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

[perdu]

Dammit H that is a thing of utter beauty

 

And its designed for wobblychopters and as you say we rotorators are always back of the innovatory queues

 

Top notch m'sieur

 

 

[Bigdave22014]

Am I the only one who can hear "Hendie's Helicopter Helper" being announced by Tony Hancock?

 

What a wonderful piece of engineering - coming soon(ish) to a website near you for a bargain price??

[hendie]

1 hour ago, Bigdave22014 said:

What a wonderful piece of engineering - coming soon(ish) to a website near you for a bargain price??

 

I'd reserve the 'wonderful' part for the moment - at least until I've had a chance to test drive it.  I'm on my way to being a millionaire though.. some kind soul just purchased 2 SACRU's and 2 Tail Wheel Castings from my shapeways store !  So, if you're a member of this forum.... THANKS!   And if you're not a member of this forum, then THANKS! anyway  

I may also consider getting the instrument panel professionally etched.  I was looking at the finished article the other day and was really impressed - difficult to believe I actually made it

 

 

[keefr22]

19 hours ago, hendie said:

 

 

Why does that remind me of one of those simulators used for throwing reluctant helicopter crews into swimming pools for their ditching training just about to be launched...?!

 

Excellent design work hendie, looks like it will be a really useful bit of kit.

 

Keith

[Head in the clouds.]

Apologies for not picking up on this post earlier but I thought I was missing something good and for once I was right, absolutely astounding work Hendie. 

 

I have spent the last few nights catching up on this epic and I have to say it reads like a good novel; Main plot (Fly's kit), a sub plot ( Italeri Kit), lots of twists and turns and the ever present threat of unforeseen baddies popping up when least expected. 

 

And to add some spice the ever present BM collective, a true font of....well everything

 

Gripping stuff indeed.

 

So if I may I shall gather my and carry on this fine read.

 

 

[Terry1954]

1 hour ago, Head in the clouds. said:

I have spent the last few nights catching up on this epic and I have to say it reads like a good novel; Main plot (Fly's kit), a sub plot ( Italeri Kit), lots of twists and turns and the ever present threat of unforeseen baddies popping up when least expected. 

An epic indeed. Will we ever get to know "whodunnit" I wonder 🤣

 

Seriously though, I totally agree this is marvellous stuff.

 

Terry

[hendie]

Thanks folks. I really appreciate those comments. 

Unfortunately I'm out in Chicago this week on business and have another few trips lined up over the next few weeks so modeling time will be a bit scarce until I have that behind me.

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

On 6/23/2018 at 7:17 PM, keefr22 said:

 

Why does that remind me of one of those simulators used for throwing reluctant helicopter crews into swimming pools for their ditching training just about to be launched...?!

The Dunker.  Used to scare me witless every time I did it - especially in NBC kit (the dreaded “whistling handbag”).

 

Shudder.

 

Saved many a life, though.

[Lord Riot]

This isn't modelling, it's world class professional precision engineering.

 

Your skills are Ronaldo to my Sunday league clogger. Hats off to you, and a standard most of us could never achieve. I don't know how you have the patience or skill. 

[hendie]

Back from my travels again... exhausted but alive.

If anyone is ever in the St Charles area of Illinois (long shot for most BM'ers I know), I can most heartily recommend a small restaurant called A Taste of the Himalayas - a Nepalese/Indian affair with the most delicious offerings.

The last and only time time I was there previously was back in early April and was astounded when the waiter recognized us as soon as we walked in the door, greeting us loudly and ushering us back to our old table.

He was a bit of a character... every time we ordered a dish he would comment 'Ah very good choice sir, but this is the dish you want. I recommend this... very, very good!'  He was right.  We ended up going two nights in a row this trip - the food was excellent and everything was cooked to perfection.

So, I heartily recommend a Taste of the Himalayas.  However, if you do get to visit there I strongly recommend if a small waiter called Deepak brings you a small plate of innocent looking chili's and says 'Please try - very, very good, but please try only small piece at a time' , you DO NOT try and eat one whole slice.   Just don't!

COnsider that your average Jalapeno has a Scoville rating of 2500 to 5000, maybe 8000 for a really really hot one.  These peppers he gave us, we later discovered had a Scoville rating of about 1,000,000+ !!!  I had what seemed like a dozen of these -> jumping up and down on my tongue.    Water just made it hotter. Beer just made it hotter.  It took a few lassi's to bring the temperature down to a point where we could cancel the ambulance.

