slick95 Posted August 22, 2009 Author Share Posted August 22, 2009 Thanks a lot guys! Here is one final update... The -53 is in the box right now, headed on a deployment to the closet. And one more of a rather sad and lonely looking work bench. It'll be a while, but the -53 will be back. Thanks everyone who has watched so far! SLICK Quote Link to post Share on other sites
otis252 Posted August 22, 2009 Share Posted August 22, 2009 WHAT! You can't quit now. You're in the home stretch. Chuck Quote Link to post Share on other sites
slick95 Posted August 22, 2009 Author Share Posted August 22, 2009 WHAT! You can't quit now. You're in the home stretch. I wish I could keep building on the model...but it's time to move on in life and start college. I leave tomorrow morning for Texas A&M, but when I come back home on some weekends I will pull the bird back out and do some building. Trust me, I will finish this model! I'll have your book sent back to you soon. Thanks a lot for allowing me to borrow it! I'll just have to pick one up myself. That way I don't keep yours forever. Thanks again!! SLICK Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jimz66 Posted August 22, 2009 Share Posted August 22, 2009 I wish I could keep building on the model...but it's time to move on in life and start college. I leave tomorrow morning for Texas A&M, but when I come back home on some weekends I will pull the bird back out and do some building. Trust me, I will finish this model! I'll have your book sent back to you soon. Thanks a lot for allowing me to borrow it! I'll just have to pick one up myself. That way I don't keep yours forever. Thanks again!! SLICK Slick bring them with you. You may need a break once and awhile. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
slick95 Posted August 22, 2009 Author Share Posted August 22, 2009 Slick bring them with you. You may need a break once and awhile. I would love to bring my model stuff...but I'll be in the Corps of Cadets in Navy ROTC. I won't be allowed to have anything not on their list of required items...especially not fish year. SLICK Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fabster Posted August 23, 2009 Share Posted August 23, 2009 Ohhhh Maaaan!! Just when it started to get even more interesting!!! But I wish you the best of luck and really hope you will still be able to sneak out every once in a while to check in around this place and leave a note or two so we dont miss you that much! Cheers to you! FAB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
slick95 Posted August 23, 2009 Author Share Posted August 23, 2009 (edited) Thanks Fabster! I'll try as hard as I can to sneak in some ARC sessions as much as possible. Later everyone! SLICK Edited August 23, 2009 by slick95 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Qian Posted August 23, 2009 Share Posted August 23, 2009 Oh man! This has been coming along so nicely so far! It's a pity that your progress has now slowed to close to a snail's pace. No worries chap, my current WIP has also been lying on the shelf, half cooked, for 2 weeks now due to my........ studies!!! I'm in the same boat as you! ;) Hope to see this chopper finished up soon anyway! ;) Cheers! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
slick95 Posted December 24, 2009 Author Share Posted December 24, 2009 It's been a really long time, but in the past few weeks I've had a bit of a break from school...and now that it's Christmas time I've actually pulled this build back out and made some big progress! Some of the recent progress has been adding the majority of the external PE to the fuselage. I've also been doing a lot of filling, sanding, and re scribing lost panel lines. Here is the -53 in it's current state. Hopefully the majority of the remaining updates will be a bit more interesting. I should be painting the bird soon! SLICK Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Drifterdon Posted December 24, 2009 Share Posted December 24, 2009 Hey Slick, Amazing job on your 53! Can't wait so see what else you can accomplish while on Christmas break. Best of luck with your studies. Don Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jimz66 Posted December 25, 2009 Share Posted December 25, 2009 Hey Slick Great to see you back at it. Nice work man hope you get this one done. Looking great. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
marine4 ever Posted December 25, 2009 Share Posted December 25, 2009 Looking fine Slick! Glad this build is back on ! Semper fi Dan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
slick95 Posted December 26, 2009 Author Share Posted December 26, 2009 Thanks a lot everyone for the support! I'm happy to be back in the saddle again as well. Well, the past few days (mind you there have been lots of Christmas activities) I was able to get a lot of small sub-assemblies completed as well as the tail rotor. However, after going back and studying some of my ref. pics. I plan on cutting the tail rotor blades at their flapping hinge points and making them droop a bit like in the following pictures. http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2376/219268..._13654f3480.jpg http://i.pbase.com/o4/29/500829/1/53322007._MG_3712.jpg http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2362/234617..._53f4140196.jpg It's the second aircraft in this link: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2711/410364..._08869fce5b.jpg Now, onto some pics! Thanks for looking! SLICK Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Adam Baker Posted December 26, 2009 Share Posted December 26, 2009 Looking good! And Ive never noticed the tail rotor drooping like that. Might have to think about adding that to my build. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jocke Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 This is looking good Slick! It will be fun to see it done. / Jocke Quote Link to post Share on other sites
otis252 Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 Hey Bro, Good to see you back at it. Keep it up. Chuck Quote Link to post Share on other sites
