You're making a great job of a troublesome kit. thanks for adding the info too, very informative indeed.
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There is the thoyght that you learn more from a difficult or even bad kit than from a high quality well-engineered one
What you learn is you never want to build another one of those kits / manufacturers ever again!:tongue-out2:Comment
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Very true Chris. However as Jakko has mentioned, the helicopters that only have skids are moved about by fitting jockey type wheels to the skids to move them about. Having skids when operating from ships is simply not practicable, as the helo's have to face into wind on take off. As I mentioned yesterday, the ship moving along will produce its own wind so it and the helicopter have to move to give the helicopter a relative wind to launch into!!
I should add, it's similar to recover the helicopter too. We fly down a pre determined line by the use of a light beam called a GPS, Glide Path System. Green on line, red - too low, amber - too high. then the ship will turn to give us a suitable wind to enable us to land.
I've actually hovered alongside a war canoe and the ship didn't give us a wind for landing. Fuel fell below our designated minima, so the pilot declared a 'Mayday'! We were on fumes!! The ship bounced round onto a heading that gave us a good wind for landing. Whilst hovering over the deck immediately prior to sticking it on the deck - fuel ran out. We landed with a serious bang!!!! My boss, (the pilot), stormed up to the operations room so 'discuss' flying operations with the PWO, (Principle Warfare Officer), to have an exchange of views on flight safety!! By all accounts the ops room emptied. End result; Pilot 1 - PWO 0.
It has it's moments operating a helicopter from a ship at sea!!!Comment
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Doesn’t stop the Americans and others from using UH-1s and AH-1s from ships, though. OK, the AH-1s usually operated from helicopter carriers (AKA “amphibious assault ships”) but UH-1s would also be carried on smaller ships with just a basic helicopter deck and hangar at times.Comment
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But with big limitations to take offs and recoveries, they have to turn the ship quite considerable to get a flying wind. Whereas we can help by rotating the helicopter to minimise the ships movement. Quite a plus in a tactical environment!
Edited bit.
US Small ships, frigates and the like, in the Wasps era, their helicopter of choice was the Sea Sprite. (Quite a habit of ditching). Also, I don't see the advantage of the UH1 on ASW or AAW vessels. They have a good weight carrying capability but no where to hang weapons. DC's Torpedoes!!!Comment
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I suspect that’s why they too seem to have preferred shipborne helicopters with wheels
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Interesting discussion Doug - I have to say my thoughts wandered over the USMC AH-1 and how they manage as well, but as you say, they're operated off much bigger ships that the Wasp.
Personally I think you're being far too hard on yourself - that Wasp's undercarriage would be a challenging build ion most scales, even with a decent kit. The fact that you've got this far with it is credit to you.Arnold Judas Rimmer BSc SSc
''Happiness is a Triple Fried Egg Sandwich with Chilli Sauce and Chutney''Comment
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Thank you Arnie, I wish I was as happy with it as I perhaps should be - but I'm not!
Anyway I managed to get some primer on it!!. Sorry no pics, too busy yesterday. I had a bit of an experiment with my primer as in the past I haven't been happy with Vallejo Grey Primer. So!! I decided to really thin my usual mix. (50/50). Today I mixed 10 drops of primer, 15 drops thinning agent and 4 drops flow improver, (all Vallejo). Applied several thin coats and left overnight!!
Boy did it show some awful stuff. A nasty scratch. Joins that need filling and sanding, an awful round 'something' on the underside that I have been working on. But at least the thinned primer seemed to have worked.
Today I started addressing some of the nasties using my newly acquired magnifying headset!!
Pic 1
Pic 2
You may be able to see the round 'something' on the darker grey area, nearly there.
Pic 3
Cockpit and rear cabin, primer applied. I also primed the engine, the floatation clamshells and canopy!
Loads to do around the house tomorrow (sand the block paving - then put down the bonding sealer - all 70+ ltrs of the stuff! However I may be able to grab some 'me' time to assault the Wasp yet again!!!Comment
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Sorry Doug, I thought I had commented on this build, but I haven't. I can't add much as the others have said it all. I can say that I have learned a whole lot about helicopters from your build and think you are definitely taming this beast. It's also good to see your Chinese torture device is helping you in the build. Please take care when using it. For such a tiny thing, your skills are tremendous as well as your patience. Looks great to me Sir!!!
And here I was thinking, if you turned a copter up side down, you could scramble your eggs for breakfast with it...What do I know........
Prost
AllenLife's to short to be a sheep...Comment
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Yeah, egg whisks they are, no doubt!! I thank you for looking in and your comments Allen. Much appreciated. When such esteemed people comment positively I feel something must be going right. Then I ask myself - 'why don't I see it'?
I look at my previous four builds and didn't experience half the trouble I have had with this one. The Beatle I didn't enjoy but that was me trying to get ahead of myself. The rest, I learned from them and even improved as I went on. Now I seem to have taken giant steps backwards!!
Oh, I've been upside down in a Lynx belonging to TWA, (Teeny Weeny Airways), what a buzz. However, it's still not right looking at Mother Earth through the rotor blades and having your harness dangling in front of your eyes!!!! Luckily, no eggs near us to scramble!!!
DougComment
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You’re too hard on yourself Doug, we are our own worst critic as they say.
I think she is looking great.Strength isn't about what you can do, rather it's about overcoming what you thought you couldn't do.Comment
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Thank you Garry, I see critical of my work as realistic. However, as I say, it will be finished!! Best I can say!!!
Not much going on right now, House has taken up all my time over the past few days. We have loads of block paving and I like to look after it. SO!!
It has all been cleaned. Then re-sanded, took longer than estimated. This year I decided to splash the cash and get a seriously up for the job sprayer to apply the sealer. Worth the investment, made a messy job, (usually), a lot better. A better spray pattern and a bigger tank really helped.
Sadly, I cocked up on the after use clean up!! I banged the wrong cleaning agent through it, Totally destroyed the Vitol seals!! I used acetone!! Avoid at all costs!! I should have used xylene!! Doh. Another £16 for a replacement handle as you can't obtain replacement vital seals separately!!!!
Anyway, Wasp. All I have achieved, thanks to the new magnifying headset, is I have now filled in the gaps on joins and tidied up a bit of uneven joins. I managed to sand down the circular blemish. So tomorrow's work or more than likely, Sundays work. Will be to clean up today's filling in the re-prime!
That's it for now.
DougComment
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