Martian's Choppers

[RAF4EVER]

The Wessex in Hong Kong had Hiduminium rivets as most of Mag Alloy skins were replaced with Ally skins ,due to corrosion,you had to go to Eng. Records and look at at the skin charts if you were doing a patch repair, to make sure you used the right material for the repair, and as @Pete in Lincs knows plenty of Polycast.

[Martian]

Just a quick query; does anyone know of a 3D printed tail boom for the Italeri 1/48 Sioux? I know attack Squadron did one but they have discontinued production.

 

Hopeful of Mars 👽

[heloman1]

4 hours ago, Martian said:

Just a quick query; does anyone know of a 3D printed tail boom for the Italeri 1/48 Sioux? I know attack Squadron did one but they have discontinued production.

 

Hopeful of Mars 👽

Just build it OOB Martin!

 

Colin

[Martian]

1 hour ago, heloman1 said:

Just build it OOB Martin!

 

Colin

Me? Build something OOB?   I have already got the Eduard BigEd set for that kit anyway. @Terry1954 told me recently that he didn't think I was capable of building OOB anymore, and I have to say that he might just be right for once. I am however desperately trying to concoct a plan that will not only prove him wrong but have the evil creature eating humble pie for a month of Sundays!

 

Seriously though, the modellers that I am most envious of are those who are quite happy to build their models OOB.

 

Martian (Suffering from AMS since forever) 👽

[Terry1954]

30 minutes ago, Martian said:

he didn't think I was capable of building OOB anymore

 

I also believe I hinted at the possibility of you, @general melchett and myself, having a sort of OOB "group build" between the three of us, but that may have been a recent nightmare!

 

Wonderful work on all these chopper Martian.

[LorenSharp]

1 hour ago, Martian said:

 Build something OOB?  

What!!!? You mean there are people who actually build models with NO extras? Surely Not! What is this world coming to. Next you'll be telling that that the Apocalypse is nigh on high and dogs and cats are living on the streets. 

[heloman1]

16 hours ago, Martian said:

Me? Build something OOB?   I have already got the Eduard BigEd set for that kit anyway. @Terry1954 told me recently that he didn't think I was capable of building OOB anymore, and I have to say that he might just be right for once. I am however desperately trying to concoct a plan that will not only prove him wrong but have the evil creature eating humble pie for a month of Sundays!

 

Seriously though, the modellers that I am most envious of are those who are quite happy to build their models OOB.

 

Martian (Suffering from AMS since forever) 👽

I have one in the stash but wasn't aware that Eduard had produced a detail set for it. Something, you might not be aware of is, the British Sioux's had a larger Perspex bubble than the US or Italian produced models. I made Milliput masters for replacements in both scales and sent them to Ali at the then Ali-Cats. However, nothing came of them!

 

Colin

[Martian]

45 minutes ago, heloman1 said:

I have one in the stash but wasn't aware that Eduard had produced a detail set for it. Something, you might not be aware of is, the British Sioux's had a larger Perspex bubble than the US or Italian produced models. I made Milliput masters for replacements in both scales and sent them to Ali at the then Ali-Cats. However, nothing came of them!

 

Colin

Thanks Colin, fortunately I will be doing a Spanish Navy cab, which I understand to have  been US .production machines.

 

In other news, I spent yesterday correcting my little faux pas with the tail boom and making some replacement cyclic sticks from brass, havig got fed up with mending them for the umpteenth time. Pictures courtesy of Lady Martian later.

 

Martian 👽

[general melchett]

Quote

I also believe I hinted at the possibility of you, general melchett and myself, having a sort of OOB "group build" between the three of us, but that may have been a recent nightmare!

 

Oh good lord...OOB, I mean OOB!.....

 

 

 

[Martian]

5 hours ago, general melchett said:

 

Oh good lord...OOB, I mean OOB!.....

 

 

 

 

5 hours ago, general melchett said:

 

Oh good lord...OOB, I mean OOB!.....

 

 

 

Quite!

 

Martian 👽

[heloman1]

You could, with those soldering (soddering for those cross the pond) skills you perfected on the Zeppelins build the Sioux lattice framework!

Alternatively, you could prod Hendie (Alan) into producing one? Aynway, you got me thinking, I have one in the stash, I might look at remaking the canopy master and purchase or make a vac-form machine.

I'll dig around in my stash this morning...

 

Colin

[heloman1]

Back to the subject of the Sioux. I had a good look at the kit over the weekend. In my opinion the lattice boom is pretty good, certainly worth using rather than trying to find a 3D printed item.

Then, you'll need a Wasp and a Dragonfly! The Wasp, is going to be a challenge as there is only the old Fujimi kit Come on Airfix! The Dragonfly not a problem.

 

Colin

[Martian]

49 minutes ago, heloman1 said:

Back to the subject of the Sioux. I had a good look at the kit over the weekend. In my opinion the lattice boom is pretty good, certainly worth using rather than trying to find a 3D printed item.

Then, you'll need a Wasp and a Dragonfly! The Wasp, is going to be a challenge as there is only the old Fujimi kit Come on Airfix! The Dragonfly not a problem.

 

Colin

Thanks Colin, Pete-in-Lincs is sending me an unused Sioux tail boom which I shall use to test an idea I have had out on.

 

Fret ye not about the Wasp and the Dragonfly. Both will be getting done in due course, along with an Australian Navy Scout and as Sycamore and Kiowa from the same service. I am at Sutton Hoo on the Time Team dig this week, so no modelling until Sunday.

 

Martian 👽

[heloman1]

4 hours ago, Martian said:

Thanks Colin, Pete-in-Lincs is sending me an unused Sioux tail boom which I shall use to test an idea I have had out on.

