Jered Posted October 18, 2021 Share Posted October 18, 2021 (edited) Hello all, Long time lurker, infrequent poster. (Copied from Wikipedia) The Wales Air Ambulance Charitable Trust, known as Wales Air Ambulance Charity (WAAC), is a charity air ambulance service providing a free, life-saving helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) for the critically ill and injured in Wales. It is not funded by NHS Wales, but only by charitable donations. It also provides the Children's Wales Air Ambulance (CWAA) emergency transfer service. The charity aims to save lives and reduce or prevent disability or suffering from critical illness and injury, by delivering a pre-hospital emergency medical service. photo from airplane-pictures.net My father, who had moved to rural North West Wales a long time ago, always advocated the incredibly important and brave work which they carry out daily without pause. He spent the last couple of years of his life needing a lot of hospital treatment from the fantastic team at Bangor hospital which eventually changed to palliative care sadly. Every time I saw him he'd always champion the helicopter crew who were constantly flying to and from the helipad at the hospital. He himself, fortunately, never needed to be rescued by the helicopter team: but he, like most, could easily see their value and would make sure everyone saw it too. I think perhaps it struck a chord with him as I think he'd have loved to do the job himself if music hadn't picked him up and made itself his vocation. In his words it was hearing the Beatles at the age of 6 which hooked him and never let him go and seeing The Sound Of Music inspired him to take any opportunity to see the world and learn as many languages as possible - becoming eventually fluent in Welsh (French, German, Italian and small bits of Greek and Spanish!) But I digress. The reason for choosing this subject is because I know that he'd have loved it and also, if it's good enough then I'll give it to the charity where they can either display it or auction it to raise funds. No pressure then! Just for full disclosure, this is probably going to drag on for a long time as I don't spend as much time as I'd like to on modelling sadly. The model(s) For this build I am using 3 kits: Revell's EC145 Medstar helicopter Their H145 Deutsch Polizei chopper And Renaissance's detail kit too The reason being that I needed the medical interior plus the fenestration tail for the Wales Air Ambulance - plus it won't hurt that I can turn the leftovers into an alpine rescue/Gendarmerie with a few decals. I'm aware that there is a medical interior from DE heilo but this way I can bolster my stash! The instructions from both kits are largely the same - in Revell's illustrative style. There are some really nice, crisply moulded exterior parts to this with lots of rivets in all the right places. The interior parts are OK, but they're a little sparse on the details and look a bit too "perfect" but it won't take much to make these parts a little better. But that's the fun part, and what rotary tools are for! I'm going to put some seams on these next to make it pop a little more but not off to an awful start. I saw the walk around photos of the OH-72 on this forum which shares a lot of similarities with the H145 so I'll be using that for reference as well as photos from the social media pages of the charity too. Only scratched the surface so far but hopefully I can keep momentum up. Thank you for having a read and letting me have a little write about dad too! Cheers, Jered Edited December 16, 2021 by Jered 18 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k5054nz Posted October 19, 2021 Share Posted October 19, 2021 Hey @Anthony in NZ, another one of you mad HEMS heli guys to watch with interest! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony in NZ Posted October 19, 2021 Share Posted October 19, 2021 4 hours ago, k5054nz said: Hey @Anthony in NZ, another one of you mad HEMS heli guys to watch with interest! LOL, yes mate. Love these projects. Reminds me to get my hugely modified/updated 32nd BK-117 back on the bench again! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jered Posted October 31, 2021 Author Share Posted October 31, 2021 (edited) Had a chance to do some modelling today. I've been busy all week with work and then doing some more work in the evenings... And then yet more work on Saturday! I opened up the Renaissance kit and at first glance it looks great. Generally speaking it is, however, there are a few score lines missing from a few parts which makes bending them accurately a challenge (for me at least) plus it looks as if the vacuum formed windows were cast in a not-so-clean mould as it has a load of orange peel on the inside where it looks like dust was trapped. Hopefully I'll be able to sand these out but they're already very thin so I don't have much material thickness before sanding through the part. The other thing, is that this detail kit is for the ec145 - which is the predecessor for the H145 (which is what I'm building) so not all the photoetch matches. But that's ok because I can save these parts for the alpine rescue Gendarmerie chopper. I sanded off a few surface details from the interior floor to replace them with some very satisfying PE. I also used the walk around photos of the UH-72 Lakota on this site to add some panel lines and rivet details Cockpit