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The backstory, which is a shameless copy and paste from a previous RFI...! As you may know, I quite like the 'Utopia' or 'World Image' liveries introduced by British Airways from 1997. However, these liveries were not universally popular and were quietly dropped in 2001, with all aircraft receiving the current 'Chatham' tail fin design from that year onwards. The A380 entered service over a decade later in 2013. I couldn't help wondering what this aircraft would have looked like with that massive tail covered in one of the ‘Utopia' designs. This build is just one result of my pondering and represents "Hong Kong", with a design called 'Rendezvous'. This design was usually applied with a white background, but one aircraft (G-BMRG) had a creamy colour instead. I intended to replicate this colour, but went a bit too yellow. However, I think it still works... The build thread for this particular model is on a longish thread but the relevant part can be seen here if you want to watch it come together, complete with the production of the custom decals I used on this model. As ever, comments and criticisms are welcomed! The design is deliberately NOT symmetrical, with the left side looking like this: Thanks for looking and I hope you like the outcome of this particular flight of fancy!

I finally got around to taking some RFI pics of my long time project, a Wessex of 28 Sqn which I worked on back in the early 80's. The project isn't fully completed yet as I am also building a diorama for the Wessex which will eventually sit in a display case. The houchin and fire extinguisher trolley are currently underway. Scale is 1/48 I also realized after taking these photo's just how poor a photographer I am, but you'll just have to make do. The WIP thread can be found here... http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234971153-wessex-hc2-a-dauphins-stablemate-nurse-the-operation-was-a-success-and-the-patient-is-expected-to-recover-fully/?p=1799520 .. but be warned if you want to read it - it will probably eat up a few hours of your life. (I chose Hotel as there is a back story to that, which you can find in the WIP thread) Anyway - relevant info: I started with the Italeri HU5 kit which of course was the wrong mark for the aircraft I wanted to model, so that dictated that I had to do some modifications... which turned into a much bigger project than I had ever imagined. If you ever want to build an HC2 - don't ever use the italeri kit! Be warned!!! I don't think there's a part of the kit left that hasn't been modified in some way or other. The main effort went into scratching things like the main rotor gearbox, the engines, the night sun, and pretty much every other lump, bump, and protuberance that gives the Wessex it's character. Enough of my ramblings - you can read the WIP if you are so inclined.... here's my attempt at a Wessex HC2, RAF Sek Kong circa 1982/3 that's all folks!

Prompted by the Nigellicus creature, I decided to throw this WIP out here. I started this as light entertainment diversion after a couple of prolonged and complicated builds, the latest of which is still ongoing. As this is a diversion, I probably won't be updating regularly, and I am going to be doing this as much out of the box as possible (for me that is!). The plan is to complete this build as HKG-7 of the RHKAAF, an aircraft I actually (very briefly) had the controls of while flying over Hong Kong many, many years ago. (Those pilot people never trusted us groundcrew much!) In addition to the garish yellow plastic, I think everyone is very well aware of the strange girder like structures that airfix saw fit to slap up on the outer skin. Yes, I know I said out of the box, but there are limits! The first job was to remove those objectionable girders. We start with this.... and a few minutes sanding provides a much smoother fuselage skin. once the fuselage sides were smoothed out, next job was to fill a large sink in the undercarriage - still undecided as to whether to do something about those linkages. After the sides had been sanded the access doors sat proud of the sides. I had to shave some material off the doors in order to get them to sit better. Once happy with the fit, they were glued into position. The interior was then given a quick blast of white primer. Next step was to glue the wings together. It looks okay from this side but on top there is a large gap on one side. I may have to fill that and rescribe - it is a bit of a canyon. Then I decided to give George a run for his money in this incredibly complex engine build. This really puts George's typhoon engine build to shame doesn't it ? I haven't quite figured out how to handle the paint sequence with this - hence why i have not yet glued on the top of the nacelles. I did do some dry fitting and discovered that there are yet more canyons awaiting me on top of the wings when the nacelles are fitted. It looks like there will be some sanding and filing ahead in this build. and to complete this update, some interior parts were given a blast of grey primer. more to come at some point in the future....

