Pappy

Thanks very much fellas. Dean, if you saw this thing up close I don't think you would call it crisp! I have made a start with the PE rails at last. I sprayed the railings the hull colour after first bending them to shape. They made need a touch up later, but that is preferable to painting the whole thing in situ. As I have said, I am mainly a jet guy so I am probably doing this completely backwards to how the ship folks do it, and they are probably all laughing themselves silly, but this is what makes sense to me. I started with what I thought would be the easiest ones first, the ones for the helo deck, I don't know if there will be enough PE railing to be accurate as the Dragon instructions seem to be at odds with the painting guide (which is a more detailed and better drawing), so I added some railings to the stern deck (below the helo deck). I think these should probably be a little further out, i.e closer to the edges, but I am happy to leave them where they are. I thought it would be better to add the railings from the 'inside' first, as that means there is less chance my clumsy hands will butcher the main deck railings whilst I work over them. With that in mind, I added the railings around the search radar, Lastly, the railing sections on the deck next to the boat davits, Phew, I think that I have earnt myself a malt! Main deck railings tomorrow, and if there are any left overs, I can add some more railings here and there, cheers, Pappy

I came to the same conclusion after I sprayed and decaled her too! I think it is too late now so I will leave it alone as a repair would only create damage and learn for next time,,,, Thanks very much

G'day Kev, Seriously good work going on in there! My suggestion would be to brush paint the top edge of the bridge and once dry, make a square of masking tape to match the size of the opening. If you use the coloured masking tape sold at the big home hardware type places (I don't know what the brands are in the UK) you can overlay strips to get the size that you need. The other alternative is just to cut some paper to a size just smaller than the opening and seal the edges with Tamiya tape, cheers, Pappy

Well, the easy part is now done. G'day people, I have applied all the decals to the ship. These went down pretty well compared the the aircraft decals and the helo deck and front gun turret ring decals settled down nicely after a couple of coats of Micro Sol/Set. Disappointingly, Dragon did not include a decal for the Union Jack ID marking that was painted above the bridge. I had a rummage through the spares and quite fittingly found one in the 1/72 Airfix Lynx kit. The decal sheet was very badly out of register and I needed to cut it down to fit, but considering the circumstances I am pleased with the result. The ship's boats have been fitted Now for the part I have been avoiding, the dreaded PE rails cheers, Pappy

Ahh gotcha, In RAN parlance, aircraft maintenance types are 'birdies', although I have heard the pilots referred to as the 'seat stick actuator', all in good fun!

G'day people, A good deal of progress today. The majority of the paint is on. The hull was masked and sprayed, only the small deck fittings were picked out with a brush. The forward superstructure was initially sprayed black and the vertical ID stripes masked off. Once the superstructures were sprayed light grey, their decks were brush painted as I didn't feel like masking around all the little greeblies. The two superstructure assemblies have now been attached to the deck and the model awaits decals. This has been the largest amount of brush painting I have done in a while but I am reasonably happy with the results, cheers, Pappy

Cheers Ross, i would appreciate that I understand that the Type 42 only had one embarked helicopter, my intention was to build the two helicopters in two different states, then pick the one I liked most to use on the ship. I have opted to use the version with the folded tail, but I would like to have a version 'flying' off to one side to give the display a bit more interest. Out of interest, what does "WAFU' stand for? cheers, Pappy

Hey Ross, If you have the helicopter rotor parts spare I would be happy to pay for the postage........

G'day Ross, Only the one sheet I'm afraid. Did Dragon release boxings with two PE frets inside? Meanwhile I have finished the two Lynx. There were only enough decals for one helicopter, so I have opted for the folded version. Sorry for the crap pics, these things are tiny and very hard to take decent pics without silhouetting them. I had trouble with the decals conforming, probably due to the small diameter of the tail boom. The dark blue paint was fully glossed, and Micro-Sol/Set, and Mr Mark Softer had no effect. I eventually used a coat of Future and this worked. As Future dries, it shrinks and pulls the decal down with it. It worked well in this instance even though you can hardly read the 'ROYAL NAVY' legend on the tail boom. cheers, Pappy