control panel is in dry to check the fit to check it all over. I'm yet to add one or two more bits of PE and a few bits of glue to clean off before priming. The seat rails do look very low after having chiseled off the moulded ones but that's ok because judging by the photos it looks like they're inlaid into the deck. The central control panel had quite severe draft angles in places so I filed the end flat and added some sheet styrene before adding the fire extinguisher as well as the PE bits. The holster for the winch controls next to the extinguisher and the bracket on the end... Which I'll admit I don't know what it is! The faces for the hand controls have holes where dials or switches should be which I guess is on purpose so that some rod can be inserted. The glue I'm using is T700 which I think is basically the same as G.S Hypo but comes in various colours. Anyway, small update but all I have time for this week. Any comments or criticisms are more than welcome. I've not long since got back into modelling so any suggestions are appreciated as I'm always looking to improve my ability. Cheers, Jered Edited December 16, 2021 by Jered 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jered Posted November 17, 2021 Author Share Posted November 17, 2021 Small update as I've been super busy as per usual! If anyone has any good reference photo links or suggestions I'm all ears! Added a few more PE bits and bobs around as well as drilling out the overhead air-vents and some plastic rod here and there for buttons and knobs. Still needs a good clean up before putting any primer on but good so far. A mixture of 0.4 and 0.3mm rod makes up the buttons on the controls. I'm looking forwards to seeing how it turns out after painting. Sort of a before and after detailing on the L/R sides. Cheers, Jered. 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony in NZ Posted November 17, 2021 Share Posted November 17, 2021 Brilliant work Jered I am planning a couple of builds from this family of helicopters and this is inspiring me to work on my BK again! I have that Renaissance set and I have a feeling from memory it is a thin adhesive protective film on those clear parts. Brilliant work so far! Cheers Anthony 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jered Posted December 14, 2021 Author Share Posted December 14, 2021 Perpetually busy again so I've only had time for a few bits. Finally finished off some a project at work which was absorbing all of my time. Happy about that, happy client and happy me for now not needing to do a 5th week of 60+hrs a week! I remade the pedals using some sandwiched plasticard, styrene rod, PE from the Renaissance kit and original kit stirrups. I don't think it was worth it to be honest, we'll see when it's painted but I've got a feeling that the original part would have been good enough instead of investing close to 4 hours for both sides. With that being said, the finesse of the metal parts is very nice. Just a shame I wasn't able to carefully saw the original part to fit it. (The part capitulated when I tried it) I think I would have needed to make a jig to saw it and by then it was faster to just make them from scratch. I decided to take a little break from the interior so I put the tail together. The parts go together beautifully with only a tiny need for a dab of filler on the prop shaft housing (?) I also chose to chop and drill out the antennas so that I can replace them with either thinner styrene rod or guitar string wire later on. These are the two halves of the turbine cowling (forgive my ignorance if I'm not using the correct terms) This can be put together with a view to fix the rotors permanently or removable. I chose the latter. Here I have started opening up the nacelles making them a little more convincing with a thinner edge. The louvred panels will also get replaced with PE as well as the latches. The PE for the latches are fiddly, complex and without any instruction sadly but I think, looking at reference photos, I can understand how they go together... It's not like they actually need to work! The moulding for the sides of this helicopter are rather nice with lots of crisp, raised detail. My only criticism, and perhaps unfair, is that the rivets all have a draft angle for the mould so become less convincing under the nose... However, I appreciate that is complete nit-picking and wanting the moon on a stick! I am leaning towards making a diorama base for this on a helipad with grass (and daffodils obviously as it's the Wales air ambulance) so I am going to use the doors in the Renaissance kit in the open position hence cutting the door open. I am pleased that I managed to do a relatively neat job and not damage the rest of it! That's it for now but more coming soon hopefully! Cheers, Jered 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony in NZ Posted December 16, 2021 Share Posted December 16, 2021 Absolutely brilliant job Jared! becoming one of my favorite builds on here! Makes me want to get back to my BK Cheers Anthony 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roginoz Posted December 16, 2021 Share Posted December 16, 2021 (edited) Anyone else not being any pictures, apart from the first of the 1-1 heli ? Rog Edited December 16, 2021 by roginoz 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jered Posted December 16, 2021 Author Share Posted December 16, 2021 13 hours ago, roginoz said: Anyone else not being any pictures, apart from the first of the 1-1 heli ? Rog Hi Rog, Doing some reading I think it may be how I'm syntaxing the link to my Dropbox. I will update the links this evening. Thank you for bringing it to my attention. Jered. 