Westland Wasp HAS 1: 1/24th Scale.

[Newoldguy1977]

Wow. That tail fold mechanism is beautiful, you wouldn't want to design one for the seaking would you 😬

[TheBaron]

Afternoon all!

 

This thread is going to be in a holding pattern  for a fortnight or so as we're heading over to Dorset this Thursday on summer holiday. There are however a couple of significant bits of progress to update before going.

 

I got an email this morning to say that the test prints for both the 1/24 and 1/24 decals are in the post; they'll arrive whilst we're away so will report back on them in due course. I was getting worried about this issue delaying things too much so that's great news.

 

The other issue is this baby:

Of particular angst, how to paint such features accurately given the small elevation of the dial rims against the plane of the IP. The capillary method which I'd shown in use on the front seats in the previous post was neither neat nor precise enough to do all those outlines across the panel, whilst my paintbrush work even with a 000 head bordered upon the Abstract Expressionist.

 

In the end, the only reliable, repeatable method I could find was to design a set of masks for airbrushing the feature:

Five or six redesigns were necessary to ensure  that  all of the masks to overlap their respective dials enough to protect their outer perimeters, but the trial and error paid off in making painting a more straightforward and accurate process now. After applying a flat black layer and adding the masks, it was important to ensure that the airbrush nozzle was kept perpendicular to the plane of the IP the whole time when applying the Dark Admiralty Grey passes. This was because any off-axis angle would allow paint spray to creep in under the side of the masks onto the dial edges. As the actual instrument dials will be added from decals, only the precision of the rims really matters here. One which I couldn't accurately mask due to protruding switches was the RADALT (that top right dial on the end with the square surround): an 000 brush or Rotring pen will suffice to add that in later.

 

Oh well... an IP mask set to include in the kit along with those for the windows now: I'd better order more Oramask!

 

Aside from two or three switches to add to the IP using brass tube, the nose facing side of the IP also needs a wiring loom added to the rears of the instrumentation cluster as well: I've spent the last two years collecting various gauges of wire for that task, as well as for all the pipework on the Nimbus engine which I'm trying not to think about:

We'll be back from Wessex in a couple of weeks so look after yourselves until then!

Tony

 

 

 

Edited June 23 by TheBaron

[RCPlym]

Splendidily Splentacular!!!

 

Brilliance emanating from all round this beauty!!!

 

 

[TheBaron]

Afternoon everyone.

 

Having slipped back into the usual domestic routine after the recent holiday I found the decal test prints waiting one morning:

Clarity and definition of the various items are very nice:

 - especially evident on the finer scale as in the instrument dials:

It took a lot of time (more than I'd estimated) to finalize these designs, most of which was simply due to adjusting to the demands of the different type of workflow involved here. @RCPlym I think you'd asked before what type they were?  Can confirm they're laser printed so there is no requirement to spray them with a protective layer  prior to application as is the case with inkjet prints of this kind.

 

A necessary test application was carried out beforehand to order to develop a 'feel' for the way they performed, so I sacrificed a 1/32 roundel on a 1/24 paint mule:

A 30 sec. soak and they slid into position on the airframe very nicely. I was reassured by the material strength of these (despite their pleasing thinn-ness): no sense of fragility or propensity to tear during the procedure and they settled around raised detail like the rivets above quite happily with Microsol setting solution.

 

The IP received a few diluted (50/50) coats of Winsor & Newton Satin varnish to seal it so that after a two-hour cycle of trim/soak/apply, the various circles were all filled in:

Additionally there's  a decal for the rear casing of the Sperry Horizon Gyro Mk.2, required due to its visibility through the windscreen on the pilot's side:

A rather complicated network  of connectors feeds into the RADALT and Slip Bubble instruments to the left of the gyro when looking at the IP from the rear: these were bent into shape from 0.7mm wire using tweezers, soldered together and the joint collars added from slivers of adhesive silver foil: 

I won't add these until later to avoid my usual penchant bending/breaking things...