slick95 Posted December 28, 2009 Author Share Posted December 28, 2009 (edited) Thanks a lot guys! It is great to be back building again. I made some progress yesterday. At the moment I'm just finishing up some little details before painting begins. I was able to make it out to the LHS and pick up the required paints as well as my first Russian aircraft for a future build...an Su-25. First bit of update...some surgery on the tail rotor. I needed to begin by very carefully disassembling the already complete tail rotor. I also pulled the blades out and turned them around because I had glued them in place the wrong direction. Disassembling the tail rotor... I then sawed off all the blades at their flapping hinge locations. Then, to take into account the the material the saw had removed, I added some thin fillers to the blades. After putting in the fillers I lightly sanded and angle to them in order give the drooped look. The blades glued back onto the rotor hub... A quick check to see if the droop looks correct... I then filled the gaps with some small drops of thick CA and carefully sanded the rotor hub smooth before adding the pieces back onto the tail rotor. Afterwords, I did a bit of dry fitting and noticed that my main rotor blades were not drooped nearly enough. A pan of boiling water and about half an hour later I had drooped blades... Until next time! SLICK Edited December 28, 2009 by slick95 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Schwarze 1 - The Vulture Posted December 28, 2009 Share Posted December 28, 2009 I love what you've done on the rotors. Did you just dip the rotor on boiling water and then used a bit of weight to make them droop? Are the drooping tail rotors applicable to Pave Lows as well? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
slick95 Posted December 29, 2009 Author Share Posted December 29, 2009 Thanks a lot for the complement. Yes, for the most part that is exactly what I did. I dipped the first blade into the boiling water (maybe 15-25 seconds) up to the root of the blade then removed it from the water and applied pressure on the blade tip with my fingers until I obtained the desired droop. Then I used that blade as my control and drooped the rest according to the first blade. If the blade gets drooped too much just put it back in the water and bend it back the other direction. It really is a pretty easy technique. As for the tail rotor on Pave Lows, the blades (as on nearly every helicopter) do have flapping hinges just like the -53E. However, the vertical stabilizer on the Pave Low is not leaned over like on the -53E, therefore the tail rotor blades would almost never droop....ie. the Pave Low has a perfectly vertical, vertical stabilizer, and gravity would not pull the blades down. Hope this helps! SLICK Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Schwarze 1 - The Vulture Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 Thanks a lot for the complement. Yes, for the most part that is exactly what I did. I dipped the first blade into the boiling water (maybe 15-25 seconds) up to the root of the blade then removed it from the water and applied pressure on the blade tip with my fingers until I obtained the desired droop. Then I used that blade as my control and drooped the rest according to the first blade. If the blade gets drooped too much just put it back in the water and bend it back the other direction. It really is a pretty easy technique. As for the tail rotor on Pave Lows, the blades (as on nearly every helicopter) do have flapping hinges just like the -53E. However, the vertical stabilizer on the Pave Low is not leaned over like on the -53E, therefore the tail rotor blades would almost never droop....ie. the Pave Low has a perfectly vertical, vertical stabilizer, and gravity would not pull the blades down. Hope this helps! SLICK Sure does. Thanks. I thought about doing the Pave Low as if it were not being used, as in the main rotors are tied down. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
GreyGhost Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 That's looking great, Slick ! I love the blades .... Gregg Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jcasilimas Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 Hi Slick, great job!!! I have a question, what kind of DYMO tape do you use for the ribets? Javier Quote Link to post Share on other sites
slick95 Posted January 4, 2010 Author Share Posted January 4, 2010 Thanks a lot everyone! Javier, I'm not sure if there are different types of DYMO tape, but what I had was a three pack box of the DYMO plastic labeling tape. The stuff works great as a straight edge! A pretty big update to talk about! Painting! I have completed all of the base coat painting and the next step will be to future coat before decals and weathering. Here are the blades in their silver base coat. I also started the fuselage by spraying the cockpit area black in order to show through the clear nose piece: ...and the fuselage in white primer: Here are the blades in their overall black coat. (I don't have pictures yet, but I did some work on the blades since, which I will show in the next update) Here is the fuselage in the light gray while being masked for the darker gray. And the final base coat pictures: Took about four days of painting to get to this point, but I'm really happy with the results so far. Hopefully I don't screw up the weathering..it's always a scary part of the build... Thanks for looking! SLICK Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AnthonyWan Posted January 4, 2010 Share Posted January 4, 2010 Fantastic paintwork Slick I assume you've taken some fine sandpaper to the blades and slightly worn down the black such that the silver showed thru? ^_^ Can't wait for more pictures. -Awan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jcasilimas Posted January 4, 2010 Share Posted January 4, 2010 Excelent paint job... I'll be waiting to see the weathering... ^_^ Javier Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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