SA. 365C-1 DAUPHIN from Heller

[hendie]

Yes - nose wheel, and shortened leg. Is the difference between pedal styles because only one seat has toe brakes? T

Addictive, this scratch stuff, isn't it?

Yes, I believe so, and Yes, definitely so,

[georgeusa]

Addictive, this scratch stuff, isn't it?

Umm, his avatar a real picture. Don't you think he looks a bit like an addictive personality?

[hendie]

Okay, own up - who stole my weekend? I know I was due one but I sure feel like I haven't actually had one.

So this is my last attempt at foot pedals/brakes/fenestron control whatever..... as you can see, by now my handling has completely removed the seats - thankfully, without any damage to the seats or the belts.

I decided to add a bit of PE from Eduard to add some visual interest, then I fitted the first two foot pedals. I know that technically, it's not correct, but I think I am allowed a little leeway.

FYI the large hole at the front of the floor is where Heller would have you put the those controls. (them pilot fowks must have awfy lang legs)

Port side done....

That was followed by the stbd side foot controls, complete with brake pedals and lots of cursing.

I tried to add some details that looked as if it belonged there, and looked something (though not very much!) like the real thing.

- That's perspective making my finger look like that - honest. But as you can see, my fingers are rather large to be working on something so darn small. Between my eyesight going from bad to worse and trying to work with fingers like pigs ti.... well, you know what I mean - It's just very, very difficult trying to add detail and be neat and accurate and all that stuff.

I think once it's painted it will look okay, especially as once everything else is in place, hardly any of it will be able to be seen.

I placed the instrument panel in situ to get an idea of what it's going to look like.

yes, yes, yes - I am glad you lot of sadists forced me into redoing the instrument panel. - It does look way better than it did first time around.

The only other advance I made this weekend was on the undercarriage leg. (yes, only one!)

We had unanimously decided that the Trumpeter nose wheel looked best suited for the Heller kit. There was just one small problem... how could I attach it?

I had considered making my own little scratch built leg (see photo's of brass tubing a few posts back...) but was worried that the joint where the axle would meet the oleo would be too weak. Then it dawned on me - why not use the Trumpeter main leg?

Well, for a start, it was way too long. However, all I really needed was the base of the leg, where the axle and the base of the oleo met. So I cut that off, drilled it out to accept a length of stainless steel wire acting as an oleo.

Then I decided I also needed the section where the fescalized portion met the upper part of the leg....

as I had intended to use the Eduard torsion links. However, after fitting them I thought they looked a bit oversized.

And I noticed that when I included these parts, no matter how I tried, I could not get the top of the wheel and the bottom of the fairing to overlap.

This photo below shows exactly what I mean.... When sitting on the ground, all photo's I can find of Dauphins with the spats removed clearly show that the top of the wheel overlaps the bottom of the fairing by 1/8 - 1/4 of the wheel diameter.

The a/c would have to be flying for the u/c leg to be as long as it appears below.

and just to confirm that - here is the best comparison I can do with both u/c legs in place....

After pouring over my reference photo's I believe I have found a workable solution. I may need to trim another millimeter or so from the fairing (already removed 2mm+ from the length), but I think I can get it to work.

If only I could find my weekend again....

[hendie]

Right - I am determined to get this cabin closed up sometime soon. Ergo.... need to get the thing detailed and painted.

I was quite pleased with my progress on the foot pedals the other night and was determined that I was going to get them finished. And by "finished", I meant painted!

So, starting with good intentions, I picked up the cabin floor and the instrument panel and lo and behold... I thought I would add some more "realism" by adding the bracketry that surrounds the foot pedals. Stoopid... stoopid... stoopid!!

It must have taken me about an hour, and numerous little strips of wine foil until I got some brackets that I was satisfied with..... (the yellow parts) - they are so darn small I couldn't get a decent photo of them.

I painted the bottom of the pedal assemblies black, then white up to the pedals themselves. On the port side the pedals are just black rubber coated rods, so they were painted black. On the stbd side, I gave the pedals themselves a coat of steel, and my homegrown valves on the rear of the pedals were given a coat of brass.

This front shot shows them in a slightly better focus....

