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An Airfix 1/72 Westland Lynx


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I’m sanded back the Mr Surfacer to even out the seams and, as said earlier, the underside would require another coat added.

The next job was to fit the blanking plates for the skid equipped Army version of the Lynx. One had a protruding ejector pin mark and the other three had recessed ones. They too would need Mr Surfacer added to hide the EPM’s.

 

Next up were the sliding door lower runners. I figured it would be easier to fit these first and when the doors get fitted, the upper runners could just be mounted in position to hold the doors.

 

Now the moment I was, in a way in trepidation of. The cockpit glazing. I’ve also read fearful stories about the fit of early Airfix clear parts. In reality they went in quite well. Only the top of the observer door didn’t want to line up at the top of the screen. I simply pushed the lower back corner out which bought the front top into line. Once Mr Cement’d in it sat practically perfectly.

 

I tried to emulate the blue windows above the cockpit by using very diluted French Blue. I used 2 very light coats. They looked ok so I fitted the panel in position. Only thing was once in position and fully dried, the blue has all but disappeared! Oh well - too late now.

 

I pieced together the  main gear sponsons (minus the gear legs) and fitted them in position. The nose wheel mount was also fitted to the underside.

 

The seam lines were then treated to Mr Surfacer and then the sliding doors, main and tail rotors temporarily fitted for photos to be taken. 
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8 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

Oh wow this looks really nice indeed.  Glad the transparencies went on okay the HAS 2 and 3 are the favourites for me and this is looking great.

Cracking work 

Chris


Thanks Chris, I’ve just noticed in the front view picture there’s a gap that needs filling under the observer’s windscreen.

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1 minute ago, Brigbeale said:


Thanks Chris, I’ve just noticed in the front view picture there’s a gap that needs filling under the observer’s windscreen.

No worries,  the gap will be easy to sort.  I am going to look at these on Ebay now. I have a 48th scale kit and an HAS 3 conversion but it's for Gulf war HAS 3 and I always fancied doing the HMS Endurance machine, could not get hold of that option though so might look at a 72nd kit ???

Chris

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14 minutes ago, Brigbeale said:

🤐 Your secret’s safe with me.

if it’s a 1/72 scale, are these any good to you?

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Thanks for keeping the secret 😉,  ooooo yes if no good to you I would love to take them off your hands if okay, I can trade or pay some beer tokens.

Thanks

Chris

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7 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

No worries,  the gap will be easy to sort.  I am going to look at these on Ebay now. I have a 48th scale kit and an HAS 3 conversion but it's for Gulf war HAS 3 and I always fancied doing the HMS Endurance machine, could not get hold of that option though so might look at a 72nd kit ???

Chris

The Mk 3 Navy Lynx’s on Hms Endurance were standard Mk 3 with just Red Paint and markings on nose, cabin doors and tail, nothing of any outside structural difference really.  The Revell 04837 Westland Lynx HAS.3 1:32 would work well

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1 minute ago, Tony G said:

The Mk 3 Navy Lynx’s on Hms Endurance were standard Mk 3 with just Red Paint and markings on nose, cabin doors and tail, nothing of any outside structural difference really.  The Revell 04837 Westland Lynx HAS.3 1:32 would work well

Thanks Tony, that's good to know , I have the  HAS.3 boxingbon the way.  Brian is kindly sending the HMS Endurance decals so will be able to build one .  Very pleased.

 

Chris

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Well that was fun - masking the clear parts on the fuselage.

As usual thin strips were used to frame the edges and then filled in with Mr Neo Masking Solution. The top windows were done freehand with the masking solution as I couldn’t get a definite border to mark and cut the masking tape against. Hopefully they’re ok but I can always fettle them with a cocktail stick and more paint to tidy them up if need be.

As you will see in the photos, sponge was added to close up areas I don’t want the paint getting in.

Some sanding was done to the underside centre seam and the Army version skid blanking plates - which needed the EPM’s filling again. 
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Edited by Brigbeale
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It’s getting close to the fuselage blue paint being applied! 
But first, I had to airbrush the inner cockpit frame colour on - Nato Black in this case. I also airbrushed the tyres while they are still on the sprue as they’re quite small. I can touch in the sprue marks once they’re fitted to the Lynx.

