Clunkmeister

And the postwar RCAF oil tanks are green. HK callouts say red for wartime Mk. B.1

Hmm, will those pipes curve enough? The Lanc exhausts seem to dump at a 45 degree angle to the engine block. And just think. In a few years, FM.104 will be flying again in these colors. Won’t that be quite the sight?

Dang, Mike. Those are bang on!

Well, working on the dual controls now too. Ugh!

Actually, I just got a text saying the HK Mossie Mk.16 exhausts will work. And a picture to prove it. Messing with the kit exhaust is fun, but an exact copy would be better Off to explore options.... Buying two Mossies just to rob the exhausts is not a smart option.

Here’s the HK Lanc exhaust stub. A solid part, it a bit of relief on the end and yep, there’s the divider bar. So, what about hollowing it out, thinning the walls, and at least give the illusion of a wide mouth? Here’s a 20 second gougefest. OK, it looks better, it we still have a problem. The end of the wartime Lanc stub was flanged: So, my final solution, or at least until I think of something better, will be to build up each stub with Apoxie Putty, smooth them out, then hollow the ends to the edge of plastic. I’ll fill this one tonight, smooth and hollow it tomorrow, and assuming it works, I’ll only have47 more to do y’all!!

So here’s our dilemma. As was pointed out to me, postwar RCAF Lance used the wide mouth exhausts, not the slender style with the divider bar. As there are no resin examples available, and since Lanc exhaust ejectors are longer, there’s not much to do other than make some. At first, Carl said “Tamiya Spitfire”, of which I have one of each release, so we drag out JE-J and upon looking, realize that a Spitty’s exhaust has a 90 degree twist to it. The Lanc’s are single plane and also much longer. Maybe cut the ends off the Tamiya parts and adapt them to the HK parts. That sounds too much like hard work. So let’s think about this a bit.

I can’t remember another 1/32 jet that was this anticipated...

Well, we were always told that the safest place to be in a helicopter crash was inside the helicopter. We were always ordered to, in the event of a crash, stay inside the helicopter until all the pieces stopped flying around. Of course, with our Hueys, the transmission would generally come crashing through the enclosure and decapitate those sitting in the rear..

Brilliant work, Martin. That worked well.

Yikes! That ones seen better days. Hope you ge crew walked away

https://www.aviattic.co.uk/blue-max-lozenge.html Hey Gazz, I love the film just as you do. I think that Aviattuic had Blue Max lozenge in 1/32 as well, but for some reason they only list 1/72 as of right now. You might want to contact Richard at Aviattic or look on ebay. It'll add "the look" to your build. I'm following this one closely. -Ernie

That’s some decent ballistics protection, Martin. Protecting against 7.62mm NATO at 20 yds is not easy for ceramic. I assume the ceramic degrades after each hit, making multiple hits in the same spot to be problematic? Not much good against 50 BMG, but not to many soldiers carry a 50 cal. as a personal weapon. Some good information here. The bird seems well protected. Better than the old Huey, no doubt. Are the saddle tanks self sealing at all?

The Canadian birds seem to show even more bits of armor tacked on the sides around the pilot. I guess they tacked on bits of steel wherever they could. Many stories of Huey jocks in Vietnam bringing a piece of steel plate to sit on. Protecting the family jewels from the odd well aimed rifle shot is most important

Heretic! LOL