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Wessex HC2 Crab Cabs Pt II (Fly Wessex - why on earth did I?)


hendie

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Alan, I've had the same problem with my 48th Wessex prototype conversion. The donor kit being an H-34 withthe 'A' frame u/c, however, I took the Italeri HU5 kitu/c as a pattern, worked first time, once i had found a piece of rod to suit. Phot's to follow once my hosting site has stopped playing games...

 

Colin

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just a very small update to prove I am still in the land of the living.

 

Life seems to have really got in the way of things recently... relatives over from the homeland which meant that I had to show some degree of manners and not disappear for hours on end.  However, we're all back to what passes for normality in these here climes with just the day to day vagaries interrupting a modelers life.

 

I have spent whatever free time I've had in the last few weeks fighting CAD systems and Graphics programs trying to produce a file that my decal guy can work with (for my Pegasus build).  I thought I was being smart deigning everything in Draftsight (CAD) since it was all vector driven, that plus the fact that I know the system and it was relatively straightforward to produce what I needed, albeit time consuming.  However, translating that file format to a usable format for the decal guy proved exceedingly troublesome.  Who'd have thought translating from vector to vector would be so frustrating?   Today I finally managed to send him some files which (fingers crossed) he can work with.

 

That left me an hour or two downstairs while SWMBO was out playing.  In that time period I managed to squander 95% of it looking around wondering what I should be doing... and therefore ended up doing very little indeed.

 

One thing to show is that I got the strengthening plate on at the undercarriage swing arm.  There will be a little bit of clean up required but I think this will work.

 

PA210009.jpg

 

Then I had a go at painting... not good.

The temperatures here have fallen sharply lately - from the eighties to the fifties overnight, but being of Scottish origin, I'm much to tight to switch on the heating just yet - despite SWMBO's cries of woe.   Isn't that what jumpers are for?

 

I should have paid her more attention as my attempts at painting this afternoon were rather deplorable.  - I had decided that come Hades or high water I was going to paint something - and it was the turn of little Wessi.

While mixing up the paint I ignored all the warning signs... nose dripping, fingers turning blue etc. and forged ahead with trying to mix an uncooperative grey and rather reluctant IPA.

 

I sprayed it...

 

PA210010.jpg

 

... but it wasn't good.   Really.   Not good.

 

It looks okay in these photo's but I'm really not happy with the result.  The paint kept drying on the tip even with plenty of retarder in there, and I probably got the mix too thin.  In the end I have only myself to blame with this one.

 

PA210011.jpg

 

So I put it down and left it for another day.   I don't think I'll have to go back to bare plastic but there will be some micro-meshing in my near future (after I turn the heating on!)

 

Thankfully I had enough sense not to try and paint Pegasus parts and stopped at the micromesh stage

 

 

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Sorry, no update on this build just yet.  A few folks had mentioned some time back they were interested in acquiring a fully customized, limited edition, gold plated  Hendie's Helo Helper seen here holding up a 1/32 Wessex

 

P6220005.jpg

 

 

P6220007.jpg

 

 

P6230001.jpg

 

While I designed this to fit the Fly Wessex I reckon it would also be suitable for 1/48 Helicopter builds.  I'm trying to put together a cost for this at the moment but it looks likely the Helper will be somewhere in the region of $40 - not including P&P

If you are still interested in obtaining one of these unique and fetching art displays, please PM me - and also include your location so I can try to start gauging P&P costs

 

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Once again it's been aeons between posts.  Pegasus seems to have bore the brunt of any modeling time that's been available, however, the last couple of times I spent any appreciable time downstairs I just spent the time looking at things and shuffling stuff about.   Since there is some local custom going on here we've had a 4 day break. In that 4 days "off" I managed to lose three of them catering to SWMBO and her wants.  Today I decided to actually try and achieve something in the little time I had available.

 

It's been so long in fact that I couldn't really remember where I left things and where to continue but hey!   Way back on post #1031 ( a few posts up so you don't have to travel far...) I had added the strengthening plates for the undercarriage swing arm.  Well, sometime between then and now I had drilled open the holes and fitted a length of brass tubing through the bottom of the fuselage.  Luckily, the nose is still open so that allowed me to use some epoxy ona stick and secure the patented undercarriage mounting device inside so it wouldn't decide to move at some unfortunate later date.  I even avoided dribbling over the front of the Wessex.  Glue as well.

