1/72 Hobby Boss Kamov Ka-29 Helix-B

[Radleigh]

No its from this walkaround - I just printed it off for convenience. Its the best source for external details I have been able to find of the few that are around.

Ah, that's perfect. Yes I understand that too, must easier than using a PC sometimes and stops you getting side tracked online!

[Nigel Heath]

I have not got a great deal done today, just adding a few more details such as this 0.4mm probe on the underside:

I decided I was not happy with the squadron light I had added - the ones from the kit aren't particularly realistic but mine looked too different from them so I shaped a new one from stretched sprue and removed my original:

Here it is in place:

I had just put most of the tools away from that when I realised there should be another one here so I made and added it:

Then I spotted that there should be some little actuator rods between the tail and the rudders. These were tricky blighters to get into position, it the end I resorted to this Blu Tack fixturing method:

Hmm, looks like that filler has shrunk, I'll see what it looks like under some primer.

Here they are both done:

Finally I made these triangular steps out of some scrap PE:

I was a bit leery of adding those at this stage but its surprising how strong they are, hopefully they will survive intact. All I think I've got to do now before some primer is to mask up the cockpit and side windows.

Bye for now,

Nigel

[Space Ranger]

Nigel, fugley = ugly with another word (starting with an "F") in front of it.

Generally used to describe something that fell out of the ugly tree and skelped every branch on the way down

This thing is so ugly (the prototype, that is) that it doesn't fly; it frightens the air into submission!

[Nigel Heath]

or repels the Earth.

[Space Ranger]

I've got in on this late for a number of reasons, all irrelevant, but I noticed a discussion about mesh sizing. US-standard mesh is sized by the number of openings in a linear inch. A 100-mesh screen has 100 openings per linear inch, a 50-mesh screen 50 openings, etc. So the higher the number the finer the mesh. But the size of the wire/thread used also affects the screen size.

[IGKent]

Great progress! Well done Nigel!

[Martian]

Just been catching up on this. There is something rather special going on here.

Martin

[Tomoshenko]

Just caught up after missing out on a couple of updates. Stunning as ever. Love all the extra details and replacements for the clumsy kit parts. Cracking multi-discipline-media build. One question though - why black milliput? Apart from looking like the devil's filler, what is the difference between the black stuff and the other colours?

[Nigel Heath]

The only real difference is the colour, I have white of course but I prefer to use black round transparencies in case there is a chance of any show through.

[Nigel Heath]

After adding a few more rivet runs I finished off masking the glazing and all was ready for some primer:

Note the corrections I have had to make to the Eduard masking on the side windows.

Primer applied:

While that was hardening up I made a start on assembling the pylons and their weapons:

Of the numerous weapon options available I am going for the missile launcher and gun as they seem the most common. Note the backwards orientation of the gun, more on that later. A surprising amount of fettling was required to get the pylons together.

The gun barrels are obvious candidates for replacement with some metal tube, they measured between 0.6 and 0.7mm in diameter:

They were best cut off before assembly, I looked at 0.5, 0.6 and 0.7mm tube and thought that 0.6 looked about the best option:

By now the primer was dry so I gave it the once-over. Inevitably there were a few issues, but not too many, some Squadron white was used in a few areas:

This next bit made me chuckle. Sensibly the mountings for the gun onto the pylon were idiot proofed, unfortunately they had misinterpreted the design on the gun and had it pointing backwards:

That might be good for deterring attacks from behind but is not correct.

It was fairly simply fixed but drilling out the smaller mounting hole with a 1.2mm drill:

That threw up another problem, the rearward mounting boss is too high (it doesn't work the other way round either obviously). The fix was to cut down the rear boss to this

I think that better equates to reality:

The front of the missile launcher needed to be drilled out, one down 19 more to go:

Here is the first one completed:

I've now officially had enough of drilling for today, I'll do the other one tomorrow. The seven inner ones were much quicker than the outer ones as the plastic there is much thinner:

I hope you liked that, bye for now,

Nigel

[keefr22]

I think I'd be after all that drilling!

Coming along nicely Nigel, more cracking detailing going on!

Keith

[AlexN]

I love your beautifully-centred drilling! Fantastic! Something (else) to aspire to .

Cheers,

Alex

[SoftScience]

Your build is a great guide on the little steps needed to improve the kit. I really appreciate all the detail photos you are posting.

Where did you find such fine plastic mesh?

[Nigel Heath]

The fine plastic mesh is from Tesco's Finest Jasmine tea bags.

[Nigel Heath]

Today I got the other missile launcher drilled out, I left some sprue on to make holding it a bit more comfortable:

A bit more filling was required round the wind screen:

The parts off the back end of the missile launchers also benefited from being drilled out, I removed the last bits of burr with a wash of liquid poly:

A disc of masking tape prevented the holes from getting blocked with filler:

Some precision drilling was required for the gun barrels:

Then in went the 0.6mm barrels:

I have also assembled the weapon pylons:

Quite a few gaps to sort out there then.

Bye for now,

Nigel

[CliffB]

Looking great Nigel

Are you by any chance a dentist in your day job?

Cheers

Cliff

[Nigel Heath]

You refer to the drilling and filling I assume, no just a humble engineer.

[Space Ranger]

The fine plastic mesh is from Tesco's Finest Jasmine tea bags.

"Tesco's Finest Jasmine Tea - consumed by the finest modelers the world over. Bonus fine plastic mesh included with every bag."

[AlexN]

Nigel - excellent!

[Smudge]

I tend to use black Milliput around transparencies just in case there is any show through. It was probably not completely necessary in this case, white might have been OK. Plus Milliput had the right sort of workability for this job, the PPP would have washed out I think.

Ah yes, good idea; to prevent see through to white filler. I don't have any black Milliput but will have to remember that and pick some up.

Cheers.

[Nigel Heath]

I have got a little more done today, here work is in progress sorting out the gaps on the weapon pylons:

To hopefully improve the definition of the straps round the missile launchers I added some embossing foil strips:

Straps done I then added some details to the back ends using 0.3mm wire:

I have a much clearer day tomorrow so should get more done.

Bye for now,

Nigel

[modelling minion]

Nice work on the rocket pods Nigel, the foil strips make a big difference the straps and the wire at the rear of them just makes the whole things so much better than the kit offerings.

[IGKent]

To hopefully improve the definition of the straps round the missile launchers I added some embossing foil strips:

Straps done I then added some details to the back ends using 0.3mm wire:

Great! Right solution Nigel!

[Nigel Heath]

Today I have been mainly cleaning up all the complicated struts for the main undercarriage and weapon pylons. Not very photogenic or exciting so although a long modelling session, not too many photos. A fit check of the struts revealed that a small piece had to be notched out where the pylon strut sits on the main undercarriage strut to get the angle correct:

I drilled some 0.4mm holes on the main struts for some hydraulic lines later:

I put flats on the front undercarriage wheels and added some PE which is an improvement over the kit moulding:

So this has been the main result of my labours today:

I have taken the precaution of numbering some of the parts which look virtually identical but are subtly different. At least there are only two more of the strut parts to get ready, I think I'll get all the remaining parts ready for paint before next breaking out the airbrush.

Bye for now,

Nigel

[AlexN]

I like photos like the first one in the sequence above . Useful tagging method, too (makes note to self to pinch).

Cheers,

Alex.