XT601 Wessex SAR2 a portrait in progress

[perdu]

Hi

I'm a bit nervous about doing this in here, with so many brilliant modellers hanging around.

I found this old Frog/Novo Wessex HAS1 fuselage in the garage drawer where I keep tools and odd lumps of metal for car projects.

my son ( I think it was he but may have been my missus, she built some Airfix birds and 1/12 soldiers years ago) had started putting it together but failed to become interested and it ended up in the garage drawer.

I had given up modelling back in 1985 and this lay undisturbed by the passage of time, no undercart, rotor gear or canopy parts just sad glued in thick clear poly windows and thick glue runs all over inside and out.

First I had to open up and ditch the old windows 'cos I intended making a detailed interior (ish) on an SAR2

I added milliput to the window recesses inside the two halves so that framing details could go in easily

Then the build began

I have cut out the doorway and begun the bulkheads and floor.

If you are interested I will add some more pics later, maybe tomorrow.

I will be showing how I made the new nose stone filter for the two Gnome engines as well as interior fittings, the stretcher and the driver's cabin too...

All undercarriage had to be home made too, which is not a drawback

[perdu]

I see my pictures are too big for comfort, I will have a go at reducing their bulk later

Bill

[Dave Fleming]

I see my pictures are too big for comfort, I will have a go at reducing their bulk later

Bill

Look fine from here.

[perdu]

Ah

My small (to allow for a couple of old pensioner's eyesight) screen res must be fooling me then

OK carry on it is then

[Vulcanicity]

This looks great, I'm glad you decided to post a WIP. Restoring old builds from days gone by can be fun, can't it?!

[perdu]

True

how about a couple before we old pensioners go out on the town?

waterproof inner lining going in over some of the myraid wires and pipes on he port wall

and the ceiling going up so the curvy fuselage formers are partly hidden

Edited March 7, 2012 by perdu

[perdu]

More of the build up

cabin seats being made

and cabin seats (starboard side) and the basket stretcher hanging from the roof as in the 4+ book which has been my build bible

Moulding the basket stretcher with one of Mrs P's clothes pegs carved to suit

Keep shtumm, I don't think she's noticed any missing

Moulds from an unattributed source for other jobs, these two are for moulding the blown window and the pilot's seat bases

Hope this is enough for tonight I have "Midget and Sprite Club" tonight so I'll be out from now

Edited March 7, 2012 by perdu

[Fozzy]

I'm glad you are having a go at restoring this.....I love the Wessex...I have flown in them many a time back in my AAC days!...looking forward to seeing this re built!

[Harry Lime]

Looking forward to seeing this story unfold. A tantalizing glimpse so far!

Mark.

[GH05T8]

Looks like you have some great detail work going on there. Nice!

Justin

[perdu]

Morning all

all the interior seating has been made and fitted in, the collectives made and linked together. move the pilot's collective and the number two's moves too. The drive shaft boxing and soundproofing fitted and paint tastefully sploshed around (the green is from Vallejo, 70974)

The cabin waterproofing is two tones, a sky coloured wall covering with a dull dark green floor and "skirting board", I used Tamiya colours for those.

with the fuselage "together" it was time to start the new nose filter

which became this after fettling

Hope this ordinary stuff isnt boring

I have to start on the main rotor gear this week, but we're not that far in this tale yet

Here're some of the ancillary bits awaiting fettling

Some more later but I will soon be at "where I am now" and I work slowly (exceedingly slowly) so fumes from paints and glues dont give my missus breathing problems so the tale will falter for a while, later on

A last, for now, some of the exterior detailing in situ, hose and electrical connections and the front leg pivot point stiffeners

later folks

[perdu]

Now with the fuselage built I got on with making the detailing bits

For such a beefy airframe Wessex has a surprising number of not very solid bits on her

For an example the tail is a collection of wire mesh constructions where cooling vents vie with ally panelling for attention. As do of course the upper sections of the fuselage around the rotor head. All need to be represented in one way or another

