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Westland Dragonfly HC4 - LF Models 1/72


CedB

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On 28/02/2021 at 12:21, AliGauld said:

Now that's just not fair.

 

Ye Gods, you've picked another beauty.

I know you'll beat it into submission and it'll be a gem but I'd just be cross-eyed and despairing at the moment.

Braveheart Sir.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

Thanks Ali :) 

A brave heart will be needed!

 

On 28/02/2021 at 12:48, Heather Kay said:


Hmm. I’d say the covering grille is flush. The louvred section is slightly set back in the walk around.

On 28/02/2021 at 14:04, Brandy said:

I agree with Heather. Stick a bit of mesh over it and it'll be fine!

 

Ian

Thanks Heather and Ian, I think you're right! :) 

 

On 28/02/2021 at 17:55, Hamden said:

 

Great work and perseverance on this one Ced. Another masterpiece on the way I'm sure!

 

  Stay safe          Roger

Thanks Roger - fingers crossed :)

 

On 28/02/2021 at 20:15, The Spadgent said:

Lovely stuff. That front canopy looks like a great fit now. 🙌

 

Jont

Thanks Johnny - with a little bit of luck :)

 

On 28/02/2021 at 20:18, TheBaron said:

The grille is fine Ced, you just have to rebuild the entire helicopter around it.... 🤪

 

 

:rofl2:

 

On 28/02/2021 at 20:34, Leonl said:

I’m a bit late but all caught up now...

 

Nice looking kit and it’s building up rather nicely...

Thanks Leon and welcome :)

 

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Now then, remember Heather's tip on writing the part numbers on the part trees?

Don't forget the clear tree:

 

50994676486_0a461c1513_z.jpg

 

…and certainly don't forget before you cut off the nose, otherwise you'll have no idea.

Note how the diagram doesn't have the gate to the nose in it?

think it's the right way up and I think I can work it out but wait…

Look at the diagram again - the windows go in from the OUTSIDE.

Oh yes.

 

All you have to do is gradually shave away the excess plastic like this stuff:

 

50993973828_89b34f15fc_z.jpg

 

… making sure you don't remove too much ,and you can get perfectly flush windows:

 

50994783562_1c78e38637_z.jpg

 

Only takes, oh I don't know, 20 minutes per window.

And how shall I glue them in?

I might wick some Canopy glue in from the other side.

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If you are building this with the metal blades I had my Dad measure the chord of the blades of the FAAMs Dragonfly - they scaled out at 5.7mm in 72nd which is quite a bit narrower than the LF kit metal blades (I think they are about 9mm wide). Did you get the two halves of the tail to join up ? I ended up sawing off one of the tail booms in order to get them to join without that enormous step!!!

 

Pat

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1 hour ago, CedB said:

I might wick some Canopy glue in from the other side.

 

Diluted canopy glue Ced, diluted.  So much easier with a drop or two of water in there and it wicks much easier too

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I get over here from the Swift RFI & find previous me has been here for a week already, hanged if I know how he does it when I can't keep up with these over lapping threads. I'm thinking he is the happy me, already retired & not still doing shift work, lucky git. Anyway, he filled me in & I have to say I'm impressed at your endeavours Ced, especially when it is obviously somewhat of a challenging kit. I would still quite like one though. :)

Steve 

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Radio Bristol this morning was reporting a traffic problem near the 'Wackum Inn'. Fnaar snurf!!

I shall have to visit when we're allowed out again.

 

 

12 hours ago, The Spadgent said:

At least they’re all clear. I still have nightmares about canopies. 😱

top glazing Mr B. 🙌

Thanks Johnny - sleep well my friend :) 

 

12 hours ago, Pat C said:

If you are building this with the metal blades I had my Dad measure the chord of the blades of the FAAMs Dragonfly - they scaled out at 5.7mm in 72nd which is quite a bit narrower than the LF kit metal blades (I think they are about 9mm wide). Did you get the two halves of the tail to join up ? I ended up sawing off one of the tail booms in order to get them to join without that enormous step!!!

 

Pat

Thanks Pat :)

Er, which are the metal blades he thinks…

 

50996275726_8fa2133459_z.jpg

 

I'll be using the ones with parallel edges - I guess it's those?

You want me to cut 'em almost in half?

Yikes.

 

11 hours ago, hendie said:

 

Diluted canopy glue Ced, diluted.  So much easier with a drop or two of water in there and it wicks much easier too

Thanks hendie :)

Yep, I remembered! See below…

 

33 minutes ago, stevehnz said:

I get over here from the Swift RFI & find previous me has been here for a week already, hanged if I know how he does it when I can't keep up with these over lapping threads. I'm thinking he is the happy me, already retired & not still doing shift work, lucky git. Anyway, he filled me in & I have to say I'm impressed at your endeavours Ced, especially when it is obviously somewhat of a challenging kit. I would still quite like one though. :)

Steve 

Cheers Steve :) 

Yep, 'happy me'. I'll try not to have too many threads on the go…

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Most of this morning spent on getting the windows in.

Note that some seem to be curved, like the fuselage:

 

50996113531_aa936b5098_z.jpg

 

Like, but not the same :( 

 

Anyway, fit, shave, fit, shave and one side's done and thinned Canopy glue wicked* around the edges from both sides:

 

50995456758_1c5d858bb3_z.jpg

 

What's that?

You can see fingerprints on some?

OF COURSE YOU CAN - they've all been handled about 3,452 times!

 

Calm, calm…

* By the way, the thinned glue was wicked, not wicked :wicked:

The result was wicked it has to be said.

Has that messed with your head too?

