perdu

strewth it's looking good Love the wheels and u/c, they look great as do the visible crew members nice work

ohhhh golly! marvellous work

I love this and you won't (really won't) believe how blimmin' jealous I am It looks the bee''s kneeses thanks for sharing this one a huge W O W

dr_gn, you know this one is orance (Jeff)'s dont you? ): mine is still WIP on the interior waterproofing and seating Jeff really has a lovely finish on it, I am looking forwards to seeing her finished I'm just tracking down BSI 381 356 Golden Yellow for mine, 'spect Hannants do it

It's beautifully made but that RAF scheme looks so wrong on a HAS 3 but It looks beautiful nice well done we said it would be worth finishing didn't we edited to add That cockpit glazing looks the bizzz, nicely done

Oh boy that is lovely magnifico maestro

I'm no great believer in massive rivets I took them all off mine, so I am no one to judge. I just engraved some of the panel lines and surface features. I thought it was more realistic but a faint shadow of the rivets would help it live up to the "50 thousand rivets flying in close formation" I remember people saying about the magnificent Shack and would certainly not go amiss. Tell devilfish the decals weren't hard to make up when I did mine in '83 I wish I'd had that kit to help with the wings and u/c. If you want to see the one I did I'll pop a pic somewhere, it's in Cosford museum at the moment.

That'squite funny Nobby When I built my Tiffie I painted it with ancient Humbrol Authentics I rescued from the depths of a drawer in my study, I was coming back to the game after a twentyfiveyear "rest" And I had to fight off the countless spiders who'd become used to them sitting around I'm learning lots in here about using acrylics, 'cos I'm unused to them and I always prefer a good enamel coat on a model 'cos it seems to "paint" better than the posh new stuff. Old fashioned me? Er yup Like I said Nobby I am enjoying learning from you

Still on course Nobby, going to be another classic. Lovely doors too.

Rod you may not be sure if you like :) I can already see that I do. That looks beautiful, your work and your photography guarantee lots of people enjoying it with me too. F A B

I can only stand in awe, looking at your fantastic Hind and your brilliant modelling and photographic skills wow it is beautiful thanks for sharing it with us

I seem to remember Ed Macy saying they grabbed their personal weapons when dashing to their machines and I doubt the SA80 would be left in the cockpit when they were not aboard. I will be following you down this route too, for such an ugly beast they are truly charismatic for we idle observers aren't they? Yours is bookmarked in my head, good luck with it. Bill

This is beginning to look magnificent instead of merely epic all coming together well, I'm getting Vulcan urges again after so long since my last one nice doesn't quite describe it

makes notes Mercedes Silver love your work on this Cranberry It's been a long time since, so I must make at least one more (now I have seen this one)

Nice work (again) Nobby Looks like Slaters Plastic Rod, absolutely magnificent stuff to model with (if you can overcome its tendency to "bend") I have some in my tool kit that I bought about 1978 and it is still as "user friendly" as ever Stronger than the usual white rodding too I enjoyed your softening aluminium sheet expose, really good swapping technologies stuff Reminds me of the old days and my old ways Really enjoying you taking the Froglet to new dimensions Mine's suddenly "not quite what I wanted"

Nick whilst you may not want to hear this sort of thing I have to say that this is really some of the very finest modelling "in pictures" I have ever been privileged to enjoy. Please accept these comments in the spirit they were given in I've been successfully modelling since the 1960s and won classes at national Competitions in "the past". I have been enthralled watching and learning from this build thread. And although I have used similar techniques to yours in the past I intend using your methods with the pastels (for instance) in my future work.

