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1/72 Hobby Boss CH-46E/F SeaKnight in a Japanese Scheme


Nigel Heath

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It is a drive shaft in a way as it is the way the exhaust is shaped as it goes around the shaft of the free power turbine and then the shaft which connects it to the couplings and then the reductions gearbox, at least that's how it is on RR Gnomes for the HKP-4 that i used to work on, a good example of how this looks can be found in some of the pics on this site;

 

https://www.tech-domain.com/thread-26552-1-1.html

 

Nice work on the openings Nigel, they look much better than straight from the box.

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Of course it's a drive shaft, silly old me.

 

Looking through newly created slots I realized that another light blanking plate was required on the LHS:

 

P1010966_zpszerpstge.jpg

 

Now for that bit of structure that can be seen through the main slot, which is clearly an oil tank of some sort, my starting point was as ever a thumbnail sketch on the instructions:

 

P1010969_zpsfgemganf.jpg

 

The best bit of material I had for this was some 3.2mm thick walled tube which I have had for years but don't ever recall getting any use from before:

 

P1010968_zpsbe0aa0am.jpg

 

Once it's position had been established on the fuselage side, some further trimming was required using my mitre box:

 

P1010970_zpsxfmonllv.jpg

 

The next job was to stretch some sprue to create a location pin:

 

P1010971_zpssxrkbfd8.jpg

 

Here is that in place:

 

P1010973_zpsc2bwzewz.jpg

 

While that is hardening up I think I will crack on with some ancillary jobs like cleaning up the main rotor blades.

 

Bye for now,

 

Nigel

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I do like your sketches Nigel, far better than kit instructions.

Thanks, the instructions on my kit are now peppered with my little sketches but they really do help to get things illuminated in my head.

 

P1010982_zpsmhwbmlij.jpg

 

On the rotor blades, although the kit instructions have them unhanded and rotating in the same apparent direction the actual moulded plastic is handed and has got it right:

 

P1010974_zpsgbb5davd.jpg

 

Thank goodness for that.

 

Wrong:

 

P1010975_zpsvfz8ftju.jpg

 

Also wrong:

 

P1010976_zpsuwu79xme.jpg

 

Anyway, pressing on, this how the little tubular drum feature looked mounted up on its location pin:

 

P1010977_zpshdzzausg.jpg

 

The drum was drilled twice and 1.2mm rod inserted, once that was fully dry the whole thing was drilled through:

 

 

P1010979_zpsdaaokdeb.jpg

 

After some sanding down of the overlong rods I punched out some 1.4mm discs and got them fitted:

 

P1010980_zpssbk8ld3v.jpg

 

This is how this looks in place behind the slot. During manipulation the mounting pin broke off so I have reattached and really need to let it harden up overnight before I can make any more progress on this feature but I think it is looking pretty reasonable: 

 

P1010981_zpsrujbr8yk.jpg

 

I will be getting on with the rotors in the meantime. I always think of these as little mini kits in their own right. Should be fun.

 

Bye for now,

 

Nigel

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That little oil tank looks very nice Nigel and will make a big difference when it is fitted and the fuselage halves (finally!) closed up.

The rotors are a little kit in their own right and have a huge influence on how the finished model looks, well done in ignoring Hobby Boss' instructions as I'm sure there are lots of people caught out by them.

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I have done a bit more work on the oil tank, getting it to sit just right and it is now mounted up ready for painting but hardly photographic.

 

In the same vein I have also done a bit more on the rotors but again not really worth a photo.

 

What is worth a photo or two is the work I have done on the rear end, the kit offers a blank canvas:

 

P1010984_zpsk3hpfo32.jpg

 

Again like the side door this is ripe for improvement. Here is what it should look like and the main reference shots that I am using:

 

ch-46e_hmm-764_035_of_110.jpg

 

boeing_vertol_ch-46_sea_knight_walkaroun

 

After some careful work with various files I had this:

 

P1010985_zpsceh196ig.jpg

 

I'm not sure how I'm going to sort out the triangular mesh but some sort of arrangement with the tea bag mesh looks like the best option at the moment and the exhaust pipe (presumably from an APU) needs a bit more thinking about.

 

Bye for now,

 

Nigel

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Hi Nigel,

 

The tail with the APU is a CH-46 thing and is not found on the KV-107.

The tail on the KV-107 comes to a smooth point, if you have a look at the pictures of the Columbia Helicopters 107 in the reference section there are some pics which show what I mean, I think this one probably shows it best;

 

https://www.ipms.nl/walkarounds/walkaround-helicopters/2015-walkaround-ch47-seaknight

 

 

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Apologies for my inaccuracies but I am irrevocably committed to this so will continue. I have looked at the link but can't quite see what you mean.