13 hours ago, Anthony in NZ said: Absolutely brilliant job Jared! becoming one of my favorite builds on here! Makes me want to get back to my BK Cheers Anthony Thanks a lot! I can't wait to have a look. Jered. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony in NZ Posted December 17, 2021 Share Posted December 17, 2021 (edited) On 12/17/2021 at 8:14 AM, Jered said: Thanks a lot! I can't wait to have a look. I dont want to hijack your thread, but here are a couple of pics you asked for. I am using the Renaissance set as well as cross-kitting the BK with the EC-145 and lots of scratchbuilding I am happy to take it down after you have seen it.... EDIT: Photo's removed so we can focus back on this beautiful build and a link to a VERY old build thread on LSP as requested by @PeteH1969 https://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?/topic/23525-32nd-bk-117-b2-westpac-rescue/ You are really inspiring me to work on this again! Thank you Anthony Edited December 17, 2021 by Anthony in NZ 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan P Posted December 17, 2021 Share Posted December 17, 2021 Glad to catch up with this build, patient detailing looks very effective so far 👍 On 12/14/2021 at 7:29 PM, Jered said: I appreciate that is complete nit-picking and wanting the moon on a stick! Nice to hear that expression again, loved that show! 😂😂😂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jered Posted December 17, 2021 Author Share Posted December 17, 2021 4 hours ago, Anthony in NZ said: I dont want to hijack your thread, but here are a couple of pics you asked for. I am using the Renaissance set as well as cross-kitting the BK with the EC-145 and lots of scratchbuilding I am happy to take it down after you have seen it.... You are really inspiring me to work on this again! Thank you Anthony Wow! Hope mine looks half as good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteH1969 Posted December 17, 2021 Share Posted December 17, 2021 10 hours ago, Anthony in NZ said: I dont want to hijack your thread, but here are a couple of pics you asked for. I am using the Renaissance set as well as cross-kitting the BK with the EC-145 and lots of scratchbuilding I am happy to take it down after you have seen it.... You are really inspiring me to work on this again! Thank you Anthony Where's the build thread please Anthony? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony in NZ Posted December 17, 2021 Share Posted December 17, 2021 1 hour ago, PeteH1969 said: Where's the build thread please Anthony? There you go Pete, added a link for you It's been a while since I have done anything on her, but I have removed the photos so I dont hijack Jereds lovely build Keep up the great build! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jered Posted December 18, 2021 Author Share Posted December 18, 2021 Spent some time on it today. Some kind of Christmas miracle having enough time to post two updates in a week! But that may be partially down to putting off gardening and doing housework. Continuing on the exterior parts for now as it's so much fun. There are a couple of options regarding which parts one uses with this kit, hence this panel for instance needing to be glued in as opposed to a moulded seam. I have used masking tape here to make some spacers to get a more even panel gap. This can be pulled through after the cement has hardened. Some more nice bits from the detail set. The difference between the PE and the kit detail is crispness and a couple of rivet details. It wouldn't be too challenging to scribe these on to be fair. Masking tape again - using a trick I employ when I'm veneering panels at work which is to tape an edge as a hinge, apply the glue then tape the other side before putting in the panel press. Obviously a 3 ton press may not be the most sensible tool to use for a part half the size of a stamp. The Renaissance kit does have some lovely parts. Some of them also need some quite heavy intervention in terms of sculptural material removal... Like the brackets for the legs. On the left, the kit as it comes. The right having undercut the part with saw, scalpel and chisel blade. Time consuming, but having no deadline I can spend some time getting it as good as I can. Unlike the pedals so much, I really do think that it's worth every second spent. Needs a little more shaved off the collar to make it a little less eccentric but I'm pleased with the result. This has been augmented with some 0.4 and 0.3mm styrene rod for the fastenings which have also been drilled into the leg by half a mm to give it a little more strength. So the good and bad about the this section is that there are a few options of parts which can be used in terms of the type of support pylons (here I've used a triangular support for the starboard side and a cylindrical one for the port lighting rig) but the fit of these parts are horrible and will take a little bit of reshaping with putty to get right. I have taken the bear paws at the end of the skids from the other kit, which again are a bit clunky in their appearance but will file down to a nice, sharp shape... Hopefully. They're only tacked on with some CA glue at the moment incase I have a change of heart and want to work on them off the model. I couldn't resist having a look at the body mocked up dry. I think it looks great. Cheers, Jered. