Whofan Posted August 27, 2023 Share Posted August 27, 2023 On 25/08/2023 at 11:04, Ex-FAAWAFU said: And finally for this morning, the overhead quarter-lights sprayed a mixture of Tamiya X-19 Smoke & C-25 Clear Green, in preparation for masking in the normal manner to paint the frames Ahem, shameless fishing for info follows after the plaudits - this is a cracking build, and one I can only admire. Shameless fishing now, what proportions of smoke and clear green do you use? I tried on a build to do a diluted clear green, which came out too pale (i.e. hardly there) but your green looks perfect (and your advice will save me hours of experimenting). I said this was shameless!! 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
71chally Posted August 27, 2023 Share Posted August 27, 2023 41 minutes ago, heloman1 said: A question was asked this am on Westland Helicopter Enthusiasts FB page... ...funny how quick it gets around! Great knowledge on there, and glad I asked as I hadn't appreciated that it took so long to get across most of the fleet. Talking of flying with the side windows open, I have seen pictures of them flying with the whole side window assembly removed. It was a jettisonable emergency exit anyway, always seemed to be one in scrapyard at Mawgan! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted August 27, 2023 Author Share Posted August 27, 2023 9 hours ago, heloman1 said: Just as an aside but on topic. A question was asked this am on Westland Helicopter Enthusiasts FB page, re the fuselage reinforcement/bracing straps. The date they came into being. Well the collective brains came together and this is the info that came up. It was Mod 830B and the date was 1988/89. One guy who replied was in the drawing office or CS Repair Design Office. They were enacted at either base of Fleetlands Aircraft Yard, Gosport. The straps were attached by means of High-lock fasteners and not rivets. Which to me sounds more like a bolt type fixing. However according to one guy, there were still un-moded fuselages around up to 2000. Colin I can’t really comment about that, because I spent 1989 - 1994 away from the Sea King world flying the Lynx (& doing a bit of fish-head-ery). 820’s HAS5s in 1986-1988 definitely didn’t have the strips; 819’s HAS6s in 1994-6 definitely did. So the collective brains sound about right to me. I’m not entirely sure whether the two were connected or not, but during my time on 820 flying Mk.5s, the big problem was the Frame 290 crack. Frame 290 is the one that attaches to the rear bolts of the main gearbox; there are 2 bolts at the rear and 4 at the front (something like Frame 243, from memory). With all the additional weight that we’d shoved down the back in the evolution from HAS1 to HAS5 (notably the LAPADS table and extra seat), the stress on the rear frame was becoming an issue. We had to do ultrasound NDT tests on Frame 290 something like every 50 hours, and I seem to recall at least 2 (of 9) squadron cabs found small cracks during Outback 88. We also had to calculate the aircraft’s centre of gravity carefully before each sortie with 4 crew (GFP without back seat crew was OK), and manage the fuel carefully to ensure that we emptied the tanks in the right order. You weren’t allowed to have the Aircrewman in the 5th seat above certain weights in the hover - i.e. you always took off with him alongside the Observer, and then he’d move aft once you were safely in forward flight. That’s also the reason why you see regular pictures of HAS1s and 2s carrying 4 weapons, but HAS5s generally with 2 at the most, and always on the forward weapon stations. [If you see a picture of an HAS5 with 4 torpedoes, it’s either a trials aircraft or one with very little fuel, posing for the photo; unsurprisingly, we didn’t want the Opposition to know about the weight and CofG issues with the aircraft. If you didn’t manage the CofG properly, it was possible to get to a state where the CofG limits were exceeded, which in turn could present problems with running out of control authority in some combinations of weight and relative wind. The HAS6 solved all this, because the passive ASW stuff was integrated with the Aircrewman’s console, so there was no 5th seat. 9 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eng Posted August 27, 2023 Share Posted August 27, 2023 13 hours ago, heloman1 said: Just as an aside but on topic. A question was asked this am on Westland Helicopter Enthusiasts FB page, re the fuselage reinforcement/bracing straps. The date they came into being. Well the collective brains came together and this is the info that came up. It was Mod 830B and the date was 1988/89. One guy who replied was in the drawing office or CS Repair Design Office. They were enacted at either base of Fleetlands Aircraft Yard, Gosport. The straps were attached by means of High-lock fasteners and not rivets. Which to me sounds more like a bolt type fixing. However according to one guy, there were still un-moded fuselages around up to 2000. Colin You're quite correct - Hi-loks are interference bolts which are usually secured with a collar where the hex drive section is designed to shear off once a predetermined torque is reached leaving just a circular collar on the thread of the bolt. Used very widely in commercial aviation these days. Eng 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daedalus72 Posted August 28, 2023 Share Posted August 28, 2023 Lovely job so far, can’t wait for the kit to hit the shops. No more searching ebay for reasonably priced Hasegawa versions! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
81-er Posted August 28, 2023 Share Posted August 28, 2023 Airfix now have them in stock James 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Sharp Posted August 29, 2023 Share Posted August 29, 2023 20 hours ago, 81-er said: Airfix now have them in stock A real shame they couldn't get the pre-orders shipped to arrive before the BH weekend 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry1954 Posted August 29, 2023 Share Posted August 29, 2023 22 hours ago, 81-er said: Airfix now have them in stock James 🥳 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Fleming Posted August 29, 2023 Share Posted August 29, 2023 (edited) On 27/08/2023 at 08:20, heloman1 said: Just as an aside but on topic. A question was asked this am on Westland Helicopter Enthusiasts FB page, re the fuselage reinforcement/bracing straps. The date they came into being. Well the collective brains came together and this is the info that came up. It was Mod 830B and the date was 1988/89. One guy who replied was in the drawing office or CS Repair Design Office. They were enacted at either base of Fleetlands Aircraft Yard, Gosport. The straps were attached by means of High-lock fasteners and not rivets. Which to me sounds more like a bolt type fixing. However according to one guy, there were still un-moded fuselages around up to 2000. In the previous question, someone said the last one was done in 2010! They also seem to have been fitted on the ZG*** new build aircraft from the start Edited August 29, 2023 by Dave Fleming Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heloman1 Posted August 29, 2023 Share Posted August 29, 2023 2 hours ago, Dave Fleming said: In the previous question, someone said the last one was done in 2010! They also seem to have been fitted on the ZG*** new build aircraft from the start Thanks Dave. I suppose it was put in place as the cab became available or the MOD needed doing. I can understand it being put on the new builds. Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted August 30, 2023 Author Share Posted August 30, 2023 I very much hope that someone has produced some after market masks for this kit by the time I build my next one…. bit of a saga, but it’s done and the canopy is now glued in place. Earlier impressions that the fit of the clear parts is good are confirmed; in fact it’s almost perfect. My model will have the passenger door open but I have used the closed version provided by Airfix as a blank to fill the door. I’ll tack the cargo door in place with white glue. Tip to my future self & anyone else building this; remember to fit & mask the starboard side window *before* fitting the sponson & compression strut. I didn’t (following the order in the instructions), and it makes masking much harder. Just got to mask the gear bays and nose lights and then we’re ready for some of Jamie’s RAF Blue Grey. (The primer coat is MRP) Edit - plus the ECU exhaust areas; they were bare metal in early Sea Kings More soon Crisp 19 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted August 30, 2023 Author Share Posted August 30, 2023 On 8/27/2023 at 9:05 AM, Whofan said: Ahem, shameless fishing for info follows after the plaudits - this is a cracking build, and one I can only admire. Shameless fishing now, what proportions of smoke and clear green do you use? I tried on a build to do a diluted clear green, which came out too pale (i.e. hardly there) but your green looks perfect (and your advice will save me hours of experimenting). I said this was shameless!! Sorry - only just noticed this question, and I wish I could give you a more scientific answer… but I can tell you that it’s at least 80% Smoke, maybe more. I just put the Smoke & Mr Levelling Thinners into my airbrush and then added drops of green until it looked about right! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giemme Posted August 30, 2023 Share Posted August 30, 2023 Impressive masking job there, Crisp! Do you think you can (when the time comes) remove the masks and keep their outer profile intact? So that you can stick them to a paper sheet and scan them into a .jpg image? I could try and have a go at importing them in Silhouette software and see if I can produce reasonable masks... Ciao 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted August 30, 2023 Author Share Posted August 30, 2023 10 minutes ago, giemme said: Impressive masking job there, Crisp! Do you think you can (when the time comes) remove the masks and keep their outer profile intact? So that you can stick them to a paper sheet and scan them into a .jpg image? I could try and have a go at importing them in Silhouette software and see if I can produce reasonable masks... Ciao Thank you, and I may well take you up on that… I have access to a Silhouette, so even just the file would be enough 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giemme Posted August 30, 2023 Share Posted August 30, 2023 2 minutes ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said: I have access to a Silhouette That is good, because I do not have access to a canopy, and I foresee there might be a few attempts in order before nailing the correct profile(s) Ciao 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whofan Posted August 30, 2023 Share Posted August 30, 2023 2 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said: Sorry - only just noticed this question, and I wish I could give you a more scientific answer… but I can tell you that it’s at least 80% Smoke, maybe more. I just put the Smoke & Mr Levelling Thinners into my airbrush and then added drops of green until it looked about right! Thanks for this, something I can experiment with. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry1954 Posted September 4, 2023 Share Posted September 4, 2023 Great progress thus far, everything is really coming together nicely. I picked my two up last Friday and despite having seen all the sprues and the quality in general as you build this, I was extremely impressed with the kit once I opened it up and, having pawed over the contents several times, I'm now doubting that two of these beauties will be enough! Terry 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bissyboat Posted September 4, 2023 Share Posted September 4, 2023 Helicopters is not my forte, but this Seaking tickles my fancy. Saw one at Crossby last year. ⚓👍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry1954 Posted September 4, 2023 Share Posted September 4, 2023 Coincidentally, XV666 has just flown right over our house. Looks like Damien has been practicing some stuff just south of us, along the cliff edges. Terry 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heloman1 Posted September 6, 2023 Share Posted September 6, 2023 Good morning Crisp. Regarding the masking of the cabin window and the compression strut foul. Would it not be easier, unless this is the route you are taking to leave the strut and sponson off for ease of painting? Or did you loose me somewhere? I might have been lurking at the coffee boat! Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted September 6, 2023 Author Share Posted September 6, 2023 Yes, Colin, it definitely would. I have said this to myself several times since I glued the sponsons & compression struts in place. Working on the rotor head now. Pics to follow. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perdu Posted September 6, 2023 Share Posted September 6, 2023 Happy to wait... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry1954 Posted September 6, 2023 Share Posted September 6, 2023 1 hour ago, perdu said: Happy to wait... I'll wait with you and form an orderly queue. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted September 6, 2023 Share Posted September 6, 2023 Wow this has progressed very well and great to hear the glazing and everything else fits well. I love the modern Airfix kits they are fantastic. Great work Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fritag Posted September 6, 2023 Share Posted September 6, 2023 Good looking masking Crisp; all those curved edges and corners to cut - yikes. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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