While that paint was drying, it was time to attack the instrument panel.... and hey, whooda thunkit ? - I decided to add some more detail to the instrument panel too! Why??? who knows - I just thought it somehow needed a bit more detail. It was a bit "flat" looking and I thought some 3 dimensional features would bring it to life.

In my brief moment of insanity, I decided some buttons were called for.

I dug out the smallest diameter styrene rod I could find, took some very fine slices, and stuck them (the ones I could actually find after cutting them) to some Tamiya tape (so I didn't lose them).

They are so small, my camera couldn't even focus on them - this is the best shot I could get.

Out came the paints, and a little tickle of red and yellow was applied. As I mentioned previously, accuracy is probably going out the window here, but as long as I get the "feel" of the a/c then I am satisfied.

While the paints were out, I thought it prudent to throw some at the instrument panel to add a bit of visual interest that no-one is ever, ever going to see, or be interested about! ('cept me)

I also added two very small rivets to the lower section of the instrument panel. They are supposed to represent the air vents which are present on the real a/c. They are also supposed to be a white or ivory color, but I left them natural stainless steel just to add a bit of texture to the panel.

I lost about half of those micron sized buttons while trying to transport them between the tape, the glue, and the instrument panel.

Yes they are a bit over-sized but so are my fingers, and this is about the smallest I think I could ever go.

I think it looks reasonable, ... Could be better ? Yes, no doubt, but for my first foray into this aircraft malarkey, I think I can pass this part off as done.

( I intended to add a small piece of PE to that gap in the lower center part of the panel, but seem to have mislaid it for the moment).

I could now add the instrument panel to the cabin floor.

Different angle....

So, that, in a nutshell is the total sum of tonight's efforts.

I feel reasonably confident that I can go ahead and fix the rest of the cabin gear in place now.

I'm still working on the undercarriage and think I am getting there. I was searching through some photo's last night and realized that Heller have the undercarriage too far forward. Thankfully I caught that before committing to gluing the undercarriage in place.

[georgeusa]

I think your instrument panel looks fine. The little colored nubbins do help liven it up nicely.

[hendie]

thanks George. it's definitely a step up from the original kit part.

[hendie]

I managed to get an hour or two down in the basement this week. Progress is still painfully slow.

- And I must apologize in advance for my juxtaposed subject areas, I know I am jumping from topic to topic and not really following any logical build sequence.

- I have really been struggling with trying to figure out how to get this kit together over the last few weeks. Heller would have you fit the central bulkhead to the cabin floor - at an angle which must later line up with the structure between the front and rear doors. Then the cabin floor and the cabin roof are fitted to one side of the fuselage, and the central bulkhead fits snugly between the floor and the roof - before finally closing up the fuselage.

Well, that may sound all right in theory, but when Heller do not include any alignment features, and the kit is warped, it kind of throws a spanner in that simple plan.

I have been trying to figure out the best/easiest/most appropriate assembly sequence that gives me a chance of having everything in it's proper place, relative to the other components, and still have something that vaguely resembles an aircraft that hasn't been stepped on by Godzilla.

I guess that's a long way of saying, that I have been doing pretty much anything in order to avoid the uncertainty involved in assembling this little beast.

So, still working on the cabin area... I got the two front seats glued in place, along with the cyclics. I then did some dry fitting and discovered that the section of the console that nests up against the front of the a/c (the white section in the photo below) is wider than the "panel" section on the front transparency which means you can see inside the horrible white bit below.

That meant I had to cover that section up. A bit of sheet styrene was put in place and I'm using liquid cement to bond it in place. That will get folded over the top of the instrument panel and trimmed back later tonight.

That just leaves the collectives to fit in the front end. Checking my reference photo's once again, I find that the two collectives are slightly different.

On the stbd side, the back end of the collective is mounted in, or covered by another console. I determined that this collective will be pretty much impossible to see once closed up, so I am using the kit part (left). - I have glued a piece of scrap styrene to the kit part. Once the glue is fully cured, I can trim and shape the plastic to look more like the console.

The port collective is completely different. This collective appears to come directly out of the floor where it is covered by a black rubber boot. On each side of the collective is a panel shaped like the quadrant of a circle.

