keefr22 Posted May 12, 2018 Share Posted May 12, 2018 Thanks Crisp, I've got a square ended one, think I need to add a round end one to it! Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courageous Posted May 12, 2018 Share Posted May 12, 2018 Amazing work that needs more patience than I have. Good work Crisp. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted May 12, 2018 Share Posted May 12, 2018 Great work Crisp. I'm off to check out those chisels. Martian 👽 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamden Posted May 13, 2018 Share Posted May 13, 2018 Nice work on the blade stowage bracket - could you not use this as a master and make resin copies? Thanks for the info on the chisels I'll look into those! Roger 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted May 13, 2018 Share Posted May 13, 2018 I got Mike Critchley's book on Bulwark out last night and can confirm that 814 Squadron were aboard her during her time as an ASW carrier. Martian 👽 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted May 13, 2018 Share Posted May 13, 2018 Hi I am working my way through your brilliant thread (still a long way to go ) great, no flippin amazing work so far. Keep up the good work. All the best Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
71chally Posted May 13, 2018 Share Posted May 13, 2018 Superb work Crisp, especially with that blade support structure. Metal to composite blades, what are the visual differences? (for those of us that didn't keep up!) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMC Posted May 13, 2018 Share Posted May 13, 2018 On 4/4/2018 at 2:47 PM, Ex-FAAWAFU said: It's been 6 months Indeed it has. As a frequent passenger (talking baggage?) on Sea Kings back in the '80s I had been following this build and was pleased to see to see you pick up where you left off. I can understand the necessity for the break. All those rivets must have had you seeing spots for quite a while. Anyway, everything back on track I assume and welcome it is. On 4/5/2018 at 5:57 PM, Ex-FAAWAFU said: micro chisels Based on your recommendation, some dozen or so pages back, I bought one of these from the nice folks at Modelling Tools.co.uk at Telford last year. It has proved invaluable on several occasions. When you need a chisel nothing else in the tool tray will do. Mine is 2mm but I am going to supplement it with a 1mm one. Cheers Dennis 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted May 13, 2018 Author Share Posted May 13, 2018 (edited) 2 hours ago, DMC said: Indeed it has. As a frequent passenger (talking baggage?) on Sea Kings back in the '80s... Passengers are walking freight. Much higher up the food chain than talking baggage; that’s Observers... Edited May 13, 2018 by Ex-FAAWAFU 1 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted May 13, 2018 Author Share Posted May 13, 2018 (edited) 5 hours ago, 71chally said: Metal to composite blades, what are the visual differences? (for those of us that didn't keep up!) Metal blades are basically a long D-shaped spar with square-ish "pockets" attached to the rear edge, so there are visible lines at the joins of the pockets; see this photo, where you can see lines by each of the "8" markings [I have forgotten what the 8s were meant to signify, so don't ask!]: The much more obvious difference, however, is in the blade root. If you look just above & to the left of the radar, there is a right angle join between the trailing edge and the spar (which is attached [Dem Bones stylee] to the rotor head via the feathering hinge etc). ...whereas if you look at these composite blades (stowed in a rack outside the FAA Museum Reserve Collection), you can see that in this case the trailing edge joins the root at an angle. The tip is slightly different, too; here a metal blade: ...and here the other end of those composites, which have a static discharge wick on the end (because composite blades generate more static than metal, for some reason I have completely forgotten!): The composite blade still has the D-shaped spar, but instead of the metal pockets it has a continuous honeycomb aerofoil section - this diagram shows the trim tabs being adjusted, but you also get the make-up of the blade: Hasegawa's original blades are metal, and nicely done. You can see the pockets, and the different root. You can also just about see the BIMs (Blade Integrity Monitors, from memory); the spar of metal blades was filled with an inert gas under pressure, and that funny knob sticking out of the leading edge of the blade at the root is the indicator - if the spar cracked, then the gas was discharged and that indicator turned black and white stripes - if it was OK, it stayed white. Wessex blades had BIMs, too; @hendie's gorgeous Wessex HC2 build showed them nicely. Indeed if you scroll back up to the picture of the blade tip, you can see a white protrusion on top of the Wessie 5's blade in the background; her blades are obviously still fine. I have 1. removed the BIMs; 2. sanded off the "pocket" lines; 3. faired in a section of styrene at the root so that my blades are the right shape; 4. added PE trim tabs; and 5. slightly altered the profile of the tip (hard to see here, but once the static wicks are added it will be clearer - you can just about see the different shape on the 2nd blade from the left): In flight you cannot see BIMs, different tips or metal pockets, but the root profile is very clear. Here's an 819 NAS HAS2 (possibly even HAS1 - not sure about that tail rotor) playing at Junglies: ..and here an HU5 (also 819, as it happens) in Glencoe, taken from a very similar angle: [I love this photo - it was taken just after my time on 819 (we didn't have sand filters in my era), but it is extremely evocative of some of the best flying of my entire career, namely SAR in the Western Scottish islands and mountains] There were lots of advantages to composite blades - strength-to-weight ratio for a start, but also less susceptible to damage and easier to track and balance [which is a very big deal in a helicopter]. The Seaking never went to BERP blades like the Lynx or Merlin - there were numerous advantages to BERP blades, too, but the main one was at high speed... and that was not really an issue with the dear old Seaking! HC4s did adopt the so-called "Carson" blade towards the end - it has a swept tip, but I know literally no more than that about it. It gave better performance in hot, high, sandy conditions - like Afghanistan! [The ASaC 7s might well have adopted it, too; not sure]. The Carson-bladed cabs reverted to the original 5-bladed tail rotor, so there must have been some difference in torque characteristics, but this was all long after my time and anyway I wasn't a Junglie! Edit: some Carson Seaking blades, albeit in a small photo: Hope that answers your question! Crisp Edited May 13, 2018 by Ex-FAAWAFU 15 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBaron Posted May 13, 2018 Share Posted May 13, 2018 On 5/12/2018 at 5:50 PM, Ex-FAAWAFU said: That's one heck of a Glacier Mint. Most admiring of your work on constructing those rotor 'capos' Crisp - never an enviable task having to mass produce identical parts, but then you are carrying on that great naval tradition: 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted May 13, 2018 Author Share Posted May 13, 2018 3 done (including the prototype primed), No 4 cut out but yet to be thinned, the last yet to be cut out. 