28 Sqn Whirlwind: A highly detailed, shake and bake kit

[Pete in Lincs]

On 6/4/2021 at 11:15 PM, hendie said:

but there should be enough going on inside the cockpit to distract the casual viewer

So do you get many casual viewers in your basement?

 

On 6/4/2021 at 11:15 PM, hendie said:

It's all about the enjoyment right?

Who on earth told you that?

 

Nice I.P. and seats, BTW. 

[Space Ranger]

3 hours ago, hendie said:

 

And there's me thinking you were joking...

 

 

What did I tell ya?

[The Spadgent]

Lovely work dear boy. I was going to call out the seats but it all looks good to me. 🤩🙌

[hendie]

On 6/4/2021 at 6:27 PM, perdu said:

Thanks

Just thanks for a brilliant update.

 

 

you are more than welcome Bill

 

On 6/4/2021 at 6:37 PM, Fritag said:

 

Agreed; one of them ‘giant strides’ type updates - and yet full of delightfully crafted details.  Classic  hendification. 

 

thanks Steve.  I think I might have peaked there so be prepared for some anti-climactic posts in future

 

On 6/4/2021 at 6:57 PM, Terry1954 said:

Likewise, a superb update Alan.

 

And like @CedB and others, I still have my copy of Chickenhawk. What an inspiring read. I bought it many years back on a recommendation of a mate who is ex Paras, then ex Special Forces. He took me flying once, he had left the Army and recently qualified for his PPL. I recall we had a fairly scary moment during landing (not his fault). Afterwards in the bar, he suggested if I found that scary, I definitely needed to read Chickhawk!

 

Terry

 

Thanks Terry - I may have to splurge on a copy of that

 

On 6/4/2021 at 7:14 PM, RichieW said:

Can't imagine why you were mortified seeing the instrument panel on screen, to my eyes it looks fantastic. Loving watching this come together, it's great to see you having so much fun after THAT KIT! That single red wire is a lovely touch. 

 

Richie

 

thanks Richie

 

On 6/5/2021 at 3:26 AM, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

As far as I am aware, there are no inaccuracies.  Though I doubt it, maybe about details of the war - I am not qualified to judge; but he is 100% convincing on flying wobblecopters.  Indeed, the early chapters about learning to fly are by a mile the best description of rotary-wing training I’ve ever read.  I first read Chickenhawk while I was on Gazelles as a stude, and he totally nails it.  Superb book.

 

And a superb update, Alan.  This is 1/32, right?

 

It's actually 1/16th but I didn't have the cajoneys to tell anyone - please keep it just between us

 

On 6/5/2021 at 4:55 AM, giemme said:

I initially thought it was 1/24, but I reckon  in that scale he would have scratch built working switches and knobs!!

 

I'm well and truly flabbergasted at the amount of art and craftsmanship you put into this, Alan  

 

Ciao 

 

Arts and crafts?   Nothing but pure science and witchcraft here Giorgio

 

20 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said:

So do you get many casual viewers in your basement?

Nice I.P. and seats, BTW. 

 

just a few score crickets and 10,000 yellowjackets Pete. I hear it's all the buzz in the yellowjacket nest

 

6 hours ago, The Spadgent said:

Lovely work dear boy. I was going to call out the seats but it all looks good to me. 🤩🙌

 

thanks Johnny, glad it's up to scratch

 

Todays chore-dodging and SWMBO evasion activities involved making up the stbd side seating.  Nothing terribly interesting here, just the usual brass rod and solder.  I cheated a bit this time around by not soldering the angled stay at the top as I reckoned the structure was strong enough so a filled those gaps with some cyano

 

 

Actual seating and backrests were achieved using the recently discovered fag wrapping method - I'm quite pleased with stumbling upon that technique and quite miffed that I had never thought t0 employ it before.  It really makes things a lot easier.

I remember why I don't like seats now. It's not the seats.  I can put up with the seats - it's those damn straps.  There's so bloomin many of them.  Again, not difficult, just so tediously monotonous, or should that be monotonously tedious.  Teed-y-us.

