Westland Wasp HAS 1: 'Ambuscade Flight: XT778'

[giemme]

I tend to agree with Steve @Fritag here, mighty impressive job in shaping that forked exhaust!   

 

Should we alert the Spanish Inquisition?

 

 

 

Ciao 

[Terry1954]

9 minutes ago, giemme said:

Should we alert the Spanish Inquisition?

 

I didnt think we were expecting them!

 

Wonderful sculpting Tony. Cant wait till you get the modelling clay out.... 🤔

 

Terry 

[perdu]

Yes but nobody expects them!...

Everybody knows that Tony is going to astound us.

 

 

Which he has, again.😲🌞

[Brandy]

THAT is exactly the area I have so many problems - trying to sculpt surfaces.

 

More practice (read "watch more videos") methinks.

 

Ian

[bigbadbadge]

Cracking work sorting the exhaust fork Tony, looks awesome. 

Great photos by Anthony too.

Chris

[corsaircorp]

15 hours ago, giemme said:

I tend to agree with Steve @Fritag here, mighty impressive job in shaping that forked exhaust!   

 

Should we alert the Spanish Inquisition?

 

 

 

Ciao 

Who summoned us ???

Cuess who ??

[keefr22]

'Diabolical acting' ........  🤣

 

Haven't seen that for years, brightened up a really grey. wet Welsh morning!!

 

Keith

[mark.au]

S’truth, that’s good.  
 

It took me three days to come up with that.

[TheBaron]

On 30/10/2022 at 20:23, Pete in Lincs said:

I discovered the artwork of Chris Foss et al in the early seventies.

Same with me at the end of the 70s Pete.  

A few years ago I found a Canadian compnay doing a limited run  of his work as postcards and had to explain to Mrs. B where all her spraymount had gone. Thankfully she loves his stuff too so the bathroom and living room both have a  distinctly Fossian vibe....

 

On 30/10/2022 at 21:27, Galligraphics said:

And what a great book that was... I can remember reading it in my teens (sci-fi was my mind-altering substance of choice back then).

Likewise! I was lucky as a teenager that the neighbours in the flat above were both scifi freaks who introduced me to 'the good stuff'.

On 30/10/2022 at 21:39, keefr22 said:

I had a large format book of his artwork - wonder where it is?

I've got it.

You said I could keep it after that night on the green Chartreuse and Jagermeister in Beaumaris Keith.

(I actually bought this after doing my O-Levels in 1981) 😁

On 30/10/2022 at 21:39, keefr22 said:

he also did some lovely pencil drawings illustrating Frederick Forsyth's 'The Shepherd' - one of my favourite novellas, a Christmas ghost story involving a Vampire and Mosquito.

Lovely!

 

 

 

[Pete in Lincs]

And now I have to go to bed tonight in a jealous frame of mind! Love those picture frames. I think I saw the book decades ago but another look would be good.

And the Shepherd drawings are quite lovely. 

But look what I found

Hardware: The Definitive SF Works of Chris Foss   19.29 on world of books. wob.com

What was Santa's email address again?

[TheBaron]

On 30/10/2022 at 23:48, Procopius said:

"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn."

 

"And also with you, Father."

Ya nearly made me crash the damn' car Edward....

On 31/10/2022 at 06:51, Fritag said:

“Straightforward” he says, with the intellectual insouciance of a member of the academic high table

*ruches cravat and blushes....

😁

On 31/10/2022 at 07:07, giemme said:

Should we alert the Spanish Inquisition?

Nobody exp-

On 31/10/2022 at 07:19, Terry1954 said:

I didnt think we were expecting them!

Nobod-

On 31/10/2022 at 08:55, perdu said:

Yes but nobody expects them!...

Nobo-

On 31/10/2022 at 16:21, Brandy said:

THAT is exactly the area I have so many problems - trying to sculpt surfaces.

Nobody said sculpting was easy in Fusion but-

21 hours ago, corsaircorp said:

Who summoned us ???

Nobody.

Nobody expects, I mean nobody said.

Look - who was expecting what? Jesus take the keyboard. The thread's out of control altogether now.

On 31/10/2022 at 19:24, bigbadbadge said:

Tony, looks awesome. 

Thank you Chris; feeling fabulous.

9 hours ago, mark.au said:

It took me three days to come up with that.

You can't rush art. 😄

25 minutes ago, Pete in Lincs said:

Hardware: The Definitive SF Works of Chris Foss   19.29 on world of books. wob.com

What was Santa's email address again?

