TonyOD

Lovely job. Looks very smart with the red outline to the roundels.

Blue Oyster Cult performances

I wonder what percentage of builds are actually anything like accurate. So much of it is assumption or guesswork to fill in the gaps of whatever photographic evidence can be turned up, and the further you go back in time the more guesswork you're likely to have to do. I tend to assume that the people who manufacture kits and decals have access to a greater scope of research material than I do and that what they depict should be reliable, but I'm sure they're often assuming and guessing too. I have an idea for the upcoming Heller Classic GB and my representation of the interior of this aircraft will be based entirely on what I imagine it might have looked like, in the absence of any photographic evidence whatsoever!

Ten years since I was there, . It was in lovely condition. You're right, it's been moved from Intrepid to the Empire State Aerosciences Museum in Schenectady, apparently.

I have "issues" with Italeri right now. See my WIP link below.

I love the Scimitar. Very elegant looking machine. Only time I've ever seen one is in New York on the deck of the USS Intrepid, it stood out with its understated elegance.

Steak, bloody as hell.

I did the Fujimi Ark Royal FG.1 (the one with the "omega" red tail flash) years ago and it was lovely, sadly lost in action. I have a hankering to do it again, and this would be more fiscally accessible than another Fujimi, they go for silly money those things, nice as they are. I'll have a think as I have a shopping list of stuff for upcoming Group Build efforts....

Yngwie J Malmsteen. His name even sounds like a guitar solo.

So, not as difficult a fix as I feared. Old pylons removed with side cutters, some careful fettling down with a sharp knife and light sanding, with a bit of touching up it should be fine. Holes for new pylons drilled. Onward!

Really like that. But if you could model Tom Selleck’s moustache in 1/72 scale I’d be even more impressed.

There’s one of these in the for sale board I’ve been umming and ahing about. Should I? Lovely job.

Lovely job

Lovely looking Seafire that. Great job.

Yeah I've noticed different configurations on other variants, e.g. one where the antenna just runs down the starboard side. There's plenty enough photographic evidence out there to confirm that I've got XS522 wrong though. Going forward my starting position on all builds will be the kit manufacturer is lying to me.

Best wishes, be well.

Stuff it, I can do this. I'm going to pinch the pylons from the HAS.3 kit and use them. I already used its rotor blades as once I'd put six coats of paint in three different shades of green on the originals and then tried to sand them back surface detail was lacking. Putting new pylons on will be easy, the question is can I remove the old ones and make it look like they were never there without damaging any decals?

I'm about halfway through the decalling and it's been a revelation! Superb result, not even the slightest hint of carrier film visible, beds down into panel lines beautifully, and surprisingly forgiving in execution. They really look like they've been painted on.

It's just a pity, really. I mean, I've dealt with the nose, I feel I can have a crack at that tail rotor, and after much deliberation I landed on the right shade of green, only for this to come up. I was looking at Italeri's history with the Wessex and I noticed that one boxing of their 1/48 HU.5 says on the lid that it's a "UH.5"! I mean, if that's the level of attention to detail we can expect....

By way of comparison I had a look at the fusalage of the Revell HAS.3 (your build, same mould) that I have in the stash, and to be fair there are also the hints of guide holes in the correct positions, as well as the incorrect ones (I can't for the life of me work out why these incorrect ones are even there, they serve no purpose other than to sow confusion). I drilled the wrong ones, it seems, it's not a problem with the mould, it's a lack of clarity in the instructions. In Revell's instructions there isn't even a mention of drilling holes, they just show the pylons being attached in the correct positions from the outside of the fuselage and presumably it's left to the modeller to realise that they need to put some holes in. The Italeri instructions also, on close inspection, show the (rather crudely depicted) pylons going on in the right positions but by then the holes are there and that's where my pylons ended up. It seems that it's a common mistake with anyone building the Italeri kit. I don't like Italeri.

The sins of Italeri, part 316... So, some weeks ago when I started building this thing, the very first thing the instructions ask you to do is to drill half a dozen holes in the fuselage to accommodate the little pylons that carry the external wire antennae around the outside of the helicopter. It looks like this: There are some little guide holes moulded into the inside of the fuselage halves to facilitate this. Easy, right? So I got my little hand drill out, drilled the holes, stuck the pylons and they've been there ever since. Fast forward to last night, and I'm putting some decals on... it's only their relative position to the aircraft markings that makes me notice that they pylons are in completely the wrong place! The one next to the "Y" in "NAVY" should be forward of the roundel. The One above my thumb should be above the door (actually where the winch will end up). The pairs on the the port side are similarly misplaced. I mean, I could try to correct it but I think I'm beyond caring. I'll end up with a half-decent helicopter, hopefully, with some slightly misplaced antenna pylons. FWIW, every other example of this build I can see on the net with one exception has the pylons in the wrong place. Honestly, have Italeri got it in for me or what?

Thanks. I’m just cursing Italeri again for reasons I’ll explain in due course.

Me too, got gallons of the stuff. Well, not literally, but enough to keep me going. About to give this method a spin...

Fascinating insight into the working lives of these machines. The closest I've ever been to a Wessex is when one landed on the playing field of my school. It was yellow, so RAF I'm guessing. They let our air cadets have a look around.

Thanks. I've tried everywhere, including some very obscure overseas sellers. Not to worry, I don't think the innards of my build will be very visible...