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AS.350 Squirrel MACH2 1/72


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Thanks a million Trojan Thunder.Got some benchtime yesterday & started on the engine area using some 1mm Evergreen sheet & a little Perfect putty.I used some teabag mesh (thanks to Nigel for the tip) for some mesh on the intake grill but it will be almost impossible to see.

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Thers more photos but Photobucket isn't playing ball,so more later hopefully'

Jimbob....

I'm looking for some mesh for my Dragonfly and was going to dig out some aluminium mesh I have somewhere and try and cut it to shape. It's quite a big feature on the Dragonfly as it dominates the front of the pylon. Any further information on the said teabag mesh technique?

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Cheers Cliff,Smudge & 825.I've not tackled the engine conversion yet Smudge - that will be interesting.In the pic you can see a centreline template roughly cut to the engine shape made from 1mm plastic sheet.Same method as used to make the intake in these photos.825 I came across the teabag mesh from Nigels build - either in his Kamov Ka-29 or his earlier Gazelle.Its a fine plastic mesh used in well - taebags.I stumbled upon these gems while out with the missus in Costa Coffee & went for the healthy option of herbal tea.The grill in the Squirrel was going to be hard to see so I was just trying this out.I painted a bit of scrap plastic sheet an oily steel type colour,white glued the mesh onto this,dry brushed aluminium onto the mesh & glued the lot into position.I cant remember off the top of my head how Nigel used it but it worked great.

Milliput hardened so time to file n sand back to the shape required.

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A couple of light coats of Mr. Surfacer,let it set - 30 min or so.Sanded smooth & fine tune the shape.A quick dry fit to see how she's lookin.

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A shot of the teabag mesh & the engine template.

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Adios,

Jimbob....

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Thanks Jimbob and Nigel. I thought it was some form of complicated work but it looks straightforward. And really effective on your Kamov Nigel. I take it that superglue is the glue to use?

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Yes I used extra thin superglue. One thing I learnt is that it's so fine paint will start to bridge across the mesh so try to apply only the minimum amount of paint to it.

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This looks very nice indeed. You are making this kit look good. The great thing about using transparent packaging material for windows is that it's easy to come by, cheap and there seems to be an infinite variety of thicknesses and variations. I'm currently using the packaging from a salt and pepper grinder for my Sea King windows...

Keep up the good work!

Regards,

Adrian

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Wow. As if a Mach2 kit wasn't hard enough already...

re the side windows- in my model railway days I used to find CD cases very good for this sort of thing. Very strong and can be sanded to whatever curve you need and then brought back to a shine. Perfect flush-glazing and no fiddling around trying to curve a thin sheet of 'glass'- and gluing such a small contact area. Of course in 1/72 the downside is your windows are 4 inch armoured glass, but this can be disguised. A friend of mine even built entire railway carriage sides from the stuff- just masking off the windows. Perhaps you could make the whole side doors in the same manner?

Will

Edited by Killingholme
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Thanks chaps,

been tipping away but shiftwork not helping out.OK after looking at photos of the real 255 I made the roof intake too long so I cut it back by a few mm.

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Another step backwards when I was sanding the doors flush with the fuselage & the thin door cracked in two.I just glued it back together.

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I used brass tube to detail the tail rotor plus a little plastic (still to be reshaped a little).

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Brass tube also used to support the skids by drilling into the rear parts & using a 0.4 mm tube through the fuselage which they slide onto.Another quick dry fit below - its taking shape.

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For the twin engine section I'm trying out something new to me.I got a sample of Balsa Foam from a friend of mine.It's like a finer honetcomb ala Cadbury's Crunchie.Cut to size & the two halves joined by double sided sticky tape.

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Sanded to shape stage by stage.

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Current state of play.I removed too much on the bottom lower sections so will use filler to fill the area & continue to sand to shape.

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Should get more done during the week.

Adios,

Jimbob...

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Good work. Real modelling. Brave enough to take on the Mach 2 kit and then to convert it. Take a bow Jimbob.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Thanks 825.Unfortunatly I havn't got much further with the Squirrel mostly due to work/family/lack of mojo but I'll get stuck in again.So a quick update on what I have done.I tried to get the engine to the required size & shape.The Balsafoam is really nice to work with but when its thin its easy to break.I used a powertool to get some detail shapes like the intakes,exhaust area & rear area cut out & it was easy with a steady hand.Exterior shape was refined with a bit of sanding.

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Around this time the double sided tape keeping the two halves together didn't work so well & the parts moved a lot so I gave the two inside sections a coat of Mr. Surfacer thinking the tape would stick to this better than the bare foam.As it turned out the two halves stuck together (I connected them while the filler was still a little too wet) & when I tried to separate them the stress would hve damaged the parts so I left it as is.Both sides are slightly off but not a big deal.

The skids were also detailed with a strip of plasticard & sheet brass cut to shape.Brass tube used for the engine inspection steps & tape used as antislip section on the skid & also under the skid as the metal strip skid sections.All given a light coat of Mr. Surfacer.All the skid sub assembly has been painted & ready for fitting later,no photos yet though.The tail rotor sub assembly has also been painted & ready for fitting.I also worked on the nightsun searchlight - about 80% done,again no photos yet.

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The engine section was given a few coats of Mr. Surfacer to seal the Balsafoam & eventually get a smooth finish on the part.Also the bottom section was removed .It will be built up with filler once connected to the fuselage.

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Current state of play with the engine.Almost ready to be glued on the fuselage & blended in.Then onto the exhaust.Maybe some brass tube bent a little??

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I know it looks far from finished but I'll carry on.

Jimbob...

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Cheers lads,

we had a BBQ tonight with all this good weather so after the food was cooked a length of Albion Alloys finest 4mm brass tube was also put on the barbie.Then when it was nice n hot it was bent using a vice/vice grips & a nail stuck in the tube.Low tech but its all I could come up with for the job.The tube was then cut at the bend so I had two tubes with equal angles or thereabouts.

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Looking at a couple of photos these were marked,then cut,grinded to shape & the inside also ground down to a finer edge using the power tool again.

Here's what they look like loosely fitted.Painting them tomorrow maybe?

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Adios,

Jimbob...

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Thanks for all the kind comments and encouragement lads,unfortunately there's no miracle to get this model done in time.Next group build I won't be so ambitious & I'll do a more straight forward build.I'm very pleased with the MACH2 Squirrel,especially when you consider I couldn't open a bottle of water at the start of the group build.It's a great group build - I picked up & tried a few new tips & techniques from you chaps.I'll continue & finish the Squirrel on the regular forum page later. I'll put up a final pic of the current state of the modelmodel when I get home later today.Best of luck to everyone.

Jimbob...

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I got back late last night so as promised a final shot of the Squirrel.Most parts still loosly fitted.

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Again thanks for all the help & encouragement.Thanks to the hoasts of the group build & twas great to see so many fantastic well built helicopters.

Adios,Jimbob...

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