Takom 1:35 AH-64D Apache State-to-Finish Build

With the P2V Neptune and the 5" Secondary Battery delivered, it's back to the Apache. I painted the engines today. I also have a new Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra. This printer is light years beyond my first generation Elegoo Mars, just five years ago. It even has an AI camera that records the print. I no longer have to run down to the workshop to check on progress. It can even do a times lapse photo series. It's 60% larger than my Mars 3 and 40% faster. It's 6 times faster than my Mars Classic.

I chose not to fully pipe the engines, but did enough to make it a little more complex.

I will be increasing my work on this model over the next few weeks. In October, I'll be going to the National Archives to review the Battelship New Jersey engineering drawings to gather detailed information about the engine room project.

After the P2V fell when I was preparing to make a tail prop, it destroyed the main gear. I now had to figure a way to close the gear doors. There actually was no provision for this eventuality. And then I had to desgin, draw and 3D print a stand. I prepared the model with a brass shaft that penetrated the fuselage up to the top. I expoxied this into position with a J-B Epoxy formulated for plastic. I drilled the brass to accept a piece of 5/32" drill rod. I made brass sleeves that I inserted into the stand supports to accept this pin. I delivered the model to Larry two weeks ago during a trip to philly. It was also in this trip that I deleivered the 5" secondary battery model to the New Jersey. Larry loved the model since it replicated his specific plane and squadron. 

I made a simple two-part stand and am providing him with 2 choices showing the plane in different attitudes. I painted the stand today and will ship it out tomorrow.

For a simple model, and a short build time, it was certainly challenging right to the bitter end.

Here's a rendering of the stand directly out of SketchUp.

And here's the painted stand ready to ship.

And that folks is the end of that.

Sporadic work sesssions before the 4th. I did get to test fit the engines into their housings and continued building up the engine shrouds. I have to paint things before going further. 

The instructions don't tell you if it's better to glue these two parts together before or after attaching them to the shroud base. Because of the critical nature of the fit, being a long edge with no tabs/pins, I chose to glue them now. Glad I did as it's much easier to fit them on the shroud base when they're together. The joint is basically invisible.

I also glued the opening portion of the shroud that serves as a work platform. It was a challenging joint with very little surface area. I let them dry for days and they're nice and secure. The prototype photos shows aluminum-faced batting in the square spaces n the door that is probably heat insulation. I'm going to simulate that with Bare Metal Foil (after painting zinc-chromate green on all the rest of the insides.) There's another frail "telescoping" support pole that connects these two parts. I may make it out of metal since it looks very prone to breakage.

I test fit the shrouds (before gluing the doors) to the fuze. They needed a little relieving on their rectangular pins to they weren't a press fit. Press fits are bad when you're gluing delicate assemblies.

The engines engage the slots at the bottom. Before they go in, besides paint, there are a couple of unseen details that go in under the engines. Shrounds are not glued in.

There are also two, frail plastic bars that tie the exhaust coolers together, one on top and one on the bottom. The gluing surface to the tiny bit of styrene that's sticking up was way too small for a good joint. Before gluing I had to pull the three manifolds together and CA them so they were touching. Otherwise, the bars would not align to their pins. I then used Tamiya cement and followed up with med CA. The long one, engages in a hole in the fuze. The short one looks like its end glues to the upper shroud assembly.

You can see where this bar engages the fuze. Nothing glued... all test fit.

With both engines fit it looks very busy.

I have another "commission" project for my wife's cousin. Found out recently that he was a flight chief on a P2V-5 Lockheed Neptune during the Cold War. I found a Hasegawa kit on eBay and will build it to his plane's id.

Decals were very, very old and yellow so all need to be redrawn and reprinted. Not being able to print white, and using white-background decal paper, means that white lettering either has to be individually hand cut and placed, or I have to match the glossy sea blue background and have the lettering connected with the background color. I've done this before with decent success. it just takes a lot of fiddling with colors on CorelDraw to get a match with inkjet ink. I make color swatch sheets to do it. Last time it took 14 test colors to get it close. If I use Vallejo Gloss Sea Blue, I already have a match for that color. I don't like Vallejo since it takes so long to dry. I'm thinking about using Mission Models colors. Not sure I'm going to post this model. 

