AW Lynx HMA.8 questions

[Pappy]

G'day people,

 

I am currently building the Airfix 1/48 kit ('In the Navy' GB) and I have had a quick trawl through this forum for previously asked questions but could not find satisfactory answers so I have a few questions for the Navy Lynx experten;

 

1. Cabin Floor colour

 

The RN lynx uses a different floor part (15A) to the other kit options. It basically has single cockpit controls and no seat rails for a rear cabin crew member. The RN version cabin section looks like it has some sort of protective wooden floorboard doublers (load spreaders?) with circular cut outs for the tie down points.

 

 

• Q - What colour are these wooden boards ? It appears like a faded black, I assume some form of non-skid paint?

 

2. Main  Undercarriage positions

 

Steps 59/60 indicate that the main gear units can be in one of two positions, the 'normal' position with the wheels parallel to the a/c centreline and a second option  with the wheels splayed outwards 45 degrees. I assume this is some form of parking position to stop the a/c rolling around on a pitching deck at sea.

 

 

• Q - When is the 45 degree position selected? Is it during a winched recovery aboard (RAST of RN equivalent) or after shut down?

 

3. Main Rotor Blades

 

The kit provides the option of spread or folded Main Rotor Blades (MRBs). Step 110 deals with the spread MRB option and 120 with the folded option. In step 110, each MRB cuff has a clear part (6E) added to a locating point on the top of the cuff, however there is no mention of these parts for the folded option in step 120.

 

 

 

 

• Q - I assume these should also be added and that this is an error in the instructions?
• Q - Also as 6E is a clear part, does it represent some sort of fluid inspection port?

 

4. The 'Great Big Gun' (GBG)

 

The counter-piracy armament option includes a 'GBG', which I believe is actually  a navalised .50 cal Browning, likely the M3M or G21 variant. In steps 89/90, two feed chutes are added. I think that part 97B in step 90 looks like the ammunition feed chute and part 78B  (in step 89) is the spent brass return chute.

 

 

• Q - Does the RN version use the enclosed flexible ammo feed chute system or is the weapon fed by just an exposed linked belt with the return conveyor returning the spent brass/links to the 'cage' (part 69)   in step 88.

 

 

 

Thanks in advance,

 

 

cheers,

 

Pappy

 

 

Edited February 29, 2020 by Pappy

[Richard E]

Does the Lynx Walkaround in the Walkarounds Section help answer any of your questions 

[Pappy]

5 hours ago, Richard E said:

Does the Lynx Walkaround in the Walkarounds Section help answer any of your questions 

G'day  Richard'

 

It did help with Q3, as I was able to find a shot that shows these installed in the same spot with the MRBs folded, so it looks like an oversight on Airfield's part.

The upper half of part 6E remains clear as on the real deal the items are clear and you can see fluid of some sort.

 

The other questions remain unanswered,

 

cheers,

 

Pappy

[Wafu]

I’ll have a go at this but I will say I worked on RN Lynx in the 90’s and things did move on in the Lynx Fleet.

 

The RN lynx uses a different floor part (15A) to the other kit options. It basically has single cockpit controls and no seat rails for a rear cabin crew member. The RN version cabin section looks like it has some sort of protective wooden floorboard doublers (load spreaders?) with circular cut outs for the tie down points.

Only the pilot had controls, the Observers position had its controls removed. This aided both parties to focus on their tasks in the cockpit without the issue of control restrictions from the Observer. Yes you are right the deck in the cabin was clear with a wooden troop floor painted dark grey installed. Only the Export versions with sonar seems to have the rear seat on the rails fitted ( I saw this on Dutch and German Lynx that came to Royal Naval Naval Air Station Portland) 

Steps 59/60 indicate that the main gear units can be in one of two positions, the 'normal' position with the wheels parallel to the a/c centreline and a second option  with the wheels splayed outwards 45 degrees. I assume this is some form of parking position to stop the a/c rolling around on a pitching deck at sea.

The main undercarriage was only in the forward facing Position when being stowed and towed at Portland, when on the flight line the wheels were positioned at 45 degrees for flight even on land or at sea.

