infofrog Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 Hendie . just amazing detail work on a small scale project .. Great job Rick 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamden Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 Absolutely stunned - Great work loving watching this beaten into submission Roger 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abat Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 Love your work Hendie. I also share your etch / superglue phobia. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Headroom Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 [ ] ^^ me being speechless! Trevor the gobsmacked 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Heath Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hendie Posted April 20, 2015 Author Share Posted April 20, 2015 thanks guys.... d'ya think I should be seeking counseling ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abat Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 Nah, can't beat scratch-building for therapy. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 You probably need your bumps felt, But, think of the money counselling would cost & what models you could buy with it. You're certainly helping most of us in your struggles (some are beyond help)* so all in all I vote you carry on until a relapse occurs. * No names etc. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HAMP man Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 Nurse!!! he's out of bed again!! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hendie Posted April 20, 2015 Author Share Posted April 20, 2015 (edited) well, the madness is getting progressively worse.... If you look at any photo's with the engine doors open, there is some quite distinctive and substantial framing on the inside of the doors. That will have to be replicated somehow. My thoughts (scattered as they are) at the moment are: Cut off the bits I just attached (I think they are slightly out of position anyway), cut off the other kit bits protruding off the door(s). Vacu-form a new skin from the bare doors and then re-attach all the cut off bits to the new skin. A single sheet of styrene should give me something approaching scale thickness of the skin. I can then cut up the existing kit door into sections in order to provide me with the framing parts, all pre-shaped and ready to glue. I am also toying with the idea of opening up the second engine door - generally when the nose is open, so are both engine doors. <- That also means that if I screw up the red doughnut around the exhaust, it won't be as noticeable as you'll only be able to see less than a quarter of it around the top of the exhaust Of course, my new plan now dictates that I also have to make a whole new bunch of handles - whoopee! <- The "as molded" handles are also out of position if anyone is interested (as well as being well, ... let's just say... not very handle like) ..... NURSE !!!! Edited April 20, 2015 by hendie 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perdu Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 Situation normal All Italeried up Looks OK hendie, just carry on as you are It'll soon be right Oh yes don't forget to save some of that lovely wire for the guard rims at the end of the jet pipes, the ones that stop the hot pipe from puncturing the flotation doohdahs when wet stuff happens Looks exactly the right size Well you know me, I was going to advise using thinner door panels there anyway on the nose, it is going to be great The man who can calmly get stuck so deeply into the rotor gearbox and framing really won't have any problems with a simple Gnome fitment I am really enjoying this "Ultimate Wessex" it's just blinking beautiful 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 A wise man once said... "Are they open yet?" Or was it "I'm a laughing Gnome & you can't catch me" 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hendie Posted April 20, 2015 Author Share Posted April 20, 2015 ha ha ha, he he he.... in the charts the same time as Sorrow, and did substantially better if I remember correctly. Oh yes don't forget to save some of that lovely wire for the guard rims at the end of the jet pipes, the ones that stop the hot pipe from puncturing the flotation doohdahs when wet stuff happens Looks exactly the right size Well you know me, I was going to advise using thinner door panels there anyway on the nose, it is going to be great The man who can calmly get stuck so deeply into the rotor gearbox and framing really won't have any problems with a simple Gnome fitment I am really enjoying this "Ultimate Wessex" it's just blinking beautiful Thanks for the compliments and the vote of confidence. Again, if my failing memory isn't failing too fast, I don't think the HC2's in HK had the guard rims around the exhaust because at that time, they didn't carry any flotation gear. (phew... I think I just got away with that one!) I had a quick blast tonight and got the door vacu-formed. After looking at the kit part, I'm not sure what, if any of it I can use - the wall thickness is not uniform and it's all a bit ropey. I may just be better of doing the entire thing from scratch and just keep the scoop as the only original part Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heloman1 Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 Hendie, you're bonkers but I like what your doing to the kit. I too looked at opening up the engine bay on my Wessex build (to be resumed) but sad to say I chickened out... Are youing to build a compressor wash rig or have the engine removal beam sticking out of the bay? Colin, Wessex mad too. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 Kettle calling pot black? Martin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 thanks guys.... d'ya think I should be seeking counseling ? Nah! tried it myself and it had no effect whatsoever. I think you just have to accept that this particular form of madness is completely incurable and just enjoy it. What is madness anyway? I mean, if you go to any large model show, the so called nutters make up 99.99% of the people there so surely that makes us "normal" in that environment. Martin (quite happy to be completely gaga) 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Engineer66 Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 Outstanding work Hendie. I've been following this since the start, and it seems that just when you've cracked one part you go and raise the bar for yourself by finding something else to improve/add. If you continue at this rate it can only be a short time before we see a pile of scale nuts,bolts, and spanners sitting on the open doors, not to mention a dropped pencil complete with a chewed rubber ('eraser' for our transatlantic friends!) end somewhere in the cargo bay! