Esci 1/48 UH-1D Huey, x 2 - COMPLETED

Alright! My Kiowas are coming along, but they're at the point where I had to put them aside for a while. While they sat, I got started on my Hueys.

After opening the packaging, I noticed that the cream colored kit had some loose bits floating around in the plastic. Unfortunately, one of the broken pieces was the landing skid. I figured before I went too far with the fuselage build, I'd better make sure it'd have something to sit on. So, my first order of business was to fix the broken gear.

I was able to drill some holes and, using some wire, (luckily) pinned everything back together.

What I noticed about this plastic is that it is very brittle. I don't know if that's the type of plasitc that was used, or if it's a function of the kit's age. Regardless, parts on this kit break easily. As I was prepping the cockpit and cabin assemblies, I saw that one of the control sticks was broken. 

I used some wire to make a new one.

It's not perfect, but I was confident it would look OK under paint and in the closed up fuselage.

Speaking of the cabin area, during dryfitting, I noticed some large gaps under the cabin floor that would be fairly visible through the chin windows.

I fixed that with some thin styrene sheet and a sanding stick. (Much better, eh?)

I plan on building these as some early -Ds which had grey instrument consoles with black instruments. However, the consoles were free of molded detail, and the instruments were to be represented with some decals. The decals are printed on a black, not grey, background. I was OK with it because little would be seen once the cabin was closed up. However, the decals for the cream airframe were completely unusable. So, I dug through my decal spares and found some "instruments" from my A-7A. 

I cut them up to fit the Huey parts and called it a day. I was just going for something of a representation of instruments. I think the decals pull it off.

Anyway, I went ahead and got the cabin areas completed. I added inertia reels and the U-shaped harness guides to the pilots' seats, as well as some paper seat belts. Again, not accurate, but representative. After painting things up, I used Flory washes and some oils to dirty things up a bit.

Here's where things are at...

Next I'll be working on the engines and the transparencies before closing up the fuselages. After the hassle I had with the Kiowa windows, I am not looking forward to dealing with these Hueys' windows. There are 13 clear parts per kit! (Ugh!) 

Anyway, the Hueys are now "in progress." As usual, comments, questions and criticisms are welcome. 

Thanks for lookin'!

-O

Coming along nicely.  Gotta love the Huey.

Now you got me wondering what schemes do you "need". One thing for sure, I'm not about to miss such a good job on theese hueys. Good luch with your build and have a nice day

Paweł

PS. Don't forget about the "hell hole" in the fuselage bottom!

Gino and Pawel, thanks for stopping by. Now that I know that I have someone "watching" me, I might make an effort to make these Hueys look...OK!

Pawel, I know about the hell hole. My brother was a Huey wrench for A LOT of years, and he warned me about it. I'm not going to bother with it, though. I'm going to build the exterior OOB. Now, as for the markings...

Check out Werner's Wings UH-1D/H - Vietnam and Beyond sheet. There are some cool options on there. Although, it's 1/48 and it doesn't look to be offered in 1/72.

Again, thanks for looking!

-O

Hi O,

I'm watching you too  

I just talked to Flloyd a few weeks ago. Well, e-mailing back and forth on Cobra parts. I picked up his 1/32 and 1/48 AH-1 sand deflectors for my next cobra kits. 

That ESCI kit is old and not surprised it's brittle. If you're looking for 1/72 or 1/48 decals for your OH-58, or UH-1, try e-bay. Print scale has a few and I've used them. They are a little too papery and are tough to lay down though on irregular surfaces. Micro sol worked the best, Walthers works to except it can eat into a lacquers if you use to much.

Res Kit makes some good mods for the 1/48 UH-1D to that I have but haven't got around to my Hueys yet. I have a couple of Floyd's main rotor mods and brass/pe door guns and ammo chutes for the Kitty Hawk D and Academy D/H Huey's.

Its summer here in Washington State so modeling season is on hold until Fall and enjoy seeing your builds.

Thanks,

Tom

*sigh*

Hey gang, no progress to show today, but I did want to share (another) setback with one of the Hueys.

Remember I said the cream colored kit's plastic was super brittle? Well, check this out. While dry fitting the fuselage halves and cabin assembly, I dropped the starboard side of the fuselage. It didn't fall to the floor. It fell all of about 4 inches onto my benchtop.

This was the result...

The tailboom broke away from the cabin area. Not only that, but the tail light and tail rotor housing detail snapped away, too.

Now I gotta think about how to replace that detail. At least, when things go back together, they fit fairly well. 

I guess that's the good news?

Anyway, I'll keep you all posted...

-O

oh man... that's crazy!  You'll get her patched up O.