G'day and thanks for the link. WEM's PE looks pretty nice and if I was building the kit again I would certainly opt for it, but I will stick with the kit supplied PE for now as I don't want to break the momentum by having to wait for the PE to arrive. Meanwhile I have started on the Lynx. Two are supplied in the kit due to the duplication of several of the ancillary fitting sprues. I have started building up the second Lynx as well, albeit slightly modified, cheers, Pappy

Cheers Selwyn! Pappy

G'day people, I am trying to determine the main rotor blade colours for a Naval Lynx (HAS.3) embarked upon a British naval destroyers at the time of the Falklands War. The Walkarounds section has plenty of useful fuselage and tail rotor pics bu I cannot find any decent main rotor blade shots. Pictures of the surviving airframes don't seem to have any fitted. I know the tail rotor blades were olive drab with red/white/red flashes, but what colour were the main rotor blades? I am guessing that the undersides were black, but were the upper surfaces black or olive drab?, cheers, Pappy

G'day people, I have started this little fella. The kit includes some PE so that should add to the fun trying to add the railing to such a small kit. I finally got the hull halves together. The hull is split into upper and lower hull sections and includes a blanking plate for the people that wish to build the waterline option. I chose the full hull build and found the fit, especially at the bow and stern was less than great and needed some filler to avoid a nasty step at the join. \ I also replaced the prop shafts with plastic rod to avoid trying to sand the mould seams. The four round 'bits' (sorry, I am a jet guy) which I think are some sort of ship stabilising system were added after opening holes in them and thinning their edges a bit. Incidentally, Dragon's instructions would have you join the upper and lower hull section in the last step once every thing is together, This is utter madness so I will be jumping around a bit with regards to sequence and building this as a series of sub-assemblies. I used a mix of Tamiya hull red and flat red. The Tamiya hull red is a very dark red, almost a plum shade and needed to be warmed up a bit with the addition of a little red. I will add a little subtle weathering before masking this section off for the black waterline mark. I have also assembled the rear superstructure section, This is a neat little assembly and went together without any problems. I have also started to assemble the forward superstructure, The upper bridge section and exhaust stack are just dry fitted here but it gives an idea of how well the parts fit. I also made a start on some of the fittings, I couldn't decide on which position to have the missile launcher in so I built two versions (the kit supplies three units, two are surplus), and I will decide which one to fit later on. The bits so far,

That is lovely work Colin! cheers, Pappy

G'day Brian! I have managed to get back to the bench and do a little more work on project Gobby. The position of the rear GBU-27 tail arming lanyard position for the right hand bomb kept gnawing at me. As depicted in the kit stores, both of the bombs are identical. the problem I had was that this means that there would be very little room for the armourers to fit the rear lanyard on the right hand bomb as the weapons bay door would restrict access. There is a picture (page 34) in the Squadron Signal F-1117A Walkaround monograph that depicts a GBU-27 being walked over to the jet to be loaded onto the right hand station. Interestingly, the tail arming lanyard seems to be on the opposite side of the left hand bomb, i.e at the 3 o'clock position instead of the 9 o'clock position when viewed from the rear. So it would seem I have two choices; Ignore it Fix it! Here is my choice I cut off the rear aerofoil group and re-attached it 180 degrees from the original position so that the right hand bomb is now a mirror image of the left hand bomb. I also decided that I wanted one bomb fully loaded and the second in the process of being loaded. The laser guided GBU family of bombs are loaded is stages. The bomb body and tail aerofoil group are loaded as one unit. The seeker head (CCG) is then attached to the loaded bomb using some screws and the arming lanyards for the various bits are then attached. Once this is completed, the steering fins for the CCG are finally installed. I want my CCG to be in the process of being inspected, having just been removed from its transport container. For this to happen I had to saw off the kit CCG which is moulded integrally. I also need to hollow out the inside to represent the gizzards inside the CCG. So I made a resin cast of the CCG using a GBU-27 from a friend's F-1117A kit. The front of the bomb didn't escape either as it was also hollowed out to represent the mating collar to which the CCG is attached. I have also succumbed to peer pressure and will now fill in most of the wing and fuselage panel lines. I was hoping that a few applications of Mr Surfacer 500 would suffice but this approach still leaves faint traces of the panel lines which are just not visible on the real deal. If I had left them, it would most likely annoy me every time I looked at the kit so........... Here is the lower fuselage having the fist of several coats of Mr Surfacer 500 applied Yecchhh! Here is the upper fuselage after several coats and progressive sanding I have adding the Eduard PE screens. Most of the PE set is surplus as I elected to use the Aires cockpit and weapons bay sets, but the PE set still provides some useful external details which the kit lacks, cheers, Pappy

