COMPLETED BELL H-13H WITH PICS

Great looking bird even with the gloss you captured it nicely!

Nice! The pilot makes me think of Col. Sherman Tecumseh Potter:

Great-looking H-13, Rodc! Love it!

My lovely wife bought me the M*A*S*H DVD box set a couple of years ago for Christmas (I am SO glad I married her!!    ), and I watched the entire 11-season run in about two months. That was such a great & funny show! There were only a few episodes in the set that I don't remember ever seeing before (I would've thought the number would've been higher).

What's your next build gonna be?

Nice build, I also enjoyed MASH.

I visted your site dedicated to your son. I want you to know my prayers go out to you and your wife.

RODC,

Very nice build.  Lots of great detail at 1/35, especially the instrument panel. I've considered getting a kit of that helicopter (loved watching MASH too), but want to get a little more experience with other choppers first.  I have to imagine the "fiddly bits" count is quite high on one of those.

Paul

P.S. You have my condolences on the passing of your son.  A very nice tribute site you have for him.

Thanks for the comments guys.  Let' see:

Devil Dawg:  Next build is a pre-WW2 Vicker's Armstrong 6-ton tank which is about 50% done.  Kit is from Mirage Models......Polish instructions are giving me the heebie geebies.  I also have a Revell Shuttle with solid fuel tank with boosters that I have about 85% completed for about 1.5 years now.  Just don't want to go back to it to finish......don't know why!

Padakr:  Actually, part count is pretty low in this kit.....most of the open web tail boom are large parts.  There are some wickedly horrible fit problems though.....

Looks pretty good.  Your finish is nice, I prefer the actual dull finish though.  A few other pointers that could make it  look even better.  First off, the dullcoat (already mentioned), also there are window frames around the door openings, there are also frames on the clear stretcher covers, both should be od green.  The stretchers should be od green with wooden handles too.  Lastly, the figure should be in all od green; pants, shirt, hat, belt, etc. with brown boots.  Overall a good build.  A few tweaks and it could be great.  Good job.

Nice work on the chopper! I just picked this kit up this afternoon...the only reasonably priced kit at this collectible/hobby shop I frequent. Looks like a decent kit in the box but saw you mention fit troubles...what should I look out for?

Thanks,

Len

Hi Len,

Most of my problems was with the fiddly bits in the tail boom and how the engine sat in there.  Also, if you use the pilot, do not glue him in place since I had to break the glue in order to get the bubble properly fitted which required some putty by the way.  Engine halves were mismatched as were the two fuel blisters which required quite a bit of sanding.  Bubble assembly had good fit onto the tail boom assembly which was a plus.  Cockpit assembly fit was OK but mating of the instrument stack parts was awful!  Be careful of the VHF antennae hoop - somewhere along the way, I broke the hoop off from the instrument stack and lost it.

One thing I will strongly suggest is a lot of dry fitting first.  I made the mistake of rushing to glue too quickly with some parts that I later had to separate again.

Some careful assembly, sanding, puttying and it builds up pretty good.  Post some pics when you get it done!  Good luck.

RODC

Thanks for the comments Gino.  I am not one to do much in the way of research.  Accuracy is not my thing - I just build them for fun and recreation.  I should have realized that there was some framing around the plexi and will probably try to add that freehand.....yikes.....

The gloss coat is a bit of overkill I know but I find that the gloss finish allows me to dust my kits a lot easier.  Some day, I hope to have some sort of glass front cabinet to put them in and keep the dust of off them.

Cheers,

RODC