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1/72 Fairey Rotodyne: Heather relives her childhood!


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This is coming together very nicely indeed and shows what can be done with an ‘ancient’ kit. You have some good skills on display here.

 

As a WHIF there are all sorts of intruiging possibilities............wotabout a US Army Vietnamese gunship? RAE raspberry ripple? Emerson Aircrane logger? 

 

Trevor

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If the original plans for sales to the US had come off, then yes, all kinds of interesting WHIFfery could be had. I had originally planned on doing this model as an RAF transport, and having just blasted a load white acrylic primer all over it, that might still be a possibility!

 

No, sorry to disappoint. I shall go with the kit scheme and make a representation of the real thing.

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This is coming on a treat Heather. 

The Rotodyne is one of those iconic kits from my early days of modelling. 

The amount of work that you've done so far is outstanding. In particular, the way you've tackled the windows is outstanding. 

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21 hours ago, cngaero said:

This is coming on a treat Heather. 

Thank you.

 

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Yesterday saw the white primer go on. I left it to harden overnight. I got it all back on the bench for a proper inspection this morning, which revealed all manner of things that needed attending to. Scratch marks, dimples, stray fibres, you name it. So, out with more filler and sanding. If I'm lucky, and this bout of the lurgi lets me, I'll get another coat of primer on later. I assembled the rotor, too. There's something quite vulnerable to damage. :frantic:

 

I was going to airbrush the aluminium. I've decided that's a lot of messing about. So, the plan for painting is now: (a) Humbrol Clear on the white primer to allow for transfers; (b) do the transfers and then gloss varnish (enamel, as I don't trust acrylic over enamel paint) for protection; (c) brush paint silver/aluminium areas. Everything can have another coat of gloss varnish and the bits that still need transfers, like the tail, can be sorted out. Detail painting for the canopy, props and so on.

 

I started to look at the undercarriage. Oh boy! I think I might scratch replacement doors for the nose at least. Photos show the doors to be, as you'd expect, very thin. The kit parts, bearing in mind the vintage, are the scale equivalent of a railway sleeper! :blink2:

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You know that saying about not seeing the wood for the trees? Well, I don’t know how many times I’ve looked at Rotodyne photos and not spotted the blue and white strip along the engine nacelles.

 

Airfix didn’t spot it either. 

 

So, options are ignore it, or work out whether I can mask and paint successfully. 

 

I wonder if the strips are on both sides of each nacelle.

 

Further investigation, namely the Fairey promo video, reveals no stripes on the nacelles. They must have been added later, which saves me the bother. I can also take back my cast aspersions against Airfix, who did get it right!

Edited by Heather Kay
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I'm enjoying this tremendously too - particularly the distinct lack of faffing.

 

To drift a little off the topic of the build, what was the physics behind the ram jets on the rotor tips? Presumably, the rotor is limited aerodynamically to subsonic speeds (I half read something complicated about rotor blade motion by John Farley once...) so does all the complex plumbing offer efficiency advantages or what?

 

Confused of Hove (actually)

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4 hours ago, Heather Kay said:

You know that saying about not seeing the wood for the trees? Well, I don’t know how many times I’ve looked at Rotodyne photos and not spotted the blue and white strip along the engine nacelles.

 

Airfix didn’t spot it either. 

 

So, options are ignore it, or work out whether I can mask and paint successfully. 

 

I wonder if the strips are on both sides of each nacelle.

 

Further investigation, namely the Fairey promo video, reveals no stripes on the nacelles. They must have been added later, which saves me the bother. I can also take back my cast aspersions against Airfix, who did get it right!

After a leisurely trawl on 'tinterweb, there is colour footage of the Rotodyne in flight which clearly shows the blue and white trim around both sides of the engines. The blue also seemed to be considerably darker than the shade of  blue represented on the kit's markings sheet. It looked to be something akin to rounded blue, but I admit that it could be the age of the film.

