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1/72 Heller Gazelle


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I have realised that its not quite finished yet, I still have to add the rigging wires under the tail and bare metal foil strips on the tail bearings. That should not take too long so RFI still planned for the weekend.

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Thanks Martin, have I not yet reached modeller qualification level yet?? I have also realised I still have to add the landing light at the front, should not take too long so still on course for finishing at the weekend.

Cheers,

Nigel

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Excellent! And another belated Happy Birthday (I wasn't looking for any updates until the weekend, which is why I popped up agan rather late).

Really looking forward to the RFI, too :).

:clap: :clap: :clap:

Cheers,

Alex.

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Hi Folks,

I was a bit premature announcing its completion as I remembered there were still a few more things to do. First I added some strips of bare metal foil to the bearing shells to represent their stainless steel straps:

P1120167_zpsmtjpns4n.jpg

That was fiddly and the foil adhesive needed reinforcing with CA.

Here is a good picture of one:

sa-342m_3547_156_of_291.jpg

While the bare metal foil was out I punched out a 1.5mm disc for the landing light reflector:

P1120168_zpsawqrk9f8.jpg

I stuck that on with the help of the tip of a ball point pen then added a 2mm diameter lens:

P1120169_zpsv09p71qq.jpg

Next I made a start on the rigging wires under the tail. Where they bifurcate I needed a short length of tube. I first tried with some 0.4mm aluminium tube but could not thread the EZ line through it. I then tried 0.4mm brass and found the internal bore of that was bigger that the aluminium (both from Albion Alloys):

P1120170_zpsemcoqrcv.jpg

It took a while but eventually I got one line trough and the other just glued into the end:

P1120171_zpsjfijtokk.jpg

Here are the finished wires with just the tube to paint black:

P1120172_zpsbaqncu2v.jpg

During the rigging process the aerial and one of the doors broke off. In the case of the doors this was a good thing as I'd forgotten about the sliding window glazing bars. Seeing milktrip's tape during a brief workbench tidy up had reminded me. I snapped the other door off (unbelievably easily):

P1120173_zpsyhjvzku2.jpg

I sliced up some of the insulation tape and applied, milktrip's white on the outside:

P1120174_zpsoorbbh3y.jpg

And my grey on the inside:

P1120176_zps3wzhxcg0.jpg

The gaps at the ends of the top bar are supposed to be there:

gazelle_14_of_31.JPG

With the doors and aerial reattached, paint and varnish retouches complete I think I really can now call this finished:

P1120177_zpsri6conwz.jpg

I think I will leave the main rotors lose after all as they seem to sit OK at about this position:

P1120178_zpsfos15uuc.jpg

I have since applied some Daco strong to the missile decals to try to lessen the silvering, it does look like its improved things.The forecast for tomorrow is sunny so should make for good RFI photos.

Bye for now,

Nigel

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