moaning dolphin Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 (edited) Good day everyone Well with my Sea Fury waiting for a delivery, my Fulmar waiting for an injection of will and my wasp dropping into the darkes depths of the WIP forum with a bit of a loss of enthusiasm (mainly trying to think how to overcome a lot of obstacles!) I had a choice, either sit twiddling my thumbs watching ' Say yes to the dress' with SWMBO or kick off another build. So with it being too close to call I edged towards another build. Truth is SWMBO made my mind up for me because apparently sitting there for an hour saying '******* how much for a dress?" does start to annoy after a short while. So back into the cave and what to build? I decided to continue with my current Canadian theme and opted for the Cormorant. I have done indepth work on both the Merlin and Cormorant so it is a familiar aircraft to me, I don't know if that is a good or a bad thing, but I do have a lot of references available, including the occasional 1:1 version. I am using the now 'rare' Italeri Cormorant that I picked up this year from the annual Halifax hobby show at the Shearwater Museum over here in Dartmouth Nova Scotia. Its not as big as the FAA museum model show and half of it is dedicated to doll housing but it has been growing in popularity over the years and isn't too bad. As I said I got this kit from a small seller for the princely sum of $15 or about 8 quid (still cant find the pound sign on my keyboard!). The kit itself is not very accurate at all as it represents the prototype aircraft, but is about as close as I will get for a start. There are a whole raft of modifications I shall attempt to bring it up to date and will detail them as I go, so to start off a shot of the kit I had already taken off the main body parts and started a bit of work on them before taking these photos, so here is the main fuselage I am also using a decal sheet from Belcher bits to update the kits decal sheet. The main reason for going for this was this had the thin stripes on the ramp which I did not fancy attempting by masking! The only down side to the above sheet is that there are lots of other wonderful markings on it for other aircraft types for which I don't have the kits, so the shopping list has just grown a bit more lol And finally I have had a couple of Merlin HM1 kits and only have 1 kit that is about 80% finished, the rest is in a bucket so this is my handy spares bucket There is an Eduard etch fret in there that has been partly used on the other aircraft. I am in 2 minds as to retire the HM1 and use the spare etch or get another fret as there is a bit of stuff I would like to reuse. I currently don't have the heart to write off the Naval cab! So there we go, its kick off time, You can expect regular updates for now, hopefully this wont peter out when I get to the painting stage and loose heart then start something else! Although I see numerous posters of this aircraft at work which provides inspiration and I will soon have a real version available to reference and keep this alive. I have been itching to do this aircraft for over 3 years, since I moved overhere, so now it is time to crack on! Cheers now Bob PS In answer to the subject question, one is a majestic black feathered sea bird, the other is a noisy, yellow mass of noise and wind! But I know which one I would rather see if I was in need of help! Edited October 26, 2016 by moaning dolphin Added pics 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Womby Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 Looking forward to this one. I was at that museum in Shearwater this summer. Great place. I also enjoyed watching a Cormorant practicing over CFB Greenwood for an hour too. David 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelglue Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 This shall be nice. I'm not a big fan of yellow whirly birds, but when National pride comes into the picture I tend to pay better attention. Mrs. and I talked about a drive to the East coast next spring/summer so I might have to put these locales you speak of on our list. Catch up with you later! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch K Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 Whats the difference between a shag and a cormorant? A cormorant tastes horrible in a roll-up... 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moaning dolphin Posted November 12, 2015 Author Share Posted November 12, 2015 Welcome along gents, Looking forward to this one. I was at that museum in Shearwater this summer. Great place. I also enjoyed watching a Cormorant practicing over CFB Greenwood for an hour too. David Glad you enjoyed it, it is small but very informative, I don't know if you saw the one up by the airport, again small but very interesting. This shall be nice. I'm not a big fan of yellow whirly birds, but when National pride comes into the picture I tend to pay better attention. Mrs. and I talked about a drive to the East coast next spring/summer so I might have to put these locales you speak of on our list. Catch up with you later! Always happy to do my bit for the local tourist board! There is quite a bit up here to see. Whats the difference between a shag and a cormorant? A cormorant tastes horrible in a roll-up... Always thought a Cormorant would smoke very well! Just a little bit extra from my first post. This build has been going on for a number of weeks so I am catching up, just don't be alarmed if you see something built up in one update and then missing in another! I shall try to keep it all chronological but I may miss somethings. Also like all decent builds the instructions are out the window and I am just going along randomly. I will notice something at work and think to incorporate that, at the moment I am all over the place but will hopefully disguise that! First things first and its up with the inside. The main cabin floor is reasonably accurate but is raised detail so it was off with that and reapply except recess it. On the main aircraft the 4 for and aft lines are prominent seat rails so are quite deep and wide. They do have an intricate pattern but in this scale a simple line will suffice. The