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

[Flyingdutchman]

Still following your build, very inspiring to see the amount of detail!

Evert

Edited July 8, 2014 by Flyingdutchman

[Martian]

Thank you Evert, if the build inspires people then it will be worthwhile regardless of how it turns out. Can't wait for Monday when I finally get to order the Karel Doorman kit, the last attempt was stymied by a flat battery on my car.

Martin

[hgbn]

Looks great Martin. Its really a pleasure to follow your builds. I have no doubt in my mind that builds like this do inspire a lot of people. Can only recommend those which do feel inspired, but have second thoughts about wrestling such a project to give it a try. It will be such much rewarding in the end. Not only will you gain a lot of skills but it also will boost the joy of the completed model to know that you did it yourself. A old modeler I know which never have bought a single resin upgrade kit for any of his models, Once told me "If you can't make it yourself it doesn't count" Maybe a extreme argument but food for thought.

[Martian]

Thanks Henrik. Give a project a go. Hendie though he couldn't do it but now look what hes has done so far with his early Dauphin build; and he is hooked. Have a go, you know you want to.

Martin

PS: I have been working hard on the MAD boom housing and mounting for the Tracker today but they are not yet ready for photographs. A shoulder problem has slowed things down a bit and Sod's Law says it has to be my right one. Pooh!

[Martian]

The last few days have seen me struggling with the MAD gear for the Tracker. Most of the actual struggling bit was making the rear fuselage bulkhead which has to be very accurate in shape and size to allow the actual MAD boom housing to line up correctly. For the MAD boom itself, I cut the head off the two kit parts of the boom. To give the finished structure more strength, I drilled the end of the boom and inserted some of Albion Alloys aluminium rod. Over this was slid a section of Slater's plastic tubing to give the boom it's correct diameter. The boom housing was then constructed from plastic tubing and glued into place on the model. I have also taken time out to start adding assorted brackets and shelves for the equipment in the rear fuselage.

Thanks for looking

Martin

[heloman1]

Looking exquisite Martin, a shame all that work will be hidden.

Colin

[Martian]

Looking exquisite Martin, a shame all that work will be hidden.

Colin

Thanks Colin, the work won't be hidden as it will be on the digital photo frames.

Martin

[heloman1]

Good news Martin, I hoped it wouldn't be all in vein. But then what we do in modelling is never in vein, it's all for our own pleasure.

Colin

[JOCKNEY]

Hi Martin

Great to meet up with you and Gill up in my part of Scotland, glad you enjoyed your well earned break really enjoying following these builds, even if they do make me feel completely inadequate !

Cheers Pat

[Martian]

Good news Martin, I hoped it wouldn't be all in vein. But then what we do in modelling is never in vein, it's all for our own pleasure.

Colin

Sorry Colin, I meant to ask, was that sufficient plastic to keep you happy for now?

Thanks Pat, don't do yourself down though, like Hendie, have a go and surprise yourself! I miss being up there in Scotland and would love to be there getting a club going on the west coast, I'd even tolerate the midges!

Martin

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Astounded at the level of detail you are putting into the interiors.....A real privelege to see it before it's all buttoned up.

[Martian]

Astounded at the level of detail you are putting into the interiors.....A real privelege to see it before it's all buttoned up.

Thanks, I am glad you are enjoying the thread. More to come in the next day or so.

[perdu]

The MAD boom looks great Martin

Now then, when will you be inserting the electronic ghubbinses to make it work?

I do so love watching your builds unfold for us

brilliant

[Martian]

Thanks Perdu,, please don't put even more daft ideas in my head though, I am just about stupid enough to try them!

Martin

[Fritag]

Still gorgeous Martin (I mean the models and the workmanship!!!),

Just had the real pleasure of catching up on about a month's worth of posts in one go.

[Martian]

Still gorgeous Martin (I mean the models and the workmanship!!!),

Just had the real pleasure of catching up on about a month's worth of posts in one go.

Phew! I am glad you corrected yourself there! Thanks for the encouragement.

