Dazzled's Wocka

Yet another attempt to persuade rationale people these things actually can fly ....
Runs December 1st to 31st.
GB Leader is Lancfan.
User avatar
Dazzled
Modelling Gent and Scholar
Posts: 9592
Joined: October 1st, 2011, 11:08 pm
Location: Mid Glamorgan, South Wales
Contact:

Dazzled's Wocka

Post by Dazzled »

I have beaten around the bush over joining this GB. My arm is still giving me a lot of bother and I have serious doubts that I'll be able to finish, but given that I'm going to be having at least another unexpected week off work because of my injury, I'm going to join in. Even if I don't finish the shelf of shame is looking like it has some space available after the Getting Things Done GB so I might as well take advantage ;-) .

This is my entry.

Image

I'm sure many forum members will be familiar with Airfix's Chinook ("Wocka" is the RAF nickname, as I found out while working for the MOD. It goes "Wocka Wocka Wocka" :roll: ) and there is plenty written about it both on the web and in many model magazines.

This is what's in the box.

Image

It's a pretty nice looking kit with good detail and recessed panel lines. Not exactly fine but not trench lines either. A layer of paint or three should make these look about right.

The kit comes with 3 decal options. Two RAF temperate schemes in dark green/dark grey, one of which is the famous Bravo November. this was originally the aircraft I planned to model as I purchased this kit early last year with the Falklands GB in mind. Unfortunately, issues with the Humbrol paint I tried on my Victor seriously messed up my plans (they were both going to be the same colours) and, consequently, the Chinook has languished in the stash since then. The other scheme is the interesting field applied disruptive scheme used during Desert Storm by the helicopters of No.7 squadron. It looks eyecatching and, initially at least, rather daunting, but I think I've figured a quite simple way to achieve the desired result so, for the moment at least, this is the scheme I'm leaning towards.

This is, of course, subject to change ;-) .

With my other projects drying on the shelf it seemed a good time to make a start so I've ploughed straight into the interior, assembling the cockpit and giving the relevant parts a base black colour using the trusty Aztek.

Image

The instructions call for plain Matt Black but, in my opinion, this looks a little harsh so I opted for Tamiya XF-69 NATO Black. It has a more subdued and faded hue and gives a toned down look to the cockpit.

More updates soon I hope 8-) .
COLD WAR S.I.G. LEADER

Wherever there's danger, wherever there's trouble, wherever there's important work to be done....I'll be somewhere else building a model!
User avatar
splash
Senior Service Rotorhead
Posts: 13828
Joined: May 1st, 2011, 11:02 am
Location: Somerset England

Re: Dazzled's Wocka

Post by splash »

It's a nice kit you will enjoy the build, when I started mine I added detail to the rear cabin with the plan of leaving the ramp open, but when I assembled it I found its so dark in there, you can see absolutely nothing so I finished up closing the ramp.

My recommendation would be don't waist effort and just close up the ramp, or if you plan to leave it open then add a full stores pallet at the rear to fill up the void.

Regards Splash
My work bench is starting to look like Portsmouth Naval Dockyard.
User avatar
Dazzled
Modelling Gent and Scholar
Posts: 9592
Joined: October 1st, 2011, 11:08 pm
Location: Mid Glamorgan, South Wales
Contact:

Re: Dazzled's Wocka

Post by Dazzled »

Thanks for the tip Splash. I think I'll leave it buttoned up 8-)
COLD WAR S.I.G. LEADER

Wherever there's danger, wherever there's trouble, wherever there's important work to be done....I'll be somewhere else building a model!
User avatar
Molly-new
Modelling Gent and Scholar
Posts: 2355
Joined: May 4th, 2011, 8:42 pm
Location: Stoke-on-Trent, England

Re: Dazzled's Wocka

Post by Molly-new »

Great choice, I hope it goes together better than the Matchbox one I did recently, the cockpit/fuselage/canopy fit was dreadfull.
Airfix WWII Aircraft Of The Aces.
Completed - 10
Building -
Pending -4
User avatar
Dazzled
Modelling Gent and Scholar
Posts: 9592
Joined: October 1st, 2011, 11:08 pm
Location: Mid Glamorgan, South Wales
Contact:

Re: Dazzled's Wocka

Post by Dazzled »

And here's the cockpit....

Image

The seats were picked out in Tamiya Khaki Drab and the quilting at the rear got some Humbrol Dark Green with a light dry brush for a darker shade over the top. Unfortunately, it's not all that obvious in the picture. A dry brush in 3 different shades of light grey and silver followed to highlight some detail and give some depth when viewed through the cockpit transparency.