 

Due to the nice weather over the weekend I got absolutely no modelling done which was a bit of a shame. I have however got a bit more done tonight.

 

I decided that the best solution for the mesh on the tail should be of the PE variety, any sort of woven mesh, including the tea bag mesh would just unravel on such a small partl. A bit of engine mesh, surplus from my Flying Banana build, looked like the best option even though it is a bit overscale: 

 

P1010989_zpsocgrlhzn.jpg

 

To make the exhaust from the APU two pieces of black plastic tube were drilled out to reduce their wall thickness, On the inner tube the reduction was such that it became semi-transparent:

 

P1010990_zpsy0ij55f2.jpg

 

I used my spirit burner to reduce the diameter of the outer tube and got that and the inner tube mounted up:

 

P1010991_zpsc4rkmwnk.jpg

 

With the two fuselage halves together I think my efforts looks quite reasonable:

 

 

P1010992_zpscd1cqo1z.jpg

 

And in profile:

 

P1010993_zps5vdak34o.jpg

 

My next thinking is I have to do something about the driveshafts in the engine exhausts.

 

Bye for now and thanks for watching,

 

Nigel

 

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Nice work on the APU Nigel, I think the mesh looks about right to me and will certainly look the part with the fuselage halves assembled.

 

Hopefully this pic will give you an idea what I meant about this area on the KV-107;

https://www.ipms.nl/images/foto-specials/WA_vliegtuigen/ch-46/columbia/Vertol-107-11-33.JPG

 

Only posted in case you want to build another in the future.

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Tonight's job was to tackle the drive shafts seen in the main engine exhausts ( I now admit to their existence, silly Nigey). They do look incredibly chunky (see photo at the top of this page), I had a choice of brass rod, plastic coated steel rod and straight plastic rod, in the end I decided that 2mm black plastic rod was the best option, This means that the shafts were >140mm in diameter - incredible (please check out on a ruler near you), and I think this might slightly underestimate their size. Anyway the job was started by drilling a pilot hole in the RHS exhaust:

 

P1010995_zpsevpfsn5w.jpg

 

When that was finished off with files and larger drills I was able to insert the prototype drive shaft. Difficult to photograph and I had to resort to a flash:

 

P1020004_zps4x1zsp8q.jpg

 

Next, with the other side done I made some blanking panels for the inlets of the exhausts out of some scrap black card destined to hold the shafts in the correct position:

 

P1020005_zpsisdjjifu.jpg

 

Those will not require painting but the drive shafts will, I'm thinking a dark steel Alclad type of thing. I'll go and see what I've got. 

 

Next I think I need to continue going over the rest of the exterior and see if there are any more jobs requiring attention before closing up the fuselage.

 

Bye for now,

 

Nigel

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Excellent work on the drive shafts Nigel, when painting them be aware that they are actually covers rather than the shafts themselves and are made of the same material as the exhausts so should be the same colour.

 

I agree with you that your APU vent does indeed add interest to the rear of the aircraft, and I also think that you've done a great job on it.

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when painting them be aware that they are actually covers rather than the shafts themselves and are made of the same material as the exhausts so should be the same colour.

 

Interesting that they are just covers which goes some way to explain their enormous apparent diameter. As to the colour, to my eyes they do seem to have a more metallic "dark steel" appearance from the rest of the exhaust interior which is effectively just matt black. My thinking is to use a combination of these dark metallic Alclad's shown here to build up the observed appearance:

 

 P1020007_zps3kumuxfc.jpg

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The main job I wanted to tackle tonight was to put in a light baffle at the front of the rear pylon. My first step was, as usual to create a cardboard template:

 

P1020008_zpsgfdev7uc.jpg

 

After some refinement that was then used to mark out some black card in my usual thrifty manner:

 

P1020009_zpsog9blijr.jpg

 

I used some Blu Tack blobs to hold it in place to check on fitment, was able to trim it further and then confirm it all went together OK:

 

P1020010_zpsxjczyopl.jpg

 

I then cut out some buttresses from some scraps of 1.5mm card left over from my Dalek build to secure the whole thing in place:

 

P1020011_zpsibfxmmrw.jpg

 

Also note that the mounting pin for the oil tank has gone AWAL and will have to be refabricated.

 

With that little job completed I went looking for other tasks. The first thing I came across was this exhaust thingy and black dot on the froward pylon:

 

Boeing-Vertol%20CH113%20Labrador%2011301

 

On the kit the exhaust is just represented  as this blanked off recess:

 

P1020012_zpsazx63mmw.jpg

 

I will now get to work on that.

