Westland Wasp HAS 1: 1/24th Scale.

[mozart]

Well Tony old chum, it seems like your epic journey which has taken you to all sorts of remote and previously unexplored, sometimes hostile places, is nearing its end. You have a magnificent embryonic creation in your hands; I eagerly await its full nascence! Bravo, bravo…..

[LSP_Kevin]

Fantastic, Tony! Looks like you're in the home stretch, now.

 

Kev

[TheBaron]

Bright, cold November here but there has been some light on the workbench:

 

On 11/2/2025 at 7:06 PM, Anthony in NZ said:

Thats beyond stunning my friend, and I have to pinch myself to get to grips of what I am looking at!!

Shouldn't be too long until your own eyes get a better look at it Anthony....

 

Time this morning was spent trimming supports away in order to carry out a dry fit on some of the major parts of the airframe:

It terms of size, it must be at least 45 years ago that I last worked on anything in 1/24th scale:

There was always a risk with so many adjoining sections of compound curves that any warping during curing would make the joins between them a problem - especially underneath where lines of surface detailing run into one another. Thankfully there doesn't seem to be any issue in this regard:

You may remember in the original design that the interface between cabin rear and front of the engine deck was supported by a trio of printed beams projecting backwards, whereas in the first shot above these have now magically become brass strips. This is due to somebody droppping literally the first piece of the kit he picked up onto the floor from a perfect height and angle to snap the beams off.

 

>Ahem. 

 

Irrespective of who did it, look, that doesn't matter now...forget it. The important thing is that I replaced the resin originals with some scrap brass and promised not to be so clumsy next time.

 

The curved front profile of the cabin floor will benefit from a touch of the file before it can fit snugly into the nose section:

The interior detailing builds up nicely in managable sections. A key decision is which bits to paint before assembly:

 

As a dry fit  I'm pretty happy with how things have turned out so far:

Windshield and cabin roof sections are next for consideration, as these critically need to line up front and back with the above sections. Being printed from a much harder eSun resin (plus the sheer plethora of printing supports I'm going to have to remove on this build over time) I had a while ago invested in a Kickstarter project for an ultrasonic cutter:

The trimming process becomes incomparably deft and neater than hand alone. The priciness of comparablly performing models means this is not something I would have been able to justify in the past were it not for this well-reviewed Jakemy model currently costing about 70 euro:

It's quite funny at first how the lack of sound, knife vibration and pressure from your hand as it cuts, boggles your mind. The usual cognitive feeback just isn't there!

 

I suspect this tool will becoime a permanent resident on my bench, not solely for cutting, but because of the way you can also plane and sand surfaces with it so effortlessly.

 

As well as the 1/24th version starting here, I'm glad to say that the prototype for the 1/32 kit is now on its way to a patient and talented test-builder. May they be spared dropping as much of it on the floor as I've done so far....

 

Best wishes to all of you until the next one,

Tony

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 23, 2025 by TheBaron

[geedubelyer]

This is something I've been waiting to see and I'm not disappointed.

Perhaps the person that dropped the part (who shall remain nameless) was just as excited. 

When the chosen modeller begins the 32nd scale version perhaps you'll give us the heads-up if a build thread is involved Tony? 

 

This all continues to look splendid 

[LSP_Kevin]

Just stunning, Tony!

 

Kev

[Anthony in NZ]

6 hours ago, TheBaron said:

Shouldn't be too long until your own eyes get a better look at it Anthony....

 

Ohhh gorgeous.....I cant wait!

 

Wonderful update Tony and thanks again

 

4 hours ago, geedubelyer said:

When the chosen modeller begins the 32nd scale version perhaps you'll give us the heads-up if a build thread is involved Tony? 

Absolutely my friend...I am really going to have to bring my A game with this one!

 

Thanks for the update and I will try not to drop m one in excitement lol

 

Cheers Anthony

[Archimedes]

I am salivating at this! Your attention to detail is inspiring and the quality of the result is stunning!

 

Kind regards,

Paul

[TheBaron]

Just trying to squeeze this post in before December as there's been actual build activity going on here for once!

 

I realized also that I hadn't replied to a couple of responses prior to the last update, which was rude of me...

On 11/2/2025 at 9:39 PM, mozart said:

Well Tony old chum, it seems like your epic journey which has taken you to all sorts of remote and previously unexplored, sometimes hostile places,

That Frankenstein's monster vibe seems quite appropriate for this project somehow Max! 

On 11/3/2025 at 8:37 AM, LSP_Kevin said:

Fantastic, Tony! Looks like you're in the home stretch, now.