Here are two pictures of his actual plane. His plane was the one that tested the nuclear depth charge in the early 60s. Historic!

It DID NOT have the top gun turret.

The Neptune was one of the first Piston/jet craft made along with the B-36. The piston engines were the amazing Wright R-3350-30W. These were the final evolution of radial engines with turbo-compounding. Instead of using exhaust to drive a supercharger (turbocharging, the three turbines were geared directly to the crankshaft through a fluid coupling. They created an additional 500 horsepower. There's a cutaway version of this engine at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia that really impressed me as a kid. I had no idea how special that arrangement was. The three exhaust stacks spaced around the nacelle equally (180º) is one of the ways to identify this engine. The engine produced 3,700 hp with the same fuel consumption as the ubiquitous R2800.

This engine was also found in the Lockheed Constellation, the DC 7, and the Globemaster 1 cargo plane. The B-29s had the 3350s (along with the A1 Skyraider) but they weren't the turbo-compound model. 3350s were also one of the first engines to have direct injection into the combustion chambers to rectify the fuel imbalance problems. There's a nice docuementary on this engine. It was a monster to perfect an there were 8,000 engineering changes before it finally proved itself. And it did! They make over 8,000 of them.

Being a flight engineer on these piston/jet planes must have been wild. They used the jets for take off, and had shutters that closed them off during cruise so they wouldn't windmill.

Okay... enough digression. Every one who celebrates have a safe and happy 4th of July Holiday.

Work continued this afternoon.

Finished up engine #2 and prepared the heat shield PE brackets. There were fine slots to accept these little parts which aided in getting them situated. I initially used the J-B cement again, and stabilized the joint with some thin CA. It will dry by Monday when I'm back in the shop again. That said, the zero (or near zero) area at the other end that supposed to hold these panels over the engine is worrysome. I don't like these kinds of joints. They make for very fragile assemblies and this model's going to have to take a trip.  I may add some styrene bits on the engine to give more gluing surface to make it more secure.

Here's how that part goes onto the model. I think you'll agree that it's dubious at best. Just because you can make something close to scale thickness with PE, doesn't mean you should. You won't see these brackets and they could be styrene and much thicker. The diagram doesn't really show exactly how this part is supposed to fit. It does look like the case bolts engage in the four holes in the rear bracket. 

While this was drying got started on the exterior exhaust system. Unlike the Seahawk which has a straight out tailpipe, the Apache has an elaborate "exhaust cooling" arrangement that mixes cold ambient air with the hot exhaust stream to mitigate the threat of heat-seeking missiles. The exhaust splits into three chambers, each with top and bottom inlet screens to bring in the outside air where it blends with the hot exhaust stream.

There are six units and they are different. The instructions label the manifolds rom A to F, and the mixing boxes from G to J. I made a chart to keep them in order.

There's a PE part simulating the inlet grills that I glued on with gel CA and then applied accelerator on the top of the screen to cure the stuff quickly.

I assembled the first set to the engine outlet. I sat and thought a while about the painting sequence, i.e., paint before exhaust or after. I settled on painting after. The decision was based on getting a very solid glue joint on this fragile assembly and that would be without paint. 

Quitting time was approching (it was cocktails Friday night), but I wanted both sets assembled so they would be perfectly cured for next session.

The next steps include putting on the skin around the engine. Painting and further engine detailing (if I decide to do more) needs to be done before then. From photos, it looks like the manifolds are natural metal, probably stainless or titanium. The grills are black as is the exhaust outlet from the mixing boxes. It's amazing that this power pack, weighing a bit over 500 pounds puts out over 2,000 hp. Gas Turbines are very efficient.

I persisted with the engines and have had marginal success and will have at least one bay open. I also changed the assembly routine to more closely follow the instructions. It was easier to glue all the apparatus to the accessory drive when it was off the model than attached. This is also true for the grit separator. I tried to glue the separator drum onto the dirve without the manifold. With the second engine I glued the manifold to the separator and then will install this as an assembly. This provides two points of glue contact at each end and supports it while drying.