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony in NZ Posted December 19, 2021 Share Posted December 19, 2021 10 hours ago, Jered said: The Renaissance kit does have some lovely parts. Some of them also need some quite heavy intervention in terms of sculptural material removal... Like the brackets for the legs. On the left, the kit as it comes. The right having undercut the part with saw, scalpel and chisel blade. Time consuming, but having no deadline I can spend some time getting it as good as I can. Unlike the pedals so much, I really do think that it's worth every second spent. Needs a little more shaved off the collar to make it a little less eccentric but I'm pleased with the result. This has been augmented with some 0.4 and 0.3mm styrene rod for the fastenings which have also been drilled into the leg by half a mm to give it a little more strength. So the good and bad about the this section is that there are a few options of parts which can be used in terms of the type of support pylons (here I've used a triangular support for the starboard side and a cylindrical one for the port lighting rig) but the fit of these parts are horrible and will take a little bit of reshaping with putty to get right. I have taken the bear paws at the end of the skids from the other kit, which again are a bit clunky in their appearance but will file down to a nice, sharp shape... Hopefully. They're only tacked on with some CA glue at the moment incase I have a change of heart and want to work on them off the model. I couldn't resist having a look at the body mocked up dry. I think it looks great. Thats some skills there with the undercutting...VERY nicely done! I agree, it does look great. keep up the awesome work Cheers Anthony 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heloman1 Posted December 19, 2021 Share Posted December 19, 2021 Net build Jered, I'm liking your attention to detail and the Renaissance set looks good. Your build reminds me of the Fujimi 48th BO-105 I built many, many moons ago. The kit has the passenger interior, so I scratched the EMS fit from a manual I got from MBB at the time. Sometime I would like to cobble two to build the C model with decals for one of our local cabs using AM decals. Popcorn and a second row seat... Colin 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOUSTON Posted December 19, 2021 Share Posted December 19, 2021 Jered. FANTASTIC build so far. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jered Posted December 20, 2021 Author Share Posted December 20, 2021 Thanks for all the encouragement! 🥰 Had a little time after work to do a mini update: This is the arm for the Trakkabeam A800 searchlight. It isn't the most accurate part - this is a reference photo from the air ambulance's Instagram feed: As you can see, it's more like a milled billet of presumably aluminium instead of something more tubular like the kit part. The supplied parts of the lamp itself are actually very well detailed. Anyway. I'll save to top part of this (the a axis servo) as it looks convincing enough. This is more along the right lines I think. 0.5mm plasticard plus 0.4mm rod and a touch of filler but it still doesn't look perfect. But fortunately I'm a bit of a dab hand at CAD and 3D modelling which I often use for work when I'm designing or making a set of drawings to take down to my bench. I was CNC'ing something for a Christmas present after work with some laboriously long engraving so I drew this. If anyone can print this part for me I'd be very interested in exchange for CAD drawing/engraved plaques in wood/beers etc! Cheers, Jered 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jered Posted December 27, 2021 Author Share Posted December 27, 2021 Good evening and happy holidays. Against my better judgement I went for a run with my girlfriend yesterday (I'm more into cycling than running) The plus side to that is being chairbound today. Chairbound at my bench! Finished off getting the panel lock details on. These were very fiddly but worth it as the kit part is moulded mostly smooth. There are a few rivets missing but I'll add them just before priming. Luckily there about 20 or so extras of these. Just FYI for anyone using this detail set - the instructions are wrong in their placement of these so refer to some reference photos instead. These raised details above the window are not present on this helicopter so I'll have to remove them carefully without destroying too many rivets. I believe that they are mounting points and electrical sockets for the recovery winch. The PE for the doors are really nice. They could be more accurate but they do add significant details. I took a part for the starboard door from the other Heli kit. I believe it's a locker of some description. I cut the part roughly in half in its height to match the photos I've been working from as well as bringing the edges in by a few mm so that it fits inside the brass PE. This folds together to form a mounting bracket for a gas strut. Sadly, a few of the PE parts are missing fold lines which makes it challenging to fold nicely. I think though, it's better to put these on after painting as the part is meant to be stainless steel so the nickel silver PE won't look too bad after a wash with something dark. The hinges are beautiful, a really nice result. I'll use brass rod for the pins when they get attached and probably solder it all together so it's strong enough to support the doors. Some more modifications - before and after here. Lots of work for each blade but a big improvement. Cheers, Jered. