Pappy Posted February 23, 2020 Share Posted February 23, 2020 (edited) G'day people, I will join in with this one I cracked the bags on this one yesterday. I am still awaiting some PE for the internals so I have busied myself with prepping the exterior and working on whatever sub-assemblies that I can in the meantime. Typically, most chopper kits are about 50% cabin, so this will severely limit my progress once al the external bits are done, but there is still a fair bit to to before I have to come to a complete stop. The engine and transmission housing is divided into three major assemblies Some of these are simple one piece affairs like the forward housing above, but others are multi-part affairs than benefit from a tidy up and some dry-fitting before committing to glue The nose section seems to have a lot of people flustered and I can understand why, the four part assembly needs constant attention to avoid unsightly gaps. I am using a resin tail but this requires the kit tail rotor transmission unit. These fit each other without any issues - winning The dash prepped for some PE It is a bit sad that all Airfix can manage in 1/48 is decals but it does make the prep easy, all I did was remove the molded on comings but I decided to keep the video screen details as they are raised and will look nice once painted. The seats will be getting some PE belts so the molded on belts were scraped off and the basic frames assembled The seat pan cushions/survival packs were also prepared With the seats set aside to dry the fuselage lumps and bumps could be attended to. The exhaust fairings were added to each fuselage half as I though this would allow for a better join and hope this would avoid any nasty 'steps'. Remedial sanding in this area will obliterate the delicate rivet detail so it is best to take your time and do it right the first time cheers Pappy Edited February 23, 2020 by Pappy 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hewy Posted February 23, 2020 Share Posted February 23, 2020 Youve done a real clean job of the seats ,Good to see another lynx being built alongside mr martians, I'm teeing mine up for the helicopter gb later in the year , so hopfully these builds will be great reference, is yours going to be rotors and tail folded? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted February 23, 2020 Author Share Posted February 23, 2020 (edited) 3 hours ago, Hewy said: Youve done a real clean job of the seats ,Good to see another lynx being built alongside mr martians, I'm teeing mine up for the helicopter gb later in the year , so hopfully these builds will be great reference, is yours going to be rotors and tail folded? G'day Hewy, Yup! I like the look and it saves space - just like the real thing. It is nice that Airfix provides the option for a stowed config, I wish more helicopter kits did. I have not really started on the seats other than getting the basic frames together. The PE set provides a replacement base for the seats which looks very delicate but I am undecided as to if I will employ them as I don't want things to come adrift mid build. I will fold the bases up and make a determination then. This kit needs a lot of test fitting before you commit to glue as Airfix have broken the main assemblies down around natural panel lines and the tolerances are very tight. Although not an entirely bad thing, it does mean that a small irregularity like an ejectore pin mark, mould seam or even paint can effect the fit, cheers, Pappy Edited February 23, 2020 by Pappy 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob85 Posted February 23, 2020 Share Posted February 23, 2020 Nice to see another lynx in the mix. Neat work so far, looking forward to the build. Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted February 27, 2020 Author Share Posted February 27, 2020 (edited) On 2/24/2020 at 8:31 AM, rob85 said: Nice to see another lynx in the mix. Neat work so far, looking forward to the build. Rob Thanks Rob, G'day people, So I have started adding some PE bits and pieces to the sub-assemblies cheers, Pappy Edited February 27, 2020 by Pappy 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hewy Posted February 27, 2020 Share Posted February 27, 2020 👍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted March 6, 2020 Author Share Posted March 6, 2020 (edited) G'day people, Well, the post finally came through with some goodies but I had kept myself busy in the meantime. I have made some additional progress on the hoist and the Big A## Gun (BAG) The exterior PE set includes a replacement for the hoist cable connection point. The kit item is not bad, but the PE part looks nicer I believe the proper designation for the BAG is actually a .50 Cal M3M Browning, but I like BAG better. The exterior PE set includes a very nice spent shell collector which is an order of magnitude better than the Airfix part which is basically just a lump of plastic. So now that the interior PE details set has arrived, work could continue at pace. The PE overlays for the centre console and forward bulkhead support frame were applied The cockpit sides were not forgotten and these are dressed up with some map cases. they look a tad oversize but they will add some 'busyness' to some otherwise featureless walls cheers, Pappy Edited March 6, 2020 by Pappy 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted March 7, 2020 Author Share Posted March 7, 2020 G'day people, I had a fun day splashing some paint around, The RN Lynx typically fly with a fairly empty cabin save for the rear bench seat which will normally have the emergency life raft stowed on it. i could not find a clear pic of the raft so i just used my imagination and made one from two part epoxy putty The rear cabin side panels and roof also received a lick of paint and a wash I intend for my cabin to be mostly empty but I assembled and cleaned up the 'bouncy castle' (the inflatable crew seat) but carved off the overly thick side webbing and added some wine foil substitutes with some wrinkles and sags as this is more typical of the item thanks for looking, cheers, Pappy 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob85 Posted March 7, 2020 Share Posted March 7, 2020 That’s some lovely paint work on the internals, cracking stuff. Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted March 9, 2020 Author Share Posted March 9, 2020 (edited) On 3/8/2020 at 9:28 AM, rob85 said: That’s some lovely paint work on the internals, cracking stuff. Rob Thanks very much Rob G'day people, Well, I reached a milestone today as I was able to get the fuselage closed🤗 The kit has a reputation for being difficult with respect to shoe-horning the assembled cabin/cockpit assembly into the fuselage. Airfix have engineered the kit with very tight tolerances and even paint can interfere with the fit so I made sure any mating surfaces were just bare plastic. I also figured out where the problem areas were by what seemed endless dry fitting but once these points were sanded a back a little a smooth (but snug) fit was achieved. I ended up gluing the fuselage halves in sections in the following sequence: Rear fuselage section (where the tail boom attaches) The rear cabin bulkhead to each fuselage half The cabin sides to fuselage each fuselage half (liquid glue applied from underside) The fuselage top to the top of the cabin roof The front of the fuselage One area that can cause real fit issues is the front fuselage/nose join. I think that this is because the two fuselage halves tend to splay outwards and instead of presenting a flat butt join to the assembled nose section, you have an angular face instead. I used some clamps (and quite a lot of swearing including making up some new words!!) but eventually got there. Once dry I added some plastic strips to beef up the join, but not before making sure the would not foul the nose assembly I also deviated from the assembly sequence slightly and added the fuselage belly section to the assembled wheel sponson assembly. Once dry, this was offered up to the assembled fuselage parts. The part did pop in after some persuasion. I still ended up with some gaps but I think I can deal with these relatively easily by adding some plastic sheet shims and sanding down. Test fitting the 'dog house ' parts was promising, no major fit issues apparent cheers, Pappy Edited March 9, 2020 by Pappy 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moaning dolphin Posted March 9, 2020 Share Posted March 9, 2020 Great stuff so far, I love this kit but haven't managed to complete mine yet, still in the assembly stage! Keep up the great work! Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hewy Posted March 9, 2020 Share Posted March 9, 2020 Yes, quality assembly so far pappy 👍I'm getting the message ,serious attention to fit and fettling is a must here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelling minion Posted March 9, 2020 Share Posted March 9, 2020 Excellent work on your Lynx Pappy, the cabin interior looks very good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted March 10, 2020 Author Share Posted March 10, 2020 (edited) 7 hours ago, moaning dolphin said: Great stuff so far, I love this kit but haven't managed to complete mine yet, still in the assembly stage! Keep up the great work! Bob G'day Bob, thanks very much. You should get back to it. While waiting for the interior PE set I was able to get a lot of the external assemblies done. Once the cabin goes in and the fuselage is closed you are about 70% done. 5 hours ago, Hewy said: Yes, quality assembly so far pappy 👍I'm getting the message ,serious attention to fit and fettling is a must here G'day Hewy, The week or two I spent waiting for the PE set was actually a lucky break as it forced me to spend time test fitting and adjusting instead of just blindly smashing this one out and discovering too late that there were fit issues. Careful dry fitting will be rewarded with a superior fit and less remedial work later. Also the multiple versions that can be built from this kit means that you need to read through the whole assembly sequence and decide early on what version and what equipment will be used as there are numerous flashed over holes and slots that need to be opened up before parts are assembled. I find it useful to remove the unused optional parts from the sprues to a resealable plastic bag and set these aside to prevent incorrect parts being used. 3 hours ago, modelling minion said: Excellent work on your Lynx Pappy, the cabin interior looks very good. Thanks, the kit has some really nice detail and the PE sets really add some value but I am not willing to give too much credit as the pre-painted PE looks good on the fret but once again the colours are not within a bull's roar of being correct. The centre and overhead console panels should be black, but instead they are depicted in a medium grey. I don't know if this is meant to be a version of 'scale' black or just a pure cock-up but it is frustrating. I have used the Airfix decals where I can instead of the placards provided on the PE sheet. For one they are easy to position exactly where you want them and being decals are very thin, instead of the slab like data placards. The instrument panel PE looks the part and as Airfix chose to rely completely on decals you don't have much choice if you don't want to use the Airfix decal. The video screen on the observer's side does have some lovely raised details and it is a great shame that Airfix did not continue this level of detail to the rest of the IP and consoles. The seat belts molded onto the aft cabin bulkhead are accurate in shape. I sanded these off in preparation for using the PE seat belts which i came to regret as the PE belts are entirely the wrong colour and wrong shape. I am not sure what they used for research but it sure wasn't a Lynx! G'day people, Well, I have found another goof in the instructions. I spent yesterday scratch building a tail skid. The instructions would have you install part 26D (tail skid) at step 133 however, I will be using a resin tail boom and folded tail unit in place of the kit parts. The resin manufacturer of the tail unit dutifully copied the Airfix mistake of providing the slot for part 26D to slip into however, the slot was partially filled with resin on my example so I decided to scratch build my own tail skid with some scrap resin and replacing the plastic skid with a wire item for greater strength. This all went to plan until I realised while looking at my references that RN Lynx do not have a tail skid! Well done Airfix - you got me! This