TimV1969

Bit more progress (didn't work on it last weekend as I was busy laying a laminate floor in the master bedroom!) - 'hoops' added to the seats, interior cabinet built, seat rails added to cabin floor - although the helicopter in the film doesn't appear to have the seat itself fitted - upper glazing tinted (wth Tamiya X-25 Clear Green) and the engine cover/cabin roof assembled and filled: Next steps: complete seats, consider pilots or make seat belts, scratch build other interior bits - a folding seat by the rear starboard door, other interior storage... Tim

A small update: I have glued the control columns and rudder pedals to the cockpit/cabin floor; assembled the instrument panel and centre console; filled and sanded the crew seats; fitted the port rear window and filled and sanded that panel as the HH-65 Dolphin doesn't/didn't have a door there. Next steps: scratch-build the rest of the interior, including a cabinet/storage area behind where the port rear door was; detail the front seats - the real ones have a prominent 'hoop' over the back which I can represent with 0.5mm brass rod I should think. Tim

I'd like to join in this group build with a Revell reboxing of the Aerospatiale Dauphin - well, I say reboxing, but I don't even have the Revell box, I presumably discarded it for being the useless open-ended variety. But it is a re-pop of the Matchbox kit, anyway - I built one of the originals a long time ago, presumably not long after it first came out, and this Revell one has been in my stash for a while. I intend building it as the HH-65A Dolphin seen in 'Licence to Kill', so I know I need to make or acquire some different decals as that is the era of a white fuselage with red/orange details, and the last time I printed some decals I made up a set of the stripes with the USCG logo on (including duplicates, looking at the photo below I do have some going in the other direction too!). I may need to re-print these if the stripe colour looks off. Other than that hopefully the kit mostly portrays an early Dolphin. I notice I will need to make a winch, and an interior though! Anyway, My starting point: Tim

Airfix 1/72 Kamov Ka-25PS Hormone-C (as operated from Moskva-class helicopter carriers, and other Soviet vessels, in the 1970s) Decals: from the kit Paint: Halfords FIAT White, VW Mars Red #2, Satin Black and Grey primer for the exterior, various Humbrol shades for the interior (and crew) No aftermarket, but some use of brass wire, aluminium tube and plasticard to scratchbuild or enhance various details. build thread

Finished, in the nick of time! The remaining work was building the rotor head, which entailed replacing the plastic control rods with brass wire, and adding extra rods connecting the bottom and top swash plates (?), as seen in reference photos: which doesn't look too bad painted up: Then I painted the rotorblades: overall halfords aluminum first (for the leading-edge protection), masked that, white at the tips where the tip markings were, masked that, then grey primer all over, and then satin black on the lower surfaces of the upper blade, and vice versa - that seems to match reference photos anyway. Then applied the decals - the stars on the tail and flags on the fuselage look fine, the numbers are less convincing (but still not bad for a kit of this age) but I didn't have anything else suitable in the right font. also fitted the winch, fitted the port cockpit door in 'open' position, painted the navigation lights, added the fore-to-aft aerials, painted the engine intakes and exhausts, and I'm calling it done! (for now anyway, may replace the ID numbers later): Now over to the Gallery to post the completed photos!

Another quick update - although it looks like I've made plenty of progress, thanks to finishing the main undercarriage (I added the black 'rubber' bits to the top of the undercarriage leg)- I notice from this photo that I need to tidy-up the top mount of the leg and also touch-up the paint around the windows: If I had spare wheels of the right size I'd probably have cut the kit ones away and replaced them, but I don't so I have tried to get away with painting the integrally-moulded Airfix parts. Also I have painted the fuselage (although now I look at the photos I can see a couple of areas where I didn't mask properly): (also the port 'cheek' window fell into the cockpit while I was removing the masking, so I had to remove the port cockpit door to give me enough access to retrieve it and fit it back in place - fortunately I'd only lightly attached it with clearfix, anticipating something like that would happen. When I glue it back it may be in the 'open' position. The fuselage colours are Halfords FIAT White 210, which I often use as a less-stark alternative to Appliance Gloss White, and VW Mars Red #2, which is pretty close to Signal Red and looks about right to me for this job. Next steps - tidying up the paintwork (and tops of undercarriage legs) and thinking about the rotors and rotor head! Complete Build Photos so far Tim

