RAN WESSEX HAS31B

[CJP]

2 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

Very innovative work on the Seats Chris, must have been a bit of a puckering moment doing those. Cracking work,  they look awesome, as does the MRGB

Chris

Sure was Chris as I could see the bench seat ending up a twisted mess if it went wrong - as it turned out it was straightforward as long as I took care aligning the punch & kept the end sharp.

Chris

[Spookytooth]

I have got say Chris she is coming on a treat sir.

Fine detailing.

 

Simon.

[CJP]

I managed to get back to the Wessex after a week off - the first thing I thought I would try was the window surrounds & used 5thou plastic sheet as per heloman1's method on the Green Parrot build - also glued the bottom fuselage panel to the port fuselage half with some plastic square tube packing the area between the floor & fuselage bottom.

I drilled out the windows and filed them to match the window opening adding some stretched sprue to look like the rubber seal around the window glass. When fitting the window glass to the starboard side I scrapped the area where the window glass seats with a modelling chisel to try & make it sit further out.

I then started adding various bits & pieces around the fuselage sides like hendies fuel fillers & cabin doorstop & scratchbuilt defueling outlet drain & cut outs for the cockpit steps.

Next, I decided on scratch building the folded tail unit using the kit part as I thought the hollow kit parts would give me a better rendition after the various sections were cut away where the mess covers the openings. I carefully cut off the tail unit & cut out those various openings in the tail - still have to cut out the top rear of the starboard tail half as per the port one - if it doesn't work out, I still have the Rotorcraft folded tail to fall back on.

I shaped a section of plastic card to close off the rear of the main fuselage - I will then detail this area with strip, rod etc & then do the same on the matching tail part.

I have ordered @hendies latest resin detail set for the Wesssex cockpit & cut away the kit consoles in preparation for them.

I am also experimenting with seat belts and stuck some chocolate wrapper to some adhesive aluminium tape which I then cut into a thin strip to see how it looks. The wrapper has a fine texture to it which may be ok under a coat of paint- the texture could possibly be further subdued by burnishing with a toothpick - will see how it goes.

.

 

That's it until next time

Chris

 

 

Edited March 17, 2024 by CJP
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[Spookytooth]

She looks absolutely wonderful Chris.

So much detail being added to bring her to life.

 

Simon.

[hendie]

oooh, I'm interested in seeing how the tail fold turns out.

 

 

(NO!  I'm not designing a printed version.   I did consider it but couldn't think of a decent way to create the hinge in a way that it would be strong enough  to withstand all the manhandling required during the fit).

 

 

 

[Martian]

Loving this build, it takes me back to my Dutch SH-34 build.

 

Martian 👽

[CJP]

8 hours ago, hendie said:

oooh, I'm interested in seeing how the tail fold turns out.

 

 

(NO!  I'm not designing a printed version.   I did consider it but couldn't think of a decent way to create the hinge in a way that it would be strong enough  to withstand all the manhandling required during the fit).

 

 

 

Hi Alan - I hadn't got that far in planning the hinges but you have started me thinking & initial thoughts are it would have to be cobbled up out of brass to give it the strength to cope with unintended fumbling - I have some Albion Alloys 1.8mm od square brass tube that may be the starting point with hinge brackets soldered up from bits of scrap brass - as far as the drive gears for the tail rotor I was thinking about those packets of mixed watch gears you can buy online.

Chris

[CJP]

4 hours ago, Martian said:

Loving this build, it takes me back to my Dutch SH-34 build.

 

Martian 👽

Thanks Martian, your SH34 & Tracker are amongst my favourite builds here on BM - lovely, neat work & all scratch built!

Chris

[hendie]

2 hours ago, CJP said:

initial thoughts are it would have to be cobbled up out of brass...

 

If I remember correctly, Tony ( @TheBaron ) did a wing-fold some time back using a pair of hinges salvaged from a pair of glasses. Might be worth looking into  (see what i did there?  🤣 )

 

On my Fly build I cheated and used a brass rod as a brace for additional support.

[CJP]

Today I thought I would finish off the troop seat by adding the seat belts and the chocolate wrapper/aluminium foil idea worked ok - I added squares of plastic strip along with some etched buckle ends - finished off with a coat of paint - they will now disappear inside the main cabin!

I forgot to add that somewhere along the way I added some 5thou sheet to represent the sheet plywood flooring in the main cabin.

I spent a few hours studying the photos of a folded Wessex tail trying to work out the shape of the hinges -next step was working out how to make the hinge for the folding tail - I was going to fabricate it from three pieces but in the end decided to make it from one piece of thick brass strip - the shape was then marked out & sawn & filed into a rough approximation of the top main fuselage hinge - slots were cut where the hinges go - the photos below show the progress so far - still needs plenty of work - it will be quite strong if it works out.

Chris

Edited March 17, 2024 by CJP

[bigbadbadge]

Fantastic details Chris, the windows are excellent and the belts look fab was the texture added or is it just the paper?

Looking forward to seeing what you do with the tail fold.

Great work

Chris

[CJP]

46 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

Fantastic details Chris, the windows are excellent and the belts look fab was the texture added or is it just the paper?

Looking forward to seeing what you do with the tail fold.

