Nigel Heath

I too have this kit but with all those rivets and poor fit I decided against it and have now purchased the Hobby Boss kit, much nicer. You are a brave man sir.

Another with folded blades, great! Neat work on filling all those ejector marks.

I look forward to seeing your photos and your model taking shape.

I have the same set of Japanese decals so I guess I will also be building this scheme. Unfortunately the decals I purchased at the start of the announcement of this GB are now in a storage container in Huntley, Aberdeenshire so I will probably have to purchase another set. I think a set of masks is also in order and I would like to get some pre-painted PE seat belts, if such a thing exists. Does anyone know of a suitable set before I go off searching?

I do love a Japanese scheme, good luck with it.

Folded blades will be interesting to see, good luck with it.

Thanks for the reminder about this, Hobby Boss kit now on order from Hannants. Now where did I put those decals?

Yup, me too but you look to have done a mighty fine job of it. Must look into your tape and tool recommendations.

Lovely work as ever Anil. That primer finish is exceptional, something we can all learn from. Great tips on your builds BTW.

Not yet, what with my computer problems and Telford last weekend I've only got a token bit of modelling time in recently (I managed to stick two pieces of PE on my Chickasaw tonight which was hardly worthy of posting). Maybe this side of Christmas I will have a go with it.

That's a very neat and tidy level of finish, especially the canopy masking. Thanks again for the help today. See you in a couple of weeks time. Cheers, Nigel

That rabbit looks very tasty. I do like rabbit, I got some jointed in the freezer and must get round to cooking it soon.

I'll take that and @corsaircorp's endorsement as permission to post a few more foody fotos.

First apologies the the lack of recent updates, fortunately I had today off as a holiday so have made some further progress on the seats. I started by filing these cutouts from the back cushion to better match the real ones: With both seats done I started on the back frame using this set up with 0.5mm tube and rod. Note the 0.3mm aluminium tube inserted into the brass tube to prevent solder filling the tube: With everything trimmed up I could attach the other tube using some 188C melting solder so as not to disturb the earlier joints made with regular electronic solder: With the first frame completed I used it as a template to make the second: With both frames done I tried this set up to attach the first to one of the seat pans: I used some of my cadmium based solder to fix it in place, it wasn't quite right at first but because this melts at just 70C its quite possible to hold the parts in your fingers and adjust until happy with the result: Here it is with the padding in place: I wasn't totally happy with the clothes peg clamping arrangement so tried this using my hemostats for the next one: Here it is after soldering, not the neatest job but it will be hidden plus the stick of cadmium solder I used: And finally here are the finished seats: These parts are nearly ready for some paint now but first I need them to sort out the Eduard PE seat belts. I'm away for the rest of the weekend so no more progress until next week. Bye for now, Nigel

10 out of 10 for perseverance and patience.

Well I've not got quite as much as hoped done today but I did manage to make the second seat pan and solder up all the corners using 188C melting solder: That made them into substantially stronger little units although delicate handling is still required. Here's how the seat padding sits in both of them: The trimming of the seat mounting tabs has made them handed so I selected the seat pans which had the best outward facing side and marked them up to go with the corresponding seat padding: I was hoping to get the tubular frames to the seat back made up but that's now a job for next weekend. Bye for now, Nigel

Well I didn't manage to get near my modelling bench for the last two weeks but I have got a bit more done today. Using my plan I started to mark out the developed seat pan on some 0.2mm thick lead sheet, I used the seat itself to get the angle of the back portion correct: Here is the first seat pan after being cut out but before any final clean up: I used a combination of small tin snips and scalpels to cut it out. After some cleaning up and adjusting I started to fold it up on my bending tool: The final fold was achieved using the tip of this spade-like tool: Here's how it looks with the seat padding in place: Now I just have to make another one, solder up the corners and then make the tubular frame for the back. I should be able to give this more time tomorrow so hopefully there will be more progress. Bye for now, Nigel

I have got a bit more done today, mainly concentrating on the cockpit seats. I started by sketching out my plans for an improved seat frame and integral seat pan to be made out of lead foil: The padding for the seat squab looked a little undersize so I started to build it up by first cutting out some 0.6mm card: With those added I cut off the triangular bracing from the kit seat which will just be used to represent the seat padding, I also used my JLC razor saw to give some impression of separation into two separate cushions. I have also squared up the front of the seat cushion to better represent reality, on the right before, on the left after: Based on my references the seats sit a little too close to the centre console: I cut away some of the seat's mounting tabs so that they could sit a little further outboard: That will also give some clearance for the seat pan. The next job was to remove the inaccurate kit seat frames: I finished the day by dimensioning my sketch of the seat pan development: Next weekend I will cut that out from some thin lead sheet and solder up the tubular frames using some 0.5mm rod and tube. Bye for now, Nigel

Lovely detail painting (as ever).

Nice work Dermot and the re-proportioned gun looks much better.

Hendie, its "maths" not "math". For reference the three cheeses were Feta, Gouda and mature Cheddar. Deep fried just the way you Scots like everything edible.

And begun I have. Nothing too exciting, just getting a feel of how the interior parts relate to each other and generally studying the various instructions. Starting with the seats, the Eduard instructions recommend removing this triangular area: While certainly a simplification it is definitely present in reality: Note also the wire brace which will also have to be added and how square cornered the sat pan is unlike the quite rounded kit seats which will require some correction. See also this (which won't embed as an image for some reason): http://www.b-domke.de/AviationImages/Chickasaw/5942.html The above image also shows that the kits tubular seat frame is not quite right: There should be two vertical uprights with the horizontal tube not extending right across: The kit also has all the colours wrong, the seat padding should be black / very dark grey and the seat frames green not grey. The sound insulation appears to be either green or a cream colour. Next the padded sides around the main rotor shaft. The kit instructions have these illustrated as standing vertically but they should be angled inwards, actually contacting the rotor shaft: Eduard instruct to remove this rearward section of what is effectively the cabin roof: Well I certainly don't agree with where they have the cutting line and I'm not sure if it should even be removed, this shows the actual cabin roof: A bit more thinking required on that one. Here are the main parts for the cabin: The seat frames will of course be replaced with brass rod scratch built items. The over-size mounting holes will need to be filled, probably best done with a talc and superglue mixture. Eduard recommend using 0.6mm diameter rod for the seat frames, which sounds about right: I have plenty of that so no problem there. Today this was my modelling set up, transported to my back garden to enjoy the ongoing sunshine: Now Martin might not like it but I'm pressing on with a few food pictures. One of my highlights this week was a big slab of black pudding served with a runny poached egg, crispy pancetta, sauted potatoes, veal jus and lemon dressed salad: The garnish for the egg was a crispy parsley leaf, made by microwaving an oiled leaf on drum tight cling film: I can heartily recommend my Gouda cheese sables, topped with a mixture of black and white sesame and poppy seeds: Those are simply made by blitzing together equal quantities of cheese, butter and flour along with some salt and a pinch of cayenne pepper. Finally three cheese fritters: I should have served those with this tomato and cucumber chutney made the day before but forgot all about it: Ah, well nobody's perfect. Bye for now, Nigel

Oh, I expect so.

You know, it is nice to be appreciated, thanks guys. No more progress on the Chickasaw to report (and probably no more until next Sunday) but I did make a quite lovely pasta dish tonight using my trusty pasta machine: The pasta was used to encase a ragu of slow cooked beef skirt then served with a butter, sage and parmesan sauce: They really were quite something - recipe from Anna del Conte's "Gastronomy of Italy". Bye for now, Nigel

I hope I can do it justice, its a nice looking kit. Thank you for it. They seam to be quite rare now.