It should come as no surprise that I chose the cigarette wrapper for the straps - I painted a section of the useful stuff a dark grey, then (by eye) sliced a bunch of thin strips. These were then glued to the backrests using cyano.

 

 

Then I remembered yet more reasons I hate seating.  Not only are there 3 straps per backrest, but there's also seat-belts on the darned things too.   Now I understand why people just model those whooshy jets and avoid helicopters... there's only one set of seat belts on those plank things, two if you're unfortunate (i.e. daft) enough to pick a dual seat type.

Nothing for it but to continue with the sore eyes and aching back trying to keep everything looking reasonably uniform.

Using the same batch of cig wrapper (thankfully I had painted far too much so had plenty leftover) I cut the seatbelts slightly wider.  Each belt was cut to length, then for the buckles I cut some styrene to a smidgen under 1mm by a smidgen over 1mm, stuck them on the end of each belt then painted them blue.  The "pull" part of the belt was made by cutting 4mm lengths of the magic stuff then cyano-ing it at a slight angle onto each belt in turn.

Belts were then wriggled around until it looked like a rigger had been in there, then a dab of cyano placed to secure the belts in position.

 

 

I think the seatbelts bay have been blue, but I didn't have another blue different enough from the seating, so stuck with the grey as a) it was the easiest option, and b) it provided more contrast against the seating, and c) I just wanted the darned job finished and behind me!

Now it was time to install the last two days of my life into the cabin.  The rail was added and painted pale green, then began the even more tedious but with added nerve wrackedness job of attaching the seat straps to the rail.

Although it was most unlike me, I remembered to remove the masking tape from the window interiors prior to attaching the seating.  This revealed some bare plastic (which I had known about when I placed the tape), but I thought the silverish sheen of the plastic gave a nice contrast against the rest of the interior so once again chose the easy route of not bothering to paint them...works for me!

The seats straps were attached by adding a small dab of cyano to the rail, then very carefully, grab the strap with tweezers and manipulate of over the rail, pressing down onto the cyano.  Once all the straps were attached, much fun was had trying to get the ends of the straps down behind the rail and not defying gravity by pointing up towards the cabin ceiling.   I think I got away with it without damaging either of the windows.  As a final touch, I added a small dab of a darker green on each strap where it curved over the rail to simulate the clips that are used to hold the straps in place.

 

 

The port side was a lot easier as I didn't have half a fuselage and a bunch of windows in the way.  (The seating looks a bit shiny though I've hit it with a flat coat of alclad stuff.)

 

 

Seating almost done....

 

 

I also realized that I had missed a couple of things in my haste to get this thing buttoned up - Originally I was going to leave the cabin ceiling plain, but then realized that it would need to show panels for access to the gearbox.   It seemed an easier option just to soundproof the interior.  Easier is a relative term....  I ended up having to make paper templates for both the ceiling and for the gear shaft cover though after that was done, it was easy enough.  Then the last interior component - the loadies rail, was added.  I 'think' we're all done in there now. 

 

 

anyone care to guess what I did next?

 

 

Without having any idea of what I'm going to do regarding the gearbox and rotor head, I chose to cut a hole in the top end based on the drawings.   The rotor head is going to end up slightly out of position according to the drawings, but not enough to be noticeable (I hope) - but to do the fix would have involved reshaping/removing/remaking most of the upper deck and that was a job I just wasn't prepared to undertake.

 

 

Now came another of those jobs that I had been avoiding thinking about - attaching the spine.  

I had found that the spine had changed shape after it had been removed from the fuselage and had curved in slightly at the bottom end when I had removed the whadyamacallit fairing fin thing from underneath. Easy fix was to use a section of runner to force the walls back out.

 

 

Not so easy was to sand/cut/shape the forward edge of the spine to get that 3 degree angle.  I made all kinds of templates, and small jigs to help me set up the disc sander, but in time honored fashion, in the end bottled it, and just went for sanding by hand.

