hendie

okay, I saw what you did there. nice coloring in, Johnny. That upper surfaces shot with the pre-shading looks almost like a finished scheme

Chris, don't fit the torque link to the rotor head until the mesh has been fitted, otherwise it's a real pig to get the mesh over the assembly. Test fitting is essential as I'm sure there's quite a bit of variation in the italeri kits. that top view is just to show a very general arrangement. In reality, the pulley on the rotor brake should be in line with the pulley on the cooling fan as the shaft through the rotor brake drives the fan. It's a tight fit, but it can be done. just shout if you have any questions oops... forgot to add: The support surfaces will need a bit of a clean up with sanding sticks or a file. The resin sands nicely though.

nice work Chris. I just checked the tracking and it appears the package passed through Sydney on Feb 2nd, so hopefully you shouldn't have to wait too much longer.

A little bit further along, but not quite there yet. With the hemisphere's sorted, the last items on the list are the seats. I knew these were going to be problematic but one way or another they will get beaten into submission. I have one of those dental vacuformers and it was time to bring it into play. However, for this task, I only want the heat source, not the vacuum. By the time the vacuum pulls PETG sheet over the former, the clear PETG will be way too thin. PETG by itself is not particularly rigid and for the seats I need to keep as much structural strength i.e. rigidity, in the finished part as possible. First try - actually I didn't even use the vacuformer heat source here - I used a hot air gun which was much more controllable and doesn't "burn" the PETG sheet as intensely as the inbuilt heat source. The vacuformer was used as a clamp to keep a constant tension on the PETG as it pulled down over the former. I didn't have the seat raised quite high enough on the vacuformer and had to use the old MkI digits to push the PETG down over the corners of the seat. Once trimmed back you can see that I didn't do quite a good enough job on one of the corners and there is a distinct dip. I knew this was going to take a few attempts and some experimentation to get right, but as proof of concept, the results are promising. I've always had issues trying to form clear sheet with the built in heat source of the vacuformer, but using the heat gun makes the job a lot more predictable. With this trial piece I've managed to maintain the clarity of the PETG which is going to be essential for the finished seats. WHy couldn't they have used aluminum seats - that would have been much easier. Another shot just to highlight the clarity and lack of distortion I usually get with this stuff. Don't worry about the big circular thing supporting the seat as there are seat cushions to be fitted there which will hide the support. Darn it! I forgot I need to make seat cushions. Oh well, another job was just added to the list. The downside to this is twofold. One, the PETG has maintained most of its rigidity but there is still a tad too much flexing for my liking. Secondly, the PETG sheet I have is too thin. The seats need to have a bit of substance to them and need to be thicker. Thirdly. The downside is threefold, not twofold. The third downside is that it is not an easy job to get a nice clean edge on the PETG and you can't really round it off or polish it with any degree of finesse. Which brings me to the final iteration of this weeks episode. I've determined that the seat Requires more rigidity Needs to be thicker Needs to have the ability to polish the edges CD cases! CD cases are molded from clear polystyrene. Polystyrene in its native form is very rigid, and clear, and hopefully thick enough for my purpose. Cue next trial... Well, I got some of the things right. I used an old and battered CD case and didn't help matters much by being too intense with the heat, hence some of the discoloration. I also cracked the seat by being too impatient removing the excess styrene. On the upside, it's thicker. It has the required level of rigidity, and the edges can be rounded and polished quite easily. It would be nice if the cases were just a little thicker, but I think I can make this work.

the Polar Lights kit does eventually build up into a decent kit. This was the "deluxe" edition with some PE parts. The Bat Signal is my own design (based on the 1966 searchlight) and 3D printed. I wanted something to compliment the Batmobile and this seemed to fit the bill. BUT.... The Polar Lights decals are horrendous. Absolutely worthless. I gave up after the second stripe and ended up painting the pinstriping and the bat symbols on the doors. I also 3D printed a bunch of parts as the kit detail is very, very soft in some areas. There are also some sink marks on the bodyshell - which didn't show up until I started on the final coat.

I can only reiterate wot my colleagues stated above. How much longer before it rises from the primeval goo?