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jered Posted December 29, 2021 Author Share Posted December 29, 2021 Good evening modellers, Here are a couple of updates: This is the fan intake for the engine. Annoyingly the kit supplies two port intakes instead of two mirrored parts. It's not the most visible detail but I think it's an important one nonetheless as it's inside a duct which I think is quite inviting to peer into. For the mirrored part I flipped the part over then cut a disk from 0.3mm styrene and glued them together to create a mirrored part. I removed the center (not perfectly but I don't think it'll matter) so that it matches the other part. Some nice PE mesh to replace that domed bit of the kit part but it needs doming. A bit of heat from a torch de-tempers it and makes it more malleable I used the hole I made in the original part as a mould and then shaped it with spherical objects starting with a larger radius and getting smaller until it looked right. I then flattened the lip to make a miniature hat/colander. Before and after: I will probably attach the mesh after painting the plastic since the nickel looks great as is. I added some flanges for a little extra detail where the fans are mounted to the ducts. Also added the X panel lines - they're a little fat but I don't think that's a bad thing as it'll be really hard to see through a PE grating. Here is where I've tried to remove the mounting points for the winch harness. I think I'm going to have to bite the bullet on re riveting this area anyway so I may as well sand it flush and faired in nicely. On the topic of scribing, I put a groove in the door track in order to put some panel line wash in after painting. A little bit challenging considering the track is less than a mm in width! An absolutely beautiful bit of PE here: there are to of these, they're the cable cutters for above and underneath the cockpit. My understanding is that they're a get out of jail card for straying too close to suspended lines. I'd imagine that could be incredibly stress inducing if the helicopter got tangled in something! These are the corresponding cable fenders on the legs, which presumably guide any cables into the jaws of the cutters. I chopped the leg ski short so that these fitted nicely as per the reference pictures I'm using. I also added some 0.4mm rod to where the fastenings are supposed to be. On the legs I've also been carving the T section into the legs since the kit was quite vague in shape. Quite tricky but perfectly do-able. Wish I had a bit of PE for the foot-rail mounting brackets too but I'll see if I can shape it before scratching anything. Hope you enjoy and comments and suggestions are welcome as ever. Cheers, Jered 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony in NZ Posted December 29, 2021 Share Posted December 29, 2021 Jered, first up Thank you mate! I was wondering how I was going to 'dome' those intake meshes. brilliant solution and result! I am absolutely loving this build and it really makes me want to get my BK back on the bench. May I ask what and how you are gluing you PE as it is just so neat and tidy Yes that step rail on the skid is a pain, I was thinking brass angle? Anyway, keep up the fantastic work on a cool helicopter Cheers Anthony 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jered Posted December 29, 2021 Author Share Posted December 29, 2021 59 minutes ago, Anthony in NZ said: Jered, first up Thank you mate! I was wondering how I was going to 'dome' those intake meshes. brilliant solution and result! I am absolutely loving this build and it really makes me want to get my BK back on the bench. May I ask what and how you are gluing you PE as it is just so neat and tidy Yes that step rail on the skid is a pain, I was thinking brass angle? Anyway, keep up the fantastic work on a cool helicopter Cheers Anthony Hi Anthony, No worries, can't wait to see yours underway! I use Illbrück CA glue of medium thin viscosity. I dispense some onto a pallette and carefully dab some into place with a sharpened cocktail stick. I try to use as little as possible and then get rid of any squeeze out when it's still wet. I usually give the part a nudge gingerly after the glue has cured to make sure it's stuck nicely and haven't left the joint too dry. Yeah, not too sure about the step rail. I was thinking about brass too if styrene doesn't look good enough. I was planning on using calipers to scribe from the edge to get a nice anti-slip detail. Benefit is that it's nice and accurate in theory. Cheers, Jered 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k5054nz Posted December 30, 2021 Share Posted December 30, 2021 Wow Jered, beautiful work on that domed mesh piece! That's some clever stuff. 5 hours ago, Anthony in NZ said: I am absolutely loving this build and it really makes me want to get my BK back on the bench. Think Nike, Ants: just do it! 😅 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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