Falklands Sea King Double Build +++ Finished +++

[CliffB]

On 1/30/2023 at 8:07 AM, Bertie McBoatface said:

Cliff, next time you take a picture, pop a Humbrol paint tinlet behind them. I know they are tiny but I don't quite know how tiny.

 

23 hours ago, Grandboof said:

Looks like they sit on the paint tin . Great work Cliff 

Martin H

 

Here you go guys.  They're small, but not miniscule - for that, you'll need to wait for their Gazelle and Scout/Wasp colleagues.

 

 

Latest update is that I've been making some tail rotor blades.  12 plus one spare.

 

 

Cheers

[Bertie McBoatface]

They are surprisingly big! I'd forgotten how big they are in real life.

 

Nevertheless, I still admire those who work in theses scales. the details are very good.

[CliffB]

I seem to have found a way to turn six small blades into a tail rotor.  Just a dry, proof of concept, run at the moment.  I'll paint the rotors individually (those pesky stripes), before fixing them to the hubs.

 

 

Cheers

[Bertie McBoatface]

2 hours ago, CliffB said:

I seem to have found a way to turn six small blades into a tail rotor.  Just a dry, proof of concept, run at the moment.  I'll paint the rotors individually (those pesky stripes), before fixing them to the hubs.

 

 

Cheers

 

Good technique. 

[CliffB]

I've started to paint now .

My preferred colour for painting glazing in 1/200 is a glossy dark grey, so I've started with this and then masked off the windows.

 

 

I've done the flat panes OK, but the curved windows proved to be too difficult for me in this scale. So I've decided to leave these for now and brush paint them when everything else is finished.  That should be OK.

 

Cheers

[Bertie McBoatface]

Just for a moment there I thought you were going to paint tiger tails or something equally fancy! 

[CliffB]

Take your pick - blue or green!

 

 

The blue is Xtracolour X013 RAF Blue/Grey (hence the deep gloss), while the green is Tamiya XF-62 Olive Drab.  I've given the latter a quick coat of Klear, just to seal the surface, and I'll give it a couple more before decaling.

 

On the subject of which, I've found some suitable roundels in my stash but all the other decals I'm having cobble together myself.

 

Most, I've been able to create and print off OK (including a nice 846 NAS 'George and the Dragon' badge for the HC).

 

 

However,  I had problems printing red onto white decal paper for the warning signs.  I think it's a problem with the paper.

So instead I've been adding 1mm letters to some red stripes on an unrelated aftermarket sheet.  It's the word DANGER that I've added in this photo.  The super-macro shows that I've managed to damage the 'E' with my cocktail stick, but thankfully this isn't noticeable at 1:1 .

 

 

It took me about an hour to do this one, with many wasted letters (thankfully I have plenty on the decal sheet), but I think it will be worth the effort to complete the remaining three.  There should be an arrow included too, but I'll be giving that a miss.

 

Cheers

[Davek72]

Amazing work with the decals.

[seadog]

Ah, my printer doesn't do white. What sort have you got?

[CliffB]

42 minutes ago, Davek72 said:

Amazing work with the decals.

 

27 minutes ago, seadog said:

Ah, my printer doesn't do white. What sort have you got?

 

Thanks guys 👍

 

My printer won't print white either - it's just a basic ink-jet.  The white letters that I used for the DANGER sign were individual items from an aftermarket sheet of white letters.

 

Since posting though, I've had another idea and have tried printing my DANGER artwork on to clear decal paper.  It's worked OK, so it looks like my white decal paper is indeed faulty. These new DANGER signs are approximately 75% of the size of the one I put together using the individual letters and hence are more accurate.  Also much quicker to do.  The only down side is that they could be mistaken for DANCER warning signs!

 

 

Of course, the white letters are not actually printed white - they are clear and you're just seeing through to the white backing paper.  So if applied straight on to the model, the decals would have body-coloured letters.  To overcome this, I'll apply a rectangle of white decal sheet first and then lay the DANGER sign on top. I'll make the white rectangle slightly oversized, as the DANGER sign actually has a white border.  

 

I hope that makes sense!

 

Cheers

[Chewbacca]

And there was me thinking it was hard enough to do this on a 1/48 Wasp!  

[Bertie McBoatface]

8 hours ago, CliffB said:

I hope that makes sense!

 

Yes it does. The only thing that doesn't make sense to me is doing it in this scale. 😆

[CliffB]

Hi all.

I'm pleased to report that a welcome landmark has just heaved into view - the two fuselages are now complete 

 

 

Just the rotors to do now.  Whilst I've had to scratch build the tail rotors, the kit's main rotor blades are OK to use.  They are 3D printed with droop (which is good), but resemble thick, rectangular planks (which is bad).  Luckily they can be easily sanded and are robust enough to be thinned down.

 

Here's my first attempt, if you can see much in the photo.  The sanded blade is on the right.  Just nine more to do....

 

 

Cheers

 

 

 

[Col.]

Seriously impressive work on these Cliff

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Chewbacca]

Wow, they are thick aren't they.  Good luck with the next 9!

[Grandboof]

They both look great . What a transformation from what you started with . Well done .

Martin H

[CliffB]

On 2/17/2023 at 5:10 PM, Chewbacca said:

Wow, they are thick aren't they.  Good luck with the next 9!

 

37 minutes ago, Grandboof said:

They both look great . What a transformation from what you started with . Well done .

