ZE419, a Sea King HAS5 that (temporarily) forgot how to fly

[Miggers]

Well swanky,I like the cut of your jib Crispy.

[Pete in Lincs]

That\s the way to do it!

[Martian]

That's nice, you are getting there!

Martin

[max39]

Looking great and excellent way to do the gubbins on the rotor head.If you plan to model the lady with her door open(main door) i can help as i sacrificed a Hasegawa fueslage half to open the door and cast the door in resin.

Richard.

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

I solder so infrequently that every time I have to re-teach myself how to do it, but herewith the makings of 5 droop stops:

Little bit of cleaning up to do, and then the wires to fit, but coming on nicely.

More soon

C

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

And evidence of a descent that tiny bit further into insanity, some experimentation with making springs smaller than guitar strings; that is the narrowest gauge wound string I can find.

0.1mm copper wire wound round 0.2 nickel silver rod.

Scarily, I think it might be worth it...

Kudos, incidentally, to the iPhone camera; that smaller "spring" is about 1.5mm long.

Edited August 25, 2016 by Ex-FAAWAFU

[rob85]

This is going to look excellent, really nice work on what looks to be ridiculously complex.

Rob

Edited August 25, 2016 by rob85

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Time to walk the dog and focus on a horizon that doesn't need an Optivisor!

None the less, I am pretty pleased with these 5. I have included the rotor head itself and a couple of other things to give you some idea of scale.

Believe it or not, these are not yet finished - but the hard part is, I think. Anyway, it will be worth it...

C

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Looking great and excellent way to do the gubbins on the rotor head.If you plan to model the lady with her door open(main door) i can help as i sacrificed a Hasegawa fueslage half to open the door and cast the door in resin.

Richard.

Thanks, Richard - I am planning to have the door shut on this one; folded, including tail, blanks in, tip socks on, full lashings... as though parked alongside the island overnight ready for the first push, which was often the case.

I plan to build at least one more Sea King build, which will have open front and back doors; this will be an 819 SAR cab.

[TheBaron]

It is very hard to tear one's gaze away from this miniature madness. Any smaller Crisp and you will require the Mods to set up a new nanonmodelling' section. Sub-guitar string springs...genius.

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Sub-guitar string springs...genius.

Don't know about the genius bit, but I have just spent the last 30 minutes winding as much of it as I can:

[Miggers]

I like this job,but can't wait for the 819 SAR cab TBF.

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

...and finally one of them in position. I am taking my time about the gluing, because the geometry is quite complex; they have to lean out (seen this way up), plus of course be vertical seen from end on. Wood glue is your friend, because it gives enough time to manipulate and get it exactly right. I'll follow up with something stronger later on.

Once this one is completely set, I will start work on the rest of the mechanism (which sits behind it, and which is where the springs come in).

More tomorrow, I suspect.

Crisp

Edit: one final shot comparing the kit version with mine. (Who knew that Tamiya cement bottles made such perfect rotor head stands, by the way?)

Plus, for those less familiar with the Sea King, a shot of it the right way up, giving a clue what it will look like.

Note bottle of Hataka RAF Blue Grey, which is the colour this beast will end up. I have never used Hataka before, but heard good things. This is from their "Falklands Conflict Paint Set Volume 2".

Edited August 25, 2016 by Ex-FAAWAFU

[71chally]

I'll follow up with something stronger later on.

...like a tot of rum!

Excellent attention to the minutiae

[Brandy]

All this work for a bunch of "droop stops" - couldn't they just give it a pill? I'll get my coat....

They're looking great by the way, the sort of stuff that makes a difference way out of proportion to their actual size.

Ian

[andy wood]

This is exceptionally informative. I do find the mechanics of airframes fascinating (and yes I am married!), more so then the actual flying of them!

On the subject of springs, you cant get much finer and readily made than those from wound filaments from a blown bulb, especially those from a car.

[hendie]

probably too late to mention this now but you could have made the center leg of the droop stop a tad longer - then drilled a hole in the head to mount it. That would have given you a good secure mounting point. You could easily set the height by the length of the two outer legs

Okay, now that I've made you feel bad.... since you used tube for the center leg - you can still drill the head, fit a piece of wire or rod in there, then slide the droop stop over that. Still a good solid mounting point.

don't you just hate it when people go and make smart assed comments like that!

Edited August 25, 2016 by hendie

[longshanks]

Looking good

Kev

[Col.]

Delicious details being added to the rotor head Crisp. Keep this up along with the explanation of what these bits do as well as a few stories and we'll have the definitive Sea King thread.

