Falklands/Malvinas War 30th Anniversary GB

Great start on the GR-3 Tony

I like your build sequence by putting together the main fuselage and wings first and adding the front cockpit section after painting the insides ...cool .

I don't want to cause any offence to anyone but I don't know a lot about Military insignia's and the like ; So while searching around ebay I saw a couple of Falklands War patches and pins

There not expensive items to buy and would they be suitable to sit next to my RAF and Argentine Helicopter finished builds ?

John .

I have no ide about the first one. The second one has nothing to do with the war, its just a patch of the Falklands flag. It was one of two options i found, but i went with a rectangle one with the gold edge. You can get tham on Amazon as well.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Falkland-Islands-Embroidered-Patch-Badge/dp/B0059JG4RU/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1340519799&sr=8-3

The thrid one, agains, not military, its a pin badge with the flags of the UK and Falklands. Probably just intended to show the link between the two nations.

Thank's for the help Bish , I'll have a look on amazon and see what's around . these types of items don't seem to be too expensive , I'm sure to find something that's suitable  and has some reference to helicopters .

I finished adding the decals to the HU-5 Wessex and I also got the yellow fuselage band painted on the Chinook ;

I'll have to wait untill the RAF letter's and numbers decal sheets arrive to add the "XP" and the British roundel but I can still airbrush some clear flat tomorrow on the front and tail boom of the helicopter and leave the center section glossy . That way I can remove the masks from the canopy and cockpit area to add the seats , consol and some of the other smaller bits .

The decals that fit around the cabin windows are a little fidderly to get into position . In fact there a fraction undersize and I struggled terribly with the first one just behind the cabin door on the starboard side . The decal tends to twist around itself , so on the next two windows on the port side , I pre-cut the decal into four pieces , top-bottom and two sides and added them seperatly ..... much , much easier and definitely less stressfull !

Overall , I'm very happy with the build and it should look really great once the cockpit seats and canopy are in place ;

The Chinook is coming along well and I look forward to starting the Sikorsky S-58ET 'helicopteros marinos' build . I won't need to extend the cabin floor as I first thought and I only need to add two extra cabin windows , one each side as my build will be LV-OCM , ex H-02 with the bent leg landing gear .

My brother informs me that the computer has a programme that has different lettering styles and I have plenty of white inkjet decal paper , so hopfully I might be able to make my own lettering ...."Hopfully" .

Fingers crossed everything keeps going well .

John .

I used the two badges i did because they both represented the 30th Anniversary, both of the war and JHSU. But i don't thnik the JHSU one would be ideal for an Argentin chopper.

Which RAF decal set are you waiting for.

Hi Everyone,

I haven't got a photo just yet, but I've finished tidying up the joins around the flight deck on the Sheffield, and am currently respraying the area. I've also attached many of the smaller parts to the superstructure. Once the respraying has been completed, it'll get some gloss clear prior to adding flight dec markings.

Then I'll attach the superstructure, a few more details, a flat coat, and start working on the base.

No further progress on the Harrier GR3, other than to review BSYAMATO's WIP which provides a wealth of information.  I think I'll drill out the lenses in the nose, and fill it with clear resin, then sand it to shape.

Any thoughts here on the comparison between the various 1/72 Harrier FRS 1 s ? I imagine the Italeri one is quite similar to the GR3 kit. Is the Airfix kit a new tool that is worth paying extra for ? I have access to a cheap Hasegawa one, which apparently has recessed panel lines, but it's only cheap if it doesn't generate a lot of additional labor.

Cheers

Tony

Tony-- I hear ya on that last point. I bought the new Airfix FRS.1 and while it is nicely engineered and well moulded those panel lines were just too caverrnous -- a scale four inches across or more. I picked up Fujimi's old kit which has realistically done panel lines and Cartograf decals (Testor issue) but those turned out to be the only worthwhile aspects and I abandoned the build in frustration...

When I heard the deadline was extended I checked Aztec for Argentine Skyhawks but they're out of stock, and I couldn't locate an A-4B or -C on eBay at this time... GRRR!

Mike/TB379

Thunderbolt379

Tony-- I hear ya on that last point. I bought the new Airfix FRS.1 and while it is nicely engineered and well moulded those panel lines were just too caverrnous -- a scale four inches across or more. I picked up Fujimi's old kit which has realistically done panel lines and Cartograf decals (Testor issue) but those turned out to be the only worthwhile aspects and I abandoned the build in frustration...

When I heard the deadline was extended I checked Aztec for Argentine Skyhawks but they're out of stock, and I couldn't locate an A-4B or -C on eBay at this time... GRRR!

