A pair of Airfix Hawks in 1/72. Finished.

[Fritag]

I’d had years of only joining the circuit VFR using a run and break at the time I left the RAF.

 

So when I did my PPL I was rather nonplussed by all of these overhead joins and joining left or right base or straight in approaches etc.  People coming at the airfield from all over the place.

 

And then everyone was flying square rather than oval circuits and I didn’t really know what all that was about either.

 

And then everyone was flying such bloomin’ ginormous circuits and taking so long about it that it felt more like a cross county navex.  I kept wanting to turn  base only to realise there were people ahead of me on loooong finals and others extending downwind - and they were so far away that you could ‘ardly see em.

 

It was all a bit of a culture shock actually.  But hey, I was joining their world and so I fitted in.....

 

 

[perdu]

2 hours ago, Martian Hale said:

Just when you think things couldn't sink any lower...…..

When you have blue scaley skin and eight tentacles, its a bit difficult to do anything discretely on this planet. Mind you, last night a chap I know said he was looking out for me on the Saturday at Telford but was unable to spot me!

 

Incredulous of Mars 

 

Well fair dos me old alien, I almost missed you myself

Would have if it hadn't been for the presence of your delectable Martian handmaiden

 

 

Khe San landings, didn't we have an exponent of such amongst us one lifetime ago

[Terry1954]

6 hours ago, Fritag said:

with aiming at the runway numbers on the approach and touching down either on the numbers or just slightly beyond. I think that civilian students are taught to land somewhat further along the runway (correct me if I’m wrong).

When I was doing my PPL training from Old Sarum some years ago, we were encouraged to aim at the numbers, but to try and put down a bit beyond. It is a grass field so they are "whitewashed" into the grass. I think the logic was that by aiming at them, you would land not too far beyond them. Runway 24 had a slight incline from the boundary hedge up to the actual numbers, so it was never really prudent to try too hard to land on them, as undershooting there was not a great prospect given the road and brick building just the other side of the hedge! There was a story that an ex FAA pilot was doing his PPL training some years before, and the story goes he was told that he should aim at the numbers. Apparently after repeatedly never failing to put his main wheels right on the chalk numbers (clouds of chalk dust and stuff!) the CFI was quite concerned and a little annoyed that he would cause excessive wear on them and told him to land just beyond them. He did of course ask for "just beyond" to be qualified, and a "couple of feet beyond" was the tongue in cheek response. Sure enough, after that, he apparently put down literally a couple of feet beyond the numbers, every single time, no exceptions! 

 

For the record, I don't recall ever getting that close to the numbers but always managed to stop in good time or go around if prudent. We only had just over 700 metres of grass to play with. Happy days!

 

Terry

[xffw45343tg]

Certainly at White Waltham they don't like you landing/taxying on the centre-line on the grass runways as it rubs them off.

[cngaero]

2 hours ago, Terry1954 said:

For the record, I don't recall ever getting that close to the numbers but always managed to stop in good time or go around if prudent. We only had just over 700 metres of grass to play with. Happy days!

In my flying days, I was elated if my landing bore a close approximation to that of the magnetic direction of the runway. On my early flights, I must have been a source of constant merriment to the BA and Dan Air pilots at Newcastle waiting to take off, displaying my one wheel at a time technique.

I did get better though..........Honest!!

 

[Biggles87]

Ah, the good old ‘ left leggers ‘ , unless you were flying from the right of course.

I did my PPL from a grass airfield ( Wolverhampton early ‘60s ) which didn’t have numbers, so we aimed at individual blades of grass!

Also didn’t carry radio so always joined overhead on the ‘ dead ‘ side.

[TheBaron]

'Good in the circumstances'

Can I nick that to use in my student assessments?

 

Hope that you're feeling a bit better today Steve - 'tis the season of dark days, warm duvets and hot whiskies.....

 

(Enjoyed the paperwork - thanks for sharing.)

[Fritag]

2 hours ago, TheBaron said:

'Good in the circumstances'

Can I nick that to use in my student assessments?

