Bladeslap. Adventures in Chinookery

[chrislowe]

After the experiment, I wanted to use a black base coat, and also retain the light grey in the horizontal areas to enhance the shape if possible. 

 

 

That's how it ended up. Free-hand with the iwata. Not sure if it'll work the way I want, but I have to say, it came out exactly as I imagined. 

 

Also, a black underside

 

I love the way Tamiya flat black comes out when it's airbrushed. 

Edited October 29, 2019 by chrislowe

[chrislowe]

Here it is in green, not in grey, for a change!

 

 

And with a little bit more paint in done of the right places

 

 

Now the clocks have gone forward I won't have a chance to check it in daylight until the weekend, so I can't really make a call about how effectively the light & dark pre-shading worked.

 

One of the strakes has come detached from the underside, so that needs attention, but I guess really the next job is pin-washing the panel lines and applying a dark wash to all the mesh.

 

Chris

 

Edited October 30, 2019 by chrislowe

[chrislowe]

Well, finally an update, but not as it turns out totally positive...

 

After the top coat I sprayed on a clear coat of gloss and then added a pin wash to pick out the panel lines. 

 

 

And in the meantime I did this

 

 

Which made it look like this, but after doing this side, I definitely need a break so number 2 took much longer.

 

 

With the nozzle in place just to see what it's going to look like. There's a whole story about the nozzles too, but we need more beer for that.

 

 

So next was some bits that needed painting. I didn't want to be doing any paint after the decals were on, so antennas, sensors, flairs etc needed detailing.

 

 

 

With all these bits done, I thought I was ready for decals, and the first one on was the doppler which is shown in the Italeri instructions but they've left it too the modellers interpretation instead of providing it. Happily I had one or two left over from the Tonka.

 

 

It was all going well up to the point I decided that the next one would be the walk way on the top.

 

At this point, I realised that I had a couple of bits in the wrong position. 

 

 

The part that I've painted black and it's counterpart on the other side should both be further outboard. The walkway should pass inboard. But it's not gonna is it? So my first though was that I could paint or black and have the walkway go around it. Hence the paint.

 

The other bits that are horribly wrong are the rails forward of the engine, which again should be positioned more in line with the engine and allow the walkway to pass inboard

 

 

I tried to check their position before I glued them, but obviously not well enough.

 

So now I'm faced with a choice, do I remove the offending pieces, attempt to correct the mess left behind, and put them where they're supposed to be? Or do I bodge it?

 

Now I've seen the problem I don't feel like I have a lot of choice. But I'm hesitant because this is probably the best paint job I've done, and I'm not sure I can correct it well enough, once I start pulling pieces off.

 

Finally, I realised from @perdus build that there should be a grill or mesh in the top of this.

 

 

I don't have a suitable candidate in the Eduard set, so I'm gonna have to be inventive, but it means more chiseling and more correction.

 

Ugh

 

I was not ready for decals.

Edited November 27, 2019 by chrislowe

[perdu]

Of course It might simply require a printed pattern of black dots on clear decal film

 

Or a pattern of very tiny holes drilled into the housing, I would favour getting an art program working then printing black on clear

[perdu]

Hmm for simplicity Chris are you aware that Hannants sell various sizes and shapes of brass meshes?

 

Roughly a fiver a shot, keep meaning to self indulge there often

[chrislowe]

3 hours ago, perdu said:

Hmm for simplicity Chris are you aware that Hannants sell various sizes and shapes of brass meshes?

 

Roughly a fiver a shot, keep meaning to self indulge there often

I did not know that, but I occasionaly swap my beer tokens for supplies at their fine establishment. I'll check it out, thanks Bill.

[chrislowe]

Putting the issue of mesh to one side for a moment, there's plenty of things that need fixing. So armed with a new number 11, I set about it. To be honest I didn't do as much damage as I feared. I gave it a good sand with various grades to try to avoid a step in the paint and so this is what I've ended up with

 

 

Of course I won't know how bad it is until I've tried to paint it, but I'm cautiously optimistic. 

 

In order to get the bits replaced but this time, in the right place, I cut out the decal and placed it, still with backing paper, in the right spot.