Buy it.

 

Should have some gearbox pictures for you tomorrow....

[keefr22]

58 minutes ago, TheBaron said:

You said I could keep it after that night on the green Chartreuse and Jagermeister in Beaumaris Keith.

 

Ah that's why memory is so hazy - especially as I don't remember ever having been to Beaumaris, must have been a good night...!! 🤣

 

1 hour ago, TheBaron said:

(I actually bought this after doing my O-Levels in 1981)

 

Strewth, I'd been out of Uni for three years in 1981 - and had washed out of Navigator training in the RAF by then too...!!!

 

Now I feel old and still don't know where my books are...!! 

 

K

 

 

[TheBaron]

Much like the formation of the solar system, the reduction gearbox of the Wasp starts with an accretion disc:

Using this as a guide to scale and position, you can then begin festooning it with parts, triangulating their size and extent with the surrounding engine and cradle:

Whilst it's understandably tempting to get carried away by the sheer exhilaration of adding bolts and bumps to things, at the back of the mind you have to keep reminding yourself that this isn't an abstract exercise but that you're building parts which have to fit together - in this case making sure to include mounting holes in the gear box to accept those rear mountings from the engine cradle:

Here's a more completed view from below showing how the 'prongs' of the cradle will secure the gearbox in the right position:

Once you start eleborating all those parts you also have to remind yourself that another source of posible error is it not fitting inside the tight confines of the exhaust fork:

At a guess those clearances are about 0.2mm at most, so the kind of margin you need to allow for potential shrinkage during curing.

 

The layrub coupling for the driveshaft looked to be broadly similar to the one of the rear of the MRGB, so a copy of that one was repurposed here. Not much of it will be visible in the shadows later on of course but - like caramel shortcake or decent coffee - life would be the poorer for its absence:

Second nature to those who've worked on aircraft but frighteningly un-apparent to this bear was the question of how the engine and associated machinery all bolt together on the engine deck in real life. Subsequent delving in the parts manual and Ciastula's article in the Aeronautical Journal now make me aware that the whole tning could be removed as a single ECU, of which these lateral orifices represent the rear pair of mountings bolting the assembly to the engine deck:

With the front face of the unit at least resembling the real thing, back round the rear of it to begin work on the rotor brake, of which the disc as the initial datum point:

With that in place I could then begin building the calipers (oooh get me talking all engineeringy like I even know how a car works...which broadly speak I don't...) around it. First impression that these features were 'just a box with a couple of square windows in them' soon buckled under the realization that these were in fact a first draft for the head of Marvin the Paranoid Android:

'Life, don't talk to me abou - wait - there's now two of me and why's there a circle in my brain?'

Still need to run a til rotor driveshaft out the back, look at how those calipers are attached to the rest of the structure and add a couple of other sticky-out bits to either end of the gearbox, but that'll do for now.

 

Alright then : some shots with make-up and hair doine to finish>

 

'Don't mind me. I'll just grind my head with this disc every time you want to stop.'

Steps back and squints:

 

On deck:

Rear ECU mountings (which will beof  brass tube):

 - as will that thicker intermediate shaft:

 

Going to get that gearbox finished and then pause before returning to add more to the Nimbus - I want to work out a printing assembly strategy for that latest burst of work. I've begun the process of outputting existing sections of work as  .stls in preparation for a test print sometime later in November in order to check how well the CAD shows up as resin.

 

Thanks for looking in as always.

It's Wednesday and you need to buy yourself a treat. All of you.

 

'Did you know your robot can hum like Pink Floyd a Nimbus?'

 

Tony

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 2, 2022 by TheBaron
Inappropriate use of 'that' instead of 'which'

[mark.au]

Off the cuff, this time…. 🤯

[Fritag]

I am not equipped to comprehend; merely to admire. 

[giemme]

1 hour ago, Fritag said:

I am not equipped to comprehend; merely to admire. 

I had the same feeling. And I'm flabbergasted       

 

 

Ciao

[perdu]

From the point of view down here in the tool room I understand.

 

However, what this bloke can do with the computer, Fusion 360 and his brain just blows my mind away.

 

Far, far away...

[Brandy]

It must be something in those Irish potatoes. I have no clue how else this magic could be summoned.

That or whiskey

 

Could be whiskey!

 

Very, very, impressive however it was done!

 

Ian

[keefr22]

Astonished. Nothing more, nothing less.... 

