perdu Posted May 17, 2018 Share Posted May 17, 2018 A beautiful thing baby... Great other use of a dutiful wife Crisp, "Hi honey can you fetch me some more lead from work please? I have some dirty, mucky RBFs to make" This prototype is lovely, more good learning from you Window seal, no, no-ones noticed we're all awestrucken 😇 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
junglierating Posted May 17, 2018 Share Posted May 17, 2018 Er actually the yellow marks or grey with composite blades are for where the lifting cradle is supposed to wrap round....I know being the MJ calm /HiAB crane operator in the past.....far to technical for grubbers to operate..equally I guess it is useful for tresling the blades also 😀 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted May 17, 2018 Author Share Posted May 17, 2018 (edited) Exactly; that’s why they are at roughly ⅓ & ⅔ length, so the blades will be balanced when lifted (in a sling/cradle). But the marks are not where the FRB blade supports fit, cos they have an entirely different purpose (and anyway the blades are supported at the root). Edited May 17, 2018 by Ex-FAAWAFU 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corsaircorp Posted May 17, 2018 Share Posted May 17, 2018 Hello Crisp, That Sea King will be a winner, amazing job my friend ! And load of facts and info, Thank you ! Sincerely. CC 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted May 18, 2018 Author Share Posted May 18, 2018 (edited) As so often, what felt like about an hour's masking for 30 seconds of spraying: Not perfect (especially the further three blades, where there has been some creep), but nothing that cannot be tidied up and made to look respectable: More soon Crisp P.S. If you are wondering why paint rather than transfer... I have black stripes for the blades (as in modern composite blades) and yellow ones (as in metal blades)... but the early composites had a pale grey stripe, and inevitably it's this era I am modelling. Here is ZE419 in 1991 at Fairford, after conversion to HAS6. [I also still have to mask and paint the leading edge metal strip, which is clearly visible in this photo] Edited May 18, 2018 by Ex-FAAWAFU 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giemme Posted May 18, 2018 Share Posted May 18, 2018 I'm quite surprised you had paint creeping, after all that careful masking. Of course it depends on the paint too - whenever I want to avoid the chance of paint creep, I brush some Future along the mask edges, to sort of seal them. You don't want to overdo that, otherwise you'll get an annoying ridge. My Am I teaching you how to suck eggs? Apologies if it sounds so Ciao 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted May 18, 2018 Author Share Posted May 18, 2018 (edited) No, Giorgio, you’re not - the error is all mine; I deliberately used very thin paint (for reasons that will beome apparent in due course, but essentially to do with weathering - you will have noted the staining on ZE419’s blades in that pic) - probably twice as much thinners as my normal brew. It worked beautifully... but of course thinner paint is more prone to creeping into places you don’t want. my mistake. I’m not fussed; there’s nothing there that can’t be sorted. Edited May 18, 2018 by Ex-FAAWAFU 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giemme Posted May 18, 2018 Share Posted May 18, 2018 Makes perfect sense, Crisp. Inspirational pic that one 👍 Ciao Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perdu Posted May 18, 2018 Share Posted May 18, 2018 Ohhhh I hate it when that happens Love the main effect though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted May 18, 2018 Share Posted May 18, 2018 1 hour ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said: As so often, what felt like about an hour's masking for 30 seconds of spraying: That's probably because it was an hour's spraying for 30 seconds of spraying: simples! Perceptive of Mars 👽 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyf117 Posted May 18, 2018 Share Posted May 18, 2018 (edited) Content withdrawn - I will NOT be threatened by a moderator, simply because I queried the actions of another... Edited June 27, 2020 by andyf117 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBaron Posted May 18, 2018 Share Posted May 18, 2018 RBF, BIM...so many TLAs this thread will soon need a glossary for us civvies! Handsome and purposeful work as always. I empathize with that spraying issue Crisp - one job I find abhorrent is trying mask & paint sets of identical elements like that. The main reason I bought the Silhouette cutter was to introduce a machine element to try and standardize the Baronial ham-fist in such matters. Not that I would wish to tempt you in the way Ced did me into getting one. No. Of course not... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted May 18, 2018 Author Share Posted May 18, 2018 4 minutes ago, andyf117 said: I believe that the sling bands are actually the 'reverse' greys - upper blade surface Dark Sea Grey with Medium Sea Grey bands, undersurfaces MSG blades with DSG bands.... Ooh! Now that had never occurred to me. However, as it happens I am off to the Museum tomorrow, so I will be able to check - the monstrosity that is the bogus half-and-half HAR3/HU5 (which was actually an HAS6) has composite blades. It is by no means too late for me to rework these completely! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyf117 Posted May 18, 2018 Share Posted May 18, 2018 (edited) Content withdrawn - I will NOT be threatened by a moderator, simply because I queried the actions of another... Edited June 27, 2020 by andyf117 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted May 18, 2018 Author Share Posted May 18, 2018 OK, you’ve convinced me about the bands. Less so about the blade colour itself. Watch this space. But thanks anyway! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyf117 Posted May 18, 2018 Share Posted May 18, 2018 (edited) Content withdrawn - I will NOT be threatened by a moderator, simply because I queried the actions of another... Edited June 27, 2020 by andyf117 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted May 18, 2018 Author Share Posted May 18, 2018 (edited) Strange that they get tail rotor blades only from RAF cabs... (Much more likely that they are simply deeply ignorant and think that if it flies it belongs to the Crabs) [€770? I guess the target market doesn’t include riff raff like me!] Edited May 18, 2018 by Ex-FAAWAFU Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefr22 Posted May 18, 2018 Share Posted May 18, 2018 37 minutes ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said: [€770? I guess the target market doesn’t include riff raff like me!] Me too, but aren't they cool?! In this pic that Andy posted, is the paint worn off the upper surface of the nearest blade, exposing the actual colour of the composite material (or is it primer?) 