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry1954 Posted May 13, 2018 Share Posted May 13, 2018 26 minutes ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said: 3 done (including the prototype primed), No 4 cut out but yet to be thinned, the last yet to be cut out. Exquisite work there. Thank you also for such and interesting insight into the differences between metal and composite blades. This thread, and your previous, offers such fascinating insight into RN Sea Kings .......... you should write a book! Cheers Terry 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perdu Posted May 13, 2018 Share Posted May 13, 2018 Those clamp/grip/saddle things are tremendous Crisp, I could not have gotten mine down that finely (for the Wopse) no matter how I tried Another endorsement for the chisels, Tomo and I went in search intending to outdo each other at Telford I may have won, there are five in my toolshed (cupboard) including a small scolloped one, three flats of assorted bigness and one diamond headed on which scribes beautiful cutouts I may need one more for a larger scolloped groove... More great "Sea King's alive!" details too, looks like I might need those racing blade tip ones when I build my Junglie 🏎️ 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyf117 Posted May 14, 2018 Share Posted May 14, 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 6 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted May 14, 2018 Author Share Posted May 14, 2018 That's the 5 top halves done (which are the more difficult part): More soon Crisp 17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
71chally Posted May 14, 2018 Share Posted May 14, 2018 (edited) On 5/13/2018 at 3:31 PM, Ex-FAAWAFU said: Hope that answers your question! Crisp Yes, and then some! Really well written and illustrated thank you. I do know that when a composite blade hits the ground that it shatters everywhere. We had a Sea King fall out of the air at St Mawgan, there were shards of rotor found embedded in vehicles and a hangar some distance from the scene Edited May 14, 2018 by 71chally 1 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank083 Posted May 15, 2018 Share Posted May 15, 2018 That whole project is very impressive! I’m impressed by your patience my friend!👏 Frank 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heloman1 Posted May 16, 2018 Share Posted May 16, 2018 Hi Crisp, magic work you ae doing on the blades and thanks for the explanation of the older (BIM) and the new Karson blades. I think once you have all the stuts etc, for the blade support frames built she's going to look magnificent. Colin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted May 16, 2018 Author Share Posted May 16, 2018 Thanks, everyone. I didn't have long today, so I decided to take a day off from building FRB gear - and since some Eduard UK RBF tags arrived from the Big H, I have started working on those. First up, the pitot heads, which have a fairly loose tubular cover (kind of like a sock) to protect them (stop things crawling into the tube and blocking the pipe and/or damaging the anti-icing heating elements), with an RBF flag on the end - so the first job was to make the sock. A few experiments got the proportions right - this is lead sheet left over from dental x-rays (Mrs WAFU is a dentist, so I have shed-loads of this stuff!): A swift coat of Mr Metal Primer, then an undercoat of Tamiya XF-2 White - I'll paint them red tomorrow. I have deliberately made the "socks" uneven in length; these were far from precision items! I also wanted to experiment with the PE RBF tags. A long time ago I experimented with making my own (out of the same lead sheet as above) - they worked fine right up to the point where you manipulated them to get them to hang realistically, at which point the paint flaked off! But they'd look pretty pants if they're all stiff and look like... well, brass. So I dirtied one up a bit with one of Tamiya's "make-up case" sets (cos they didn't stay pristine red and white for long), and then played around with twisting it. Kudos to Eduard, because they are thin enough to manipulate so they look realistic., but the paint stays in position. So here is the first RBF tag in place, attached to the port ECU intake blank. I'm pretty happy with how it looks. More soon Crisp 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted May 16, 2018 Author Share Posted May 16, 2018 (edited) Hmm. Note to self; need to replace a section of window seal, which appears to have departed. Edited May 16, 2018 by Ex-FAAWAFU 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giemme Posted May 16, 2018 Share Posted May 16, 2018 Very effective RBF tag, Crisp 👏 I used some from the Eduard fret myself in my F-4C build, along with copies I made from paper - I basically designed some in an Excel sheet, scaled and printed on paper sheet that I had previously printed red on the back side, then cut off and soaked in PVA glue. Easy to shape too. Ciao 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry1954 Posted May 16, 2018 Share Posted May 16, 2018 Excellent stuff, although I will no longer be able to visit a dentist without thinking of RBF tags .................. or perhaps I'll be haunted by dentist thoughts every time I see a RBF tag 😨 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winnie Posted May 16, 2018 Share Posted May 16, 2018 The "plastic blades" build up more static as the static has no way to dissipate except through connection. So the Wick at the tip helps, and there is also likely a static bonding cable to the "Spindle" at the root end. I don't delve in Sea Kings, but mine (EC-135) has mostly plastic blades... 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azgaron Posted May 16, 2018 Share Posted May 16, 2018 Nice work with the RBF tag! Håkan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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