Martin

[Martian]

The last few days have seen me cutting holes in the tail section where photo etched mesh parts have to be fitted. The fit of most of the kit etched parts seems to be excellent. The exception are the two meshes that are supposed to fit over the two recessed areas at the end of the tail rotor housing, they are both way too small and the wrong shape. This leaves me with a bit of a problem; either I can leave the mesh off, I have certainly seen this on some Wessex and SH-34s, or I can try and scratch some new mesh parts. Given that these have to fit over a double curvature, my hopes aren't high there. ultimately, I think I will go for the latter solution first and leave the mesh off only if I can't scratch the parts to my satisfaction.

I also got the main mesh on the nose of the helicopter fitted last night. this went very well and I am happy with the result.

What I have done in all cases, is to go round the edge of the mesh and line it with very fine 10' thou' plastic strip as the kit edging is a bit woolly or even non-existent in places. When dry I will gently sand these bits back a little but I think that already they have improved the look of things.

Next up is to add structure underneath the nose mesh before turning my attention to the mesh on the top of the transmission housing.

Thanks for looking

Martin

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Martin, that edging technique works beautifully for the PE - great idea. Having just re-read the Vintage Pair Vampire thread and now this, today has been most educational.

[Martian]

Martin, that edging technique works beautifully for the PE - great idea. Having just re-read the Vintage Pair Vampire thread and now this, today has been most educational.

Thanks, it is a bit of a drag to do but I think it is worth going the extra mile.

Martin

[Martian]

For those wondering why there has not been a post for a few days now, the reason is that I have been finishing off the meshed over areas on the kit. There is one mesh area on the underside still to do but I cannot do this until I have sorted out the oil cooler. Anyway one of these areas, the very tip of the tail that I referred to in my post of the 16th July, has given me a great deal of head scratching and aggravation. Eventually I tried a technique I watched my mechanic using on one of my TR7 cars when he was welding a replacement section of metal. First I stuck some Tamiya tape over the areas in question and then drew round the area needing to be meshed over. This was then removed from the model and stuck flat over some Eduard etched mesh. The mesh was then cut out, the tape removed and the mesh bent until it fitted two of the three sides of the area to be covered. These two sides were then super glued to the model. When all this was set, the third side was carefully bent into place and some more super glue carefully applied. When all was cured, any rough edges were then gently filled down (I see from the pictures that I need to go back and finish off one little bit). Finally some 10 x 20 thou' strip was used to edge the areas in and tidy things up. When set, this too was given a light sanding. All this sounds simple in principle but it really pushed my abilities to the limit and took a very long time to get right. I would advise anyone wanting to go down this road with their kit to have a really good think as to whether they feel they can accomplish it before having a go.

After all of the above drama, finishing off the meshed area of the transmission housing went like a breeze. It has to be said that the quality and fit of the photo etch in the kit is very good and on the whole all one has to do is to proceed very slowly and methodically to be assured of a good result. Gallery have even partially defeated the Carpet Monster by sandwiching their photo etched frets between two layers of low tack clear cellophane. All one has to do is to release the part in question from it's fret by cutting through the cellophane and peel back the cellophane when one is ready to use the part. A great idea that other manufacturers of etched parts might wish to follow, simples!

Anyway, enough waffle, on to the pictures.

Thanks for looking

Martin

[hendie]

this thread just continues to amaze and astound me Martin - great work

[Martian]

Thanks Hendie, the last bit amazed me that I could carry it off, my confidence was not at all high when I started but seeing as the Dutch helos seemed to have managed to have kept their mesh in these areas, I felt that I had to give it a try.

Martin

[perdu]

That mesh etch looks a darned sight handsomer than the mesh transfers I made for my SAR2 Wessex last year

Top quality work Martin, I love it

b

[shark 64]

thats some clean work. Looks great

Oliver

[Martian]

Thanks for the kind comments Guys, all encouragement helps when things start getting tough on a project. I have a few bits on the SH-34 I need to get done and then I think I will take a break, if that is the right word for it, and have another bash at the Tracker.

Martin