Oh how we laughed!!!  

Great place though.  I urge you to visit if you ever get the chance

 

Where were we then? Oh, helicopters wasn't it.  I remember now.

Okay, quick last shot of the Hendie's Helicopter Helper in action.  This shows how it can hold just one side of the fuselage allowing you to work on internals.  I wish I had this a few months ago when I was working on the inside gubbinses - it would have been so much easier.  I do think that the stand will be better served if it secured to the workbench so I'll add a couple of screw holes in the next version.

 

 

I'm still working on the main rotor gearbox so all other work on the big one has kind of stalled until I get that sorted out. So onto the small one.

 

The rotor head got the last pieces put in place.  The swash plates now looking more like swash plates - and it even rotates.

 

 

More sanding and shaping on the front end resulted in a reduction of the gaping mouth that it was born with. Still not perfect but infinitely better than italeri's gaping (non)orifice

 

 

The small kit is well, small, and therefore has some delicate parts scattered around the airframe.  Number one being the tail wheel axle.   During normal working procedures the darn thing decided to snap off - to be honest - this was completely expected and I'm only surprised itdidn't happen a lot sooner.

 

 

So I made one of these...

 

 

Yup, the usual bits of brass rod and tube.  Bend a few bits, cut a few bits and solder the lot together, then bring it down to final dimensions with a bit of filing and clean up.  Better looking than the kit part and much stronger.

 

 

Looking at that photo above I think I may have jumped the gun somewhat by adding the tail rotor assembly so early.  It's going to be an absolute pig to paint. Ah well....

 

Now I have a tip for you all.   I've seen many posts talking about some nolonger produced aerofoil section rod and everyone wishing there was a modern day substitute. Well...There is!!  

Just take a look at italeri's attempt at producing an oleo leg.  WTF??

I checked both kits and they are exactly the same.  The leg is very. very oval  - I think there's nearly half a millimeter difference from the major to the minor diameter.

 

 

So I tried this.... bits of styrene tube and a length of brass tube, which when cut and assembled in the right order....

 

 

looks like this....    It's definitely not perfect by any means but at least it's round.

 

 

It's still round when you look at it from the front too!

 

 

I think they will take a little bit more refining but I just couldn't bring myself to use those kit parts.  What's left of the leg is bad enough, but I don't feel like attempting to scratch that complex shape.

 

 

 

darnit... gardening beckons

 

 

 

[Azgaron]

Sounds like a nice restaurant to visit!

 

Very nice work! Legs look great!

 

Håkan

 

[keefr22]

Yeh, nice axle too...!! (don't ever recall typing that before.... !!)

 

Keith

[CedB]

1 hour ago, hendie said:

Bend a few bits, cut a few bits and solder the lot together, then bring it down to final dimensions with a bit of filing and clean up.

Darn, if I knew it was that easy I'd have knocked one up (US fnaar!) for my Cessna 🙄

 

Nice work Hendie  

[Hamden]

9 hours ago, hendie said:

darnit... gardening beckons

I'll swop you gardening for decorating!

 

Like your solution for the tail wheel and main legs on the little Wessex both are looking superb!

 

   Roger

[perdu]

I love the vastly improved chintake, I thought the 'taleri junk could be bettered by you

 

Hendieshelihelper, when can we get our stickymitts on them?

 

I can hear Ced's bank manager chomping at the bit, at the chance of spending more on tools

 

Even mine would be interested.

 

 

 

Oh yes, nice legs 

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

2 hours ago, perdu said:

I love the vastly improved chintake, I thought the 'taleri junk could be bettered by you

 

Hendieshelihelper, when can we get our stickymitts on them?

 

I can hear Ced's bank manager chomping at the bit, at the chance of spending more on tools

 

Even mine would be interested.

 

 

 

Oh yes, nice legs 

Nice legs, shame about the chintake?  We’ve been here before, somehow.

 

My bank manager is also stirring uneasily...

[Head in the clouds.]

I may not visit Illinois any time soon but my mouth was watering...for different reasons mind.

 

Anyhows, that chin intake looks superb, very efficient fettling happening there.

