"Cause Charlie don't Surf ! ".. UH-1H Huey...

I used a 1/48 scale mechanic, and searched the web for pics of Col Kilgore's surf board... printed them off, and matched to pics of the boards and surfers from the movie.. I adjusted the pics by stretching them to fit the movie pics..

Col Kilgore's board is all decal... with paint touching up the edges...

the Air Cav decals,, also pics from the web.. manipulated to fit...

I then scratched some PA speakers from card stock,, left over PE, ,wire bits and jewels..

with some paint...

Mounted on the chopper..

Charlie's view..

now. 1/48 scale.. Reel to Reel tape deck... with CCR on it...

I used the gunbay trays from  a 1/32 Wildcat,, shaved lever from a cockpit.. some PE fiddely bits... cut some clear card for the reels.. each reel has 4 pieces... 2 outer parts, 2 inner or the hubs..

I found an old tape of the movie sound track.. Born on the 4th of July.. listened till Born on the Bayou was playing.. spliced out that section.. and added it to the reels..

Weathered the tape deck some...

I weathered the tape deck some..

ran the wires.. attached them to the tape deck..

I made speaked jack plugs from an IV needle..

adding some nose glass..

I

I mixed some Tamiya smoke,, about 2 drops.. with 5 drops of Tamiya clear green and a smidge of soap and some Tamiya thinner to paint the overhead glass..

next.. painted the crossed sabres on the nose..

Hand painted the "Death from Above " logo...

More to follow

It looks pretty good.  Great movie.  Nice job on the speakers and reel-to-reel set.  

There are a couple issues though.  The biggest is the gun/rocket set up.  The US didn't use H models as gunships.  All D/H models were "slicks", troop carriers with doorgunners in the rear side wells.  Gunships were the short-bodied B and C models.  Also, the antennas just behind the pilots' doors shouldn't be there.  Those are later (1980s) features.  The line down the center of the windshild should be green too.  There is a center pillar there.

The surf boards look great.  A good job overall.  A few tweaks and it will be great.

That is pretty slick looking.  Getting the correct music for the tape player really shows your dedication. One question:  How is the audio from that cobbled together sound system?  I expect that because of the size, you really don't get the bass notes too well.

HeavyArty

It looks pretty good.  Great movie.  Nice job on the speakers and reel-to-reel set.  Thanks,, they were fun to scratch...

There are a couple issues though.  The biggest is the gun/rocket set up.  The US didn't use H models as gunships.  All D/H models were "slicks", troop carriers with doorgunners in the rear side wells.  Gunships were the short-bodied B and C models.  Also, the antennas just behind the pilots' doors shouldn't be there.  Those are later (1980s) features.  The line down the center of the windshild should be green too.  There is a center pillar there.

I realize its not a 100% correct,,, as I mentioned in the narrative,, its a "mash-up ",, I'm not  a big chopper groupie, and from all I could find for info, Kilgore's ship was the longer D ? or H ?? , it is a movie chopper,, so,,, when I looked for a model to use, all I could find was the Esci Kit,,, so I went with it.. Also when you watch the clip of the Ride of the Valkyiries scene, the scene has all kinds of choppers with differant set ups..  Kilgore's bird doesn't even have any exterior guns or rockets,,, so I'm kinda going with a combo of the ships I can see...       HAHA.. I thought the things behind the pilot/co pilot doors were grab handles . their anttenaes ??.. I 'll look into removing them, but It might not be worth the effort to try and clean up the mounting points.. but I'll ponder that..    As for the windshield, yup.. I know it needs more paint,, its not complete yet, but I wanted to share what I had so far...  

The surf boards look great.  A good job overall.  A few tweaks and it will be great.

Thanks again!

,, ya,, their a little "tinny" sounding..

but.. hey.. Charlie don't surf,,, and Charlie don't got no Wagner......

HeavyArty

It looks pretty good.  Great movie.  Nice job on the speakers and reel-to-reel set.  

There are a couple issues though.  The biggest is the gun/rocket set up.  The US didn't use H models as gunships.  All D/H models were "slicks", troop carriers with doorgunners in the rear side wells.  Gunships were the short-bodied B and C models.  Also, the antennas just behind the pilots' doors shouldn't be there.  Those are later (1980s) features.  The line down the center of the windshild should be green too.  There is a center pillar there.

The surf boards look great.  A good job overall.  A few tweaks and it will be great.

 

Awesome looking Huey,the scratch work is really great too! Very nicely done Sir!

Don't forget to paint the windshield wipers!

subfixer

Don't forget to paint the windshield wipers!

ok,, She's done.. Boards mounted... windshield pillar painted.. doors on... main rotor on...  I decided to leave the anntenaes behind the pilot's doors as cleaning up the mounting points would not be fun...

Thanks for looking.. this was fun to do...

Nice job!  Any Huey's a good Huey even a technically incorrect movie one.  I think you pulled off the look of the movie birds just right.

  Ray

Thanks Roto ! and mel.. !

Nice build. May I ask where you bought the AMT/ERTL kit - they seem to be unobtainable at the moment?

Thanks Raven, !   Its an Esci Kit.. that I found on Ebay..

I can almost hear the scaled-down music...

" you can fight !! or you can Surf... ! "