chrislowe

Even in that small section there are a lot of stencils that didn't seem to make it on to Airfix's radar. Is that a finger hanging down to 8 o'clock of the "28 volts" ? It's a weird looking antenna, that's for sure.

Am I the first one here? My round then Bill. Whatcha drinking? Where's the bartender, by the time he gets here the front row will be full. That's a good start! I must confess in all my years of making models & being interested in aircraft, I'd never come across the Belvedere. Are you going to be able to use those decals? How old are they?

I feel your pain Bill, I weren't as cautious as you and added the antenna on the front in plenty of time to break / bend / twist them a thousand times or more. And the towel rail. You just gotta hold on to the mojo until the job is done. Also... Looking forward to seeing some rotors...

Surprisingly, given that I'm usually a cold-war / modern era type, I have a Spitfire in the stash. I know less about them than @CedB does about helicopters, so I'm squeezed in at the back, note book in one hand, and a drink in the other.

I believe the Chinook in those pictures had suffered some sort of structural failure, quite possibly as a result of an energetic landing. Here's the link if you want to read more... http://www.chinook-helicopter.com/history/aircraft/D_Models/89-00138/Serbia_Accident/89-00138_Serbia_Accident_Page_8.html Fab, thanks! In that case I can declare the underside complete and move on to the rotors. HC mk2 had composite blades I believe, so I'm guessing they're something like NATO black rather than XF-1. Onwards!

Good job on the trolley. That looks a load better.

@Motley Well, I've answered my own question. The cable that I thought was plugged in to the leading edge of the sacru in that pic is plugged into / part of something directly behind it. Thanks for the heads-up. As the old man said in Life of Brian, My legs are grey. My ears are gnarled. My eyes are old and bent Off now to make a correction, or two

While I don't doubt you're right, because you're very familiar with the type and also with 712, it looks on this photo (not mine, credit and rights to the owner) as if there's a cable that connects to the body of the cargo hook, and one that comes out of the "leading edge". Is that "leading edge" cable an optical illusion, or is this a US version of the cargo hook perhaps? Well, of course you're right. I have no excuse except the 12yo whiskey. Obviously @Motley was just trying to save my blushes and not highlight my obvious mistake. As penance, my next build will be a Kitty hawk Jaguar.

It's been a little while since the last update. These last few bits are taking time to get done. In an effort to handle it as little as possible at this point, I decided to do all the bits around the underside. First thing was to replace the horizontal part of the towel-rail antenna. The long end had broken off so many times I needed to do something different with it. Happily I have some brass rod that's about the right diameter. Here it is in place, printed and ready for top coat Readers with long memories may remember that I glued the rear ramp in before I'd added the PE. This was the next thing to get attention along with the ramp hydraulics. There's a nasty edge where the PE stops short on the vertical part at the rear, but this will be hidden by the ramp extensions, so it won't be visible in the end. I may still try to improve it. SACRUs were next up. The moulding wasn't super detailed but painted up and with bit of spare PE, and they're passable. The rear one fitted with the addition of some cables / hydraulics to the locations I added before spraying. And the front, again with lines. Finally, in the BM walk-around section, I see some white cables connecting to the countermeasures (flairs I think). Again, some thin wire did the trick. To wrap that all up, here's an overall shot of the underside that shows pretty much all the recent progress. Happy modelling!

Yep, thought exactly the same thing.

I made this kit before I started the Chinook. I seem to remember it went together quite well. Looks like you've got the cockpit, seatbelts and interior PE sets? I think that's a good way to go. I had an exterior set too, but I ended up not using a lot of it, and I wouldn't bother again. Looking forward to seeing you bring it to life.

Looking really good Bill! I don't know how you get results like this in this scale.

You mean on Earth?

Hi. That looks great. I'd be interested to learn what you're doing to make that work? I mean in terms of paint thickness, airbrush pressure / distance etc. It's a tricky technique and you've got some good results, albeit on paper.

What a fabulous result! Tiny and fabulous.