Bristol Belvedere HC1 - Airfix 1/72

[Heather Kay]

Like the others, I am much taken by the livery on this machine. It’s one of my favourite post-war colour schemes, and I had harboured a little dream I might have finished the ancient Airfix Rotodyne in such a livery. I think it would have suited it very well indeed.

[Tomoshenko]

8 hours ago, CedB said:

 

8 hours ago, CedB said:

Love these two piccies in particular hence copying them here. Got to agree with Bill, stencils are a pain but they do add some depth and interest to this bird's long fuselage.

[CedB]

Thanks Keith, Giorgio, hendie, Simon and Tomo

I must admit to being quite pleased, so far (and with no close ups!)

 

5 hours ago, perdu said:

Have to disagree Simon, on the Belvedere they force life, and attention into what might be just another jellycopter.

Ced she is looking magnificent mate.

Thanks Bill and I agree - all a bit blank without the stencils to break it up  

 

4 hours ago, Heather Kay said:

Like the others, I am much taken by the livery on this machine. It’s one of my favourite post-war colour schemes, and I had harboured a little dream I might have finished the ancient Airfix Rotodyne in such a livery. I think it would have suited it very well indeed.

Ah, the Rotodyne. Another beauty that could do with a newer kit  

 

 

 

Blades.

Yuk.

I assume the Airfix bods had to compromise molding the heads and the blades and allowing little fingers to join them together.

I don't have little fingers. See? I'm holding some of them up now after this:

 

 

After trying to fit the blades to one head without success I wondered why Airfix had numbered them and perhaps they're paired to the blades.

Sure enough the blades fitted the other head fine.

But the remaining lot didn't fit either.

After some Anglo Saxon and a pair of pliers this horrid join was achieved:

 

 

I can't find any reference pics that show those lumps 'holding the blades on'. Nevertheless they were completed:

 

 

… but I have to report, sorry Bill, that the rotation looks to be the same:

 

 

In an attempt to rid myself of those lumps I've applied TET and plier action and filled gaps with sprue gloop, hopefully to achieve a welded join:

 

 

I'm hoping I can thin the joins closer to something Belvederish.

Hopefully the joins won't break apart.

Fingers crossed

[Terry1954]

That fuselage looks the biz Ced and great perseverance on those rotors!

 

Terry

[CedB]

Thanks Terry 

 

 

A coat of satin varnish this morning, still wet in this shot:

 

 

I started on the blades with the SIHRSC but ran out of patience:

 

 

Looks as though it'll be OK (famous last words).

[phildagreek]

Looking very smart with some colour and markings on.

[CedB]

Thanks Phil  

 

 

Patience was found:

 

 

Dental burr to remove a bit more excess and then MicroMesh sticks to flatten:

 

 

I think I need to decide on the shape before going further and addressing the bottom (oooer!)

 

Thanks again to @perdu for recommending the SIHRSC - it really does make this sort of job more tolerable.

Gentle strokes and the plastic vanishes.

Just be careful you don't nick the bits you don't want to remove!

(Can you see it? Only one shaft, thank goodness)

[rob85]

Well this escalated quickly, great work Ced! 
 

Rob

[CedB]

Thanks Rob  

 

 

Before I could rip off the masks I painted the anti-glare:

 

 

I'm in two minds about this paint.

I find you can't go over the wet paint or it 'wipes off' which leads me to apply perhaps too much. It seems to level out though with no brush marks.

 

Masks off:

 

 

Too big small windows and not the best frames I've ever done.

 

 

 

Probably too big top windows too?

More tidying to do, obviously.

[Hamden]

 

Nice progress Ced  looking every inch one of Bristols finest

 

 Stay safe          Roger

[perdu]

 

Your model Ced, nice one too.

 

Mine has the front blades rotating this way.

Mine has the back blades rotating this way.

 

Would have been easy enough to do, even using kit parts.

 

But I cheated and made my own so I could guarantee getting it right.

[bbudde]

Hello Ced. Nice progress. Not my favourite heli, but who cares.  Wanted to wish you and your beloved a healthy and happy new years eve ("Guten Rutsch")  Covid or not. Take your time and don't let get yourself frenzy by the daily news everyday with the statistics. Its just the time of a virus here in the nothern hemisphere, which only wants to spread. No fireworks here tomorrow allowed on the usual funny places as normal. Will use my old ones (if they work) from the last year (too foggy) on my balcony to get rid off it in my cellar. So I'm happy with that this year. No explosives in the house as they say in general i.

Cheers Benedikt

Edited December 30, 2020 by bbudde

[TheBaron]

12 hours ago, CedB said:

A coat of satin varnish this morning, still wet in this shot:

 

 

That paintworking looks very much the thing in that photo Ced and quite striking to see from above  just how long this beast was - a veritable railway carriage of a fuselage - if not an actual whale bus of the air!