How time flies! Have spent an age casting and re-casting clear resin replacement 'cheek' windows until I finally got a pair I was happy with. I'm sure the current heatwave would have helped things set quickly but I wasn't having much luck - plus being distracted by another couple of projects. Anyway, I fitted the new windows - the other cockpit windows were mercifully free of flaws, and I replaced the flattish cabin windows with various ones from the spares box - and scratchbuilt some canvas seats (which probably won't be visible in the finished aircraft): then I turned my attention to the undercarriage. The front legs don't look too bad but the rear legs, especially at the top, don't look much like reference photos so I am half-way through scratch-building replacements for the top of the legs: With a .45mm rod in the middle for strength and for fitting into the holes in the bottom of the legs, and the fuselage, 1mm alu tube making up the upper leg itself, and the fitment at the top (a shock absorber?) made from two pieces of 2mmx0.8mm plastic strip with 0.5,1.0 and 0.5mm holes drilled in them, separated with a 0.8mm space, and then carved and sanded to shape. One leg is done and the other should follow tomorrow. The fuselage has been assembled and is in the 'paint shop' and should be ready tomorrow also... Tim

Another small-ish update: I have painted the cabin sides (in Humbrol 145 which looked about right compared to photos online of Ka-25 interiors), also using this for the seat frames, instrument panel and centre console. I used various shades of red/brown for the cockpit floor and seat cushions. Oh, and I replaced the kit cockpit seats with those from a scrapped Kaman Seasprite, as they better matched the reference photos. (I would have replaced the cabin seat as well but (a) I'd already glued it in place and (b) it won't be noticeable once the fuselage is assembled.). I painted the crewmen - the cockpit crew are from the original kit, the rear crewman is a generic Airfix one from the spares box, for a bit of variety. I had to perform some 'plastic surgery' on his legs to get him to sit in the right place ("In Soviet Russia, you adjust to the seat...") but again, the shortened legs won't be obvious in the finished article. I couldn't find any colour photos of 1970s helicopter crewmen but more modern (Russian) ones seem to wear orange flight suits and white helmets, so this is how I painted them - Humbrol 82 in this case. If they don't make it as Soviet helicopter pilots, they can always apply to the Rebel Alliance as X-wing pilots... and (Close-up photography has revealed a few blemishes on the figures, which need touching-up). Next up, fitting the instrument panel, making some canvas seats for the cabin, moulding replacement windows, etc... Tim

Small update: have added a few plausible-looking ribs to the cabin sides, a cabinet behind the cockpit bulkhead on the port side,and the outline of the emergency hatch on the starboard side: Then primed these, ready for suitable top coat: (After taking the photo I noticed how wonky the crew seat was in the cabin so that has now been 'adjusted'! After the interior has been painted, next additions will be a fuel line on the port side (matching what is therefore presumably a fuelling port just forward of the main cabin door), some cabling fore-to-aft on the starboard side - both indicated by the photos I've found online of the interior of a Hormone-A - and then some folding canvas troop seats, which I haven't found photos of but will be basing on those in a Ka-29, which should be similar. Tim

The joy of taking an extra day off work before Easter! Scratchbuilt some of the interior today - the Airfix instrument panel, although well-detailed, didn't actual match the photos I've found of the real thing, so I made one that was a better match from plasticard and glued it over the Airfix part. Also added a central console, not in the kit. Then in the cabin I glued the seat in, roughly matching its position in a Hormone-A, and added a box immediately behind the cockpit on the starboard side, and a table with some instrumentation around it behind that. I am assuming that this represents a radar operator/navigator position that would also be found in the Hormone-C. Oh, also I reversed the cockpit bulkhead as the photos I have found show it open on the starboard side, and possibly closed on the port - or at least, there is a larger electronics(?) cabinet on the port side that blocks the view: That's it until Monday, off on a short holiday! Tim

My entry into this group build, a recently-acquired Airfix Ka-25. An ebay bargain, complete and practically un-started - the rear seat had been glued in (in what I think is the wrong position but Airfix weren't to know that in 1983!) and the radome had been glued together: Have made a slow start so far, just filling and sanding the inside fuselage halves and cabin floor and removing the base of the rear seat - as far as I can see from interior photos of the Hormone-A, there is a seat facing starboard just behind the cabin, not as Airfix portray it facing forward. I haven't found any photos of the interior of a Hormone-C but I am assuming it will have a radar operator's position in the same place, and the rest of the cabin will just have folding canvas seats, in the style of a Seaking or Wessex SAR variant, or indeed a Kamov Ka-29, which are much better documented online.

