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Ex-FAAWAFU

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Everything posted by Ex-FAAWAFU

  1. I joined Ark (well, 820 embarked in Ark) in late-86, so I’ll be surprised if there were any significant differences between your version and mine - no CIWS yet & maybe the odd Golly aerial or similar missing from your CST version, but otherwise nothing much. Off the top of my head, the things you need to change to convert Airfix Lusty into Ark are: - different, more streamlined profile underneath the ramp - port quarter CIWS platform (again, more streamlined - see early stages of this build for details) - reinstate the forecastle & Sea Dart launcher - ditto 909s - back end of the island needs major rework - mainmast different (UAA1, 992 etc) - revert the bridge / Flyco area to original config (single row of windows) - shorten port midships chaff / 20mm sponson There will be others that come to mind as I think. I’ll add them here. C
  2. The nose OC aerial would have been well & truly destroyed by the impact, but the other 4 (aircraft sides and on stub-wings) wouldn't - and they are not visible in any photos.
  3. Thinking a bit more, the cab seen from above has Orange Crop, but the damaged cab doesn’t; they’re definitely different airframes (though still a useful photo, for which thanks to my friend John “Foxy” Connell, WAFU ninja).
  4. I reckon no RBF intake blanks, because there are no covers on the exhausts (as there are in the colour photo from the tanker) - I’d expect none or both. No idea whatsoever why the access panel to the starboard side of the MRGB was open. And yes, thin yellow tip on the blades
  5. STOP! Step slowly away from the bench. No sudden movements. Now go back to the reference shots of the damaged cab on deck. Do you see any intake grilles? Cos I don’t. They’re there in the photo of A.N. Other rotors running MAD-fitted Lynx taken from BW’s hangar roof, but it appears they weren’t on 25 May. [I suspect they’re two different airframes; trying to keep track of which airframes were in which ship on a given day during the campaign is really hard - since not all cabs were Skua capable at that stage and only a few were MAD-fitted, they probably moved around depending on the ship’s tasking on a given day].
  6. Bit more progress today: And if you’re wondering where this is going:
  7. Now working on the inside face of the “Garden Wall” - specifically the supports. There have been a couple of false starts & a lot of measure-cut-sand-swear-remeasure-cut-rinse-repeat…. but it’s getting there. The side cutters might serve as a reminder of how small this stuff is! More soon Crisp
  8. Try this: The bomb hole was somewhere between the SMR (the guy in the red FD jersey) and the steps. You could see it from some angles (there was still a slight dent), and when she was rebuilt they obviously didn't bother with reinstating all the insulation, because snow / frost melted around the bomb hole before everywhere else, like the only badly insulated house in a terrace! [I'd love to model this, but suspect I will never get around to it; scratch-building the entire innards of a Lynx with both ECUs exposed and the MRGB out on the deck is probably a bridge or three too far - still a man can dream!] Crisp
  9. Yes, that’s exactly what it is; bounced off the sea, came inboard travelling upwards through the JRs heads, through the flight deck & Lynx nose, and over the side. Bill, I’m pretty sure I have some photos of Battleship [it’s better than “gunboat”, which seems to be the press’ description of any warship] Broadsword’s deck from above, taken during a MRGB change on deck in Gib in 1990, but the configuration of the deck ringbolts won’t have changed. I’ll get back to you.
  10. I was around in 82 (sprog bridge watchkeeper & flight deck dogsbody in Fearless), but nowhere near a carrier; I didn’t start my flying training until 84. Thank you for your kind words!
  11. If you want to build Invincible or Ark (or Lusty in a pre-refit configuration), then the WEM set is essential; it sorts out the whole catwalks thing for you (which would be the toughest bit to scratch build). Atlantic Models do a Sea Dart back-dating set (launcher, blast shield & 2 x 909 dome). So that leaves the mast configuration to scratch build…. You know you want to!
  12. 90% of us on here are bonkers (and I definitely include myself in that category). But this is taking it to a whole new, beautiful level of bonkerdom - the sort of thing to which the rest of us can only aspire. I salute you, Sir!
  13. Shape refined a bit more - almost there now - plus first of two holes for berthing hawsers etc cut. About two hours’ work! More soon Crisp
  14. I do have a second hull (kind of) available, but in this case it doesn’t help; the kit doesn’t have a fo’c’s’le, since it depicts Lusty after her Sea Dart was removed & the flight deck extended forward. This changed the profile of this area significantly, so using it as a guide for the scratch built replacement wouldn’t work. The second hull will deffo help in some areas - but not this one!
  15. I have decided not to extend the legs, as such, for precisely the reason you say. Instead, when I get to that part of the build I plan to add short sections of rod of the same diameter as the legs, fitting them in deck below so that they give the appearance / illusion that they are extensions of the leg. Sounds OK in theory, of course, but I am yet to actually try it!
