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MD tries for a #3! - Complete!


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So I am trying to break my own record and attempting a third build for this GB. Inspired by Nigels Helix build I thought I would go for one of these

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I picked it up from my LHS for 15 bucks (about 7 1/2 English Pounds). I haven't bothered with a spru shot as most items were kicking around the box (probably why it was cheaper!) I did a quick check in the shop and it looked like all was there, so standby near the end of the build when I discover something important missing!

I am not an aficionado on Russian Helo's and I won't be paying too much attention on the interior, as long as it looks ok that will be fine. The canopy is a bit chunky and thick so it wont show a great deal. I built up the cockpit and replaced the yaw pedals as they will be right next to a window.

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This was primed and painted, the seats were painted up with a leathery type effect

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I also removed the grilled areas on the fuselage, thinned it down and fitted my new favourite mesh material....not tea bags but wedding sugared almond bags! Does the job well!

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And from the outside looks fine

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This area was then painted black and boxed in, again inside painted black. I also fitted the cockpit at this stage, without the console.

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Next up I joined the fuselage and left that aside. Looking at the rest of the kit I saw these sink marks that would ruin the look of the rudders. I don't know how to fill these without losing the rivet detail......so opted to remove the lot!

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Unfortunately I don't have any more progress pictures. I thought I had uploaded more but alas no, so they will appear later.

Finally I turned my attention to the handles all over the fuselage. Nigels build gives a good detail on how these are made. Most are like the 'one piece tube type' but there are a couple on the side that are made up of welded parts, so I thought I would see if I could replicate that. I cut loads of .4mm brass wire and rolled straight with a rule.

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I then positioned them accordingly on a ceramic tile like so......with a couple of practice pieces

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And then it was out with my new toy! YES! I have been suckered into getting a soldering iron! It seems to be the way ahead with so I plumped for it. Now being of mechanical sense I have no knowledge or experience with this so got one off Amazon with some solder and we'll start from there. After a couple of hours practice (and burning ones hand!) I managed to get somewhere abd tried to do the rod. I think it is too thin to solder but I did manage to get some adhesion. I haven't tidied the joins up yet so the jury is still out. A lot of trial and error (more error than trial though) and I may make use of it! Any way here is the final shot

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Not sure how it will go so stay tooned!

Bob

Edited by moaning dolphin
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  • 2 weeks later...

So the attempt at soldering didn't go very well, so I resorted to wire for hand holds. Everything was assemble together, rivets removed, joins blended ready for a bit of primer. I offered up the canopy to see how that would fit and to see what would be visible. Unfortunately the way the instrument panel was positioned it would show the back of that and everything behind that, a vast expanse of nothing. Some of it would be hidden when the canopy was painted but there would still be a horrid gap

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I knocked up a large console cover to hide the majority of the space and made a central partition, This was then painted, and the canopy masked and fitted, it was this point I forgot to take pictures! But after a couple coats of Tamiya fine primer I ended up with this.

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But to rewind a little, fitting the front undercarriage proved to be a bit troublesome due to this

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A bit of a short shot by the look of it, so I had to fill the recess to apply that leg, this will be a troublesome one as it does not have a lot of meat to hang onto.

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Once primed and rubbed down, I applied some Model Master Light Ghost grey as per the instructions

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After a good coat in MM gloss, It was then onto the decaling. The kit decals are sparse and were starting to yellow, but having no spares I cracked on, and knowing Zvesda decals I did so carefully!

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It was then given a fleury dark wash to highlight the doors and panel lines, then given a MM flat coat and the masking was removed which looked quite good on this side

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But the otherside produced a big :doh: moment

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I had masked the inside window to paint the sliding door and then forgot to remove the masking, so it was off with the door

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and off with the masking, You can also see the console cover fitted over the IP along with a bit of wiring to show a bit more interest. The flash shows up a lot more than is noticeable in normal light.

So that is where I am at for now, I need to do the intakes and all the little detail bits and finally fit the wheels, hopefully I can do that in the next 2 weeks or so!

Cheers now

Bob

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just caught this one - nice work so far.... and hey! what's a build without at least one 'doh! moment ?

Also good to see you got around to getting a soldering iron. I don't know if this will help you or not but I found that soldering brass wire was a lot more difficult than brass rod... it always seemed to take more heat to get the solder flowing right. Obviously, the material make up of the wire is different than that of rod and I'm finding that it makes it more difficult to solder easily.

Not wanting to thread hijack here but over in the Lysander, you'll see that I soldered the interior framing - that was all using brass rod, not wire. I started with wire but gave up after about two failed attempts.

I also spent a few extra bucks and got a bunch of different tips for the iron, and that made a difference, particularly with the smaller parts.

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Thanks for the advice on the soldering, I was practicing on etch brass scrap and that was going great, I will look at the brass rod, I only have relatively thick rod at the moment (1mm) but that should be good for practicing. I did think that using a ceramic tile might have caused me problems by draining heat, but then see you have a nice chunk of granite so I don't think that would be a problem? I shall persist and will know when I am getting the hang of it when I get more solder on the metal than my fingers! I have been following the Lysander build, obviously I haven't piped up yet!

Cheers now

Bob

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I've never found an issue with the granite soaking up heat from the parts. I did notice that you are using a fine pointed round tip... I didn't get on with mine and resorted to the finest flat tip I could find - and that worked out better.

For those small parts, I put the smallest amount of flux I can get away with on the part, then touch the end of the solder to the hot tip - that leaves just the smallest amount of solder on the tip... I then touch the tip to the parts needing soldered and after a few seconds, the molten solder flows onto the parts (maybe 2 to 3 seconds) - I occasionally roll the tip over onto the parts to help the solder flow.

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I've just got back from a holiday and find that this build has been started and almost finished, while I was away! Top job!

Cliff

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Greetings all once again,

After a productive week I am now declaring this complete! I fitted the wheels, rotors and other ancilliary bits and bobs and finished off with a bit of fine thread for the HF (?) aerial. The small cabin windows were done in Krystal Klear and then a dusting of pastels to give a bit of a exhaust staining effect. One thing I noticed missing after uploading the photos was one of the weights on the lower main rotor. I think it must have become detached during the masking process for the blades. I have scoured the area (even tidied and cleaned the work bench!) but alas it cannot be found. I shall knock up another soon. All in all a nice build and it hasn't turned out too badly, a nice quick build for once! In the meantime before the pics go up in the gallery here is a little teaser!

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Thanks for looking in.

Cheers now

Bob

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A very nice build. Excellent tip on the mesh - I will look out for something like that the next time I go shopping. Congratulations on getting 3 up, too. Now you need to have a bathroom GB!

Regards,

Adrian

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