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

[junglierating]

2 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

Good point.  Not Argus - I was one of the last of the Engadine generation!  But Fort Grange & Austin, if they’re still going.  What happened to the Portland Dummy Deck?  Is that still in service!?

Oh yes Fort Austin and Roselie (Grange) are still going strong....absolutely love those ships like a cruise ship for matelots.....Dummy deck disappeared before Portland did .....crikey how times change  ...so you are still young😁

Btw did you do outback? I was a young mechanic on 801 then....always remember 820 had a Lt Cdr B word on it.....not you is it lol

this is gen btw 

Edited September 12, 2019 by junglierating

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

9 minutes ago, junglierating said:

Oh yes Fort Austin and Roselie (Grange) are still going strong....absolutely love those ships like a cruise ship for matelots.....Dummy deck disappeared before Portland did .....crikey how times change  ...so you are still young😁

Btw did you do outback? I was a young mechanic on 801 then....always remember 820 had a Lt Cdr B word on it.....not you is it lol

this is gen btw 

Yes, I did Outback; I was a first tour sprog on 820.  If you saw my Sea King build (ZE419), it is of a cab I ditched off Southern Spain on the way out to Malta at the start. 

[andyf117]

Content withdrawn - I will NOT be threatened by a moderator, simply because I queried the actions of another...

Edited June 27, 2020 by andyf117

[perdu]

2 hours ago, Kirk said:

I have 2 copies of Andy Evan's BAE/McDD Harrier book...

(I tell people it is because I can read in stereo)

Its unusually possible that I could pass on an unread copy of Phantom Boys if someone fancied it for a collection

 

Absolutely nuffink at all to do with an ancient imbecile being allowed free rein around The Works

 

 

 

 

Even though said Looney was told, in no uncertain manner "You have got that one already!"

 

Just saying....

 

 

😨

[Fritag]

Morning all; or evening if that’s wot it is in your part of the world; or good-whenever-it-is if you’re watching this on catch up (why did I start this?).....

 

Anyway - I decided to use the old Airfix (if that’s what it is) gun pod because the basic shape is good and the absence of any detail whatsoever on it is probably an advantage if anything.....

 

 

 

 

Started by making the Aden cannon barrel cover/fairing.

 

I know that it’s not the actual gun barrel that can be see poking out the front of the pod, but rather some sort of aerodynamic cover, because I’ve got an Aden gun barrel somewhere in the garage at home.  Funny what you pick up in the services.......

 

Ages ago I picked up one of these ultra cheapo little lathes on eBay.  Ced recommendation?

 

 

Never used it for anything before; but it was perfect for reducing the diameter of some 2mm plastic rod to 1.6mm and then and shaping it:

 

 

 

The gun pod body just needed the addition of some scribed lines, the odd vent or two from plastic card and a small mesh panel, which I scribed in outline and then added a thin sliver of airwaves mesh.

 

 

 

 

A simple enough but satisfying little sub-assembly that.  Better prime it now and see what horrors are revealed by paint....

 

 

 

Edited September 20, 2019 by Fritag

[perdu]

I can't see much in the way of likely horrors Steve, looking good

 

Airwaves mesh?

Am I missing something or is it simply unused stuff from a 'normal' Airwaves set?

 

I had one of those machines in the post a while back

Been useful but I have had problems centring the spinning cone dooberry

Barrel looks amazing

[Terry1954]

19 minutes ago, Fritag said:

 

 

A simple enough but satisfying little sub-assembly that.  Better prime it now and see what horrors are revealed by paint

Pod looks superb Steve. That underbelly photo of the TWU Hawk from Chris Allan's book will give you plenty of scope for "in-service" weathering look! As long as you haven't forgotten you still have that book again ! 🤣

 

Lovely job.

 

Terry

[giemme]

18 minutes ago, Fritag said:

I picked up one of these ultra cheapo little lathes on eBay.  Ced recommendation?

Must have been, and it's tempting me a lot ...  

 

The gun pod looks simply brilliant!      