 

Fret ye not about the Wasp and the Dragonfly. Both will be getting done in due course, along with an Australian Navy Scout and as Sycamore and Kiowa from the same service. I am at Sutton Hoo on the Time Team dig this week, so no modelling until Sunday.

 

Martian 👽

Enjoy the week in Sutton Hoo, don't dig too deeply...

The Sycamore, I built a couple of years ago, it's a tad quirky there is s build log elsewhere on these pages. It was the first helicopter I ever flew in, As a teen Air Cadet, our squadron 318 Sale had our annual summer camp at RAF Aldergrove, NI. One morning, our Co asked if there was anyone wanted a flip in a chopper. I was the only one to put their hand up. I had to leg it to the control tower. Three and a half hours later, we landed back on. Big grin on my face!

The Wasp, whichever way you look at it is going to be a mission.

 

Colin

[Martian]

On 03/06/2025 at 14:12, heloman1 said:

Enjoy the week in Sutton Hoo, don't dig too deeply...

The Sycamore, I built a couple of years ago, it's a tad quirky there is s build log elsewhere on these pages. It was the first helicopter I ever flew in, As a teen Air Cadet, our squadron 318 Sale had our annual summer camp at RAF Aldergrove, NI. One morning, our Co asked if there was anyone wanted a flip in a chopper. I was the only one to put their hand up. I had to leg it to the control tower. Three and a half hours later, we landed back on. Big grin on my face!

The Wasp, whichever way you look at it is going to be a mission.

 

Colin

Jammy Git! As for the Wasp, I have done it before and that was without the help of Hendie's bits, so I can do it again. I do admit that we do need an up to date Wasp/Scout kit though.

 

Covered in Sutton Hoo Mud of Mars 👽

[Pete in Lincs]

A muddy Martian? How curious. So is this Sutton Hoo car park?

 

[Martian]

2 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said:

A muddy Martian? How curious. So is this Sutton Hoo car park?

 

Not a million miles away from it.

 

Martin 👽

[Bigdave22014]

Took mum to Sutton Hoo bank holiday weekend, didn't see Tony or anyone else from TimeTeam 

Well worth visiting if you're ever in the area, even managed to get on the burial mounds tour.

[Martian]

So, first up the pictures of the corrected tail of the Sea King, promised before my trip to Sutton-Hoo:

 

 

 

As thigs turned out, having to relace the lost detail from the kit parts was a blessing in disguise as it allowed me to get a much better fit of the tail to the fuselage.

 

I felt that I needed to glue the cyclic sticks in place to check how much room I would have to play with when I came to fit the instrument panel and control console as I want to detail and paint this part of the model separately. Plenty of wiggly room but I got fed up with breaking the sticks. In the end, I lopped the sticks off at their gators, drilled a hole in each of the same and scratch built a pair from brass rod. Should they give me any grief whatsoever, the collectives will be getting the same treatment.

 

 

The blade supports and cargo frame were waiting for me when I got back from Suffolk and are currently being cleaned up before my assessment of them for you good Earthlings. I have to say that I was amazed at the speed in which they were delivered to Martian's Towers from the other side of the Planet.

 

In other news, @Pete in Lincs took sometime out from some top level raspberry blowing to donate a tail section of a Sioux which has allowed me to experiment with an Idea for making this section of the helicopter look much more to scale, without resorting to soldering a completely new one from brass. I have learned a lot about soldering but I feel that making a new boom and keeping everything square is a bit beyond me at the moment. I also wanted a fix that anyone can have a bash at. Initial indications are that my cunning plan is workable and once I have got a completed tail boom I will get back to you with some pictures and a explanation as to how it works.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Martian 👽

[Terry1954]

Nice work on this one Martian.

 

Nice fix to the cyclics ............

 

17 minutes ago, Martian said:

Should they give me any grief whatsoever, the cyclics will be getting the same treatment.

 

I'm hoping you mean collectives to get the same treatment as the cyclics!

 

Just to show I'm paying attention.

 

T.

[Martian]

13 minutes ago, Terry1954 said:

Nice work on this one Martian.

 

Nice fix to the cyclics ............

 

 

I'm hoping you mean collectives to get the same treatment as the cyclics!

 

Just to show I'm paying attention.

 

T.

I was wondering who would be the first to spot that one! Go to the top of the class.

 

Martian 👽

[Pete in Lincs]

Ooh ooh me Sir, me Sir I saw it first. Honest I did. Oh, now there seems to be something wrong with my nose. OOER!

[Martian]

2 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said:

Ooh ooh me Sir, me Sir I saw it first. Honest I did. Oh, now there seems to be something wrong with my nose. OOER!

Will you please remove said nose from a certain tender part of the Martian anatomy! 

 

Discomforted of Mars 👽

[Martian]

So, I promised a report on my cunning plan for improving the tail boom of the Italeri1/48 Sioux. My idea was to gradually replace the cross members of the tail section two or three at a time with .20 'thou  and when the glue had cured on them, carefully snipping the next two or three kit items away and replacing them in the same way. We need to keep the kit longerons in order to retain some strength in the booms. The framework surrounding the engine can be left as is.

 

 

 

 

Hopefully you can get the gist of what I am rambling on about but if not, there are two options on the kit decal sheet that I cannot decide between, An azure blue Italian Navy machine and a dark blue Spanish example. So, at the risk of turning into @corsaircorp, I have obtained an extra kit and will take you through the process step by step. As always, any questions about the process please ask. It is a less difficult process than it might appear; I actually found it rather therapeutic.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Martian 👽

[LorenSharp]

THanks to the Honorable  Professor Martian M. Martian of the University Southern North Dakota at Poole, Dorset, Planet Wibble. Quod erat demonstrandum. Take notes there will be a test following.