Pappy121

G'day people, I managed to get the pylons glossed up, The pylons were given a quick brush over with Future then, while still wet, the decals were applied and they were given another brush over with Future. I find that this 'Future sandwich' method works very well when using small stencils which can be prone to silvering, cheers, Pappy

Cheers Calum, hopefully I can get to the clear coat stage soon. I am interested in the Gaia gloss that you have used. You seem pretty happy with it. Does it need thinning prior to spraying? cheers, Pappy

G'day people, I have painted a few more basic colours onto the SHAR, I think it may be time for a clear coat, cheers, Pappy

G'day people, I have finally got around to doing a little more on my SHAR. The tail feathers have been mottled up to match the rest of the upper airframe. They are only temporarily fitted in these pics I also did a little weathering on the jugs, they are hard buggers to photograph, apologies for the crappy pics cheers, Pappy

G'day people, I managed to get a little bench time in today. I have applied the top coat. After a basic application of straight EDSG, several lighter mixtures were applied over the upper surfaces in a squiggle pattern, followed by a highly diluted (90% thinner) dusting of straight EDSG again to blend everything together, I then unmasked the lower surfaces. I was trying to achieve a subtle contrast between the upper and lower surfaces as accounts from the conflict state that there was a discernible difference between the factory applied EDSG of

G'day people, I gave the stabs a light sand and attempted second spray. The weird circular irregularities seem to have disappeared. I also like the subtle contrast between the upper surface EDSG that wraps around the leading edge and the lightened EDSG of the underside The upper EDSG has gone on without any issues I have started picking out some details and did a spot of test weathering cheers, Pappy

G'day Andrew, Not a bad job really, and I imagine that looking at it normally (as opposed to the magnification provided by the monitor) it looks pretty decent too. I have sanded the offending areas of the parts and although some details were lost and required re-scribing, I think the parts will come up okay. I hope to get to the painting today, cheers, Pappy

No probs Andrew, post some pics of how you went. G'day people, I have started painting my SHAR. The original scheme had the undersides painted in gloss white, however the EDSG of the upper surfaces was extended to cover the underside as well during the voyage south. There are several reports that although the same EDSG paint was applied over the white, there was still a discernible variation between the older (original) EDSG and the freshly applied areas. To try and capture this, I lightened my EDSG with some white. I don't know how much as I did not measure the amount

Probably Pappy

No probs, Step 1. Paint with light grey acrylic* paint, let dry. Step 2. Using a wooden** cocktail stick, gently scrape away the excess paint. the MDC is moulded as a raised detail, so it was pretty easy to use it as a guide Step 3. If you are not happy, re-apply paint and repeat steps 1-3. Once happy with the result, I dipped the canopy in Future - simples! * I use acrylics because they are not as 'hot' as enamels/lacquers so will not bite into the plastic as hard. This makes them easy to remove. ** Wooden cocktail sticks are softer than the canopy pla

G'day people, Canopies are done, ready for masking. cheers, Pappy

Great choice Calum. I have this in the stash so it will great to see you sort out any of the pitfalls (if any) before I get around to building mine! cheers, Pappy

G'day Andrew, Thanks very much. G'day people, I revisited the LAU-7 missile launcher adapters. The shape of the single LAU-7 adapter is not quite right as the forward and aft ends should taper instead of being just a vertical edge. I hacked away until the kit items more closely resembled my refs. To be truly accurate, the hardback should also be extended outwards but I was satisfied with the level of work performed as I was at the point of diminishing returns. My attention now returned to the cockpit. I added the PE HUD frame and combiner glass

G'day Matt, Thanks very much. it has fought me a little but i am nearly over the hump now, cheers, Pappy

G'day people, Well I have finally had a chance to get some bench time in. I have managed to put some work into the gun pods. I am not 100% happy, but I think they look a lot better than what i started with. These have been added to the lower fuselage. The fit was quite good, Whilst i was working around the lower fuselage, i took the opportunity to add the main gear unit doors. These had a tendency to droop slightly open as the hydraulic pressure bled off. I have attached these in a

G'day people, I am still trying to get the Aden cannon pods up to an acceptable standard and this is proving frustrating.meanwhile, I have been working on a figure to accompany the jet. I have been working on this little fella on and off for the past week I present the bearded one, cheers,

G'day people, A little more progress with this one. I have spent today adding the various aerials. The kinetic instructions are a little vague with the precise location of some of these antennas as not all of them are located centrally. I also noticed that there is an extra grille on the tail fairing that was obliterated during the sanding process. Luckily, I had a spare circular PE mesh part so that was pressed into service cheers Pappy

Good, take some internal pics of the cabin of the SH-2G(I) for me, cheers Zac Pappy

Would you trust the colour call outs if they were there?

G'day Stakor, Thanks very much. I was thinking about this issue a few days ago need I need to think how to remedy this. I think the easiest way is to shave off the upper corner of the forward bulkhead, but this will not be easy with the seat already installed. G'day people, I have added a little more to the cabin. My references show that there is some webbing installed on the right and aft cabin walls. I decided the easiest way to reproduce this was to use thins trips of masking tape. Most of the webbing will not be seen so I was not too fussy about getting

G'day people, Here are some pics of the kit ejection seat going together, First job was to tidy up the seam that passes through the headbox, Next up the addition of some of the PE belts as well as some additional details that were missing Next up , a splash of paint to see what we are dealing with. I do not like the pre-painted PE belts. Apart from not getting the colours right, the paint tends to flake off if you bend the belts too much. I prefer to brush paint th

G'day NZ Gunnie, I was aware of most of the differences, but the one area I don't have any refs for is the aft cabin of the I model. Is there any chance of getting some pics of this area? I agree that the NZ version would not be too much of a stretch, the HF900, ALE-47 and winch are also common to the SH-2G(A) model. The pylons are also wrong for the A. "The armourer, without him there is no need for an air force" - Lord Trenchard

LoL G'day Winnie, I remember when this pic did the rounds under the title "RAN (Royal Australian Navy) finds cracks on their new Seasprite helicopters" cheers, Pappy

G'day people, A little more progress. I wired up my avionics rack and added a bench seat. The bench seat was donated by a fellow modeller (thanks Whitey!) who had one spare. The cabin is getting close to done, only a few more bits to go. I have also assembled the engine nacelles These went together effortlessly. cheers, Pappy

G'day people, Following Jonners suggestion, the pitot assembly was revisited. The pitot assembly is installed into a slot in the upper fuselage. Unmodified, the assembly will sit a bit high. The real pitot assembly also fair smoothly into the fuselage. I deepened the slot but not enough as there was still a slight gap between the end of the pitot tube and fuselage. The remedy was simple, I cut a wedge from some sprue that approximated the pitot diameter and sanded to shape. cheers, Pappy