This photo makes it look deceptively easy, but even when I had the angle, getting it to attach to the fuselage all square in the X. Y, & Z axis was a challenge.  In the end I drill holes in the top of the spine, bent a piece of rod to 3 degrees and used that to help me align everything. 

I made sure that I photographed the 'pretty' side for you lot. That joint almost makes it look as if there was an element of skill involved... not so if you saw the other side!

 

 

Anyways, Brass rod, superglue, TET, and runner gloop were all slathered on in the hope that one of them will keep the tail attached in the future

 

 

I'll have to leave that for a few days for the gloop to set enough for it to be handled - there's going to be some rough handling coming up and I try to nail things into shape

 

until next time folks...

 

 

 

 

 

[giemme]

Wow, what an update!  Outstanding job on the seats and interiors, and that 3 degrees angle on the tail....    

 

Ciao

[roginoz]

What a great job on the seats and beltage !

All looking suitably busy in there and the tail rejoin is a work of mathematical inspiration.

 

Well, of course ! It's a Hendiebuild ! 

[Biggles87]

Wow indeed.

I’d never noticed the angle between the body and the tail before, but now it’s obvious.

[perdu]

I like the thick block of stuff to anchor the seat upper rail to the starb'd fuselage, inspired Alan.

 

We of course never doubted you would find a way of making the rail permanent, a permanent way suitable for a man with a railway background huh...

 

('tis OK I didn't take the coat off, I'm off...)

 

 

In a minute, but not before I go and fill me boots on that tail join.

 

Eddificational that.

[RichieW]

12 hours ago, hendie said:

anyone care to guess what I did next?

I put my money on having a celebratory post victory cold beer!

 

Another epic update, always a big moment when the fuselage gets joined. That cabin area is a stunning piece of work. The seat belts look great, you must have had some awful chores lined up by SWMBO to have put yourself through all that beltage. 👏

 

Richie

[heloman1]

Wow Alan, nice work with the seatery. Regarding the main rotorhead, it should tilt slightly forward and to starboard, that's the right for you crabs!

Nice touch attaching the tail boom.

 

Colin

[heloman1]

Come on Alan, a Like, please!!!!

[The Spadgent]

23 hours ago, hendie said:

stuff.)

 

Holy s*** balls!!! That is just amazing!!!!!!  👏👏👏👏👏

[Brandy]

On 6/7/2021 at 1:48 AM, hendie said:

A very satisfying result for an afternoon spent playing with your chopper Alan! (Well someone had to say it!)

 

Seating is excellent - WWI biplanes often only had lapbelts, another good reason to stick with them!

 

Ian

[SafetyDad]

Really enjoying this - well outside of my normal fare but educational and amusing at the same time!

 

Excellent stuff - keep going please

 

SD

[CedB]

Well, just Wow again!

 

Console, i/p, seats and belts… plus all that detailing with the wires and cables.

 

Very nice work hendie, very nice  

[Fritag]

Magnificent update; magnificent work.  Lost count of how many steps were involved in making them seats, but all of them were thoroughly worthwhile.

 

On 6/6/2021 at 10:48 PM, hendie said:

The port side was a lot easier as I didn't have half a fuselage and a bunch of windows in the way

 

Which end of this thing is the front?  (It’s the lawyer in me - I try to suppress it, honest)

 

 

[Paul J]

Am enjoying following this work. However, I hope you don't mind but I would like to post some pics of a derelict piston engine verson that used to be a cafe attraction doen the A29 just south of my home. Its now gone most likely scrapped, but hopefully these pics will be of some help. (MODS: if you need, these pics can be moved to walkround section if more appropriate)

 

 

[Max Headroom]

Flippin’ chuffin’ ‘eck ‘endie! Another marvel is appearing in front of our eyes.

 

Trevor

[Martian]

I can't resist the temptation to dig out my kit from the stash much longer. It will all be your fault Hendie!

 

Weak Willed of Mars 👽

[hendie]

On 6/7/2021 at 3:01 AM, giemme said:

Wow, what an update!  Outstanding job on the seats and interiors, and that 3 degrees angle on the tail....    

