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Airfix Gazelle (or why accept kit parts?)


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It has been a while but I managed to get a little bench time today so decided to open up the back door. Started by plunge moulding some 5 thou card on the hull to get a door shape.

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Before hacking the fuselage apart.

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I then Added a clear liner from a spare bit of packing before replicating the inner framing.

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I have no idea where this is going as I keep finding bits I want to change. Honestly,  I will build a Gazelle some time.

 

Lemur out for now.

Edited by depressed lemur
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After getting a bit of peace and quiet I have made a little more progress.  I had a look at the door I made and I was not happy with it. There was not enough bend at the top and the inner bracing looke too heavy and toy-like so I decided to try to improve my part.

 

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I am hoping that this looks a bit better and will pass muster.

 

Next up, the starboard fuselage.   In particular, this bit

 

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Now, to me this looks like a panel of some sort.  Some of my friend suggested that I paint this and use washes to bring out the highlights.

 

Unfortunately I have not used washes since my Citadel Minature days many many moons ago and I have forgotten the art of it. I also have no ready made washes, nor do I remember how to make them or apply them well enough to look realistic.  So I spent some time on the internet to see if I could find out what it wasand came across a bunch of photos on Primeportal.net.  It does not say it is a secure site so I am loathe to download from it but it provides some very useful images.

Turns out the panel is in fact an open mesh covering a bay which means I need to do something about it.

 

After a couple of days I had a bit of a eureka moment when cleaning the dishwasher and noticing that the filter is a very fine mesh indeed.

 

No, silly, I did not cut up my diswasher but did some searching and found some 300 micron mesh on Amazon Prime so what was the point in not ordering it?  Duly it arrived and I have made up a door using 10 thou card sandwiching the mesh, what do you think?

 

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Placing it next to the kit it seems to fit the bill.

 

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So, all I need to do now is cut out the panel from the kit.

 

Ah.  there is a bay behind this which now may be visible (especially if I open the door)

 

Guess what the next step is going to have to be?

 

I am starting to wonder if I am scared of actually building this kit and am finding reasons to put this off.

 

There is something which is concerning me though and I would like your help.  A friend suggested that the added weight may be too much for the kit skids and I may need to beef them up.  I suppose this could be done with steel wire of a suitable thickness with the struts soldered to the base skids but I have not soldered before.  Will it be strong enough if I used this?  Also, can I solder after the struts are passed through the fuselage or will there be too much heat which will melt the kit?  Am I best just keeping the kit skids and hopingthey can take the weight?  I really could do with somehelp on this as an idea.

 

As I go on I am starting to get germs of ideas forming.

I am thinking that the Fenestron in the kit is too thick and needs to be remade from 5 thou card.  This may also mean opening the hub and showing the gubbins therein. The rotor mast will need to be improved (no idea how just yet),.   I may need to open the nose bay to add a bit of extra weight in the nose and thin out the boom to reduce it at the back.  I can reduce weight also by making the flying surfaces out of card.

 

Do I dare open up the engine?

 

Also at some point I will have to thinkabout a colour scheme.

 

Ponderings over, Lemur temporarily....

 

Out.

 

Thanks for looking

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So having made a mesh door whichcan be seen through the only option is to put something there to be seen.

I found a website on Primeportal which had some great photos of the Gazaelle inside and out which helped understand what was inside the fuselage. Basically a lot of empty space plus a couple of black boxes and a hydraulic reservoir.

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First things first was to cut out the panelin the fuselage and then work out how large or small the bulkhead would need to be.  I acheived this by sticking a great lump pof blu tac into the fuselage and filling the area before cutting it off where I thought the bulkhead would be.

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This then translated into markign out onto a laminate of ten thou card which was then fettled to shape.

 

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There is a fairly obvious strengthening strip running vertically and a shelf for theblack box, plastic card cut to size was used. For the reservour I hacked a cotton bud apart and used the stem as it was about the right size.  A stri of card provided the mounting bracket before supergluing to the bulkhead.

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A little work with fuse wire and a bit of sprue sanded to shape and you have a fairly busy area.

 

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Which, with a lick of paint looks good enough.

 

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And test fitting shows how it will look when closed up,

 

So, if someone picks it up and shines a torch in there it will be possibly visible.

 

Why the hell do we do this?

 

Lemur out for the moment, thanks for looking.

 

 

 

 

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Because we can?

Let's face it, we do NOT do it so it can be seen. We do it because it's fun!

 

Hello nurse, is it that time again already?

 

Ian

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  • 3 weeks later...

It has been a while but I thought I would press on regardless. I was about to close up the fuselage when my eye fell on the tail rotor and I was sorely dismayed. The kit parts are thick, pudgy and look out of place compared to the other changes which have taken place. I also cam across some photos showing the internals of the mount so, how hard can it be?

 

The correct answer is, very.

I started out by creating a tube from 5 thou card to represent the hub before making thirteen small blades to attach to it.

