Jump to content

1/72 RAF SAR Leconfield


Recommended Posts

I shall shortly be starting a 1/72 scale diorama set in 1988 at what was then known as ASMT Leconfield, now DST Leconfield. This was the time when D Flight 22 Squadron Wessex were replaced by E Flight 202 Squadron Sea Kings. Originally I wanted to include the Hangar and full pan like this:

 

_mH07lSjhcUgVCMKjeiguxRf3Uhz_vMXce3n81je

 

but realised that it would bu HUGE! Even cutting it down to this section it will be about 6' x 4' to keep in scale.

 

e0Mk6LhN9GMPyZpTHonyMLnBF7-iwqmrXn2oNX2P

 

This will give me room for a Wessex and a Sea King plus a couple of Houchins, TACR2 Lightweight Landrover, Massey Ferguson MF40 Towing Tractor, Bedford MK Tactical Refueller and maybe a Bedford TK MK6 Refueller if I can manage to scratch build one. Some period figures would be nice too. I shall be looking to re-create the tarmac and grass areas complete with blue LED taxi-way marker lights.

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Badder said:

6ft x 4ft?? Wow.

I take it you have a crane to move it about and a museum to display it in?

 

Seriously though. Good luck.

 

 

Rearguards,

Badder

Not sure where I am going to build it yet as my shed is only 10' x 6'. Busy building models to go on it at the moment. Might have to do the base in sections.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, bzn20 said:

Oh ,this is going to be good .. Were you on the Sqns?

Yes. 1985 to 1989 Wessex and Sea King Engines/Airframes technician. Never done a diorama before so it is all new to me. Hoping the cork underlay I have ordered will not be too large scale for the tarmac, it looks quite fine on the pictures but only time will tell.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was at Leconfield in early 1970s. Whirlwinds then. One of my jobs was to hose them down after every sortie

Good luck with this project. They do tend to have a life of their own though

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Pity to lose the hangar - you could include the home-built aircraft as well!  I forget the type, but remember being impressed by what the technicians on the flight could get up to.

Regards

Tim

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, TimB said:

Pity to lose the hangar - you could include the home-built aircraft as well!  I forget the type, but remember being impressed by what the technicians on the flight could get up to.

Regards

Tim

 

That would be the CFM Shadow that Ian "Stig" Davis and myself built. I guess you must have been there at the same time as me Tim. I went on to build and supply kitplanes for 4 or 5 years till the recession hit hard.

This was one of mine

 

297612_114677855310173_377885781_n.jpg?_

 

And this one too

 

314304_107514362693189_893578913_n.jpg?_

 

 

Edited by AndyBunney
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

@AndyBunney Andy, first off, best of luck!

On a more practical note, with the overall size you'll be dealing with being so large, how about building 4x 3'x2' sections?

Some of the unavoidable gaps could be filled by linear drainage, to disguise them......

Just a suggestion.

Paul

Link to comment
Share on other sites

49 minutes ago, PhoenixII said:

@AndyBunney Andy, first off, best of luck!

On a more practical note, with the overall size you'll be dealing with being so large, how about building 4x 3'x2' sections?

Some of the unavoidable gaps could be filled by linear drainage, to disguise them......

Just a suggestion.

Paul

Thanks Paul. That's an idea certainly. I shall give it some thought.

 

Cork arrived today so I threw a bit of flat black at it to see what it would look like. I think with some thicker paint to fill the bigger craters it should look quite effective.

Lightweight Landy goes well with Houchin too.

 

1H1GDoL6h_DoUnacNXej4F7KuRSzqKJnc82F7xGl

Link to comment
Share on other sites

54 minutes ago, Jonners said:

Nice one Andy! Watching with great interest. That dispersal area looks a bit different now!

Happy days...

Jon

It does doesn't it! Hangar gone and new buildings everywhere.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 12/5/2018 at 7:21 PM, AndyBunney said:

That would be the CFM Shadow that Ian "Stig" Davis and myself built. I guess you must have been there at the same time as me Tim. I went on to build and supply kitplanes for 4 or 5 years till the recession hit hard.

 

Hi, Andy, yes I visited the flight quite a bit from Finningley.  The kitplane was interesting and it was always good to divert visitors!  Sorry to hear about the way the business went, though.  I'm looking forward to seeing how the dio goes.

Regards

Tim

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good to see an airfield diorama.  You could always sneak the hangar front & doors as part of a back scene, but from the look of your plan it would be off to the left.  Looking forward to seeing this one develop.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

These are the Taxiway marker lights which I will be re-creating using 1.8mm LEDs and 2 sizes of plastic tube.

 

FeCu9Nt12q_ukmw2gWtQW_z6vWW5YdJrxlsc7rEm

 

First light made and tried in cork base

 

NnZfATJCRLzd7XpyF02P8RzTLqg68j5Ilne8RKPA

 

And lit up!

 

kkIYzDgeaCUVh4Pg71CcVC8NblHhAXPbVz6IlBOA

 

 

Edited by AndyBunney
Photos added
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

So this is where I am at the moment

 

4K84RN0qAeQG6tS7UXxBuoq82XkNgejUQ1yhlfLs

 

And this is how I got there. First of all I cut the cork underlay to the correct shape for the tarmac, marked out and punched holes for the taxi-way marker lights, glued the cork to a sheet of 12mm MDF with spray contact adhesive and painted with 3 coats of water based  black paint. Here you can see the edge of the cork and at the far left of the picture just make out a marker light hole.

 

99kZ4tI-Cffm_712fDYXPQI1ISr3AJM7yYgNpYrm

 

The marker light holes were then drilled throught the MDF at 3.5mm and a cable channel routed out on the under side. I routed a bit deeper in the vicinity of the lights to give more room for soldering and heatshrink.