 

PB180001.jpg

 

Now it was time for some fun with brass. Okay maybe not so much fun as can be had in a Baronial thread not so very far from here but I'll take what I can.  Cue some brass and soldering.

Assembled below are the necessary parts.  The trick here as I am building this undercarriage from separate components is to keep everything true and square and all that geometric stuff.

The two swing arms along with two shorter stubby (axle) bits will form the swing arm itself - the other bits are for my 'jig' to keep everything true.

 

PB250002.jpg

 

The flat aluminum bar was used to roll the aluminum rod straight on top of the granite.  The al rod is very soft and got all warped and bent rumbling around in the brass rod drawer.

My plan was to try and keep the top sections of the swing arm horizontal and parallel to each other, at the same time keeping the axle stubs horizontal and parallel to the top of the swing arm.  oh! and keeping the same distance between both port and starboard varieties.

To achieve that I inserted the top of the swing arms into a spare length of brass tube (tight fitting), then sleeved the axle stubs over the aluminum rod, and placed against the bottom end of the swing arms which had been shaped to suit (sort of an inverted 'u' shape) with a round file some time ago (I did show that at some point didn't I?)  The whole shebang was then held in place by the ever compliant bits of blue snot.

The aluminum was a trick picked up from Nigel's builds - solder and aluminum don't really get on so the rod inside the brass tube prevented the stubby tubes from filling up with unwanted solder (as well as keeping the parts straight)

 

PB250003.jpg

 

The soldering iron was then fired up and after several misguided attempts was found to be woefully inadequate.  I had completely forgotten how much of a heat sink the aluminum would be and it kept sucking the heat away from the brass as fast as I was applying it.

Luckily I have the gas torch used on the Pegasus build so a quick application of the mini flamethrower soon put things right.  This is after a quick clean up i.e. rub with wire wool

 

PB250004.jpg

 

A quick dry fit - you can see the 'thru-fuselage' tube sticking out here.  I'd say it's starting to take shape somewhat.  However, I still have to affix the wheel to this somehow. (which was one of the reasons I used brass tube for the axle stub)

 

PB250005.jpg

 

Despite searching through my drawer of all bits brass I could not find anything suitable so opted to make an axle/wheel mount in the lathe.  (I knew there was a reason I bought one of those!)

Turn down some brass rod to slip inside the stub axle thingy, then turn down one end a bit more to fit inside the resin wheel hub.  Easy peasy'ish as long as you keep stopping to test fit.

 

PB250007.jpg

 

The finished stub axle. Hard to see here but there is two distinct diameters machined on that part... honest!

 

PB250008.jpg

 

So, the arm is connected to the axle housing, the axle housing is connected to the stub axle, the stub axle is connected to the wheel.... and it all plays nicely together

 

PB250009.jpg

 

Once again, a quick dry fit.  You can see just how weak and spindly the kit oleo looks when assembled.  Definitely wimpish

 

PB250011.jpg

 

And a quick sanity check by dry fitting the kit parts on t'other side.  Angles look about right and the lengths look about right.  At least, nothing is jumping out at me to tell me otherwise.

 

PB250013.jpg

 

I've still to machine the stub axle for the other side but that won't take long, and since I am working on the undercarriage I may as well continue to finish the oleo's while I am doing all this (with a special thanks to Ced and Roger for doing all the leg work in providing me with reliable measurements for the oleo struts.

 

 

 

 

 

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A fabulosa spot of brassing on those fetlocks hendie - and a handy bit of information too regarding the properties of aluminium, which has been duly logged.

 

I find it infinitely fascinating watching you work with brass at a different scale from myself - at least until the point that your lathe crept into one of the photos whereupon a green mist of envy sprang up and made it impossible to see anything! :laugh:

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11 hours ago, hendie said:

PB250007.jpg

Nice brass work as Tony says, and I must say I'm admiring the lathe. I have a tiny (micro) lathe called the Cool Tool, which is fine for really minute plastic and soft metal work but nothing more. It converts to a mill/drill also. Have often thought of getting something a bit bigger for when I'm pottering around with other bigger "stuff"! Used a friends proper lathe once to make a threaded brass blanking off nut for some odd sized domestic pipe work - loved every minute of it.

 

Terry

Edited by Terry1954
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You're cheating, you have your own machine shop!    :bleh:

 

Seriously, this is some fantastic work. Do you let yourself out for hire? Er, I mean, do you provide contract machining services? One never knows when one might need some metal stuff.