Near the top of the quadrant is a support/spacer bar which I have tried to replicate here by adding a small piece of copper wire. The collective lever itself is a piece of stainless steel wire. I shall cut the handle off the unused kit part and fit it to this collective - probably at the last minute before I glue the floor in as I'll probably knock it off if I try gluing it on now.

I found a photo of the interior which shows a number of what I presume to be life jackets, rolled up and clipped to the central support inside the cabin. So, in keeping with the rest of the color scheme, I added a blue "panel" to the central upright. Now I just need to figure out how to depict little rolled up life jackets....

Yet another inaccuracy in the Heller kit is the fenestron drive shaft, or lack thereof. That was remedied by slapping on a few small shaped styrene blocks.

Again, I used liquid cement. It means I usually have to leave things overnight before I can aggressively handle those parts - i.e. filing, sanding and shaping. I tried using superglue, but unless there is a reasonably large surface area for the CA to grip, I find that parts break easily so I prefer using the liquid cement even although it makes the process somewhat longer.

Parts are in place below, and can be shaped tomorrow. - and just after I took this photo, I thought of a better way to replicate the drive shaft housing - darn it!

Sheesh, I'm all over the place in this build - front cabin, rear cabin, tail, and now the undercarriage....

I reworked the shape of the fairing slightly as when I checked back against my reference photo's I noticed that there was a distinct curvature from top to bottom on the rear of the fairing, and there was a definite slope/angle to the front of the fairing. A curved file took care of the back end while another bit of styrene glued onto the front end was then shaped to provide the angular look I needed.

Then in a moment of complete recklessness, I decided to start the process of assembling this bad boy.

Figuring I had to start somewhere, I opted for the interior roof panel. - where the warp is at its greatest, and where I probably have the least amount of material to grip onto in order to try and straighten it out.

After much cogitation, I realized that I probably do have to follow the Heller build sequence, that is, gluing all components to one side of the fuselage. However, I need the other side for alignment, what little there is of it!

So, I taped the fuselage up, slapped in some glue and then stuck the roof in....

Yes, it really did take all these clamps to try and eliminate the warp. Trouble is, there that many clamps in there, I can't see if I have actually got rid of the warp, or just obscured it by the number of clamps.

I guess I'll find out tomorrow.

I may get a coat of primer on this before the summer is over..... !

[hendie]

Only a small update this time around.

The front end of the instrument panel was closed up. It doesn't look great but it's going to be hidden behind nose panels so it doesn't have to be perfect.

Collectives now in place....

When I took all the clamps off this morning, I discovered that there was still a small gap on the stbd side between the roof panel and the fuselage. It's not too bad and I think I can work around it.

I figured the next step was to fit the central bulkhead in place as this sets the gap between the floor and the roof.... of course, it decided to go and break while I was maneuvering it around during a dry fit. So, to make things easier, I chopped the other side off too.

That allowed me to fit one side of the bulkhead to the fuselage with a clamp.

The fit turned out to be not too bad at all.

You can just about see the gap between the roof panel and the fuselage in this shot here....

Jumping about as is my want.... I decided it was time to start attacking the engine cowlings. Of course Heller has molded in the wrong vents and intake and access panels etc. In fact the entire back end of the fairing is incorrect. However, this front section is useable - provided I fill in the molded in vents and make my own.

A little bit of sanding later.... It needs a coat of primer to tell me how good/bad the sanding is but I'll wait until I have added the fairing at the back as well.

I'll also need to do some scribing but there's a lot of other little paraphemalia to add to this part before I am finished.

Then it was time to start putting the front end together.

I masked off the canopy to prevent unwanted glue getting everywhere. Then I used canopy glue to stick the two sides together.

I'm not sure how successful this will be as I had to clamp to two halves to get them to meet in the middle.

I just checked the bond after leaving it for around 7 or 8 hours and found a gap at the top of the windscreen. - I had no option but to try and stick it together with superglue. Hopefully, the masking will help prevent any fogging - I'll just have to wait and see.

[Nigel Heath]

I only just found your latest thread hendie - sorry for being so late to the party. I have not read through it all yet but what you have done so far looks excellent. I will try to catch up over the next few days.

Nigel

[hendie]

I wondered when you would arrive at the party!

[Nigel Heath]

Right I am now fully up to speed, on board and eagerly awaiting the next update.

