Wessex HC2 - A Dauphin's Stablemate: 520 days later.... IT'S FINISHED ! (why, yes it is indeed)

[hendie]

I know I said just a post ago that I would not post any more photo's of the seats until finished.... I kind of went a little bit overboard on the seats and have decided to throw out a few photo's anyway.

First task was to dismantle the kit seat that I had, in a crazy moment, glued together. Out came the razor saw and a few deft swipes saw the sides released from the abomination that is the seat pan and back.

Using the same method as I did on the previous seat, I added depth to the vertical rails by adding a thin styrene strip. This time I kept the seat pan separate and added some wine foil strengthening formers on the bottom of the seat pan as they will be seen when fitted (I think!) and it adds just that little bit more detail.

Oh, and I also added the wire loop for the seat belts to pass through at the top of the seat.

The cushions were glued in place and I had also added the lever which raises and lowers the seats - the knob on the end was painted yellow.

This is how I intend (and strongly hope) that the co-drivers seat ends up. When the seat pan folds up, there is a prominent gap between the seat pan and the rear of the seat.

I pondered how to get the two parts of the seat in the correct position relative to each other while still maintaining that gap..... obviously, gluing the two sections of foam together wasn't going to cut it....

... and then I came up with this idea....

I drilled a hole in the rear of the seat pan. A piece of wire was glued into the hole, and I could then fold and glue the wire up behind the seat back, which would allow me to position the seat pan at the right angle.

Before I could assemble the co-drivers seat, there were a few more bits to add..... this seat has some kind of bracket hanging off the side, so that was fabricated from some scrap.

Then glued into position.

Then I must have got absorbed into the build 'cos I forgot to take any more photo's until everything was almost finished!

One thing I did discover and thought was quite funny was that the kit PE belts were way too narrow, and way too short. Even if I had used the kit seat, I don't think these belts would have been long enough.

- Yes, I realized that I had put the loops on the seat backs too soon, and had to remove them again so I could get the seat belts into position.

Out came the wine foil yet again and some strips were cut - slightly wider than the supplied PE belts. The wider belts look much better to my eye.

There's still a little bit more detail to add to the belts before I finally call them finished, but they're almost there now.

Here's the co-drivers seat...

The blue paint was enamel and is taking a bit longer to dry so I've left the belts on the drivers seat until tomorrow.

So, almost there on the seats, - which is good as I really had been dreading having to remake them. As it turned out, it was a bit easier than I had originally thought.

And as always, I couldn't resist a quick dry fit.....

Looks much better from this angle.....

In between working on the seats, I slapped some paint on the collectives. Dirty black, and some home made brown. Then in a stupid moment, I decided to slap some BMF on the sticks. It doesn't look terribly realistic but silver paint just wasn't going to cut it.

However, once they are in the cockpit they don't look half as bad. - Again, just dry fitted as I haven't decided how I am going to prime this beast and in what order things are going to be fitted. I'm very wary of things breaking off, after the Dauphin build so am being ultra careful.

In other exciting moments, I could hardly contain myself when it came to the luxurious task of sanding.... yeah right! However, it had to be done. The port side appeared to be the easiest to start with... as it turned out it was the most awkward. - I have a small lip just under the window - you can tell by the amount of filler left here. I think I can get the joint smoother, and hopefully the cable cover will hide any remainder of the joint.

The starboard side, which I was a bit scared of actually turned out to be the easiest to bring up to scratch.

I colored the step with black marker to give me some kind of guide - looks horrendous doesn't it?

But it sanded back quite easily and I got a very reasonable joint.

A little bit of scribing to do but nothing drastic.

Of course, I won't know just how good those joints are until I slap some primer on it... which has to be coming soon I guess, but from experience, I think I tend to put off the painting part until there's really no alternative - it always freaks me out just a little bit.

[perdu]

These seats are brilliant, I made mine by crash moulding the pans then adding the sides from poly card

Neither Frog nor Matchbox gave us seats that looked anything like the real things

Quite a bit like Italeri but without the side rails

The whole aircraft is coming together wonderfully, already looks flight capable, get some wheels on

lovely stuff

[hendie]

ooooohhhherrrr.... at this rate I think I am a few months away from getting any wheels on.

Next up is either primer, or opening all the panels up - I'm not sure what to attack first. Then I've got the avionics and electrics bays to make look busy. Then there's a couple of gnomes to get built, firewalls etc.

I also have some crazy scheme running through my mind at the moment concerning the open panels - the kit plastic if far too thick to be realistic so needs some magic or voodoo, and a small sacrifice.

Rotor head still has to be constructed, tail rotor and so on....... then there's the million dollar question - will all these pieces actually fit together once I'm done ???

[Nigel Heath]

Lovely work on those seat hendie. Keep it coming.

[georgeusa]

You are doing excellent and the seats are just beautiful. I have no doubt you will make everything fit, as you always do. I bow to your scratch building once again. Just really great.

[Martian]

I like the seats but those collectives really look the part!

Martin

[Fritag]

Sunday morning and all is well with the world. Been for a run - relaxing with a coffee - reading another great update on one of my favourite threads...........