More progress later. :)
COLD WAR S.I.G. LEADER

Wherever there's danger, wherever there's trouble, wherever there's important work to be done....I'll be somewhere else building a model!
User avatar
TomW
Modelling Gent and Scholar
Posts: 2279
Joined: May 1st, 2011, 8:09 am
Location: Devizes, Wiltshire

Re: Dazzled's Wocka

Post by TomW »

Looking suitably smart Dazzled, I've got the same kit in the stash somewhere so I'll take a few notes if you don't mind.

Regards

Tom
Veni, Venari, Vamoosi

Coastal Command SIG Leader 2012 - 2016

We'll call him Dinghy Watts...... - Paul Bradley

2016 A:B = 29:11
2015 A:B = 38:14
2014 A:B = 25:9
2013 A:B = 20:17
2012 A:B = I didn't keep score
2011 A:B = 39:11
2010 A:B = 51:10
User avatar
splash
Senior Service Rotorhead
Posts: 13828
Joined: May 1st, 2011, 11:02 am
Location: Somerset England

Re: Dazzled's Wocka

Post by splash »

Nice work on the cockpit, one minor point did you know the padding on the Chinook seats is a bright orange? Check this link http://www.flickr.com/photos/dsaba67/6320170178/

Regards Splash
My work bench is starting to look like Portsmouth Naval Dockyard.
User avatar
Dazzled
Modelling Gent and Scholar
Posts: 9592
Joined: October 1st, 2011, 11:08 pm
Location: Mid Glamorgan, South Wales
Contact:

Re: Dazzled's Wocka

Post by Dazzled »

splash wrote:Nice work on the cockpit, one minor point did you know the padding on the Chinook seats is a bright orange? Check this link http://www.flickr.com/photos/dsaba67/6320170178/

Regards Splash

Or, probably, faded back fluffy seat covers or even a light canvas effort.

http://www.hmfriends.org.uk/za720panelbig.htm

It's one of the RAF cockpit pics. Different operators appear to have their own take on what they cover their seats with. Personally, I'd like to see a nice leopard skin seat cover and some furry dice :ha: .
COLD WAR S.I.G. LEADER

Wherever there's danger, wherever there's trouble, wherever there's important work to be done....I'll be somewhere else building a model!
User avatar
Dazzled
Modelling Gent and Scholar
Posts: 9592
Joined: October 1st, 2011, 11:08 pm
Location: Mid Glamorgan, South Wales
Contact:

Re: Dazzled's Wocka

Post by Dazzled »

TomW wrote:Looking suitably smart Dazzled, I've got the same kit in the stash somewhere so I'll take a few notes if you don't mind.

Regards

Tom
Feel free Tom.

I'm happy to pass on any bodges ;-) .
COLD WAR S.I.G. LEADER

Wherever there's danger, wherever there's trouble, wherever there's important work to be done....I'll be somewhere else building a model!
User avatar
splash
Senior Service Rotorhead
Posts: 13828
Joined: May 1st, 2011, 11:02 am
Location: Somerset England

Re: Dazzled's Wocka

Post by splash »

Dazzled wrote:
splash wrote:Nice work on the cockpit, one minor point did you know the padding on the Chinook seats is a bright orange? Check this link http://www.flickr.com/photos/dsaba67/6320170178/

Regards Splash

Or, probably, faded back fluffy seat covers or even a light canvas effort.

http://www.hmfriends.org.uk/za720panelbig.htm

It's one of the RAF cockpit pics. Different operators appear to have their own take on what they cover their seats with. Personally, I'd like to see a nice leopard skin seat cover and some furry dice :ha: .
Mmmmm Leopard skin that would look good :-D .

The fluffy seat is a removable sheep skin cover that is fitted over the green and yellow Personal Life Raft, that's fitted in the seat pan, the boffins discovered that to reduce compression injuries to you spine due to heavy impacts, hard seat are the best option, but Pilots found the seats too hard, so they added the sheep skin covers to soften the seat but not to much as to allow movement on impact.

I must admit I think green or brown looks more war like, when I first started flying we had yellow life jackets and white helmets and gloves, it was not until the early eighties that Navel Aircrew went tactical green now everything is camouflaged including the life jackets.

Regards Splash
My work bench is starting to look like Portsmouth Naval Dockyard.
User avatar
Dazzled
Modelling Gent and Scholar
Posts: 9592
Joined: October 1st, 2011, 11:08 pm
Location: Mid Glamorgan, South Wales
Contact:

Re: Dazzled's Wocka

Post by Dazzled »

I think I'll hold that leopard skin thought for a future build ;-)

Progress has been made with the Chinook. Forging ahead in fact, despite a few fit issues and me getting my fingers stuck to the thing more than a couple of times. I had visions of me walking around for a couple of days with a half built Airfix model attached to my hand :roll:.

