Nigel Heath

That is a stunning looking build and congratulations on being the first one in the gallery. I am still quite a way off.

Lovely looking models.

I have no doubt whatsoever you are up to the task. Looking forward to the "airbrush fun", sounds kinda kinky.

Exceptional work on that masking, most impressive. I may have to send you the graphics for my SeaKnight canopy.....

I am trying to give the impression that it's about 1/24th scale. Thanks for the encouragement.

53 parts for an engine? Sounds like they are skimping there somewhere. What about the pistons and their rings, crank shaft, and pushrods not to mention all the fasteners. I needed 13 just for a tiny, barely functional seat. P.S. Another lamb curry sounds good. Cheers, Nigel

That is a most attractive scheme you have there and Mr Color are my go to paints so I don't think you should have too many problems with them, they are quite forgiving. A good coat of white primer should see you right.

Very nicely done, and as you say thank goodness for PPP for those hard to fill little areas.

I have to agree about shaping those rudder pedals, I have been giving it much thought and frankly haven't come up with much. Yours do look very good.

All looking rather good, impressive work.

That's a very tidy workspace and well organised plan for further construction. Overall looking most impressive.

It does work rather well as a leveling compound though.

That is much appreciated and you are most welcome on board. 🇯🇵 Ah, page 4 most excellent (I like you thought page three was going to go on forever).

Well, clearly this one is on the back burner but I for one am on board and look forward to further progress.

That cockpit does look rather lovely, most impressive. I have an inkling as to what this might be, possibly beginning with a letter J. Am I close?

You are too kind sir. I actually finished all the longerons last night so this it how it all looks now: I now have to notch out the first rib to finish it as a template for the rest. Sleep well and don't have nightmares, Nigel

Nice looking interior.

Yes, so a bit more done tonight. There is an emergency exit door at this location and I wanted something to represent it on the inside of the fuselage. I had this part left over from my Osprey build which looked pretty much ideal: It just needed trimming down a bit: Here it is installed: Now I could start to install the longerons which need to be in place before I can fit the ribs: Well that was a lot of fun, I hope you enjoyed it too. Bye for now, Nigel

Hi Folks, I haven't had much time at my bench today as like Rick I have been making some bread and doing a spot of shopping. The first news is that I have found a photo of the cockpit wall where some chap has done the decent thing and crawled into the footwell to take this: OK it does not show much but there is at least a little electrical box which I can add. Back to the seat I realised I had missed off a little collar on the strut so I added that using a strip of Bare-Metal foil wrapped round: I have also added a chunky electrical cable to the equipment box using some 0.42mm lead wire: To clear the magnet and hinge pin I had to cut away some of the mounting tabs: Snipping of the instrument panel (with ugly gates which will be a pain to deal with) I noticed these four random pips - are the supposed to be there or are they just defects? I can't see them in any reference photos but then I haven't found a good photo of this area: Next I cut out a 0.5mm card roof panel to close off the gaping hole into the front pylon, at least it was an easy shape: My plan is to just have the side door open with the cargo ramp closed so I do need to add a bit of detail in the front of the cabin. First I made a card template using the cabin wall as a guide: I then used that to cut a rib from some 0.7mm card, I left some extra material on the inside to keep it rigid while I finessed the outer edge: Here is the finished rib: I will use that in turn as a template to make a few others.. Bye for now, Nigel

Truly excellent work and I really did enjoy reading though with it the Orange Juice musical accompaniment. Brilliant!

Well Pete, we have had the steel lid off a tin of tuna, some cadmium solder, silver based solder, brass and aluminium bits, lead foil, rubber "Winnie the Pooh" magnets and the night is still yet young. I didn't think it would be long before my soldering iron came out. No euphemism there, honest.

Very neat end the etch really adds to the quality of the cockpit.

I have got a bit more done before stopping for dinner. The webs on the seats are somewhat asymmetric and overdone so removing them is no bad thing: Here they are with the webs removed and bars added using some 0.5mm plastic rod: I temporarily put them in the cockpit for added interest. Now to make dinner which will be baked sea bream with wilted oriental vegetables. Bye for now, Nigel

Thanks Guys, I started off fresh this morning making the first of the hinges for the seat by soldering some 0.7mm tube to some more 0.5mm rod. Inserting the 0.5mm aluminium tube in the 0.7mm tube prevents solder wicking into and filling the tube (which it would do): I then made the other hinge and glued that in place in the outboard position: Next I got some 0.4mm aluminium tube, flattened one end and after curving that into a hook shape wrapped it round the front seat bar: The other part of the telescoping support strut was made from 0.6mm aluminium tube, one end flattened shaped and drilled through with a 0.2mm drill to make the other hinge point: The other side of that hinge was made from some more 0.6mm tube, drilled through again and then sawn through with my JLC saw. Here is that glued in place before a final trimming on the underside: With the thicker tube trimmed to length I assembled the strut (it was a bit reluctant at first but after some finessing worked quite smoothly): Now I could test fit the entire assembly with a scrap of 0.2mm nickel silver rod as a temporary bottom hinge pin: It all works rather well, here it is in the dropped position: And here raised: There was enough friction in the mechanism that the magnet was not really required but I fitted it anyway (it's one of those rubber magnets so was easily cut with scissors and scalpel): Here it is disassembled, all thirteen parts if you count the magnet: That was a lot of fun and very satisfying. Now I think I'll have a look at the pilot's seats as Winnie and milktrip have pointed out that this machine should have bars rather than the webs as seen on armour plated US versions. Bye for now, Nigel

Well it is tomorrow now and I've not let this rest. The first part of my back up plan was to temporarily glue a square of lead foil to the flattened seat. Being frugal I used the lead foil left over from the doorway cut out from the bulkhead padding after removing the pen marks: I do not like to waste materials and that lead foil is expensive stuff. Next I trimmed most of the surplus foil using the steel tinplate part as a cutting guide After trimming and working on the steel part I soldered it onto the frame using low melting point cadmium solder so as not to disturb the existing joints: I then made a custom tool from some of the surplus tin plate and filed back the outer profile of the lead sheet part until it was a good match with the seat base: The lead foil cover was then superglued on to the seat: After a bit of trimming I was able to wrap the cover around the seat and secure with some extra thin superglue: Doing a test I found that the little bit of ferromagnetic steel in the seat was more than capable of holding onto the little fridge magnet: This bodes well for the next phase to come for this dinky working feature. Bye for now, Nigel