wellsprop

I didn't get much done yesterday (modelling wise), but I did end up in the Fleet Air Arm Museum which was rather nice - particularly as I managed to get to the Helicopter Museum only a couple weeks ago! I then spent a fair bit of the afternoon bottling my homebrew ale - all 20 pints of it, in another two weeks that should be ready to drink, by which time I will have started work and hopefully I'll have met a few other graduate engineers who'll be willing to "test" the homebrew I've covered all the transparencies of the Lynx with both latex based painting/masking gum and masking tape, hopefully I shouldn't have any nasty surprises after lacquering. IMG_20180815_091728 by Ben Standen, on Flickr I also hand painted the "Lynx" markings on the nose, which looks ok, could do with a bit more touching up. IMG_20180816_093812 by Ben Standen, on Flickr The cockpit for the Whirlwind has been finished, nothing amazing, and the fuselage halves brought together. I painted some gauges on the instrument panel and added some seatbelts, all totally inaccurate of course, but it adds a bit of detail. IMG_20180816_093549 by Ben Standen, on Flickr IMG_20180816_093531 by Ben Standen, on Flickr IMG_20180816_093508 by Ben Standen, on Flickr

Cheers all, happy that the consensus seems to be that it's not too bad I'll be building 1:1 scale in the new job

Some more progress on the Whirlwind; the cockpit is coming together slowly, I opened my Humbrol cockpit green and found it very sticky, guess which idiot over-thinned it so painting has taken several layers! Meanwhile, I've been trying to sort out the rotor head. The kit parts are very, very chunky and don't remble a rotor head much at all. I sanded down the chunky kit parts, removed the solid centre, created a swash plate and added some pitch control rods. It's not massively detailed/accurate, but it looks a lot better than the kit parts! IMG_20180814_163953 by Ben Standen, on Flickr IMG_20180814_163935 by Ben Standen, on Flickr

Thanks Ced It's nice to be able to get back into doing WiP's (I have made the odd model or two over the past couple years, but I didn't have much time to relax at uni!). I have been on a somewhat extended summer holiday since I finished uni back in May/June... I got the job offer for as an engineer for whirly-rotor-things, but came up blank getting any temporary summer jobs until the engineer job starts - which is still end of August, hence the model building! Could be worse I suppose, I was one of the lucky ones, getting four job offers so I had a choice of where I ended up! Anyway, here's how G-LYNX is progressing, I've got all the transparencies on and completed and the paintwork is completed - just waiting for the gloss varnish over the front and top transparencies to fully harden, which should be tomorrow morning (gloss varnish was needed as I sanded off the wiper blades on the front and inked the top windows) IMG_20180814_084830 by Ben Standen, on Flickr In the meantime, I've been attempting to recreate the rotor collars, but I'm having trouble building it up with filler - think I'll buy some milliput instead! IMG_20180814_084658 by Ben Standen, on Flickr So whilst I'm waiting for the varnish to dry, the 12" white serial decals (to do the "G-LYNX" reg) to turn up, and waiting for the milliput, there's not too much I can do on the Lynx... So, I started on the Whirlwind - this one is going to be a bit tough. Sanded off the oversize rivets - when I went to the Helicopter Museum it struck me just how lumpy helicopters are with rivets, I'm used to smooth surfaces of fixed-wing aircraft. Despite this, you can only really see the rivets if you are up close so in 1/72 scale, there's no point with rivets (as they would be about 0.1mm in diameter) IMG_20180814_084643 by Ben Standen, on Flickr The cockpit needs a fair bit of work, I started by covering the void in the instrument panel with a bit of plasticard. IMG_20180814_084800 by Ben Standen, on Flickr Next, I need to scratch build the centre cockpit structure/console. Shouldn't be too hard. I'll also add a little detail to the seats in the form of straps, but that'll be it most likely.