The kit provides the option of spread or folded Main Rotor Blades (MRBs). Step 110 deals with the spread MRB option and 120 with the folded option. In step 110, each MRB cuff has a clear part (6E) added to a locating point on the top of the cuff, however there is no mention of these parts for the folded option in step 120.

 

These parts represent the Main Rotor Spindle reservoirs and should be fitted what ever the head configuration is. They are filled with OEP thick oil.

Q4, didn’t have these fitted when I worked on Lynx so can’t help, sorry.

 

Cheers the Woo.

 

 

[Pappy]

G'day Wafu,

 

Thank you for the prompt and authoritative answers, hopefully some ordnance types will chime in with an answer to the last question,

 

cheers,

 

Pappy

Edited February 29, 2020 by Pappy

[Wafu]

1 hour ago, Pappy said:

G'day Wafu,

 

Thank you for the prompt and authoritative answers, hopefully some ordnance types will chime in with an answer to the last question,

 

cheers,

 

Pappy

Bombheads are not to be trusted😉

[Wafu]

Pappy, I have the Haynes Lynx book and see that it has a couple of photos in of the ‘gun’, if you’d like me to send them to you please pm me your email.

[Pappy]

5 hours ago, Wafu said:

Pappy, I have the Haynes Lynx book and see that it has a couple of photos in of the ‘gun’, if you’d like me to send them to you please pm me your email.

 

PM inbound

 

cheers,

 

Pappy

[Julien]

We have a pretty good walkaround of this model. 

 

For parking it would seem sometimes the wheels ate straight,and sometimes angled. 

 

Found this pic though looks like from a Mk.88

 

 

 

[dolphin38]

Here are a couple of pictures that show the floorboads in the main cabin, it looks like some have a non skid coating applied and some don't, also a couple of pictures of the gun mount. hope they help.

 

IMG_0137 by Phillip Wilmshurst, on Flickr

 

IMG_0116 by Phillip Wilmshurst, on Flickr

 

IMGP5634 by Phillip Wilmshurst, on Flickr

 

IMGP2042 by Phillip Wilmshurst, on Flickr

 

Willy.

[speedy]

The main cabin floor is wooden piece construction over the main aircraft flooring, with holes cut out as mentioned above. Most were grey with a textured surface and some were anti-slip black.

 

I spent some time on the Lynx strip program at Middle Wallop, all done now though.

Edited March 4, 2020 by speedy

[Pappy]

Awesome reference pictures, thanks very much chaps!

 

Does anybody have pics of the 5 person life raft usually stowed in the back  by any chance or would that be stretching the friendship?

 

cheers,

 

Pappy

[Wafu]

Pic sent..

[RedBarron]

Hi Pappy,

 

I'll try and answer your questions and either confirm or add to the posts by others.

 

Q1 - Yes the RN cabin had a wooden freight floor, this was to protect what turned out to be a fragile floor. It was plywood with a self adhesive black no-slip sheet very similar to that used on the top of a skateboard, it very quickly got scuffed and scraped.

 

 

Q2 - RN ships have what is called a grid on the flight deck, this grid allows the deck lock to physically pull the aircraft down onto the flight deck once it has landed on it, provided the pilot doesn't miss the thing. This stops the aircraft from rolling over or sliding around in rough weather. So not like the winched recovery thing. The reason the wheels are towed out to 45 degrees is to allow the aircraft to spin whilst on the deck, called a spot turn, it can do this with the deck lock engaged into the grid. The point being, if for whatever reason the ship can't manoeuvre into wind for a safe take off, the aircraft can rotate itself into the wind, disengage the deck lock and take off. By the time I was working on them, they always flew with the towed out to 45 degrees whether land or ship based. The only time they were fore and aft was for towing them into and out of the hangar and when parked.

 

Q3 - The clear plastic things are called blade sleeve reservoirs, they should be fitted to the kit in both the spread and folded positions. There should be about 1/3rd full of a golden brown fluid called OEP215, horrible stinking stuff.