[CedB]

19 hours ago, Hamden said:

 

Nice progress Ced  looking every inch one of Bristols finest

 

 Stay safe          Roger

Thanks Roger  

 

17 hours ago, perdu said:

 

Your model Ced, nice one too.

 

Mine has the front blades rotating this way.

Mine has the back blades rotating this way.

 

Would have been easy enough to do, even using kit parts.

 

But I cheated and made my own so I could guarantee getting it right.

Thanks Bill  

Your right of course - had I known I was going to bash  the blades so much I could have turned one set upside down I guess.

Trouble is the tops have rivet detail and the bottoms are clean (fnaar!)

I have managed to find a picture of a sort of Belvedere that has longer shanks on the blades:

 

 

Wrong variant but hey, close enough - only four away on the serial.

 

13 hours ago, bbudde said:

Hello Ced. Nice progress. Not my favourite heli, but who cares.  Wanted to wish you and your beloved a healthy and happy new years eve ("Guten Rutsch")  Covid or not. Take your time and don't let get yourself frenzy by the daily news everyday with the statistics. Its just the time of a virus here in the nothern hemisphere, which only wants to spread. No fireworks here tomorrow allowed on the usual funny places as normal. Will use my old ones (if they work) from the last year (too foggy) on my balcony to get rid off it in my cellar. So I'm happy with that this year. No explosives in the house as they say in general i.

Cheers Benedikt

Thanks Ben  

A happy and healthy 2021 to you and yours too! Looks like the vaccines will be rolling out, if slowly, so perhaps summer will be more 'normal'? Or Autumn…

We had a LOAD of fireworks being set off last night, presumably before the new, stricter tiers come into force.

Molly went under the sofa 🐾

 

11 hours ago, TheBaron said:

That paintworking looks very much the thing in that photo Ced and quite striking to see from above  just how long this beast was - a veritable railway carriage of a fuselage - if not an actual whale bus of the air!

Thanks Tony  

She is a strange beast eh? Almost as though they'd taken a Sycamore, stretched out the back and added another one to the end.

 

 

Windows are in my mind so I thought I'd share the comparison I'm doing.

 

Front.

 

 

 

Black up to the top of the windows.

Top windows too big - reduce both sides.

 

Port.

 

 

 

Window frames not big enough.

Roughness on the canopy join.

More white above the blue stripe (careful!)

 

Starboard.

 

 

 

Same as port really.

 

I may do some masks for the small windows. Better this time!

[CedB]

Blades.

 

 

Bound to happen, I guess.

Scared by that I've left a lump, tapered down, on the bottom:

 

 

Not too bad?

 

 

I drilled the broken ends, stuck in a bit of wine wire and CA'd it back together:

 

 

Enough.

Repaint in the offing.

[hendie]

2 hours ago, CedB said:

I drilled the broken ends, stuck in a bit of wine wire and CA'd it back together:

 

If you're going that far Ced, can't you do that to all 4 blades on one of the heads and turn them around son the rotation is correct?

 

 

[CedB]

36 minutes ago, hendie said:

 

If you're going that far Ced, can't you do that to all 4 blades on one of the heads and turn them around son the rotation is correct?

 

Gaaaaaaah! 

 

Nope, not that easy, honest.

Here's the top:

 

 

Smooth (ish) transition to the shaft and rivet detail.

 

Here's the bottom:

 

 

Smooth blades and a big lump.

 

Of course a master modeller (like Bill) would make his own blades, but that's beyond my mojo at the moment.

[CedB]

Happy New Year all!

Here's to a happy and healthier 2021  

 

 

I've been dot-painting and cocktail stick scraping the windows and I'm somewhere close.

The blades are ready for a re-paint and rotor head detailing:

 

 

Letting that dry before a Micromesh attack…

[CedB]

Rotor heads detailed and wheels stuck on.

 

I'm calling this finished, apart from a final coat of Aqua Gloss on the windows:

 

 

EXCEPT the wobbly rotors. I think I need to stick some tube in the nasty holes to try to get the right angle of the dangle.

Remember these?

 

 

The final problem.

[perdu]

I did.

 

I rather prefer the look of yours Ced.

 

Enticing in white and silver.👍

[giemme]

2 minutes ago, perdu said:

Enticing in white and silver.👍

Agreed! Great job, Ced!

 

Ciao 

[rob85]

Looks very cool with the blades and and in the white and silver! Really nice work Ced, and I’m looking forward to you solving the dangle of your rotor.

 

Rob

[Brandy]

Lovely result Ced, well worth the extra effort.

 

Ian

[Hamden]

 

Stunning result Ced you have raised the bar, silk purse from sow's ear!

 

  Stay safe          Roger

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Well done Ced.. ...  You keep tackling the whirlybirds for both of us, they're my nemesis. Haven't had a successful build of one since the 80’s.