modelling minion Posted September 23, 2020 Share Posted September 23, 2020 That is very nice work. A real shame about the rotor blade but your fix looks like it should be good. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whirly Posted October 8, 2020 Author Share Posted October 8, 2020 On 9/23/2020 at 10:44 PM, modelling minion said: That is very nice work. A real shame about the rotor blade but your fix looks like it should be good. Thank you! I've also solved the problem of blade bending with a much safer procedure: you only need the back of a quite stiff gym mat, a FIMO rolling pin decommisioned by my now-grown-up daughter and a moderate hand pressure. With this method I obtained the mild curvature I needed and also the rebuilt blade survived the treatment! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelling minion Posted October 8, 2020 Share Posted October 8, 2020 Very neatly done, great work.👍 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whirly Posted October 9, 2020 Author Share Posted October 9, 2020 Thank you Craig! Next I had to shorten the sponsons as pointed out by Patrick a few posts above. Initially I didn't think it was so relevant but after comparing photos knowing what to look for the difference became quite evident. Please look at the following montage I did with a Voyageur after SARCUP upgrade and a Labrador which, as far as I know, always kept the original tanks (the image is flipped because I couldn't find anything with the correct angle of the right side). Note also the different fairing for the tank braces on the fuselage, more of that later. So, here are the steps followed: not so easy for just about 4 mm... First the easiest cut with a razor saw. Then it gets complicated because you want to save as much as possible of the pilon, so a thin photo-etched saw is needed to cut through the compound curves After removing the unwanted section some adjustments are needed to obtain a reasonable fit Finishing was done with Perfect Plastic Putty for the inner contours and Tamiya putty on the tank proper. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whirly Posted October 9, 2020 Author Share Posted October 9, 2020 And now the tank braces. Not only they differ between Voyageur and Labrador being round versus flat, but also the rear attachment point to the fuselage is bulkier with the bigger tanks as can be seen in the photo comparison in my post above. I considered trimming down the parts provided in the Hobbycraft kit but it was a no-no, too fiddly. Best compromise is using a surplus set of the smaller front fairings, which I did not have, so I robbed a pair from one of the Fujimi kits I have for lack of time and I will make resin copies later to replace the missing ones. Locating the correct position for the fairings was not easy since Hobbycraft forgot to half-drill locating holes in the fuselage like Fujimi did, so I had to simulate the cheatline position and derive more or less the hole location. Here the fairings installed and clear parts masked, ready for painting 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whirly Posted October 9, 2020 Author Share Posted October 9, 2020 A little step back in the timeline: I refined a little the cockpit parts since they are really very clunky. I added also the perforated side panels for the transparent nose but I failed to notice an important detail that will emerge later... The main transparency required a lot of adjustments with plasticard and filler to obtain a smooth joint. I think most of it was caused by the front fuselage distortions not fully cured. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whirly Posted October 9, 2020 Author Share Posted October 9, 2020 Finally some colour! Well.... some paint! This is only the white coat already masked. Ok, now we are talking! And then blue (it is not actually so bright and violet, the hue is shifted by the fluorescent light over my paint shop) 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andwil Posted October 9, 2020 Share Posted October 9, 2020 Some really good work Whirly. 👍 AW 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hewy Posted October 10, 2020 Share Posted October 10, 2020 Fine job on those tanks👍, its looking great 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desert falcon Posted October 10, 2020 Share Posted October 10, 2020 This is serious precision work, looking forward to see it in the gallery !! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba Posted October 14, 2020 Share Posted October 14, 2020 Super work on those tanks and looking forward to the unveiling of the paint scheme. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whirly Posted October 14, 2020 Author Share Posted October 14, 2020 Thank you all for the positive comments, they help a lot to keep high the motivation 👍 Lack of updates is because I had to redo some areas of white and dayglo after lifting the masks, then I shooted some coal black for the rear engine area plus rotor blades and I ran into troubles. I used for the first time after many years a tin of Revell enamel SM302 (I was fed up of the good old Humbrol 85 new formula behaviour) seems the Revell paint is even worse: after 4 days is still tacky but not uniformously. Really puzzled. Last evening I started applying the decals, very carefully to stay away from the black areas, and found out they are not stellar. Lots of softening liquid needed, I went for Daco's strong flavour and crossed my fingers, I'll see how they went after dinner. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whirly Posted October 15, 2020 Author Share Posted October 15, 2020 Revell black is slowly drying up. Meanwhile I applied transfers on the right side. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelling minion Posted October 15, 2020 Share Posted October 15, 2020 Your Labrador is really looking very smart indeed, it is a very nice scheme and you are doing a great job on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whirly Posted October 16, 2020 Author Share Posted October 16, 2020 (edited) Thank you Craig! A bit of comment on the decals: God bless Michael Belcher for producing them, I reckon this is the only Canadian firm currently on the market. They went on quite well, just needed liberal applications of setting solution but I think it's also a consequence of the multiple colors used. There are though a few annoying things to be aware of if you care about such things: BD11A is a multiple subjects sheet covering Labradors/Voyageurs, Chinook, Cormorant and Bell 412 as an addition. Nowhere in the instructions you are clearly told which decals on the sheet are to be used for the subject you choose. This caused me a lot of headaches and much time lost reading and re-reading the text to be sure of what I was going to do. The "ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FORCE" titles are not correctly spaced: I had to cut them and re-arrange the words according to photos. 3. the cheatline is not correct for the early scheme: it should wrap around below the tail so I had to make do with an Arrow Graphics sheet. Not completely satisfied since the curve is very sharp and the decals did not cooperate but this is the best I could do. Some retouching still needed. 4. At least one complete set of serials numbers should be provided: I had to fiddle with single numbers whatever serial you chose and this was another big waste of time too. 5. You can see also how you have to cut out the later style maple leaf to use the outer roundel only. Simply crazy! Edited October 16, 2020 by Whirly typos 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whirly Posted October 16, 2020 Author Share Posted October 16, 2020 And this is the other side completed. I had to source elsewhere a suitable decal for the underside dayglo rectangle which is neither provided nor mentioned in the instructions. Speaking of dayglo, here the contrast between "RESCUE" wording and the painted areas is exacerbated by the camera rendering, but the decal is unfortunately orange and not at all red-orange as it should be. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelling minion Posted October 17, 2020 Share Posted October 17, 2020 Well I think that your Labrador is great. I know what you mean about the decals as I have the same sheet and the instructions are not exactly clear as to what goes where. It's a bit mad that you have to cut the roundels up to get the style that you need. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whirly Posted October 18, 2020 Author Share Posted October 18, 2020 Glad to know I'm not the only one I found this decal set challenging! Well, since I really wanted to post the finished model in the gallery but time and will were very limited lately, I hereby state that the model is completed, despite all aerials, pitots, lights I perfectly know are missing, perhaps also some walkways (I have to check my references). So, if you are willing to believe my claim, images will be shortly in the gallery. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desert falcon Posted October 18, 2020 Share Posted October 18, 2020 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba Posted October 19, 2020 Share Posted October 19, 2020 Some very good work cutting and shunting those decals. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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