Great work

Chris

Hi Chris & thanks - the foil was off Ferrero Rocher chocolates & has a fine texture to it - I just stuck the wrapper to the sticky side of some aluminum tape to give it a bit of strength & cut it into belt width strips - the tail fold is a big question mark at the moment🤔- I'll get back to it next week sometime.

Chris

[perdu]

I think you are exactly on track with the tail fold, I'm glad you didn't resort to copying something like the Airwaves joke set

 

She looks wonderful, I probably mentioned it before, awesome modelling.

[CJP]

WESSEX update

I had to leave the modelling bench for a while due to an unexpected family bereavement so have just picked up the tools again today with the following efforts - I have continued plugging on with my attempt to make tail fold hinges out of brass strip - I spent most of the time sawing with a fretsaw & then some heavy file work trying to persuade the brass to look something like the photos of the real thing - finishing off with two holes drilled in each hinge.

It was very fiddly work & the hinges still need some refining but they are getting close.

The three photos show the fledgling hinges, the rear of the fuselage with cut outs to seat the hinges into & the top hinge dry fitted which still needs a bit of tweaking to seat it better.

I still need to tackle the hinged part for the folding tail so I'm feeling like these scratch built hinges might work but not 100% confident yet.

I'm thinking the fuselage walls need to have the thickness reduced more & also redo the round tail shaft coupling as not that happy with it.

thanks for looking

Chris

Edited March 26, 2024 by CJP
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[bigbadbadge]

Sorry to hear of the family bereavement, please accept my sincere condolences.  

 

Great brass work Chris, that is a great idea, once fettled and the fuselage wall thickness reduced that will look phenomenal I'm sure.

 

Chris

 

 

[perdu]

Its an awful time when dealing with family bereavement Chris, condolences mate.

 

The brass hinges are becoming little metal marvels, loving them.

[CJP]

1 hour ago, bigbadbadge said:

Sorry to hear of the family bereavement, please accept my sincere condolences.  

 

Great brass work Chris, that is a great idea, once fettled and the fuselage wall thickness reduced that will look phenomenal I'm sure.

 

Chris

 

 

 

1 hour ago, perdu said:

Its an awful time when dealing with family bereavement Chris, condolences mate.

 

The brass hinges are becoming little metal marvels, loving them.

Thanks fellas - It was me dear old Mother-in-Law - she had a good innings at ninety seven & a half.

Chris

[heloman1]

On 3/16/2024 at 2:20 PM, hendie said:

oooh, I'm interested in seeing how the tail fold turns out.

 

 

(NO!  I'm not designing a printed version.   I did consider it but couldn't think of a decent way to create the hinge in a way that it would be strong enough  to withstand all the manhandling required during the fit).

 

 

 

I'm with you on that Alan, we need whoever purchased ROTORcraft to re release the tail fold and folded MRH.

 

Colin

[Spookytooth]

A nice job on those tail hinges Chris, and I agree, the tail boom walls need to be thinned a little.

As above condolences to you and your family.

 

Simon.

[AliGauld]

Sorry to hear about your bereavement.

It's always a rough time.

 

Beautiful work on the brass.

 

 

Cheers,

Alistair

[CJP]

Hi all - I managed to make a little progress with the tail fold hinges I fabricated from brass - it has been very fiddly & hard on the old eyeballs but I think I'm getting there. I am lucky to have a small hand vice which is very handy for filing up small parts such as these.

After much fettling I managed to get the hinges to fit the fuselage at the tail fold break, you can see a few gaps around the hinges as a result which were filled with strips of plastic. I drilled holes in the outer hinges & dropped some wire pins in to check on alignment. The close-up photos are a bit severe being about twice the size of the model.

 I made up the matching hinge part on the folded tail from square brass rod, bent to shape & the ends were filed thin to fit in the opposing hinge on the fuselage. The fuselage halves are still being held together by rubber bands.

I am going to try & close the gap between the folded tail & fuselage a tad more if I can without doing any damage.

I think the width of the tail in the kit at the fold is a bit wider than the real Wessex when compared to photos.

I also made up a representation of the intermediate gear box inside the folded tail in case it is visible through the mesh when fitted.

There is a little more detail to be added at the fold break but most of the hard work is done.

I have received one of Hendie's cockpit upgrade sets with the seats, consoles etc, so looking forward to adding them in due course.

thanks Chris

Edited March 30, 2024 by CJP
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[hendie]

Wow!

Impressive work sir.  A working tail fold hinge in 1/48 is no mean feat. I doff my cap to you

[Spookytooth]

Yep, that is exceptional work there Chris.

Eye strain of the major league .

 

Simon.

[Pete in Lincs]

4 hours ago, hendie said:

Impressive work sir.  A working tail fold hinge in 1/48 is no mean feat. I doff my cap to you

I'll second that. 

[CJP]

10 hours ago, hendie said:

Wow!

Impressive work sir.  A working tail fold hinge in 1/48 is no mean feat. I doff my cap to you

Thanks Alan but "working" is a bit of a stretch as I can't drill holes in the hinge on the folding part hinge due to the horizontal width of the outer part of the hinge - all compromise to get it to fit together with the fuselage's hinge part - it should look ok when finally glued in the folded position.

Chris