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

probably too late to mention this now but you could have made the center leg of the droop stop a tad longer - then drilled a hole in the head to mount it. That would have given you a good secure mounting point. You could easily set the height by the length of the two outer legs

I had actually come to the same conclusion myself, since the single droop stop fitted last night lasted about 10 minutes in position. Having already learned the same lesson with Sea Vixen IFF aerials, I should have thought of that in advance. Your second idea is no good, though; the central shaft is rod - only the cross bar is tube. There is, however, enough flexibility available for me to drill a shallow hole at the correct angle; the pics put up last night showed the stop looking a smidge too long, I thought.

I have not re-fitted yet, so you will have to make do with a photo of the rotor head with drilled holes.

I have dry fitted, and these work well.

I have been working on the rest of the droop stop assembly, and have made really good progress - but at present it's all just tiny pieces of plastic (yes, the rest of it will be plastic, other than my home made springs, of course), so no photos.

Oh, and my True Details 1/48 Couplings & Connectors have showed up (thanks for the tip), so now I am designing the blade fold piping. As I have said before, I'm not going for 100% accuracy (I have what's left of my own sanity to consider...), but it is still going to be pretty busy. I have found a good few really detailed pics on line.

Current design work shown (not necessarily going to build all this - just working out which pipes go where on the real thing. The real insanity takes place at the trailing edge (so just out of shot - but I cannot be bothered to re-take!).

This photo has been particularly useful (top marks to Burkhard Domke, who took it; looks like a Mk 41 in a particularly funky colour scheme, what with multi-colour stripey 'dog kennel'), because it clearly shows No 1 blade (on the right; note relatively few pipes because this is the blade that doesn't fold), which allows me to work out the others better. Nice clear view of the droop stops, too - you lucky people.

I am pursuing one of my other great loves (singing) over the weekend, so probably not much time at the bench. Not working at the mo, so more soon none the less.

Crisp

Edited August 26, 2016 by Ex-FAAWAFU

[hendie]

oh you're thanking me for that tip now Crisp - but just wait until you start trying to drill all the holes in the couplings for the wires.....

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Just to assure you that Stuff is still happening on this build, but not very photogenic Stuff. Mostly, I am wrestling with how best to depict the unfeasibly small - but crucial - other part of the droop stops; the problem being how to make them robust enough to survive but without being ludicrously over-scale.

I think I have found the answer, & it's actually based on Hendie's observation (above) about drilling into the head to give more strength. The "springs" - my self-wound ones - are having their heads embedded in the underside of the blade root, and the cross-beam with then hang from there. [This might make no sense without a photo; I'm talking about the stumpy thing to the left of the droop stop as we look. Told you it was small!].

When my brain got too fried with unsuccessful attempts at other methods (of which there were several), I've also been cleaning up the fuselage halves. Hasegawa give quite good instructions about which lumps / bumps to remove and/or holes to drill for this version, though of course their version is an HU5 with a fair number of differences from an HAS5, so I'm treble-checking references before I attack plastic.

I have also started to think what to do in the cockpit. I'm not going mad internally on this build (future SAR build will have open doors, so much more scratch building fun), but even so the cockpit area is very visible. Hasegawa have some completely spurious side panels (complete with transfer for added made-up detail) between the pilots and their respective window, and inevitably it's mounded in place rather than an added piece... So that's got to go. The seats need a lot of work, too.

Still, it's the only game in town for a 1/48 version of the Queen of the Skies, and on the whole it does at least look like a Sea King.

Anyway, more soon.

[similar story on the Vixen, by the way. Layers of sealing varnish on a deck do not make for sexy photos, but the end is in sight]

Edited August 31, 2016 by Ex-FAAWAFU

[moaning dolphin]

Very nice work on that head, although it is causing my kit to drop further down the 'to do' list! I was perplexed by those window 'arm rests' that are provided but like you say best to just get rid! The problem I had with the interseat console was the raft of circuit breakers to the rear is not represented at all and I had major snags thinking how to replicate them. In the end I won another kit on ebay, used the circuit breakers on the overhead console and then sold the kit back on again .......ok I did state the piece was missing! How are you at making your own resin, could try using the o/h console circuit breaker board and casting a new one for the interseat area? Just suggesting

Keep up the great work!

Bob

[Martian]

The work on the rotor head will be well worth the effort as it will be one of the focal points of the model and you have made a fine start.

Martin

[MarkdipXV711]

Looking good thus far .. may have to "borrow" your ideas for another has.6 I've been commissioned to build for another ex-crewman. Are you planning on having the fwd personnel door and the rear cabin door open.... if so, going to enjoy you scratch building the lapads table and other sonics fit. Mind use the molten "hamma" bead method for the radar screen. Mine still lights up a treat when required.

Added to my followed builds