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Exciting bit now! The two halves of the fuselage can at last come together, good grief, I seem to have been making all these little bits and modules for ages! The sides seem ok for fit when dry running, so off we go…
I used quite a useful bit of kit for this, It’s a gambolling vice, the triangular shaped base has a surface that will stick to a smooth surface, creating a vacuum with the turn of a lever, and the vice itself can be turned through 360 degrees round, and 180 degrees front to back. Made by Rolson, I think it was about £6-£7, bargain!!
Uncannily the jaws fit the width of the fuselage and locate on the ridges at the bottom of the main cabin doors, making a very firm grip.
I cemented just the main cabin at this point, leaving the tail unglued, as it would have been quite fiddly to cement and clamp the whole length in one go and try to insert the rear rotor and tail wheel at the same time.
As I had removed the front doors, there was a bit of ‘twang’ at the front, stopping the two halves lining up, so clamps were used to hold the halves together and also at 90 degrees to keep the whole ‘plot’ lined up.
A little filler was required over the nose, but a little more work was required under the fuselage to clean up a slight step in the join. Panel lines were re-scribed later with the excellent Tamiya scriber. The tail rotor and tail wheel were fitted and the tail area cemented, requiring only a little cleaning up.
I donated the engine to a friend who was doing something ‘sci-fi’ and was quite happy to incorporate it into the build. It was of no use as the aircraft was ‘flying’.
The work saved in not fitting the engine was required in the next step, fitting the air intake assy. and the HIRSS (Hover Infrared Suppressor System). The individual parts went together ok, but the upper rear fuselage panel incorporating the HIRSS parts was a bit of a bind getting things lined up, and then blending in the panel into the fuselage took a bit of gap filling and panel re-scribing afterwards, All was well when the various Eduard items were fitted, and it all looked fine.
More coming soon.