Westland Dragonfly HC4 - LF Models 1/72

[Kitsticker]

Good luck Mister.....

 

All the best (really!)

 

Geoff

[AdrianMF]

Gosh that rotor head. “Arrange parts together in mid-air and apply glue to touching surfaces” Good luck!!

 

On the topic of putty/TET, when I use Humbrol filler I often mix a blob of that with a drop or two of Contacta glue to help it stick and smooth out. So it’s the same idea I guess.

 

Just wondering - can you not use your Silhouette cutter to generate a set of “canopy rescue”-style masks? I’m thinking of something like right-angled triangles with the right angle corners rounded off to various radii.

 

It looks like it’s coming together nicely though.

 

Regards,

Adrian

[CedB]

13 hours ago, Kitsticker said:

Good luck Mister.....

 

All the best (really!)

 

Geoff

Thanks Geoff

 

32 minutes ago, AdrianMF said:

Gosh that rotor head. “Arrange parts together in mid-air and apply glue to touching surfaces” Good luck!!

Thanks Adrian - I'll need it!

 

32 minutes ago, AdrianMF said:

On the topic of putty/TET, when I use Humbrol filler I often mix a blob of that with a drop or two of Contacta glue to help it stick and smooth out. So it’s the same idea I guess.

Yep - the Humbrol 'how to use' video says to thin it with Liquid poly so that's what I'm doing

 

32 minutes ago, AdrianMF said:

Just wondering - can you not use your Silhouette cutter to generate a set of “canopy rescue”-style masks? I’m thinking of something like right-angled triangles with the right angle corners rounded off to various radii.

 

It looks like it’s coming together nicely though.

 

Regards,

Adrian

That's a great idea Adrian! I'll have a go

 

 

I painted some internal colour on the nose which also acted as a disclosure coat:

 

 

Not too bad so filled with Vallejo:

 

 

I still can't do the 'smooth with a wet finger' technique - I always make a mess  

 

I also had a problem with the nozzle blocking repeatedly. Eventually I realised that poking wire in the end was probably just pushing the dry bit inside so I drilled it out.

 

Maybe I should have used the Mr Dissolved Putty. If only I'd remembered…

[tomprobert]

1 hour ago, CedB said:

 

I still can't do the 'smooth with a wet finger' technique - I always make a mess  

 

Use a wet cotton bud, Ced - much easier to control and therefore neater!

 

Tom

[Brandy]

I like the masking idea with the punched circles! Doing it on silhouette sounds even better, I really need to get mine out and have a play! Fnaar, snurf!

 

Ian

[AliGauld]

Watching you overcome all the obstacles that you encounter is a wonderful thing.

It's really coming together now.

I'd like to add my vote to the wet/damp cotton bud for the Vallejo Putty, works a treat.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

[CedB]

On 15/03/2021 at 11:06, tomprobert said:

Use a wet cotton bud, Ced - much easier to control and therefore neater!

 

Tom

Thanks Tom - works better for me, thanks!

 

On 15/03/2021 at 15:34, Brandy said:

I like the masking idea with the punched circles! Doing it on silhouette sounds even better, I really need to get mine out and have a play! Fnaar, snurf!

 

Ian

Fnaar indeed. To quote Morcombe and Wise I may get mine out too, snurf

 

21 hours ago, AliGauld said:

Watching you overcome all the obstacles that you encounter is a wonderful thing.

It's really coming together now.

I'd like to add my vote to the wet/damp cotton bud for the Vallejo Putty, works a treat.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

Thanks Ali  

 

 

Ready for primer?

Er, no.

I checked the instructions again and I have some greeblies to add:

 

 

 

GG Thin as we know is great for PE. It does start to dry quite quickly which made getting these lined up a bit of a challenge:

 

 

Done now then.

Grill and box on the side added:

 

 

Now ready for primer when that's dry.

[giemme]

PE parts look like a nice and worthy addition  Looking forward to the primer coat

Ciao

[hendie]

54 minutes ago, CedB said:

Now ready for primer when that's dry.