2 hours ago, andyf117 said: Cracking pic too! Keith 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted May 19, 2018 Author Share Posted May 19, 2018 (edited) Good question. I don’t recall ever seeing a blade like this, but I agree that it certainly looks as though it’s worn through the surface coating. The additional rigging half-way along the blades (supplementing the tip socks) is a new one on me, too. Edit: XZ576 has been a ground instructional airframe since 2002, used to train engineers etc at Gosport. I bet that’s where the photo was taken. Hence no weapon wiring, no carriers, no gust lock, and a very tired looking finish. However, I think this is a photo taken at one of the MoD surplus disposal sites. For that reason I’d be wary of drawing too many inferences from it about blade wear etc. Those blades have not turned in anger in a very long time - they may or may not be serviceable (I’d guess not). Edited May 19, 2018 by Ex-FAAWAFU 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyf117 Posted May 19, 2018 Share Posted May 19, 2018 (edited) Content withdrawn - I will NOT be threatened by a moderator, simply because I queried the actions of another... Edited June 27, 2020 by andyf117 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefr22 Posted May 19, 2018 Share Posted May 19, 2018 24 minutes ago, andyf117 said: are captioned as taken at HMS Sultan.... Can someone elucidate where that is for the uneducated amongst the audience ? I did wonder when looking at the first pic whether it was some kind of storage site? Keith Edit - cancel that request, I forgot google was my friend! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
junglierating Posted May 19, 2018 Share Posted May 19, 2018 You need to tell me about rivets.....my mk4 is on ice its a great kit but the skin is very wrong....in my opinion.It wont be half as good as your superlative job but then you are uber dedicated🤩 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Fleming Posted May 19, 2018 Share Posted May 19, 2018 Just a note to say the five blade tail rotor on Sea Kings with the Carson blades was *NOT* the original one. It was a totally new design first introduced to Indian Sea Kings. It had significantly more thrust than the original 5 or 6 blade tail rotor - indeed, if they had used a six blade tail rotor with the new blades, it would have overstressed the tail boom of the Sea King, which is why they reverted to five blades. I beleive it is the same blade as the reverse direction tail rotor used on the Lynx, literally cropped down to size for the Lynx 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted May 19, 2018 Author Share Posted May 19, 2018 5 hours ago, keefr22 said: Can someone elucidate where that is for the uneducated amongst the audience ? I did wonder when looking at the first pic whether it was some kind of storage site? Keith Edit - cancel that request, I forgot google was my friend! HMS Sultan is in Gosport. Despite being on the site of one of the very first military airfields, for a very long time it was the place where “Clankies” / Stokers (i.e. ship’s, not aircraft, engineers) trained. The FAA equivalent trained at HMS Daedalus - RNAS Lee on Solent. When Deadalus closed I assume they moved all engineer training to Sultan - makes perfect sense. For many years - maybe still - the Admiralty Interview Board was at Sultan. It was therefore the first sample of a Naval Establishment for generations of nervous schoolboys. Including me; I did AIB at Sultan in 1975, aged 15 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted May 19, 2018 Author Share Posted May 19, 2018 (edited) 1 hour ago, Dave Fleming said: Just a note to say the five blade tail rotor on Sea Kings with the Carson blades was *NOT* the original one. It was a totally new design first introduced to Indian Sea Kings. It had significantly more thrust than the original 5 or 6 blade tail rotor - indeed, if they had used a six blade tail rotor with the new blades, it would have overstressed the tail boom of the Sea King, which is why they reverted to five blades. I beleive it is the same blade as the reverse direction tail rotor used on the Lynx, literally cropped down to size for the Lynx You're not joking, Dave. I went to the Museum today (among other places - see below), and this is a photo of their HC4's tail rotor. A LOT chunkier than the TR of most Seakings - from the markings it almost looks as though a conventional SK TR blade has been grafted on to a different leading edge (though surely that can't be the case!): ...and here, FWIW, the same aircraft's Carson blades: The other place I went (and the main purpose of my trip out today) was to the 2nd Historic Helicopters Open Day, near Chard. A bunch of admirably lunatic ex-RAF & FAA types who have acquired a Whirlwind HAR10 (which they have already made airworthy), plus a Wessex HC2, 2 x Wessex HU5s, a Seaking HAR3a and a Seaking HC4... all of which they intend to return to flight in due course. I took zillions of photos, as you can imagine - many of which I will send to Julian for the Walkrounds section. But a little 60s helo porn for you - the Whirly: ...and John Beattie turned up in an ex-South African Wasp (the blur is not dirt on my camera; it's grass from his approach!): Anyway, while I was there I think I have solved the Seaking composite blade colour conundrum for once and for all (at the very least, sufficiently for me to paint my blades!). As I suspected, both @andyf117 and I are half-right. I am right in that both faces of the blade are the same colour, and Andy is right in that the sling marks are different colours top and bottom. This isn't terribly easy to photograph convincingly because of shadows etc - you might have to trust me on this, but to the naked eye the two sides are DEFINITELY the same colour: Top: Bottom: Only partly successful attempt to show top & bottom at the same time (note the blades in the background are from assorted Wessex, just to confuse you a bit more!) You should also note that this rack contains blades from both the HC4 and the HAR3a - they are clearly marked on the roots, and the ones with yellow sling marks (and yellow tips on the upper surface) are from the HAR3a. All of them have yellow tips on the underside. More soon Crisp Edited May 19, 2018 by Ex-FAAWAFU 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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