OK Huey fans, I have a little progress to share. I think I'm pretty much at the point where I can start spraying paint. I've already shot a little bit, but I think the airframes are ready for their coverings. 

First, I have to show you where I'm at. I was able to get the fuselages together, the windows and openings masked, and used my drill as a make-shift lathe to shape some sprue to repair the broken tail rotor housing. Also, some styrene rod replaced the missing nav light. They're not perfect, but they'll pass muster.

I also got the stabilizers and one pair of cabin doors sprayed orange.

Lastly, I non-skid areas on the cabin roofs were painted.

I'm going to wait for these to cure before I mask them to paint the rest of the airframes. 

Anyway, there are my Hueys. While this stuff dries, I will be trying to make some progress on my Sabres. I think those two are going to take me some time...

Thanks for lookin'! Comments, questions and criticisms are welcome, as usual.

Cheers!

-O

OK Huey fans, I've been able to make some progress on my pair. Last I left you, the anti-skid areas on the upper fuselage had been painted. After letting that dry for a day, I masked it off and sprayed some primer. Both airframes got a spritz of Alclad black.

My main concern was where the tailboom broke off on the cream colored airframe. I gotta say, I'm happy with the way the repair went.

Speaking of repairs...well...you'll see in a second.

So, while the primer dried, I decided to turn my attention to cleaning up the smaller pieces in prep for paint and assembly. That's when I encountered more damage that needed to be fixed. While I formulated a plan to fix the breaks, I sprayed some CARC (US Army Helo) Green on one of the airframes.

This is just the primary coat. I'll go back and lighten and highlight some panels later.

Anyway, while that dried, I took a stab at the repairs.

I noticed that one of the stabilizer bars was broken into several pieces.

So, after drilling some (very) small holes, I was able to get things back together with some fine wire. 

Then, while I was removing the rotor blades from their sprue, a potentially project-stopper happened. One of the blades snapped. It. Just. Snapped.

I thought about this fix long and hard, then came up with a plan. I cut corresponding grooves into each side of the break. Then, using some styrene strips, I made some "splines" to line things up and hold 'em together. Here you can see everything taped to my bench while the glue dried.

And you know what? It worked! I got things sanded as smooth as I could, and here's how it looks.

I think these fixes will look OK after paint. I just have to be very careful handling things during construction.

Alright, I'm going to pay some attention to the CARC airframe while I wait for paint for the other airframe to arrive. As usual, comments, questions and criticisms are welcome. I appreciate you stopping by for a look.

Cheers!

-O

Man, this one is fighting you every step of the way! Hang in there O!

Hello O!

Good progress here! But the things with parts breaking make me worried a little... It would be terrible if the finished model started to disintegrate some day... I wonder what happened to that plastic? Maybe it was stored in some wery hot location and that lead to changes in the structure of the plastic?

Once I was rebuilding an old Ka-25 that spent more than 15 years hanging from a line on the ceiling, not far from the window (sunlight!) and the parts were more brittle than usual, but none of them broke even though I was cutting some of them (modifications!).

Anyhow - good luck with your builds and have a nice day

Paweł

Looks like you take two steps forward and one step back. I admire your confidence and fortitude.

Hey gang, I appreciate the words of encouragement. At this point, it's either me or the Huey...AND IT AIN'T GONNA BE ME!

I reached a similar point with the OH-6 I did in Navy colors. It's a matter of winning now. I will get them both done. (Famous last words, eh?)

Honestly, I have no idea why the plastic is so brittle. It could be age, but I know there are modelers out there who have built kits older than this. I wonder if they had issues with brittle plastic. Regardless of the reason, I've been able to get over every hurdle...up until this point. I think I can get this kit over the finish line. (I know, I know. I just jinxed myself.)

OK, so I was able to get some paint splattered. I had to order some new "dark tan" (FS 30219) because my old MM bottle is pretty much gone. So, I ordered AK Real Color's option. I don't know how I feel about it, because it's a little too warm. Too brown. Like...honey. I used it here, but I lightened it a bit with some gray. 

Here's how my SEA camo airframe sits. It's just resting on its skids.

This just the preliminary covering. I'll be going back to touch-up, highlight and lighten some panels. 

While I waited for the paint to arrive, I worked on all the fiddly bits. I think my next post will be photos of the finished builds.

Stay tuned!

-O

Lookin' sharp! Is it an Air Force chopper?

Pawel

Lookin' sharp! Is it an Air Force chopper?

 

OK gang, the Hueys are done! 

You've been following, so I won't bore you with the details. Let's get on to the pictures! 

Of course, comments, questions and criticisms are welcome. Feel free to drop your two cents into the bucket.

Cheers!

-O

They came out looking great.  Very nice.