1/35 CH-47D Chinook ... Finished, APR 2011

Here are the pilot figures that came with Trump's "Modern US Army CH-47D Crew and Infantry" set. Pretty decent enough ... to be closed up in the pit. Not all that great when set next to, say something like a Bravo 6 figure. (HEY VLADI! MAKE US SOME MODERN FIGURES!!!!)  :)  Figs have been assembled, primed, and faces begun. Since these pics (this morning) I've completed the faces, and begun painting the uniforms.

Trying a "new" method of pre-shading. Worked well for some figures that I just finished.... 

While the figures were drying, I wanted to try and tackle the task of reshaping the rotor blades. The blades right out of the kit are shade PERFECTLY for a bird sitting on the tarmac. Drooped very nicely. I thought about just turning them upside-down, but they  looked funny. Not like the slightly tilted up, but straight blades seen in flight. I took all the blades and put them into a large cup and started running hot water from the tap. I let it over flow so that the water would continue to stay hot. Mean while, I began to boil some water. After boiling, I slowly poured the boiling water into the cup, letting it sitting for only about 2-3s before removing the blades. I had a station set up next to the sink w/ a sheet of plexiglass and some weights. I put the hot blades on a papertowel, placed the glass on top, and then added the weights. After a few minutes of cooling I had straight blades! YEA!!!! I then dipped the rotor head end of the blade into the still hot water IOT add in that slight bend/ tilt up. Hopefully, you'll be able to see more of what I mean in later updates when I get the rotors built.

I also started working on getting the pit together. Kit pieces seem nice enough. Can't wait to get it primed and painted so I can add in the PE parts. I added some pieces from the spares box to the back side of the instrument panel to add detail and interest. This will be visable through the windshield and lacked any detail before. Since these pics I've added in some wiring, etc to add even more detail.

My plan is to get the pilots completed, get the pit primed/ painted and PE'd, and get started on detailing the interior fuse pieces. But mostly I want to get the pit completed.

A little paint on the pilots, but no where near done ... I goofed on the eyes, and am considering redoing the faces, but then again ... they will be closed up...

A little wiring behind the main instrument panel.

I had to add a small bulk head to the underside of the floor as you can see this part when the canopy is added ... plus a little wiring.

And, a quick mock-up of the pit to check fittings...

Got a little mock-up/ fitting work done on the other figures "involved". I'm not too in a hurry to work on these since they're going to be set outside of the bird. However, before I can work on the crew chief, I've got to make a mold of his head/ helmet for another build. I'm also considering making a cast of the rest of him since the Hook has a crew of 4x. Leave it to someone like Trump to only make 3x of the 4x crew members for a kit .... they probably have the 4th in an unreleased kit some place!

Disregard the Soldier carrying his buddy. They come w/ the Trump crew set and I thought about using them, but I'm going to be opting for a couple of CMK figures instead.

Anyway, here's the other figs....

Also got a little more work done on the pilots. Visors and mics done. Just need to darken and Future the visors and then finish up the painting on these. Too easy for a night or two of work ...

Here's one side of the cargo seats. Not 100% complete. Won't get there until some paint is done. Was thinking they needed a little more texture to them, but whatever. They're going to be closed up.

And a little work on the inner fuse. Call me lazy for not wanting to get straight to priming and painting, but I've decided to punish myself by doing a little more work on the inside. The fuse itself is marked/ scored to "show" the fabric-lined interior, but it just doesn't look like the reference pictures I'm looking at. So, I've added some styrene framing members and will roll out some room temperature curing clay, cut squares to size and place them inside along the walls and ceiling. I'll then "draw" patch lines in the clay w/ some clay tools. Should look much better. Good thing is, the first framing piece helps to hide the joining line from the main fuse to the tail fuse.

Here are the panels that I've gotten done so far ... and an up-close look at a near-finished panel w/ the original. I think the biggest difference is the look around the window slots ... I think it looks MUCH more realistic!