Mike/TB379

I went digging through my stash of 1/72 Skyhawk kits and while looking I was sure I only had U.S. Navy/USMC and Israeli birds but what do ya know one of the Fujimi kits "A-4B" has markings for the Argentine Navy .

I wasn't sure if that Gull Gray over White scheme was in use during the Falklands conflict , so I checked through my copy of Osprey's Air War in the Falklands 1982

There was this pic on page 57

Those Skyhawks appear to be grey over white and the markings match a shot down Argentine A-4Q over Falkland Sound by a FRS-1 Sea Harrier of 800 Squadron using a AIM-9L . The pilot  of the doomed Skyhawk ejected .

I started thinking about a Skyhawk / Harrier combo build ?

But , I'm more of a "Helicopter Guy" and would rather much do a Sea King face off (Royal Navy V Argentine Navy)

I wonder where I could locate a couple of Fujimi or Revell Sea King kits ......

John .

P.S. If anyone has any ideas , PM me .

John -- yes, that's exactly where my mind was going! I'll keep a sharp eye out for one of these and if I can snag one in the near future I'll come back aboard with a project I feel more confident of.

Can't wait to see that one go together!

Mike/TB379

I saw a Sea king kit in my LHS on Sat, but that was Airfix. I take it you have tried E-Bay. Is this Revell kit of any use, not sure if its a new kit or not.

http://www.hannants.co.uk/product/RV4899

Thunderbolt379

John -- yes, that's exactly where my mind was going! I'll keep a sharp eye out for one of these and if I can snag one in the near future I'll come back aboard with a project I feel more confident of.

Can't wait to see that one go together!

Mike/TB379

Mike , a seller on ebay has these dog-fight combo kit

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/390428906103?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

They have 10 available .

Bish , I'll have a search around ebay for some Fujimi /Revell Seaking kits . I'm not sure when Hannants will be re-stocking the Revell kit . I would prefere the Fujimi Westland Sea Kings but I would settle for the Revell kit if there are no Fujimi ones availability .

John .

I take it if Hannants get them back, your prepaid to order from them if you can't get one closer to home.

I'm not sure what it is with Fujimi kits, but i find very few in stores. I rather like their Ju 87 kits but have had to get all mine from E-Bay.

Hi there...

I've been working in some Malvinas/Falklands related projects. My first diorama is this, with a Mirage IIIEA from FAA gettin' ready for the first mission of the Mirages in May 1st, 1982 from BAM Rio Gallegos with Malvinas as destination. The plane is the I-014, with FCM decals and an Airfix base. Now I'll work on a diorama depicting part of the deck of the Atlantic Conveyor, with two Harrier's GR.3, one Sea Harrier FRS.1 and a Wessex, all Airfix 1/72. More pictures at the link below. Regards from Brazil! 

This is the story I found for I-014 in the first day of War:  La primeira Misión de cobertura y sombrilla aérea. Tripulación: Capitán Raúl Gambandé (I-016) y 1er Teniente Roberto Yebra (I-014). Armamento: misiles Magic. Despegaron de Río Gallegos en el 1 de mayo de 1982 a las 15:50 hs y arribaron a las 17:40 hs. 

There was a group of two other Mirage IIIEA's that went to the battle minutes before, but they didn't come back, as you could read below:

pero la surte non foi la miesma para el segundo grupo: Dos Mirage III, indicativo "Dardo". Misión: cobertura. Tripulación: Capitán Gustavo García Cuerva (I-019) y 1er Teniente Carlos Perona (I-015). Armamento: misiles Magic. Despegaron de Río Gallegos a las 15:45 hs. En lo combat, Perona se eyectó y posteriormente fue recuperado. Capitán García Cuerva, ya sin combustible para regresar al continente, el piloto tenía dos alternativas: eyectarse sobre las islas y perder el avión o intentar el aterrizaje en la pista de Malvinas, pero fue abatido en la fase final por cañones antiaéreos argentinos controlados por radar. El piloto no logró eyectarse.

LINK: http://tinyurl.com/6sjhm4u

Hi Sergio ;

I must say Sir that is an awesome diorama of a Falklands War Mirage IIIEA ...

Excellent work indeed .

I would very much like to see more of your work here on FSM .

My brother showed me how to access a programe in the computer called note pad and it has quite a few different lettering styles . I messed around for a while trying different styles and came very close to matching the ' helicopteros marinos s.a. ' that's on both those Sikorsky S-58ET civilian helicopters that were pressed into SAR duties

It's not a 100% perfect match , the two letters 'e' and 't' are slightly different but not all that noticable

I used the print style called 'Comic Sans MS' with the 'Bold oblique' and font size 9 .

