Lynx7

Trial and error in the past, Rene! Painted up the nose avionics area and placed in nose. I'll add a bit more detail later but not really too sure the early aircraft would have had much kit in there anyway. Dry fitted tail boom, skids and nose The observant will notice I've cut the upper sliding fairing and placed it in to the forward position. Yep, I'm probably going to scratch the main rotor gearbox, hydraulics, control runs, AC gennies plus all the plumbing......Didn't I say right at the beginning I was going to keep this simple?

Looking excellent! Dont know if youve noticed but G-LYNX in that fit had the IGB intake faired;

Thanks Colin and Paul. Engine now placed in mould casing and the solution poured (very slowly to prevent airbubbles) I've drawn where the masters are and their orientation within the mould case. This assists when cutting the masters from the mould as it means I have a better idea where to cut and thus reducing damage to the master. As you can see, the master is at the bottom of the casing but once I de-pot it, I will cut along the bottom of the mould (and the bottom of the master) so any damage from the blade will be hidden. I will then use that cut as the injection port (now on top as the engine mould will now be upside down) to squirt the resin solution in with a syringe. This means that gravity as well as a bit of pressure from the syringe will allow the resin to penetrate in to the detailed upper area of the engine. The smaller object is the oil tank. Straight after pour. Air bubbles are starting to push to the top. I leave the whole thing in a warm environment so it doesnt set too quickly and trap the bubbles. I leave it for about 24 hours. I've used Sylmasta 380 rubber solution on this occasion as its a medium viscosity solution. I sometimes use 370 or 390 which is more and less viscose. The higher the viscosity, the better it will run in to smaller detail but can tear easier. 380 is the better compromise of good viscosity but also fairly robust (important if you wish to reuse the mould over and over). While I'm waiting for that to set, I decided to make some nose avionics detail. Its not going to be as detailed as my AH7 I did because you cant actually see a huge amount once the nose doors are fixed open. It just adds a bit more interest (plus I really enjoy making stuff ) Battery I'll add a bit of wiring and some other random stuff later.

Engine primed and ready for the mould

Looks great mate. Always nice to see 1/32 Lynx and a HAS3 too. Well done.

Getting there with the engine. I've filled all the little gaps and holes where the latex moulding solution will have difficulty working round and will give it a light dusting of Mr Hobby primer prior to setting in the mould. I initially used alloy section to make the oil tank (I wanted to keep it bare metal as per the real one) but it didnt prove satisfactory so I constructed it out of bits of styrene. I'll prob cast these as separate parts and put a suitable coat of stainless steel paint on and buff.

Not too sure what makes that a 'Super Lynx' either. Just looks like an HMA kit. Originally, Westland gave the 'Super Lynx' monika to the later Gem engined export Lynx and laterly; T800 engined Lynx such as the SA Mk64, Mk100 for Malaysia etc. The Neomega kit looks to just have the PID (nose camera) which is unique to the Royal Navy HMA8. Any clarification on NeOmegas rationale to calling it a 'Super Lynx'?

A bit more progress on the engine. The front is where the brass ring is and the rear is where the green tweezers are. The brass ring will sit inside the back of the intake housing on the kit. I've used a combination of alloy & brass tubing, styrene rod and random bits of PE I've got all the main components on now (DC Gennie, accessories plate, oil cooler, fuel and oil pumps and the free power turbine governor). Once I've sealed up all the little holes and gaps, I'll stick it in a mould and see how it turns out to cast. It may be a slightly complex shape for a cast but time will tell. I have some very fine mould solution. and a very low viscosity resin so fingers crossed it'll pull as much detail as possible. The thing that makes this engine is once all the plumbing goes on so I'm looking forward to that. As with the real engines, they are a snug fit in the engine bays.

Cost pure and simple. We will eventually have to go for a new digital AFCS because the current clockwork one is working very hard at the weights we are at. Currently cleared to 5890Kgs but if we wish to grow over 6000kgs, we will need Digital AFCS and BERP IV blades. HMA2 Wildcat (and any export) will be close to that weight in the not to distant future for sure.