The interior padding is being done w/ Milliput. This is really this first time that I've worked w/ it and I'm finding that it's really easy.

I began to notice the added weight to the fuse half and instantly started thinking about the internal frame to help carry the weight since the helo will be hovering ....

Here's some work/ thought on the frame as of right now. This is not a tried and true method, but its got to work the first time. Once the fuel tanks are added on to the fuse, there's no turning back. Anyway here's what I've got so far ...

On the inside of the tanks, small notches were cut out for a large dia rod to slide in.

The rod, in place, was filed down w/ a round file at certain spots and a smaller dia piece was glued into place. These cross-pieces correspond to a hole in the fuse half.

Next, there will be an even smaller dia rod that will run under the floor inside the Hook, through the wall and slide into the cross-pieces attached to the larger rod.

Total, there will be about 4-5 rods running through the floor, going out to a large rod on each side. This rod comes out just to the inside of the rear landing gear. It will/ can be seen from the outside, but I'm hoping to make this minimal and I hope it won't be an eye-sore. The weakest part I see to this whole thing is the bend from where it comes out near the landing gear to where it goes into the building and into the base. I'm thinking about using a steel nail, heated and bent to shape for the connection. Since these pics were taken, I've decided to remake the frame using brass tubing so that I can solder the joints.

The following images will give you an idea as to how I plan to build in the frame to the A/C and then into the base.

In the first pic, you'll see the framing as I see it running through the fuse. 2x rods will run the length of the fuse from inside the external tanks. Connecting those to will be a series of 3-4-5 smaller rods running underneath the fuse floor.

In this pic, this is how I plan to have the framing coming out of the A/C near the rear gear, through the building and into the base. I think this idea is going to be pretty stable.

Here are the completed pilot figures. Not the greatest work I've done, but then again, they will be closed up in the cockpit. 

And updates on the bird. I started adding in a little PE to the rear ceiling, but as par w/ the kit, the PE set fell a little short. Here's what the PE set gave me ...

So I added in a small scratch-built frame/ box to help tie things in ...

... and here's what I came up with ....

Next I started in on a little piece that probably won't be seen at all, but I know it's there. This is one of the pieces that I was surprised wasn't in the kit. It's all part of the aft engine/ tranny. But b/c the piece wasn't there, I had to go spares huntin ... I ended up using a main landing gear piece from Mono's B-17G w/ a little copper tube stuck on it. I think it'll work ....

Spent a good bit of time during the Memorial Day weekend away from the computer, and I would have liked to spend more time at the bench, but I was pretty please w/ work that got done.

I spent most of the time trying to finish up construction of the interior .... didn't get there, but got a lot of framing in and finished.

Here's the scratched ribbing done for the interior near the rear cargo ramp. This will be the majority of the interior that will be seen. Framework was done with sheet styrene, using a contour gauge to get the right angles and curves. I was pretty worried about how this process would go, but it ended up being pretty simple and only took me the better part of one afternoon.

Framing cut, drilled, and ready for gluing....

Framing installed ...

... and compared to the OOB half .... (Sorry about the focus...)

Next, I cut thin strips from sheet styrene IOT make the framing for the interior ceiling. This is really more to help me put the Milliput "padding" in later ...

... AAAAAnnnnnnd .... pretty much an "overall" shot to sum up this update.

A lot more work went into this update than it looks, but it's hard to get many pictures of something that looks all the same. Anyway ...

Here's the first section of the ceiling panel and how it will look w/ the fuse. The "cutout" on the small panel will be for 1x of the Hook's 7x first-aid kits.

Here's the ceiling section completed .... minus the small panels (they look the same anyway) .... and a close up.

And here a shot of the inside w/ the fuse mocked up. A little dark, but you get the idea.

This brings this build "up-to-date" for the moment. Next, I'll be finishing up the cargo seating and the frames for those and then getting them dry-fitted. After that, I'll be finishing up on the "plumbing" in the rear ramp area ... then I should be ready to start in on the interior painting.