 

Some time later:

 

50995569208_202fe70a70_z.jpg

 

 

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Great job with the glazing, Ced :clap: Re the fingerprints, did you dip those clear parts into Aqua Gloss before sticking them in place? If not, you're still in time to clean them up with IPA (once set, of course) and brush on a wet coat of said Aqua Gloss.HTH

 

Ciao

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2 hours ago, CedB said:

 

I'll be using the ones with parallel edges - I guess it's those?

You want me to cut 'em almost in half?

That’s the ones Ced!! If you have a look at pics of the Dragonfly with folded blades you can see that the LF ones look way too wide. I think the blade length is fine though.

 

Pat

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Very slack on my part, only arriving for a Cedicopter on page 4.  Sorry.

 

But a Dragonfly, no less; hoorah!  My very first flight in a Wobblecopter was in a Wasp at Dartmouth; in 1978 the RN was still profligate enough to have a Britannia Flight dedicated to BRNC (though surely they can’t have been there doing jollies for Snotties 100% of the time even then?).  Memorable though the Wasp was, in the ancient tiny hangar thing at Britannia Flight (aka a field at the top of the hill somewhere) was a Dragonfly and we were allowed to crawl round it if we were gentle.  I can only assume it was one of the airframes now at Yeovilton.

 

Marvellously Heath Robinson, but I’m not sure I’d have wanted to fly one for very long.  All a bit precarious for me...

 

I have the Belcher Bits 1/48 job in my stash.  I wonder whether it’s possible to build a Sproule Net!
 

I hope I’m wrong, but those instructions look rather as though they think a butt jointed undercarriage is a good idea....

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On 2/21/2021 at 9:13 PM, TheBaron said:

Oh Ced what have you done? #2

2021-02-21_09-11-33

:rofl:

 

I don’t get it, all I can see is a small bag of metal... which to be fair is a marked improvement on what you started your current build with!

 

oooohh is see, it’s clear plastic, all looks a bit to simple for you.

 

@CedB nice work so far, and the kit looks pretty good! Shame the air screw is in the wrong place 😃.

 

Rob

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13 hours ago, rob85 said:

oooohh is see, it’s clear plastic, all looks a bit to simple for you.

Rob

 

 

Unfortunately its not styrene plastic, its acetate and that brings its own challenges. Yes, the cast metal pieces are very nice - particulary considering how long ago it was produced.

 

The one pictured the acetate looks to have 'browned', my copy has not, how strange.

 

Tommo.

 

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The Sproule net looks reasonably do-able in 72nth so you can do one in big scale easy like Crisp.

 

The clear bits for my Dragonfly are browning too, might have been better if they'd moulded them with PETg.

 

 

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On 02/03/2021 at 12:24, giemme said:

Great job with the glazing, Ced :clap: Re the fingerprints, did you dip those clear parts into Aqua Gloss before sticking them in place? If not, you're still in time to clean them up with IPA (once set, of course) and brush on a wet coat of said Aqua Gloss.HTH

 

Ciao

Thanks Giorgio - will do! :)

 

On 02/03/2021 at 14:18, Pat C said:

That’s the ones Ced!! If you have a look at pics of the Dragonfly with folded blades you can see that the LF ones look way too wide. I think the blade length is fine though.

 

Pat

Thanks Pat :)

I'll have a ponder…

 

19 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

Very slack on my part, only arriving for a Cedicopter on page 4.  Sorry.

 

But a Dragonfly, no less; hoorah!  My very first flight in a Wobblecopter was in a Wasp at Dartmouth; in 1978 the RN was still profligate enough to have a Britannia Flight dedicated to BRNC (though surely they can’t have been there doing jollies for Snotties 100% of the time even then?).  Memorable though the Wasp was, in the ancient tiny hangar thing at Britannia Flight (aka a field at the top of the hill somewhere) was a Dragonfly and we were allowed to crawl round it if we were gentle.  I can only assume it was one of the airframes now at Yeovilton.

 

Marvellously Heath Robinson, but I’m not sure I’d have wanted to fly one for very long.  All a bit precarious for me...

 

I have the Belcher Bits 1/48 job in my stash.  I wonder whether it’s possible to build a Sproule Net!
 

I hope I’m wrong, but those instructions look rather as though they think a butt jointed undercarriage is a good idea....

Hey Crisp, good to see you and pleased it's brought back some memories for you to share :) 

 

 

Rob, Tom and Bill - I'm pleased I got the injected one! :) 

 

 

Not much done but I have started on the final two windows:

 

50997038916_b4ac41e9a6_z.jpg

 

Badly fitting clear AND grey parts.

Oh joy…

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45 minutes ago, CedB said:

Badly fitting clear AND grey parts.

Oh joy…

I was planning on using a curved bit of acetate sanded to shape for the roof windows and then painting the canopy frame - I didn’t think the size of the LF roof windows bore much resemblance to the real ones.

 

Pat

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One of the features of this build is that we’re all being encouraged to open our (Dragon)flies and display our parts.

 

Belcher Bits, 1/48

51000587801_8b639b4e31_b.jpg

 

Slightly worryingly, the instructions are not in the box... though I have seen them fairly recently!

 

P.S. There’s a pdf of the instructions on the Belcher Bits website.  Phew!

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4 hours ago, The Tomohawk Kid said:

The Belcher Bits kits include a decal option the machine in the Bridges at Toko Ri film, including a Mickey Rooney figure!

 

Tommo.

 

Indeed; you can see Mr Rooney in my picture, just below the left hand set of rotor blades.  He will not be featuring in my build; mine will be EDSG over Sky aircraft from HMS Bulwark ship’s flight 1955.  Eventually (before anyone gets excited...)

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