athwartships lines are just panel lines and are narrower but still quite prominent, as are the smaller fuel tank access covers. Those athwartship lines are also exactly 1 meter apart, so these were measured from a datum and rescribed. The only exception are the lines adjacent to the main landing gear. This bay is half the size and is called the half meter bay - go figure! Fuel tank access covers were also scribed. Below is a mid progress shot. I took the middle of the cargo door as a suitable datum and measured from there. The cargo area in this kit is really quite spot on in size. That yellow plastic is very bad and trying to show detail is difficult, just bear with it and i'll soon have it primed over. I also built up the cockpit area, straight out of the box. The kit doesn't provide yaw pedals and I have chosen to leave them out, as the whole area will be black and under the instrument panel you wont see a lot! I took the cabin/cockpit partition and removed all the detail from them Behind the pilots, the kit shows control rods, the actual aircraft have these covered with a ribbed panel, you can see the start of it here, I am trying to make the ribs from thin plastic rod. On the back side I have reshaped everything to correctly represent a Cormorant set up. This is a different set up depending on EH 101 variant. Here it is loosely installed Nice to break it up now with a bit of white, instead of all that yellow (why do they do that??), next up will be a splash of paint in the cabin and some other detail work. I am aiming to get the fuselage together before Christmas but we shall have to see! Later! Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 When the EH101 was in development, the FAA in its wisdom had a competition to come up with a name. Merlin was the winner. My suggestion was Shag. No sense of humour, these Admirals. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pigsty Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 Whats the difference between a shag and a cormorant? A cormorant tastes horrible in a roll-up... And you can't get a cormorant for the price of a pint. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moaning dolphin Posted November 13, 2015 Author Share Posted November 13, 2015 When the EH101 was in development, the FAA in its wisdom had a competition to come up with a name. Merlin was the winner. My suggestion was Shag. No sense of humour, these Admirals. Just after it was announced as a Merlin, we had a presentation on it where a captain stated he wanted it called after a mythical creature that roams the shoreline and eats crabs. Can't remember what the creature was but it did raise a titter in the audience! He also stated the reason for the two seats in the cockpit, right hand seat for the pilot, and left hand seat for a large dog to bite the pilot if he touched anything! Something tells me he was a back seat aviator! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 Something tells me he was a back seat aviator! ...or "talking ballast", as they are often known. No stick, no vote. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ascoteer Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 Or 'Self-Loading Freight'... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darby Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 A cormorant won't be wondering why you haven't rang after a week 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ancient mariner Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 Ones a dance the other is a helicopter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moaning dolphin Posted November 13, 2015 Author Share Posted November 13, 2015 So in amongst all the childish smutterings I have a teeny weeny update. The landing gear!!!!!!! The big difference between the prototype and the in service is the main landing gear is a double wheel as opposed to the Naval option of only having one. This is a relatively easy fix as I have a couple of spare wheels in my big box of stuff and just have to add a bigger axle. The old one was removed and the gear was drilled and a piece of brass tubing was inserted, et voila! Before And after As for the rear undercarriage bay, I shall cover that under the sponson as there is a lot of work there. The nose leg isn't too bad I will replace the steering mechanism (roundy horizontal bit on the back of the leg) but will leave the rest as is. Unfortunately it does look just like a blob of yellowness The front undercarriage bay does need a bit of work. The kit supply a piece with some nicely moulded pipework Unfortunately it is complete and utter bol slightly incorrect. Instead of trying to gently remove the detail I opted for an easier option of cutting the entire roof off and then replacing it from plasticard, at last more white and slightly less yellow! The white card is trimmed and I have now put in a bit of detail and it is up in the 'spray bay' being primed, I shall take a couple of photos later and post them. Finally today I would like to touch on the window arrangement for the Cormorant. On the left side it just had a door arrangement where a bubble window should sit, this was just an easy case of position it correctly and drill a suitable sized hole (more on the filler blob later!) On the right hand side unfortunately there is a square window, so I fitted the kit window very securely and sanded it flush to the external skin and then locate and drill another suitably sized hole. After this I used a touch of filler to achieve total flushness and it doesn't look too bad The only down side is the kit provides 2 bubble windows and now I require a four, The naval Merlins don't have any bubble windows so I was stuck, I had none available. Luckily it was the RAF to the rescue (never heard myself say that before ) I had a Chinook that was near completion so introduced a local modification that replaced 2 bubble windows with flat ones. They will never know! So now I am back on track. (again don't worry about the bits of plasticard stuck on, I will cover that a bit later!). The front bubble windows are actually a square jettisonable panel, but instead of trying to scribe the details in, the decals have some surrounds that will give