Fuselage is rough cut. Progress may be quite slow on this one.
Lou
Will this be the largest of the 144 helicopters?
Fraser
The Hip is a close second if not the biggest. I have yet to place the fuselage next to the Hip for comparison.
Lou
The Chinook received some well await progress in the last few days. The fuselage and sponsons are glued together, and the rotor towers are rough sanded. Work on the rotor was also started today with the blades being cut, thinned and shaped. They are made to rotate counterclockwise for the front and clockwise for the rear. I made a quickie jig for thinning the blades by laying 5 thickness of electrical tape with a channel to accept the blade blank. I shave the materiel until the chisel contacted the tape. This gave me a.5mm thickness.
Lou
I like the idea of the electrical tape as it is slicker than masking tape and probably tougher too. What are you using for the wood in the blades?
Fraser
My blades are recycled mahogany baseboards.
Lou
Model is complete except for the upper fuselage driveshaft tunnel cover. Undercarriage is complete and is quite simple. The forward legs are a one-piece dowel notched to simulate two wheels. The rear pylon holds a stub wing and the three-part engines which are also shaped from dowels.
Paint and decals have been ordered and anticipated to be here before month's end.
Lou
Great idea on making the dual wheels! I'll keep that for a technique in the future.
Fraser
I have some rat tail files that are 1cm thick and they work great at doing this.
Lou
Roll out 10 Nov 22. Eight CH-47C were acquired in 1974. Although highly versatile the remaining aircraft were deemed too expensive to operate and retired by 1991. We have since taken delivery of 15 CH-147F starting in 2014. My example is a CH-147C circa 1990.
Lou
Not: I have added a comparative shot of the Chinook next to a Hip