Frog in their wisdom, back in the early sixties gave the modeller two pieces of transparency to represent the main tail vents and my model should have had those. It didnt missing long ago

So I needed to find clear plastic thick enough to fit the front and rear mesh vents and with all my scrap box thrown away in a fit of "bugger these things I won't need THEM again"-itis back in the eighties I have little old stock to draw on. So I looked for a compromise and found several old Airfix clear stands that were too thin to do the job and popped them into the casing from a used "tea light" cleaned out first naturally

Hold the tray over another lit tea light and Bob's a welcome uncle, the pieces of kit stand began to melt and run together. I found that unless you are careful you can get air bubbles but a few bashes at this got me material I could work with

When filed and sanded this happens

more later if anyone wants it

bill

Edited March 10, 2012 by perdu

[Harry Lime]

Bill,

Keep it coming, good to see what can be done with the Frog kit.

Mark.

[Heart Failure]

Just lovin what you do here mate!

[perdu]

OK a bit more for those who are looking

The kit tailwheel beam was missing (Me surprised? After thirty years in a drawer? No) so I needed to make another. Since I saved the mould I used with my HC2 from last year and will need some more for the other two Wessexes coming along maybe in the autumn so I moulded a couple of beam bodies

This is the result of moulding this black polycard and adding ten or eleven other bits to it

The tailwheel beam is such an important part of the shape that I'd be ashamed to use the little lump of bent polystyrene that Matchbox used so I developed this method for the HC2 and carried it across to this cab. And as I have two more models one of which is a salvaged Matchboxer I intend keeping this method on all of my fleet.

The driver's seat (and his mate's) were made up from straight cut poly pieces and with a moulded seat pan that carries a survival pack I understand. Although after making them they needed sheepskin cushions I decided to make them fairly like the real thing, then add the sheepskin bits.

bare bones of a seat

tested for fit

then with added Milliput sheepskin covers

Oh yes

the real thing minus sheepskins

Hope this is of some interest

bill

[jimbuna]

Fascinating stuff...looking forward to seeing this progress.

[perdu]

A little bit more, been getting some of the decals printed and varnished today

I will post about them later, some horror stories to unload

Anyway

I needed to make transparencies for the fuselage as there were none anywhere in the drawer

When I made my HC2 I used the Matchbox canopy to mould one I could see through and as I still had this I decided to adapt it to fit Frog's much more accurate nose section

It had been moulded for the Matchbox kit after all

To get the edges pulled in properly I built a small vac forming box big enough to make small fuselages if I felt the urge but with a vac mask small eough to use on canopies

Here is the box with the milliputted Wessex canopy in place

I use an ancient Henry vacuum cleaner to add suckfulness and a propane gas lamp for heat. I made the holder from two bits of MDF with holes drilled to take drawing pins that can hold the acetate in place through both layers

Here is the moulded acetate still held in the holder

And removed from the holder but still on the former

Here's what it's all about making one of the test fittings

more later this week if you like

bill

Edited March 11, 2012 by perdu

[Vulcanicity]

Yes please! Great stuff...

[F-32]

Wow, that's really cool, I'm looking forward to seeing more

[jimbuna]

Yes...keep em coming.

[Fozzy]

Nice bit of Vac forming Bill!!

[perdu]

Cheers chaps

While I'm on a "mouldings" kick here's a couple of attempts I made to copy the wheels and rotor head details from a Frog kit

I made the moulds with Humbrol Maskol applied over a well soaped item and allowed to dry for a week or two, adding Maskol as the layers dried out

I have used that technique before but not for a whole unit, previously just making a half moulding that could be glued to its other half (made the same way).

