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[Finished] Strange obsessions, Pt. I; The mighty Hook!


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Guys, I know there are a lot of great classics out there, and who doesn't love to immerse in a great Spitfire- or 109-build, digging into one of the so many great kits out there. And, you can choose from almost any scale, or any variant. And you can superdetail the hell out of it, from wheels up to engines, to the most realistic seatbelts one can think of. Also, there's all the material out there, you can build your model to almost any specific point in time, say Marseille's Gustav in Sept 42.

It's a paradise for builders of these kinds!

 

It's just: I'm afraid I'm not like that.

I love the more "special" topics - I love WW1 models, the stranger the better, or the strange subject of flying boats, or why go for fixed wings, when there's rotaries out there? You get the point - I think a therapist could tell my entire life out of it. Hello, group, I'm the chief and I have a problem!

One of these obsessions since my very youth has been Soviet aviation, peaking in my love for Soviet helicopters. Especially, there's the "holy trinity" of the three great Mils, the Mi-6 "Hook", the Mi-10 "Harke", and, the one and only (or, one of three, reportedly) - the legendary W-12 "Homer". 

And there are a few models out there, but far from anything like the variety of, say, Hellcats to choose from, and forget (almost) about aftermarket parts.

There's Amodels kits in 1/72 of the Hook and the Harke, and even a rather special Homer. But not only are these hugely expensive, or  a callenge to build, from what I've read - these spread dimensions that would require a different residential background that I have. And, not talking about the foreseeable discussions with my beloved wifey. While she's really supportive, almost a meter of Homerish strangeness in our living room - very thin ice here!

So, I have to switch to airliner scale, and lucky me, there's something out there. I started with this!

 

40547919hg.jpg

Yes, it's the Eastern Express Hook, late version, and it's in 1/144. Eastern Express provides the Harke as well, with long as well as with short legs, and a bunch of Mil8/17s as well. Also, there is a Homer in 1/144 out there, but for here and now it's the Hook. I think it's the easiest of these three types, and good for a start.

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From what I see so far from the first steps, I did expect worse. I don't know if technically it's a short run kit, but it's soft plastic, and the engraving is thin and alot, pretty nice overall, but almost fading on some areas. There's flash here and there, but that's what one would expect. While of course not on par with one of the newer offerings from say Eduard, it's fine and could make into a nice desktop representation of the Hook.

 

EE did decide to provide the option to use decals for the windows in the freight/passenger compartment, as well as including clear domed window pieces. So if one would like to use the provided clear parts, he has to open the windows areas, marked by fine raised lines. Of course there's no center point, so it's a bit tricky here.

 

I used some dymo tape to provice a line and then scribe a small center hole.

 

40548081ef.jpg

 

Next, I drilled it open in a few small steps.

 

40548082wz.jpg

 

It should be a hole of 2.7mm, but the largest drillbit I have in this set is 2.5, so let's see how to go on here.

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  • 5 months later...

It's resting now a bit, as I'm busy with my Sopwiths, but went at least a bit further here. Currently I'm stuck at the windows - already opened, but the windows stil don't fit properly, and sacrificed two already to the carpet monster. I tried to fill it with clear fix, which didn't turn out fine as well, so I gave it a rest before doing it more harm than progress.

 

I guess I'll finish the Sopwiths and then go on with this. If you start your WIP will definitely follow, as I am in desparate need of some inspiration. 😉

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  • 2 months later...

After a while I felt like doing a bit on this again - I spent some times in the east and thought I could go on and channel my inner comrade a bit.

 

A few things have moved on - not all for the better, I must say - but didn't make too many photos, sorry guys. So, I only can picture the current state:

 

42256992hs.jpg

 

What i did so far was the following; I did some pre-painting, rather a pre-washing with thin acrylic colour from a pen-brush, to be precise, which was a first for me. The result is ok, but I think the next time I go for the classic airbrush-preshading.

 

Then opened the windows with a 2.7 drillbit (got one for this), and when trying to dry fit the window parts found out they don't fit and already lost two of the pieces. Sh... ame! I then dried to go with the good old Humbrol clearfix, but this never was a friend of mine and neither was this time - the result was horrible, tiny bubbles all over, uneven, drawing threads all over, and by no chance I could create the typical bubble shape of the windows. So - also a new for me - I will try some clear resin with an UV hardening lamp. Whish me luck, folks.

 

Then, another new for me: I used Vallejo Model Air colours to give it a hue of Russian Blue Grey from my Flogger set, and - well. I guess it takes a bit more practise, but these are ok. I don't get the right mixture straight away, but I just gave it a try and dropped some water in, about a quarter to three quarters of colour, and it was ok. That was quite a shot from the hip, as i didn't find any reference on these on my quick check.

 

Tomorrow I'll give the resin a try, we'll see....

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Didn't get much further than a few test shots, but slowly getting there:

 

42263645eq.jpg

 

I thought I could skip it, but it is key to make the windows in two steps, and to do a proper backing from the inside with a plastic strip with some separating agent, only kabuki tape - as I did on the uper row - is not enough. When pulling away it does leave a hazed surface, leading to a dull result.

 

But the clear resin is quite easy to handle, hope I can finish the windows tomorrow, or at least make some leap forward!

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This is a bit more timeconsuming than I thought, as it brings a better result to build it up in at least two steps; first, fill the hole with resin and create a full, clear bottom, and let it thoroughly dry.

 

In a second step then build up the concave porthole. The process can be quite good controlled by switching on the UV lamp in the right moment. Up to that it the resin will very slowly flow.

 

At least I managed one side...

 

42269980jx.jpg

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And, after some time of hardening of my pretty little beauty device, it's done.