I'm quite happy how it looks and when printed on clear decal paper will probably  look even better .

Once I get the Argentine Chinook masked and into the spray booth , I'll then start on the S-58ET .

John .

Sergio, that is a very nice Mirage IIIEA. I do hope that mine looks as good when it is done. But no diorama for me. That would take up too much room.

Still no Aztec decal set... oh this is getting grating on my patience. But on the good side, I did see that Revell Germany has re issued the 1/48 Wessex (H-34 type) and it includes some Falklands RN markings.

www.squadron.com/ItemDetails.asp

Great Mirage Sergio, and the dio looks really authentic too.

Here are the latest progress pics on the Sheffield.

Cheers

Tony

For some reason Tony my computer blocks me from viewing those photobucket links you posted ?

Even though when I googled photobucket is comes up as a safe site with the Norton tick of approval .

Stik , I picked up a couple of those 1/48 Revell HAS-3 Wessex kits and Hannats have the 1/48 HU-5 Wessex listed as a future release .

Tower Hobbies have the 1/48 UH-34 also listed as a future release as well and I back order a couple of those .

Us helicopter heads have been waiting years for the 1/48 re-issue of the Sikorsky/Westland S-58 series , I don't know why it has taken so long .

Hannant's have some new 1/72 Argentine Falklands decals just arrived ;

www.hannants.co.uk/.../X72154

There are some markings for Argentine Navy Sea Kings and Lynx helicopters , so I ordered a decal sheet along with a couple of Airfix Sea King kits and two Hobby boss Lynx birds . More Royal Navy V's Argentine Navy Helicopter combo builds .

John .

Hannants have had a few new things added today. Just added a few things to my next order.

So can we expect to be seeing some of these decals in use soon.

Yeah stik- I just got the death email from the online store too bout my Neptune decals "sold out".

Hi John,

It seems that you need to enter pictures a bit differently now. I've changed the way I attached them, let me know if it works for you now. I've edited the original post.

Cheers

Tony

I can see them now , thank's Tony and the Sheffield is looking good .

I hit a bit of a snag with my Wessex build , I glued the side cockpit windows in place last night along with the canopy . However I probably should of waited untill this morning to attach the canopy as there must of been some moister on the inside of the cockpit side windows , which was probably left over from wiping the excess white glue with a wet cotton tip . So when I checked the canopy this morning there were lots of moister smudges on the canopy inside

It doesn't show up that clear in the above pic but you get a better idea as to what happened in this next pic with the canopy removed

I'm now in two minds as what to do next ; I could re-glue the cockpit side windows back in and wait untill tomorrow to fit the canopy back in place ; Or fit the canopy first and mask the side cockpit windows and airbrush the edges olive green and pose the windows open .

I do have some of that Airwaves H-34 PE set but the PE for the cockpit side windows is designed to fit the plastic fuselage section , it's a little undersize to fit around the clear side window piece it's see

I'm leaning towards just painting the side window edges and posing them open even if it's not 100% accurate , I just hate it when the canopy shows smudges and the like from the inside and I can't get in there to wipe things over .

John

Well my pic's didnt come out either ?

What did you do Tony to make it work ???

John .

Hi John,

I can see your pics Ok.  I built a 1/32 Me 163 recently that somehoww ended up with a sliver of plastic sitting on top of the instrument panel, right under the canopy

Can't dislodge it, and I did a lot of work to fair the canopy in.

The way I used to insert pics was simply to copy and paste the IMG link from Photobucket. However that now seems to create a link rather thanshow the picture.

This time I used the insert photo button and copied in the link. It shows the actual photos, not the links. You get to that by hitting the 'use rich formatting' link thatshows at the bottom of your reply.

Regards

Tony

HI guys,

Thanks for your words. I'm from Brazil and me and some friends are in a brazilian building group to celebrate the 30 yers of Falklands/Malvinas (called M&M 03). See more work at the link below. I already did two GR.3 in this M&M 03. Now I'll try to do a section of the Atlantic Conveyor, with those two GR.3, one Sea Harrier FRS.1 and a Wessex. I'll share with you.

I really want to congratulate you for your great work. John, those Wessex are all beautiful and Tony, beautiful Sheffield!

Regards from Brazil!

Sergio

Sergio Goncalves

Hi there...

I've been working in some Malvinas/Falklands related projects. My first diorama is this, with a Mirage IIIEA from FAA gettin' ready for another mission at BAM Malvinas. The plane is the I-014, with FCM decals and an Airfix base. Now I'll work on a diorama depicting part of the deck of the Atlantic Conveyor, with two Harrier's GR.3, one Sea Harrier FRS.1 and a Wessex, all Airfix 1/72. More pictures at the link below. Regards from Brazil! 