Unfortunately, the 'customer' (the MoD) must also share the blame. Its such a bureaucratically inefficient procurement system, it beggars belief and is hugely wasteful. Add to that the wonderful civil service efficiency and you have a system that just asks for failure right from the off. In short, Wildcat was a programme that was doomed from the start. A skint MoD, a UK company that had political weight behind it due to votes and incompetence at every level of the MoD. Pressures to get a product delivered early to appease the bean counters that once delivered is so far off the original requirement, its almost criminal. But its nothing new and I dont think will ever change. An example of the commercial pressures? We have just had our latest batch of production aircraft delivered (the first 6 we had were pre production aircraft so it is understandable they had issues). The aircraft we have just had delivered have an issue with the fuel system in that when they are refuelled, they vent a quantity of fuel out the side because there is issues with the fuel cut off float switches. Not a healthy thing to have is fuel Piddling out the side of the aircraft as you can imagine. Anyway, it was a proven fault when tested at the factory but we still accepted the aircraft for delivery. AW pushed the aircraft through for delivery knowing that if they had stopped and cured the fault, they would have been liable for a large fine for not delivering on time. The MoD accepted the aircraft knowing about the fault knowing that if it had been delayed, the NAO would have probed even further in to the programme about delays and applied even more scrutiny on the programme. The result is, whenever we refuel a new aircraft, we have to accept the risk of chucking about 50 litres of AVTUR overboard and the consequences of pollution and fire...... At least with these new aircraft we dont have the issue of the fuel transfer pumps indicating differently when we turn cockpit lighting on (when night lighting was turned on, we would get a false indication of fuel transfer because there was an unknown stray voltage within the system!) But wwe have now inherited an issue where if we turn the cooling fan for the forward avionics bay on, it interferes with the automatic flight control system.............. Hmm

And re the design and looks. Unfortunately, in this day and age, looks, design flair and pride and individuality are not things the current batch of designers have an interest in. Its all about what the computer model says and has nothing whatsoever to do with looks. Its called 'design minimalism' wich reads as idleness, a lack of pride and most importantly, not wasting a penny on things that are deemed as pointless. Gone are the days of designers (one or two lead designers on a programme) who had a sole input to the 'look' of an aircraft and we now have 'chief designers' who are merely project managers. Not an AW speciality but across the board. Name me a good looking aircraft form the past 15 years or so? I know the chap who designed the nose personally (dstl not AW) and his input was purely from a functionality perspective. Its all to do with angles, reflectors and what is going to be mounted on the nose. Tis a shame that no leeway is allowed to account for looks. If you want to make it look nice, the current batch of designers seem to think thats impossible cos all they know is what the computer pushes out. AW proudly mute that Wildcat is the first aircraft they've designed entirely in the virtual environment. I would suggest its nowt to be proud about. Its akin to first year design students producing the Austin Montego..... And they still persist in pushing the myth that the nose and tail are designed to be 'Stealthy'. Utter garbage. its down to production and manufacturing simplicity pure and simple. Why spend time and money producing a stealthy nose and tail if you dont bother with the rest of the airframe? You cant do stealth half arsed. Its all or nothing. Yet another marketing ploy from Somersets best heli manufacturer..... And next week boys and girls, I'll tell you all about how awesome our Wildcat simulator is.... (boy, this is making wikileaks look like Jackanory!)

S'funny you should mention the windscreen. First of all, the new 'self healing' film they use on the windscreen means it leaves a browny black smudge on the windscreen where the wipers sit and with the vibration, it smears, stains and obscures an area of the screen. The advice from the factory is to place blue roll underneath the wipers when they are sat in the hanger to alleviate the issue..... Secondly, each time we operate the wipers and wash system, the circuit breaker blows (situated in the nose so not accessible from the cockpit) and the wipers cease to function. Advice from wonderful Wildcat Project Team is to try and not use the wipers...... (the reason being the factory hasn't fitted a robust enough circuit breaker). Of course, I operate the wipers just willy-nilly when there is no real reason to use them. Would you put up with this from a car company let alone an aircraft manufacturer? The tactical moving map is less reliable than a crack addict and thats even after a 'software update'. I could go on but have to be thankfull that we have anew aircraft that costs £27 million.....harrrumph.