The work you have done on that cockpit really does look good, the instrument panel especially so.

For gluing the glazing I would not dismiss five minute epoxy (e.g. Devcon) - it is liquid enough to make quite a neat job, pretty clear, there is no risk of fogging, it gives a very strong joint and as it says on the tin, sets in minutes. Just a thought to file away for future reference.

I have a vested interest in this build as I have an ancient 1/50th Heller Gazelle in my stashette (as g-usa calls it, I am no longer allowed to call it a stash). I took some pictures of it tonight and will be posting them elsewhere in a minute.

[hendie]

If it's anything like the Heller Dauphin, you'll spend a lot of your time trying to figure out the best way to locate parts against each other - I think there's only about 3 actual location "pins" on this one.

Their favorite method seems to be just giving you a very faint hint of a raised line for you to locate things with - which is not really much good at all.

[hendie]

I finally took the plunge..... after staring at this for weeks and wondering what was the best way to attack it, I was still no further forward with my decision.

Therefore, tonight I decided to jump right in and deal with the consequences later. After much deliberation, and not without a little hesitation, I slapped some glue down one side of the cabin floor and stuck it in place.

Then quickly attached the other side, taped it up and hoped that nothing moved in the process. That was set aside and it'll be tomorrow before I have enough courage to remove the tape and see what we've got.

Talking about not having any location points.... Here's what I had to do with the engine cowling to get it together.

The Heller front intake is "sort of" correct - in that it's in the right place, and the right shape - but too small according to my reference photo's

A few minutes with a couple of files and that was soon fixed. Dunno why I bother sometimes.... this is going to be covered by a wire grill anyway!

According to my reference piccies, there are a few odds, sods, and openings around the cowling. Once again, Heller's interpretation is a bit off the mark - and the detail is also a bit soft here.

My first attempt went quite well... until I decided that I had made the aperture too long!

My second attempt was much better. I can adjust the first one by adding a little bit of styrene in back, then fill it and open the hole out to the right size. No big deal, but I should have thought a tad more about it before jumping right in there.

Then a second hole was opened up. I'm not sure what it's actually for but it's definitely in the photo's of HKG-1.

I need to fill in Heller's various indentations and remove their lumps but I have a little bit of work still to do on the cowling so I'll maybe wait until later before I do all that.

Next on the list was to open up the engine intakes. trying to figure out their actual location was difficult. Most photo's I have of the aircraft are taken from the side and from the ground (obviously).

I could tell that the intakes are circular and not square as Heller have depicted. I can also tell that they can be viewed from the side in such a way that the opening must be off center according to the parts I have.

Therefore, this is my best guess at the center of the intake location. - Let's hope it works.

and now it's time for dinner.....

more later... maybe !

[Nigel Heath]

Nice work hendie but the rear of the cabin looks a bit empty - what happened to those nice seats you made?

If it's anything like the Heller Dauphin, you'll spend a lot of your time trying to figure out the best way to locate parts against each other - I think there's only about 3 actual location "pins" on this one.

Their favorite method seems to be just giving you a very faint hint of a raised line for you to locate things with - which is not really much good at all.

Hmm, I see what you mean. Please excuse the minor thread hijack, I had not looked that closely before but there is only one location point on the main fuselage halves:

The shape of the Gazelle is much simpler than yours though and putting in a couple of card locators should make things easier.

Back to our main presenter who is now fed and watered.

[hendie]

Nice work hendie but the rear of the cabin looks a bit empty - what happened to those nice seats you made?

They are on standby in a safe place Nigel.

The (half baked) plan is to:

Glue the floor to the stbd side - done

Fit the central bulkhead

Close up the fuselage

Cut out the port rear cabin door (for the winch fit)

Somehow glue the seats and the windows in there

With my fingers flailing about, it's too likely they will get damaged if I fit them in there just now

[Nigel Heath]

Ah, I thought you had permanently closed up the fuselage. Good dinner?

[hendie]

No no no, even moi isn't that stoopid (most of the time!). I just taped it together to try and give it some shape and get things to go where they're supposed to go.

Dinner? well,... grilled jalapeno spam on pane turano toast - bet you're jealous aren't you???