that effect. So that's all for this update, I have some work to do this week end and hopefully have another update on Monday, or if your lucky I might have it earlier. Laters! Bob 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelglue Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 Great! Nice work with that port hole, I'd use testors clear window maker gunk... what do you use for these types of thing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perdu Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 The original question A cormorant tastes ******* vile (ever do combat survival oop north?) A shag however Well I never ate one but on track swiftly I'm enjoying this I never did get to understand which of these big helidoohdahs was which My understanding of whirlybirds matured with the Bell 47 and kinda settled with Walter (I did get a naval Merlin HAS thingy for a fiver at Telford though so I'd best learn) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FatFlyHalf Posted November 15, 2015 Share Posted November 15, 2015 In response to your question I posit these answers: Phalacrocorax aristotelis = Shag (a wise old bird?) Phalacrocorax carbo = Cormorant (coal black bird) Aerplanus = Aeroplane (borne aloft on wings) Helixpteron = Helicopter (unnatural airborne machine) FatFlyHalf 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sean Posted November 15, 2015 Share Posted November 15, 2015 I've never rang a taxi in the morning for a cormorant...... Sean 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moaning dolphin Posted November 23, 2015 Author Share Posted November 23, 2015 Greetings all, I know I said I would have an update by Monday, luckily I didn't say which Monday so I am bang on schedule. A week may be a long time in politics but in model making it just flies right by! So what have I been up to this last week? well lots and not a lot to be honest. My last update showed the nose bay in mid process, this has now been completed, primed and fitted so that I don't forget it when I come to stick the fuselage together! Wouldn't be the first time that has happened. I added a couple of longitudinal ribs and a couple of chunky crossbeam bits, as per the real thing. I haven't secured the nose leg in yet, that will be much later as we all know with these sausage fingers it aint going to stay in there very long. I also have to make some light brackets and throw in some cables and pipework and that will be that....phew! The next random point for me was the windscreen. Two points grumble me on this, first the wiper blades molded on. I don't like it and I can never paint them satisfactorily any way. I have some etched ones for my Merlin that aren't fitted to that yet so will appropriate those for the cormorant. The second gripe is the frame thickness, it should be much more refined. This is the 'pre' shot, a little clunky. so it was out with the 120 grit and wipe them off. The next shot is after I reached about 400grit, still with the wet and dry After that it was out with the Micromesh, I started at 1800, then went to 3200, 4000 and then 8000. A bit of spit and polish later (well minus the spit!) It is a lot clearer, It looks a lot better in real life, the camera seems to fog it slightly. I will gloss it before I start any further work on it. I will have to build up the internal framing and overhead console along with the sunscreens, before I even think of throwing any paint at it. Another bit of fiddly doo daa, is the forward fairing that droops over the top of the windscreen. Several points on this, the cormorant has a couple of extra fairings on the side, these were added from suitably sized square section rod that were shaped accordingly The intake on the top of the fairing is moulded as a square hole in the kit, it is actually a sloping square section intake, so that was opened up and a piece of plasticard slotted in and all blended in nicely. The kit fairing is also too fat at the front, it should come to a much finer point, so it was out with the file and reprofiled, as you can see with compared to the original Merlin piece, I think I am correct in saying all EH101's should have the sharper profile Aaaaaannnnnndddd finally for this update, I intend to have doors and ramps open on this beast so that means I need to do something with the interior. I have access to the correct layout for SAR missions so that is what I intend to create. First up like all good sar choppers I need a sea tray. This was easily knocked up from wine bottle foil (to give a material effect) and some plastic rod for the edges which gave me something like this. . I have left the entry way flap too large at the moment so I can trim it down once all assembled. Then came the equipment cabinet. Unfortunately I don't have any detailed pictures of this I can post (I have access to certain publications but I can't go flashing that all over the place incase DND or my bosses have a sense of humour failure!) so you'll just have to take my word for it with regards to accuracy - On a side note has anyone ever been done under the Official Secrets Act for model making?' - just a thought! Back to this cabinet, again plasticard is my friend, bits chopped up and placed accordingly. This is halfway though before I put the backing on and filled the shelves With a backing on, I finished it in the correct colour and then filled the shelves to mimic SAR equipment, basically anything orange and wrinkly. Now this is all held in with webbing which I replicated from some mesh painted green, and this is what I ended up with, looks ok I suppose. But have a good look at this now because it is placed side on facing away from the cargo door so you wont see much of it anyway! Finally I suppose the crew want something to sit on, My first port of call is the flight engineers fold away seat which sits in the entry way to the cockpit, hence the fold away bit. Luckily I could salvage some PE from the merlin set for the Merlin cabin seats, It comes separate so folding was easy, a bit of plasticard and sticky stuff later, this is what I have, the head rest also came from the etch. I just need to build a frame for it to sit on. There are 3 other crew seats in the back, all very similar