Just to add to what both Spike and Steve have already said, the later ACES II seats modified the air data sensors so that they are folded against the headbox until the seat ejected, however, just to add to your confusion, some ACES II applications DO have canopy breakers (F-15E for example), although most don't. These links should help. http://www.ejectionsite.com/frame_sg.htm http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com/awa01/001-100/awa004-F-15E/00e.shtm cheers, Pappy

G'day people, I am looking for a photo of the left side Kfir C-2 avionics bay. The one I want is the second panel from the front on the left hand side (the rectangle shaped one) . Also, what colour would a live Python 3 be painted? I am thinking all over white with some sort of bands to denote a live warhead and rocket motor section, cheers, Pappy

G'day Michael, What a mess (the kit not you!), this kit is lacking in several areas but that is another story... I will start with the main bay doors. Discard parts D8/D9. HB do not understand their subject. In the top pic, notice the panel line running down the length of part D9 (R/H main weapons bay door). This is actually the point along which the main bay doors fold. If you still want the bay doors open I would scribe/score down this panel line until you end up with two door halves. Repeat for the other door (D12). Attach the hinged bay door sections (the outer parts) as per the instruction diagram and then attach the "inner" portions of D11 & D12 in lieu of parts D8 and D9. These inner portions should be horizontal. Part C4 is attached in the wrong position. It needs to sit further forwards as you have stated and on top of the front edge of the weapons bay so that it is flush with the surrounding airframe. The small doors should be attached folded inwards (upwards) almost vertically. I have no idea what the kit designers were smoking when they added that bridging part to the nose wheel well. A few other items I have noticed in from the small scan of the instructions you supplied, Clear part H10 is the strike camera housing. This should not be fitted to the centre line as shown but off set to the right The pipe running down the centre of the weapons bay was covered by a laced canvas cover. The Eduard weapons bay PE set provides this item. The two recesses in the weapons bay each had a weapons release rack (MAU-12/A). If you plan to add a store to these stations (not an ALQ-87!), then this will cover these up, but if not I would add some representation of the racks. A simple rectangular section of sheet stock with a couple of swaybraces each would suffice. F-111A's originally had the full sized rear main gear door. When the gear was down, this door trailed horizontally behind the main gear unit instead of handing down vertically behind it as shown in the instructions. Later the main gear design was altered to the version that is depicted in the instructions, but the rear main gear door was reduced in size. cheers, Pappy

G'day Michael, A few points, With reference to the pic of the upper fuselage, the 'intake' is supposed to be the in-flight refuelling receptacle I think. USAF aircraft use the boom/receptacle system,(USN aircraft the probe and drogue design) and this is about where it would be. http://www.raf-upper-heyford.org/UH_F-111_North_Sea_1988_a.jpg Hopefully, HB has provided a facing part for the opening as otherwise it will look a little odd! In the top photo with the three wing pylons per wing, only the two inner pylons pivoted to stay parallel to the fuselage as the wings were swept back. The two outer pylons (you have only fitted one outer pylon per wing) were mounted pointing inwards. These pylons were a completely different shape to the inner pivoting pylons. With the wings fully forward, they would point inwards to give a 'pigeon toed' appearance. When installed, the wings would be swept to 26 degrees once airborne to allow these pylons to be parallel to the fuselage as well. In practice these were ferry pylons and only used to carry an external fuel tank and not weapons. This pic suggests that all four stations could carry weapons, I don't know if this a/c actually flew in that config, but it was loaded, so if you want to do an early grey/white jet all tooled up..... http://www.aviationspectator.com/files/images/General-Dynamics-F-111-Aardvark-036.preview.jpg This pic is in-flight. I don't know what is loaded to the stations but the photo looks a little suspect to me, others may know more. http://tonyrogers.com/images/weapons/f111a_01_small.jpg There is a well circulated picture of an RAAF F-111C loaded with all eight pylons carrying 6 MK.82LDGP's (72 x 500lb's in total), this was loaded but it was a promotional photo only and the jet did not fly in that configuration. http://www.f-111.net/images3/48mk82.jpg Secondly, early F-111's were able to carry two ALQ-87 ECM pods (in Vietnam for example), however the forward ALQ-87 was fitted to the outside of the weapons bay door on the right hand side, on an external pylon just aft of the gun fairing (which is incorrectly shaped BTW). A second ALQ-87 was carried aft of the main gear bay on a small pylon on the aircraft centreline at the base of the ventral keel structure. It had a slightly nose down stance when fitted. Also the two small doors in front of the main weapons bay doors opened upwards (inwards?) into the weapons bay. The main weapons bay doors opened outwards in concertina fashion. The main doors need to be split in half and folded over to correctly portray the door opening sequence like this http://f-111.net/F-111A/coltman/images/13-F-111A-66-0019-Major-BILL-C.jpg http://www.f-111.net/t_no_FBG_files/F111G-68-0244_b.jpg http://www.model-making.eu/zdjecia/0/8/4/3263_7-auto_downl.jpg Finally, F-111A's did not have the low viz lights fitted, later F-111 variants did. cheers, Pappy