The compressor section has simulated bolt circles that are glued in in half-circle segments. One broke in cutting from sprue. 

It complicated the gluing task, but I got it on. I also figured out the cutting sequence so it didn't happen again.

Cut the center lug first, then cut the ends. The removes the stress point and lets the ends flex under the flush cutter. 

I lost another tiny piece for the accessory drive for engine #2. No one will notice, but it bugs me, that even with my parts catching drape attached to the work bench and clothes-pinned to my shirt, the darn things still get lost. Also, here's that part that has almost 0 glue surface. I don't know what Takom is thinking. It's not even possible to wire this piece on. Just not enough part to drill. I'm leaving it off. Also the little pipe extension on the part is already breaking off and I have done anything to it yet.

Speaking of breaking off... One of the styrene pipes already had an end broken in the sprue leading me to use .5mm solder without giving it a second thought.

Here's the first engine mostly complete. I have to decide when to pipe it some more. 

Here's the second engine ready for final assembly.

There's a lot of piping that can be added. These images also show the major color variations on the various sections of the powerplant.

I did add all this to the Seahawk engine and almost went blind in the process.

On another front... my next major naval project is an attempt to make a 1:48 model of the Battleship New Jersey's #3 Engine Room. Ryan Syzmanski is excited by the thougt of having this on the ship, as am I. The main problem was the lack of detailed drawings for all the machinery and the room's layout.

I did some research and found it. There are original drawings of exactly what I'm looking for at the National Archives. The only problem is they are not digitized. I will have to view them in person. They are at the National Archive repository in College Park, MD. I need a National Archive Researcher Card, which I've applied for.

I will be able to copy and photograph the drawings. There are 160 of them in the set in which I'm interested, so it will take some time to find what I need. I'm excited by this as it seems the chase will be as much fun as the capture. I know I can draw and produce what i need to create the model. The challenge was finding information about it. That seems to have an answer. I will be posting this all in a separate thread when the time comes.

I had 3D printed some 1:24 pipe fittings for last years NASCAR car build and I was able to put one to use as the fuze terminator for the new metal antenna.

I then installed two ridiculous PE ribs that adorn the top of the fuze. I hate gluing this on a 0.005" edge. I used a combo of J-B Structural Cement and CA in that order. The J-B will hold a bit longer and more secure to the metal/styrene bond, and the CA helped hold it all in place until the J-B sets (which is sloooooowwww). The first one was a bit of a fuss. 

The second one was much easier…. learning curve. If I had to do a third it would even be better.

I put the fuze asside so all this would cure solid and got to work on the GE engines. This kit suffers from part over-indulgence. There are parts with glue surfaces that are much less than 1mm sq. They are so fragile and untrusty worthy that I'm considering closing both engine bays and not worrying about it. For the Seahawk I used the ResKit engine and now I know why. Doing all the doodads in styrene is folly.

The first horror was this pipe array that HANGs on the side. One end glued into the engine proper, the valve body glues to a tiny appendage hanging from a pipe array that glues into two spots on the engine.

That hanging joint came apart three times. 

Making matters worse is another pipe that's supposed to tie into the top of the valve body and glue to another pipe that's just hanging out there. Then came the accessory drive. Instead of molding all the various bits to the one side of the two-piece body, they made them all separate pieces. I lost one. And there's an oil-filter looking thing that's even attached in a more precarious way (if that's even possible). This piece fell off three times. I used Tamiya Cement. Then Bondic and then CA. None of it worked. Bondic, doesn't always adhere too well to styrene, and didn't in this case.

I've thought about replacing all the piping with metal and/or reinforcing these tiny joints with wire. Trouble is that the joint are so tiny that even drilling with a 0.010" drill weakens them further causing more breakage. The kit is over-engineered to drive up parts count. While it impresses, it doesn't make for a satisfying build.

Lots of diffierent things going on today. Before I get into that, my wife had radical *** surgery in January after a cancer had returned after 16 years. She had chemo afterwards to reduce the possibility that any renegade cells got away. Then last week she had a followup bone and CAT scan just to make sure nothing was going on. The CAT scan found a 1cm "Enhanced Nodule" in her liver. Panic ensured. She had an MRI to confirm what it was (or wasn't) at 8 p.m. on Saturday night. Today we got the good news. The 8mm nodule is benign, basically harmless and will never turn malignant. We needed that good news!