Thanks for checking it out  ..... and as always any and all C&C welcome.

Hi Scott,

That looks like it will be fantastic when complete.  I like the extra padding you added.  That last picture really sells the depth and texture, much better looking then the flat plastic was.

Will your support rods be continuous from the helicopter into the base, or will you be slotting them somehow to allow you to separate them?  One set slightly smaller in diameter than the other?

I look forward to seeing the next installment.

Paul

Hey thanks, Paul.

I may have said it before, but I'll clarify ... Yes, I plan on building the support framing for the helo and base so that it can be separated. I will most likely, as you said, have a smaller diameter rod placed in the separation so that the pieces simply slide onto one another. Thanks for checking things out....

She is looking great Scott.  I really like the added padding.  Great dio idea too.  She must weigh a ton with all that putty on the inside though.  That could be an issue when you work up the support rods.

Some impressive extra detailing going on in that Chinook!

Thanks for all the comments guys. As of right now, the bird is about 30% complete and there's literally 1/2lb of Milliput in there. Good news is, there's no more putty that's going in. I'm done w/ that part. All that's left are the kit parts, a little scratching, and paint. Not much else to add weight. Another thing that I'm considering is almost filling the rear engine housing w/ something to help counter the weight that will be hung out there on the frame .... keep things "centered" over where the frame will go in to the base.

What do you guys think?

You say you have a half pound of putty in the fuse ahead of the rear wheels, I'm guessing you're going to need almost a pound of  weight behind the rear wheels to counteract the moment arm that the fuse makes up.  You'll have to decide if the model can handle that kind of stress but I can't fault the logic behind trying to balance it out.  Good luck , that's an amazing build so far!

That's a good point on the weights. The good thing is that the frame will be exiting the airframe just forward of the rear landing gear, from the external tanks. This means that I'll have about 3-3 1/2" to the very rear of the fuselage. Hopefully, this will give me a little leverage when adding weight back there.

I'm heading to the store here in a minute to check out fishing weights and such. I don't know if I can buy birdshot by itself or not. Maybe I'll use BB's ... but I'd rather use lead weight.

I'm going to be building the entire frame before I build the building and base. This way I can check the balance of the helo on the frame. As long as it somewhat supports the A/C, it should be good, because when I slide the tubing/ frame into the base that will just add more rigidity to it.

Let me know if that's making sense or if I'm just talking crazy .....

Thanks again for checking this one out and for all the ideas. I appreciate it.

I'm not sure you should add any more weight at all.  As long as the support rod inside the fuselage is long enough, the balance shouldn't be an issue.  If you extend the fuselage tube the full length of the side tank, it should be good.  I did a similar set-up for a flying DustOff Huey.  Granted, it wasn't as heavy, but it did have a bunch of resin and it was pretty heavy for it's size.  I sunk and secured a piece of copper tubing diagonally across the fuselage from one side to the other.  Then used a smaller piece of tubing that slid inside of it attached to the base.  It worked really well.

The support pole later became a tree.

I'm not an expert, but I agree with Gino, skip the extra weight in the back.  I suspect you would need quite a lot to counter balance the amount you've got running the length of the fuselage. The hollow tubes should be able to take more weight than you're going to be putting on them before bending.

Paul

Ambitious project!

I admire the scope & scale of this endeavor, great extra details as well. The Millput is heavy by design, long as the base is sturdy enough weight should not be a issue. Looking forward to more WIP's!

Thanks for all the thoughts guys. We'll be sure to let you know how things go.

Gino, nice job on that MEDEVAC build.

Hello Scott,

A very nice and ambitious build. Looks like it's going really fast, too. I'll be watching, good luck with your project, and have a nice day

Pawel

Thanks Pawel. I don't know if things are going as quickly as they seem. I'd say it's more like the progress is going .... smoothly.  :) All the progress pics from the beginning are from when I started back in April until now .... so, what, a little over 2 months. .... I guess that  IS  fast for me!

Thanks for checking it out. I hope to have another update up by this weekend ....