G'day Mike, Fantastic stuff and thank you once again, that is exactly what I needed. I have also purchased the Dragon 1/700 Sheffield kit. Could someone please advise suitable colours for the deck and superstrutcures? I would prefer Gunze/Tamiya colours as getting the WEM colourcoats is time consuming and a little spotty, cheers, Pappy

To add to Selwyn's comments The bomb markings are actually confusing as they have the yellow band to indicate a High Explosive (HE) filling, but also have the blue band to the rear which denotes that it is inert (i.e no explosive). The bombs should only have one colour band, located forward (where the yellow band currently is now), although some types of HE bombs may carry multiple yellow bands on the nose. Still a great effort and otherwise a very well executed build, cheers, Pappy

Actually, I don't believe the kit criticism is unwarranted. The kit has a lot of errors. My biggest dissapointment with the HB kit was that it was an opportunity to correct an improve what was offered in the Academy kit, sadly, thi s opportunity was squandered. HB also managed to introduce some errors of their own. I am not suggesting that the kit us unbuildable, or that people should avoid buying it. If you want the most accurate shape, the Academy kit is far superior, if you want lots of "wow" features, the HB has plenty (but many are flawed), for most people however, many will not be aware or care about the errors. That is fine too, it's a hobby after all, cheers, Pappy

G'day Mike et al, I want a weatherbeaten ship, so a flaky grey black it is!

G'day Brian, Geat effort mate, I think that you have really nailed it.Did you use a resin insert suitable sanded to shape? I think that it looks really convincing. Unfortunately I am away from my bench for a little while due to work commitments so there will not be any further updates for a little while. You are flying solo now! cheers, Pappy

G'day Breaker, Thanks very much. Sprue glue is just the term for the sludgy mix of liquid glue and melted sprue pieces. The idea is not new at all and this is what our grandparents used before there were dedicated plastic filelrs. The idea had gone out of fashion for a while and it seems that nowadays everyone wants to buy a speciifc product for a single job. I apply it with a brush and it basically welds itself into the surfacea s the glue solvent dissolves the plastic and when dry, leaves the styrene behind which hardens once the solvent evaporates. I cut sprue into short lengths and drop these into a jar of Tamiya extra thin (green lid) glue and leaev overnight, The next day, you basically have a filler which consists of liquid styrene. The filler will vary greatly in viscocity depending on the ratio of sprue to liquid glue. Once applied, the stuff hardens to about the same consistency of the styreneit is applied to and it sands beautifully. It can be polished to a high shine like styrene ('coz it is!) and works really well as a filler underneath natural metal colours as it is not porous like some fillers. It can be scribed without breaking up or cracking. It does shrink a little, again depending on the viscocity. the thicker the mix, the more it will shrink. I have a couple of grades, thick and thin. The thick stuff is like cold honey and the thin stuff flows better and is about the same consistency as thick paint (i.e Mr Surfacer 500), which gives me a little flexibility as to which one I need to apply, cheers, Pappy