I'd like to join in this group build, with a newly-acquired (and practically un-started) Kamov Ka-25 Hormone, which should have been around 'West of the Urals' in the 1970s. However I'm not clear about the criteria - I have a preference for the Hormone-C Search and Rescue bird (more attractive colour scheme and less interior scratchbuilding!) but is it eligible? or does it need to be a combat variant, i.e. the Hormone-A? Other than that, ready and raring to go, and not at all getting bogged down in research... Tim

Cardiff Smiths didn't have much left - a few Revell kits marked as 'buy one, get one free' but on what looked like inflated prices - Chevy Police Car gift set marked at £30, Mk1 Golf Convertible marked at £24, also Spaceship2/Whiteknight and a larger scale plane (Jaguar?) but can't remember the prices for those. Still, not a bad price if you actually want two of the Golfs... Tim

"Fleet Air Arm Helicopters Since 1943" has ZA297 to 845 Squadron, marked as (Y)C from 7-Sep-94, refinished and marked first IFOR and later SFOR, airfreighted to Split 14-Jun-96 and returned to Yeovilton 14-Feb-97 (as well as other movements), so that sounds likeliest? Tim

You probably can't produce the photo here, but you don't need to. The Imperial War Museum's collection is searchable online, and if you have the reference number you can quickly find the item you're looking for. In this case, they do have the image in their database so a quick search for CH12868 will find the photo you're looking for. This comes in quite handy if you have a book with IWM photos in it and you want an electronic copy of them - as long as the photo is credited to the IWM with a reference number, you can probably find it! Tim

Strangely, the original article appears to have been taken down now, but there is a story about the story that is just as good... Tim

Thanks for your kind words, all! Although the engines do look huge, they are actually slightly lighter than the Peregrines they replace (485kg dry weight vs 517kg, if you believe Wikipedia) and although all the radial engine is entirely ahead of the wing, compared to the Peregrine where it starts about 0.6m behind the leading edge, the shorter radial engine (about 1.2m compared to 1.8m for the Peregrine) means the centre of mass, by my rough calculations, wouldn't be too far out. I did toy with the idea of a tricycle undercarriage, which if you reversed the main undercarriage legs might look better balanced - although you'd then need to work out where the front undercarriage would go. I did start doing a Whirlwind development several years ago, going down the more traditional route of fitting Merlins, but by the time you've done that, worked out how much heavier the engines are (744kg each?), added the weight of extra fuel, you'll then want to increase the wing area accordingly to maintain the same wing loading, and then the wings will look too big for the fuselage... so I scrapped that idea! (You'd probably end up with something like the Welkin F.1 anyway). For the same reason I rejected any bigger radial engines, like the Bristol Hercules, for this project. A jet-engined one would be interesting though! At one stage I was going to fit rocket rails to this one, but then I worked out how far out they'd need to be to give a reasonable clearance of the propeller discs, and thought again, and contented myself with the 1000-lb bombs. Tim

In 1943, the Westland Whirlwind was being withdrawn from service, one factor being lack of support for its Peregrine engines - together with the need to maintain two engines per airframe compared with the single-engined Typhoon intended to replace it. However with development of the Typhoon taking longer than expected, an interim solution was needed to support the second front expected to be opened in France in 1944. The remaining Whirlwind airframes were therefore re-engined with Bristol Mercury XVs, which were in plentiful supply and could provide enhanced performance running on 100 octane fuel. As the radial engines were air-cooled, the radiators could be removed from the wing roots making more volume and weight available for fuel tanks. The wing hard-points were strengthened, to allow carriage of two 1000lb bombs. Finally, the new MkIII IFF was fitted, the rod aerial under the starboard wing replacing the previous tailplane-to-fuselage wiring. Enough aircraft were re-manufactured to equip 263 squadron, which flew as part of 2nd Tactical Airforce over France from February 1944, until finally replaced by the Typhoon at the end of that year. ... Well, it could have happened anyway! Based on the venerable (if that is the right word!) Airfix Whirlwind, with engines from the old-tool Blenheim IV, spare propellers and spinners from the new Spitfire I/II and bombs from the Bomber resupply set. Following my reading of the regulations for D-Day stripes, and 24" wide stripes on the wings of twin-engined aircraft, as well as the 18"-wide fuselage stripes. I kept the sky band forward of the tail, and assumed the squadron codes would be re-painted over the stripes. Decals from a variety of sources, including some of the original airfix ones which had stood up pretty well for a 1980s-era kit. and a few more photos here: Westland Whirlwind FB.2