 

I built an old Frog kit into a RAE HAS3 and fitted some PE along with all the underside ducting thus improving it but stopped short of the U/C oleo leg and I don't know why!

Nice job on yours by the way.

[Brandy]

Lovely stuff, though I can't help thinking the view from the front looks like a mudskipper!

 

Ian

[hendie]

Modeling of a different sort... No, not that sort!      You lot, I dunno.

 

Solid modeling I mean.  Virtual computery non touchy-feely modeling.  The kind you can see but not touch... at least until you get it 3D printed that is.  Yesterday being some sort of national holiday here in the Americas, I took the opportunity to take my laptop home and spend the day sitting in the kitchen fondling a mouse and chasing it around the kitchen table.  The following is the results of said mouse fondling.

First up is the Tail wheel assembly.  You have already seen the tail wheel casting previously - when I designed that I had in mind that I would be making my own axle from brass bits'n'bobs... I never even considered modeling it. Don't ask me why 'cos I don't have a good answer.  However, some interest from Colin, who shall remain unnamed,  out there prompted me to have a go to see how it would look.  There's still a little bit of tweaking to be done based on these screen grabs, in particular, the short length of the "L" shape (where it mounts just under the casting) needs extending a touch so it clears the wheel.  That'll take all of 20 seconds to fix.

 

While I was doing this I dragged out the kit part to get some basic dimensions from and oh what a shocker... the Fly part is atrocious, it really is.  It's the wrong shape and doesn't even fit all that well.  I'd be surprised if it actually managed to hold the tail end up for more than a few days.

I should mention that everything shown in this post is modeled in 1/32 scale.  I'll be looking to take it down to 1/48 scale as well (if possible).  I should also mention that everything is modeled pretty much by eye as dimensioned drawings just don't exist, at least, not that I can find.

 

 

Once I realized just how bad the Fly parts are, it seemed to make sense to add it to my Shapeways stuff.  Up til now I've just offered the tail casting and the SACRU, in both 1/32 & 1/48.  I think I will add a couple of offerings to the store, one being the full tail wheel assembly as modeled below - as this will be one printed part, it means that the tail wheel will not be able to positioned anything other than straight in line with the rest of the aircraft.  I shall also offer the axle by itself - that means that those few folks who have already purchased the casting can save themselves some scratching and purchase an axle which can be positioned any way they wish

 

 

But first I have to load the part up to Shapeways - and let them check it.  That can be an issue in itself as they have some weird and not so wonderful rules to abide by - the most restrictive being wall thickness of parts.

Here we have the axle by itself - all looks fairly solid and nothing too flimsy ( the small diameter boss for mounting the wheel was later removed and the main boss extended to provide a more substantial mounting point).

 

 

But Shapeways managed to find some issues with the design - green is good, red is bad.  Under Shapeways rules, I can print this model for myself, but can't offer it for sale.  Even if it prints successfully with no issues, I still can't offer it to the masses cos it's got some red bits in it.   Even after it passes the (flawed) automatic software scan for printability, Shapeways 'engineers' then inspect the part before it is printed to give a final 👍 or 👎 as they see fit.

Based on this, I'm going to have to remove the protruding bolt at the bottom of the shaft, and also remove the recess on the end of the axle.

Would they ever break off in use ?  Never in a million years.  Never!

But we got to play by the rules don't we?

 

 

 

So what does this mean at the end of the day?   Well, it looks like this part (the axle) can be printed in 1/32 scale without much difficulty, but scaling it down to 1/48 might prove much more problematic  - if not impossible without it looking way too over-scale.  I'll try and get to that as soon as I can and find out.

 

In other news... the part that has really been holding up my Fly build has progressed somewhat.  A couple of hours at the kitchen table with a few cups of coffee ended up with some progress on the MRGB.  Again, all modeled by eye (unfortunately)

But before that.... take a look at this...

 

 

I had posted the above photo previously but thought it worth posting once again as a reference.  The gearbox looks like it's been on a starvation diet, and both swash plates are a bit 'iffy'.  The lower swash plate isn't too bad though missing some features, but the upper swash plate is very soft in detail, has a few sink marks and generally, just not up to snuff (in my opinion that is).

Furthermore, look at how it should be assembled... one small resin pin from the gearbox into the lower swash plate, then a slightly larger plastic pin connecting that to the upper swash plate.  Then you add the rotor head and rotors on top of that.... I don't see the rotor head staying on top for too long without some major mishap... mark my words!

