Titan's sand shark***FINISHED***

[Titan]

Ok the pit is finished and as I am keeping the canopy all closed up I will leave it as it is and move onto the engine and intake meshes tomorrow.

I've added the silver for the belts, the control columns, painted the hoses, added a wash,flat varnish as well and just touched up some areas that I missed last night.









And finally test fitted it into the fuselage.



Should look fairly good under a closed canopy.

Regards
Mark

[ShaunW]

That looks more than good enough Mark.

[Jagewa]

That dry brushing has been very effective, nice one.

Cheers
Jim

[Titan]

Thanks guys..

So there I was listening to the extended version of soft Cell's `Say hello, wave goodbye` whistling away I was whilst painting the engine part for this chopper and thinking to myself "that detail is ok,mmm" best have a test fit to see how much can actually be seen.....the answer is none, complete waste of time even more so with some mesh in the way ...doh I should have test fitted first...

This is how far I got with it....





I am using a bag that used to contain a string of garlic for the mesh, not ideal but good enough..



Here are the holes it needs to fill...



I tried using super glue to stick it down but I might as well of tried water for all the good it did, so I used micro weld instead and that did the trick so once dried I painted micro weld completely over the mesh to give it some rigidness.



I'm happy with that.

Next I put 8 grams of 177 shot onto the skids to see if that was enough to stop it tipping backwards which it did but I think 10 grams would be better just to be sure.





The starboard skid will need a little adjusting to get it to sit correctly.

Regards
Mark

[jssel]

Nice one, Mark. Great work especially the engine. I am there at that point now.

[ShaunW]

In the early 80's I used to go to the Warehouse club in Leeds where Marc Almond out of Soft Cell once worked. Of course at the time I was young and still had sufficient hair to have a trendy haircut

This Cobra is really taking shape and the engine work looks very convincing - shame it can't be seen! The garlic bag mesh is arguably a little wide but I'm not arguing and it looks better than nowt!

[Titan]

You are right about the mesh Shaun, I may try another piece on top with the mesh going the other way and see if that makes a difference.

I was in London in the mid eighties and walking down oxford street when a bloke who looked very familiar was walking towards me with a couple of other people around him anyway I could have sworn blind it was Marc Almond but I didn't want to make a dill of my self by saying hello to him just in case it wasn't.
I have met the actor Keith Baron at a hospital reception desk, nice chap and I also met Andy Taylor from Duran Duran, he was standing by me waiting to give his room key in at a hotel where I worked, he likes to do a bit of surfing.
I wasn't a fan per say of Duran Duran some of their early stuff was ok, no I was more into OMD, John Foxx and Gary Numan.

Regards
Mark

[Titan]

Thanks Bruce, yeah I guess view to a kill was ok, awful video though.

Well double layering the mesh where the IPS is supposed to be and in fact where the debris deflector would go doesn't quite work so I will have to buy some fine aluminum mesh( which I need for other projects ) but this can't be done until Tuesday.



I put the skids into some hot water and once twisted into the correct position I shocked them with cold water which worked very well.
Just the seam lines to get rid of.



I added 10g's worth of weight and put the rotor on to make sure that it doesn't sit back onto it's tail and I'm glad to say even pressing down on the tail slightly it doesn't want to tip.





Regards
Mark

[jssel]

Your snake sets very well. I better get a move on. The problem with a tighter mesh is after paint is added it would cover up that beautiful engine even more. It sure is a trade off.

[Molly-new]

Nice trick with the skids and the hot water, I wish I had thought of that when I built mine.

It is a shame to lose all the work done on the engine. When I built the Revell 1/32 scale AH-1G, it came with a detachable panel:



May be an option for you if you fancy a bit of plastic surgery!!

[ShaunW]

The sit seems fine from here Mark, good trick with the water.

[Jagewa]

Dam that is an attractive shape that Cobra.

Cheers
Jim

[Justin1980]

Nice work on the Cobra,

I know you want to be authentic with the mesh, but it looks good from here! I will hold my opinion until I see the fine mesh of course!

Justin

[Titan]

Well I have the mesh but it is only marginally smaller than the garlic bag..... C'est la vie, the good thing though is the metal mesh conforms better to the curves of the intakes.





I have decided to make this copter as the Sand Shark and have painted the rotor accordingly, the reason for this is that I have damaged a yellow chevron and part of the snake by allowing a piece of Sellotape to fall across the decals and even though I suppose I could fix them with paint I'd rather not take the chance when I intend to get another kit anyhow.



I have gone around all the join lines with some Mr putty and will let it cure fully before sanding smooth.

Regards
Mark

[ShaunW]

The mesh is an improvement over the garlic bag I think Mark. As you say, the mesh conforms to the curves of the fuselage better. The damage to the decals was unfortunate, sounds like a potential stomp around the room moment