 

wot about the mesh over thon shutters?

[The Spadgent]

Sorry but that early morning masking. 🤣 brilliant. 
 

 

[CedB]

16 hours ago, giemme said:

PE parts look like a nice and worthy addition  Looking forward to the primer coat

Ciao

Thanks Giorgio. Wait no longer! See below

 

15 hours ago, hendie said:

 

wot about the mesh over thon shutters?

Might do it later. Maybe. If I can find something 'meshy'.

 

9 hours ago, The Spadgent said:

Sorry but that early morning masking. 🤣 brilliant. 
 

 

Thanks Johnny  

[CedB]

OK, rotor. Remember this?

 

 

Hmmm

I thought I'd use the 'how to eat an Elephant' method - a spoon at a time.

 

"Drat - Wire" indeed.

I can do that.

Part #27 - cut the end off the shaft? Nasty…

But wait, that would leave a butt join to the blades - avoid!

Better to, gulp:

 

 

Obviously I cut a cross with a blade first and drilled with small to large drills, holding the blade over the edge of the bench in the hope of drilling straight.

Nervous times when I could see the plastic thinning but, luckily, not breaking through.

Phew.

I'll cut the shaft to fit the holes, later.

 

I liked Adrian's idea back here - “Arrange parts together in mid-air and apply glue to touching surfaces”.

Didn't work:

 

 

You can see though that I've cut the three pieces of 0.5mm wire to 8mm and three others to 5mm.

Yes, you can, honest.

Just below the PE sheet.

I've stuck them to some tape so, hopefully, they don't get lost.

At some point though I need to fix parts #21 and 22 to each end:

 

 

I have some maniacal plan to solder them using different melting point solders.

I've even scraped a blade over the PE and filed the rod ends.

Drat indeed.

 

This seems to be sort of OK:

 

 

…but not glued yet, obviously. Then:

 

 

…these bits get sandwiched between the PE bits.

Oh har de har har.

 

Something I could do though was spray the primer:

 

 

Stynylrez black.

One of the good things about Stynylrez is that it dries very quickly.

So when the main body starts drooping on its stick, no need to panic 'cos it'll be touch dry when you catch it.

I still panicked, of course.

 

How are the seams?

Not too bad, especially this one:

 

 

 

There will be a short interval for a couple of days as life gets in the way.

Talk amongst yourselves…

[AdrianMF]

28 minutes ago, CedB said:

these bits get sandwiched between the PE bits

Oh my oh my. I hope you've got a good photo of the real thing, because just looking at those instructions leave me scratching my head in bewilderment.

 

Good luck!

Adrian

[hendie]

ooooh nice update Ced.  I can't wait to see you attempt to join the Drats! wire to the Zoiks! bracket and in turn onto the Yegads! rotor plate

[giemme]

Oh boy, this is shaping up like a PE odyssey... hold fast, Ced  

 

Primer looking smooth as usual

 

Ciao

[perdu]

5 hours ago, CedB said:

There will be a short interval for a couple of days as life gets in the way.

Talk amongst yourselves…

Ooh does this mean Mrs B has returned with...ideas?

 

The Dragginfly is looking very better than mine is likely to too, nice work.

[perdu]

Meshy?

 

I am not short of meshy since my aborted plan to mesh the intake mesh screens on the Billvedere, any of mine you need?

 

What is the plan?

 

I suppose I should hit the walkaround trail...

[CedB]

On 17/03/2021 at 10:16, AdrianMF said:

Oh my oh my. I hope you've got a good photo of the real thing, because just looking at those instructions leave me scratching my head in bewilderment.

 

Good luck!

Adrian

I know! There are lots of photos, but they all look just as complex…  

 

On 17/03/2021 at 12:25, hendie said:

ooooh nice update Ced.  I can't wait to see you attempt to join the Drats! wire to the Zoiks! bracket and in turn onto the Yegads! rotor plate

Thanks hendie  Solder some, CA others, GG a bit… I think I need help!