utterly magnificent modelling I simply am awestruck at your work brilliant and wow I may just retire now

tremendous I love that blue finish too

The compliments are well deserved, I don't like sycophancy As I mentioned really Use the colours you want/like then if they were matt to start with give a coat of "shineystuff" to let the decals (I'm old fashioned I still call 'em transfers ) sit without a silvery background which is caused by trapped air under the film. I still have a bottle of Johnson's Klear which was all the rage back in the eighties and is still popular with those of us with any left over (I gave up modelling back aound 1985 and restarted just before Christmas-ish) If you dont have any I would use an aerosol Humbrol gloss varnish spray, lightly first to mist the area before you spray a later shiny coat, so the spray doesnt attack the paint film (I say this because when I did my Wessex I had a moment of terrible judgment when I just sprayed the lot "wet" with Humbrol Matt varnish aerosol and it wrinkled all the bottom layer of Xtracolour NATO Dark Green and made the green go grey. After repairs the lighter misted coats caused no problem at all So to recap: any shiny coat to decal the model then several light coats of Humbrol Matt Acrylic Varnish to matt the entire model Mask off all you want to leave shiny job done I hope this helps. Do practise on a test model first I don't want you to find out how awful it is when s..... (stuff) happens to your current pride and joy

Just a thought but there are other ways of building small window Wessexii (Such as RAF ones) I cut out the original centre bar between the two side ones and inserted a larger panel that made each window smaller (Matchbox kit but the same window issues) from plasticard Smaller windows from acetate, including the front bulged one were easily made and stuck in place with cyano and pva mixture Anyway I am really pleased that you will be persevering with this I think it was Tina Turner who sang "not enough Wessexes in this world" OK maybe not but she should have

Nice You have twanged all my buttons with these, they look great You say that you aren't sure how to "matt down" the shiney decals, it's not hard (if this is unwanted tell me to Bee Off) You really need shiny paint to put the transfers down on to, so the film gets hidden as the air under the surface doesnt get trapped If I'm painting with matt paints ( I prefer the ability to see the actual finished shade this way) I coat the model with a shiny coat and mask off the bits you want to stay shiny (Windows canopy etc) At the moment I still have a half bottle of Johnson's Klear which I cover the entire model with (rotors excepted as they can usually be unshipped) then lay down the decals When dry I use an aerosol spray of Humbrol Matt Acrylic varnish Don't make the mistake I made during the building of my last Wessex and let the spray lay down wet on the paint, it can affect the colour coat and cause huge wrinkles. A light misting coat of well "rattled" spray first then after that has had a chance to dry a better coat can be laid. Take off the masking and you will have hidden decal film and shiny shiny bits I love that Merlin, now jumps up my "hitlist", fabulous.

That looks just fine I reckon the stark whiteness (which I prefer anyway) will sink nicely as you finish off the work, especially if you add weathering. When Wessexes were in service they soon took on a "used aircraft" look, whether at sea or land based. The only shiney one I ever saw was the Queen (Mother)'s flight one which shines enough to hurt your eyes. I saw that one last month at the RAF museum in Hendon, lovely!

What Kev says really carry on and finish it Do it as well as YOU can I wasn't criticising your model only Italeri's poor research If you think that turning the tail rotor is too hard this time, do it as is and consider a different kit later I modified the Matchbox Wessex kit to make mine and that had several awful issues, which I chose to change, I will be honest with you, most people wouldnt even know what the issues are So why worry? The work you started looks good, joint lines all tidy and the end result will be fine in her best Naval paintjob Take note and when you feel like it, ignore the rest of us It is your model for your pleasure I will enjoy looking at the model when you finish so please do Other versions Frog / Novo / and a Russian moulding of the HAS1 that may be the ex-Frog kit taking flight again... The Frog kit had slightly heavy handed detailing but was more faithful to the real thing than Matchbox Wessex HAS31/HU5... which has a poorly shaped nose which is almost square in cross section and likewise a sand filter on the nose that looks far more suited to the front shovel on a JCB tractor. Fat and square and way too wide Maintrack also did a resin bodied HAS1 with no windows cut out and reasonable accuracy of shape, I'm told. I never handled one I'm busy at the moment rescuing an old Novo Wessex fuselage that sat in a drawer in my garage for thirty years and intend to produce the HAR 2 Air Sea Rescue version from it So dont give up, every Wessex built is a good 'un for me Take it from me (I have been fascinated by the Wessex forty years) There is good and bad in all of them

It is looking really good, I can hardly wait for "paint on" stage Going to be a good 'un

As always Oiler stunning work I am proud that you have shared them with us cheers