Huey 1C Completed

Swanny

Member since
February 2003
From: Sandusky Ohio, USA

Huey 1C Completed

Posted by Swanny on Saturday, July 25, 2009 10:15 PM

This is the 1/35 Academy kit I've been toying with for about two months now.

I've been making progress on the build but first here are the mini-guns under construction

I don't think the guys that wrote the instructions and the guys who made the kit parts were getting along cause there are some serious issues with the kit. Lots of slight mismatches and parts not quite conforming to the instructions. Also the ammo feed system is serious out of whack and if I had known ahead of time I could have fixed it. Anyway, here is a profile pic as she sits right now

Now this kit is billed as the 'Nose Art' edition but I am not using any of the kit nose art. To make this conform to my friend's Helo he flew on in Nam I had to make new nose art. This is based on a picture gleaned from the net. Once the artwork was complete I printed several copies of it along with several other pieces I'm working on for other projects onto a sheet of white paper at 300 dpi and maximum printer resolution. Next the printed sheet went to the local print shop with a sheet of white decal paper where they copied it for me with a color laser printer. That cost me $1.00. Once printed it was sealed with Testors decal fixative and was ready for use. Since I used white decal paper I had to be very careful with the trimming before application

Here is the door gunner, my friends position, in place with ammo feed and boxes at his disposal. He also has a case of grenades and smoke canisters on the floor ready for use. Note the logo on the missile can. I had considered doing some Coors artwork and making the missile can a big Coors beer can like was indeed seen on one of these hogs during that conflict but ended up using the stuff provided with the kit.

Also note the silvering decals. Those buggers were laid down with a coat of Future then treated again with Future. These kit decals suck in a major way. After a few of these as I would cut the next one I was thinking BOHICA.

Swanny's Models

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Grimmo

Member since
March 2004

Posted by Grimmo on Saturday, July 25, 2009 11:04 PM

looks pretty good to me! i would be very happy with that! though you are right, the decals suck.

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rotorwash

Member since
January 2007
From: Auburn, Alabama

Posted by rotorwash on Sunday, July 26, 2009 1:24 AM

Looks great to me! Always good to see another Huey. Mind if I ask what unit this bird belonged to? The nose art resembles 170th Buccaneers art to me. Also, what was "seriously out of whack" with the ammo feed system?

Ray

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grandadjohn

Member since
February 2003
From: phoenix

Posted by grandadjohn on Sunday, July 26, 2009 3:10 AM

Hate to critize, but the boots should be black not brown

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Swanny

Member since
February 2003
From: Sandusky Ohio, USA

Posted by Swanny on Sunday, July 26, 2009 9:10 AM

The nose art was stolen from the Bucaneers unit. My friend that I'm building this for was with the Big Red 1 working with the 1st Cavalry and all he can remember is it had a skull on it. His wife threw out all his old Nam pictures because she didn't think he wanted them anymore - man what a loss that was.

As for the boots. I did them black to start with them looking at many color pictures of door gunners in Hueys (really was shopping for nose art) I saw a lot of brown boots

Swanny's Models

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grandadjohn

Member since
February 2003
From: phoenix

Posted by grandadjohn on Sunday, July 26, 2009 10:32 AM

They may have been "jungle boots" but we were not suppose to fly in them, we were to use our standard issue leather black boots. Not to say they weren't dirty or not polished and worn. It's your build though

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HeavyArty

Member since
December 2002
From: Valrico, FL

Posted by HeavyArty on Monday, July 27, 2009 8:48 AM

Looks pretty good. Have to agree with grandad though. The US Army transitioned out of brown boots during the Korean war. The only authorized boots were all-leather black or black leather and green canvas jungle boots. As stated, pilots were "required to" (supposed to) wear the all leather ones due to the flammability of the canvas jungle boots.

Also, watch out for silvering on the decals. You might want to glosscoat before laying them down so they don't silver. Lastly, MRC/Academy missed the small, fixed part on the upper pilots door windows. The top portion should have a bar across it and the lower portion slides up and down. Look below to see what I mean. I can be easily corrected by cutting the window glass and adding a piece of sheet plastic strip for the frame.

Gino P. Quintiliani - Field Artillery - The KING of BATTLE!!!

Check out my Gallery: https://app.photobucket.com/u/HeavyArty

"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." -- George Orwell

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subfixer

Member since
March 2004
From: Spartanburg, SC

Posted by subfixer on Tuesday, July 28, 2009 8:01 PM

The red clay of Vietnam made everybody's boots look brown or reddish if enough got on them, but not that brown. You might want to redress the boots.

I'm from the government and I'm here to help.

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Swanny

Member since
February 2003
From: Sandusky Ohio, USA

Posted by Swanny on Wednesday, July 29, 2009 5:48 PM

For presentation I wanted to put this on a small dio base that looked like the red mud found in Vietnam. I mixed some plaster of Paris with burnt sienna water paste and achieved a very convincing color that looked great when dried. Unfortunately I had a terrible time with the moisture causing the wooden base to warp badly. I ended up using some NOCH grass mat rubber cemented to a wood base then added some long grass in drilled holes and smaller patches of MiniNatur tall prairie tufts. It's not as cool as a mud Vietnam scene but ‘it is what it is'. All I have to do now before presentation is put together a Plexiglas dust cover.

Oh yeah, I fixed the boots.