I made a pair of PT6As for a Shorts Sherpa that way

Anyway

here's a couple of moulds and the first shots off them in Holts resin mixture, nowhere near good enough for a decent model but I do like to experiment, especially when no-one seems to say where they get their moulding stuff from. I saw moulding materials at Telford but the prices were blimmin' scary for an elderly pensioner like meself

There is one wheel (it did capture the hub webbing that I was interested in) and a rotor head plate awaiting trimming

I didn't use either of them but did do a further wheel with a little filler in, as the first shots were plain clearly brownish fi-glass resin and were impossibly brittle

All of these early tries were full of holes due to me having to drop the resin into a slit in the mould rather than having a clear filling path, but have all filled nicely with Squadron White Stuff and sanded out well

This was only a poor attempt at learning processes and I learnt enough to do it right if I have to (I think/hope)

I will get on with the build again soon, off to experiment with printing decalcomonies again

all good clean fun ish!

bill

[perdu]

been moving along quite nicely recently, time for some more of the model

detailing the front end

and "show a leg" and alook at some of the rescue equipment inside the cargo cabin

A view into the cockpit before the instrument console was fitted, showing the pedals with differential brakes fitted for the right hand seat only. This stuff becomes invisible from outside, you'd need to be in the cabin looking past the driver's feet to see them with the canopy on!

R.R.Gnome engine intakes were added down in the glory hole, rescued from the airbox of an old Airfix SH-3D, long gone the way of all flesh and polystyrene. [in fact you might find them under twentyfive years worth of landfill up Cannock way... If you do, you can have them, all of them including my beloved C-23A Sherpa]

This blooming wide load is the nose and filter box as defined by Matchbox

This is the way it should look according to the wonderful plans from the 4+ book

Fuel ducting and pipe runs were added to the underside, Frog made no attempt at them and Matchbox made a mad stab in the dark at them. All Wessexes I build do and will in future have them as on the real things. No two marks of Wessexy have the same underside ducting, thank the lord for the 4+ plans. Phew!

And here, the last for this afternoon (I have decals to print this afternoon) is the filter box underside showing the various vents, drains and the HC2 SAR2 and HU5 style landing light fairing, yet to have its lamp fitted.

Getting to the first coat of primer paint soon

God how I hate that stage

Edited March 13, 2012 by perdu

[Nobby]

Great work Bill! I love these restoration type builds! Never thought of using Maskol as a mould making material! Great job though! I'm starting to get an urge to add a "Jelly copter" to my stash!

[perdu]

I dont think you would have time Nobby:)

Me

lots of time but limited access to MY study now that Mrs P shares the pooter and has an intolerance to paints and glues. Slows me down no end...

have a little more

The details that make a model a portrait are what you dont know are there but add dimension to the picture

These fitments on a real Wessycopter seem to be for armaments, searchlight power and such stuff, just down in front of the door

And so I added them to the fuselage along with lots of other "atmosphere" gismos

Decent pictures of the port side are less common but there are a few that can be accessed to show the bits I like to use

Apologies for the horrid finish- it gets better ish

So, by now I think we ought to look at "what I got after adding all those gubbinses"

The basically finished airframe was treated to a coat of white (like an idiot I used Humbrol Matt White enamel, never ever again ) which did at least disclose the bits thhat needed resanding and polishing prior to top coating

And then needed even more later

Here she is masked for painting

No1

And matted with early adjustments

To digress (it isnt illegal, yet) here is the instrument console being built up so it can be tucked away under the windscreen. I did this earlier of course, just found the pictures

And this is the new nose in "the rough" awaiting cutting filing sanding and cutting filing and more sanding. It is a bloomin' awkward shape to get right

And as an appetiser, the test shot of the new decals I've been making for this one and her sister ship in a few months time (I'm taking a Wessexy break for a while, there is a Japanese 700 scale ship to finish before my local club excommunicate me. It is for a Hospice competition that you have to pay extra fines if it isnt presented at the Feb meeting. It wasnt and I desperately need to avoid even more money raising for the Hospice And I have Frog's Lightning F6 and Phantom F4K or M calling me to get on with them)

here are the test decals

'nuff for a while I hope

bill

Edited March 13, 2012 by perdu