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PostPosted: 27 Apr 2020, 15:38 
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Joined: 31 Aug 2010, 15:01
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Location: Centurion, Pretoria, SA
The completed bits - slightly too big in scale diameter but will have to do :

ImageMLG 2 - 800 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

Almost complete :

ImageMLG 1 - 800 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr


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PostPosted: 27 Apr 2020, 15:42 
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Location: Centurion, Pretoria, SA
There's a prominent series of intakes on the top right hand cowl just aft of the main rotor - Heller provides this as a clear piece with cross hatching to replicate the mesh - not very effective and fits like a dog - the clear plastic is a lot harder than the grey plastic so I wedged this in and glued the living daylights out of it using plastic card as strengthening :

ImageFuselage 7 - 800 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

ImageFuselage 6 - 800 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

Then the holes for the 3 mesh sections were cut out and the entire thing sanded flush with the surrounding cowling - will do final trimming once the fuselage is glued together :

ImageFuselage 9 - 800 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr


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PostPosted: 27 Apr 2020, 15:51 
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Location: Centurion, Pretoria, SA
Next up - some work on the engine / main gearbox bay - here are the kit engine exhausts in place - terrible - too deep, too small in diameter.

ImageExhaust 1 - 800 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

The engine / gearbox deck is devoid of any form of detail :

ImageEngine bay 1 - 800 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

You would think that's not a problem with the fuselage closed up - well... not exactly as there's a reasonably large gap between the top of the rotor pitch mechanism and the cowlings - so the whole of the gearbox and a large portion of the deck can be seen :

ImageMGB - 800 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

Heller would have the MGB as a simple cylindrical object - not in reality - these things look more like pregnant piglets with all sorts protuberances for added on ancillaries. The obvious missing components are the drive shafts from the three engines, a distinct cooling duct and a hydraulic / oil reservoir :

ImageMGB 4 - 800 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

So I added some detail - drive shaft entry points etc. - really fictitious in shape but I'm just trying to make the interior look "busy" instead of accurate. I will also add the four prominent gearbox stabilising arms :

ImageMGB 2 - 800 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

30% there....

ImageMGB 3 - 800 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

These are the intake just aft of the front engine exhausts - I scratch built the ducting using plastic tubing. There is a circular mesh in this duct at the entry point, so maybe the ducting won't be necessary :

ImageExhaust 1 - 800 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr


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PostPosted: 27 Apr 2020, 16:00 
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Location: Centurion, Pretoria, SA
On either side of the upper fuselage, there are around 12 little round inserts - Heller has replicated these with raised circular lines. These actually stand proud of the fuselage and are black in colour - I'm not sure what they are but may be drainage points for the engine deck ?

I replicated these using a 2mm punch and die set and 0.5mm plastic card - first two in position :

ImageFuselage 8 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

All in an effort to make it a bit closer to the real thing - 5 minutes of work :

ImageFuselage 8 - 800 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr


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PostPosted: 27 Apr 2020, 16:07 
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Location: Centurion, Pretoria, SA
The Super Frelon's tail boom is liberally endowed with numerous cooling vents for the tail rotor drive shaft and bearings no doubt. The problem is that with these open, there's a gaping hole of nothing which will be quite obvious to the observer. So I put in place a section of plastic card - not very level - to simulate the drive shaft deck. The uneven deck level won't be that visible when closed up. I added some tail rotor drive shaft bearings and mounts using plastic card - the shaft itself is plastic rod - artistic licence is the name of the game here :roll: :

ImageTail rotor shaft 1 - 800 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

When closed up, the shaft is prominent as are some of the bearing detail - fine mesh will be added top the open vents once the fuselage halves have been glued together :

ImageTail rotor shaft 2 - 800 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

ImageTail rotor shaft - 800 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr


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PostPosted: 27 Apr 2020, 16:41 
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Awesome, nice to see you advancing nicely. =D>

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PostPosted: 27 Apr 2020, 21:00 
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Joined: 08 Apr 2013, 19:28
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Sweet work Mistral. Pity the Museum is off limits for a while. You could have pitched and crawled over and around it. :wink:

These are the best I have of the main rotor assembly and gear boxes :( . At least they will provide a feel... :lol:

Image
AFT

Image
FORWARD

Image
Interested in popping an engine open? :twisted:

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PostPosted: 28 Apr 2020, 18:38 
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Location: Centurion, Pretoria, SA
Thanks Mamba. Pics will help :smt023 ... but, no, no open engine :(


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PostPosted: 01 May 2020, 14:32 
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Fantastic work man, this is going to be a beautiful beast!


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PostPosted: 10 Jun 2020, 20:08 
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Location: Centurion, Pretoria, SA
Some more work on main gearbox - added support struts and bits of solder wire to replicate some hydraulic lines to make it look a bit busier - this should look OK once ensconced in the closed up fuselage. Also added 3 engine drive shafts and tail rotor drive shaft

ImageMGB 5 - 800 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

ImageMGB 1 - 800 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr


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PostPosted: 10 Jun 2020, 20:14 
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Location: Centurion, Pretoria, SA
Now for the intake - the SAAF Frelons had a complex barrier filter arrangement with many compound curves. First thing is to remove the redundant kit cowling (under the two strips of tape). The canopy actually fits rather well I'm happy to say - always seems to be a problem on helicopter models :

ImageIntake 7 - 800 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

Totally wrong for a SAAF Frelon :

ImageIntake 4 - 800 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

Here's the forward cowl above the cockpit loose fitted in place - the brown part :

ImageIntake 6 - 800 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr



The brown cowl has a simplified air intake arrangement which needs adjusting :

ImageIntake 3 - 800 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

Adjusted :

ImageIntake 2 - 800 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

This block of wood will need to be fashioned into the filter cowl arrangement - lots of elbow grease ahead ...

ImageIntake 8 - 800 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr


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PostPosted: 10 Jun 2020, 21:42 
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Mistral wrote:
This block of wood will need to be fashioned into the filter cowl arrangement - lots of elbow grease ahead ...

:shock:

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PostPosted: 21 Jun 2020, 23:26 
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Joined: 13 May 2015, 08:42
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Very interesting build, I look forward to following it. But I sure wish someone would do an injection kit in 72- even a Chinese variant from Trumpeter/HB would good.


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PostPosted: 23 Jun 2020, 19:29 
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Joined: 12 Apr 2011, 20:49
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Location: Zwartkop
Pucara,

Mach 2 made a 1/72 injection moulded kit of the Super Frelon.
The kit itself was very basic and had a fair amount of flash,however it builds into a nice kit with a bit of extra work to it.


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PostPosted: 09 Dec 2020, 13:20 
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Joined: 31 Aug 2010, 15:01
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Location: Centurion, Pretoria, SA
Been a while. Finally painted the MGB. Detail lacking but good enough when viewed inside the fuselage. SAAF painted the gearboxes in nutria / brown :

ImageIMG_6423 - 800 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

ImageIMG_6424 - 800 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

Cockpit partially complete :

ImageIMG_6425 - 800 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

Sound proof padding painted in light grey-brown :

ImageIMG_6426 - 800 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr


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