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MEK = Methyl Ethyl Ketone,  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butanone#As_a_plastic_welding_agent

Quote

As a plastic welding agent[edit]

As butanone dissolves polystyrene and many other plastics, it is sold as "model cement" for use in connecting parts of scale model kits. Though often considered an adhesive, it is actually functioning as a welding agent in this context.

 

wicking is using capillary action to draw the liquid round the part, I presume this means putting the widow in place, and then dipping a brush in MEK, and then letting the capillary action work when touched against the parts.

I hope this is what it means, this is how I read it.

 

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8 hours ago, Kirk said:

To drift a little off the topic of the build, what was the physics behind the ram jets on the rotor tips?

I'm not sure myself. Fairey had been developing powered rotor tips since about 1947. On the Rotodyne, compressed air from the wing engines was ducted to the rotor head, and then out to the rotor tips. Kerosene was also fed into the air, and it was ignited. This reaction would make the rotor start to spin, once at full revs the craft could take off as a helicopter. Once in forward motion, the kerosene was shut off and the rotor became a freewheeling autogyro providing lift. It's all very complex and sophisticated engineering, and it worked really well.

 

Quite a lot of what went into the Rotodyne was completely new engineering, and has since found its way into much of helicopter technology.

 

6 hours ago, cngaero said:

After a leisurely trawl on 'tinterweb, there is colour footage of the Rotodyne in flight which clearly shows the blue and white trim around both sides of the engines. The blue also seemed to be considerably darker than the shade of  blue represented on the kit's markings sheet. It looked to be something akin to rounded blue, but I admit that it could be the age of the film.

I found a YouTube upload of a History Channel documentary on the Rotodyne. It has lots of fantastic background info on the development and engineering. Most useful to me was closeup shots of various parts, plus the development of the livery. As I see it, the prototype was in bare metal for its first flight tests in 1958. Once the tests proved successful, it was decided to paint the craft in the familiar blue/white/NMF colours to present it to the public. Initially, the engine nacelles were left unpainted - in this form the Rotodyne was demonstrated at Farnborough. At some point in 1959, the nacelles got their stripes, and the craft went on a European tour ending up at a French air show. It was after this, and probably when under Westland control, the central fin was fitted.

 

This is the link to the first part of four. Well worth an hour of your time! 

 

 

6 hours ago, PLC1966 said:

Heather,  what do you mean here ?

Exactly as Troy explained. 👍

5 hours ago, Troy Smith said:

MEK = Methyl Ethyl Ketone,  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butanone#As_a_plastic_welding_agent

 

wicking is using capillary action to draw the liquid round the part, I presume this means putting the widow in place, and then dipping a brush in MEK, and then letting the capillary action work when touched against the parts.

I hope this is what it means, this is how I read it.

 

Spot on. I was worried that the windows wouldn't be attached well, as various builders report unfortunate incidents with glazing being accidentally pushed into the fuselage. As each window was fitted, I carefully applied a little finger pressure to it and touched a brush loaded with solvent to the edge. I could see the colour vary ever so slightly as the fluid wicked around the window, so I could see if the stuff had got all round it. Sometimes I needed to add a drop more solvent to ensure there was contact all round the piece of glazing and the fuselage. Hope that makes more sense. :wink:

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Things are moving along now. 

 

40942804070_a5f1f20c8a_b.jpg

 

Finally happy with the white primer, it's on with a couple of brushed coats of Humbrol Clear in preparation for transfers on the fuselage. Getting exciting now! :happy:

 

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Detail parts are getting painted. The props need some detail painting to be tidied up. I'm not sure whether the black strip is also on the rear of each blade, so that needs investigating. The blue hubs are straight Humbrol gloss 14. You can see it is a shade darker than the transfers. I think I shall need to lighten the paint a little to get a good match, so I expect a repaint here.

 

42704382082_708a42b312_b.jpg

 

These are the original moulded nose gear doors, after I've been at them with various files to thin them down a bit. Much better than the railway sleepers they started out as.