Airfix 1:72 Westland Sea King HC.4 ZA290 (First production HC.4) of 846 Naval Air Squadron in 'As delivered' condition, with the original high-visibility markings and standard port rear window (rather than the bubble observation window). And not as she ended up in Chile... Build thread here Tim

Thanks everyone for your kind words, advice or assistance (especially Jon - 06/24 - for the Revell rotorblades, much easier to backdate than the Airfix ones). It's been a pleasure building it (not that I need much encouragement to build a helicopter...) Tim

Yes, inspired by your build of the classic kit I've started restoring/rebuilding my kit of one (first built over 30 years ago!) and had learnt from your thread about the inaccuracy in the engine intakes (and exhausts) but had noticed, alongside the new kit, the difference in shape of the lower windows. I have a plan... I was glad that the new kit came with the option of folded rotors for exactly that reason - I had thought when I finished my second Sea King a couple of years ago (a Revell one, built as a HAR3) that I couldn't keep on building them as I would run out of shelf space! As it is, the HC.4 just fits it on the edge of a shelf. Tim

Just about finished, I think! finally repainted the cabin door to my satisfaction (having first sanded off the lumps that shouldn't be there, and thought I could get away by just spraying over those parts - a waste of time and I'd have been better off doing straight away what I ended up doing - stripping the paint back to the primer, sanding, re-priming and painting again), and found enough yellow/white decals - the dashed line and lettering around the cabin window I made up dash by dash and word by word from left-over yellow lettering from the Airfix Valiant! Also fitted the pitot tubes, and the VOR/ILS antennas which I'd forgotten about earlier - mine were left over from a Revell Sea King, or possibly a Wessex? I think that's all I did since the last update, anyway. Will post in the gallery later, but for now:

Making slow progress, but getting there... main rotor blades fitted, hopefully at the right angles, HF antenna fitted, railing for the crew steps fitted (0.5mm brass rod bent to shape for the support, 0.3mm plastic rod painted with Revell 91 Steel for the railing itself) and various decals scrounged from other sheets, or generic sheets for the lettering - Wessex sheets have been quite helpful for the white stencils for fuel and earth points, yellow for emergency release, etc. The port side is nearly done - see photo below - but making slower progress on the starboard side, because, having painted everything, I realised that the sliding cabin door needed modifying - there was a raised bit aft of the window, and an attachment on the forward lower corner, neither of which are apparent in photos of the early aircraft. So I removed both of these but it is taking a while to fill and repaint the door to my satisfaction. So for now, the port side looks like this! and a view from above: Next steps - finishing repainting the cabin door, fitting that and finishing the decalling...

Bit more progress today: more of the major decals on: Fuselage and tail codes (from a Modeldecal/Xtradecal generic sheet), 846 Squadron badges (from a Wessex sheet), Engine intake warnings (from a Model Alliance sheet for the Sea king, but with a plain white decal applied under the red 'Danger' lettering and the kit decals for the red rectangles. Various aerials fitted, including drilling holes for the two downward-pointing aerials under the nose which inevitable broke off during painting, and are now replaced with 0.5mm brass rod: oh, and a bit of work was done earlier on the tail-fold - appropriate holes drilled/extended to match reference photos, and a representation of the tubing connecting them: next steps: more decalling (I haven't got a specific set for the early HC4 so am scrounging left-overs from other sets. So far, so good!) and fitting the main rotor blades...

Looks great! especially the glazing - very inspiring. I too want to make the Apollo 11 one and couldn't find the decals when I looked, I did get a cheap set of the Gemini 10/11 from eBay which would be different - an overall 'Engine grey' one, but interesting to hear that the Apollo 11 decals have been re-issued.