 

On 17/03/2021 at 15:07, giemme said:

Oh boy, this is shaping up like a PE odyssey... hold fast, Ced  

 

Primer looking smooth as usual

 

Ciao

Thanks Giorgio

 

On 17/03/2021 at 15:35, perdu said:

Ooh does this mean Mrs B has returned with...ideas?

 

The Dragginfly is looking very better than mine is likely to too, nice work.

Mrs B is indeed back! No ideas though…  

 

On 17/03/2021 at 15:40, perdu said:

Meshy?

 

I am not short of meshy since my aborted plan to mesh the intake mesh screens on the Billvedere, any of mine you need?

 

What is the plan?

 

I suppose I should hit the walkaround trail...

I have this stuff from daughter's wedding :

 

 

Looks meshy enough? We shall see…

Thanks for the offer of other mesh Bill, kind of you.

 

You may think I've done nothing for days.

Not so.

Yesterday was spent dobbing Vallejo filler mixed with primer on the non-smooth bits.

Wet sanding, letting it dry, repeat.

 

Finally this morning I could:

 

 

Avoiding the rotors for as long as possible…

But I'll have to man up soon.

[AdrianMF]

We will all be going “oooh shiny” too much to even notice the rotor head now...

[Brandy]

1 hour ago, CedB said:

Looks meshy enough? 

Spoken in best Sean Connery accent of course!

Coming on very nicely so far, although I do NOT envy you doing the rotor head.

 

All yours mate.

 

Carry on!

 

Ian

 

[perdu]

In case the rotor head daunts Dauntless Ced I have this one I done earlier see.

 

 

I'm going to say here and now that is less daunting than making a pair of Billvedere rotor heads, and some!

 

I do have a few pictures of the Draggin' I took at Yeo if you'd like them Ced.

[Biggles87]

That’s a real un innit?

[perdu]

52 minutes ago, Biggles87 said:

That’s a real un innit?

Oh arr, that's the one in Yeovilton is that.

 

 

Still high up the list of my favourite chopperdoppers is the Dragginfly.

 

I took a few of the Dragonfly at Weston too along of pictures of baby brother the Widgeon.

 

I am still undecided whether to build the kit I have as a Dragginfly or make a Widgeon of it...

 

A decision which can wait until well after lockdown ends.

[CedB]

5 hours ago, AdrianMF said:

We will all be going “oooh shiny” too much to even notice the rotor head now...

Thanks Adrian  Until I start it, that is…

 

3 hours ago, Brandy said:

Spoken in best Sean Connery accent of course!

Coming on very nicely so far, although I do NOT envy you doing the rotor head.

 

All yours mate.

 

Carry on!

 

Ian

 

Thanks Ian

 

2 hours ago, perdu said:

In case the rotor head daunts Dauntless Ced I have this one I done earlier see.

 

 

I'm going to say here and now that is less daunting than making a pair of Billvedere rotor heads, and some!

 

I do have a few pictures of the Draggin' I took at Yeo if you'd like them Ced.

Thanks Bill, but that one looks broken!  

There's a few in the walk around too and on the 'net. None from the top though  

 

1 hour ago, Biggles87 said:

That’s a real un innit?

Yep. Horrid

 

1 hour ago, perdu said:

Oh arr, that's the one in Yeovilton is that.

 

 

Still high up the list of my favourite chopperdoppers is the Dragginfly.

 

I took a few of the Dragonfly at Weston too along of pictures of baby brother the Widgeon.

 

I am still undecided whether to build the kit I have as a Dragginfly or make a Widgeon of it...

 

A decision which can wait until well after lockdown ends.

Thanks Bill  

 

More rotor avoidance. The wheel covers:

 

 

But then, the tail rotor:

 

 

Holes drilled, wire inserted, CA blobbed.

Fingers crossed.

[perdu]

Well at least you got three blades...