It's all yours old chum.

 

Of course I no longer have any idea what "the circumstances" were.

 

I'd like to think he meant 'Good [particularly] in the [very challenging due to poor weather] circumstances'.....

 

But it might be that his use of English was just quite sloppy seeing as "in the circumstances" is actually otiose.....(that's the lawyer cum pedant in me)

 

Or it might well  be that he was attempting sarcasm as in "Good in the circumstances' [of you being such a renowned muppet]....

 

And I'm mortified to suspect that you suppose it to be the latter Tony......

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 21, 2019 by Fritag

[TheBaron]

5 hours ago, Fritag said:

And I'm mortified to suspect that you suppose it to be the latter Tony......

A calumnious misrepresentation of my high regard for you Steven.

'Good in the circumstances' was surely just instructor-speak for 'Good in the sky' no? 😁

 

In the case of my students however, 'circumstance' is no doubt the misfortune - if not outright hazard - of being taught by me...

 

 

[Fritag]

Modelling has been done.  Not much (obviously); but modelling has definitely been committed.

 

One of the hawks needs a couple of gun sights.  Simple gyro sights that at 1-1 look like this:

 

 

Mounted in the coaming so that only a little of the box structure and the glass can be seen sticking through the top of the coaming, and the square rear end facing the pilot.

 

Ferreting around the odds and sods of etch I have suggested that the airwaves sights were the best basic shape.

 

 

I fettled some 0.25 x 1.25mm plastic strip to make them more 3D:

 

I only need 2 but made  3 so I had a spare if and when the carpet monster bit.....

 

And added some  0.25 x 0.5mm strip to give a slight vertical edge to provide as a positive location point to glue the glass to.

 

And cut some thin acetate for the glass.  Test fit:

 

Once painted and before fitting the glass, I think I’ll drop a blob of krystal klear  into the hole to represent the lens.

 

I’m a bit cack-handed folding etch; so these took a surprisingly long time to do....

 

I’ll be vaguely surprised if I don’t lose 1 or 2 during the painting & fitting process.......

 

 

 

Edited November 26, 2019 by Fritag

[CedB]

Setting your sights high eh Steve? Looking good  

[Tomoshenko]

Only a small amount of modelling in a literal sense, well small bits were modelled; but a lot of modelling was done in a qualitative sense. They look the dog's Steve.

[junglierating]

On 11/7/2019 at 1:06 PM, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

I never enjoyed goggles - probably because at the stage I flew them they were still relatively unsophisticated, not to mention the fact that the cockpits were adapted for NVG in a pretty rudimentary/improvised bodge.  It worked, but it all felt a bit held together with chewing gum & string.  Worst of all in my experience was using them over the sea - and I mean really over the deep ocean a long way from land, so on a cloudy night there is pretty much no ambient light at all.  The idea of having them at all was to help us identify ships / targets at a survivable distance (this is pre-HMA8, so before Sea Owl), but we also wanted to discover whether we could help ‘Mother’ remain covert for as long as possible (radar silent, no lights) by recovering to the deck using NVG.  
 

Bloody terrifying!  Even on a ‘normal’ (i.e. non-NVG, Mk.1 Mod 0 eyeball) night sortie it can be very disorientating indeed to fly the whole sortie on instruments, including the approach to the deck... look up for sight at c. 50’ and 50 yards from the stern, adjust your brain and then land visually.  Doing the same thing from goggles was 10 times as bad.  Horrible experience.  
 

Even in those early versions, over land they were transformational.  On a Harry Blackers night deck recovery, however, they frightened me f*rtless!

Ah how I loved fitting and removing bits of blue glass from the cockpit and a million p lamps such joy such a bodge but it worked

[giemme]

9 hours ago, Tomoshenko said:

Only a small amount of modelling in a literal sense, well small bits were modelled; but a lot of modelling was done in a qualitative sense. They look the dog's Steve.

I couldn't agree more     I had forgotten how good the coamings came out - with the addition of the gunsights they look just amazing

 

Ciao

[perdu]

The sights are rather damned good Steve

 

A suggestion?