 

The central console also required a little metalworking in the form of some soldering and scratch work to add the adjustment handle for the yaw pedals:

From that point on it was another set of paint-cycles to add the required colours to the various sets of panels and switches running along its length:

I've so many old pots of Tamiya acrylics that it was a simple process of mixing small amounts of the required hues by eye and - as it was  heatwave time here - adding a few drops of fluid retarder and flow improver to stop it drying too quickly on the brush:

 

 

I'm taking a breather before putting IP and console together permanently but here they are test-fitted for appraisal:

There was no need for any panel lining or weathering due to the printed detail being amply visible and the fact that the RN kept these helicopter in very good condition operationally. Shine/lustre variations are important however so I used Ritama L (a 70µ self-adhesive transparent vinyl) to produce the glass of the instrument dials:

An obligatory heavy-handling breakage involved that isolated knob which sits top left of the console upright (the purpose of which I know not), which got replaced with some 0.6mm nickel silver tubing and metal foil:

The rows of black dots forward of the map box are I believe the fuse box and three spare fuses directly above it.

 

Prominent on the IP of the Wasp is a white outline around the pilot's main instrument cluster:

The exact outline of this feature varies across reference photography (quite possibly as the result of later restoration attempts on various airframes) so lacking definitive shots of it on 1970s operational birds, I simply reproduced it here following the outline shown in the PNs. At 1/24th the line is only 0.2mm in thickness so non-feasible as a decal; I simply sliced lengths off some scrap white decal I had left over from a previous Do-18 build and built it by hand one section at a time. One of those fiddly time-consuming jobs you rue starting until it's done....

 

There had been some 'helpful' naval banter over on a sister forum about the nature of marine charts and what examples to slip into that map case on the left side of the central console here. By accident I recently found the perfect candidate in a history of cartography:

- the 'Ocean Chart' (1876) from Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark:

 

'He had bought a large map representing the sea,
Without the least vestige of land:
And the crew were much pleased when they found it to be
A map they could all understand.'

 

The recent holiday in Dorset was a sedate affair due to the heatwave: the secondhand shops there occasionally throw up a find or two in aviation terms and this time was no exception:

I spent part of my childhood growing up in Chard in the early 70s and nobody ever mentioned the estimable Mr. Stringfellow. I may have to write an angry book on 'The Aeronautical Amnesia of England' as later in London the playing fields of my school there were built on the ruins of the old Sopwith factory along the Thames where Camels were produced in WW1 and nobody ever mentioned that either.

 

At some point during the day on the holiday this flew out of the midday haze over Lyme Bay but I was only able to grab a quick shot of it in the distance with the long lens before it dematerialized again like something out of the Bermuda Triangle:

Those look like Far East RAF marking to me but I could be wrong.

 

Anyway, it's good to be back with you - thanks for looking in!

Tony

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Grunticus]

Amazing work!

[RCPlym]

Outstanding stuff!!

 

I have had some laser printed decals from Phoxy Design & Print for the AEC Mammoth TG6RB bowser I have recently built and was very impressed. Not quite as sharp as screen print ones can be with a tiny bit of dithering visible closeup, but very good overall and perfectly acceptable for fine detail at 32nd scale. 

[RCPlym]

3 hours ago, TheBaron said:

Those look like Far East RAF marking to me but I could be wrong.

 

Not wrong. 👍👍👍 

[Shoggz]

Gorgeously gob-smacking work Tony...

[TheBaron]

Evening all,

 

If I don't do an update here quick it'll be the summer gone completely! The day job took over completely in August in terms of planning and organizing stuff for September plus I had a couple of orders in for Sea Vixen kits and then we had contractors in installing solar panels and batteries &tc. at home which is all good of course now the stuff is done but it didn't leave much mental space for all the other things in life you want to do.

 

Anyway.

 

In pursuit of better transparencies I had upgraded the Formbox vacformer with a Pro Mesh bed in order to improve suction/definition:

 A preliminary test on canopies for the 1/72 Sea Vixen looked good:

- so I was happy with that and ran a bunch of tests on the Wasp's transparencies:

Previously the combination of so many different shapes of varying height meant that I had to do the main roof section separately from the smaller windows so what really pleased me is that this improvement now lets me now reproducing the whole transparency set on a single piece of PETG. Much better in environmental terms as well as less expense.

 

With the time constraints I'd mentioned at the start I had decided I needed to be realistic and concentrate on painting up the various small items of gear around the front cockpit in the odd hour here and there, rather than risk mistakes creeping in from lack of attention to visual references on larger features. Apologies for the dust in the photos btw, I really must be more disciplined in giving everything a snort of air before photographing bits.

 

Firstly, the presetter unit for the torpedoes, introduced to the Wasp in Mod 5163:

 

This was folowed by This was followed by the T10K3 Controller unit for missiles which sits on the floor on the left hand side of the cockpit:

 

Sitting directly forward of it is a thing called the PWR. Looking rather like like a 1970s video camera the passive warning receiver is essentially a handheld radar detection 'gun' which the crewman waved around in order to determine the bearing of any threatening emissions:

I've no idea how operationally effective it actually was.