 

All that prompted me to model the jacks and other bits and bobs.  My intended mounting method (at this point) will be to use brass rod to mount the rotor head to (and into) the MRGB - a much more secure method as far as I am concerned.

Initially I was only going to model the gearbox itself but then I started thinking, it would make the whole process that much easier if I modeled the ancillaries as well - particularly as the Fly parts would no longer be any good for a more correctly scaled MRGB.  Hence, the jacks and the lower swash plate. The upper swash pate has still to be modeled

So, there are some features still missing from this model (torque link, mounting hole etc.).  However, after spending a few hours slaving over a hot mouse and getting to this point...

 

 

 

I thought it only prudent to upload to Shapeways to see what they are going to complain about....

 

 

Hhhmnnnnnn... lots apparently.   Some of it is not too much of a concern - the small flanges around the "U" of the jacks for instance.  They would probably never be noticed if they were missing (but I know they'll bug ME!)

Of more concern, is the 4 sets of ribs running up the top half of the MRGB.  At the moment, they are about 0.4 mm wide.  Shapeways in their infinite wisdom state that wall thickness must not be less than 0.7 mm.  That means I will have to almost double the thickness of those ribs - and that is going to make them look over scaled.  However I don't see any other option to get around that.  The other red bits can be kerfuffled away by one means or another and won't really impact the overall look - but those ribs are critical to the overall look.

Based on this, I don't think I'll ever be able to offer a 1/48 scale version

 

and now back to your regularly scheduled programming.  Coming up soon... Hendie's absolute stunner of a blooper in the mini Wessex build

 

 

and I haven't forgotten about the molding 101 - life just got in the way and I'm still working on it

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 5, 2018 by hendie

[Brandy]

Lovely work on those 3d bits Hendie.

 I assume you've tried differant materials, as the required thicknesses vary. I always make my bits available only in ultra detail. There is also a website out there where you can upload your designs and it will automatically fill any discontinuities etc, but since I don't have access to my desktop, I'm afraid I can't tell you what it's called.

 I'm sure you can sort it out, anyway.

 

Ian

 

[perdu]

Stunner?

Must be something weird if you have sorted the maintenance deck locations already

 

Nosefilter, round its fitting place?

 

No

 

I dunno, you have to tell us...

 

Would Shapeways allow you to taper the ribs so the thicker bits could still be there but a thinner looking rib would sit proud?

[hendie]

5 hours ago, limeypilot said:

I assume you've tried differant materials, as the required thicknesses vary.

 

I did Ian.    Shapeways have changed their site layout and as always with these things - apparently for the worse.  Previously when you loaded a model, it displayed all the materials and you had either a 'Pass' or 'Issues' shouting at you beside each material so it was very easy to see which materials were suitable.

Now they have changed it so only a few materials are shown with no indication of pass or fail.  ... darnit - I just found where they hid it.  It's still not as good as previously but at least it's there.

 

It looks like the axle can be printed without any modification, but there are still a few tweaks needed for the MRGB though not as bad as I initially thought.

 

4 hours ago, perdu said:

Nosefilter, round its fitting place?

 

Nope.

 

4 hours ago, perdu said:

I dunno, you have to tell us...

 

just wait and see - you'll get a good laugh!

 

 

[Brandy]

Please let me know where it is. I don't do much, but it would be great to have a heads up on what's changed!

 

Ian

[Wafu]

You know you've a customer for your 1/32 bits😉 Anything to improve the Fly kit.

 

So this is me, keeping an eye on your Shapeways shop front.

[hendie]

1 hour ago, limeypilot said:

Please let me know where it is. I don't do much, but it would be great to have a heads up on what's changed!

 

Ian,

It's actually really simple now that I know where it is. 

under the Models tab, where it lists all your models, select the model you wish to check out, and you should see your model, plus some basic plastic groupings. 

 

 

 

Then you just select the plastics group you wish to investigate, and a subset of those materials will appear at the bottom of the screen, including the Auto Checks pass/fail thingy.

 

 

 

 

I failed to notice that I should have scrolled down and therefore missed the subgroups and the associated auto check.  I still prefer the old version where you could see all plastics at once instead of having to shift through various groupings.