Tutorial Novice - HMCS Bonaventure Air Fleet - 1/240 Tracker/Banshee/Horse

[lastvautour]

Happy to please. I am also having fun with it.

Lou

[buccfan]

Great method for the rotor blades Lou. Regards Paul J.

[lastvautour]

A simple jig to line up the rotor blades. One must be careful with the glue as the plastic is not very thick and glue will want to stick to the paper. A thicker plastic disc or supports to lift the blade higher will help. After several tries, things worked out.

Lou

[lastvautour]

I like to mark off the area to be removed when shaping round surfaces. Since this was a small fuselage, the sanding stick was used to round the lower fuselage. The keel was cut out using the drawing outline and sanded to final shape. I wrapped 320 grit paper around the X actor knife handle to get the curved area that joins to the fuselage.

Lou

[lastvautour]

The undercarriage is made up from straight pins inserted into the fuselage. The struts will be inserted following being bent to the proper angles. The smaller dowel perfectly matched the nose wheels while the larger dowel had to be sanded down to the main wheel drawing. The wheels are sliced off the dowel using the thinnest and sharpest blade available. In this case an old(but sharp) one edge razor blade was used. I used moderate pressure and rolled the dowel back and forth.

The second last photo shows the tail fins. Again, attached the part to tape and sand down to size. I then split the part in two.

Lou

[lastvautour]

All parts cut and partially sanded. I will use acrylic paint to seal the wood and sand using 600 grit sandpaper. I made extra wheels as these will surely fall to the floor and get lost forever. The long thin piece will be cut down and used as the tail striker.

Lou

[Model Maker]

Lou - You truly are the master of miniaturization!! Looking great!!

The rotor is very impressive. One thing I frequently do with small wooden parts such as the wheels, is let them soak overnight in a small covered container of thinned shellac or thinned varathane / varnish. I'm not sure whether it actually works, but my thought is the shellac or varnish will thoroughly penetrate the disc and when dry assist in strengthening the thin discs to prevent breakage. I suspect some folks may also use CA glue for the same purpose. I just don't know how well the CA would wick through the end grain before it sets up. The thinned shellac or varathane should wick all the way through since it won't start to dry until the wooden disc is removed from the container. You could also try this for your rotors if you are worried about breakage.

-ken

[lastvautour]

I frequently use super glue for that purpose.

Lou

[lastvautour]

The final part is the tail rotor transmission housing and shaft. The housing is scrap wood and the shaft a straight pin. Paint is Tamiya acrylic Dark and Medium Sea Grey. The undercarriage is straight pins cut and bent to shape using the drawing and photos as a guide. Decals have been ordered from CanMilAir as 1/240 is too small for my skill level if white is required.

Lou

[airtype22]

Hi Lou, my first time on site and thanks to you and Garet.  The detail you have provided in this tutorial is outstanding and I want to get at it as soon as possible.

[lastvautour]

Thank you Don. Please feel free to request additional info if you want it.

The attached shows the first attempt at gluing the wheels on. It looked OK when I place them but the photos show a different story. Good comparison between 1/144 and 1/240.

Lou

P.S. Don, mailman picked up drawings. I am interested in finding out how long it takes.

[lastvautour]

Made some window from clear decal film. I still need to spray  a bonding coat but they should be ready before the markings arrive in the mail.

Lou

[Boomerang]

Looking great Lou.

Gordon

[lastvautour]

Cockpit window decals affixed.

Lou

[lastvautour]

Bill from CanMilAir advised decals were ready for shipment so maybe by next weekend we will have a completed "Horse". Remaining home made decals for fuselage windows and engine cooling mesh are on but a bit shinny. I may use dullcoat once I have the CanMilDecals on.

Lou