This tiny unit one of the radio fittings which I've so far been unable to identify from the PNs:

Directly in front of the PWR is the rack-mounted Missile Selector Box for jettison, wire cutting &tc.

 

I think the black unit atop it it  is integral to the AS.12 missile system but this was fitted after the cockpit illustrations in the PNs so no designation is available to give you.

 

The AUW presetter and radio are now permanently attached to the IP:

 

 

 

Dry fitting of missile controller and PWR units on the cockpit floor:

 

Cat's hairs too. My place really is a mess. Sorry.

Finally some realistic Blu-Tak for test fitting of the rack mounted missile units:

I need to trim the right side of the frame a little to move it in closer to the IP and console:

 

Paints used were a combination of Tamiya acrylics, Maimeri tempera and AK Extreme Metals, with a little graphite for 'wear' effects.

 

More in due course at things develop. Thanks for looking as always.

 

Tony

 

 

 

 

 

[RCPlym]

💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯 Per Cent!!!!!!

[TheBaron]

Good afternoon all!

 

Things have proceeded with a bit more rapidity over the last week so there's some progress to report back on regarding some of the fixtures which sit forward of the IP.

 

Being hidden away in the nose under normal circumstances makes for a meagre haul in terms of period photographic references, whilst the maintenance manuals I have for the Wasp are scant in detail drawings and indices of features. 'Naval Fitting' is the closest I can find for some...

 

To summarize then: there's a bloody great big square battery inside there surrounded by  various electrical, radio and radalt items of equipment which I've been able to produce in generic form from oblique and shadowed photos but without any detailed technical guide as to their function for the most part.

 

Starting with the framework the aforementioned battery sits  upon:

 

I designed that grid as a separate item due to the problems fitting print supports of sufficient strength in amongst it, whilst also avoiding marring the tiny rollers with support stubs.

 

In terms of colour, the battery appears to have been available in two flavours: minty-white  or bubblegum-blue. I went for the latter and emulated some of the grimier examples I'd seen in photos:

 

The wires leading from it too appear to have had either a red or white outer-armour to the cabling at various times so having the former in wire form made the decision for me:

On the opposite side to the battery is an enigmatic black rectangular box from which emergesa single wire. I'm going to guess it's RADALT related and probably be wrong:

Whatever it is, its contents appear fragile as it sits atop a set of vibration-dampening mounts: 

A black cube with either dials or fuses lurks below it:

 

Battery and - possible -  RADALT unit side-by-side:

The wiring is left all ahoo at present whilst being dry fitted. At least some of it must run into the central cockpit console and some down through the floor so we'll have a look  at that when parts are permanently mounted:

Further black boxes sit above those features on a kind of parcel shelf apparently made by Ward-Brookes (who sound like they should handmake brogues for gentlemen...) 

I know this will all be hidden inside the nose at the end of the build but I just know some blighter will decide to cut the front door open for a nose reveal and I don't want them to find cupboard bare.

 

This busbar set of wires were done up from 5 amp fuse wire so highly authentic:

It needed a little solder here to produce the bunched cable runs of the original:

My youngest son - an apprentice sparks -  reckons it won't pass a Health & Safety inspection however...

This feature sits on the stb end of the shelf and from details in the manual appears to be a pair of resistors for the windscreen wipers:

 

It was at this point I remembered the reason I'd designed a slot into the front side of the central console - it's half of a mortise and tenon join allowing the shelf to be accurately mounted into position:

 

 

Sounds daft I know but it's really only seeing these parts done up into a physical model that the Wasp seems to have become a reality. Two years of staring at CAD screens leaves you wondering at times if it'll ever emerge from its digital chrysalis:

 

 

 

 

Front set of chairs are up for some attention next: some fiddly PE buckles and straps should make that a bundle of fun!

Thanks for looking and more as soon as it happens.

ATB

Tony

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 10 by TheBaron

[RCPlym]

💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯 and then some! 😁😁😁😁😁😁 

[geedubelyer]

Brilliant! 

 

Another of the museum quality models we are fortunate to see here on LSP. 

 

Thank you for sharing everything Tony. 

[Mals Way]

Yeah, agree with @geedubelyer, looks fantastic and yaih.

[SwissFighters]

Super, super cool!
Thanks for sharing.
Tony