bootneck

I have the Tristar kit, Pegasus craft and Stargazer decals in my stash; just been waiting for some modelling space in my diary. I think that time may just have arrived!! Thanks for the update Don Mike

Hi Tom, British naval pilots wore a waterproof oversuit when operating from aircraft carriers and they would look a bit different from standard flying uniform. However, once the lifejacket and aircraft seat belts and restrainers are laid over this then you wouldn't really notice. If I remember correctly, the helmets worn by aircrew (in the era of Ark Royal) were white. There are plenty of ex-Fleet Air Arm guys on this site and hopefully they can advise you further. I will send you a pm. cheers Mike

A FRADU Canberra? Yes please especially if you post loads of photos while doing it cheers Mike

It is very easy to blame external factors such as the internet but, for those who were around in the days of Beatties, it was similar but there was no internet. To walk into, Beatties looked just like a MZ with a mix of die-cast cars and planes; and a kit section. For a couple of years they were having massive knock-down price events but they also went into administration and closed. Could these two similarities be down to the split business streams? Is it a toy shop or is it a model shop? Our local (sort of) model shop, Frome Model Centre, is primarily a model shop and appears to be thriving. Not only have they extended their model kits room but they also have one separate room for aftermarket and paints (never seen so many choices of paint suppliers under one roof!) and tools; additional to that they also have another room which looks to be dedicated to cars, armour and more AM stuff and plastic sheets and rods etc. Having said all this, I do hope that MZ survives and are able to keep their doors open although I don't have one near me; the nearest being Bristol in the north or Plymouth in the south. Mike

The sides to the grill have been installed and the blue/grey areas have been painted onto the fuselage. The line at the back is vertical, it's just an optical illusion which make it look slanting. The coloured cards in the background are testers for the right colour orange/red to be added. Once the blue/grey was fully dried I masked the model up again and then gave it a spray of red. I'm afraid that the tailplane was damaged as a result of all the masking. I shall correct that shortly and give the paint a touch up. The oleos have also been added. I'll leave everything to dry completely overnight and then give it a coat of Klear tomorrow. Next thing will be to mark up and drill the holes for the corrected exhaust outlets. The outlet pipes will need to be s/b from plastic tube. cheers Mike

one of the things I needed to do was cast a new door, to replace the damaged one when I cut out the opening in the fuselage. I cast a thin layer of resin in the mould and let it set, which wasn't long in this warmth! Once it had dried, I lifted the cast out and cut around the residue thereby leaving a fairly decent door. I can now position that on the model either fully open or just partially open. The oleos have been installed and I also gave the fuselage a coat of light stone/sand colour, as this will be in the sand & spinach camouflage of the 1960's (sorry about the glare on the image). Will try to do a bit more tomorrow. Cheers Mike

Time to mask up the lower fuselage and give the upper area a spray of white. The little square piece, in front of the fuselage, is the new door which has been cast using the Oyumaru mould described earlier. The rear winglets have been added. Once the aluminium and white had been sprayed on, I re-masked the whole thing again to spray the blue cheat line. The line is OK, it's just reflection from the light which makes it look a bit wobbly! That will get toned down after I've finished and added the decals As well as the remaining parts to fit, there is also a bit of scratchbuilding to do. There is a cone-shaped piece that fits in front of the engine intakes, above the cockpit. I will need to shape and fit a bit of plastic for that. That's it for now on the Belvedere. More to do on the 3 Wessex builds. cheers Mike

I really should pay more attention to the GB rules! The fun of this scale is there isn't too much detail to worry about. It's not like you guys with your ginokerhuge 1:48 scale stuff, such as worrying about if the rotor housing flange plate is correct; or the blade tip assembly is the correct yellow; or even if the rotor head torque spigot is correctly aligned!! Mike

Been there, done that, got the bruises! btw, anyone want to buy a second hand jigsaw? Almost finished spitting them out and they look to be complete(ish). Mike

It's not so much the jitters, but trying to get the same colour twice in my photos; now that would be interesting!