 

 

It needed some trimming to fit, but this meant I could replace the rails Infront of the engine and get the inboard one lined up with the edge of the walkway and correct relative to the engine itself.

 

That's it for tonight. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get everything replaced and I can get an idea of how to mask it ready for painting.

Edited November 25, 2019 by chrislowe

[andyf117]

On 11/24/2019 at 4:19 PM, chrislowe said:

It was all going well up to the point I decided that the next one would be the walk way on the top.

 

At this point, I realised that I had a couple of bits in the wrong position.

All duly noted for when I - one day - get around to one of mine...

 

....which I now discover I'd mis-counted back here in Perdu's thread:

Turns out I've actually got seven!

Edited November 27, 2019 by andyf117

[Sir T]

What a blooming awesome looking build - lovely work thus far! 

 

The little bits you have to move might be annoying, but given the standard of your work elsewhere on this, I'm sure you'll get it all sorted out! 

[Winnie]

I love this, amazing build. the mesh on the intake looks exactly right!

 

Cheers

Harald

(I Reckon I will have a beer tonight!)

[chrislowe]

On 11/27/2019 at 1:31 PM, Sir T said:

What a blooming awesome looking build - lovely work thus far! 

 

On 11/27/2019 at 6:45 PM, Winnie said:

I love this, amazing build. the mesh on the intake looks exactly right!

Thanks for the kind words, chaps. 

 

Well, having moved things about to better positions, didn't I chose that moment to run out of paint! Annoying, but as I'm also waiting for the mesh to arrive from the big yella', I decided to have a crack at some of the bits for later.

 

The an-alq-anlq-an-q is a tricky beast, but I had some resin ones and being disappointed with the one on my lynx, I wanted a better result. The trouble is the colour changes depending on the light and the viewing angle. Anyway here's a triptych showing the result from different angles.

 

Apologies in advance for the poor photography, hopefully you can still see the result.

 

 

 

 

I am pleased with that, but I have to say it was mostly due to the way the resin was moulded that I could get this result.

 

Thanks for looking

Edited December 1, 2019 by chrislowe

[woody37]

We’re blessed with chinooks at the moment, lovely progress

 

[chrislowe]

After what feels like an age (and a half) I finally have some paint so I can crack on. Here's the rear facing view showing the sections that needed repair.

 

 

And the forward facing view of the new grill atop the forward pylon.

 

 

That needs a little tidy up, but nothing drastic, then both sections need a gloss cost and some panel line wash.

 

It feels good to be back on track.

 

See ya.

Edited December 13, 2019 by chrislowe

[chrislowe]

But of progress over the weekend. First job was to get a coat of gloss over the new paint and get the panel line wash on.

 

It's definitely not as easy to cut mesh out of the sheets as it is to use mesh that comes pre cut. In the end I got the orientation correct and it stopped talking apart long enough to get it fitted.

 

Decals next. First, the one that's caused me all this grief, then the rest of the walkways.

 

 

Then another pause for reflection as I realise that the elephant logo on the rear rotor pylon is perfectly depicted by Cartograph, but it has no background. Reference pics show it on a square that's a slightly different shade and almost had the look of a silvered decal.

 

Consternation.

 

And then, a plan.

 

First i mask the square and gave it a light grey background.

 

 

Then I mixed the fuselage green with Ammo Transparator. This is my first time using it, so I was definitely clenched. 

 

 

Crikey it worked! And here it is with the decal

 

 

So now I can crack on with some of the stencils.

 

Edit: the 6th picture down on this page shows what I'm talking about if you zoom in a bit

 

https://abpic.co.uk/pictures/registration/ZA712

Edited December 16, 2019 by chrislowe

[chrislowe]

Well, toil and trouble indeed. Most of the decals on the port side were ok. I had to trim the spaces from the Royal Air Force text because it didn't look right. But so far they're adequate

 

 

 

 

The thing I was least happy with was the black ring / white dot that's just aft of the first window. The one you can see on the first photo is from the Italeri decals. It's far too big, as is the text, but it actually looks like what I've seen on some photos. Bizarrely the Model Alliance alternative is way too small and nothing like the pictures in the walk-around, or anywhere else I've seen.

