1/48 Westland Wasp HAS1 Op Corporate *** FINISHED ***

[Chewbacca]

I started this model (based on the 1/48 Fujimi kit) about 4 years ago after seeing it come up for auction at our local club.  Then the Chairman decided to swap this for the 1/72 Spitfire raffle prize  but fortunately my friend who won the raffle had no great interest in helicopters and beer tokens changed hands.

 

To my shame I haven't documented the work to date.  Partly because I haven't really done anything to it since joining BM a couple of years ago and when I did start it the only models I photographed as WIP were ATF Group Builds, but I supposed principally it was because I forgot.  Which is a shame because the kit is a pig!  It was probably quite good when it first emerged in 1967, but given that the cockpit is very open with all of the glazing and the engine has no cover whatsoever, much work is needed to produce something half decent.  And a lot of that work has been done and is now covered up by masking in preparation for priming.  I have completely scratchbuilt the cockpit and cabin and started work on the engine though much more work is needed on that.  If I were to be completely accurate, both cockpit doors would be removed as would both cabin doors but I didn't think the fuselage had the structural integrity to take that much plastic being cut away so it was pilots door only.  Wasps very rarely flew with doors, partly because of the weight (a full set of doors was equivalent to about 20 mins fuel IIRC) but also if they ditched, which they did with remarkable regularity, it made egress a lot easier.  The other major scratchbuld job is the clam shell flotation gear which is very prominent alongside the cabin roof.  I haven't yet thought of the best way to do that.  I did buy some H section Plastruct to make the main frame for it around the fuselage but have put that with the instructions which I mislaid.  Fortunately I was prompted on BM after a request that Scalemates generally have downloads of instructions so happy days on the instructions, less so on the Plastruct.

 

 

 

The plan is to represent "Wilbur", HMS HECLA's Wasp helicopter rapidly flown out in the back of a Hercules with all flight personnel to join the ship in Gibraltar just before sailed for the South Atlantic in April 1982.  I say we, because I was a junior officer onboard who had flown out about 48 hours ahead of Wilbur in another Herc and spent a lot of time flying around the South Atlantic in the cabin and even once strapped to the outside in a lightweight stretcher (I hasten to add as an exercise "casualty" to test our casualty evacuation capability).  Indeed it was the Flight Commander who persuaded me to specialise in the Fleet Air Arm once I had completed my OOW training. 

 

 

Edited November 20, 2020 by Chewbacca

[Pappy]

G'day,

 

I have one of these and also have plans for a 'Corporate bird so will be following along to stea... err borrow a few tips

 

Pappy

 

 

 

[Chewbacca]

Once I can get the masking off and I can show the interior I'll try and explain what I've done in there.

[bigbadbadge]

Very much looking forward to this, I have one to restore so will be keen to tag along and steal ahem use some ideas etc.

All the best

Chris

[Bell209]

Keen to see more of this. My Scout is taking way too long...

[Timbo88]

Have had a interest in the Wasp for a long time. Got two unbuilt Airfix Scouts in my collection, one of which will become a Wasp. Am finding it difficult to get clear photos of the underside though. Lots of  helecopter plan drawings out there seem to provide side and top views but no underside views.

[Chewbacca]

So I started work on the Main Rotor Gearbox and adding the bracing.  Before I got too far I thought it would be sensible to dry fit the part of the engine that is built so far to ensure that my additions weren't getting in the way and it was then that I notice a fundamental issue with the kit at that point.  What on earth is that semi-circular arch on the transmission deck?  As far as I can tell from photos, there should be the Tail Rotor Driveshaft going through there. 

 

 

Equally the rear engine mount is an odd shape and barely only limited resemblance to reality (only dry fitted at the moment hence the flash and gap).  I think that extension at the rear is supposed to represent the TR Driveshaft

 

 

I'm going to put in a call today to a former chum of mine who used to be a Wasp Flight Commander and now works at Rotary Wing Handling Squadron at Boscombe Down (a unit I used to command) to see if he can access the archive and get me some exploded diagrams of the engine and transmission from the aircrew manual.