 

Cheers,

Bill

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With those legs she could be towed from John o' Groats to Dover with no problems!!!

...and don't forget the shock absorbers!!!

 

Edited by massimo
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  • 2 weeks later...
On 11/26/2018 at 6:56 PM, Navy Bird said:

You're cheating, you have your own machine shop!

 

now, if only I knew how to use it properly!

 

 

On 11/27/2018 at 4:52 PM, Head in the clouds. said:

I keep thinking about a hobby lathe/mill set, must add to my Santa list.

 

you won't regret it.  I don't use mine that often, but when I need to - it's invaluable

 

 

On 11/27/2018 at 5:51 PM, massimo said:

...and don't forget the shock absorbers!!!

 

and as it is sayeth, so it is done... sort of...

 

 

I hadn't planned on making a posting so soon as I wanted to get more accomplished but since I am heading orff on my travels again this week, I thought I would throw something out there to keep this thread moving.

 

However, before we continue, I'd like to express my sincere thanks for keeping this thread

images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQKD_7enERVlVcCQEQbQ7x

 

(at least up until now.   Lord only knows what Ced'll get up to in here while I'm gone)

 

Oleo's.  Oleo, oleo, wherefore art thou oleo?    Coming right up.

But first it was back to the lathe to knock out a couple of these... can't tell what it is?   It's the top of the oleo which will eventually fit to the fuselage.  The oleo is slipped on the end to check for fit

 

PC010002.jpg

 

and here's what it looks like out of the lathe... exciting huh?  :hmmm: well, maybe not. but necessary nonetheless. It still has to have some fettling done before it's finished though.

 

PC010003.jpg

 

The other end was similarly knocked up in the spipnning turny thing, then a hole was drilled and a small length of wire glued into place

 

PC010004.jpg

 

which will locate the oleo in the appropriate part on the main wheel

 

PC010005.jpg

 

A quick comparison of the kit part versus the new oleo.  The additional girth (careful Ced!) does add to the appearance

and thanks again to Ced & Roger for getting the appropriate dimensions for me!   The kit oleo isn't too far off, but far enough to annoy the heck out of me.

 

PC010008.jpg

 

I then spent ages trying to solder a small bracket onto the axle stub... unsuccessfully I might add.  Then I had a 'doh! moment -simply make the bracket much larger for the soldering operation 

 

PC010009.jpg

 

Then once it's actually soldered in place, I can trim, file, shape the part to my hearts content.  If you haven't guessed, the bracket was for the tie down ring that hangs underneath the axle 

 

PC010010.jpg

 

A quick dry fit to cheer myself up

 

PC010006.jpg

 

more from the front...

 

PC010007.jpg

 

and lastly a close up of the assembly (dry fitted)

 

PC010015.jpg

 

Personally I think the oleo is too close to the main wheel, but repositioning it will involve a lot more work - on which I am still undecided

 

Sorry it ain't more exciting but I'm in a bit of a rush to try and get things ready for heading off tomorrow

 

 

 

 

 

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11 minutes ago, Head in the clouds. said:

How much closer is the oleo than you would like because it looks like it could pass to me?

 

Length wise I think the oleo is okay.

However, it is almost 1mm too small in diameter, the "sleeve" section is a couple of millimeters too long and in the wrong position.  It was enough for it to jump out at me when I looked at completed Fly builds - the oleo just looked too scrawny for my liking. It also omits the fold-down step, which to be fair, every other kit does as well

 

I'm almost thinking to redo my versions again.   I omitted the flare at the bottom end of the sleeve as I couldn't get it sharp enough and looking the same on about 7 or 8 attempts, but the devil in me says that it's noticeable on the 1:1 and therefore I should have included it.

I just did a quick search again to conform that - yes, I think it's too scrawny.  and lordy lordy... I even found a couple of builds where the oleo had been fitted upside down!  :fraidnot:

 

 

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1 hour ago, hendie said:

Personally I think the oleo is too close to the main wheel…

Looks good to me hendie but I see what you mean - the top does look close. Zooming in, isn't there a gap at the bottom? Won't it just slide further away?

Oh, OK, fnaar!

 

1 hour ago, hendie said:

Lord only knows what Ced'll get up to in here while I'm gone

Revenge is a dish best served cold - away for the week you say? Plenty of time to think something up then :wicked:

 

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