the tailwheel (now you know why I was so keen to get the tailwheel back into position!).

40691308795_8a70d4364b_c.jpg

 

I see a certain amount of trial & error and dry-fitting in my future!  I thought I'd show you these, however, since they are quite hard to describe and are odd, angular blocky things even when correct.

 

2.  Rotor head.  First, for no particular reason, a phot of a forest of rotor blades - I have finished converting them from metal blades to composite ones (different shape at the root, slightly different tip, added PE trim tabs on the trailing edge, no BIMS), and now they are ready for some paint.  I will be doing that soon, because there are marks on the blade to show Grubbers where to fit the FRB gear... and I need to get them in the right position for this to work!

40691307885_8bea691123_c.jpg

 

The real fun (I think I described it as a Snake's Wedding a few pages ago) comes with the blade fold hydraulics / electrics.  This is a key part of the Seaking's busy look, and I have never yet seen a model which gets the look right (to my eyes - remember, I'm the lunatic who riveted an entire aircraft).  I can exclusively reveal that I will NOT be building a 100% accurate model... and if you wonder why, this is the root of one blade of the real thing:

34067396160_335bace124_b.jpg

 

Gulp.  [Note nice clear view of the droop stops, though!]

 

So, if not the full monty, what do I plan?  I have been doing some experimentation with Albion Alloys' most excellent Connecto system.  It will be useful when I put together the weapon wiring ( a future post, no doubt), but I think the hydraulics would be pretty much impossible without it.  Still lots of experimentation to do, but I am now pretty close to trying the first blade, and here is a sneak preview of the simplified (!) rendition which I am going to attempt - 1/48 scale on the right...

40691309165_09e4bf643e_c.jpg

 

You can see from the larger drawing that the key elements are the T-junctions, which is where the Connecto comes in... Connecto is basically a very thin X or + shape in PE brass (I'll dig one out and take a photo in future), the "legs" of which fit Albion's brass tube.  It is a genius idea, and you can easily make junctions of almost any shape; the limit is your imagination and patience with teeny-tiny things!

 

Here are some test junctions I prepared earlier - you can see a Y-junction at the top and a few Ts lower down:

40691307265_b03ce4dc16_c.jpg

 

That is a standard size paper cup-cake holder.  The junctions are not very big!

 

More soon

Crisp

 

 

 

P.S. the thing at the top which grips the blade looks like this.  I may have finally to take the casting plunge, because I have to come up with 5 of these!  [My own photo, taken in the FAA Museum - these are metal blades, incidentally]

26716202907_b07e9287f8_h.jpg

 

 

Edited by Ex-FAAWAFU
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1 hour ago, Courageous said:

I'm mentally exhausted

 

I was just thinking the exact same thing - my eyes hurt too after looking at all that plumbing in the blade root piccie....!!

 

Good luck modelling a representation of that snake's nest Crisp!

 

Keith

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4 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

You can't beat the South-West, eh?  I've never been there (the shop, not Frome!), but since my favourite Salisbury LMS has just died (though we're lucky enough to have another), that feels like an excuse to explore...

 

 

Which shop? Use both fairly regularly but haven't been down since 'the Incident'. Not linked I hope?

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1 hour ago, Airgunner said:

Which shop? Use both fairly regularly but haven't been down since 'the Incident'. Not linked I hope?

No, not linked; David, who ran Endless Models, has had cancer for some time, and sadly died in early March.  They couldn't find anyone to take it on as a going concern, so it’s now sad & empty.  We still have the one in Fisherton Street, though.

 

@Courageous, yes, I think it’s fair to say most of my builds end up something like this!  The Seaking is worse than most, because I know the subject so well & want a model that will convince me.  It will be the same when I get around to building Lynxes, no doubt.  

Edited by Ex-FAAWAFU
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