I must be completely doolally. No sooner have I just finished a 7 month build than I start another, that within an hour looks like it will compete with the previous build in taking longer / driving me nuts / being expensive / show my complete ignorance in many areas, and more than likely will sap my will to live at some point. Yup, I am doing a Wessex. An HC 2 to be exact, and an HC2 from Italeri's 1/48 recent kit. No sooner had I started looking at it seriously than I noticed a whole boatload of stuff that I think will need to change. Having recently completed the RHKAAF Dauphin & Islander, I wanted a 28 Sqn stablemate to keep them company. I really hadn't planned on starting this kit so soon after the Dauphin, it just kind of happened. The original plan was to start the rail carriage which I had promised Nigel, George & Co. Over the last few months I have been addicted to Martin H's build and with the detail he is putting into his SH-34. I am in awe of the accuracy and neatness of Martin's work. I do not, in any stretch of the imagination think that I can match Martins' skill, but his thread has inspired me to try and stretch myself and try things I would not normally have attempted. I pushed the boundaries of my skill set during the Dauphin build, and I think I am going to end up pushing them further with this little adventure. Those of you who have followed any of my builds so far will no doubt have noticed that I am hopeless in trying to follow a standard build format. I envy those who can start with the flight deck, move on to wings etc. and deal with portions of the build in a structured and logical manner. - I start on one thing, get halfway through, move onto something completely unrelated and at some point later on, return to complete some half finished portion of the build. So, without further ado.... here comes a Wessex.... slowly. I had over the last year amassed this little collection. First impressions of the Italeri kit were not great. They had some nice detail in areas, however the general finish of the kit was pretty random. For example, some of the fuselage is almost polished in finish, while other parts appear as if the mold has been blasted. Some of the detail is accurate and some is just plain crazy stupid. I wasn't very impressed with the decals either.... One thing that became apparent as I mulled over this kit was although I worked on these, squirted oil, grease and PX28 all over them - I never really looked at them! (so I will no doubt need some help at various stages through this build). So let's begin...... The observant among us will have noticed in the photo up top that I have purchased the resin HC2 conversion kit. When I examined it closely, I was a bit disappointed to be honest. I thought the detail was a little soft, and it was missing a hinge at the back end. I looked at the kit part, and was happier with the definition of the detail..... Accurate resin, soft detail / Inaccurate kit part, nicer detail...... what to do ! So after splashing out mucho dollars to get the resin conversion, I decided to convert the kit part instead. Dumb huh ? Did I mention that this build is not going to be fast by anyone's standards? The first glaringly obvious difference from the kit was the oval opening on the underside. Thankfully I had some brass templates and found a match to the resin part. The template was then attached to the kit part.... ... and I cut out the offending plastic. Next up were these two features. Nope, I have no idea what they are. Styrene strips were glued to a flat card to replicate the features. Then when dry, the parts were cut down to match what I saw on the resin part. I used a 3-square file with the V down to make the strips appear thinner. These were then attached to the kit underside. I have also replicated the end of some kind of trunking, and removed some no longer required plastic features. Now I needed to block the opening off. Using the oval templates again, I created this flange. Which I capped with a scrap piece of styrene sheet. That was glued onto the underside and set aside to dry. I did some dry fitting to see what lay in store for me. The fit of the nose was pretty bad, if not downright awful. Luckily, I have a wicked and cunning plan. It's called plan B. Actually plan B should have been plan A, but I thought of plan A first even although I preferred plan B. The fit of the nose to the airframe was bad, unfortunately, so is the fit of the panels inside the nose. Despite filing and shaping, I couldn't get a decent fit and resorted to wads of blue tak to hold things in place while the glue cured. and here's where I get stupid ! Most people would have stuck the nose on the airframe and filled and sanded to make it look good. But me ??? Nope. Let's add another week to the build and we haven't even got started yet. Can you see where I am going with this? My hokey way of ensuring that I get the depth of the panel correct.... Starting to take shape. That part was reasonably straight forward. I still have the bottom section to do - it's slightly recessed and has two apertures which fit nicely over the engines. Engines ! wait... crap.... does that mean I have to scratch a couple of engines now? Who could ever be so daft??? Then I spotted two large sink marks in the base of the nose. It's anyone's guess where it goes from here. The one thing I can promise is that this will not be a quick build. I want to do this a/c as much justice as I did the Dauphin so it's going to be a long haul. And lastly..... Nigel - I have actually started the train - well, I have laid some brass bits and bobs on top of the drawing and cleared a work space for it. I am waiting on a soldering iron being delivered and then I can start a new thread.

This will be my first ever aircraft WIP. It follows on from some prompting, coercing and downright bullying from Nigel and company. My last few builds (3 in the SciFi forum, and one in the vehicle forum) left me somewhat battle scarred and traumatized and I needed an easy, trouble free build to relax me after pulling my hair out in the last few builds. I have wanted to do this aircraft for a while but it got pushed off to the side and overtaken by a couple of SciFi builds. Now it is time to give it the some attention. Not knowing much about the Dauphin, I looked at what was available and the closest kit to the aircraft I wanted to replicate appeared to be the old Heller kit. I've had it in the stash for some time and had actually started gluing a few pieces together a while back. While the kit has been neglected sitting on a shelf, I have been building a folder of reference photo's. Of course, once I really started looking at the photo's I realized there was quite a lot of work to do to the Heller kit to make it represent the aircraft I wanted to model. Starting with this screen shot of one of the Heller boxings..... Rotor Head: Kit is very basic and some scratch building will be needed to make it look better. Aerial faces wrong way on kit (easy fix) and the intake looks out of scale Some scratch building required in this area for bits hanging off aircraft Actual aircraft does not have spats. Heller kit has wheels molded into spats, so will have to find some alternative, and scratch build undercarriage More scratch building required to replicate more bits hanging off real aircraft. Heller kit tail comes to a knife edge - real aircraft has flat, blunt tail edge. Fenestron linkage is wrong Exhausts are completely incorrect. Kit exhausts are parallel with each other whereas the real aircraft exhausts are angled away from each other as they exit the aircraft. Additionally, the cowling around the exhausts on the real aircraft is markedly different from the kit profile. More scratch building required. Vents and access panels on kit cowling is different than the aircraft I am basing this build on. As mentioned earlier, this was supposed to be an easy, trouble free and relaxed build, and before I've even started, I have found a whole batch of things which need changed/fixed. Such is life I guess. Initial impressions of the kit are mixed. There is some finely molded detail which looks good, but on the other hand, there are raised panel lines (which, tbh, I really don't mind), but the biggest issue I have found so far, is the lack of positive alignment features for many of the parts. I have a few ideas of how to model the aircraft, (doors open, winch fitted etc.) but haven't fixed on a particular mode yet. As far as I am aware, there is no photo etch or upgrade parts available for this particular kit, so I'll have to make do with what I have. I should mention that I plan on doing aircraft HKG-1 of the RHKAAF around the 1982 time frame. Decals don't exist so I'll need to figure out how to do my own, and I think the paint job, though relatively simple, will be extremely difficult to get accurate. If anyone knows of a more accurate kit, please speak up before I commit myself too far down this tortuous path