Chris I posted a bunch of packages to the UK two days before I got your order into the mail, and those folks received their stuff a couple of days ago, so hopefully you won't have much longer to wait

My vote would be for Maintenance personnel from the 70's/80's, in the old blue growbags, and in KD dress. Important to note though that MANY many folks did not wear the kit portrayed in the brochures. For example overalls were often tied wound the waist, and hardly anyone ever wore that embarrassing KD top with the velcro fastening (unless you were inside and the air conditioning was on), if they did the (short) sleeves were usually ripped off, and the shorts were often either rolled up or cut-off. We were a right bunch of bare chested, macho, roughiy-toughy lineys striking fear into the hearts of the enemy The only time overalls were worn anywhere near "properly" was at engine start-ups

On the 1:1 they did actually fit seatbelts. I think they were attached to a bar that was bolted on that angled surface just behind the seats. I spent ages looking at some fuzzy looking artifact on that bulkhead before realizing it was a couple of boltheads. I did consider adding them but they weren't on the original plans so I left them off. I purchased some cheapo baubles from Temu. I could buy 10 sets of them for less than I was being charged for one on Amazon. I've no idea what I'll do with the rest of them but I'm sure they'll come in handy one day. Some free time yesterday was spent hacking out a couple of hemispheres and polishing up the edges. Getting them both to the same overall diameter wasn't too difficult a challenge - getting the mounting hole dead center was a bigger challenge. Luckily I had the forethought to add a pilot hole in my template seen at the rear here. A bit of elbow grease and the edges polished up nicely. Once that was done I micromeshed around the outer edge just enough to get rid of that knife edge Time for a quick dry fit... These baubles have a slightly smaller diameter than my test subject, and they are also slightly thinner walled. I think the overall effect is better looking than the test piece, which looked a bit clunky from the rear side. Happy with how the hemispheres are looking I printed out a few of the mounting brackets, and threw some paint on them. I decided to go with my Man From UNCLE metallic blue. Yes, they were painted blue on the original, and if they weren't, they are on this version, so there! come to think of it, the color isn't too far off. It works for me. Another dry fit with the colorful bits I like it. Just enough color to add some interest but not bright enough to detract from the overall vehicle. I have used brass tube to mount the hemispheres and the ends of the tube are visible from the rear I have a plan for that though. Come the next update that issue will be resolved. That just leaves the seats. I think I have a plan for that too. Sadly, the items I liberated from work with the intention of turning into seats were too small to be of use, but I have a backup plan. That's three plans now, right? Surely one out of three must work?

there's a lot of satisfaction to be gained from taking these older kits and breathing new life into them isn't there?

you are a strange man. Of that, there is no doubt. Good luck with the electrickery. I'm sure you'll have this sorted out in no time.

Coming along very nicely, Ian. The wings look much better now

Can you post a screenshot of your print settings, and also of the model in the slicer. That may help us spot something

Don't we have to wait for a government reshuffle before he posts an update, or have the rules changed?

It also looks like you are using the entire build plate as a "base" - if that is correct, that is going to create an enormous amount of suction and its going to let go with a snap!. Does it make a loud noise when the build plate separates from the FEP? You could try lowering your retract speed to see if that helps. Personally, I would separate the parts off so they were on individual bases and not all on a single sheet. That would help by lowering the peel off forces required.

Great project. This is actually an airframe I considered modeling after I did the Wapiti & 504, but in 1/48 scale, but never got around to it. It's nice to see someone take up the mantle. 1/32 gives plenty of scope for fine detail so this should be a stunner. I'll tag along as soon as Ian gets the beers in

NIce! I like the exhaust blanks - they add a nice touch

Nice result, Bill.

that's some remarkable scratch building there CJP. This is going to be a build to follow. I love the effect you've managed with the ribs and stringers. I'm going to pull up a chaise lounge if you don't mind.

Congrats on the anniversary Johnny. Nice phenargling on the wotsit.

HNY Tony. Brilliant stuff (as always). I can only gaze in awe at the level of skills on display here. If you ever get around to doing a 1/24 Wessex, just make sure it's an HC2....

thanks 2lefthands, but that was just a very rough prototype to test feasibility. the thought did cross my mind Tony, but I think there is a better solution... For the real domes I'm going to be using those acrylic Xmas tree balls that you fill will all sorts of junk. I messed up my first attempt but the second was more successful. Of course, I only had one half of the balls left so now I have to source more before I can carry on with this. A quick dry fit and I'm quite happy with that. Since this was still just a test, I didn't spend too much time polishing up the edge of the dome. I'll spend a bit more time on the final versions and I think I should be able to get them reasonably clear. I'll also figure out a little fitting to place on the inside so that it's not just the end of a rod or a tube that's poking through. It's a pity the acrylic balls didn't have a smaller wall thickness as that's quite a wide edge showing, but I can live with that. I'll also scale up the cruciform mounts. The body of the jeep had to be scaled up to 110% in order to fit Robby and I forgot to scale up the mounts when printing them. These things happen when you get old. Once they're painted a nice blue - I think I'll use the same metallic blue I used on the Man from UNCLE spy car - I think they'll look pretty good. I still haven't figured out the seat yet but I think I'm getting there. I got my hands on a bunch of small clear plastic cases which I'm going to try forming using a heat gun, but I'm so busy at the mo' that it's going to be a little while before I get to that.

Aren't the white bits supposed to be the best?

So much effort on such a small thing. Superbly executed, Ian

Meticulous as always, Giorgio