The tail rotor fold hinges and lock were fitted - but they had to be cut down as they looked too big to me.

The upper nose antennae were fitted. The carpet monster tried to claim one but I persuaded him/her to give it back!😆

I removed the rear cabin sponges and cut them in half vertically to reduce the thickness so they would sit in there without bulging out, pushing the bottom of the sponge  the door step.

The torpedo mounts were fitted and the torpedoes themselves were built up but not fitted as they’re going to be a different colour (what colour is yet to be confirmed as the instructions just give them as yellow).

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On 1/16/2022 at 8:10 AM, Brigbeale said:

I tried to emulate the blue windows above the cockpit by using very diluted French Blue. I used 2 very light coats. They looked ok so I fitted the panel in position. Only thing was once in position and fully dried, the blue has all but disappeared! Oh well - too late now.

A blue highlight pen can work very well to add the tinting post facto as long as you’re careful with how you apply it.

 

As a whole, it’s coming together nicely, good work!

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2Apologies  for being absent last night. My other stepson had me traipsing around the county delivering his old car to its new owner and then going to buy his new car - which means another diesel Ford Focus in the family for me to repair when (not if) they break them.😤. I don’t mind the cars themselves but no matter what’s broken, they think I can fix it in 5 minutes. Engine lights are just a light to turn off no matter what’s caused it! 🙄

 

Any way enough twaddle!

I tried to get a pot of Tamiya Sea Blue, but as usual the Hobbycraft near me didn’t have any. I looked for an acrylic Humbrol Oxford Blue - none of that either. So I asked SWMBO (who was shopping with her son in Sainsburys) to nip into Model Railway Solutions where they stock Mr Color Aqueous, Humbrol enamel and Ammo paints.
According to a colour conversion chart the equivalent Mr Color to Humbrol’s Oxford Blue is H54 Navy Blue, so I asked her to get me a pot.

Ahh, it wasn’t the colour I was expecting. It was more of a grey-blue. I went back to see if I could get the right colour.

They had an enamel tin of Humbrol 104 Oxford Blue so some lids were removed to get as close a match as possible. The best I could match to was Mr Color Aqueous H328 Gloss Blue FS15050 (US Navy Blue Angels). Maybe not exactly the right blue for the Lynx, but I have an A-4 Skyhawk for restoration as a Blue Angel anyway so two birds and all that…..

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This evening I painted the Lynx, the sliding doors and the runners. It went on very well with a lovely sheen. Once it was dried I gave the model a coat of Humbrol Gloss Cote to protect the Mr Color paint from the decal solution as it reacted with the paint on the Blenheim (but then that was a matt paint).

Just the painted Lynx

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And after the Gloss Cote

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The Lynx looks absolutely stunning Brian, great work.  What a lovely glossy finish for the decals. 

We will be having fun with cars soon as my son turns 17 this year and has some crazy idea that he will be driving my Fastback!!! Yeah right. 

 

Chris

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This is looking enormously good Brian, I've a couple of these  kits in stock, one to do an Endurance machine, very hard not to like the colour scheme. The other one was going to be converted to an AH Mk 9 but now that Air graphics offer a conversion suitable for a Hobby Boss kit, it might be easier to grab one of those & convert it, keeping the other of these kits to do like you have, especially seeing as I have also the Modeldecals sheet that you & @Paul Bradley are/have used.

Steve.

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Whist decalling the Lynx tonight, I thought I’d ruined the paintwork:angry:

This decalling process was one of the most trying ones I’ve had so far.

I started by using Mr Mark Setter to place the decals as I had done on the Phantom. I still find it odd that my jar of this setting solution is a milky colour whereas I saw someone on YouTube using the same stuff and it was clear:shrug:.