 

Ciao

[CedB]

9 minutes ago, Fritag said:

watching this on catch up (why did I start this?).....

 

10 minutes ago, Fritag said:

Ages ago I picked up one of these ultra cheapo little lathes on eBay.  Ced recommendation?

I think Tony The Baron might have started it… or was it Bill… or maybe hendie (who has a posh one)… or perhaps a Big Boy did it and ran away…

I'm still looking for an excuse to use mine.

 

21 minutes ago, Fritag said:

The gun pod body just needed the addition of some scribed lines, the odd vent or two from plastic card and a small mesh panel

… and four tiny, perfectly aligned, clean holes. Sickening. How does he do it?

 

Lovely work Steve, as usual  

[Brandy]

Beats me Ced, there must be some secret square drill out there that only he knows about!

Lovely gun pod, all the same!

 

Ian

[hendie]

6 hours ago, CedB said:

I think Tony The Baron might have started it… or was it Bill… or maybe hendie (who has a posh one)… or perhaps a Big Boy did it and ran away…

I'm still looking for an excuse to use mine.

 

guilty as charged.  I think I suggested it to Tony some time back.  He got one, then the disease just started spreading of its own accord.

 

6 hours ago, CedB said:

… and four tiny, perfectly aligned, clean holes. Sickening. How does he do it?

 

yes indeed.  I spotted that straight away.. typical legal tactic of misdirection to try and lead folks away then trap 'em.

 

 

 

 

[fatalbert]

That reminded me of seeing in hawks at Hatfield and taking the rear cover off the gun pod as the pilot had stashed his overnight gear in there.There was also a compartment under the rear seat if i recall correctly that was used for the same thing.

Edited September 20, 2019 by fatalbert

[philp]

As you are probably aware the Red Arrows are on a North American tour right now and the closest I will probably ever get to them was seeing the tails of 3 of them on the ramp at Portland International Airport as my train pulled in for my flight home from training.

a buddy of mine got to help them out while they were in Denver.  Here is his wife’s account:
Brad and two coworkers got to repair one of the RAF's Red Arrows' aircraft! One of the jets had it's breathing system break down, and, the place Brad works at, Steen Machining, is next to the Front Range Airport. So, they brought the part on over and asked for help. Brad wasn't there when they came in, but, he did get to work on and help fix the part. But, it's threaded in a British 'format', so, it took a bit of doing, and two parts, one that didn't work well and one that did. Thereby keeping the Red Arrows' current tour on schedule.
Then one of the Bosses (Mrs. Steen) and Andy got to go to the airport and hang out while the Red Arrows did a few minutes worth of flying and testing out the repair. All went well
When Andy & Mrs. Steen returned, Andy had for himself and Brad, as a thank you, a water bottle and a Commemorative Coin.
Too cool!

Brad responded that all he did was about 5 minutes of programming but I agree that is too cool.

 

these are coming along nicely and I am sure you have been making lots of extra parts to share with your followers here so we can try and get close.

[TheBaron]

The neatness of your work on that pod is just staggering Steve.

This view:

23 hours ago, Fritag said:

- being the perhaps most staggeringeriest.

 Bravo!

[Harley John]

On 12/09/2019 at 16:38, keefr22 said:

 

I didn't have to get anywhere near that age before doing that. More than once....

I'll second that!

[Harley John]

On 12/09/2019 at 18:48, perdu said:

Its unusually possible that I could pass on an unread copy of Phantom Boys if someone fancied it for a collection

 

Absolutely nuffink at all to do with an ancient imbecile being allowed free rein around The Works

 

 

 

 

Even though said Looney was told, in no uncertain manner "You have got that one already!"

 

Just saying....

 

 

😨

I'd swap my extra copy of the RAF Typhoon Haynes manual purchased from The Works for the Phantom Boys except I checked my Libib app to see that I already have a copy (which I failed to do before ordering the second copy of the aforementioned manual)! The app was uploaded to stop me and my advancing years from making multiple purchases of the same book after purchasing two copies of: Air War on the Edge: A History of the Israel Air Force and it's Aircraft Since 1947.  There have been others, I blame my inherited Aberdonian love of a bargain.

