Academy 1/72nd Apache AH.1 Complete

Nice looking work Bish!

Thanks Ed.

Nice!  I'm a big fan of the Apache - built the mongram 1/48 kit a while back.  Maybe time to step back into choppers.  Folding blades is nice for shelf space.  

Cheers John. This is a really nice kit, lots of moulded on fine detail. Got the fuelage halfs together, had to be a bit careful sanding the seams, but the fit is great so far.

The folding blades would have been a nice touch, be good for a ship dio. I have not seen many of these built up yet, so not sure if anyone has done it themselves.

Work has been moving along on the Apache, for a while it was going well, then it wasn't. With the pilots and seats in place, the cockpit was fitted and all seemed to be in the right place.

I had also made a start of fitted the sensor along the fuselage so i could glue them from the inside.

Then it was time to get the fuselage together and that all went well.

At this stage i thought it would be a good idea to test fit the canopy. I could see this was not going to be easy. The rear of the canopy is supposed to go under the piece which over hangs the back of the pit and then the front slides into place. After some pushing, squeezing, spreading, swearing and a few other things, this was the result.

am still awating an answer on a replacement and no one does a vacform one for the 64D. But, this crack did make it easier to fit and i found a few issues. The front crewmans is to tall and his head stops the canopy going down. So i had to pry him out and trim him down a bit. Alos the clear section between front and rear pits needed trimming.

So while waiting for a reply, and if i don't hear anything by the end of the week, i will have to use the cracked canopy, i got as much fitted as i could.

Most the bts i have left off are handles and antennas which i will fit after the canopy is on. This has gone together really well and i am so bloody annoyed about the canopy, i had hoped to have this primed by now. And if Academy's UK importer does not get back to me, i am just going to have to make the best of it.

As suggested in the Auto forum, perhaps you could get some clear thermo plastic and do a smash mold of the damaged canopy?  You basically use the original canopy to make a quick and dirty mold, then gently heat the thermo plastic and mash it between the two mold pieces.  Trim and polish it and you'll have a new uncracked canopy.  

Thanks for the suggestion, i will look into that.

Going to put this build on hold for a bit. Have e-mailed Academy's UK importer 4 times and not had a single reply, so much for customer service.

Hi, Bish - Bad darts, having the split canopy. I've made pretty good repairs in two instances, might be worth a try for you, I only recommend it for flat canopy sections, not on a curved section.

I thinned enough Future to make just a few drops, using distilled water, perhaps 50/50. The mixture has a high capillary action, and seeks its way all through the crack. I warmed the canopy a bit, to about 80 degrees F, just to allow a very slight spread of the crack and permit full penetration of the Future mix.

Immediately I dunked the canopy in undiluted Future, straight from the bottle. Then setting it on kitchen towel to wick away excess future, with the crack facing down to enhance smoothing of the repaired crack, by flowing away any Future that wasn't perfectly smooth.

Really it looked quite nice, if you didn't know it had been cracked you could easily miss seeing it. I suspect it may also work with other acrylc clears, like Micro Scale gloss, but I haven't tried it.

Hope the distributor eventually comes through for, best of luck if you do resort to my tip. Cheers.

Patrick

Thanks for the info Patrick. Unfortunatly i have now removed the 2 offending clear sections with an idea of replacing the panels. I have e-mailed Academy Europe again voicing my digust at their importers complete lack of response, it is dissapointing especially after the great service i have had from companies in eastern Europe.

For now, i am going to wait until our next model club meeting and see if anyone there can help, some one might have a spare. One of the guys does reviews on Britmodeller so he might have some contacts. Failing that, i'll just fill the clear sections with what ever ican find and try and make as good a repair as possable.

But i will certainly keep your suggestion in mind for future mishaps. Thanks.

I finally gave up trying to get a replacment canopy and i caved in and got another kit. I am thibnking one day i might be able to do that with folded rotors and perhaps a tarp ove rthe canopy.

So, after taking the new canopy out of the box, i very carefully got it fitted.

And got all the final bits added and ready for paint.

At this point i realised that the Montex mask i got would not fit as its for the older Academy AH-64A, that will teach me for being cheap. rather than fork out for the correct Eduard one, and have to wait several days for it, i just used liquid mask, primed and painted with Xtracoloy US Helo Drab.

Now i can get the markings on and hopfully finish this off.

 Your a patient man Bish!  Glad to see this back on track.  I may break out my 1/48 monogram apache after seeing this.   

Not sure what to do about the old canopy.  Maybe try wicking some future in the crack? 

Or... https://goo.gl/images/W1qHaF

Thanks John, would be nice to see that.

Its a bit late for the old canopy, i removed the offending pains thinking i might be able to put somthing in there, but didn't work out.

Finally been able to get this one finished. Once the decals were added i gave it a flory wash useing there sand wash and was really pleased with how it came out. I came across a site which lists the history of every British Army Apache by serial number and i choose one that arrived in Afghanistan in Nov 2008 which is the same month i got there. I was part of a small unit known as the Joint Helicopter Support Unit, which along with the Apaches, Chinooks and all the other helicopter related assests were under the command of the Joint Helicopter Force (Afghanistan). I don't know if this aircraft operated from camp bastion where i was, or if it was at Kandahar, but we were both in the country at the same time.

The ground crewman is a re-used figure from one of the Hasegawa sets. I simply painted over his OD's with British Army desert camo.

I am really glad to get this done and get a British Army aircraft oin the shelves. Thanks for looking.

Cheers TJ

If I could I'd buy you a beer.

You shyould be able to find a way to solve the canopy, now that you aren't under any time pressure.

Maybe your folded rotor version has a tarp over the greenhouse. Save you the trouble of detailing another cockpit.

Make a heck of a dio with the flight ready bird.

Thanks GM. Great minds think alike, i was thinking exactly that about the tarp. Folding the rotors would be the hardest part, but dopable i reckon. I was thinking of having it on the deck of the new carrier as she was designed with operating attack helicopters and Chinooks in mind.

Somthing to work on.