F256 Missing Lynx reprise - l'Aeronavale Prototype ++FINISHED++

[stevej60]

Getting there John,and looking good.

[nimrod54]

On 04/10/2019 at 23:05, Rabbit Leader said:

Brush painted the yellow you say? That’s lovely work and the AM torps look the part. This is shaping up into another special build so (as always) watching on from afar. 

 

Cheers.. Dave 

Thanks Dave. Yes the yellow was brush painted and I used AeroMaster acrylic Orange-Yellow. They were manufactured under licence from Polly Scale, who were part of Testors Corporation when they started to release acrylic paints under their own brand label. I am not too sure but I think that the Model Master brand of acrylics could be similar to Polly Scale.

 

I have used AeroMaster and Polly Scale acrylics on a few builds since I returned to modelling and have found that they brush on really well. They can be thinned with distilled water for airbrushing and clean up with soap and water. This 1/48 Tamiya 109-E was brush painted with AeroMaster paints, it was the first time that I had used any type of acrylic paint.

 

by John L, on Flickr 

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

As for this build, I hope to get as much as possible done over the weekend because Mrs N has decided that I need to clear some space in the room that I use for model making so that we can create some storage room in prep for having the living room decorated. All part of the joys of living in a small bungalow.

 

On 04/10/2019 at 23:30, stevej60 said:

Getting there John,and looking good.

Thanks very much Steve, I still have a spare NOVO kit if you can salvage your Lynx clear parts.

[stevej60]

2 hours ago, nimrod54 said:

Thanks very much Steve, I still have a spare NOVO kit if you can salvage your Lynx clear parts.

Thank's John sadly the windscreen bore the brunt of the falling lamp!

[nimrod54]

I have had quite a productive afternoon, managing to paint the nose matt black, adding the decals, and almost completing the instrument panel, which just needs the CRT screen painting. Once I have finished painting the seats I can close the flight deck up and start working on the final details.

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

by John L, on Flickr 

[Rabbit Leader]

That’s all looking a bit gorgeous isn’t it. Those decals have gone one very well and look to be in register too. What a bonus. 

Cheers.. Dave 

[JOCKNEY]

Looks superb John, keep up the good work !

 

cheers Pat

[nimrod54]

Cheers Dave.

The decals settled down very well, but there were a couple of breakouts, one on the edge of the starboard roundel - that was easily patched back in, the others were on the numbers on the fin where the W's broke up at the edge, hardly surprising considering their size and age. I think that I may have some suitably sized letters in my 1/144 Mark1 decals otherwise it's out with the two-hair brush and some white paint.

[Hockeyboy76]

Looking good, looking good.  

I hope the impending living room decorations do not interfere too much with your builds. As a fellow “bungalower” space is always at a premium. 

[nimrod54]

3 minutes ago, Hockeyboy76 said:

Looking good, looking good.  

I hope the impending living room decorations do not interfere too much with your builds. As a fellow “bungalower” space is always at a premium. 

Thanks a lot buddy, it's coming along and I must say that I am surprised at how well these FROG kits have gone together. I built a couple of their kits in my younger modelling days, one was a Fairey Gannet and the other was a kit of the VC10 with lights, bought as a gift by a lifelong friend when he started working for BOAC.

 

I am hoping that the decorating won't interfere with modelling too much. We have decorated our bedroom and conservatory over the summer, but decided to get someone in for the living room. You will know what it is like decorating a bungalow though, have to clear the accumulated dross to make space to clear another room, so I think it will be a case of getting out the models that I want to work on along with some selected tools and paints and hope that I don't have to go mountaineering for something I have forgotten.

[bigbadbadge]

Wow this is absolutely stunning and that IP is amazing.  Great work indeed. Good luck with your decorating. I remember decorating our bungalow and moving stuff around. I have been converting ours with a loft conversion and I still have to move stuff around.  

Keep up the good work

All the best

Chris

[nimrod54]

Thanks a lot Chris. Having fulfilled my routine chores for today, Mrs N has kindly allowed me to have time off for good behaviour this afternoon. I'll be off shortly to tidy up the painting on the wheels and I still have to neaten up the warning colours on the rotors. I also hope to start painting the seat cushions, red for the back ones as a base for the fluorescent orange topcoat, and a beige colour for the seat pads.

[nimrod54]

I have sealed in the decals with a clear coat, and the rotors warning markings have been neatened up but require some matt clear to finish them off. I thought that the plastic locating pin for the main rotor was flimsy, so I have replaced that with a couple of pieces of slide fit tubing which is a much sturdier fixing, of course that led to a test fit, accompanied by the regulation 'whump-whump' sound effect.

