James' Airfix 1/72 Gazelle **FINISHED**

[martin hale]

This has come on in leaps and bounds James! BTW you had some horrible lurgy when you started this build, did you infect me over the internet?

Martin

[JamesPerrin]

GB's are contagious!

[JamesPerrin]

Only short shifts at the bench over the weekend (I've finally completed decorating hurrah!!!) but time was spent on some of those little details that make for me modelling a joy.

Looking at Mike Keeps side profile's I noticed that there is a handling erm handle at the end of the tail. Airfix haven't tried to mould it but there is a blank square here. A few swipes with a file and a bit of bent sprue adds what's needed.



As you can see I've done the decalling, using the kit decals, sometimes cut up to get the bits I need. I printed off my own serials to match this aircraft:

http://www.airliners.net/photo/UK---Arm ... 5bb8353b4a;

I also found an image of grill, scaled and printed it out. I wasted 1/2 hr trying to bend the image, in the the end the lack of distortion is not noticeable. Cut in to four section and placed appropriately I think Mike Grant would be proud

You can just see the later aerial beneath the boom that quickly replaced the blade aerial on early machines. The roundels need the under printed white just painting over.



Looking through pics of the real thing I spotted that there is quite a big light in the nose. Airfix had noticed it too and it is moulded so you could paint the back silver and then mask it before painting, if you spot it early enough. I just drilled a dimple, painted it and then glazed it with PVA.



For a bit of colour the bands that match the rotor components were added. If you don't know rotor blades are carefully balanced and so putting the bits back in the same place after maintained is important.



Still the H aerial to go and a coat of satin.

[AndrewR]

Nice detailing work James.

Cheers

Andrew

[Jagewa]

Ooo smashing details James, the "grilecal" is really effective.

Cheers
Jim

[ShaunW]

Nice extra detailing James and I agree that the mesh decals look very effective.

[Molly-new]

Lovely work on the little details. The colour bands that match the rotor components is a cool idea. Do all choppers have this?

[JamesPerrin]

Lovely work on the little details. The colour bands that match the rotor components is a cool idea. Do all choppers have this?

British helos at least from the 70's onwards

[JamesPerrin]

More micro scratch building this evening. I got a coat of Xtracrylix Matt Varnish on first as I didn't want to have to try and unmask with the H aerial in place on the nose.

Using some capilers I worked out the sizes of the parts as best I could. The horizontal was support was made from some copper wire and CA'd in place. The vertical wires, made from wine bottle wire, are mounted on some distinctly dome shaped doo-dahs. I drilled some a hole through the end of piece of plastic rod and then shaped the end. The wire was then threaded through the hole and glued in placed. The dome with the wire piercing it was cut from the end of the rod.



Repeat for the other one and superglue to the support. This has been primed with grey enamel before I paint it with Xtracrylix black to match the camo.



Just some details to pick out once things are dry and we should be done tomorrow.

[ShaunW]

Oh yes, nice work on the H aerial James - doing stuff like that is one of the most satisfying aspects of modelling for me.

[Jagewa]

Nice antlers James, a great solution to building them.

Cheers
Jim

[JamesPerrin]

Cheers guys. I had attached the rotor and mast last night as it was a bit wobbly and needed over to set solid. Boy though did is make the final detail painting tricky. Just adding a few white lines around the sliding windows and the sqn badge on the fuselage side.

Anyway it's all done and I pretty pleased with it. There are still things I could have improved if I had the time over. The blades join the hub in a square block rather than tapering, something that would have been easy to fix with a bit of putty. However I enjoyed adding the tiny details that helos have so many of, later Gazelle's sprouted even more lumps and bumps and I might do a tooled up one if I want to revisit the kit. Using Xtracolor was a pleasure and I've added some more of the useful colours that are not available elsewhere to my paint box. Though I've made plenty of decals for markings before this is the first time I've faked details, the grill turned out well, thanks to the big MG for the inspiration.

Thanks also to Shaun for running a tight ship and providing plenty of support to all, a superb GB leader.

[Jagewa]

Jeez I like that James, it's an attractive scheme. You've done a top job there. Those Grillecals worked soooooooo well, well done Sir, great build.

Cheers
Jim

[Clashcityrocker]

Very delicate looking helo. Nice work.

Nigel

[ShaunW]

Thank you James, very nice of you to say and I have really enjoyed the experience thus far. An excellent finish, the Gazelle is a great looking helo and the additional work that you have put in has certainly improved the standard kit. I have one question re the rotor sag and apologies if I've missed that bit in the build thread - what technique did you use?