I've never heard it called a magnifier before!! You only saw me last week, did I look as if I was the steady handed type? I just hold the bits down with a strip of harry black maskers and then jab away at anything the sticks out! cheers Mike

I hope it will look OK when finished; there's lots to do with this one. cheers Mike

I know, I'm mad but I've decided to add another Wessex to the GB! This one will be, hopefully, a Wessex HAS.3 similar to Humphrey fame although I shall probably do it in the pre-Falklands blue-grey and yellow livery. The fuselage has been glued together however there will need to be some considerable modifications to make this HC.2 into a HAS.3 The nose will need filing down to Mk.1 shape; then the large exhaust outlet holes will need to be filled; as will the window in the door. Following that, I shall scratchbuild a dorsal spine and radome, plus the 'upper lip' for the nose. Making a start on the nose by filing off the large intake cover. The nose has been attached and is ready to be worked on, to get the correct shape The nose has been filed to shape and the large exhaust opening has been filled. Tailplane also added. I won't need to make the cutout in the nose, or add the mesh as I did with the Mk.1 build, as this area will be covered by the 'upper lip' which is a recognisable part of the HAS.3 version The window in the door has been sealed, ready to be filled, as there is no window on the door of the HAS.3 I plan to give the model a covering of primer tomorrow, to check for any problems, and then will proceed onto the spine etc. Never done one before so that should be fun! cheers Mike

Been away for a few days and now must get some work done on this. I have decided to do the finish as a white/natural metal version of the RAF out in the Far East 1965-66. The cockpit area has no details so I have made up some rudimentary items to populate the 'office'. First will be the natural metal so I have masked up the top, white, area and the canopy. The milk bottle top on the right is just for size comparison The canopy has been glued on. This way I can spray the whole fuselage in one go The colour I have used is aluminium and it will need toning down, with a very light dusting of grey, once it has completely dried. Hope to start on the wheel units tomorrow, followed by the rotary bits later. Also the fuselage will need re-masking in order that I can apply the white to the upper body area. cheers Mike

Yes, that's my fault. I correctly translated the nameplate as the V-400 5V11 Dal but then passed the wrong details on to Julien. Mike

Thanks for the update Peter. I had better clear some space on the workbench to be ready! cheers Mike

Thanks for this update Dave Mike

I seem to have obtained a few of these kits and was wondering what finish to do them in. Now I know of one! I'll be placing an order. Mike

The Vulcan did a display of four passes, at 16:30 yesterday, over Weston super Mare beach where there was a heli-days event on. There was also a visit from a Squirrel ZJ267, a Jet Ranger G-BEWY plus the Red Arrows but I missed them as I was working at the Heli-Museum. Mike Mike

I've repaired and cleaned up the door opening ready for priming. Adding the seats now The inside has been primed and then I have given the bulkheads, deckheads and seats a coat of paint. Hardly a 'coat', more like a bristle's worth! And then we close it all up and can hardly see any of it! But I will know it is there. Also given it a coat of primer. Now that it is closed up, I can concentrate on the rest of the kit, probably concentrating on the cockpit area next. I shall also start casting the doors ready for fitting in the open position later. That's it for now. More later. Thanks for looking Mike

A little bit more done tonight. I have found a bit of mesh which nearly matches enough to look OK. Trouble with this scale is finding items small enough to match. Still a fair bit to do to tidy this up but it is starting to look the part for a Mk.1 Coat of primer on. It is easier to see what needs to be done to the nose now. There will be more mesh added to each side of the central piece later. 'nuff for now. Going to do a bit more on my Wx Mk.5 now. cheers Mike

The large bulbous nose intake contained sand filters, with little motors/extractors in those large tubes. Evidently it was a requirement of Bristow for their Wessex. Mike

Slight tangent; that's a nice photo and it shows aircraft with two different camouflage patterns. Anyone know if there is a name/identification of each type? Also, although the same squadron, two of the aircraft appear to have the yellow outer ring on their roundels. Mike

Who's VIcky then?

Not necessarily........... There are enough bits, especially with Ian's (Heritage Aviation) conversion set, to do something different which need not be as accurate in detail. Namely this: Incidently, if anyone does decide to scratchbuild the interior of the new Italeri kit then I did a full 'Walkinside' of this cab in the Walkaround section. I fully endorse Tony's idea of an early Wessex for troop transports. The light stone system looks good, as does the sand/spinach colouring. May just have to get one to do like that as well. cheers Mike