Ta Kev.  Though I don't know how many times I've thought that on this build so far only to be cruelly disillusioned by brute reality.

On 11/23/2025 at 4:28 PM, geedubelyer said:

When the chosen modeller begins the 32nd scale version perhaps you'll give us the heads-up if a build thread is involved Tony? 

I think he may have already dropped a subtle Southern hemisphere hint Guy....

On 11/23/2025 at 8:34 PM, Anthony in NZ said:

Absolutely my friend...I am really going to have to bring my A game with this one!

>cough.

On 11/23/2025 at 10:09 PM, Archimedes said:

I am salivating at this! Your attention to detail is inspiring and the quality of the result is stunning!

Enormously kind Paul. Thank you.

 

I hadn't been able to recall previously what was stopping the nose section fit as it should onto the front of the cabin floor; the initial CAD work for this area is so far back in the past that it took a while this time around to realize that it was those three longitudinal beams which form part of the box-like structure of the Wasp's cabin floor in real life causing the problem:

Due to the nature of the compound curves forming the inside of the nose section, I'd never been able to get Fusion to accept a 'subtract' operation on the beams using those nose-curves (sometime it just won't do something without highlighting why) so as you can see above, those three had a minor re-profiling with the new cutter to do it the analog way. Much better:

 

With that sorted, the cabin framing was the next item to test:

For printing purposes I set this on a large number of supports, not only for printing purposes but in order to act as insurance against the long thin sections warping during curing. Tiresome to cut away but it worked:

Lines up nicely back and front:

The harder eSun resin was definitely needed though - the standard stuff would have been in bits under the handling required to remove that from the support bed.

 

The cabin doors also received a quick tidy:

Although I won't be using the front set on mine (on operational duty these were frequently discarded to reduce weight and increase endurance), I do want to make sure that they fit for others who may want them installed. The chisel attachment to the cutter is excellent at shaving any remaining printing support stumps off in instances like this; essentially giving you a micro-chisel that you guide rather than requiring any heavy pressure - always a factor on delicate or difficult to reach areas: 

Jakemy also offer some useful little 600 and 800 grit sanding elements for this UC01 cutter as well; this prompted me to order a set of both earlier  as I reckon they'll come in very handy, especially on concave surfaces like the inside of the nose section.

 

With no graceful method of tacking doors and central pillar into position with Washi tape, I know this shot looks more like one of those fire hulks they train crash crews crews on...

Maybe I can form a niche modelling market in fire hulks...

 

The roof transparency also went on to test for size against its supporting framework. At this stage I simply used one of the vacform tests knowing I'd scratch a good one all to blazes. Having always been one of Nature's Inept Vacform Trimmers (NIVT) I put the 30° blade back in the cutter and let nature, or rather the cutter, take the wheel:

Amazing! On this thin 0.5mm PETG it just slid through with barely any force, just a guiding hand as it were to glide around corners like this:

That piece took about a minute to trim off of it's moulding plate.

 

I'm so glad now of adding an extra month or so to the design stage of this project by going back and redesigning the relationship of parts for the cabin framework and windows. My original ideas would have been way too difficult to assemble accurately and lacked sufficient strength: a fatal combination. The vacform/hard resin combination here is much easier to assemble accurately now and provides a far stronger roof -  important factors given the very light structure which constitutes the cabin framing on the Wasp in real life (as well as here in scale form):

The pilot and observer roof panels were jettisonable in the event of unexpected helicopters in the liquid area, as demonstrated here by HMS Naiad's Wasp in 1967:

^{Image credit: HMS Naiad Assocation.}

My vacform of that region is absent the prominent rubber bead around the edges of those panels:

Although they would have shown up as part of the vacform, the undercut involved would have caused problems getting the transparency off the buck afterwards. The beading therefore is printed  in the form of separate resin parts to be stuck on afterwards:

These also reproduced at 1/32 scale, despite their fragility.

 

Test fit progress so far:

For the next while I'll carry on with this pattern of trimming and test-fitting the major components in order to ensure that there aren't going to be any major structural surprises or assembly issues.

 

Thanks for looking in as always and hope you all hade great weekends:

Tony

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 30, 2025 by TheBaron

[Archimedes]

Tony, elements of the subject you have picked are fiendishly difficult to get right but your updates are a masterclass in what can be achieved by simply not giving up. Bravo mister!

 

kind regards, Paul

[Palm-tree]

This is maturing into a very nice model kit....I wondered how you would approach the whole transparency/ cockpit framing dilemna and so far it is looking very promising.