 

42753869091_3e28e75afa_b.jpg

 

I did the same with the main gear doors, to a pretty good effect, if I do say so myself. I added a strut between the oleo and front door from styrene strip. I think it closed the door when the wheels were retracted.

 

42753868491_d0b9547ee1_b.jpg

 

Another view of the main gear doors. Like Michaelangelo seeing David in the block of marble before he began carving, I felt I could see the shapes of the doors in the lumpy mouldings Airfix thought good enough for 1959. 

 

Right, with paint drying on various things, time to think about transfers. Wish me luck!

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Good luck. And thanks for the info. I clearly need to go to the bottom of the class and do much more revision as I didn't even realise that the Rotodyne was mostly an autogyro... I'll follow the YouTube documentary link when i get a mo!

 

Kirk

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Very nice,I have always had a soft spot for this machine and have the kit in the loft somewhere.I have seen one done as an RAF transport in Dark earth/light stone camouflage which appeals to me.

Looking forward to the next installment of your build ☺

Edited by fatalbert
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There are times when you really think "what the heck am I doing". I nearly had one of those. Actually, no, that's wrong. I did have one of those. It was right around this moment...

 

42038539844_d71e794639_b.jpg

 

With large transfers, of a certain age, I thought it sensible to start small. The tail fin stripes would be ideal, I thought. As the stripe decided to fragment as I attempted to gently slide it on the paper, I decided to walk away. I was considering options. Options like not bother with any transfers and just paint the whole model aluminium as it was when first flown in 1958. Options like "can I even contemplate painting my own markings?"; the obvious stumbling point here being how do I even go about replicating the serif fonts and the Fairey Aviation winged logo. How about going for the RAF Transport livery I'd originally planned for this model?

 

Anyway, I came back after a few minutes of deep breathing, and found the stuck transfer parts had actually unstuck from the backing paper. I managed to get one fin done, albeit very ragged, convincing myself I could colour match paint to touch in the missing bits. 

 

Sort of happy that the waterslide transfers did really work after all, though fragile, I decided to press on. The second fin was done, this time splitting the stripe in two parts, rather than assume it would wrap nicely around like the designers originally intended.

 

42756284681_b7d8147c9c_b.jpg

 

Hmm, misregistration there. Some white appearing on the top edge. Leave it for now. In fact, I intend to leave things well alone for at least 24 hours to see if these stickers actually will remain in place long enough for me to get varnish over them later.

 

42756284351_058a5dc2a5_b.jpg

 

Having taken heed of the suggestion up-thread to split the fuselage transfers into smaller sections, I began at the nose. Just how would the transfer respond to my window rails, I wondered. Well, not happily was the answer. More retouching required, so I really hope my colour matching skills work. Let's press on, being very careful not to touch what was already in place more than I had to.

 

42756283961_c3ff803025_b.jpg

 

Aaaand breathe! :worry: Wow, that's a lot of retouching to do round the windows. I'm glad I decided to remove the masking before trying the transfers. Can you imagine the range of disasters that might have followed if I'd done stickers first? :tmi:

 

Having got so far, I have decided to let things dry off for as long as I dare. I'll attempt to coat with Clear to give the transfers at least some protection before I do any more on the fuselage. I might have a bash at some colour matching later, but for now I'm off to a darkened room with a damp towel to wrap round my head. 

 

 

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32 minutes ago, Heather Kay said:

Aaaand breathe! :worry: Wow, that's a lot of retouching to do round the windows. I'm glad I decided to remove the masking before trying the transfers. Can you imagine the range of disasters that might have followed if I'd done stickers first? :tmi:

I do not envy you right now but you are doing a superb job getting the best from these decals!

 

Caught up with this today and the model is coming along beatifuly. Keep at it!