Ciao

 

thanks G.  If I thought that was going to be the most difficult task in this build I was in for a shock. (I was/am/is)

 

On 6/7/2021 at 3:04 AM, roginoz said:

What a great job on the seats and beltage !

All looking suitably busy in there and the tail rejoin is a work of mathematical inspiration.

Well, of course ! It's a Hendiebuild ! 

 

the math bit was quite easy.  There was only three degrees and not lots of them - and I didn't have to do any adding or subtracting

 

On 6/7/2021 at 3:06 AM, Biggles87 said:

Wow indeed.

I’d never noticed the angle between the body and the tail before, but now it’s obvious.

 

I wish I hadn't. sometimes ignorance is bliss

 

On 6/7/2021 at 3:43 AM, perdu said:

I like the thick block of stuff to anchor the seat upper rail to the starb'd fuselage, inspired Alan.

We of course never doubted you would find a way of making the rail permanent, a permanent way suitable for a man with a railway background huh...

('tis OK I didn't take the coat off, I'm off...)

In a minute, but not before I go and fill me boots on that tail join.

Eddificational that.

 

thanks Bill.  it just seemed such an obvious way to add support and also fix the rail in the X,Y, & Z axes

 

On 6/7/2021 at 6:07 AM, RichieW said:

I put my money on having a celebratory post victory cold beer!

 

Another epic update, always a big moment when the fuselage gets joined. That cabin area is a stunning piece of work. The seat belts look great, you must have had some awful chores lined up by SWMBO to have put yourself through all that beltage. 👏

 

Richie

 

I know.  In hindsight, cleaning the kitchen and doing yardwork may have been the easier option

 

On 6/7/2021 at 12:07 PM, heloman1 said:

Wow Alan, nice work with the seatery. Regarding the main rotorhead, it should tilt slightly forward and to starboard, that's the right for you crabs!

Nice touch attaching the tail boom.

 

Colin

 

oooh, thanks Colin - I'll try to remember that when the time comes

 

On 6/7/2021 at 5:11 PM, The Spadgent said:

Holy s*** balls!!! That is just amazing!!!!!!  👏👏👏👏👏

 

thanks Johnny.

 

On 6/8/2021 at 1:37 AM, Brandy said:

A very satisfying result for an afternoon spent playing with your chopper Alan! (Well someone had to say it!)

Seating is excellent - WWI biplanes often only had lapbelts, another good reason to stick with them!

Ian

 

Sorry Ian, not a good enough reason , though choosing between seatbelts or rigging is almost 50/50

 

On 6/8/2021 at 3:23 AM, SafetyDad said:

Really enjoying this - well outside of my normal fare but educational and amusing at the same time!

Excellent stuff - keep going please

SD

 

thanks SD.  Don't worry, I plan to see this through to the end.  If I can build a Fly kit, then this should be a walk in the park. (Though that may be Central Park, and sometime around 1 am, with my hands tied behind my back)

 

On 6/9/2021 at 12:50 AM, CedB said:

Well, just Wow again!

Console, i/p, seats and belts… plus all that detailing with the wires and cables.

Very nice work hendie, very nice  

 

Thanks Ced.  Those were the fun bits. Now I'm on to the not so fun bits.

 

On 6/9/2021 at 1:14 AM, Fritag said:

Magnificent update; magnificent work.  Lost count of how many steps were involved in making them seats, but all of them were thoroughly worthwhile.

Which end of this thing is the front?  (It’s the lawyer in me - I try to suppress it, honest)

 

thanks Steve - I went back and counted.  Over 90 separate components in those seats - and those are just the bits that made it to the final build

 

11 hours ago, Max Headroom said:

Flippin’ chuffin’ ‘eck ‘endie! Another marvel is appearing in front of our eyes.

Trevor

 

thanks Trevor 

 

55 minutes ago, Martian said:

I can't resist the temptation to dig out my kit from the stash much longer. It will all be your fault Hendie!