 

So while I wait for that response, I turned my attention to the tail and it's no better there.  The TRGB is mishapen, full of sink holes and has an odd-shaped ball on top (which I think is meant to represent the anti-collision light).  I've removed the bits that shouldn't be there, tried to get the angle correct as best I can on the tail pylon and filled the gaps.  I'll add the missing bits from Evergreen later.

 

 

[Terry1954]

I'm definitely in for this one Ralph. The Wasp has always fascinated me, and your backstory makes the thread even more compelling. 

 

Terry

[Bell209]

16 hours ago, Chewbacca said:

What on earth is that semi-circular arch on the transmission deck?  As far as I can tell from photos, there should be the Tail Rotor Driveshaft going through there. 

Yep. Cut mine off and added a bit of plasticard underneath to represent the driveshaft tunnel. Almost nothing of that engine is right - even the core is wrong! I chopped mine up and added thin card sections for the module joins. The exhaust isn't too bad but it needs thinning at the outlet.

[Bell209]

This might be helpful:

 

I've learned a lot so far about the Fujimi kit!

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

On 4/26/2020 at 10:13 AM, Chewbacca said:

Indeed it was the Flight Commander who persuaded me to specialise in the Fleet Air Arm once I had completed my OOW training. 

 

So he’s the man wot started it, eh?  Didn’t know you’d served in Hecla.

 

Like many, I’ve long had vague plans to try this sometime (I have a whole 45 minutes of Wasp time in my logbook, when I persuaded Rob Dowdell to take a Lynx man as a gash P2 for some GFP in the days when 829 was a joint Wasp / Lynx Squadron).... but then I see how much work is involved and tend to shy away.  Surely someone will do an more modern 1/48 Wasp some day?  [But then you could say the same about the Whirlwind...]

[Terry1954]

18 minutes ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

Surely someone will do an more modern 1/48 Wasp some day?

S&M models (unfortunate name) are scheduling a Wasp releases in 1/48 and 1/72, and a Scout in 1/35 and 1/72. Injection moulded, new tool. Seems too good to be true.........

 

You can see the Wasps here, but no mention of the Scouts yet.

 

https://www.hannants.co.uk/search/index.php?adv=1&product_category_id=&product_division_id=&manufacturer_id=14521&product_type_id=all_aircraft_kits&code=&scale_id=&keyword_search=Wasp&setPerPage=100&sort=0&search_direction=0&restore_search=&save_search_active=yes&save_search_name=&save_search=

 

Terry

[perdu]

Nature will take its course.

 

And naturally I will enjoy watching, with occasional joining in, this build of one of my favourite helicopters.

 

The jet pipes/exhausts look pretty good, shame about the rest

 

I'll be near the bar with a cherry in my Babycham

[Chewbacca]

As I've often said about the old Airfix 1/600 ships.  If they were accurate and needed no modification or scratchbuilding to put them right, it'd be no fun!

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

On that basis, I imagine @hendie’s Fly Wessex was the most fun build of his entire career.  My breath is not held on that score

[Col.]

Off to a great start with this one. Get the feeling we'll learn a lot from this thread  

[Chewbacca]

On 28/04/2020 at 08:43, Chewbacca said:

I'm going to put in a call today to a former chum of mine who used to be a Wasp Flight Commander and now works at Rotary Wing Handling Squadron at Boscombe Down (a unit I used to command) to see if he can access the archive and get me some exploded diagrams of the engine and transmission from the aircrew manual.

Pleased to report that those few people who were actually in the squadron yesterday (complying with all social distancing rules you will understand) were ferreting through the archive trying to find a copy of the Wasp aircrew manual for me!  It's great having friends in all the right places.  I do wonder though that looking at the images of the transmission deck in @Bell209's Scout build, it may be somewhat challenging now to get that dome replaced with a well.

 

17 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

On that basis, I imagine @hendie’s Fly Wessex was the most fun build of his entire career.  My breath is not held on that score

I started reading that this morning.  Wow!

 

Unfortunately I managed to put  a nice incision through my thumb last night while cooking dinner which made any modelling afterwards near impossible.  I did manage a start though on the mods needed to the tail pylon for the anti-collision light.  Should be ready for sanding by this evening. 

[Martian]

18 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

On that basis, I imagine @hendie’s Fly Wessex was the most fun build of his entire career.  My breath is not held on that score

That's not quite how I remember him putting it! 