 

K

[Terry1954]

1 hour ago, Brandy said:

It must be something in those Irish potatoes. I

 

Have we considered he could be brewing Potato Vodka?

 

Nice Nimbus solutioning there boss!

 

3 hours ago, TheBaron said:

It's Wednesday and you need to buy yourself a treat. All of you.

 

OK, given that we've all worked so hard on this Wasp, beers all round everyone?

 

Terry

 

 

 

[Pete in Lincs]

Spaceship. Now with underslung twin laser cannons. Nice.

 

Now it's starting to look the business. 

 

7 hours ago, Terry1954 said:

beers all round everyone?

I'd like to help, but I'll have a Draywagon full in Norfolk tomorrow. Sorry. 🍺

 

 

[TheBaron]

Alright.

 

I give up.

 

Has anyone a blasted clue how/if those rotor brake calipers are attached to the rear of the reduction gearbox? Every single photo seems to show them floating in defiance of gravity on either side of the brake disc, with no visible means of support.

 

I half think I spy some sort of circular plate which they're bolted to on the rear face of the brake disc, but then think I'm just imagining things....

 

14 hours ago, mark.au said:

Off the cuff, this time…

I respect the improvisation Mark. 😁

14 hours ago, Fritag said:

I am not equipped to comprehend; merely to admire. 

 

12 hours ago, giemme said:

I had the same feeling. 

 

12 hours ago, perdu said:

However, what this bloke can do with the computer, Fusion 360 and his brain just blows my mind away.

 Steady on men.

I won't be safe cycling if my swollen head won't fit the bike helmet any more...

(But thanks. )

12 hours ago, Brandy said:

I have no clue how else this magic could be summoned.

I met the devil at the crossroads.

11 hours ago, keefr22 said:

Astonished. Nothing more, nothing less.... 

It was a bit of a burst of work I'll grant you that Keith, obsessive almost.... 😁

10 hours ago, Terry1954 said:

Have we considered he could be brewing Potato Vodka?

I did actually get to drink vodka once that was made from potato peelings and fermented in a guy's wardrobe in a small Irish border town. It was of a foulness beyond the ability of words to convey but he reckoned he was an entrepreneur who was going to get rich once Freddie Mercury had endorsed it.

 

Given that he was virulently homophobic this was, to say the least, a challenging business plan.

 

3 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said:

Spaceship. Now with underslung twin laser cannons. Nice.

I knew, just knew you'd see the cannons in that shot Pete!

3 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said:

I'd like to help, but I'll have a Draywagon full in Norfolk tomorrow.

So. All back to yours with a packet of straws then? 😁

 

Currently waiting on a delivery of Archer's rivets ands he's running very late tonight. Somewhere out there in the howling darkness of the Irish countryside is a DHL driver, possibly lost and definitely not getting paid enough for this station in life. 

 

Tony

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Navy Bird]

53 minutes ago, TheBaron said:

I met the devil at the crossroads.

 

I'm a big blues fan, and the Robert Johnson song Cross Road Blues is about trying to hitchhike at night, and the dude is scared. Selling your soul to the devil is a story that Tommy Johnson told to everyone, including Son House (who I was very fortunate to spend a summer afternoon with when I was 16). The band Canned Heat took their name from the Tommy Johnson song Canned Heat Blues about drinking Sterno. It's what the band is shown doing on the cover of their first album. Tommy is no relation to Robert.

 

This all has nothing to do with a Westland Wasp. But every now and then, somebody should post an educational tidbit or two, eh? Carry on.    

 

Cheers,

Bill

[Pete in Lincs]

Canned heat. Yeah!

[TheBaron]

9 hours ago, Navy Bird said:

I'm  a big blues fan, and the Robert Johnson song

You're exactly right to illuminate the mythology around the esteemed Mr.Johnson Bill - I was thinking more there about Terence Stamp's scene in The Company of Wolves though, where he glides up emitting distilled menace from the backseat of a Rolls...

'Now use it wisely...' 😁

 

The important bit to this though - you spent an afternoon with Son House!!? That's one hell of an experience to look back on; blues revelations of any kind  - particularly Delta ones - are to be considered essential essential inputs on any of my threads at any time, for future reference.

 

The penny has only just dropped on the Sterno / Canned Heat correspondence - Lord but I can be monumentally dense at times...

 

3 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said:

Canned heat. Yeah!

You're not proposing to wear those velvet loons into work I hope young Peter? We've spoken about this....