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Whittling it down to the correct TLAR size I added a plate to the frond and stuck on the hub cover from the kit (the 5th kit part now used).

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After hacking away the mounting on the kit  a trial fit shows that it looks ok ish.

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I will need to add a representation of the gearbox and drive shaft to complete. Then it can be put to one side for the final assembly. 

 

Thanks for looking 

Lemur.

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1 minute ago, Brandy said:

That would have been a lot easier with s 3d printer!

Nicely done though.

 

Ian

I still have not gotten off the fence yet for 3d printers. Part of me thinks of it as cheating but most of me thinks that's just because I haven't got one 😆😅.

I agree though, this was a right pain to knock together. 

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1 hour ago, depressed lemur said:

I still have not gotten off the fence yet for 3d printers. Part of me thinks of it as cheating but most of me thinks that's just because I haven't got one 😆😅.

I agree though, this was a right pain to knock together. 

It's not cheating, it's making your own after market parts!

 

Ian

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The Fenestron has now been completed to my satisfaction. 

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With the introduction of some representation of the gearbox and blade adjuster.

 

A little bit of paint helps a lot as well.

 

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Now to put the fuselage together and see about making a helicopter. 

Thanks for looking. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Next up is the engine inlet. The kit provides only an approximation of the engine intake which looks average.

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A look at the real thing shows that this is a space covered by a shaped mesh so it needs to be improved using the filter sheet I bought from Amazon. 

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A little amount of fettling was needed but it looks ok.

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I also added a drive shaft from a cocktail stick, because I am tight.

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When it is all in place I am happy with the result. 

 

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Thanks for looking. 

 

 

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I think that I have just about done with fettling with this and decided it is time to start putting some bits together.

 

First up was putting in the cockpit into the fuselage and finding out that despite checking and rechecking time and again the damn thing still didn't snick smoothly into place. Still, nothing that a little fettling couldn't beat.

 

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Having managed to make it fit i tidied up the paintwork before adding the roof and nose.

 

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And it's starting to look like a helicopter. So far 9 kit parts have been used.

Now I need to get some masking done  add the tail and skids before moving to paint.

 

I hope I don't get distracted and find something else to change.

Thanks for looking.

Lemur.

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I have realised that following the thinning out of the door openings, the front right door no longer fits so I need to make a new one.  Spent quite a while plunge moulding and adding framing to make the new door but unfortunately there was a bit of a cock up in that I managed to get glue on the clear parts so this is scrap now.

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I think that I will take a break and start a new one tomorrow.

 

Lemur out

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  • 2 weeks later...

Further work has taken place on the Gazelle. I have almost been at the point of jacking this in as I have been feeling a little off sorts following the recent passing of my dad. A lot of my time has been taken up trying to focus on work while arranging a funeral amongst other things. Of an evening I looked at the kit and thought what is the point but remembered my dad told me to finish what I start. So I will plough on regardless and hope I don't ruin this.

Anyway,  today she has been in the paint booth for some well needed colour.

First up,  light aircraft grey.

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Then a wrap around green pattern.

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I also decided to look at the tail rotor shaft. The one in the kit is a shapeless blob so I knocked one up from 15amp fuse wire whilst making the support bearings from 10 thou card.

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And this is what they look like in place.

 

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I hope to make some more progress in the next few days.

 

Lemur out

 

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Hi Lemur, 

Sorry to hear about your sad news. Hard to keep focus at times like this. But remember your Dad's fine advice, finish what you started and you will draw comfort from the memory, and he'll be looking down, smiling that you remembered. 

Looks great now with some paint on. Hopefully you will be able to finish it soon once things have been settled. 

Hang in there Lemur. 

Kevin 

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I decided that I couldn't face too much of HM today, not out of disrespect but it brings home the fact that I will be doing the same thing on Wednesday when I say my last goodbye to my dad. Therefore I spent some me time listening to quiet music and progressing the Gazelle on its own journey. 

Out of the paint shop, the decals were applied before settling with micro sol. During the afternoon I applied the flat coat to bring it all together before removing the masking.

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And I couldn't resist a bit of close up of the front end

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I just need to do some detail painting before looking at replicating the fan bit on top.

 

Lemur out.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I finally got some spare time again and have moved on with the build.

First up, I realised that I had left off the Fenestron shaft so that was a quick fix.

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Next up was to decide what to do with the spinny thing on top.

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The kit part is the wrong shape as the base should be a round not flat shape. I tried to improve it with filler but it was not very good so I decided to see if I could do anything. 

First up some brass tubing and a bit of solder I tried to make the thing myself. 

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The piece on the left will be inserted into the main body and act as a holder for the bit in the middle which is the main rotor shaft. I then made the bit that links the shaft to the blade adjustment rods.

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Putting it in place it seems to look right so I will carry on with this to see if it pans out. 

Thanks for looking

 

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