[Brandy]

17 minutes ago, Harley John said:

I blame my inherited Aberdonian love of a bargain.

So that's why I have 2 copies of the Macchi M5 datafile.

 My mum was an Aberdonian!

 

Ian

[perdu]

Does my Hamiltonian heritage help me see why I keep doing this dumb stuff?

[xffw45343tg]

47 minutes ago, perdu said:

Does my Hamiltonian heritage help me see why I keep doing this dumb stuff?

I didn't realise you were a motor racing fan. But I do see the link: He keeps on getting world championships, clearly not aware that he's got more than one already.

[Harley John]

14 hours ago, perdu said:

Does my Hamiltonian heritage help me see why I keep doing this dumb stuff?

Well I was born at Bellshill Maternity Hospital so it might explain something...not sure what, but.... 

[perdu]

Not that sure of the geography, isn't that somewhere up near Fairnygair? (sp?)

 

I remember vague names and directions from long lost aunties and cousins

 

😱

[perdu]

Oh no, it seems I was looking north instead of south

 

Or vice versa

 

I remember swimming at Bothwell baths or was it Blantyre?

 

Anyway, as ye see I'm as daft as some brushes

😠

[Fritag]

Ok.  So.

 

Telford time is approaching and - in an effort to qualify as a 'current' rather than 'ex' or 'previous' modeller in the event that anyone as knows me spots me loitering in the International Centre's shadows -I eked out some modelling time.

 

After much (much!) prevarication I thought I'd give this soldering business a try. 

 

The solder-meisters out there (e.g. hendie, Tony, Crisp et al.) seem to swear by it.......

 

The need arose from the ventral strakes either side of the airbrake.  In real life these are simple flat plates, and are probably best represented by brass sheet.

 

I have some nice ones (I think from an old Eduard etched fret).  

 

 

But.......how are you supposed to stick them to the fuselage?  There aren't any mounting stubs or anything...... (all of the etched ventral strakes I've seen have this problem).

 

So I thought I'd practise this soldery business by adding some mounting rods......

 

Started by cutting some grooves in the bottom of the strakes:

 

 

In which to mount some brass rod.  I think it's 0.3mm diameter.

 

 

And so to the soldering effort.

 

One of the solder-meisters - I think it was Tony - said that you didn't have to worry about being too neat, as excess solder was easy to remove.......

 

I sort of took that advice to heart 

 

 

I discovered that soldering needs 3 hands and that I probably need some better equipment than the old soldering iron my dad bequeathed me 30 odd years ago.  But hey.

 

They did in fact scrub up quite well:

 

 

Next step was to drill some mounting holes in the fuselages:

 

 

And test fit:

 

Hawk No.1 - showing the strake being slotted into position. 

 

 

Hawk No. 2.  Strakes more or less in place.

 

 

Quite pleased.

 

The strakes should sit at an angle of 30 degrees from the vertical - so a bit of careful measurement with a template and a bit of careful bending - and then gluing.

 

 

I have to say that soldering the brass rod to the strake seems to have given it a strong attachment; and hopefully the rod will provide a reasonable solid mount to the fuselage.

 

I will persist with this soldering business - I can really see the benefits now.  But I think it'll take a but more practice before it becomes enjoyable........

 

 

 

 

[perdu]

When I saw the first 'soldered on' shot I was beginning to have doubts

Blimey, that'll be me over in the corner with Thomas

 

That looks brilliant

 

Random thought sleeting through the mental recesses "I hope Steve has cut the rods short so they don't interfere with the jet pipes..."

 

Proper worry-wort these days aren't I?

 

Top job Steve, real modelling

 

👏👏👏👏

[giemme]

1 hour ago, Fritag said:

After much (much!) prevarication I thought I'd give this soldering business a try. 

Welcome to the club!   Although I consider myself an absolute beginner, compared to the names you mentioned....  

 

The strakes really look the part, top job!    

 

Ciao