 

Terry

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15 hours ago, Troy Smith said:

MEK = Methyl Ethyl Ketone,  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butanone#As_a_plastic_welding_agent

 

wicking is using capillary action to draw the liquid round the part, I presume this means putting the widow in place, and then dipping a brush in MEK, and then letting the capillary action work when touched against the parts.

I hope this is what it means, this is how I read it.

 

Thank you

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10 hours ago, Heather Kay said:

Exactly as Troy explained. 👍

Spot on. I was worried that the windows wouldn't be attached well, as various builders report unfortunate incidents with glazing being accidentally pushed into the fuselage. As each window was fitted, I carefully applied a little finger pressure to it and touched a brush loaded with solvent to the edge. I could see the colour vary ever so slightly as the fluid wicked around the window, so I could see if the stuff had got all round it. Sometimes I needed to add a drop more solvent to ensure there was contact all round the piece of glazing and the fuselage. Hope that makes more sense. :wink:

 

Thank you 

 

Previous dealings with MEK left me thinking it was a solvent/cleaning type of product.  I do wonder if the commercially available fluid is of a different strength to that which I've used before, certainly the stuff the RAF used on jets and cabs had a hell of a smell to it, I am not sure my lungs would appreciate much more exposure to it, nor would Mrs PLC1966 !

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Heather, re your decals, Microscale Liquid Decal Film is excellent piece of mind on old maybe dodgy decals. It does a great job of keeping things together without making them too stiff.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/MicroScale-Industries-Liquid-Decal-Film/dp/B06XNZ8Y3H

Sorry if I'm preaching to the converted.

Steve.

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1 minute ago, stevehnz said:

Heather, re your decals, Microscale Liquid Decal Film is excellent piece of mind on old maybe dodgy decals. It does a great job of keeping things together without making them too stiff.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/MicroScale-Industries-Liquid-Decal-Film/dp/B06XNZ8Y3H

Sorry if I'm preaching to the converted.

Steve.

I did think of that. Of course, not having any in stock I pressed on regardless. Typical me, really. I think, now I have the measure of the transfers I can carry on with them.

 

I have been dabbling with paint to try and colour match. Almost there.

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13 minutes ago, PLC1966 said:

 

Thank you 

 

Previous dealings with MEK left me thinking it was a solvent/cleaning type of product.  I do wonder if the commercially available fluid is of a different strength to that which I've used before, certainly the stuff the RAF used on jets and cabs had a hell of a smell to it, I am not sure my lungs would appreciate much more exposure to it, nor would Mrs PLC1966 !

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butanone#As_a_solvent

It is also a solvent, I just linked to the relevant entry.

A type of liquid glue was called Mek-pak,  and tiny amounts in a well ventilated space shouldn't be a problem.

That said I happily used enamel paint in my youth and never noticed the smell, but now I find oil based paint really irritating and try to avoid it if possible, I use acrylics for most DIY jobs now.  

@Heather Kay apologies for the thread drift,. Very enjoyable build and a great seeing the problem solving.

I don't think I ever saw this kit back in my Airfix obsessed youth though.

 

 

 

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3 hours ago, Heather Kay said:

I did think of that. Of course, not having any in stock I pressed on regardless. Typical me, really. I think, now I have the measure of the transfers I can carry on with them.

 

I have been dabbling with paint to try and colour match. Almost there.

You can also overpaint the decals with clear varnish while they are still on the backing sheet. I've had success using Future and Testors Glosscote. I imagine Humbrol clear gloss would work as well..

 

Edit to add: Remember that once you have painted any kind of decal film restorer/protector onto the decal while it is on the sheet the decal will not come off the sheet easily if you leave the normal margin around the image when you cut it out. You need to cut close enough to the edges of the decal to go through the clear film.

Edited by VMA131Marine
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That's a shame about those transfers but it sounds like you will come through and do some invisible repairs. This has convinced me to 'treat' any old Airfix transfers that I have - I think there are large blue ones (BOAC) for the tail of my Comet. Very well done so far!

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