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


hendie

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8 hours ago, CedB said:

Flippin' 'eck hendie, that's just marvellous… rats not withstanding :)

Feeling even less articulate than usual this morning........so I’ll just copy wot he said........;)

 

Anyways;  I’m half persuaded that the ‘RATS’ moments have in fact been contrived so that we mere mortals can relate to the build in a way that the we couldn’t if faced with inexorable excellence at every stage..........Keep the punters on board so to speak......Clever marketing hendie.

 

(but it’s still inexorably excellent).

Edited by Fritag
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16 hours ago, TheBaron said:

You need a Silhouette cutter.

Or a DSPIAE like wot Tomo and I have got

 

 

 

 

 

 

Or maybe just a better examination of already owned assets?

 

Now I am going to stand here and pronounce that NO I did not spot the missing tracks, mind you I was pondering the oddball camo pattern 28sqn ended up with with their humongous white stripery

 

WoW

 

I love them tracks man, abso lootely rocking man

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16 hours ago, TheBaron said:

You need a Silhouette cutter.

 

4 minutes ago, perdu said:

Or a DSPIAE like wot Tomo and I have got

 

or 24 hours later, sit here and wonder why I went to all the trouble of trying to remove the white disc and ended up up stripping/rubbing down/remasking/respraying - when I could just have touched in the edges of the too-large white disc with grey or green as appropriate (to make it smaller) and then placed the correct sized white disc over the top of that one!!!!!!!!

 

I do have that KliknCut or whatever it's called, but I can never be bothered to drag it out of the box and set it up

 

 

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On 11/30/2019 at 4:38 PM, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

Bloody lovely.  That’s what that says in them there Japanesey things at the end, innit?  It is according the Crispotranslate, anyway.

 

close Crisp.  Cantonese "joi gin" - if google is to be believed.  Means "see you again" or summat.  But I'll take bloody lovely!

 

23 hours ago, CJP said:

Hi Hendie - all your hard work is paying off - she really looks convincing now

CJP

 

21 hours ago, CedB said:

Flippin' 'eck hendie, that's just marvellous… rats not withstanding :)

 

Sorry to see the primer lifting and the decal problem (Sellotape works for me pulling decals off) but you've beaten it into submission - good job!

 

Seconded!

 

Looking a bit more convincing hopefully, and primer still peeling off.  Got any other words I can use Ced ?

 

14 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said:

Walter is looking lovely this season in Grey AND Green with brass accessories. Have you scheduled pull off checks for the cabin door?

A superb recovery from the edge there. Though at this rate the ground runs will be cancelled due to snow.

 

13 hours ago, Hamden said:

 

Looking superb in grey and green with white accessories.

 

  Roger

 

Now with added black folks. and bare nekkid grey polystyrene

 

13 hours ago, Fritag said:

Feeling even less articulate than usual this morning........so I’ll just copy wot he said........;)

 

Anyways;  I’m half persuaded that the ‘RATS’ moments have in fact been contrived so that we mere mortals can relate to the build in a way that the we couldn’t if faced with inexorable excellence at every stage..........Keep the punters on board so to speak......Clever marketing hendie.

 

(but it’s still inexorably excellent).

 

Busted!    More contrivance in today's episode - at least I'm consistent.

 

I'm trying to get to the point where I can put some transfers on this beast, but jobs keep cropping up to prevent the stickerfest.  Obviously, before I can slide the transfers on, I need a coat of clear gloss.  Before I can get to the clear gloss, I need to have the paint job finished, or so I'm told.  Now, while I have most of the transfers, there are a few critical one's I do not have, namely the stonkin' big "A" on the sides.

A ratch through the decal stash proved fruitless, so there was nothing for it but to do it the old fashioned way.

Now my old fashioned way was to print out the A full size then use that as a template to cut a mask from. However, I contrived to have my printer decide to steadfastly refuse to print anything of any color of any shape of anything at all whatsoever.  That meant I had to approach this the old, old fashioned way. Cunning, stealth, paper and pencil, and a sharp implement.

First time around was to try and do it like the 1:1 - i.e. the bottom edge of the A follows the panel lines along the fuselage. - Which then throws the top of the A off center of the white panel.  Thanks Fly - next time, try looking at your subject!

 

PC010001.jpg

 

Some minor adjustments were adjusted to position the A more centrally, vertically, and eye-pleasingly, then masking tape was carefully applied around the outer edges of the paper before finally peeling the "stencil" away leaving this...

 

PC010002.jpg

 

Repeat on the other side - double checking I had the correct panels - you never know!