 

For reference, here's a pic of 712 from the period that I'm modelling. (Not my photo, all rights etc to the owner)

 

 

If you zoom in, you can see the ring / circle proportions compared with the roundel, and although I can't make it out clearly ( may just be my phone?) The stenciled text is underneath rather than aft, as you see on pictures like this (not 712) from the BM walk-around

 

 

So, I was left with little option but to paint it.

 

 

Circle masks to the rescue!

 

 

And then

 

 

Which is probably as good as I could hope for and better than either of the decal options.

 

I think I'm going to use the text from the Model Alliance set for the stencil underneath.

 

Onwards!

[perdu]

An exact replica of a problem I am having on the tiny Wokka

 

I can't find a small enough black circle that will do the job on 714 back in the day

 

Not on any of my extensive collection of assorted transfers or decals. 

 

Your mask has made it look lovely, do they do one a third skinnier?

 

Just about to check my forty year old collection of assorted Letraset sheets so there may be a chance

 

They did an assortment of disassociated architectural shapes, resolution might be in there

 

Yours is looking damned fine now, funny how we can suddenly fixate on oddities we hadn't even considered before innit?

 

I really am going to have to build a green one now, this is what I wanted at the start...

[chrislowe]

14 minutes ago, perdu said:

do they do one a third skinnier?

 

They do a variety of sizes. This is what I used. I got them from the big yella' to do the glass mounted sensors before I realised I had decals for them.

 

 

To make the black ring I used the 4.25 outer with the 3.75 inner. I'm sure you could do the same trick with some of the smaller ones. The white area in the centre was made using the outer mask from 1.5. That might be too big for a 72, but seeing the way you free-handed the sensors, I'm sure you could do the job.

[andyf117]

28 minutes ago, perdu said:

An exact replica of a problem I am having on the tiny Wokka

 

I can't find a small enough black circle that will do the job on 714 back in the day

 

Not on any of my extensive collection of assorted transfers or decals.

Bill, I think you'll find two sets of them on the scan I sent you - 22 & 23 in the middle, 65 & 66 at the bottom...

[perdu]

Thanks Andy I have the scan but before I get too involved reprinting those I have decided to explore Old Technology of which I have an abundance being old school anyway

 

 

EDITED TO REMOVE STUFF FROM THIS POST

 

I will repost it where it is relevant

[andyf117]

6 hours ago, chrislowe said:

If you zoom in, you can see the ring / circle proportions compared with the roundel, and although I can't make it out clearly ( may just be my phone?) The stenciled text is underneath rather than aft, as you see on pictures like this (not 712) from the BM walk-around

You're correct, Chris, the stencilling is underneath, both sides, clearly visible in these (enlargeable) images:

Look very closely at the dot-in-circle marking on the above port-side pic, and you'll see it's not just us modellers who have such things out-of-register!

Edited December 27, 2019 by andyf117

[chrislowe]

The good news is that the starboard decals are done

 

 

And in case you were wondering how the stencil turned out...

 

 

I think that's alright? It doesn't look straight in that pic, but I swear it's the parallax, or something.

 

Away from decals though, this happened 

 

Unlike it's starboard colleague, the port antenna on the nose has been catching on anything and everything and I've been going through the inevitable break / fix until it broke off today and I decided to fix it for good by drilling a 0.4mm hole in it, and CA'ing a short length of wire. A similar size hole in the mounting on the nose, and, after a lick of paint, I'll be able to attach /detach or as required. I could've left it at that, but I knew I had to take it further and turn a breakage to my advantage so the antenna came off...

 

 

And using the same drill bit I replaced them with more wire.

 

Looks better dunnit, but now I have to steel myself to do the same on the other side.

 

That's it for today. I'm gonna look around at everyone else's WIP while the micro sol sets. Or is the micro set soling? 

Edited December 28, 2019 by chrislowe

[simmerit]

Nice build fella 

[perdu]

Nice circles

 

👍

 

Good nose antenna too, have another  👍

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Looking really good now; great work

[Motley]

Looking really good so far, recently bought the same kit as i work on these beasts, actually working on 712 at the moment on sqn. If you didnt know the circle you painted on is a static port