 

Martian 👽

[Chewbacca]

Work continues around the tail pylon while I wait fro my former colleagues at HS to come up trumps hopefully with a copy of the aircrew manual so that I can return to the engine/transmission area.

 

First thing I started on was the prominent Pitch Control Rod on the stbd side of the pylon which Fujimi decided to ignore.  Simply added from a shaped strip of plasticard with some slivers of 40 thou Evergreen rod either end and a small length of brass wire. 

 

 

That then got me looking at the Intermediate Gearbox fairing (that blob bottom right in the photo).  It's where the tail fold mechanism hinges and the fairing should be open and overlap the tail rotor drive shaft fairing in front of it.  So out with the razor saw to cut a slot which would be replaced with an offcut of PE frame.  But that then exposed a fairly large hole in the fairing which should ordinarily have the TRDS coupling underneath.  The only thing for it was to drill a hole in the tail pylon, pass a length of 40 thou Evergreen rod through until it reached the forward fairing and secure both ends (CA at the front end for an instant hit, Tamiya extra thin at the rear for strength.  When the back was dry, cut off the extension of the rod and sand smooth.

 

 

 

You can just about make out the TRDS under the fairing - apologies for the poor quality

 

 

Then onto the tail fold mechanism itself but only part way through so no photos of that yet.  Challenge for that will be the fact that the red Danger marking passes underneath so I sense that will be cutting the decal to get it in there.  I could add it later but I sense I'll get a better finish if it's all sprayed at the same time.

[exdraken]

Nice project!

[perdu]

Lovely work on the tail rotor pylon, makes a huge difference

 

The DAN GER parts of the decal do have the join between them so does this mean we will enjoy seeing her with a folded tail?

 

(my favourite configuration)

[Chewbacca]

4 hours ago, perdu said:

Lovely work on the tail rotor pylon, makes a huge difference

 

The DAN GER parts of the decal do have the join between them so does this mean we will enjoy seeing her with a folded tail?

 

(my favourite configuration)

Thanks.

 

I'm fully expecting that I will have to reprint all of the decals as looking at the state of the ones that came with the kit, I have every expectation they will disintegrate as soon as I tr to move them off the carrier fill.  And since I've got to print the serial numbers (XT420 rather than XT423 that's in the kit), I might as well do them all.  Challenge I guess is whether I can do the stencilling as well.   Even with a half decent quality printer, most of the detail was lost in HMS BULOLO's crest once I printed it to actual size (3.5mm diameter).

 

But sadly this one won't be folded.  At least one of my 1/48 Lynx will be though, complete with a full set of Op Granby extras (Yellow Veil 2, Sandpiper IR camera turret, M130 decoys and a .50 cal heavy machine gun pod) all of which I fully suspect I will have to scratch build.  I may even be persuaded to put the Challenger IRCM turrets on though I rarely flew with them because i had little faith in their effectiveness. 

 

Alternatively I suppose it might be the one in my avatar with 4 warshot Skua.

[Chewbacca]

Bit more work done today.

 

The kit stabiliser is in the wrong place, fitting as it does on the side of the tail pylon.  Instead, it has a spar that connects to a little frame at the back of the tail pylon.  So the kit part has been modified with a length of brass rod and the platform built on the pylon ready to receive.  I then gave the whole thing a light dusting of primer to see if I needed to do any more fairing in of the drive shaft cover but fortunately not, so attention turned to the tail fold mechanism which was made out of a combination of Albion Alloys 0.2 mm and 0.1 mm nickle, some 20 thou Evergreen rod drilled out to take the Albion Alloy and some offcuts of PE to make the securing latch for the handle.  On the starboard side, the hinges were simply shaped 40 thou square Evergreen strip.  The fold line was also scribed and the access panel was a reshaped offcut of PE frame.

 

Working in this area did prompt me to realise that I do need to extend that central strake.  It would have been so much easier if I'd notice that beforehand!

 

 

 

 

[Pete in Lincs]

Well that was an interesting catch up. I'll carry on popping by from time to time if I may. I have a weakness for Westlands whirly things.

[perdu]

 

I have to admit it, my build would have been a bit less dramatic if that strake wasn't there at transfer time

 

Looking good