 

Q4 - The 'GBG' is indeed an M3M, part 78b is what's called the link chute, the gun ejects the links from between each round down the chute and into part 69b which is a link basket which can be clearly seen in Julien's post. The other side which I assume is part 97b is a flexible chute which feeds the rounds directly from the ammo tin to the gun, the spent brass round ejects down the front of the mount and into the sea or wherever to it happens to be at the time.

 

For the MS5 life raft, here you go.

 

 

 

[Pappy]

G'day RB,

 

Thanks very much for the pics they are exactly what I was chasing. Unfortunately it is a little bit late for my current build as I guessed the shape before I had the pics.

 

 

I was not too far off but I didn't know about the rectangular base, but otherwise not too far off. Still, I have the 1/32 Revell HMA.8 kit in the stash so the pics will not go to waste and no doubt others will find the pictures useful as well.

 

The kit instructions indicate that there is a vertical cylindrical fitting (part 99) underneath the tail boom just past where it connects to the rear fuselage. This appears in many pictures of HMA.8s but there is also an alternate item fitted (the small box) in the same place in some of my pictures (part 5). Can you tell me what these parts are and why they would /would  not be installed?

 

 

One final thing, I think that Airfix may have made another error in their instruction sheet. For the HMA.8 option (the only folding tail option in the kit), they indicate that the tail section has a tail skid installed at the bottom as per the fixed tail variants. This does not seem to be the case?

 

cheers,

 

Pappy

 

 

Edited March 9, 2020 by Pappy

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

You’re right; no tail skid under RN Lynx tails.

 

The can on a long stick underneath the tail pylon is the I-Band transponder - basically a simple secondary radar that helps the aircraft to show up on other people’s radar.  The position is because in 90% of cases the radar in question was the ship’s navigation / helo control radar (Type 1006 in my era); the long stick is to put the can low enough so the radar sees it even when the aircraft is nose-on.

 

It was in a different place on the Mk3, but they had to move it because of the position of the IR jammer on the Mk8.  None the less, you can see the can clearly in this photo:

 

Edited March 9, 2020 by Ex-FAAWAFU

[Pappy]

G'day Crispin,

 

Thabks very much. The I-band transbonder rings a bell now as I remember I had to scratch build a similar part for my 1/72 Wessex HAS.3 ("Humphrey") a few years back. I assume that the previous style of transponder is being replaced with a newer type as I like the idea of the smaller box as there is one less fragile bit for my clumsy fingers to break off when handling the model as this will resemble something like a porcupine when it is done!

 

cheers,

 

Pappy

[Pappy]

G'day again,

 

I am chasing some pictures of the right nose avionics bay. I would like to open the right avionics bay but I don't have a clue what sort of avionics boxes live under this door. From the 'L' shaped door, it would appear that there is also some form of shelf structure. Also are the two avionics bays (i.e. left/right) separated by a divider or can you see straight through to the other side?

 

cheers,

 

Pappy

[RedBarron]

Pappy,

 

Hope this helps. The top left black box looks like it might be something to do with the radar, I've no idea what the bottom left box with all of the cables on it is,  the odd looking frame thing was the compressor and gubbins for the Sea Owl PID and I don't know what the squarish black box is behind it. I am a grubber by trade so really have no idea what it all is. 

 

[Pappy]

10 hours ago, RedBarron said:

Pappy,

 

Hope this helps. The top left black box looks like it might be something to do with the radar, I've no idea what the bottom left box with all of the cables on it is,  the odd looking frame thing was the compressor and gubbins for the Sea Owl PID and I don't know what the squarish black box is behind it. I am a grubber by trade so really have no idea what it all is. 

 

G'day RB,

 

That is awesome !!!!!!!! Thanks very much, that is exactly what I needed and just one of the reasons why BM is my fave site,

 

cheers,

 

Pappy

[Grizzly]

If I remember right Black Dog models did the interiors for the HMA8 Lynx nose.

[Pappy]

1 hour ago, Grizzly said:

If I remember right Black Dog models did the interiors for the HMA8 Lynx nose.

G'day Grizzly,

 

You are correct, BD do make a 1/48 resin nose with open avionics bays but the project I have in mind is not 1/48. Also I prefer to start from first principles and work from photos of the real thing,

 

cheers,

 

Pappy