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heloman1 Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 Kettle calling pot black? Martin Indeed Martin but I think I can get away with it here... Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hendie Posted April 21, 2015 Author Share Posted April 21, 2015 (edited) Hendie, you're bonkers but I like what your doing to the kit. I too looked at opening up the engine bay on my Wessex build (to be resumed) but sad to say I chickened out... Are youing to build a compressor wash rig or have the engine removal beam sticking out of the bay? Colin, Wessex mad too. No but I do have a houchin to build alongside the HC2, but I may take a little break after I finish the Wessex Outstanding work Hendie. I've been following this since the start, and it seems that just when you've cracked one part you go and raise the bar for yourself by finding something else to improve/add. If you continue at this rate it can only be a short time before we see a pile of scale nuts,bolts, and spanners sitting on the open doors, not to mention a dropped pencil complete with a chewed rubber ('eraser' for our transatlantic friends!) end somewhere in the cargo bay! I have seriously considered scratching a safety raiser but I can't find any decent photo's or any dimensioned drawings. All I can find are about 3 blurry photo's. The two jobs I really hated were head lubes and replacing the sacrificial tape on the rotor blades. I wanted to leave a grease gun (we did plenty of them manually!) on the trans deck, and a pair of scissors and some tape on the safety raiser. ***Edited*** If anyone has any information - drawings, photo's or (and I know this is a far stretch) dimension's of safety raisers, I'd greatly appreciate any links or info - thanks. Edited April 21, 2015 by hendie 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
longshanks Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 Continuing to enjoy your brand of madness, long may you continue .............................and I know nothing about whirly things ! Kev 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spookytooth Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 Insane Hendie, pure magic with the P.E. I doff thy cap to you sir. Simon. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huvut76g7gbbui7 Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 Hendie..I love the Wessex and have been quietly following this since day one. All I can say is that I won't have a hope in hell of ever reaching this standard but will freely admit to stealing some of your ideas when I get around to starting mine (22 or 72 or both..haven't made up my mind yet) Thanks for posting your work Richard 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hendie Posted April 21, 2015 Author Share Posted April 21, 2015 I'm glad you guys are all enjoying the build. I am flattered that you think some of my ideas are worth stealing - thanks for the compliment! Most of my ideas are stolen from this and other forums anyway... must be a "pay it forward" type of thing. Hopefully this thread may have given you some ideas of how to avoid some of the shortcomings of the italeri kit, and maybe even prompted you to try some new things. This has been a huge learning experience for me - to be honest, at the start of the build, I knew I wanted to have the transdecks open, and the engines on display - but I never envisaged building the gearbox area from scratch, the seating, or many of the other features that have now made their way into this prolonged build. Even now, I haven't really given much thought as to how I am going to do the engines.... I kind of make things up as I go along - there's no master plan at play here folks! This has been what ? maybe 5 months in the making. Still the rotor head, engines, elecky stuff, winch etc to do, and still to be painted..... could be another 3 or 4 months to go on this one.... or longer if I try to make a safety raiser! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hendie Posted April 21, 2015 Author Share Posted April 21, 2015 (edited) Just a very brief update this evening. As (I think) I mentioned earlier, I vac-formed the engine door panel. It was a bit more difficult than I thought but it tuned out okay in the end.... for this attempt that is. As you can see here, the door panel fits fine, but the exhaust opening is just a tad out of round. That being said, I decided to move forward just to see what the finished article would look like. These Wessex beasts are finicky creatures, particularly the HC2's. It seems that each one is unique in some way or another. After perusing through yet more photo's, I discovered that the framing inside the engine bay doors seems to change from helo to helo. Thankfully, I have a photograph of one of the Sek Kong whirlies with the engine bay door open so I copied that style of framing. - I know everything is white, but I think you can still make it out in this photo below. I think the interior framing could do with being just a fraction thicker, but should look very nice when all painted up. I'm quite pleased with the effect. However, I have decided to make another engine door.... 1) because the exhaust opening is out of round and I know it will bug me in the future if I don't fix it, and 2) because the material I used to vacu-form was PVC sheet - and it doesn't do too well with the styrene cement.... oh, and 3) because the D shaped cut-out for the scoop should be round, and not D shaped.... oh, and 5) there's a bit too much glue in there and then 6) oh crap, ... I'll just make another one! Unfortunately I have run out of sheet of the required thickness so I need to go order some. Edited April 22, 2015 by hendie 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted April 22, 2015 Share Posted April 22, 2015 A bead of stretched sprue around the exhaust cut out will help, I think. And a coat of paint will help with the thickness of the framing. It looks great from here. And I vote for just one side open. Otherwise we'll be here until Christmas and your coach will never get finished! Pete, Flying home today for leave. Hurrah! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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