 

42273066px.jpg

 

42273067pt.jpg

 

It's not perfect, especially the square windows didn't turn out so well, as the resin didn't flow into the corners too well - must be something like viscosity or whatever - but I'm rather happy for a first, given the limitations of lack of knowhow and not perfect tools.

I guess I'll get me a bigger lamp for the next time, as I could hardly fet one body half under the lamp (we're talking 1/144, right) and another is thicker needles. (I guess I haven't mentioned it above; I used small syringes for applying the resin).

 

But again; it's ok for a first, and can now continue putting all the interiour bitsies inside and close the halves.

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On 10/23/2021 at 8:36 AM, alt-92 said:

You have peaked my curiosity now - I didn't know there was a 1/144 one out there of this giant.

It is - and I'm happy about it.

Due to limited availability of exhibition space 1/72 simply wasn't an option. As I want to build all three of the forementioned, these would have consumed considerably more space my beloved and patient wife would gladly accept for these objectively rather ugly specimens. And, thinking of time to build - I lunker around with the comparatively simple EE one for quite a while, the Amodel Hook with it's almost 300 pieces would kept me busy for ages. 😉 

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Last week was quite busy with business obligations, so my plan to nail the halves together failed graciously.

 

But I went a step further this weekend, but it required some patient, gentle persuation skills and - well, I wouldn't call it brute force, but a capable sanding tool and some putty for reinforcing the wee and more random than perfectly fitting supporting structure is you friend in this.

 

Here are a few glimpses of the inside before closing it:

 

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The cockpit is rather basic, and fit isn't very accurate, so I had to sand the parts to a considerably amount for fit, but as the plastic is rather soft, it was done quite fast. The mounting plate of the rotor plate was a more difficult part to fit, as it wouldn't match with the supporting structure on the inside of the two body halves, so I had to reinforce it with some putty. 

 

 

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10 hours ago, Steve Coombs said:

Nice to see someone else raids the cosmetics section for multi-grade nail files!

Definitely! Not only do I use my wife's nail polishing devices, she even supports me actively in pointing me towards new stuff at the local cosmetic markets. My guess she supports my modelling because she then knows I'm not into other nonsense... 😉

 

Only thing I discovered myself (thanks Amazon) is the resin gel and the UV lamps, usually used somewhat involved in fake nails (or whatever, I might not have understood that part to full extend).

 

Anyway, my wife was not involved in the purchase of any goods involved in any kind whatever with fake nails, nor hair extensions, tanning creme (anyone tried this for weathering?) or whatever strange excrescences the beauty world hides in its dark corners. I discovered this stuff all by myself.

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Guys, these are the times when nothing really worth sharing happens, apart from sanding, adding mor putty, sanding again...

 

So, just a pic of the current state - not that you think nothing's happening here.

 

42338455zx.jpg

 

The kabuki tape clearly shows my level of optimism, as I thought about rescribing the structures and preshading/painting it already some days ago. Well, plans...

 

I keep you updated.

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And, after some more rounds of sanding I decided to call it done, and here*s the current state:

 

42369221xa.jpg

 

that's the preshading again, done with an aquarell paint, so after the next layer with grey it will be toned down and be less prominent. I'll see if i stick with this method, but it's rather convenient to apply, compared to working with an airbrush.

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But; maybe the more falcon-eyed among you might have noticed, that in the more recent pictures something is missing: yes, the auxiliary tail wings have disappeared miraculously - or more precisely, I dropped the Hook in an act of clumsiness and obviously they fell off. I didn't notice right away, so I could only find on in the dark corners of my modelling corner - the other; who knows? Might be in a black hole, or simply cat litter... 🙀

 

Anyway; luckily this isn't the most complex part, so a bit of styrene, and a sharp scribing tool could do.

 

42369348id.jpg

 

The white one is the scratch build one, in case you didn't notice. 😉

 

Only thing I need to figure out; should I mount it flat with some CA, or build some construction to support?

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Well, personally I would add a small metal pin in addition to CA to ensure a secure mount. I simply don't like butt-joints as such parts are prone to being knocked-off (ask me how I know ;)).

 

Nice built by the way, the Eastern Express kit looks quite nice, although the missing windows are a bit annoying (but maybe better than what would have been provided otherwise).

 

Cheers

Markus

 

 

 

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2 hours ago, Shorty84 said:

Well, personally I would add a small metal pin in addition to CA to ensure a secure mount. I simply don't like butt-joints as such parts are prone to being knocked-off (ask me how I know ;)).

You mean like:

 

42371017dd.jpg

 

😉

 

The EE Kit is nice, indeed, and the windows are included, to be fair - just a pita to be mounted, and the hole needs to be drilled. I always wanted to give the clear resin a try, so I took the chance.

 

The CA just decided to quit cooperation, means, I didn't manage to get anything out of the bottle. Another break, that means, until I manage to visit my trusted supplier for this stuff...

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On 11/3/2021 at 10:59 PM, Shorty84 said:

Hah, I can relate to that, my CA usually dries in the bottle long before it is empty, a testament to my building speed :D

Isn't it good to have a local supplier here, and not always relate on supplies from faraway shores - as tempting the stock and sourcability from Hannants and other shops are.

 

Here's a still life of the current state, including my favourite CA brand, and as a local you might know the shop:

 

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So hail to him and all them modellers water holes, where we start unintended builds and learn new tricks. This one DM (I refer to him with my wife as MBO - Modellbauonkel, but don't tell him) has been with me almost all of my adult modelling life.

 

On of the tricks he told me to prolongue the CA's lifespan; keep it in the fridge (which I wasn't aware of).

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