Will the chin windows be able to push fit into the recesses?

 

[TheBaron]

11 hours ago, Archimedes said:

Tony, elements of the subject you have picked are fiendishly difficult to get right but your updates are a masterclass in what can be achieved by simply not giving up. Bravo mister!

Thanks Paul. I do believe stubbornness is an essential quality for a modeller!

2 hours ago, Palm-tree said:

This is maturing into a very nice model kit....I wondered how you would approach the whole transparency/ cockpit framing dilemna and so far it is looking very promising.

Will the chin windows be able to push fit into the recesses?

 

Absolutely. Wherever possible I've modelled the beading/framing of the real thing to act as a mounting/gluing surface to hold the various windows in place on the kit. Time will tell how fiddly some of those like the curved rear windows of the cabin will be to mount securely.

[Ivan Womack]

This is looking fantastic!! Can't wait to get my hands on one!! Brilliant work!!

Edited December 7, 2025 by Ivan Womack

[TheBaron]

Afternoon all,

Just past the shortest day at this lat & long so definitely time to post a pre-Christmas update....

 

On 12/5/2025 at 11:51 PM, Ivan Womack said:

This is looking fantastic!! Can't wait to get my hands on one!! Brilliant work!!

 Easy tiger. 

  

Over the past fortnight or so I've been persistently ultrasonicing my way through cutting the various Wasp parts away from their printing supports.

 

Whilst doing this I did notice a pronounced bulge running partway along the port side of the central console (which sits between pilot and observer), caused most likely by pressure within that closed rectangular space moving up and down in the resin. Usually you'd add a drain hole to an enclosed part like that but couldn't here as that would have defaced surface detailing on the outer side.

 

No cause for worry however as printed resin (in this case 1.8mm thick) quite happily works with the same boiling water trick we use for plastic: a quick dip in the hot tub and that bulge is no more after a brief clamping in a vice:

You might recall that the nose section of the Wasp does have drain holes, however looking at the shot below you you'd be forgiven for thinking 'filling and sanding that lot looks an awfully good way of ensuring maximum damage to those rivets':

Yeah, that's what I thought up to the point that I decided I couldn't live with something so ugly in terms of process so lined the original design back up in Voxeldance's Tango software and let its 'auto-orientate' algorithm have at it:

Much, much better. I don't as a rule have much trust in software auto functions but VDT is an exception, in this as in its support generation functions.

 

Pretty quickly in the support removal process I realized that some reliable way of visually inventorying all the parts was necessary to avoid a big homegenous blob of parts spreading across the bench. This is a two-fold necessity as aside from me building the thing, a similar need has to be meet in terms of producing a set of assembly instructions for others. To meet this requirement I'm intending to produce a variety of photographic 'atlas' for the kit, in order that the regions and features can be assembled independently without losing sight of their integration into the whole.

 

In their abstract appearance, drawings (from Airfix to Ikea) are great at simplifying to explain. Here however, it would just take me too long as an individual to produce the required complexity of drawn materials. As a compromise, the following photos use a high pass filter on a copy of the original image, mapping that version back onto the original in order to remove colour and extremes of tone. In this way you lose a lot of the visual 'clutter' of straightforward colour photography (light/shadow/contrast &etc.). Reducing the tonal range in this manner makes evident the characteristic shape of each part and ensures quick recognizability for assembly purposes.

 

Airframe - 'the big bits':

 

 

 

 

 

Legs, wheels and oleos:

 

Exterior features and fittings:

 

 

 

Interior parts and pieces:

 

 

Mk.48 & Mk.46 torpedoes:

AS.12 missiles and pylons:

I realized later how very much like the half-tone b&w photos you saw in the photo section of books from the 1940s to 1980s those images above are, with similar low dynamic ranges of tone:

I wonder is an unconscious nostalgia seeping in..... 

 

Anyway, I'll fiddle with some of that some more over the Christmas holiday but for now, it just remains to thank you all for following along here and to wish you and yours the very festive best.

Tony

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 23, 2025 by TheBaron

[geedubelyer]

Perhaps you could create an ICM style stop motion assembly video? 

 

Or, many of your CAD renders might be cobbled together with arrows pointing here and there? 

 

Whatever you decide I expect folk will figure it out. 

 

These Work In Progress are a superb source of problem solving and workarounds. 

 

Start a thread and we'll all chime in. 

 

Enjoy your Christmas Tony. 

 

Cheers,

Guy

[SwissFighters]

Agree that your software should be able to easily produce appropriate pictures...
Thanks for sharing Tony.
Tony