Then mask up, taking no chances!!!

 

PC010003.jpg

 

Grimy flat black slapped on.

 

PC010004.jpg

 

Then when it's all dry enjoy the feeling that accompanies peeling off the masking.  Starboard side.

 

PC010006.jpg

 

Port side.

 

PC010007.jpg

 

A little bit of bleed but nothing drastic.  I'm going to leave that to harden up then very lightly polish it with some micro-mesh and hope that will clean up the edges somewhat.

 

The last bit of color was on the bottom side. (Is the bottom a side ?), but before that could happen I had to clean up the nasty alclad black sandpaper finish.  Although it looks really nasty it cleans up without too much effort.

 

PC010008.jpg

 

Grimy flat black revisited.

 

PC010009.jpg

 

I've done the best I can following the standard scheme and taking into account Fly's errors in panel lines and curves.  Not perfect, but close enough to prevent head explosions

 

PC010010.jpg

 

Works for me.  I long ago gave up the thought that this was going to be my masterpiece. Just getting it to the finish line is proving to be a Herculean task at times. This really has been a fight all the way.

 

PC010011.jpg

 

And the alclad isn't helping either.  More small sections peeling off, but touching up should be too much of a problem.  More annoying than anything.

 

PC010012.jpg

 

That "A" looks dreadful in that photo.  It didn't look anywhere near as bad as that earlier.  I'll cover myself by saying that's probably the edges of paint that came off the masking tape as it was unmasked.

Micromesh and cleanup and it'll be fine guv'nor

More concerning is the issue of parts of the tail brackets breaking off during all this handling.  Fixing the tail pylon is going to be challenging.

 

I also contrived to notice that I still have to fit the SACRU brackets, after I actually make the SACRU brackets.  However, main focus now is to get all the paintwork tidied up enough to throw a bucket of gloss over it in the hope that will help prevent future episodes of paint peel.  Followed by transfers.  Book your seats now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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8 hours ago, hendie said:

More contrivance in today's episode - at least I'm consistent.

Ok.  After the pain with the painting I’ll withdraw that half-thought.....:whistle:

 

8 hours ago, hendie said:

I long ago gave up the thought that this was going to be my masterpiece.

She’ll be masterpiece enough for most us Alan....but amongst your oeuvre she faces some stiff competition :)

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14 hours ago, hendie said:

Book your seats now.

I'm only using the edge of mine. Does that get me a discount, or do I still have to pay for the whole seat?

 

Looks great with the paint on. The tidy-up bits are frustrating but I'm sure they're very do-able.

 

Can't wait to see it with transfers.

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On 01/12/2019 at 22:13, hendie said:

Got any other words I can use Ced ?

Apart from 'rats' all my other words won't go through the forum filters. Rats :wicked:

 

That 'A'… there is a phrase of ?admiration? that definitely won't go through the filter - Amazing will have to do!

 

On 01/12/2019 at 22:13, hendie said:

I long ago gave up the thought that this was going to be my masterpiece.

Still a masterpiece Alan IMHO, looking wonderful :) 

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Today. Hhhhmmmnnnn.  The bin was close.  Very close.  It was tempting.  Very tempting.  That damned Fly thing very nearly ended up in it today.

 

But first a roundup of the weeks happenings such as fitting the last of the brass handles.  Uneventful, but satisfying.

 

PC040002.jpg

 

Then a touch of black for the fuel points

 

PC060003.jpg

 

Stating to look as if there is a finish line ahead, somewhere.

 

PC060004.jpg

 

A spare half hour saw me getting the gloss coat on.

 

PC060005.jpg

 

The 28 SQN Pegasii went on the tail at last.  Looking not too shabby though they are a tad on the small side - but they'll do.

All in all, the tail doesn't look too bad despite the earlier damage.

 

PC060006.jpg

 

and from the other side...

 

PC060007.jpg

 

That was all straightforward stuff, all going according to plan.  Until today that is.

The morning started off with discovering that the gloss coat has some white'ish marks here and there.  Now whether those will disappear under another gloss coat and a flat coat remains to be seen.

Today's plan was to get at least one side of the transfers done and I Started off with the Alpha on the nose. Easy peasy.

 

PC070012.jpg

 

Then it all went south.

I had to use individual characters for the serial, and that went okay - until I went to add some MicroS2 - I just touched the brush to the X and a chunk of it came away.  Damn.

 

PC070013.jpg

 

After that it went from bad to worse.

I managed to get one or two (Caracal) decals in place.  Most of the Fly transfers are completely unusable. 

Their stencils are the size of bill boards. 