 

The black dot turns out to be just that, so no further work required there then:

 

Boeing-Vertol%20CH113%20Labrador%2011301

 

Those slots do need some attention though and I will have to have a think about those. The limited photo reference material on the actual machine I am modelling indicate that they are indeed present but are completely missing from the kit. Onwards and upwards.

 

Bye for now,

 

Nigel

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Always nice when a black dot turns out to be just a black dot rather than more work.

Strange that your kit does not feature the slots on the front pylon as they are a feature of the CH-46 as well as the KV-107.

Nice use of the black card again, I think I will have to invest  in a sheet or two for future projects.

 

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Some black card is definitely a worthwhile investment, I have had my sheet for years, no actually decades, but I can see a requirement for new stock soon, probably at Telford. I had wonderous updates to make tonight but it appears that my camera has died, rats and double rats. Something I will now have to try to sort out in the afternoon. Or try to upload photos from my phone...

 

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Yesterday, I looked out the invoice for my camera. It turned out that I bought it on 21/5/2018 so I was just inside my one year guarantee (by four days). I then contacted Park Cameras - where I bought my camera from - and Panasonic UK. They were all fine about it and recommended buying a spare battery which I did. That should arrive on Tuesday. Anyway when I looked again at my camera tonight it showed a spark of life and said that the battery was fully discharged. I immediately put it back on charge and it now seems fine - phew - so let's continue.

 

For the exhaust thingy I started by sawing some 1mm brass tube at an appropriate angle:

 

P1020013_zpsaryhrw5d.jpg

 

That was then cut to length and inserted in some 2mm plastic tube to give this effect when installed:

 

P1020014_zps5ekaas3o.jpg

 

P1020015_zpsgnag9ohi.jpg

 

P1020016_zps8fygj6r0.jpg

 

Tonight I made a start on the slots on the front pylon by marking out the desired area with some translucent tape with the edge marked with pencil and then drilling some 0.6mm holes at the intended end of the slots:

 

P1020019_zpscc5hc6vl.jpg

 

The slots were narrower than most of even my finest files but using a large number of tools including drills, scalpels, reamers and files and finishing with a deburring polish up with liquid poly I eventually got something I was happy with:

 

P1020020_zpswidgligh.jpg

 

P1020021_zpsabj0eagv.jpg

 

Now I just have to do the other side and make it look more or less identical.

 

I may be gone some time,

 

Nigel

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Here is the LHS at an intermediate stage of being sorted out:

 

P1020022_zpscgmsoruq.jpg

 

And here it is done:

 

P1020023_zpsj4vjzuac.jpg

 

I'm quite pleased with that, I just need to give it a fire polish with some liquid poly and this job can be ticked off the list.

 

Here's how it looks from the front with the liquid poly polish:

 

P1020024_zpsjy02keqx.jpg

 

Having seen that photo I think I can improve on that a little.

 

I think this is  a little bit better:

 

P1020025_zpsbpzywnby.jpg

 

Having created those slots I also realised that they needed a light baffle, An almost ready made example was found on my sheet of black plastic card:

 

P1020026_zpspmlfcz9v.jpg

 

I hope you liked all that.

 

Stand by for more tomorrow.

 

Bye for now,

 

Nigel

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On the front pylon I emphasised some of the panel lines where the cover shut lines are:

 

P1020027_zpslpm4so9r.jpg

 

Still on the hunt for holes going into the fuselage I identified the mounting points for the pitot tubes which are just moulded as depressions. The arm of the pitot tubes have an aerofoil section so I broke out my selection of brass Strutz and selected the smallest size and drilled out an elongated slot as appropriate:

 

P1020028_zpscsjyih3m.jpg

 

As the front pilon will be white I packed the RH slots to preserve the black finish of the light baffle:

 

P1020029_zpsegi7ulir.jpg

 

There are quite a few tiny drain tubes which I replicated using 0.3mm brass tube such as here:

 

P1020030_zpshluhhzi3.jpg

 

here:

 

P1020031_zpsdlydxliy.jpg

 

here:

 

 

P1020033_zpsb5l1xxgw.jpg

 

and finally two here:

 

P1020034_zps3ujjrkzd.jpg

 

While not strictly necessary for closing up the fuselage I added a 1.4mm punched out brass disc to represent a cover and deepened the engraved area for the lights, drilled to 1.1mm ready for some Little Cars 1mm lenses later on: 

 

P1020032_zpsgnghruxj.jpg

 

One of the last jobs before adding the cockpit / cabin floor assembly will be to apply some black inside the rear pylon and exhausts so I got that all masked up:

 

P1020035_zpsdlurhymk.jpg

 

I don't want to break out my airbrush at this late hour so that will be a job for tomorrow, instead I will get on with cleaning up some of the remaining parts such as main rotors and undercarriage.

 

Bye for now,

 

Nigel

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