Got a bit further, Completed the painting, looks a bit lumpy at the moment, so it may need a bit of localised wet and dry and repainting yet. IMG_20180810_154049 by Ben Standen, on Flickr Trying to create the rotor collars. IMG_20180810_153918 by Ben Standen, on Flickr Also filed down the front strut of the skids to make it tapered, as it should be. IMG_20180810_153904 by Ben Standen, on Flickr Created some exhausts from an old small aerial (only about 2/3mm across). IMG_20180810_154155 by Ben Standen, on Flickr Trying to sort out decals now, I have previously created masks for codes, see this Spitfire IMG_5351_zps9d82f731 by Ben Standen, on Flickr The squadron codes were large and simple enough to cut masks for, the "JR " was painted by hand. Unfortunately, the "G-LYNX" markings are too small close and fiddly to create markings for. I have asked Mike Belcher of Belcher Bits if his 1/48 decals could be resized, they could, but they have to be bought in a large batch size, unfortunately. I think some 1/72 12" white serials will suffice, no chance of doing the "Westland Speed Record" markings, however. In any case, I'll make the aircraft as it was the morning of the record-setting run. Ben

No, keep the pictures, good to have some high quality pics on the thread I did consider printing the decals myself, but I'd need white decal paper and I'm not sure how I'd do the "Westland Speed Record" bit.

Cheers Perdu! As it happens, I'm a Somerset lad and until a couple days ago I was living in a village close to Weston. Before I moved closer to yeovil, I made sure to pop into the heli museum and get a good look at the old Westlands helicopters - including G-LYNX I'm only not doing the speed record livery as I'm struggling to source decals! Cheers, Ben

And the final work I've managed to do tonight, starting to look like a Lynx now the main fuselage is together! IMG_20180807_220500 by Ben Standen, on Flickr The horiz stab and vertical stabs were all made from plasticard using various photos and a profile drawing. For those who haven't already guessed, this is G-LYNX, over 30 years old and still the helicopter speed record holder!

Added a little detail to the cockpit with seatbelts and painted the toggles and switches on the instrument panel - I know it's not massively accurate and it's all oversized, but I'm not particularly bothered. IMG_20180807_183509 by Ben Standen, on Flickr Sanded off the windscreen wipers from the transparencies before polishing with fine wet and dry, a layer of gloss enamel will make the canopy see through again. I also filled in the holes for the aerials on the nose (still need to rescribe the panel lines for the avionics bay though). IMG_20180807_183718 by Ben Standen, on Flickr I made a new horizontal stabiliser from plasticard and sandwiched it between two pieces of the 1/48 Lynx rotors (I filed the lower surface of the rotor off, leaving only the cambered upper surface, which were placed above and below the horiz stab). IMG_20180807_183453 by Ben Standen, on Flickr It looks about right.

Hi All, Following my latest RFI and getting a new job, I've decided to do a few of the older designs from my new employer! I'm not particularly fussed about being rivet counting anymore, so those of a nervous disposition, look away now! I got fairly lucky and managed to pick up Airfix's ancient Westland Whirlwind for a tenner; I think my dad built this model when he was a kid! I also managed to get hold of Airfix's Army Lynx fairly cheaply, with a last minute bid on ebay! And, to top it off, Italeri's Wessex IMG_20180805_171235 by Ben Standen, on Flickr I'm building the Whirlwind and Wessex in the same colours as the box, as for the Lynx, well..... BERP rotors from the Airfix 1/48 Lynx AH7 resized. IMG_20180805_194712 by Ben Standen, on Flickr And added to the 1/72 rotors... IMG_20180807_074611 by Ben Standen, on Flickr Sanded off the raised details, reshaped the exhausts.... IMG_20180807_155853 by Ben Standen, on Flickr Watch this space

Beautiful Have you got a photo of the Spitfire with your lovely Hurricane too?

Another great model!

Very, very impressive - the mini diorama sets the model very well

Very nice! The engine looks superb.

You've really done the model justice, the paint and weathering is absolutely excellent!