Weak Willed of Mars 👽

 

Can I just have yours when you're finished then please?   It'll save me a whole lot of unnecessary work y'know

 

20 hours ago, Paul J said:

However, I hope you don't mind but I would like to post some pics of a derelict piston engine verson that used to be a cafe attraction doen the A29 just south of my home

 

Paul - those shots are fantastic. While they may not be of the specific mark that I'm building they still provide a wealth of information that I can use - many thanks!

 

Before we begin... whose turn was it to look after Ced this week?  Be warned there are multiple references to wood in this post, and maybe even a fudge later - he may have to be escorted from the room and restrained.

 

Time to take a bite at the next elephant.  Why are there so many elephants?

Feeling quite pleased with myself at how well the tail boom transplant went, in my ignorance I thought I was on a roll and could make a start on the nose.

Getting the profile was easy enough - make a template from one of the drawings, transfer it to plasticard and carve it out... so far, so good.  Thinking ahead here, I decided that the filter at the front end would be better built as a separate piece later so opted to chop that off.

 

 

Back to the drawings again and I needed to grab the cross section at the transition point.  This was where I discovered that the drawings I have are a tad out of whack.  The side view doesn't quite match the front view. It's only off by less than a millimeter, but enough to be concerning.  I also discovered that the drawing view showing that particular feature was not symmetrical. Again, not by a large amount, but certainly annoying. Bummer.   In the end, I chose one side as the master and simply mirrored it to obtain the shape. Now to glue it it position.

Symmetry at this point is critical so I played safe with making sure everything was square and true

 

 

Everything going according to plan so far. - Note that I have left myself a little extra on the profile so I can sand back to fit once everything is in place.

 

 

Another couple of templates were added to the main formers from plasticard to use as guides for the shaping, then it was simply a job of filling up the gaps with wood.  I had considered whether it was possible to do this job with thin strips of styrene but soon came to the conclusion that it would be a nightmare and I probably wouldn't get the result I was looking for. 

One of the main issues here is that  I have a side view, a front view, and a plan view, nothing else. Therefore I know what the profile is at the start (cabin bulkhead area), I know what the profile is at the end (filter area), and I know what the profile is when you look down on it from above - but only at the widest points.  I have no available cross sections or other reference points within those boundaries.  What that means is that I have to interpolate extrapolate calculate guess how the airframe changes shape between the cockpit and the nose - all based on a few photographs of a HAR10 in this particular configuration. Basically, looking at shadows and highlights and trying to determine compound curvature and what the designers had for lunch that day.

Luckily I had loads of wood left over from Pegasus.  If only I had known.

 

 

Has anyone spotted my rookie mistake yet? Nope? Let's carry on then.

This wood stuff is weird. it's a lot like plastic. Now, when I say it's a lot like plastic, I mean you can glue it and you can sand it, and that's pretty much where the similarities end.  They even spelled it differently. When I was in a buying frenzy for Pegasus materials I got loads of wood. Mainly basswood, as I read that it was not quite as soft as balsa wood but still easily manageable. 

Liars.

As I was cutting chunks of wood to glue into my good old plastic former I started to realize that my wood was hard. Much harder than plastic.  Basswood?  More like rockwood.

Undeterred, basically being downright stupid, I carried on and started trying to shape it and find a HAR10 nose in there.  Now being your average common or garden modeler, I don't have any of those fancy tools or equipment that @Bandsaw Steve bandies about with his de'il may care attitude. I had a razor saw, a beat up hacksaw, modeling knife, and a bunch of sanding sticks. Actually, come to think of it, I also have one of those belt sanders and disc combos that I picked up in a yard sale a few years ago.  It's a bit of a beast though. In fact, such a beast that the noise it make when I start it up scares the cr*p out of me.  I may be old, but I'd at least like my digits to last as long as the rest of me (give or take), otherwise modeling may become a tad difficult.

 

Did I mention this wood was hard?  Bloomin 'eck... hours I spent. Hours... sanding, sanding, sanding - it was like a Classic Airframes kit!