Martin H

 

Thanks Gents .  Part of the appeal of 1/200 (to me at least), is that the models are relatively quick to build.  Not so in this case though!

 

So here we have 22 delicate rotor blades sanded down and painted.  The cats have been locked away and I'm trying not to sneeze .

 

 

The blade shapes are not 100% accurate and I've had to compromise on the number of stripes.  Each yellow stripe should actually be a double stripe, but as they're already only 0.5mm wide, I can't really go any narrower.  Overall though, I'm pleased with how these have turned out.

 

Cheers.

 

 

[CliffB]

I'm pleased to report that these two are now finished.

 

 

I'm pleased with how they've turned out and thankfully no bits have fallen off yet, despite a trip model club last night .

I've now got "just" seven more helos to build, to complete my British, Falklands collection!  I'm sure that one or two will make an appearance in future GBs this year.

 

Thanks as always to those of you who've supported this build and especially to the hosts for making it happen.

 

Cheers

[seadog]

Very fine! They will be a compliment to wherever you add them.

 

[Bertie McBoatface]

Hi Cliff, I just happened to notice these fly-sized flying machines. I think they are smashing. Well done indeed. You did them so tidily at this scale. 

 

I've got a suggestion for you though.

 

 

 

I looked at a dozen photos and when viewed from any kind of distance, the windows, cockpit and cabin, almost always look black, or at least a very dark shiny grey. The odd exceptions are when you are looking in from one side and there's bright sky visible through the other. Your audience for these two cabs will almost always be looking down on them so that situation won't happen often.

 

Now I wouldn't fancy masking and spraying windows at that scale so I'd use cut up decals. It will only take you an hour and I promise the result will be brilliant. 

 

 

[CliffB]

3 hours ago, seadog said:

Very fine! They will be a compliment to wherever you add them.

 

Thanks seadog.  Under current plans, a Royal Marines Gazelle should be the next one...

 

3 hours ago, Bertie McBoatface said:

Hi Cliff, I just happened to notice these fly-sized flying machines. I think they are smashing. Well done indeed. You did them so tidily at this scale. 

 

I've got a suggestion for you though.

 

Thanks Bertie for your kind comments and for your suggestion.

 

I actually used to paint my 1/200 windows black - that was until I saw the light !

The problem is that glazing is reflective and so hardly ever appears black.  In the example that you've chosen, the glazing is being viewed head-on (so no reflections), and we're therefore seeing the black cockpit interior unadulterated.

 

This is a more representative photo of how models are usually viewed,

 

Note:  this IWM image is being used in line with their 'non-commercial use' conditions.

 

The only thing black here is the opening into the cabin.  The glazing appears much lighter and shows very little contrast to the fuselage.

Painting 'reflecting glass' is really tricky.  I have friend who can fool you from a distance (he uses weird patterns of silvery blues to replicate reflected sky), but even his skilful illusions break down when stared at close to.

 

After much experimentation, I've settled on Xtracrylix Dark Grey as my preferred colour.  As you can see, under harsh lighting and when it's the centre of attention, it's not going to fool anybody.  In a display cabinet however, its neutral colour allows the glazing to blend and become ethereal.  In contrast (literally), windows painted black can look too prominent and stark.  The truth however is that there's no correct or perfect solution.  Each to their own .

 

Cheers

[Grandboof]

Well done Cliff . They are superb . Looking forward to the Gazelle and maybe a Wessex if you are so inclined 

Martin H

[CliffB]

4 hours ago, Grandboof said:

Well done Cliff . They are superb . Looking forward to the Gazelle and maybe a Wessex if you are so inclined 

Martin H

 

Thanks Martin.

 

As it happens, these landed a couple of weeks ago.  I only need two, but they come in sets of three (for about £15).  Like the Sea Kings, they'll need some fine tuning, but the basic shape looks OK to me.  They'll probably make an appearance in the FAA Group Build.

 

 

Cheers

 

 

[Chewbacca]

They look superb and simply bely the tiny scale.

 

I do have one minor observation though.  If it's not too late, I'd check the tail rotors.  On the Sea King, they rotate clockwise when viewed from the port side so that the leading blades bite into the downdraft from the main disc (unlike the Wasp/Scout and Lynx 1/2/3 which rotated with the downdraft).  Looking at your photos, the HC4 certainly looks to be the wrong way around and though it's more difficult to be certain from the photo, I think the HAS 2 appears to be doing the same.

 

But then these are so small, without the benefit of macro photography, I doubt anyone would notice 🙂

[CliffB]

4 minutes ago, Chewbacca said:

On the Sea King, they rotate clockwise when viewed from the port side so that the leading blades bite into the downdraft from the main disc (unlike the Wasp/Scout and Lynx 1/2/3 which rotated with the downdraft). 

 

Hi Chewbacca and you are absolutely right about the tail rotors 

 

My original intention was to sandwich the individual blades between two plasticard discs (for strength).  So when I stuck the rotors on to the first disc I wasn't too bothered about the direction of rotation, as the rotor would ultimately be reversible.

 

However, once I'd got the blades on to the first disc it was apparent that the rotor would have sufficient strength like that and would look much better (more delicate), without the second disc on the outside.  Of course, fate would have it that I'd built the rotors with the wrong rotation but I couldn't face making and painting all those blades again!

 

So I opted for the lesser of two evils and carried on regardless - secure in the knowledge that no one would ever notice .

 

Cheers