to the pilot seats, with the exception of head rests and arm rests (alright for the self loading ballast eh!). I trimmed down the base of the seat legs and fitted a couple of seat rails, plasticard arm rests and etch head rests. I haven't got one on its own but this is the general set up with everything laid out as it should. You can also see in this the stand for the fold away seat and that seat I am quite happy with even though most of it will be hidden! I have some 'troop seats' to scratch as well followed by a stretcher and another equipment cabinet to knock up, then I need to find a load of harnesses, prime the lot and then paint it. So not a lot left to do then really. I also have the sidewalls of the cabin to sort out as well and then I may be in a position to close it all up, but not just yet! Until next time Bob PS, Thanks for the continuing smutty innuendo 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jessica Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 moaning dolphin, on 23 Nov 2015 - 09:23 AM, said:On a side note has anyone ever been done under the Official Secrets Act for model making?' When Testors first did their 1/48 U-2 way back in the age of the Dinosaurs, a couple of completely humourless men from the CIA paid them an uncomfortable visit. It took a while until they managed to convince them that they had got all their information from publically released photos and news stories. Tom Clancy had a similar visit back when he wrote The Hunt for Red October. In both cases the humourless men went away shaking their heads at the Publicity Department... 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moaning dolphin Posted November 23, 2015 Author Share Posted November 23, 2015 When Testors first did their 1/48 U-2 way back in the age of the Dinosaurs, a couple of completely humourless men from the CIA paid them an uncomfortable visit. It took a while until they managed to convince them that they had got all their information from publically released photos and news stories. Tom Clancy had a similar visit back when he wrote The Hunt for Red October. In both cases the humourless men went away shaking their heads at the Publicity Department... That's good to know, Google and Flickr will be my friend on this build! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beard Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 As the great Robyn Hitchcock once sang 'It's not a Cormorant, it's not a shag, it's only something in a plastic bag'. This is none of them: it's very nice (and that's coming from some-one who doesn't care for helicopters). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelglue Posted November 26, 2015 Share Posted November 26, 2015 Nice, nice progress. I don't think CSIS will be too interested in a SAR bird? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 Nice Shag interior (should that be shag pile?) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leonl Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 Nice work... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moaning dolphin Posted December 1, 2015 Author Share Posted December 1, 2015 Greetings all, well the curse of the WIP strikes again! It seems like whenever I open a WIP it also opens up a time/reality vortex continuum thingy as it drains me of all my spare time! But despite that I have a bit of progress! First an update on the cockpit, I have now painted it black and finely detailed everything ........ in black and will eventually add a few subtle shades of black to break up the blackness. For the instrument panel I left this blank as the etch/decal has the screens depicted as a light grey or a green and in reality with no power on they are.......you guessed it .......black! So not a lot will be seen. I fitted the interseat console decal and this is where I stand at the moment Despite the blackness there are highlights, and I am also wondering about fitting some rudder pedals. I suppose I have until the fuselage goes together to decide. Work is also afoot in the cabin area. With the floor fitted to one side of the fuselage I worked on building up the side panels. This is just soundproofing and a rigid (ish) panel along the bottom. So I bought a vintage chateau nerf do plop sparkly wine for the quilted effect foil. Cut it up, stuck it in and cut the windows out, this is the result I didn't like it though for a couple of reasons 1. The quilted effect is way too big 2. The bottom of the quilt should sit on top of the lower panel, this hadn't sat right and when I cut the windows out it had pulled up more. It just wasn't right. So back to the drawing board and I pondered. I had seen someone use standard tin foil and run the knurled part of a knife over it, I tried that which worked ok but wasn't a consistant pattern. Then I had an epiphany (I know another one!). I had some metallic netting material that was a good size so.... I cut the foil to shape for one piece of sound proofing And then lining it up carefully on the mesh, I took a rub of it. Just like brass rubbings of old (anyone do that any more?) And then flipped it over This was carefully laid over the lower panels and then smoothed down, the next piece was laid over slightly overlapping to give this effect This is what I have ended up with The windows will be cut out later when all is dry, the upper panels have just been roughly laid in. The bottom of the soundproofing is meant to be a wiggly as it is never laid perfectly straight. I think the manufactures design it that way on purpose! The first panel is a bubble window and I am pretty sure (89%) that this is a rigid piece of furnishing as opposed to soft. The upper trunking is just 3 pieces of square plastic rod glued together and then shaped This trunking covers the ventilation ducts and has punka louvres all along it, I did try (unsuccessfully) to replicate this but that has now gone back to the drawing board. I think next update will be on the rear fuselage section, which I detailed previously with the wine foil and will now go back and redo with this new foil method That's all for now Cheers now Bob 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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