... stay tuned.

Looking forward to the next up-dates!

Models that are 'off the table' get more attention at model shows and contests. So many are just sitting on the entrance forums in a boring manner. Sure the model itself may have a excellent finish yet there is something about the extra effort of a suitable display (in your case dynamic) that shows the extra effort has been made.

I never consider a model complete until its placed on a custom base 'doing its thing'

Jason

Thanks Jason .... I'm REALLY looking forward to seeing this one on a contest table, but there's still a lot of work to be done.

Haven't been able to work too much in the past couple days, but I have gotten a little done. Had to go and get a new computer, so I'm trying to get that one spun up so that I can upload a couple more pics. Once I get there, I'll post another short update.

Thanks for popping in and for the comments.

Nice Chinook. I love the detailing and the display idea. Always great to see a display or diorama that leaves you wondering how they did that.

Cheers, Aaron

I just came across this build late, but wanted to chime in.  It looks excellent, and I am really looking forward to seeing it in the dynamic pose!

Chris

Thanks for the replies Chris & Aaron .... I've been meaning to post an update for a good minute now, but I've just been busy working on this and other things. So, here's a quick update.

You get a good sense of how the padding all comes together here. I made a little lumpy "mess" here so that later on I could attach this flag sticker to the ceiling. I added little wire loops so that I could run thread through later to act as bungie cords which are used on the real thing to "tie down" flags to the ceiling and keep them from flappin' around. The sticker looks a little fake at the moment, but with it all glued down and rubbed down I'm hopeing that it will follow the folds in the putty. Hopefully, this will be one of those little things that you'll notice through the open crew chief doors.

Got about 90% done with the support frame. I think the pictures speak for themselves about how it works.

Got the framing done for the cargo seating. The red paint on the seats is actually drying as we speak ...

I've got more pics to upload. Just thought I'd give you guys a taste.

Thanks for all the comments guys. Sorry I've been so here and there with the updates on this one. We'll be working more and more to get this one summed up.

As always, all C&C welcome!!! Stay tuned .....

Scott,

great progress on this one. I like the idea with the flag a lot. The seats are cool too. Please keep them pics comin' and have a nice day

Pawel

Thanks for the comments, Pawel.

I thought for sure that I'd have the cargo seating finished yesterday, but all those dang little hooks and buckles were kicking my *** all over the place. When I quit last night, I only had one side done! I'm going to tackle the other side this afternoon ... then the only things I've got left before laying paint to the interior is to plumb out the rear ramp area and the heater "closet" area near the crew door, and a little more wiring here and there.

Shouldn't be too much longer!

Here's another update for you guys .... this one's a little all over the place, but I get refocused towards the end.

Got the ramp complete and ready for paint. Its not glued together as I want to paint where the upper ramp retracks.

Here's the Legend's Mini-guns that I picked up at the Squadron show the other weekend. These came out really nice, and I'm pretty impressed with the kit. Just wish it would come down in price a little. The only thing that I had to add to these where the spent brass chutes. I had a hard time at first trying to figure out how to make these. I ended up using a short piece of heat shrink over a coiled piece of brass wire. Then I applied heat and it gave me the look I was looking for. Almost looks like a mini drier vent! The only thing left that I need to do is add the fee chutes, and I'll take care of that once everything is mounted.

Here's my artistic version of a football stadium ... ok, it's really just the cargo seating getting paint. I used regular rattle can primer to prime and red for the color. After the paint dried, I started attaching the hook/ hangers at the top ... this would prove to take forever ... or at these the better part of two afternoons. Then I attached the hooks to lengths of steel rod and then attached the seat frames that I made earlier. All in all, I think they came out nice. I still need to attach all the seat belts to the seats .... all 32x of them ... but that should be it for the cargo seating.

Thanks pretty much it for right now. I'm going to move away from the cargo seating for the time being and get the plumbing done in the ramp area.

As always, all C&C welcome .....

Sa-weeeet!