1/48 UH-1 [Revell kit buld]

cant wait to see it finished. I know it took a lot of putty and patience to complete it.

Thanks.  Actually there's not that much putty on the model.  I used a syringe and pumped Vallejo liquid putty into the gaps that were present but there really weren't that many.  I've still got a few gaps to fill though, around the roof where it joins.

After I've done that this morning I will be tackling the base colour.  I'm not too convinced that Vallejo Model Air 043 Olive Drab is correct, it looks too dark and too brown.  At least it did on Friday when I applied it over the bare plastic of the seats.  I ended up giving the seats another couple of layers of Vallejo Model Air Medium Olive to get a more green look to them.

Before I apply it to the fuselage I'll see how it looks over an undercoat of Vallejo Model Air 050 Light Grey.

Progress -

Mostly waiting on some decal paper and fixative so that I can get on with printing my own decals.  A little painting here and there to do by brush but I'm mostly at the decaling stage now.

Looks great.  I have one of these I would like to build.   I am still deciding if I want to get the Cobra Company correction parts or build it OOB like I did when I was younger.

Looking good!  You are a brave man to tackle the Hog kit,

Looks cool!  I've been wanting to build a helicopter kit myself.

looking good! I know the kit I did was warped pretty badly. But I am really digging your build.

Thanks guys.  I'm not too happy with the way the roof went on (it moved to one side over night somehow whilst the glue was setting and I couldn't smooth out my gap filling well enough around the roof joins), and also the windscreen and the front door windows don't really fit well, but other than that I'm reasonably happy with this build.

So, update time...

Yesterday afternoon I printed off stage one of my decals and sealed them, the stuff I needed on white decal paper.

This is what I printed -

I take no credit whatsoever for the artwork, that's all from Academy's 1/35 kit.

And today I've applied those decals.

I couldn't work out how to fit the two triangles on the tail so I'm going to flat coat the tail (so the paint doesn't run everywhere like I've experienced before over gloss) and paint the white parts on the tail by airbrush, I've got photos (found via google) of the actual Ace of Spades so I can replicate it properly.

Also the nose on the left side as your looking at it kind of rubbed a bit, I don't think I quite sealed the decal enough, I'll call it wear/fading.

I'm also not convinced the nose decal settled well, I think I should have used something like Microsol/Microset.  I'm hoping the coat of Future I applied helps that.

Waiting for a coat of Future to dry, some good light and for the rest of the members of my household to b'ger off from using the table I work at so I can take some photos, but I'll post some in the next few days.

It looks very nice.  My only complaint which is not your doing is the gun belt is not very good.  Revell could have made it better.  I think you did a nice job.  I tried an MRC kit years ago and was afraid of screwing it up...and guess what I screwed it up.  I wish I could find another MRC kit of the UH-1 not the "Frog" version.  Can't wait to see it with decals.

Thanks, I think photos might have to wait a while...

The traditional British weather of this time of year has set in and I don't have good light to take photos, even with a daylight bulb in the ceiling light.

I do believe I spoke too soon, this morning at least is quite bright and rather a nice, if not chilly day in my part of the UK...

Here's the pics I said I'd post, I'm quite happy with the way the nose decals have settled down although it could be better in places, just a shame about the left one having rubbed off a little.

I need to do some photochop work on the rest of the decals I'll be printing, the ones I need on clear decal paper, but aside from that, possibly a dirt wash around the grill areas, and a matt coat this is pretty much done.

Looks like I've got frosted windows, I'm hoping that's just the slight chill in my kitchen doing that, will have to check them to make sure...

It's looking good. If it doesn't go away you can brush on some Future on the inside and outside of the windows. The Future will level out and leave no brush marks.

Looking pretty good.  You can touch up the rubbed off decals with a bit of red paint and a fine brush.

Great job of making something out of a tough kit.  I really like the custom decals.

  Ray

Looking pretty good.  You can touch up the rubbed off decals with a bit of red paint and a fine brush.

Thanks.  I've considered touching up the rubbed off area of the decal but I'm liable to make it look worse, either by not mixing the right red shade or by blobbing the paint on.  

I might have a go at it though.

You could also reprint the decals again and lay the new ones over the old ones.  Or, even cut out red sections of the new ones to lay over the damaged areas.

You could also reprint the decals again and lay the new ones over the old ones.  Or, even cut out red sections of the new ones to lay over the damaged areas.

Thanks, I dunno if that'd look good though.  The decal paper I bought does seem a little on the thick side.  It is something to consider though and probably the best solution.

I took a look at the model today whilst sizing up the rest of the decals (which will be applied over the weekend, hopefully) and I do indeed have frosted windows.

Don't quite know how that's happened though as I've only sprayed them with Future and this'd be the first time it's happened with Future!!  Might have to do the old olive oil trick if a final coat of future before matt coating doesn't resolve the issue.

Hello Gino, long time since I spoke with you about my M577, which you gave me a lot of assistance on. I still have copies of the interior. My question is that of aftermarket detail parts for A Hasegawa  Huey M1D1 which I picked up a hobby shop liquidation sale. I have not given up on Heavy Artillery I am now building the Armies First M109, bought the barrel for it but a lot of grinding required on the muzzle break interior. Hope to hear from you soon on your latest and greatest.

Earl  A43  

Update -

I took Gino's advice and just painted by hand over the faded shark teeth decal.

Some of my decals have silvered (on the tail boom), probably because I didn't put enough future on or hadn't quite let it dry enough...

My tail number is made up of several numbers from a sheet of decals by Fireball modelworks (slicks in 'nam), hence the slight wonkyness.  My original self printed tail number was very translucent as were the red "Danger" decals (those I also took from the slicks in 'nam sheet).

Just waiting on some windsor and newton matt varnish so that I can finish this one, still got the frosted windows but I hope to resolve that after I take the Tamiya tape off after applying the final matt coat.

I would like to do some weathering on this, but a) I don't think the kit is good enough to warrant it and b) I'm rubbish at weather anyway, I have no idea how to do it other than a sludge wash using something like UMP Dark Dirt wash.

Really wish I could work out how to get good close ups with the entire model in frame with my camera though...

This thread has made me decide to go pick this kit up at Hobby Lobby tomorrow. I haven't built this one since I was a teenager, but I want to see what I can do with it now. Yours is looking good.

Chris

Thanks.  Hope yours goes better than mine dirkpitt.

Now that I've got a decent matt coat on it I quite like the Valljoe 043 Olive Drab, I was dubious about it initially after putting it down over their 045 light Grey, even though it looked OK in a test on the back of the kits box, as it was too brown, but it seems to have gone a bit more green since.

I broke the tail rotor (again, I've repaired it at least 3 times already) during the process of taking these photos hence why it's missing...

Given how rubbish the kit is I'm happy with how this turned out, if I don't look at the frosted decals on the tail, frosted windows and slightly wonky tail number.

The final pics (couldn't fix the frosty windows, need a tripod and better camera skill), -

That looks really good raven !

Your build looks great for a rough kit!  For the windows, if you look real close, is the future finish a bit orange-peeled (pebbly)?  I've had the same issues with future, it might actually help to remove it with windex and a Q-tip.

Groot

Pic from 174th AHC's web page of Shark "170".

www.174ahc.org/.../cover96.jpg

Well done.