Ditto all the other comments about the seats hendie.

Tried to think of a waggish whimsical remark about gnomes.......but still too early and not enough caffeine yet

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Seats excellent, but I am with Martin; those levers really look perfect.

[hendie]

This is probably the smallest update of the build so far, but is a major step forward in the process. In fact I would go as far as to say I have reached a milestone in the journey that is Italeri wrestling.

Both seats are now complete as far as detailing is concerned. All that's left is a bit of touch up painting.

The belts were made from wine foil with leftover buckles from my previous Dauphin build. I simply cut of the buckle section and attached it to the wine foil with CA. The 5 point mechanism in the center of the seat is made up form a triangular piece of wine foil, and a circular piece of PE that I found lying around.

The seats are now safely tucked away until the time comes to fit them (after a touch up of grey on the crossbar at the rear.

The IP was finished. I repainted the front panel a slightly lighter grey, which is much more in keeping with how my addled brain remembers it. A piece of clear packing film was sandwiched between the front and rear panels to create the glass effect, which is completely non-existent in this photo, but does help to ad a bit of depth to the panel and instrument clusters.

I did add a couple of touches of color to the panel to represent switches, but forgot to take a photo.... that's for the next update.

The rudder pedals have been added (again no photo). I went with the disgustingly bland Italeri parts as there's no way they will ever be seen when fitted, and I am likely going to break them off when I try to fit the IP in there anyway.

Fitting this is going to present a problem in the not too distant future. There is no real positive location inside the nose for this part, and according to the destructions, it should have been fitted a while ago. However, had I done that, I would most certainly have broken it off again when clamping the underside to the fuselage.... see later in this thread.

There are some nice little PE mesh panels provided by the manufacturer though for some reason, they seem to think that the PE parts should be fitted into a recess. I disagree and think the panels should be surface mounted. In order to overcome that small hurdle and also to make the area see-through (which it should be), I have removed the recessed area completely, then added styrene strips which will allow me to surface mount the PE parts later. - No doubt that will be tremendous fun - particularly the compound curved mesh that fits on the upper side of the fuselage/tail root

The last part of today's update involves the underside. This is what I count as my milestone - the fuselage is now complete and closed up.

It was not an easy process. I had to shave a few thou off the fuselage side in places, then a few thou off the underside in other places. To top it off, the underside doesn't even touch the rearmost part of the fuselage.... and trying to get it to lie flush with the outer skin ????? hah!

I had to add supports around the fuselage,, build up the center with scrap styrene, then shave off one corner of the underside section before I could get a decent fit. It's still not perfect but a little filling and only minimal sanding *should* be required to finish that part off.

Since the beast is full of clamps, I don't want to mess with it until the glue is fully cured, so it's off to one side for the evening.

Oh! and I also removed the frames around the sliding windows - with the razor saw - before I broke them off. I decided it would be easier to fit the frames to the window than the other way around. A quick test fit showed that the front windscreen is slightly wider than the fuselage but I have a cunning plan lying in wait for that mission when the time comes.

Not really sure what I am going to tackle next

[perdu]

Having a mesh insert for the tail ventilation is far better than having to put home brewed decal sheet over clear plastic to imitate it

Guess who had to do that on his 72th scale ones

Looking really good now Hendie

I am busting to see it with the clamps off

b

[hendie]

^^^ but it achieved the effect you were looking for - and that's what counts!

[Nigel Heath]

Those seats and IP look stunning and I really do mean stunning.

[infofrog]

Hendie looking good .. i love those seats .. ..

Rick

[georgeusa]

The seats are a work of art and I like the variation with one up and the other down. Great little update. And congrats with getting the fuselage halves together.

[Martian]

The seats are a work of art in their own right!

Martin

[Pete in Lincs]

Wot they said.

[Nobby57]

Love those seats; they really look the biz! (And of course...the rest)

[hendie]

I am busting to see it with the clamps off

b

Your wish is my command sir! (but only from the bottom for the moment!)

It turned out a bit better than I had expected it to. There's a little bit of sanding required but pretty minimal stuff really. The most difficult part will be around the front end where some filling is required around those two squiggly stethoscope looking bits. I'll also need to do something with those "vents" (now that I know they are indeed vents).... but not right now.

I ordered some sanding sticks and am waiting on them arriving before I tackle the filling and sanding, then I really need to get a coat of primer on this thing to see what the joints are like. I think most are okay but I have a feeling I have at least one bad joint which will take a fair bit of work to get right.

So, other jobs to tackle..... well, if a coat of primer is going on then I need to get the windscreen in place - this is definitely a job I am not looking forward to. Since the bottom of the windscreen is wider than the fuselage, I have two options open to me. 1) I can file the windscreen narrower - but that will lose detail so I am going with option 2) Squeezing the windscreen in to meet the fuselage sides, which poses all sorts of problems in itself. - namely, how to get them to stay in place while the glue cures

I've been doing a bit of reading and I fancy trying some of the UV curing glue intended for phone screens. I'll get some of that on order this weekend.

