Giorgio N Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 Hello everyone, I'm new here.. found the website by accident while googling around, and after a quick look thought "hey, here they talk about the planes I like most !!!". How could I not join such a forum ?? I'm Italian by birth, but have lived in Ireland for quite a while now. For a reason or the other my favourite subjects are mainly british jets and tomcats, although I like jets in general.. and the spitfire, of course. Well, who doesn't ???? As I see that here there are some real experts, I'm afraid I woun't be able to give great contributions... but who knows, I hope I can ! As a non native english speaker I apologise in advance for any mistake or else... now I know that living in Ireland should be a good school, but here we always say that in some other county they can't speak proper English.. ;-)) Enough of the introduction, my first post here is about something that is british but not a jet: the Westland Lynx, specifically the AH.7. It all started by looking at a picture of a Royal Marines AH.7. At that point I was looking at the airfix kit and thought I needed new BERP rotor blades and reverse pitch tail roto, both components I could find in the Airfix HMA.8 box (and building an ICE Mk.3 There would have been nothing wasted). Apart of course form a few other corrections the Airfix AH.1 need anyway. I then realised that there's a new design engine casing to deal with, whose shape I still find quite elusive (and unfortunately the airfix HMA.8 seems to have to older part). I finally came by Modeldecal sheet 115 and saw the gorgeous Lynx as used in the gulf war, with TOW missiles, sand filters and boxed exhausts. Now I'd really like to build that, but it would involve quite a few scratchbuilt parts. Unless... I saw the boxtop of the kit sold by a polish company called ZTS-Plastyk depicting exactly such a Lynx ! Now,has everyone ever built one of ZTS Lynxes ? Googling didn't help much, they seem to be real Lynxes and not FROG-derived prototypes. I'm not sure about the shape of the engine carter, is it a correct representation of the AH.7's one ? Are they decent kits, at least in term of shapes ? I am not generally concerned about ease of assembly, as I don't mind a challenge once in a while (building a Ventura Spit VII and a Rareplanes Firebrand at the moment). And if they are decent kits, or at least they can provide the bits and pieces needed, where can I find one ? No on-line shop in western europe seems to have them, not that I mind ordering from poland, but some of those sites are in polish only !!! Thanks in advance ! Giorgio Giorgio Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bexwh773 Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 Hi Giorgio, theres quite a few of the gang who are Whirlybird nuts so they should be able to help you out. :bex: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousDFB1 Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 Giorgio Sorry can't help you with your question but I'm sure one of the nutters will be along soon to help. In the mean time don't believe all your told... They're all mad in here apart from me and my friend Harvey. Don't worry if you can see him, only I can. Opps gotta to go I hear Ed coming with your straight jacket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Fleming Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 (edited) Not seen the ZTS kits, but IIRC someone on the helikit News site had and wasn't impressed. http://www.helikitnews.com/issues/hkn126.htm http://www.network54.com/Forum/163130/mess...6798058/Rubbish Edit: Now here's bizarre! This just posted on HKN! http://www.network54.com/Forum/163130/mess...59854/Lynx+AH-7 A Gulf Lynx update set has been high on AAC modellers wants lists for years - there have been rumours of Airfix doing one (like their HMA set) which has stopped the aftermarket from producing the set (Of course the Lynx in the Uk now fly without the exhaust boxes). The changes to the engine housing are, if I recall correctly, a bulging of the areas over the engines. I must admit that I'd ignore it if building one!! There WAS an article on making a Gulf War Lynx in an old Scale Models from about 1992, which I have somewhere. Finally, welcome to Britmodelr! Don't worry about your English, it seems fine! Most of the locals don't speak it well anyway ... Edited January 10, 2008 by Dave Fleming Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted January 10, 2008 Author Share Posted January 10, 2008 Well, first of all thanks very much everyone for the warm welcome ! Dave, thanks for the info, although they kind of mean that some scratchbuilding will be defintely involved if I want to tackle this subject. Seems that the ZTS kit is not the final word on the subject. Might try and hunt one of those anyway, even just for the exhaust shroud and the suppressors. While the box-like shape might be easy enough to build, I'm more worried by the parts attached to the exhausts itself (that BTW remind me of the old RR Conway silenced exhausts as used on our Alitalia DC-8 and other liners). Checked the engine housing too and I see what you mean. Doesn't seem too difficult, at worst increasing the length of the 2 top fairings might be enough. I wonder though if it would be better for the moment to just wait and see if the new Airfix management will do something about it... and if they do I hope they'll provide the correct tail boom and so on... Thanks again ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perry Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 Hi Giorgio and to Mike's home for Hamfisted Senior Citizen Modellers Have fun when you visit and remember, your virtual straightjacket must be worn at all times. Has it been issued to you yet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
entlim Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 It has now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perry Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 It has now! excellent service Ed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
entlim Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted January 11, 2008 Author Share Posted January 11, 2008 Thanks for the straighjacket, fits pretty well.. much better than some kits I've built recently at least.. From now on the rule will be PC on the forum, straightjacket on ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nev Posted January 11, 2008 Share Posted January 11, 2008 Of course, if you're feeling particularly flush, you could always get the Accurate Armour 1/35 Lynx! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gengriz Posted January 11, 2008 Share Posted January 11, 2008 The changes to the engine housing are, if I recall correctly, a bulging of the areas over the engines. I must admit that I'd ignore it if building one!! Hi Giorgio, If you are set on 1/72 I think I would agree with Dave here; there are detail differences, but in general the shape change is not noticeable at that scale. I did a basic AH7 about 12 months ago and was quite pleased with my scratch built additions. What is more of a problem with the Airfix kit (apart from the lack of IR shrouds) are the open intakes with their lack of wire mesh filters. I used the Airwaves photetched set on my Mk8, but wasn't entirely happy with it - I also think the Airwaves replacement tail is much better than the stick on Airfix bulge too. You also need to add the cabin overhead sight and under tail disco light (I used thick sprue for both) plus the IR lights & searchlight below the fuselage. If it is an RM machine at sea, it also needs the inflatable float bags on the skids, plus the deck handling levers/wheels. The HOT launchers also need to be ditched and replaced with scratch built TOWs. There is a (very poor) picture of mine on my web site under "2006 Builds" Best of luck FredT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted January 14, 2008 Author Share Posted January 14, 2008 Hi Giorgio, If you are set on 1/72 I think I would agree with Dave here; there are detail differences, but in general the shape change is not noticeable at that scale. I did a basic AH7 about 12 months ago and was quite pleased with my scratch built additions. What is more of a problem with the Airfix kit (apart from the lack of IR shrouds) are the open intakes with their lack of wire mesh filters. I used the Airwaves photetched set on my Mk8, but wasn't entirely happy with it - I also think the Airwaves replacement tail is much better than the stick on Airfix bulge too. You also need to add the cabin overhead sight and under tail disco light (I used thick sprue for both) plus the IR lights & searchlight below the fuselage. If it is an RM machine at sea, it also needs the inflatable float bags on the skids, plus the deck handling levers/wheels. The HOT launchers also need to be ditched and replaced with scratch built TOWs. There is a (very poor) picture of mine on my web site under "2006 Builds" Best of luck FredT Your Lynx look good ! And made me realise that there are even more small details here and there to sort, for example I hadn't noticed the flotation bags on the RM ones. For the intakes meshes I'm planning on copying the ones in the revell/matchbox kit. They'r not great but are better than the airfix. I have alternatives in mind.. but better try and see if they work first ! TOW launchers will come from the Italeri Cobra that I built years ago in clean configuration. As for the 1/35 Accurate armour looks tempting but I'm not sure the bank will give me a loan for that.. Giorgio Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Fleming Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 For the intakes meshes I'm planning on copying the ones in the revell/matchbox kit. They'r not great but are better than the airfix. I have alternatives in mind.. but better try and see if they work first ! TOW launchers will come from the Italeri Cobra that I built years ago in clean configuration. The best way I've seen to do the intakes was the way Skii did his on the HMA8 (Not sure if it's still online, but he basically shaped the mesh from milliput, painted it black then sprayed a silver mesh pattern through a pair of ladies tights. If you PM him he may have more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gengriz Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 (edited) he basically shaped the mesh from milliput, painted it black then sprayed a silver mesh pattern through a pair of ladies tights. The ingenuity of modellers never ceases to amaze me. I will try that trick for my next one too! Do you know what denier? Edited January 14, 2008 by gengriz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skii Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 Yeah the mesh trick was merely a variation of a method I saw used to very effectively replicate carbon fibre in small scale, just with different colours! As Dave said, I made the basic shape of the intakes out of milliput, painted them black, and stretched a pair of thick dernier tights over them and sprayed a layer of allclad aluminium - job done. Wecome to Britmodeller Giorgio, as you can see we have some very helpful souls here 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted January 15, 2008 Author Share Posted January 15, 2008 That's one great thing of modelers: whenever you think there's always to chose between idea A and idea B you then find someone that comes with idea C,D,E...... That's a very good effect on those intakes ! Really looks like there's a real mesh under the metal structure. Skii, thanks for the input, I can see more applications in that system. Guess might take a few attempt in adjusting pressure/dilution/distance for each airbrush to master the technique, but I can see myself trying ! Giorgio Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spike7451 Posted January 15, 2008 Share Posted January 15, 2008 Here is a photo of a Op Granby Lynx being hot refueled.It's from 654Sqn AAC,Taken March 1st 1991 in Kuwait.(And how do I know that you ask....I know the door gunner!) More to follow when I've got them uloaded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Fleming Posted January 15, 2008 Share Posted January 15, 2008 Mmm, interesting sand reducing air filters Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted January 17, 2008 Author Share Posted January 17, 2008 That's a great picture ! Thanks a lot !!! There's a good view of the sand filters and plenty of oher interesting details. It also seem to show a 3 colours camo ? Or maybe it's just a matter of having a very dirty area around the door ? Or maybe just tricks plaied by the light ? There seem to be a first yellowish sand band, followed by a lighter band before the windscreen, then moresand, then a mid brown between the door window and the tow launchers, followed by more sand. My understanding was that the camo scheme used Desert Sand and Light Stone. Just an off topic note on the two lads with the SLR: my old Seargent Major would have kicked my butt seeing a rifle slung pointing downwards, as if it falls it would end with the barrel end into tha sand.. but I know that different units have their own ideas on the subject.. Giorgio Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spike7451 Posted January 18, 2008 Share Posted January 18, 2008 That's a great picture ! Thanks a lot !!!There's a good view of the sand filters and plenty of oher interesting details. It also seem to show a 3 colours camo ? Or maybe it's just a matter of having a very dirty area around the door ? Or maybe just tricks plaied by the light ? There seem to be a first yellowish sand band, followed by a lighter band before the windscreen, then moresand, then a mid brown between the door window and the tow launchers, followed by more sand. My understanding was that the camo scheme used Desert Sand and Light Stone. Just an off topic note on the two lads with the SLR: my old Seargent Major would have kicked my butt seeing a rifle slung pointing downwards, as if it falls it would end with the barrel end into tha sand.. but I know that different units have their own ideas on the subject.. Giorgio As a Armourer & if they bought the gat back bunged up,*Slab on!!!. Merv *Slab on!- Slab of beer usually the going rate for a 'fine' for being a ****! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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