Kamov Ka-239 "Haggard"

[John Howling Mouse]

Awwwwww, they ARE cute.  Yours?

Here is a small but helpful technique for cutting out multiple "squarish" windows, ports, and/or access panels which have rounded corners:

Using some clear tape, draw four small crosshairs where your initial pilot holes are to go.  It's easier to first consider the shape as a simple square, rectangle, whatever----without worrying about those pesky rounded corners.  These crosshairs must be appropriately closer to the center of your overall squarish shape to make up for the radius of each corner's circular shape.

Does that make any sense whatsoever?  

Here's a pic.

[John Howling Mouse]

A close up.  As you can imagine, being able to pick up the tape with the marked crosshairs and relocate it elsewhere on your subject also makes it easier to:
a. replicate the desired cut-out
and
b. position the desired cut-out with more control (especially for symmetry or if there are multiples in a straight row).

Once the initial pilot holes are made with a small-sized bit held in a pin-vise (or pushed in with a scribing tip or nail, etc.), you gradually make larger and larger diameter holes with a succession of drill bits.

Just a small tip.  Hope it helps.  Maybe I should copy this to the "Hints" thread...

^_^

[dragon]

Not mine.  I live in an apartment building and they do not allow dogs.

 

[John Howling Mouse]

Didn't like their seats.  Even though pretty devoid of any details, they still look too posh like something you'd find in a Bell 222, etc.

So, here is my mini-fab schematic for my own "ugly" seats.

Agh, this should take about two days to build four of these.  

Oh well. Could scavenge some off another helo kit I suppose but scratchbuilding can be fun (sometimes) too.

Oh, did I mention I'm taking the narrow instrument coaming (part 34 below) from two kits, cutting one edge off of each to (hopefully) combine them into a single wider instrument coaming and panel?  Good luck, I say.

[John Howling Mouse]

Well, here's a little before and after collage of the coaming once the edges of two narrow coamings had been carefully sliced off and the result of gluing the two pieces together to make a single, wider assembly.

Little bit of putty, some paint and decals and you'd think it came this way.

I hope.

[John Howling Mouse]

A boy and his templates: bits and pieces that will hopefully come together as believable seats at some point...



"Yes, it is true.  It was difficult working on something that you knew would end up being so unpleasant-looking.  Not to be misunderstood, the Ka-239 would turn out to be a very dependable and strong aircraft.  But, to be mocked by the other factory workers for the way it looked----that was hard to face each day on the assembly line."

Interpretation of an excerpt from an interview with Kamov Factory worker, Max Vorenchev, for part of the BBC mini-documentary-series, "World's Ugliest Aircraft."

[nev]

a la Westland's ugly Wasp.  

I think you hit on another way to enhance the ugliness - exposed engines!

Did I just treble your workload with that suggestion?  Hope so!  



Barry, it never ceases to amaze me the insane amount of work you put into your creations.

Go Baz!

[John Howling Mouse]

Jumpin' Jack Flash---Exposed engines are such a gas...

Excellent idea.  And here I was so proud of how I was going to use some Eddie-style hybrid parts but they would have ended up way too clean.

Here's a shot of the templates after drilling through a sequence of about 4 incremental drillbit diameters per hole.  I didn't want to wreck my holepunch set.

I'm getting real big Popeye forearms now...well, my right arm, anyhow.    

[John Howling Mouse]

Again, a series of incrementally increasing size of drillbits used.
I tried once (or twice  :dum: )  to skip a bit size and it nearly cracked the plastic.

Do you have any idea what it takes to get a fairly decent 1/2" hole in a kit like this?  Was going to try to use the Dremel to speed things up but that's in the basement where things can get messy and I get in trouble for "spending too much time down there."  So, in about 10 steps, I drilled up to just under 3/8" diameter then actually carved out the remaining plastic to the drawn 1/2" circle with a number 11 Xacto knife.

I then wrapped the just-right-sized, perfectly tapered feltpen (a "Sharpie" by Sanford in case you ever need to do this   ) with 180-grit sandpaper to finish it off.  Pretty good result.  I will try to put in some "bubble" windows in these round apertures.

But I AM going to sneak down to the basement to use a narrow cutter on the Dremel to separate the inside portions of the square windows.  Otherwise I will be here all night just to make those black-marked cuts you see between the "square" windows' corner holes.

In the time it has taken me just to do these minor details today, Radish has likely completed two Harriers, Eddie is taking pics of some other ingenius hybrid he's just finished, and Tophe has written a whole new book.   ^_^

[John Howling Mouse]

Oh yeah, shouldn't forget the ugly little brother!

It was funny (well, not really) because after I thought I had finished with all the required 1/2" port holes, I suddenly realized that I had actually missed one section of one of the helicopters which also needed a 1/2" hole.

So, again, out came the series of drillbits, Xacto, sandpaper, etc.    

[John Howling Mouse]

Et voila: cute little windows with rounded corners!

And, yes, I yet have to cut out clear plastic "windows" to match the apertures!

[John Howling Mouse]

Oh, if you need to make inside cuts for hatches, access panels, windows, etc., may I suggest picking up one of these snippers from Micromark Tools Inc.

They're not expensive but they're indispensable!  I used these (and a lot of careful filing) for the helo's windows.

[retro_seventies]

absolutely fascinating to watch you at work barry - more surgery going on in your basement than in a season of ER.

very impressed with the rounded window technique!

[nev]

In the time it has taken me just to do these minor details today, Radish has likely completed two Harriers, Eddie is taking pics of some other ingenius hybrid he's just finished, and Tophe has written a whole new book.   ^_^

Radish is semi-retired and mental, Eddie talks with his models and Tophe is happy to records his dreams.

Whereas you sir, are a true craftsman.

I find myself wondering if one of your ancestors designed German tanks during WW2, such is your level of craftsmanship and engineering    

[John Howling Mouse]

Whereas you sir, are a true craftsman.

I find myself wondering if one of your ancestors designed German tanks during WW2, such is your level of craftsmanship and engineering 

Thanks, Nev!  I suppose that really is the greatest compliment a modeler can hear.

It's funny you mention the German connection as most people think my surname is German since it is so close to the word "Schnell."  Actually, the surname is English (*very* English, I've been told).  When I used to do powerlifting, all the German guys told me I was German whether I liked it or not.

Then, years later, I find out that my Russian/Ukrainian family on my mother's side is technically "Austrian" as that's where the border was at the time they immigrated into Canada.  "Austrian" is what their passports called them.  Do they speak German in Austria or is it a nuance all of its own there?  I was told that the "French" spoken in Belgium made no sense to my French-Canadian friends.

Anyhow, pretty close to being German, eh?  And the Tiger is my favorite tank.

Hmmm...

Now, keeping in mind that I'm not even truly from this PLANET as a whole...  B)

Okay, now I go make those freakin' seats for the World's Ugliest Helicopter (which, as I'm starting to notice, is not nearly ugly enough versus my expectations.... )