MRCs 1/35 OH-58d....Calling it done

well fermis...here is view of the cockpit if ya need it!

 

 Thanks a bunch, I've got about 35 pics total of these 2, I think about 25 or so are of the interior, thanks anyway. I'll be starting tonight!!! Gonna try to scratch some of that soundproofing blanket stuff. Have a couple ideas, will let you know if any work out.

ok...well, the pic was one i had laying around from selfridge. good luck with this build. btw, since you did that a-10 do u realize that they moved the battle creek 10's here to selfridge? its nice to see them instead of f-16's for a change circling over the house like buzzards!!

 I did just find that out, my bass players girlfriend is in the guard working on them, there at Selfridge. I'd be much happier seeing them over 16s any day.

If you find that you need more pics let me know.  We have a few 58s based at our hangar.

 

 Screaminhelo-If they are of the gunship version, with all the crap in the back, then yes. Otherwise I think I have it covered. Thank you much.

              FERMIS

You need to get ahold of Floyd Werner's walkaround on the -58D.   

Floyd flew the Kiowa Warrior when he was in the service.  He was his unit's maintenace officer so there are all sorts of good modeling info in the book.   He's retired now, so he now makes modeling accessories, videos, books and other cool stuff  in his spare time when he's not flying helos for the Baltimore PD

 Thanks Ed Grune, a great tip and lead, but I only buy books, and ref. material if I'm planning a multitude of the same subject, which doesn't happen often. I have 3 ref. books on the P-51, 1 on the TBF(grampa was a TBF man) and 1 on the F-18 (my bro. is an F-18D man in the corp.) Other than that I pretty much wing it, add a bit here and there, just to "busy" things up a bit.

 Got a bit of a start. I can see already that I've got a bit of a challenge ahead. Quite a bit of warping!

 Started scratching the mesh seats. Did a bit of experimenting with dryer sheets for the mesh seats, all is good so far. This shot just shows the tube frame for the main seat bottom, I'll be using the kit seat backs, as those are close enough.

 Sorry for the graininess, I don't have a macro setting.

 And another of the completed panel, all hand painted with enamels.

 I wish I had a good camera to show this off, it really turned out great. Oh well. more later on.

 

        FERMIS

I'll check with some of my buddies and see if they have any D pictures.

 

FERMIS,

    Perhaps I misunderstood your first post, but the birds you have photos of are OH-58C's not D's.  The OH-58D has a 4 bladed main rotor while the OH-58C has only 2.  Plus a plethora of other differences as well.  If you already knew that, I apologize for interupting your thread.  At any rate, your build is looking great!

     Ray

 PS: I assume those birds had NVG compatible black cockpits, but if they happened to have gray ones, I'd love to see shots of the interior. Thanks.

Those look like 58A photo's to me, their are differenced between A/C and D model cockpits. And Ray is right, the cockpit should be black, not gray

Grandad,

  I wasn't trying to imply that FERMIS had painted his cockpit wrong.  I was only wondering if the ones he photographed had gray cockpits.  I'm sure they were black though.

  As for the OH-58's in the pics, I was calling them C's based on the tail rotor drive shaft fairing (admittedly not the most difinitive feature) and the fact that they are recent birds.  However, I could be wrong.  

    Ray 

Guess I read you post wrong Ray.

 

Hard to tell A's from C's in those photo's, know they started putting the tail rotor shaft covers on A's and the windshields look a little rounder than C's, wish we could ready the data on the side in those photo's

 I took a look through all my pics for data stecils, no joy. I'm not exactly sure which model these were. They just inspired me to build the "D" that I have. The pit is all black, except for the soundproofing blankets, they were a mish mash of grey and green.

 I'm gonna try to replicate this sort of finish.

Glad to see you starting this one up Fermis .... I'm getting ready to do one OOB for the Helo Group Build. PLEASE post whatever ref. pics you can ... I'll be using them!

Will be following this one w/ a close eye!!!

fermis wrote:

I took a look through all my pics for data stecils, no joy. I'm not exactly sure which model these were. They just inspired me to build the "D" that I have. The pit is all black, except for the soundproofing blankets, they were a mish mash of grey and green.  I'm gonna try to replicate this sort of finish.

 

 

Those have to be either A or C models, they are not D's, B model was Austrian Army only

The images at the top of the thread are NG C models with the high gear. The A model had a different engine screen and there was no Tail-rotor drive shaft cover on the A models. The engine cowl had slits instead of srceen which was changed when they were converted to Cs. The interior of the A's were gray to include the instrunment panel. The only black I remember was on the instrument panel cover.