Bloody awesome mate! really looking forward to every bit of progress on this. Love it

I certainly didn't realise the sheer amount of prototypes and pre production Lynx until I did a bit of research for my current build in the GB either. I guess it was back in the day where aircraft were thoroughly tested and computers weren't relied on so much. In some ways, mores the pity. Computers cannot prove everything. Quite often I'm told 'well, it worked correctly on the Integrated software rig' when we come up against (the gzillion) software glitches on Wildcat. To which my flippant reply is 'well lets just buy 34 software rigs for the Army then you clunge!'

Engine bays started. I started by constructing the engine deck floor using .5mm plasticard and deconstucted the engine bay doors. Because XX153s engine doors open differently, I modified parts of the kit engine bay. I used the top section, removed the rear part of the DC gen intake and outlet and thinned the egdes to give the impression of panels. I also removed the rear engine bay vent grills as the early Gem engines didnt have these. You can also see where I've constructed the rear bay bulkhead in front of the exhaust area. Centre firewall just placed (lopsided) in the middle of the bay. The lower doors were constructed using thin plasticard and ribbed using square section styrene. And the start of engine 1 construction. Initially using brass and alloy tubing with the forward section inserted in to the exit holes from the intake housing. I'll add accessories such as the DC starter generator and oil cooler assy then once all the main modules are complete, I'll cast the main engine. From that, I can then add the other ancillaries such as oil system, fuel system, governor and then dress it with all the plumbing and wiring looms. I will cover the engine bay walls with thin alloy foil and rivet as required.

Please do Colin. The more on the subject, the better! As an aside, my new shiny Wildcat (at Merryfield on the Tac area) ; ZZ394. 15 hours on the clock (and already a load of 703 entries and tons of 704s!)

Ok, managed to get to Merryfield today to have a look at the remains of what I believed to be the third prototype - XW837. It wasn't. But this threw up a few questions as to its identity. It was most definitely a prototype Lynx of some description. It had the runner along the mid centre fuselage, the twin low pressure refuel caps on the right hand side and the lower panel area aft of the exhausts. The question now was which one? I've pretty much accounted for all the prototypes bar 2. XW837 - Red and XW838 - only the tail boom remains attached to an AH1 fuselage at Arborfield. From my examinations today, there was absolutely no trace of any red paint on the hulk and some of the damage patterns from previous pictures didn't tie up to it being this airframe (as well as the lower forward fuselage). Was scratching my head somewhat once I got back from flying and I thought I may have stumbled across a 'lost WG13'. Thoughts of Tony Robinson presenting me with awards, media and fame crossed my mind etc. It was only when I got home and did a bit more digging I discovered its true identity. Not terribly glamorous I'm afraid. It turns out it was RG-05; a test rig from the programme. RG05 at Coventry 1985. Note the HAS2 nose On the fire dump at VL in 1999 What remains of RG05 today at Merryfield. There is a very faint 05 obscured by one of the BDR panels thats been riveted on just below the rear rip on the fuselage. Sticky, you were totally correct regarding the fate of XW837. I found some of the last pictures of it at VL. Very sad. XW837 RED on the fire dump at VL in 1999.

Looking forward to keeping up with this build. What an excellent start already. Engine is fantastic mate.

Looking good mate and very ingenious. I was about to suggest that if you have a Navy kit (that was spare), you could have used the complete screen (no TOW cover on left upper) and the right hand footwell window. The latter does not have the OAT gauge in it as the AH version does.