 

_1E7WyJc2_aM6ANzOWRSaVhizK-HqJ9aFSj7o0Jo

 

Next job was to add some kerbstones. I decided that these would be freshly painted white as though we were expecting a Royal visit! So I used 3mm x 1.5mm styrene strip on it's edge glued in with evostick. I debated whether to include mortar joints but couldn't achieve a satisfactory thin line so gave up! I thought about cutting them individually but they would need to be about 1/2" long each and that would have been a nightmare to glue them all in place. After all this is just going to be a representation of reality covered in models which won't be 100% accurate either!

 

HyfrK8N2dmBdXZ5dB4UpQM8op17PPGr3j3PFybhz

 

I bought Javis hairy grass mat but realised it wasn't thick enough and so would be lower than the kerb instead of above as the real grass would be, this meant cutting the thickness of the kerbs off the cork which had been removed and re-fitting it to lift the grass higher.

 

dtFPOTBjn3gPA2_3Ytg6JHVWRsAsOJFu5LGIhdhg

 

And this is what you end up with.

 

Tu0u62_qPHfelyIpjsBmPfNEkliAYQxOH4y0tzkU

 

With a marker light installed

 

OHySvMRpxNACw4zKmjoX091VvJ2aSrnOxb8UDHat

 

And lit! I need to sort out the light bleeding around the outside but I think I can do that easily

 

AlISz-0ipR42Pi6OJzdUQWuuCGmNzqAFBJ5b3bnk

 

More on making the Taxi-way marker lights later.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is all you need to make Taxi-way or Runway marker lights as used on RAF airfields throughout the UK. I am using blue LEDs as blue designates the edge of a taxi-way. These should be placed every 75 feet or closer on curves. 5mm and 3mm styrene tubes, 1.8mm LEDs, Yellow, Grey and Black paint.

 

vIBKQlIBWRuJxa7yxReLHMnsLnGs5fkfRRL_yGpY

 

As the whole LED lights up this was bleeding light around the fitting when installed in the tarmac.

 

Gzq5tiXlv1JnoSFjC2emrNAolmgoRkhdkGU9VT8Y

 

So I painted all but the dome with flat black.

 

UCk8EQU-doUbF4YL4qiuOxB4cB76Wac6Stl1bfga

 

First thing to do is round off the square body of the LED with a file so that it is a snug fit inside the 5mm tube. Obviously this is done before painting the LED black! Next we need to cut 2mm lengths of the 5mm tube (14 of them for my diorama) and paint them grey. Then we need some tiny rings of the 3mm tube (about 0.5 to 1mm long so that the tip of the LED just protrudes when the ring is slipped over the dome. This ring is painted yellow, pushed over the LED dome then both are inserted into the grey ring so the top faces are flushwith each other. As the holes in the cork are 5mm but the holes in the MDF are only 3.5mm, the unit can be pushed through from above to sit flush with the top of the cork.

 

sA-AiN1rAMR3b3FSfQZatvcF6O_09mxlD3fCQBaH

 

I shall assemble this one when the paint is dry. Only another 13 to go!

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Paint dry so one down 13 to go! Bottom and Top views of the finished article.

 

zXuyVWO9J3XZtfPuGWzil6xyhGnZ30vM8cw-W_-n

 

CvjtxAdGOnINFMh6xwQHkYZAas-PfnB7H7C5ZyGC

 

And a reminder of the full size original, and NO! I AM NOT PUTTING THE WRITING AND BOLTS ON THEM!

 

VwMPaIT-Iw-C7zqft4ShJqqPIxyN8StKLCGyfaiF

 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I found this aerial photo of the pan taken around about the right time. It was definitely taken between 1988 and 2003 and shows a different layout of helipads to the 2003 Google Earth image I had been using. So, as I will have 2 Sea Kings and 1 Wessex to display, I thought I would use a bit of poetic licence and add the extra smaller helipad (near the corner of the hangar) to take the Wessex and keep the 2 larger helipads (seen in 2003) for the Sea Kings.

 

Ytn0in3LlXaqeDavjtIUNY0L_3Hoxg4MqrQKonqI

 

Now, do I go the whole hog on the kerbstones like this photo from another part of RAF Leconfield?

 

qHowHG1H3NUMa0ydfFQLr2KpdxUOhRVLnnPTbYTb

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It had to be done! Memories of my apprenticeship years at RAF Halton painting all the kerbstones black and white have forced me to add this chapter of my time in the mob to this diorama, even if not totally historically correct. Just done a quick small section to see if it looks right..........................and it does!

 

YeNDdGZbqELhW46J8JJFxCAUXAEcvtWK224diK2V

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Pretty much finished the diorama base. A few more lights to install then wire them all up. I am also considering fitting a windsock in the grass at the top left of this picture. The actual position of our windsock was way way way off to the left of this area but I think it will add something to the scene. I shall have a go at making one (complete with a red LED atop the mast of course) and see if it looks right before installing it.

 

_jFecmtWj52CDosIIvV1dsVrteoTTnBnmsw0z8Zg

 

Better get on with some helicopters now I suppose but here is a preview of a bit of what is to come.

 

MRK4i0zk26naOZbkj4IeQJAILa815RYV0bduA67u

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

First attempt at a windsock doesn't look too bad. Needs a bit more of a taper though.

 

QlnoVk4T8EpIsMm_R8QJ2szHkXVNVDeqnH96Kvhi

 

Amazing what you can make from a Sainsburys carrier bag! (Other supermarkets are available too!)

  • Like 4
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...