To be honest, it hit the spot nicely - I had a huge rib eye steak last night from the bar-b-q, and really couldn't be bothered faffing about tonight. I just wanted something simple and quick - no fuss.

[Nigel Heath]

grilled jalapeno spam on pane turano toast

I have no idea what this is - leave out the spam and it could be quite nice though.

[georgeusa]

Poor Hendie! Nigel, Pete and I lurking about here at the same time. Something wicked this way comes, me thinks. I am confident your front cabin will be ideally aligned inside the fuselage and when you remove the tape and clamps everything will fit as it should.

[georgeusa]

I have no idea what this is - leave out the spam and it could be quite nice though.

In the great southwest, to make our mystery meats more palatable (Maps is spam backwards. And maps are what you would need to track down the different types of meat by-products and meat-like products that contribute to the delicacy we call Spam.), they come ready made with Jalapenos added to it. Gives it a bit of spice and also hides the taste of Spam's creation from the RNA refuse of the rectal regions of ruminants. Ya'll come back, hear!!!

[Nigel Heath]

Poor hendie having to resort to such food - he must have finished all the crisps I sent.

I knew things were bad over there but I had no idea how desperate the food supply situation was.

Do you need more crisps?

[Pete in Lincs]

Aha!

Just found this stealth thread.

Looking good so far, Hendie.

Did you remember to bleed the toe brakes?

George, I think I just became a vegetarian. Thanks for that!

Right, Insomnia struck, So I've read this, And now it's time for breakfast,

Then off to work (Today I are mostly talking to dispatchers & pilots)

Back in about 9 hours or so.

Cheers

Pete

[hendie]

Poor hendie having to resort to such food - he must have finished all the crisps I sent.

I knew things were bad over there but I had no idea how desperate the food supply situation was.

Do you need more crisps?

Thanks for the offer but we have some friends coming over from Scotland in about 3 weeks - they are bringing the obligatory red cross parcels over with them. - mega soor plooms, lucky tatties, flying saucers, Bisto, crisps, tea bags, suet, treacle toffee, and wads of other stuff - but nae mince pies or black pudding!

[infofrog]

you are doing a amazing job Hendie

Rick

[hendie]

teeny weeny update tonight. I've kind of boxed myself into a corner here where there's only so much I can do as almost everything is dependent upon other parts.

I opened the fuselage up tonight and it looks like the floor maintained position and is looking good with a good bond to the fuselage stbd side.

I was going to fit the central bulkhead middle portion but remembered just in time that I want to fit some life jackets to it. Which introduced the first problem of this evening - what do you make life jackets out of???

I opted to use some kitchen roll, barely wetted with water to allow me to roll it up nice and fine. Then it was given a coat of white glue. Once that's dry, I'll cut it to length and paint it orange... and we'll see how that turns out.

Next job for this evening was to open up the engine intakes.

I had drilled pilot holes last night, and thought I had been reasonable accurate with their positioning.... apparently not! It just goes to show you what being just fraction out can do. Thankfully, I realized it in time and could correct it before it was too late.

Fixed ! well, it will be after a little remedial work around the intake. - Then I discovered I don't have any styrene tubing of the right diameter (I was going to line the intakes with that) so I can't go any further on the intakes until I get hold of some.

I did take the opportunity to open out some holes on the sides of the cowling. - Hellers detail was very soft, and if you look at photo's of Dauphins, these are very prominent features on the sides of the cowling. I'm not sure what they actually are, but presume them to be engine mounting points and gearbox mounting points. The cowling is also molded around these features so I used a file to try and replicate that.

Next in line was to start on the fairing between the engine cowling and the tail spine. The Heller kit is completely incorrect so I shall have to scratch that part.

I carried out a quick dry fit of the supplied kit part....

Judging by my reference photo's, this curves up too sharply from the spine. - although it almost looks reasonable from behind....

Luckily Heller supplied an engine cowling for another variant.... once again, no location points whatsoever!

Blu-Tac to the rescue!

I think this is more like the profile I am looking for the transition from the spine to the cowling.

I have glued the single engine cowling and left it for the evening.

Tomorrow I think I'll hack off the back end (of this cowling!) and start scratching the C1 version. Well, that's the plan anyway.

now I'm off to order some styrene tubing....