Thanks Colin and Mish. Colin, not had chance to reply to your email but will do very soon mate! So, I've been pondering for a few days. I wanted to do more on this model seeing how its quite an iconic aircraft. I was debating whether to open a cowling and build an engine as I did for one of my AH7 a while ago; I decided against that. And have decided to build both engines As you may see, the engine cowlings and how they open on XX153 are quite different from production Lynx. Current Lynx have quite a clever complete fold down engine cowl with integral platform on each side. With the prototypes, they were more akin to doors with little regard for the practicalities of servicing in the field and good access. Luckily the contours of the engine bay on the kit are the same (with a few minor mods) and as you can see from the above pic, I've already chopped up the engine bay. Another interesting point to note is the exhausts. As you'd expect with prototypes, quite a few things change on each prototype and also each individual aircraft goes through a metamorphosis through out a test programme. If you look at the original exhaust on the yellow XW835, you'll see the exhausts are quite small and protrude out and rewards quite a bit. Each of the initial prototypes had different exhausts too (again, depending on when it was fitted during the test programme). XX153 had a variety of exhausts fitted during its time so its a bit difficult to tie down a particular fit. As it sits in Middle Wallop museum, it has the later type of exhausts fitted and I'm not 100% sure that they are any of the original exhausts. They may have just scribed newer ones on during restoration. As you can see in the above pic, I've modified the exhaust to represent the earlier fit (using early 70s photos as a ref) and opened up the exhaust housing too. I've used alloy tube (as I tend to do on each of my Lynx models) because its easy to ream out to a nice thin exhaust like profile and using a small amount of heat from a lighter, it will lightly tarnish it to a more accurate finish. So I've given myself an extra bit of a challenge by building two engines. I've done it before and luckily still have all my ref pics and build pics from the AH7. I may build the basic engine and resin cast it so I have templates for future engines. Also makes it easier to build the second motor. I will admit at this point that there are some details on XX153 that I will not be replicating accurately. Its only when you look closely at something you notice differences. One of those is the forward sliding fairing above the cabin. The prototypes had a 'turret like' rim on the forward edge as opposed to fully faired and the roof widows were rounded at their corners as opposed to square as per the current Lynx. I wont tell anyone if you dont

Just a quick dry fit to show the difference the new tail and cabin doors make.

Steve, liking this a lot, looking very good so far! As for Tamiya colours, I just used their grey primer as the main coat and it seems to have passed muster. The bonus is its nice and thin too.

Thanks all. Woo, I'll be getting back on with the Wildcat now I've broken the back of this build. Cabin complete. I was a bit disappointed to find that the Eduard AH7 interior set isnt quite correct. They have three yellow three point harnesses for the rear 3 man seat but only blue lap straps for the 6 man seat. All seats have the yellow (orange) 3 point harnesses. I've not put the 3 point harnesses on the 3 man seat but will save them for when I get another Eduard set so I'll have 6 for the 6 man seat. I've also noted that there are some other omissions on the AH7 over the HMA sets. No 'spectacles' for the main rotor blade bolts and a few other things too. Anyway, completed the remainder of the fuselage mods which included putting another low pressure refuel housing on the right hand side and filling the one on the left, filling the footsteps (seems AW havent learned anything with Wildcat cos the method of climbing up the side of the aircraft when doing a pre flight walk round is akin to scaling the north side of the Eiger due to poor/non existent footsteps and hand holds), making the recess for the para illum flare housing and generally removing doubler plates and details not found on the prototypes. Cooling scoop for the rear avionics bay also removed and filled Twin recess for refuel caps. I have some suitable PE that will be used for the caps. I've made the recess and mount for the illum flares and will place some more suitable round bits of PE once its all painted. Tail. I decided to use a navy folding type tail because the pylon on the prototypes closely resembles that. Folding tail boom. The IGI hump needed removing and sanding flush with the TRDS covers. I also removed all the gubbins on the end of the boom where all the tail fold hinges sit. The main similarity is the forward fairing and the grill area where the intermediate gearbox sits. on non folding tails, the fairing is more of a double angle affair with the grills on each side as opposed to how the folding type looks. The early tail pylons were thinner and didnt have such a deep knife edge fairing at the rear. Marked out to trim the rear off. Also cut out the IGB grill area to place the Eduard PE grill. Trimmed and thinned. A blob of Milliput chucked on the end of the boom Licked (is milliput poisonous??) and shaped. Once dry and hard, I'll work it with fine sanding to blend it. Thats it for now. I'll chuck the fuselage together tonight I think (NOTE TO SELF - DONT FORGET THE FOOTWELL WINDOWS!!!)

Thats those crappy old ancient Lynx. And of course, Wildcat is perfect, reliable and always serviceable..... (did I manage to say that with a straight convincing face?)

Col, thanks for that info. Get a Lynx and get on the GB. You know you want to! Sticky, I assume youre with 847? I'm with 652 across southside (although we're moving to your old building on Tues....probably)