EH-101 AEW Petrel

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

Must return to the Kiwi Burrow for some alone time, I think....

TMI moment, I think 

Ian

[Captain Canada]

That's an idea, I'll have look and see how it comes out.  At the moment the new sponsons are a tad smaller in width which would make it more compatable with ships hangers, I've seen some photos of Merlins being shoe-horned into frigate hangers.

Never thought of that !

[Eddie M.]

I didn't think there could be a helo that was better looking than the Super Stallion, but you Sir, have done it! Very high praises are in order, indeed!
   Eddie

[kitnut617]

Thanks Eddie I appreciate the nice compliment.

Small update, windows are all in and the fuselage is now all glued up, no photos as it looks just like the last ones except the glue is holding it together now, not tape.

[John Howling Mouse]

I think you and I discussed this before but could you please show us how you go about masking off the windows for painting (if you're using an airbrush or other sprayed media)?

One of the reasons I haven't built any helos with this type of windows is because I'm not sure how to mask them off without wrecking them when you go to pull the tape later.   Even Tamiya tape. 

[kitnut617]

I think you and I discussed this before but could you please show us how you go about masking off the windows for painting (if you're using an airbrush or other sprayed media)?

One of the reasons I haven't built any helos with this type of windows is because I'm not sure how to mask them off without wrecking them when you go to pull the tape later.   Even Tamiya tape. 

Erm!  I haven't got that far yet    I was going to use Tamiya tape but now ----    These windows are anchored pretty good so I can't see why there would be a problem.  I tried Mr.Masking Sol on the Nottingham with mixed results, it did keep the paint off the clear parts but I had a heck of a job getting it off once the paint dried. A painter friend showed me a trick which I'm going to try on a spare clear part, he covers areas he doesn't want the paint to attach to with grease, I'm going to experiment with using Vasaline.  I'll get back to you.

[ysi_maniac]

Absolutely top notch work bttb

[cthulhu77]

This is going to cause heart attacks amongst the jmn's !

[kitnut617]

Thanks guys,  I've started to apply paint (sorry JHM this will be brush painted for the simple reason, I can't find my air brush), I needed to see where all the nicks and scratches are and with it being all yellow, grey and white it tended to hide all this.  It's for the most part in Barley Grey at the moment.

For the rotor I got a bit confused with what colour it is supposed to be, the instructions for the three kits I have on hand (Merlins HAS.1 & HMA.1 and Cormorant) say the blades are flat black all over, but I remembered that Todd had his Merlins rotor blades in the CG build as grey.  Luckily when Todd sent me his spare rotor hub he included a bunch of very nice photos he had taken of a Cormorant.  These show what the Canadian ones are very nicely, the leading edges look like they are NMF, with the top of the blade a light grey and the bottoms appear to be black.  As an aside I noticed that the blades on the Merlin/Cormorants do NOT droop through their length when at rest, they are practically dead straight, not like other helicopters.  They appear to be hinged in the up/down direction so when at rest all the blade tips are in the down position, very interesting as I had applied a slight bend to the blades which I'll have to rectify.  I had decided to make the leading edges of the blades satin black with the rest of the blade flat black but have since changed the top side to be light grey.

[kitnut617]

Starboard side:

[John Howling Mouse]

Absolutely plausible, Robert!   

[kitnut617]

I did get the interior painted but you can't see much through the windows unless you use a flash light.

[John Howling Mouse]

Whew, nice!  So clean and professional.  Wherejagit the Star Trek viewscreens?
Don't forget the cupholders...never forget the cupholders.

[kitnut617]

Wherejagit the Star Trek viewscreens?

They're on the decal sheet Barry, but I forgot to take a photo of the instrument panels in the cockpit because those are really nice looking.

Don't forget the cupholders...never forget the cupholders.

Damn! The cupholders, I forgot the cupholders ------

[ysi_maniac]

I would bet the screens work