I have also painted the seats and these were detailed with some generic etch harness and masking tape for the shoulder pads, some matt clear will see those finished, I can then start test fitting those along with the instrument panel to see if it will be possible to squeeze any extra detail in.

 

by John L, on Flickr

[JOCKNEY]

Hi John

It looks absolutely stunning mate, well done.

Cheers Pat 

[nimrod54]

20 hours ago, JOCKNEY said:

Hi John

It looks absolutely stunning mate, well done.

Cheers Pat 

 

Thanks very much Pat. Almost there now.

 

After a test fit of the flight deck earlier today, I decided that it would be possible to move the instrument panel forward enough to allow me to add some extra details. I set about making a couple of rudimentary cyclic controls using some 0.4mm brass rod, a small amount of brass tubing and some square section plastic. I bent the wire to shape around a bamboo skewer, drilled out the plastic to act as a base, and a piece of tubing made a basic handgrip. I also thought about adding some rudder pedals, but these would only be visible through the nose windows and they lack clarity due to their thickness, so I have left those for this build.

 

by John L, on Flickr 

 

 

 After I had fixed the cyclic controls in position I glued the assembly into the fuselage, I will add the clear part later and leave that to set overnight.

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

by John L, on Flickr

[Johnson]

1 hour ago, nimrod54 said:

rudimentary cyclic controls

rudimentary? Blimey, I reckon it might fly! Bloomin brilliant John, lovely work.

 

Cheers,

[nimrod54]

On 08/10/2019 at 20:27, Johnson said:

rudimentary? Blimey, I reckon it might fly! Bloomin brilliant John, lovely work.

 

Cheers,

Thanks for your kind comment Charlie. With missing collectives and rudder pedals, flying might be difficult. But I don't think that the rivet counters have noticed so Ssshhh.

 

Anyway, the canopy is on and I brushed some Neutral Grey over the framework last night. This morning the first coat of Midnight Blue enamel went on and I hope to get another two coats applied over the course of the day. A final coat of blue tomorrow and once it is dry I can complete the yellow, add the aerials, rotors etc, then a last tidy up of a few bits and it should be job done.

 

by John L, on Flickr

[jean]

Hi John,

 

outstanding!

It is a damn good looking helicopter in real life and I remember being very proud to be French when it was first rolled out! There wasn't much else at the time that could have induced such a feeling!

Anyway, once more, you are to be congratulated!!!

 

JR

[bigbadbadge]

Hi John 

The Lynx looks absolutely stunning, great work. The cockpit interior really takes this to another level.

All the best

Chris

[stevej60]

Really looking the biz now John.

[JOCKNEY]

Outstanding John simply outstanding 😁

 

Cheers Pat 

[nimrod54]

@jean, @bigbadbadge @stevej60 @JOCKNEY

 

Thanks for all your comments guys. I am not a great fan of helicopters, generally preferring fixed wing aircraft, but I have to agree with Jean that this is one of the better looking ones.

 

My only experience in a helicopter was a free flight out of the Yorkshire Dales to James Cook Hospital in January 2005 having broken the Tibia, Fibula and Femur of my left leg. The machine was only a few weeks old, and it being bigger than the previous one meant that Mrs N could come along, so leaving the car in Reith, she flew into the hospital with me, and proceeded to give a description of the country we were flying over whilst I was lying flat on my back. I was very thankful for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance service that day, it could have been a painful ambulance journey by road.

 

As for this build, with the torpedoes to decal, then these to fix in place along with the exhaust and some bits of paint to tidy up, I should be able to finish it off tomorrow. Here are a couple of photos of how she looks tonight.

 

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

by John L, on Flickr

[stevej60]

Looks superb John,glad to see one got built for the GB.

[bigbadbadge]

Hi John

Wow fella, the Lynx looks superb, what a great job. The modifications you have done have lifted this no end . Great work

All the best

Chris

[Rabbit Leader]

That's Uber impressive! such a great build and in a lovely scheme to boot! 

Cheers.. Dave 

[nimrod54]

I finished the last few bits of work earlier today, then took some photographs of the finished model this afternoon, which, for me at least, completed a very enjoyable build. Here are a couple of photos of the finished article, I'll post more in the gallery shortly.

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

Once again, I would like to thank all of those who have dropped by and especially those that have taken the time to pass comment along the way. Special thanks to @JOCKNEY and @Rabbit Leader for organising things and gently cajoling us to push on and complete our models.

 

Particular thanks should go to Dave for his suggestion of opening a door. I thought that this was a crazy idea with only two weeks left to the original deadline, but I decided that I would have a go. Of course this led to me having to look at improving the interior and I made a few basic improvements around the cockpit area. In the end I think that it is a definite improvement and worth the extra effort - although I was glad of the extended deadline, so until the next time...

 

That's all Folks