Karel Doorman The Last Cruise, Grumman S-2A Tracker and SH-34 Helicopter

[Martian]

That is seriously useful and a Dutch Tracker in good nick to boot!

Many thanks

Martin

[Martian]

Just a quickie to let you all know where we are at the close of play tonight. Most of today has been spent measuring and marking the interior of the fuselage ready for the installation of structure to commence.

A bit too boring for a picture really. Hope fully some more interesting updates over the weekend.

Martin

[JOCKNEY]

I will be a light to mid grey, that's all I can say as, sadly, I am colour blind and FS numbers mean little or nothing to me. I will probably get all the lighter tones of grey I have out and get Gill to decide.

Martin

Hi Martin

Would that be "50 shades of grey" by any chance !

Look forward to following this one, another classic from you.

Cheers Pat

[Martian]

Thanks Pat, no pressure from you then!

Martin

[JOCKNEY]

Thanks Pat, no pressure from you then!

Martin

That's what's great about BM, us mere mortals can watch and learn from the "Grand Masters" of the hobby, good night Yoda !

Cheers Pat

Or should that be "paddy one"

[Martian]

Following an alcohol fuelled lunch time caused by being made to visit a local brewery followed by a real ale pub, play got off to rather a late start today. Ale and precision modelling do not make good bed fellows and forty winks rapidly became four hundred!

Still, this evening I got the half bulkheads finished and some structure added to the little compartment to the left of the entrance. I am toying between two ideas for this area either will be interesting. Anyway, goodnight for now and pictures in the morning.

Thanks for stopping by.

Martin

Edit: I have been reading "Flying Stations" a book on the history of the Australian Fleet Air Arm over the last few days and keep looking at my Kinetic S-2E/F kit. Someone please stop me now! To have these two kits on the go as well as the S-2E/F at the same time really would be pure insanity!

[Martian]

Where were we? Ah, yes, This morning I finished the step up to the observers' stations and added the lip to the door of the flight deck.

So, here are the pictures of this work and yesterday's efforts.

Not sure how much I will get done today as I am running very short on the correct size of plastic strip and the local Hobbycraft has stopped stocking the stuff. Perhaps I will break open the SH-34.

Thanks for looking

Martin

[Martian]

Having run out of the correct size of plastic strip needed for the Tracker and not wanting to drive over to Salisbury to get some more, I decided that, pending restocking tomorrow, I would make a start on the SH-34. It's a dual build anyway so why not?

In keeping with my usual policy of tackling as many as possible of the areas of a build that are worrying me I began by taping the fuselage halves together and marking out where the sonar bay opening should be. The kit does supply an engraved panel line on the underside of the fuselage insert but it is in the wrong place and is the wrong size and shape. Using copies from the servicing manual for the SH-34 and Wessex as a guide, the required hole was chain drilled and opened up. The fuselage floor was then dry fitted into the fuselage and a corresponding hole made n this part.

This might seem a little dull but, get this wrong and the whole layout of the cabin will be thrown out, leading to ever bigger issues later on in the build. The next step is to fill and re-scribe parts of the cabin floor to more accurately reflect the AS variant of the helicopter.

Thanks for looking.

Martin

[Martian]

I got some more done on the SH-34 last night. Most of this was opening up vents in the back bulkhead of the Transmission compartment. This was well fiddly and too ages to do neatly. I fully intend to have this opened up to view so a decent detailing job is going to be required in this area.

Also seen in the accompanying pictures is the top of the transmission compartment where I have begun to open up the areas covered by mesh (thankfully provided as etch in the kit).

I have been playing with the fuselage inserts and am coming to the conclusion that, with the cabin door open, they will make the fuselage walls look far too thick. I also feel I can do a crisper and more detailed job in this area, so it will be out plastic strip very soon. A few adjustments will probably be needed to allow the rear of the cabin roof to fit if I do go down this route.

I went to one of the LMS this morning and bought in a load of plastic strip, so work can resume later today on the Tracker.

If everybody is OK with this, I think I will do separate posts for the Tracker and SH-34, even if I have progress to report on both on the same day. I think it will help to avoid confusion all round and I am easily confused as anyone who knows me will testify.

Thanks for looking

Martin

[Martian]

Apologies for the lack of an update yesterday Guys. Sadly, a very close friend died and I did not feel much like doing any modelling at all. I would probably messed it up if I had tried anyway. Hopefuly I can get a bit done today.

Martin

[Martian]

I have been spending a few hours this morning in carving out the remaining panels in the panel above the transmission housing. Due to the increasing fragility of the part as more sections are removed, this has taken a fair bit of time. In an effort to avoid placing too much stress on the remaining plastic of the part with a scalpel, I tried a different technique. I chain drilled the area to be removed from the part with a 1mm drill bit, keeping the holes as close together as I could manage. I then very gently used the drill bit in a sawing motion to join the holes and remove the bulk of the plastic in question. This was followed up with tidying up the opening with a brand new number 11 blade.

A lot of work but the result can be seen in the accompanying pictures. I think I will do a bit on the Tracker now and worry about fitting the PE mesh parts another day.

Thanks for looking.

Martin

[Martian]

I managed to get a start made on fitting the main structural members to the forward fuselage this evening. Hopefully I can get this finished tomorrow and get a start on putting stringers and things in place. I have to make a decision as to how much of the forward cabin structure to show. Some pictures show the observer's stations completely lined with sound proof cladding, some show none and others show it partially covered. It looks as though the cladding might not have been the most robust of stuff. Wanting to show some airframe structure, I will probably go for the half and half option.