was removed and I am in the process of restoring the surface detail As mentioned, I will be using a replacement resin tail boom which has the tail rotor shaft exposed, presumably for a maintenance inspection or servicing of some type The resin parts are obviously based upon the kit parts so they fit quite well however, there was a significant casting plug underneath the resin tail boom. Removing the casting plug was quite easy and only took about a minute with a razor saw however there were some molding flaws evident as well as some small air bubbles that would need filling I sanded off the base for the antenna (p[art 79B) which allowed me to easily deal with the mold flaws. Once satisfied, a new base was made using some plastic strip and the kit antenna added Airfix would have you add part 66B (the I-Band transponder) forward of this antenna and this is correct. I have noticed that in some more recent pictures, this transponder has been replaced with a newer, smaller version which is a small rectangular box. I checked my references for my subject and it has the newer type installed so I was about to scratch up a new item when I noticed that part 5B. This is not mentioned in the instructions at all but it fits the bill. This was offered up to the tail boom and it fit quite well so following a dab of CA it was duly pressed into service So things are now starting to resemble a Lynx Thanks for looking, Pappy Edited March 10, 2020 by Pappy 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andwil Posted March 10, 2020 Share Posted March 10, 2020 Looking good, nice and busy. AW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted March 13, 2020 Author Share Posted March 13, 2020 (edited) On 3/10/2020 at 6:13 PM, Andwil said: Looking good, nice and busy. AW G'day Andrew, Yes it is all starting to come together now It is just the windscreen and doghouse that remain to be assembled. The resin tail boom fitted flawlessly after all the remedial clean up tasks had been performed. I did have a small step either side of the rear hatch (just fwd of the ALQ-144 IR jammer), which was part of the one piece lower fuselage section (13A). It will require some putty after sanding to restore the fuselage contours in this area. The gaps forward of the wheel sponsons were also dealt with by plugging them with scraps of plastic sheet and sanding flush. The nose section also fitted without drama. I did add a bead of liquid putty and wiped off the excess with some metho thanks for looking, Pappy Edited March 14, 2020 by Pappy 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hewy Posted March 14, 2020 Share Posted March 14, 2020 Its looking very impressive indeed ,superb job pappy👍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted April 29, 2020 Author Share Posted April 29, 2020 G'day people, It is good to finally get some bench time again. I painted up the kit exhausts once these were modified. The 'front' end was sawed off and the PE exhaust turbine face and flow vanes added to a sheet of styrene. I forgot to take some pics of these before they were glued in and it is very difficult to photo in situ. After the paint was dry, these were offered up to the exhaust tubes and glued in place. Once dry any excess plastic card was trimmed away. The attachment point was very small and quite precarious so I considered it prudent to add some additional support around the exhausts using scrap resin pieces and a generous squirt of CA.I think this looks a lot better than the stock items cheers, Pappy 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob85 Posted April 29, 2020 Share Posted April 29, 2020 Pappy, this is looking great, so many nice details. glad to see so much progress. Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted April 30, 2020 Author Share Posted April 30, 2020 20 hours ago, rob85 said: Pappy, this is looking great, so many nice details. glad to see so much progress. Rob G'day Rob, Thanks fore the kind words. Progress continues.... The Doghouse has now been added There are a few small gaps but nothing that cannot be dealt with. Dry fitting the windscreen however is a different matter, I suspect that this issue is one I have induced myself as I think it may be the edges of the instrument panel coaming that are fouling the fit of the windscreen. This did not seem to be an issue when I dry fitted the parts before gluing the fuselage together but the instrument panel may be angled back a little too far, oh well, job for tomorrow, cheers, Pappy 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba Posted May 1, 2020 Share Posted May 1, 2020 An impressive amount of detail and correction has gone into this build. Hope that you get the windscreen sorted out alright. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hewy Posted May 1, 2020 Share Posted May 1, 2020 Don't you just hate that, all the checking done over the seperate stages ,and the screen slips under the radar,great job upto now ,the screen is only a small hiccup I'm sure 👍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zebra Posted May 2, 2020 Share Posted May 2, 2020 16 hours ago, Hewy said: screen slips under the radar, If the screen was under the radar it would have been a really bad fit! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted June 14, 2020 Author Share Posted June 14, 2020 (edited) G'day people, so this one will not make the deadline but work continues. I had some issues with the fit of the windscreen, I think these were probably self induced. I also had issues with tinting the upper windows. As the part is supplied clear, it is up to the builder to tint these. It looks like these are tinted a dark smokey brown colour, so that is what i went for. The first two attempts were not successful but I was happy with the third and the overhead console was attached and left to dry. Once set, the part was offered up to the fuselage to check that there were no fit issues cheers, Pappy Edited June 17, 2020 by Pappy 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob85 Posted June 16, 2020 Share Posted June 16, 2020 Moved for you @Pappy shame you didn’t get it finished in the GB but your work was excellent so glad you didn’t rush! Rob 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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