 

A drop of something white dahn the 'ole before you drop the drops of PVA(Krystal Kleer) to make the lens, I do not think a drop of summat silver would work in there, do you?

 

Coming back to the sights it is obvious Airwaves were sometimes pretty damned good, well done Andrew

[Col.]

Well there's a sight for sore eyes. As I sure you had sore eyes after doing such lovely but tiny detail work.

I've added the 32nd scale Revell Hawk to the stash recently and think I'll just use this thread for sole reference and inspiration when it reaches the bench.

[Biggles87]

Wow, I doubt I could manage that in 1/48!

 

 

[xffw45343tg]

2 hours ago, perdu said:

A drop of something white dahn the 'ole before you drop the drops of PVA(Krystal Kleer) to make the lens, I do not think a drop of summat silver would work in there, do you?

The 1:1 lenses I've seen have some sort of coating that makes them glisten slightly purple/green (or I may have had 1 too many). I've seen people stick sequins underneath clear lenses in larger scale models to good effect. Check in the dressing up cupboard Steve...

 

43 minutes ago, Biggles87 said:

Wow, I doubt I could manage that in 1/48!

 

I doubt I could manage it in 1:1!!

[corsaircorp]

On 11/20/2019 at 9:37 PM, perdu said:

 

Well fair dos me old alien, I almost missed you myself

Would have if it hadn't been for the presence of your delectable Martian handmaiden

 

 

Khe San landings, didn't we have an exponent of such amongst us one lifetime ago

Whaaat ?? Missing our beloved @Martian Hale at Telford ???

I give you a tip, follow the smell of the Belgian rocket fuel Aaaand Gotcha!!

Just like the Phantom....

Sincerely.

CC provider of higly spirited beverages

[perdu]

Never fear CC, my interplanetary tracker finder was keeping an eye on him whilst I enjoyed keeping my eye on the gorgeous handmaiden...

[corsaircorp]

great gunsight Dear Fritag !!

It look ace !

Sincerely.

CC

[hendie]

the problem with stumbling across an update where a dozen or so folks have already responded is that all the witty and clever comments have already been taken. So I'll just exit quietly with a "great sights"

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

On 11/20/2019 at 8:09 PM, Fritag said:

I’d had years of only joining the circuit VFR using a run and break at the time I left the RAF.

 

So when I did my PPL I was rather nonplussed by all of these overhead joins and joining left or right base or straight in approaches etc.  People coming at the airfield from all over the place.

 

And then everyone was flying square rather than oval circuits and I didn’t really know what all that was about either.

 

And then everyone was flying such bloomin’ ginormous circuits and taking so long about it that it felt more like a cross county navex.  I kept wanting to turn  base only to realise there were people ahead of me on loooong finals and others extending downwind - and they were so far away that you could ‘ardly see em.

 

It was all a bit of a culture shock actually.  But hey, I was joining their world and so I fitted in.....

 

 

Try joining a fixed-wing base in a helicopter!  
 

At Culdrose or Yeovs, where they’re used to mixed rotary- & fixed-wing traffic, it works fine most of the time (though when I was flying there I suspect I significantly under-estimated the workload the Tower / Approach Radar were under).  It’s quieter now, but when I was a student at CU there were 11 Squadrons based there: 705 (Gazelles - baby pilots: BFT); 706 (Sea Kings - toddler pilots: AFT); 810 (Sea Kings - adolescent pilots: Operational Training); 750 (Jetstreams - baby Observers); 771 (Wessex - SAR); 814 (Sea Kings - front line carrier 1); 820 (Sea Kings - front line carrier 2); 824 (Sea Kings - trials); 826 (Sea Kings - RFA Flights & Sneaky-Beaky); 849 (Sea Kings - front line AEW) & FRADU [now 736 NAS] Hawks - fleet requirements).  Admittedly, 5 of these Squadrons were front line, so a good percentage of them would be away at sea on any given day). None the less, it could be insanely busy on a sunny day; in pure aircraft movements terms, it was reputed to be the busiest airfield in Western Europe.