My plan B if it all goes belly up, is to file off the detail on the outside of the screen and vac-form a new one and add the detail back with styrene strips. And before anyone asks.... My Plan C is to figure out a Plan D!

Anyhows.... since primer is now the focus and I need things in place to be able to do that..... the instrument panel now needs to be fitted..... oooerrrrrr.

After much thought and even more procrastination, I had one of those light bulb idea thingies.

The biggest issue facing me was that I needed to apply pressure to the panel when it was in place in order to get a good secure joint with the glue. Unfortunately, because of my somewhat unorthodox approach and non-sequential build sequence, there was no way I could ever get any of my elephantine digits in there to apply pressure. (even my toes are too big)

The idea came to me while scanning through my reference photo's.... on the upper section of the nose there is what appears to be the filler cap from my old '71 VW Type 2, and true to form, Italeri have completely ignored it and instead, located a round panel in it's place....... lucky old me....

Just what is the ex-rigger doing here I hear you ask ? Well..... Exhibit A, 1 drilled hole......

Followed by Exhibit B, a piece of s/steel wire bent into a purposeful and snakelike shape (ignore the fitted instrument panel for the moment and pretend I haven't fitted it yet, 'cos I forgot to take a photo of the wire before I executed my carefully prepared plan)

My intent is to feed the wire through the hole, and use it to apply pressure to the underside of the IP, thereby forcing it upwards to the inside skin thereby ensuring a good joint.... well, that's my theory and I'm going with it....

Incredibly, it seems as if this half baked idea is going to work - the wire was successfully fed through the hole.

Half baked ideas in action.....

and even the rudder (oops) tail rotor pedals stayed intact!

And here we are after the glue has cured. I have to be honest and say that I feel quite pleased with myself for coming up with that out of the box idea. The hole in the nose will be covered by a small styrene punched disc which will much better represent the filler cap on the 1:1

Other things wot I also noticed whist perusing my Wessex archive was that inside the windscreen are two rectangular box affairs running up the two middle pillars - presumably they are covers for the wiper motors of something of a similar ilk.

A quick search of my box of bits came up with these two door rails left over from the Dauphin build. Cut to length, they will be ideal for the covers.

But first, I need to mask the windows...... Aizu masking tape to the rescue!

About two hours, one sore back, one sore neck, and two sore eyes later, I had the offending article masked.... on the outside only! I gave up after that as my body was arguing with me, and I'll tackle the inside masking another day.

In the search for some light entertainment after that arduous endeavor, I quickly espied yet another failing from camp Italeri. The tail hinge locking mechanism to be precise.

In the fractured logic that seems to emanate from this particular company, they have molded the hinges and the ratchet handle and made a very reasonable job of it to, however, they have omitted the locking pins that the ratchet handle actually operates! numpties!

A quick few turns with the drill and we can fit a small diameter brass wire in there. (and I broke the tail wheel axle off 'doh!)

I must remember to add the small red warning flag that nests in there. (most Wessi builds I have seen tend to omit that part, although it is fairly prominent - otherwise it wouldn't be much use as a warning flag would it?)

Then I had to rush out and purchase a red cross parcel of m^cnuggets for my daughter who is staying over at some friends house, and when I returned I opened the mail box, and whadya know...... the sanding sticks had arrived!

Crud !!! Now I have to do all the filling and sanding nonsense!

Edited March 1, 2015 by hendie

[perdu]

Now THEY look nice (note for shopping list)

As for the fettling to allow the instrument panel to fit

Isnt that kind of thing mandatory in this silly game?

Your fix and your fit are exemplary

Its all looking really good

(I tried to get as much detail as I could on XR525 but now I feels even more inadequate than usual, cos I didn't know its tail end needed the red flag adding...not getting it now though sorry)

[hendie]

To be honest Bill, in 1/72, the warning flag is probably about as wide as a gnat's ba' hair - it's one of those things that you would probably only ever know about if you had actually opened up a Wessex' backside

here's a (US) link to those sanding sticks but I am sure they are available in the UK also

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0039ZCQAK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Pete in Lincs]

I'd forgotten the warning flag.

But as soon as I read your narrative

an instant vision of it came back to me!

I also remembered balancing on the nose

trying to fit screws into the windscreen framing

after replacing said windscreens!

Mag alloy screws? Wot masochist thought those things up?

Oh, and then one of the spider nuts would start spinning!

[infofrog]

I always wonder how good those sanding stick know . Henide please let use ..

Thank you

Rick

[Martian]

Your persistence with this kit puts me to shame Hendie! Are you able to show us just how much the canopy fails to fit the fuselage?

Martin

[hendie]

Your persistence with this kit puts me to shame Hendie! Are you able to show us just how much the canopy fails to fit the fuselage?

Martin

I'll try and take a photo Martin. It may be a bit difficult though but I'll give it a try.

To be honest, it's not much - just enough to bug the crap out of me

[POTKC]

I have some images of an SH-34 (same thing as a Wessex isn't it?) from Le Bourget Museum, I can send them to you if you want...although you probably have enough reference material and memories to last the whole build.