Fast forward a couple of sessions, and many ravaged and destroyed sanding sticks later I had a brainwave.  I have a lathe, and I had some sanding drums for my drill, so I slapped a sanding drum into the lathe  - this was more like it. Much more controllable and infinitely less dangerous. Half an hour later I had something that was beginning to look like a HAR10 nose thingy.

 

 

Then as I was shaping the wooden nose on the lathe it hit me 

My plastic former had a side profile, it had a plan profile, and it had a front end profile. What was I lacking ?  Yup, you guessed it - I had omitted to include the profile at the fuselage end 

I had no reference to contour at the back end.  Oh blimey I said. That was a mite unfortunate I thought. Silly, silly me.

 

So I looked at this...

 

 

... and went and had a cup of coffee.  See, it's things like this that make me not like touching wood. Nasty stuff wood.

 

In a huff, I slapped the wood to one side and went and looked at the tail end again.   

When I initiated surgery on this airframe and chopped the tail boom off, I also cut back the fin fairing thingy hanging underneath the boom.  I now needed to reinstate that fairing now that the tail boom was at the proper angle (trust me).

I had a thought in my mind that I may be able to rescue/modify the kit part, but when I examined the excised appendage it quickly became obvious that the kit part was not for saving - just look at the thickness of that trailing edge  

 

 

Hmmnnnn.  I guess I'll be making one from scratch then.  Okay.  Taking careful note of my recent battle scars I decided I was going to make this out of not-wood.  I immediately felt better.

First things first though - the HAR has a whopping great 'ole at the back end.  I need a solid base to start from.  Something substantial.

I grabbed a sheet of 1.5mm thick not-wood and roughly cut a triangular shape which I could get inside the gaping hole.  A bit of dry fitting and shaping later, I had a triangle that (mostly) touched both sides of the fuselage.  At this juncture, I was not concerned with symmetry or squareness or none of those good modeling practices - I just wanted something that was going to stay in place for the construction work to come. So, once the triangle sort of fitted, I chamfered the sides to provide as much purchase area as possible for the glue to come.  

A slight issue to overcome was the fact that I needed to apply pressure to this joint to ensure it was good when cured.  To solve this I simply drilled some holes though which I could thread some wire which enable me to pull on the triangular thing once in place, thus making sure the join was solid.  Once cured, the wire was snipped and removed (amazing forward planning in action) 

 

 

The next stage was to take another piece of not-wood and trim it so that it fitted nicely inside the now, not so gaping hole, but making sure that it butted up square against the triangular not-wood.

Rough as a badgers wotsit is fine at this point - fine tuning can come later.

 

 

I wanted to avoid the kit downfall of the overly thick trailing edge so I chose a 0.5mm sheet as the main former here.  That comes with it's own problems as it is still relatively flexible - so I added some support from square rod on both sides to help keep it stiff.

 

 

Lots of dry fitting to make sure it all fits inside and remains on the centerline of the fuselage.   I had to taper the square rods towards the trailing edge to make this work.

 

 

The surgery to remove the fin in the first place removed any support I may have had to reinstate the fin, so I added some support strips along the tail boom and mitred those in preparation for the skinning to come. The fin was trimmed more closely to final size though still slightly large - just in case.

 

 

A lot of dry fitting later I was happy that everything was good so I could commit to glue - all the while making sure that the fin did not stray from the fuselage centerline. Once fixed securly I then trimmed the central fin back to the correct profile.

 

 

Now came the interesting part - making a skin that would fit!  

I used the drawings to make a basic template that was then refined stroke by stroke with the files until it made contact with all the available surfaces

 

 

and in a moment of madness I glued it in position.

 

 

TET was used to secure the trailing edge to the central support structure. You can see here that the skin is slightly oversized (pencil marks). Once the glue had done its job I could then trim the skin back to the central support. 

 

 

The second skin was added allowing a slight overlap and once again TET was used to secure things in place

 

 

Trim off the excess and voila!

