# WIP Little Nellie



## steve123 (Feb 9, 2009)

I ran into a mental block working on my latest build...meaning my brain was gonna explode unless I took a 'little break.

I decided on a vintage Airfix Kit. The AutoGyro from "You Only Live Twice"
















It's straightforward buld, and it's a fine example of Airfix's fine molding and attention to detail.

Steve


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## Steve244 (Jul 22, 2001)

I guess Broccoli used up all his budget building the volcano. Still that's pretty cool!

Are you going to do the Army Air Corp version?


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## steve123 (Feb 9, 2009)

No it's gotta be Little Nellie, Even Wing CommanderKenWallis (the inventor-pilot) Was doing airshows all over the world with the aircraft dressed up as Little Nellie...lol 
The movie also had to pay to repair the ancient castle where the Ninja scene was shot. Seems the pyrotechnics did a bit of damage to the walls....









Seems to be carrying it's own weight in sponsor stickers....


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## miniature sun (May 1, 2005)

It's a great kit apart from the rocket launchers which need work to make accurate. I think they were originally designed to fire using a rubber band or a spring.


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## steve123 (Feb 9, 2009)

Yes, for about a second I considered making them work...added play value you see,..lolI've got to dig up some multiple rocket pod ends and the shape of the helmet cam is wrong...but that's easy..I've got pics of that in the camera..
Need to drill out a few lightening holes that the kit merely does in relief..
















Then, Bond, James Bond's helmet needs a bit of work. I'm removing the crosshatched area.








This build _forces_ me to watch a James Bond movie for accuracy...the horror..lol.

Steve


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## steve123 (Feb 9, 2009)

Well, leave it to me to create a problem that wasn't there to begin with.My next photobuild will use TWO kits(always need a stunt double). I should have done a teeny bit of pre-assembly.








Remember the pic of me drilling out a bulkhead with the microdrill?. Well, that part goes back to back with the bulkhead I reamed three BIG holes with a dremel...DOH! (The holes Should match/line up.)
Ok, I attempt to fix my boo-boo while the part is freshly glued together...bad idea.








Ok, I got that fixed as well as some glaring mold seams..Tonight I'll carefully re-bore the holes.....lol


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## steve123 (Feb 9, 2009)

It was waay too wet and cold to shoot silver paint yesterday, this morning I put on another coat of silver, to hide all my mistakes..and it gets a few minutes in a warm oven to speed drying/curing.


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## Jafo (Apr 22, 2005)

i have one of these kits. It can be a great build
;yours looks good so far


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## steve123 (Feb 9, 2009)

Thanks! do you have pics of yours? I love the movie..and I don't know why I haven't built it 'til now.The silver paint is a little tough with the humidity we are having here in Denver...I can't remember the time it was ever a problem before...If I can get the paint to cure, and get the yellow on, it will be a downhill run from here...


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

you should post some of the pics over on the Hyperscale Airfix Group Build... Airfix sponsors that page and its non stop airfix building. Lots of cool stuff (someone did a World War I bus...) and the autogyro would be a great addition.


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## steve123 (Feb 9, 2009)

Dave, When you mentioned it earlier..I was giving it some thought...that's not a bad idea! thanks Pal!

I can't remember my old log in/e-mail gotta sign back up ...no problem though..

Steve


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

If you can find DK's picture book on James Bond, there's a lovely, huge, two-page foldout photo of Nellie for reference.


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## steve123 (Feb 9, 2009)

Thanks John! I'm looking for it.

I dipped some parts in future this morning(I'm using dissimiliar paints, so I'm trying not to have more problems)..the yellow goes on in a bit.
Steve


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

I have one of these kits two, and even after all these years, I'm still afraid of painting gloss yellow.


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## steve123 (Feb 9, 2009)

try painting it over wally world rattle can silver...I just shot it a while ago and the yellow seems ok, no lifting..

The Tamiya Chrome Yellow is wonderful paint. John; like you I've never been happy spraying gloss yellow before...but this stuff is great.
