  16. Thanks, and already in the plan. To be honest, it’s only towards the rear that the bends require annealing - almost all of it is a gentle curve which is easily accommodated by the gauge of the metal
  17. First raid your materials drawer for some brass sheet: Then make a paper template to account for the compound curves, checking it vs the Jecobin drawings & photos. Start scoring the brass, leaving some over so that you don't overshoot and have to start again. Eventually, about an hour or so later, you end up with something like this: Then tape into position and start refining the shape with your indispensable Tamiya Diamond file (without which I would never tackle brass / PE). Seen from inboard; still more work to do to fair it in properly at each end, but it's beginning to look roughly like what I had in my mind's eye... More soon Crisp
  18. This section of scratch built garden wall that has failed has some quite tricky compound curves - only now that it has failed have I properly remembered what a pain it was to do (& I was never 100% happy with it. My cunning plan is to use brass for the replacement, because it will handle the compound curves better while still retaining strength. I have therefore removed all the remaining styrene down to fo’c’sle deck level, and marked the area where I am going to remove some sytyrene, thus kind of counter-sinking the brass into the hull. The same area seen from above, in horrible close-up! More soon Crisp
  19. There’s good news…. and less good news! The good news is that the underside of the ramp is now very close to being sorted - this is it after a layer of Mr Surfacer 1000 was brush painted on; I’ll sand it smooth over the weekend. The bad news? Well you know the hideous trench on the fo’c’s’le I showed you yesterday? I started work to fix it today, and the whole bloomin’ “garden wall” bulkhead came away in my hand… so I now have a gap in the starboard bow (the broken piece can be seen at the bottom of the picture). All fixable, but still not pleasing! More soon Crisp
  20. There’s progress after about 3 hours of work… but still a long way to go. The good news is that I am now happy with about 90% of the port waterline (still a bit more to do down the blunt end): The less good - though not unexpected - news (as you may already be able to see if you glance to the left) is that the Vallejo putty isn’t really cutting it with the cracks under the ramp. It isn’t fully working its way into the deep areas, so as I sand it flat little sections of crack become visible again. So I have reached for my other putty of choice, Mr White, and gone to work with one of (retired Dentist) wife’s old dental tools to really get it in there. The result looks pretty nasty now, but Mr White sands beautifully, so I’m not worried about the end result - it’s just more time. I’m going to leave this for at least 24 hours to cure properly, but there are plenty of other things I can be getting on with. For example, my modelling standards / skills have obviously risen since I did the (scratch built) fo’c’sle area, because there are some places which could deffo use some re-work! For example.... uuggggh! How did I not fix this trench in the inside of the 'garden wall'? Incidentally, I discovered the other day that my neighbour has this kit (unstarted) in his stash, so for those of you who are not familiar with the evolution of the Invincible class, the first two hulls (Invincible and Illustrious) had lower ramps out of build than the third (Ark Royal, née Indomitable). Ark's was 12 degrees throughout her life, but the other two only moved to 12 degrees after a refit. Ark's hull was therefore more streamlined below the ramp, but of course the Airfix kit is Illustrious... So here are a couple of photos comparing the original kit part with what my modified version: 1. From side on: . 2. From ahead: More soon Crisp
  21. The YXModel anchor cable is extraordinary; has to be seen to be believed - I bought loads of it some time ago for the fo’c’sle of a number of ships, including my current Ark Royal V. Lovely job with Kagero so far - some particularly neat PE work. Not easy, but you make it look that way!
  22. Just in case you think the voyage from the Shelf of Doom has started to operate astern propulsion, I am currently deep into the cycle of "fill-sand-examine-repeat" that we all understand so well, trying to get the join with the lower hull to be vaguely smooth. It doesn't need to be 100% perfect, because much of it will be invisible below the waves, but since the whole point of changing my mind and adding the hull bottom is to stabilise the hull and stop it flexing so much, it makes little sense to leave it just tacked in place. At least part of the struggle stems from the fact that the hull parts of Airfix's Lusty kit were notoriously prone to warping, and mine was no exception (long-term followers of this build might recall that I had to replace the entire transom section because the Airfix part was so badly warped). I feel that a lot of this is probably correcting for warpage. Anyway; here is the port waterline after the third (& I hope final) application of Vallejo putty prior to sanding later. Note also additional layer of filler underneath the ramp - it was continual cracking in that area that made me realise the hull was flexing too much. In other news, I have been looking for decent pictures that show detail of the catwalks for years... Then a friend sent me some pics of Jerry Millward's FRS1 after his port kiddy wheel collapsed on landing during our trip to Oz in 1988. The photos were no doubt meant to be of a jet at an awkward angle, but to me they are gold dust, because they show the catwalks. Note also a rare example of Jumbo the Crane being at least readied for action in the background. There are more, but these are the ones that give me what I wanted... More soon Crisp
  23. Good stuff; great spot on that flange thing around the funnel - I’d missed that. You wait til you get to structure around the forward end of the funnel…. Merit stop the tripod legs of the mainmast a deck too high, for a start.
  24. You beat me by around a year, then, I guess. I joined 820 (& thus Ark) in New York as a first tour baby Sea King pilot, Autumn 86
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