Riddled with spelling errors - Stripe instead of Strip.  Acess instead of Access

Graphics such as the jacking point are about 4 times the size they should be

Most of the other graphics aren't even included. - Such as the arrows for the handles Close - Open etc.

No roundels for the airframe I am depicting.

The transfers that are actually usable are the wrong color. Fly provide a black version and a white version (28 SQN stencils were yellow), and when they do provide a yellow version, there aren't enough.

 

After about 4 hours of increasing frustration I walked away and when I came back I started on the cabin step, but soon left that as the mojo was not cooperating much.

 

PC060008.jpg

 

I'm not sure what I am going to do with this regarding transfers.  I think it will end up missing most of them.

 

Does anyone have a good paint reference for the roundel colors?

 

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7 hours ago, hendie said:

Most of the Fly transfers are completely unusable. 

After all the other nonsense with the kit, Why am I not surprised?

On the bright side, this update is looking very nice indeed, and, you have the coach on mojo standby, along with all those 3D printer micro spiders.

Onwards and upwards, defrost the turkey and pass the ammunition! What what old chap?

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On 12/3/2019 at 6:08 PM, keefr22 said:

The filter's pretty clever, it allows Arsenal, but strike out the nal and it gives bottomnal (which as a lifelong Spurs supporter (for my sins), I find somewhat amusing!)

 

K

Of course it allows Arsenal!

I'm surprised though, that it doesn't change Spurs to "something stuck on a cowboy's boot" which as an Arsenal fan, I would find much more amusing! ;)

 

Ian

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Sounds like you're having a bit of a mojo crisis hendie - I know how you feel, must be the weather or something :( 

 

Still looking pretty good to me and I'm sure you'll get the little problems sorted once you're back to full steam :) 

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Haven't dipped in here for some time, so much catching up was done. Just WOW kind of sums up my thinking. Most impressed with everything I've seen and read, the painting/masking, that side door housing, tales of magnetic plugs and unsurprising but amusing insights into past MOD stores provisioning. 

 

Excellent stuff!

 

Terry

 

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2 hours ago, limeypilot said:

Of course it allows Arsenal!

I'm surprised though, that it doesn't change Spurs to "something stuck on a cowboy's boot" which as an Arsenal fan, I would find much more amusing! ;)

 

Ian

Gutsy call given your lot’s current trajectory...

 

[Steps back as a Forest fan, purely neutral in North London rivalries...]

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12 hours ago, hendie said:

I'm not sure what I am going to do with this regarding transfers.  I think it will end up missing most of them

I’m darned sure that to do so would not spoil this beauty in the slightest.  I’m also darned sure that probably only you would know (unless you keep blabbing to us of course) - but of course I know that it’s yours knowledge and sense of satisfaction that is all that really matters.....

 

You’ve probably addressed this somewhere in these gob-smackingly good 67 pages, but in 1/32 scale couldn’t you produce some home brew decals?  The artwork would be easy-peasy for a man of your calibre.  My experience of home-brew clear decal sheet is that it’s a bit on the thick side - but could be useable, especially at this scale?

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3 hours ago, Fritag said:

You’ve probably addressed this somewhere in these gob-smackingly good 67 pages, but in 1/32 scale couldn’t you produce some home brew decals?  The artwork would be easy-peasy for a man of your calibre.  My experience of home-brew clear decal sheet is that it’s a bit on the thick side - but could be useable, especially at this scale?

 

I had considered it a while back Steve.   Of course, Sod's Law dictated that my printer packed in about two weeks ago so I'd need to source a new one.  To some folks that may sound like an easy process, but for me it involves a seemingly endless round of evaluating cost vs quality vs reviews  vs personal bias and so on.

you do raise a good point though, and something I didn't consider yesterday - thanks

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Swear to God my nerves won't take many more of these rollercoaster updates where your immaculate craftspersonship is sabotaged by the frailty of materials Alan. 

 

I know the standards you set yourself far exceed what those of us watching would consider a max quality threshold - which only makes this righteous struggle all the more admirable to witness. 👏

 

Don't know if you're intending the laser or inkjet route for a printer but both Mrs. B & myself use Canon MG series jobs - she a higher end version for reproducing her artwork for sale to galleries, me a low end one for general studio duties. In both cases excellent output quality when calibrated correctly and using good quality print materials.

 

Haven't had a chance to evaluate it yet but when it comes to organising reference photographs, a friends sent me this link through Twitter - I'm probably going to whack it on the laptop myself as it looks far simpler/more effective than Lightroom for viewing/study purposes:

https://www.pureref.com

 

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