Steve


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## steve123 (Feb 9, 2009)

I'm pretty happy with the project so far...But once again I failed to anticipate a problem.








The problem? Little nellie is a "tail sitter" and where to put the weight?








and there is only ONE place to put the weight. (This would have been less funny and a more elegant solution if I would have anticipated this little problem)..The Figure of Bond, James Bond is hollow(see second pic in the thread). But, I'd already glued filled in the seams and sanded the figure. Solution?








I had to do a little dremel work on the figure. This allowed me to add lead weights to the lower body. I'm not a "perv", but I couldn't figure out any other way to add weight to the figure without tearing it apart....Results?








Little nellie sits on her landing gear properly.
And Mr. Bond?..He's recovering nicely.


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

You did what Goldfinger's laser failed to do!


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## steve123 (Feb 9, 2009)

I don't expect you to talk, Mr. Bond..I expect you to add weight..

And of course, like most kit's missiles, you need to drill out the venturis.
















First a micro drill to start the hole, and then the dremel to finish it.

Steve


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

Talk about getting your butt reamed out at work...


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## steve123 (Feb 9, 2009)

"Gold Dremel...it's a tool,..a tool with a reamer's bit, A reamer's bit"..
C'mon,...you know the words!

Causey, Steve Causey


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## Nick_Karatzides (Jun 1, 2009)

steve123 said:


> There is only ONE place to put the weight


Poor James! Who could ever possibly imagine, that after all these years having the sexiest girls begging for a night with you, meet a fate like this. Maybe the hole is now covered with plastic, but I don't think that Jame's pride will be recovered.

  

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## steve123 (Feb 9, 2009)

He'll be fine, have you seen how much fun little nellie is to fly?...

Zooming around volcanoes and dropping Specter helis like flies?


Steve


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## steve123 (Feb 9, 2009)

Nick, great job on the Bond title!.. I missed that last night, what a hoot!

Here I am so far this morning..Another boo-boo but I 'kinda like it.
The flame guns and smoke ejectors are supposed to be all silver, not two toned. I think I'll keep it though..


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## Cro-Magnon Man (Jun 11, 2001)

Well done on this project, and a great thread!


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## scotpens (Sep 6, 2003)

Nick_Karatzides said:


> Poor James! Who could ever possibly imagine, that after all these years having the sexiest girls begging for a night with you, meet a fate like this. Maybe the hole is now covered with plastic, but I don't think that Jame's pride will be recovered.


It can't possibly be worse that the infamous torture he endured in _Casino Royale_.

Little Nellie's looking good. And as for poor Mr. Bond, well, all's fair in model building as long as the seams don't show.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

Shouldnt the prop be wood?


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## Nick_Karatzides (Jun 1, 2009)

djnick66 said:


> Shouldnt the prop be wood?


No. Click HERE or click the following thumbnail to enlarge a Little Nellie's close picture.

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## Steve244 (Jul 22, 2001)

Poor Nellie. Looks like the Aston Martin gets all the fans.


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## steve123 (Feb 9, 2009)

Thanks guys, for all the kind words! Yup Nick is right,.. the scenes I have show the prop in aluminium. With a darker hub boss.
I painted the missiles and the cockpit pod over the holiday.
I like the silver I'm using(wally world spray place silver) Well, put it this way, It looks good when it's dry...lol








I'm going to coat the silver with future right now. BTW I did see the sink marks before I shot the paint, but since the little fuselage pod has to be painted before being assembled,they are the least of my worries...yikes.
The future did a great job as a barrier coat on the tail, so I trust it to protect the silver from the Tamiya yellow.
Whoever said you could shoot lacquer over enamel was wrong...it lifts really quickly in this paint combination(ask me how I know...lol) 

Steve


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## hedorah59 (Nov 24, 2008)

It cracks me up to see sponsers decals on the real thing 
She's looking great so far, Steve!