 

It was fairly commonplace to have 4 rotary-wing in the left-hand circuit, another 4 right hand, and at least one fixed-wing in the visual pattern (typically for a straight-in approach)... plus however many aircraft marshalling via radar.  Air traffic also had to factor in students leaving or joining the circuit to & from Predannack, the satellite a few miles South where some of the basic circuit-bashing took place.  Somehow, despite the massive variation in aircraft speeds, circuit type (rotary-wing always rectangular circuits, not oval) and pilot experience / competence, it all seemed to work, though sometimes you needed eyes in the back of your head.

 

Then I went front-line, and I vividly recall being sent into Abbotsinch (Glasgow Airport) in a Sea King not long afterwards to pick up some VIP or other and ferry him out to Ark in the Irish Sea.  Civilian air traffic, not entirely sure that helicopters are actually real.  Airliners.  They made us join at some weird angle to the duty runway, direct to a spot which was a good half mile from the VIP pick-up point.  Then they weren’t sure whether Sea Kings can ground (as opposed to hover) taxi (they can) - though at least we’d been spared the standard Lynx vs Air Traffic exchange on finals (“Navy XYZ CHECK GEAR!!!”  “Down and welded”).  Then on departure they were clearly terrified that somehow we were going to loiter directly in the flight path of some Scruggs Wonderliner packed with Glaswegian holiday-makers, so there were all sorts of radio exhortations to “expedite departure” etc.  In general we got the distinct impression that they clearly thought we were some scary instrument of Beelzebub and should never be allowed anywhere near an airfield again!
 

About 10 years later, in the mid-90s, I had the pleasure of being the sole Sea King in the left-hand circuit at Prestwick at the same time as the right hand circuit was occupied by... an Antonov AN-124.  Talk about cross-country circuits; these guys must have been worrying the controllers at Aldergrove and Teeside simultaneously!  A majestic sight; it appeared to be ambling along not that much faster than our 100 kts... but then you readjusted your scale and realised that this thing was the size of a small town...  [Wake turbulence?  Wot wake turbulence?]

Edited November 27, 2019 by Ex-FAAWAFU

[Fritag]

 

8 hours ago, perdu said:

A drop of something white dahn the 'ole before you drop the drops of PVA(Krystal Kleer) to make the lens, I do not think a drop of summat silver would work in there, do you?

 

6 hours ago, Kirk said:

The 1:1 lenses I've seen have some sort of coating that makes them glisten slightly purple/green (or I may have had 1 too many). I've seen people stick sequins underneath clear lenses in larger scale models to good effect. Check in the dressing up cupboard Steve...

 

Not sure what to do as it 'happens.  In the few photos of the gun sight that I've seen the lens just looks shiny black.  I don't think I really want the lens to stand out or to attract the eye - so's I think might just leave it all black.  Jury's out.

 

3 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

4 rotary-wing in the left-hand circuit, another 4 right hand, and at least one fixed-wing in the visual pattern

Sounds like a ginormous mid-air waiting to happen.  Are you sure you're still alive Crisp? 

 

3 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

[Wake turbulence?  Wot wake turbulence?]

Ooh, I'd like to have seen an An-124 like that....

 

I went to Athens for the weekend once, with some chums and a few Jaguars and we landed at Athens International.  Had a jolly nice weekend.

 

When it came time to go home we found ourselves in the queue to take off with airliners various.  We felt somewhat small and insignificant IIRC, but at the same time a bit show-offy and look-at-me 

 

Anyways we're next to go after a 747, and the realisation dawns that none of us know how long we should leave it after the passage of a 747 before the wake turbulence has subsided to safe-for-jaguars-to-take-off levels. We were too embarrassed to leave it for very long so we counted several bananas and went for it with fingers crossed.

 

It was all fine.  Can't remember even feeling a bump.  Do remember feeling very sheepish and not-quite-as-professional-as-we-thought-we-were.  Got over it tho' 

[perdu]

Black seems to be right  then Steve, way to go!