 

 

LINK: http://tinyurl.com/6sjhm4u

Awesome diorama Sergio  

Great updates Tony and John 

An amazing diorama, Sergio.

Parabéns.

I think the only Argentinian jet who was at BAM Malvinas was the Aermacchi MB339, the othes operated from the bases in the continent.

Thanks Azorean... You're right. I mean to Malvinas. LOL I'll correct!

Azorean, I corrected the info. The I-014 weas part of the group of 4 Mirage's IIIEA that went in combat in the first day. And, one of the two lucky ones to come back! This is teh story below, as I found in a website from Argentina:

La primeira Misión de cobertura y sombrilla aérea. Tripulación: Capitán Raúl Gambandé (I-016) y 1er Teniente Roberto Yebra (I-014). Armamento: misiles Magic. Despegaron de Río Gallegos en el 1 de mayo de 1982 a las 15:50 hs y arribaron a las 17:40 hs. Pero la surte non foi la miesma para el segundo grupo: Dos Mirage III, indicativo "Dardo". Misión: cobertura. Tripulación: Capitán Gustavo García Cuerva (I-019) y 1er Teniente Carlos Perona (I-015). Armamento: misiles Magic. Despegaron de Río Gallegos a las 15:45 hs. En lo combat, Perona se eyectó y posteriormente fue recuperado. Capitán García Cuerva, ya sin combustible para regresar al continente, el piloto tenía dos alternativas: eyectarse sobre las islas y perder el avión o intentar el aterrizaje en la pista de Malvinas, pero fue abatido en la fase final por cañones antiaéreos argentinos controlados por radar. El piloto no logró eyectarse.

Thank's for the tip Tony

Last night I glued the side cockpit windows back in and let the glue dry for a good 8 hours . I'm pretty sure my fogging on the inside of the canopy was from moisture being trapped inside the cockpit area , as I mentioned before I wiped the excess Micro Kristal Kleer (white glue) with a wet cotton Q-tip and should of waited before installing the canopy .

Micro Kristal Clear doesn't cause any fogging , so it was definitly moisture and my error .

I'll add the canopy next and hopfully things should go better this time .

Another small error on my part was the yellow fuselage band I airbrushed around the Argentine Chinook and again I was trying to do everything to quickly by airbrushing the yellow before the white undercoat had time to dry properly and when I went to mask the yellow band last night the paint had crazed and cracked in a few small places , mostly in the recesses but along the fuselage bottom as well . So I have lightly sanded the affected area's and will touch up the yellow today .

So both errors on each of the helo builds was me not waiting the appropriate time for glue and paint to dry ; I should be made to run 10 laps around the parade ground for my stupidity ...

John .

I am sure we have all done that John, certainly a lesson in less haiste more speed.

The Wessex is looking nice, any piccys of the chinook?

Well the HU-5 Wessex is looking the part now ;

I'm just waiting on those various size black RAF letters and numbers decal sheets to arrive in the post so I can add the X&P to the fuselage sides . I was having a closer look at the 3 Model Decal sheets , sets 95,96 and 99 , there are up to 20 different wessex marking options on each of the three sheets but they don't include those 24" letters for the fuselage sides . They suggest ModelDecal set 36A , however Hannat's don't even list that sheet . I'll have to make do with the alphabet sheets and I'll probably need to order more .

I tried running some black thread around the fuselage antenna stand-off pieces but it looked too hairy , so I took it off

I have some thin copper wire and I might give that a try . I'm no good at stretching sprue so I'll have to come up with something different .

Bish , what did you use on your Chinook build to simulate the wire antenna ?

I fixed the yellow paint band on my Chinook and I'll finally get around to installing the small round cabin windows next

I'm going to have to dip the front canopy into some "Pledge-one-Go" , Australia version of Future . My bootle is about 5 years old and I have used and re-used many times over . It's hard to buy now for some reason , so Ill have to make do with the old stuff for the time being .

Here's a close-up of the canopy before dipping

Suprisingly it doesn't look too bad in the pic above but it's not all that clear when eyeballing it . Plus I don't want to have the same issue's I just went through with the Wessex canopy .

I noticed that the landing gear struts on the Chinook appear to be a little fragile , I'll have to be carefull and push the Chinook around too much on the bench after the gear is glued on .

Hopfully by this time tomorrow I'll have the Chinook all masked and ready for painting ; I'm busting to make a start on the "helicoptors marinos" S-58T build .

John .