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## steve123 (Feb 9, 2009)

Wallis looks a trifle lonely...I wonder if he was still flying it around? 

 Thanks, Hedora...we are getting there


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## steve123 (Feb 9, 2009)

I think the guys in the props dept. must have been paid by the color.








I really should have cut off the missile fins and made new ones out of card.
These are really thick and I didn't do so well hand painting them.

Working on the pod today..


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

Thats looking really good. I can't say I have seen the kit built before either.


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## steve123 (Feb 9, 2009)

Thanks Dave, That is the TV side of the missile..the radio side?..not so pretty...lol

BTW I put this up at Hyperscale today...man, you have to give them a 300.00 dollar deposit and a sperm sample...lol

Steve


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

I never had any probs posting on Hyperscale. All you need is a Network 54 account. I got that years ago.


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## steve123 (Feb 9, 2009)

I got the 54 account on sat, then I needed to request membership, not so bad, I was being silly. They just don't want any Tom, Dick or Stuntman...posting stuff.

Steve


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

Looking at the model box art in the first post - how the hell is Bond flying that thing and firing the weapons? with his feet and weenie?


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## Steve244 (Jul 22, 2001)

sheer force of personality, old boy.


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## steve123 (Feb 9, 2009)

John I was looking at that and wishing they had molded the pilot that way instead of the actual one they did,...

Well I'd forgotten I had this in the closet.







It comes with a 1/24th scale Oddjob and Bond figure. and the Bond figure is in that pose!
(Can you imagine saying you had forgotten an unbuilt model when we were kids? _I built stuff as fast as I could open the box_!)


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## steve123 (Feb 9, 2009)

I've never seen _this_ happen before.








Notice the striations(discolorations) on the silver?
The tape I used to mask the pod for the yellow paint pulled up some of the future I used to keep the different chemistry paints from reacting with each other..
I have never seen this happen before..I mask over future all the time. It's no biggie, I just have to re-apply the future.

Steve


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

Thats too bad about the tape. I always use Tamiya tape and have had no problems. I use Tamiya silver spray too... its a lacquer and VERY durable. You can tape over the silver and it won't mar the finish.

I have that car kit. Its pretty cool. Aparently the model wasn't really the "Bond" car... its their (someone's as Doyusha doesnt actually make any molds themselves) Astin Martin... with a sprue of glue on Bond parts. Its a good kit and the figures are nice. The figures are/were aparently sold seperately, at least in Japan. They come in a regular small box inside the car kit box. Doyusha also did the Toyota 2000GT from "You Only Live Twice" although its in 1/20 scale. It has figures also and a selection of weapons including the Gyrojet rocket pistol.


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## steve123 (Feb 9, 2009)

Yup, I've been bargain basement boy for a few months now...cheap paint(except yellow) cheap tape. I really wanted the 2000GT but my LHS wanted a fortune for it..

As I'm looking at the movie and the color chart I realised I was supposed to paint the fuel tank half silver, half yellow..DOH!...But lots of masking and little plastic bags later I got it done. Pics soon.


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## steve123 (Feb 9, 2009)

Most of the holes for accesories are flashed over with some pretty thick plastic.








Here is a shot with the pod installed abd some early paint on Mr. Bond.









Lot of cleanup is needed to get her a nice as I want her...


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## steve123 (Feb 9, 2009)

I'm re-shooting the yellow this morning. I used heat shrink tubing to mask off the guns.
















I couldn't find any of my tobing close to the gun barrels's size, so I took some big stuff, slid it over a toothpick and dipped it in boiling water..


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## steve123 (Feb 9, 2009)

This has become less of a "work in progress" and more of a confessional.
(I'm sure my build commissions will come to a screeching halt after this)
This is the masking I did to re-shoot the yellow:


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## scotpens (Sep 6, 2003)

John P said:


> Looking at the model box art in the first post - how the hell is Bond flying that thing and firing the weapons? with his feet and weenie?