Anyway, here's where we are at as of the close of play tonight.

Thanks for looking

Martin

[heloman1]

Excellent work Martin, the main rotohead grill guard was a problem on the Italeri kit too, there is no quick solution to a good looking part. The PE parts are IMO not good and incorrect for a Wessex. I need to look closely at my Gallery kit, se how they have tackled that area.

Colin

[Martian]

Thanks Colin, I will probably end up getting the Eduard sets for my Italeri Wessex, hope they are better than the kit offering and use the Italeri bits on my Revell Wessex, nothing to lose there anyway.

Martin

[heloman1]

I had a look at the Eduard PE set, apart from a decent set of seatbelts, I didn't see much of use. The main point which is incorrect is the part you will be using for the mesh on the grill frame you have modified. For your purposes on the H-34 is correct in that it has a hole port rear quarter, for the Wessex it is incorrect. Maybe if you gue PE parts 20, 21,23 +49 on top of your modified part it wil do the job. I note it has no hole in it but does that matter? Aslo part 52 the mesh for the top of the tail rotor GB will need to have the centre drilled out. The Gallery PE parts do seem to have more finesse about them over the Italeri PE parts and I only see one pait of rudder pedal parts 36.

Colin

[Martian]

Thanks for that Colin. It is good to know the kit part is correct and as for the Wessex, that will have to wait for another day; I think I have enough on my plate with these two builds already.

Martin

[abat]

That interior tracker detail is looking very good Martin. Keep it coming.

[Martian]

Thanks Abat, I hope to get in another session today.

Martin

[Martian]

Over the last day and a bit, I have been working on getting the framework for the observers' equipment in place. I have now got this roughly laid out and all it really needs is a bit of a clean up when all the glue has cured. I have a picture of the wreck of a sunken Tracker, where the escape hatches are both open and you can see down into the observers' cabin. What I have achieved thus far recreates the impression conveyed by that particular picture, so I am well happy with how that has gone so far. I did try and get a picture of the fuselage halves taped together and looking down through the hatches but I think it was a picture to far for my poor little camera. I will get Gill to have a bash tomorrow but I am none too hopeful.

What I was not quite so happy about was when I started to fit the parts of the racking into place, and discovered that I had cut the opening into the flight deck rather too large. Cue and bout of loud and particularly creative cussing! Having calmed down a bit, I carved off the lip of the doorway and let in a strip of 40 x 40 'thou plastic card to narrow the opening. Once the glue has cured, I shall have to clean up the repair and create a new lip to the door. I thought things had been going a bit too well recently. Bugger!

Thanks for looking

Martin

[Martian]

I didn't get anything done yesterday as I was at the Poole show, a really enjoyable day out BTW, and was to tired to reliably do anything.

Feeling refreshed today I decided to take a short break from the rest of the interior and get started on the weapons bay. Having marked out the position of the various frames I cut these out with the aid of the Albion Alloys measuring machine. This made very short work of what could have been a very long and tedious job. Holes were then drilled in the frames for the roof of the bay. The irregular gaps you can see in the pictures are where there are some more substantial frames on the real machine. These will ave to be made individually and, sadly, the measuring machine cannot help me on this one. Once these frames are in place the inboard wall of the bay will receive a capping piece of plastic card to finish it off.

Thanks for looking

Martin

[Martian]

Yesterday evening I made a start on the remaining frames for the weapons bay. The first one was such a pig to do that I decided to do something a little more therapeutic. I made a start in fitting stringers to the inside of the observers' cabin. I got so lost in this that it was dark before I knew it, so I left doing the pictures until this morning. Although there is a way still to go with them, I feel that the stringers are really bringing the interior to life.

I have been racking my brains as to how I might be able to show the entire cabin without resorting to a cutaway model, which I do not really consider suitable for this project. Any thoughts Guys?

Thanks for looking and I will catch up with you later.

Martin

[Arie]

Looking great! You are truly patient & this is most enjoyable to watch! Keep up the good work...

[Martian]

Thanks Arie, it is fair to say that, thus far I am having a ball with this kit. I guess it might have something to do with the fact that I have wanted to do this subject in 148 for well over twenty years now. The only frustrating thing is that persistent health issues keep me from working as long on the build as I would wish to at a time. I do get extremely tired.

I have been cleaning up the flight deck rear bulkhead where I had to correct my little faux pas, in preparation for another go at detailing it. I would like to get the basic flight deck structure in place soon.

I have also been removing a rather unrealistic looking shelf on the SH-34 where the instrument panel coaming should be. This leads me to suspect that the coaming itself will need either modifying or replacing. Pictures of that tomorrow.

Martin

[Tim T]

Martin

It is always a joy watching your builds and it is really good to see you enjoying yourself on this one. The work so far is truly brilliant and I can only aspire to what you achieve. It does make me want to push myself and see what I can do and that is what BM is about.

Just remember, you don't need to push yourself for the audience here. We can wait! Your health is more important.

Tim

[Martian]

Thanks Tim and I will try and remember your advice. At the moment though, I am more likely to push myself too far because I get carried away with the builds.

I must also bear in mind that I need to allow some time to get stuff finished in time for Telford (thinks Rotachute in particular), I have two builds for that that I have not even started yet!

Martin