The decals were put into warm water to release them from the backing paper and a dab of Mr Mark Setter was applied. The decal was slid off the backing paper, but when it was put on the fuselage, some horrible white dots were behind the carrier film. When the decal was moved they slid out from underneath so they were either from the backing paper itself or the glue. They cleared up with a cotton bud though. I continued to place the others by removing the decals from the backing paper and then swishing them through the water to clean them off and then apply them to the fuselage using the aforementioned setting solution.

 

Now here’s things went awry.
Where the setting solution had dried around the area of the decal, had turned a greyish colour which clearly stood out against the blue fuselage.:shutup:. I can’t write what I thought, I’d get a warning at least!!

 

I can only think it was a reaction between the Gloss Cote and the Mr Mark Setter or the mr Mark Setter and the backing paper/glue residue or a mixture if all three.

I swapped to using the Humbrol Decalfix instead. Apart from having to swirl the decal in clean water, they went on with no more issues.

But that left the main body decals with the reaction patches around them which didn’t clean back with a damp cotton bud.

 

Once the last of the decals had been applied to the fuselage tonight (I still have the serial number and sliding door decals to apply yet), i figured I’d have one last try to see if I could remove the reaction staining, so I dipped a fresh cotton bud in the Decalfix and gently rubbed the affected areas, and…………..moderate success. The staining lessened or disappeared. But it still had to dry meaning it could possibly return.

 

That’s when I had another thought due to another unwanted reaction.

When I posted last night’s photos, the model was touch dry and it was left in the cabinet to dry. When I got the model out tonight there was a slight crazing effect. another swear word was said kind of along the lines of Fiddlesticks! I’ve taken a picture of the sliding doors which are, at the moment, still like it.

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Now the fuselage now had the slight crazing and the still visible reaction staining around the decals. My choices were to either try to lightly brush more paint over the affected areas or try another coat of Gloss Cote. I opted for the Gloss Cote. 
As it went on, the staining was still visible and the crazing disappeared, but as the Gloss Cote settled, the staining disappeared. It’s now been about an hour and neither unwanted reactions have resurfaced, but I’ll have to wait until tomorrow so see if they remain that way. 
 

Other than that, the Lynx looks great so far. 
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I had a bemusing comment from SWMBO this morning. 
She asked and I quote:

”What did you do to my helicopter last night?”

 

HER helicopter???:surprised::shrug:

 

Thats it then,- I’m getting another one as the Army model!:wicked:

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Hmmmm :hmmm:you could use this to your advantage and get two of everything and when questioned by the Domestic Authorities one for you dear, obviously you will still be custodian and get more kits whilst earning much prized Brownie points,  win win!!!😉

Chris

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The end is in sight…….

The serial number and Yeovil Squadron codes (VL) were added to the fuselage and the sliding door decals were also applied.
Still had a bit of clouding on one sliding door from the Decalfix though, so maybe it’s the Gloss Cote. I’ll have to try it on my mule fuselage to see what’s at fault. I’m going to get some more Micro Set though as I never had any issues with that. Also, I need to find some Kleer or whatever is called now.

 

The landing gear was fitted and once the gear was firm enough, the wheels were then fitted. One nose wheel kept pulling sideways which required the Lynx being placed on its wheels with a pair of big nuts (not those ones! - honestly, you lot!!) were placed either side of the nose gear to hold them long enough to keep them level with each other.

 

Once the gear was sorted, the sliding doors were fitted in position. Some careful application of Mr Cement S meant the doors could slide, so I can show off the interior if I want to.

 

The excuse for a load attachment point was fitted as well as the underside antennae. That’s when I discovered I’d been short-changed by Airfix this time. They left the rearmost antenna out, so I made a replacement out of a part identification tab off of one of the sprues. I just used my nippers to shape it and then it was sprue-goo’d in position. The pitot tube was fitted also.


I’m not convinced that the torpedoes (whichever mark they are meant to be) are just yellow. I found some images of Mk44’s but they were superseded by the mk46. The mk46 images don’t have the ring around the fins as far as I can see in the images I found.  I’ve also found images of one Non UK Navy fitting one to a Lynx but nothing on the Royal Navy Lynxes being fitted with them. So more homework needed. I have a colour scheme in mind as can be seen in the photos.

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