LOL! Reminds me of that joke where the punchline is, "How do you think I rang the doorbell?"


djnick66 said:


> . . . Doyusha also did the Toyota 2000GT from "You Only Live Twice" although its in 1/20 scale. It has figures also and a selection of weapons including the Gyrojet rocket pistol.


If only it came with a live, full-scale Akiko Wakabayshi. 








(It's been a while since I last posted a photo of a beautiful babe, so I had to think up some excuse.)


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## steve123 (Feb 9, 2009)

I have loved Akiko since the first time I saw her!
She was originaly cast to be "Kissy" (Bond's "wife" in the movie)
Due to Mie Hana's trouble with english. I wish they would have done it...But Aki's role is memorable.








The kit's rocket pods really won't work. I'm trying to roll some sheet plastic. I can't find any usable rocket pods in my stash.

Steve


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

You might (if you have the kit or want to buy one) look at the circular rocket pods in the Lindberg/ICM A-4 "Battle Damaged" skyhawk in 1/72. Im not sure if they will work or not but its something I had considered.


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## steve123 (Feb 9, 2009)

I had the MRC kiowa helo in 1/35th,...can't find the stuff I saved.
I'm just going to get brass tubing to match the diameter that Airfix chose. It'l be easy to 'scratch the end caps..


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

Instead of Brass look at Evergreen plastic tubing... much easier to cut!


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## Paulbo (Sep 16, 2004)

Steve - if you need the brass cut-to-length, just let me know. I picked up a mini-cutoff/miter saw the other day that goes through brass rod and tube like a hot knife through butter. Almost no cleanup on the cuts, too.

Nellie looks sharp indeed! Thanks so much for pointing me to this thread ... although now I have yet *another* kit to put on the "I must buy and build this" list


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## falcondesigns (Oct 30, 2002)

Built one for a friend,have a few more in my stash.......the Corgi one is very nice too.


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## GordonMitchell (Feb 12, 2009)

hi Steve,I used plastic tube of the same diameter on mine and for the mini rockets I cut a small disc and then used very fine aluminum tubing sharpened at one end and basically used it as a punch to make the mark,I found it worked perfectly.I will get Nellie out of storage and follow this up with a pic or two,nice build by the way:thumbsup:

Gordon


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## steve123 (Feb 9, 2009)

Thank you Dave,Paul, Falcon,I love what Corgi did with that...it's a nice version. Thanks Gordon!..I'd like to see them.

Steve


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## GordonMitchell (Feb 12, 2009)

Ok,here we go,she is a bit dusty but I have just focussed on the rocket tubes,story of this one is it was an original issue and I decided to restore it,Bond had long since gone as had the little missiles for firing out the front which was the gimic Airfix put in all those years ago(neat trick to get them to fire as it was goo tube cement in those days)anyway I took a piece of plastruct(evergreen) tube about the same diameter and just a bit longer than the kit parts put inserts front and back that I had pre punched and in the case of the rear drilled out the centers to represent little rocket nozzles,dont know how or if they are accurate(originals were only Sp-Efx)but they look the part,
cheers,Gordon:wave:


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## steve123 (Feb 9, 2009)

Thank you Gordon!..she looks great!

I was watching you only live twice and during the "lil Nellie meets Tiger" scene, they have a shot of the back of the rocket pods and the back is hollow, and you can see the pyro bundles....lol


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## GordonMitchell (Feb 12, 2009)

Hi Steve,I still have a couple of the reissues of this kit ,I was going to do one as airfix intended with the firing missiles(I keep odd things like springs from pens,which are also good for Eagle landing legs by the way)the other I was going to use to scale up to about1/12th scale,wrote to Ken Wallis(met him many years back)and asked if he could help with airframe drawings and his advice was that airfix had done such a great job on "Nellie"that it was a virtual blue print,anyway I hav'nt started it yet to many Mobeus models to get through and not to mention all the stuff I had before they came along......lol
one of these days I'll get round to posting a build myself,
cheers,Gordon


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