 

 

There's a slight gap right at the bottom where the fin meets the fuselage but that will be addressed later with some reinforcement panels. That will all come when it's time to greeble.

The newly reinstated fin in its final resting place and still (for the most part) on the centerline. I included the kit part here with the trailing edge blacked up so you can see the difference

 

 

I tried adding a sealing strip from aluminum tape to close up any gaps and try to replicate the reinforcement strips seen on the 1:1.  The jury is still out on whether I will keep those or not

 

 

Guess where we're going now?

Yup, back to the front again.  Keyed up by the fin success, and making note of my previous utter stupidity, and also avoiding doing exactly the same thing again, this time I started at the fuselage end...

 

 

and also managed to find a single, solitary scrap of balsa wood in my junk bucket.  

Unfortunately the balsa was not enough to do the complete nose, but I used the hard(er) wood to fill up the inside first to stretch the balsa as far as I could.

 

 

There, that's better.  

 

 

It's still at the rough stage just now, but definitely beginning to take shape.  There's still a few gaps that need plugged up and it's just a tad on the larger side but I'm still midway through the how-on-earth-am-I-going-to-do-this thought process.

 

 

If you've been misfortunate enough to have stumbled across my posts before you will know that my modus operandi is never to proceed without a plan.  Unfortunately, most of the time that plan is "try and come up with a plan".  Therefore, I am back to making things up as I go along in the hope that something will present itself to me later and make it look like I actually knew what I was doing all along. 

That rarely works.

In short, I still haven't figured out quite how I am going to proceed with this yet. I knew I needed the nose.  I knew that much at least.  What I need to figure out now is what do I do with it when I have it?  

As I see it (other versions available) I have a couple of options. 

I can use the dreaded wooden nose. Unlikely as getting a decent finish will be almost impossible .

I can use the wooden nose as a buck to vac-form a plastic nose - believe it or not, I had planned ahead for that just in case.  It will be possible (with a little work) to split the nose and vac-form a port and starboard side. Or, 

I can use the wooden nose to make a silicone mod and cast the nose in resin.

I'm completely undecided at the mo' and the choice I make determine exactly how to proceed with the nose... If I vac-form, I want the buck slightly smaller that it is now to accommodate the thickness of the vac-form (or will it be flexible enough for me to fudge it?)

If I go down the resin path, I probably want the nose pretty much as it is, as the resin will shrink slightly. (Obviously it will need fine sanded and polished first though)

 

Or I could just 3D print the darned thing....

 

 

 

 

[Terry1954]

Wow, I've waited for this bit for a while, the nose! At first I was quite excited. After all, how many 1/48 Whirlwind HAR 10's have I seen, let alone how many with a wooden nose made from some leftovers from a Pullman car!

 

But it looks like needs must has had to revert to balsa - probably wise, but wait, more challenges. If it were me, I'd maybe go with plastic card formers for plan and profile, a bit like you've done, but inner filling with scrap wood, outer filling with Milliput, smoothed when wet then sanded to fine shape when dry.  But it's not me and I'm nowhere near as good as you are at this stuff!

 

Stonking progress though Alan, regardless of your current dilemma.

 

Terry

[Martian]

Nice work Hendie and look on the bright side, you could be making the Navy HAR 9 version and having to scratch build the lower fuselage as well!

 

Sympathetic of Mars 👽

[giemme]

Wow, another massive, impressive update!  

 

As for the nose: I'd be very tempted to go for vacforming. And I'll tell you more, I'd try it in one piece. Of course, since you'd need to slightly reduce the size of the buck, you could first use it to produce a mould, just in case....  

 

Ciao 

[AMB]

I can't watch this thread any longer...I'm starting to suffer froim MIC.....Modeller's Inferiority Complex!!!🤢  This is soooo good!  You could win trophies Hendie! 

[Lewis95]

Well if you hand design the parts to build the nose from 3D printing that's still scratching it in my book! Either way, loving the build. Just finished reading your CA Vampire build!