Charlie

 Finally got a bit if progress. This one is slow going. There's gonna have to be some last minute detail added to the pit after the fuse is together. Anyways, I added some wiring up front and in back. I'm assuming those are computers of some sorts, and therefore require some wires. It may be too much or too little, can't really see much back there anyway. The seat harnesses are made from paper, with the buckles cut off a PE set. Also added the rudder pedal linkage(not in pics).

 

 On to the engine

    Your interior looks fantastic. The latest versions of the D models have the entire interior painted black. The seats are also black, but the current seats are different than what is in your bird. The newer seats are called energy attenuating. They have thicker padding and a shock absorbing system. The D models that have the newer seats also have an airbag system installed. All of the radios and computers in the back are also black with the exception of the one on the floor on the left side. It is a light grey. The wiring you added looks great. If anything, there is probably even more of it in the area behind the cockpit in the real aircraft. In fact, I have never seen such a mess of wiring in any other aircraft. As for the exterior, the current D models have a darker version of OD painted on them. In the photos of the one you said you were going to reproduce the paint from. The darker areas in the paint are actually oil stains. The Rolls Royce engines leak a lot of oil. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask. Sorry, but the place I work does not allow pictures to be taken. Also, please tell us how you made the wiring harnesses. They are very realistic. 

 Thanks J. I could have saved a bunch of time on the seats, oh well, a little scratch practice never hurts. The wiring is just some fine wires from an old guitar cable. Put together a strand of a dozen or so, and wrapped another piece of wire around it every 1/4 inch or so, painted grey, followed by a wash. I finally have this thing about ready to take some paint. Been very unmotivated, 10/15 minutes here and there, just can't get into it. That'll change as soon as the color goes on, always does. For the finish, it'll just be darker paint in the oily areas, that stuff was pretty nasty, all kinds of dust and grime in there. Picked up some Model Master "green drab" enamel for this one, it is fairly dark and should be close enough.

    Hey fermis.....The Model Master Green Drab should be a very close match for the color. I know what you mean about not being motivated. I get that way every time I get to the step of getting the airbrush out for painting. I have three builds waiting for paint, and I am determined to finish them before starting anything else. Good luck with you're build. Can't wait to see the end results.

 I'm on fire now, got some paint flowin, oughta be done by the weekend. Hoping to finish by Friday, headed up north for some salmon fishin...yeehaw!!!

 As for the green, it looks pretty close, I guess. Hard to tell from a pic on the computer. I'm not a stickler for exact matches anyway, it's green!!!

As for the green, it looks pretty close, I guess. Hard to tell from a pic on the computer. I'm not a stickler for exact matches anyway, it's green!!!

The actual color is called US Army Helo Drab, FS34031.  It is available in the Testors Model Master line in both enamel and acrylic.  The acrylic is a closer match to the actual color though.  It is quite a bit darker than Green Drab and OD Green.  Your model looks to be coming along well.  It would be a shame to put the wrong color on it and not have it look right.

A bit late in the game here, but I have a series of walkaround pics of a -58 on my Webshots account if anyone needs them.  Nice looking model, BTW--nice work.

 http://community.webshots.com/user/10tweaker

Jim

HeavyArty wrote:

As for the green, it looks pretty close, I guess. Hard to tell from a pic on the computer. I'm not a stickler for exact matches anyway, it's green!!! The actual color is called US Army Helo Drab, FS34031.  It is available in the Testors Model Master line in both enamel and acrylic.  The acrylic is a closer match to the actual color though.  It is quite a bit darker than Green Drab and OD Green.  Your model looks to be coming along well.  It would be a shame to put the wrong color on it and not have it look right.

I have this model coming up in my "line-up" .... do you think that you could get the right color by mixing green drab and A/C interior black? I'd look for the helo drab, but I know that I wouldn't find it here in town and I don't want to have to order it, blah, blah, blah ...

Anyway, just curious ...

Looking good there, Ferm.

do you think that you could get the right color by mixing green drab and A/C interior black?

 You could probably get close, but it may or may not be right, depends on your eye.

 I definately prefer the green drab over the helo drab. I used the helo drab on a 1/24 Huey, and it seems to have a grey-ness to it. I'll put up a side by side pic in a day or so.

For modern helicopters since the early '80s, the Helo Drab is the correct color and it does have a grey tone to it.  For a Vietnam era Huey, OD Green was the correct color.  Green Drab has never been a color on US helicopters.

 

Helo Drab on OH-58D

 

OD on a Vietnam Huey

 Already went with the green drab, wouldn't have hurt to add a pinch of black to it, but close enough for the 1 that matters. Here's a pic of the 2, helo drab on the huey.

 They both look a touch lighter in the pic than they actually are.

 The 58 with end up a bit darker, from the weathering process.