To get the interior over with I brush painted a coat of light grey enamel in the cargo bay. It's not going to be seen so I didn't feel that extra work was warranted in this area.

Image

I also had a bit of fun with the windows/hatches in the sides. they took quite a bit of fettling to get them towards something resembling a fit. This should have served as a warning for the fun to come.

And the start of the fun was joining the fuselage halves together.

Image

All clamped up and stuck together with a combination of gap filling cyano and liquid poly. There followed considerable twisting, stretching and adjusting to line everything up.

However all was not well as fitting the front and rear parts of the aft rotor mounting was less than straightforward.

Image

Image

Image

Much sanding and dry fitting was required but these parts refused to fit snugly, particularly the rear part. I opted to stitch it on with cyano then run more gap filling glue down the seam from the inside before adding accelerator and using a cotton bud and gravity to guide the glue along the open seam, It seems to have worked. If nothing else it'll provide a suitable base for filling, something I'm sure I'm going to have to do quite a bit of in the near future. The front shroud wasn't quite as bad but this was only after quite a bit had been sanded of the bottom and back. It's still going to require some blending in.

While I had the Zap-a-Gap out I stitch filled the upper fuselage seam. When I'm ready I'll sand this back.

And finally, while fiddling the engines together I noticed the copious amounts of ejector pin marks that seem to adorn the most unhelpful area of the model, like this doozy...

Image

Not exactly helpful in a butt-jointed face. Ho hum, If all models were easy there'd be no fun in it would there? ;-)
COLD WAR S.I.G. LEADER

Wherever there's danger, wherever there's trouble, wherever there's important work to be done....I'll be somewhere else building a model!
User avatar
Dazzled
Modelling Gent and Scholar
Posts: 9592
Joined: October 1st, 2011, 11:08 pm
Location: Mid Glamorgan, South Wales
Contact:

Re: Dazzled's Wocka

Post by Dazzled »

And the fight continues.....


Despite the abundance of clamps the fuselage only stuck where it touched, which wasn't in that many places as it happens. :frown:

Image

The upper parts had to be stitch filled along the seam with gap filling glue and sanded back afterwards. This is still in progress in the picture. Not so visible are the shallow sink marks that adorn the top of the fuselage.

And if I wasn't impressed enough so far, I attached the cargo door and underside panel.

Image

And found that there was a big enough gap to fly another helicopter through :frown: . The door is too wide as well :cry: .

That's going to suck up a fair amount of filler, even with plastic strip inserts.

And it gets better.

Image

The dodgy fit extends to the flushness of the panel too. After the picture I ran liquid poly along the seams. When this dries I'll be working on sanding it flush.

I think I'll go get the orbital sander from my workshop :roll: .

It did my mood no good when I dry fitted the engine nacelles either.

I am, to say the least, rather unimpressed with this kit so far. It's not that I'm not up for a challenge but this is of a standard I'd expect from a small limited run kit manufacturer from thirty years ago, not a relatively modern kit by the mighty Airfix.

I'm going to stand back from it for a day or two. I'm not giving up, just regrouping :-| .
COLD WAR S.I.G. LEADER

Wherever there's danger, wherever there's trouble, wherever there's important work to be done....I'll be somewhere else building a model!
User avatar
Ian
Blitzbau hero
Posts: 5137
Joined: May 4th, 2011, 10:01 am

Re: Dazzled's Wocka

Post by Ian »

Goodness, that does look to be somewhat 'challenging'. I do, however, have confidence that you will overcome these issues and complete a wonderful looking completed Chinook.
I'm a mostly full-time modeller put a part-time poster....
User avatar
BlohmWolf
Modelling Gent and Scholar
Posts: 2355
Joined: May 15th, 2013, 11:21 pm
Location: Down under, TAS.

Re: Dazzled's Wocka

Post by BlohmWolf »

Nice looking wocka!
After seeing this, the 1/144 kit had suprisingly taken off the airfix chinook quite well:
(Not to hijack thread)
Image


Also, the Airfix Chinook is the italeri re-box.
"Can not finish a model at all"

"You can get more of what you want, with a kind word and a wallet, than just a kind word".

Currently Building: FROG Wildcat, Fokker DR1 Red baron and some other things...
User avatar
philp
Modelling Gent and Scholar
Posts: 1279
Joined: May 1st, 2011, 12:14 am
Location: Kearns, Utah
Contact:

Re: Dazzled's Wocka

Post by philp »

Will be interested to see if your idea on the camo is the same as the one I am planning whenever I get to this build.

I am also planning on putting miniguns in the front hatches but need good pics of the British fit for these and the tail ramp gun (GMPG?). Had originally planned to stick a SAS rover inside but research appears that this didn't happen, more likely a slung load. Dang research.
Locked

Return to “Whirlybirds IV”