First thing I did today was make a brass sleeve that will positively connect the broken mast section to the existing stub. I will modify the part that joins here so it accepts the sleeve.

I then started working down the port side putting in the various and copious details contained in this model. The first was a grilled access cover. The instructions call out some internal pieces... you will never see them so I didn't include them. The grills are on PE Fret A. There were three of them.

I installed them onto the part before gluing the door to the fuze. I used Tamiya Gel CA. Gel CA gives you a lot of working time, doesn't wick where you don't want it and cures quickly with a tiny bit of accelerator when you're ready for it to set. The round one got a little banged up in this operation.

Next up were mounting blocks for some countermeasure sensors. Takom couldn't just injection mold the part with the bolt patten behind it. Nooooo... they had to have a PE flange that sandwiches between the two-part styrene and the fuze. This precluded using Tamiya thin cement to do the gluing, which was now done with gel CA.

And then there was another styrene/PE composite part with this odd, rear-facing vent... Anyone know what it is? Tail rotor Oill Cooler??? And again, had to put it togther with gel CA. I used the Small Shop Little Bender for this small PE job.

That finished the port side for these things. The starboard side has similar components. In this case, just for fun, I added the internal, unseen details on the access door.

Lots of stuff and a waste of time unless you like gluing stuff for fun.

This side had it's own passel of PE grills.

This step also called out of a very frail, 2-part, styrene antenna structure. I didn't give it a second thought. I was going to replace this part with metal. It wouldn't last five minutes with the way I build models. It measured 0.031" in thickness, which is very closse to 0.032" wire I have. I have an American Beauty Resistance Soldering Unit that makes putting together precision soldered assemblies enjoyable. 

Holding the stock against the master I marked where the bends would go and use a jeweler looping pliers to give smooth and accurately placed bends.

For the support brackets (also measuring the same size), I first flatten an end to form the attachment loop. I use a very old, very strong, very reliable Vise Grip, that must be from the 1960s (my dad's) and with the jaws at fully-closed locked position, keep squeezing the stock and turning it over and using the side entry and front entry to the jaws to get it as flat as possible.

Here's how the flat looks.

After forming the loop, trimming any excess preventing full closure, I trapped the rod in the joint, and then, using a MicroMark ceramic soldering pad, setup the job to be soldered. With the RSU, the joint is made in seconds. I use very fine gauge rosin core solder (.5mm).

I'm pleased with the final result, and although it might miss some small details, it will survive handling and the 700 mile trip.

I have some 3D printed fitting that I'm going to use for the right end. There's a plastic kit part that was supposed to glue there, but I'm going to change that.

So it was a pretty good work day...

Got the sponsons installed. It's a very challenging aspect of the build and lots of folks have written about it... including this author. It's theoretically a snap fit, but to accomplish that you much manipulate many things at once. Before that I replaced one of the pitot tubes with an assembly of Albion Metals telescoping micro-tubing. It's all held together with thin CA. I have this tubing in Aluminum and brass, and it's very useful in making miniature pipe fittings for super-detailing jet engines.

The main gear is a challenge. The oleo strut should glue into the bracket on the main strut, but immediately I pinned it. It has to be flexed a bit getting it into place and having this joint movable is necessary (just like the 1:1). You also have to reduce the size of the half-moon pin. It has to engage in a similarly shaped hole in the fuse. It's a blind fit and if you have to push it in (or worse... if it doesn't go in) you will break something.

The gear is installed in two locations in the sponson. They are not particularly secure and even with gluing, tend to come apart when doing the final asssembly. There are some tiny parts that attach to the gear that you leave off at this time. They will not withstand the handling that follows. You can add them later if you're so inclined.

The pushing and pulling I did during my attempt at installing the sponson, broke that lug. It, however, wasn't critical and the gear is secure anyway. 

You have to coordinate three things: getting the gear into their respective mating spaces in the fuze, getting the stub wing settled in, and pushing the sponson onto three large openings that correspond to the big pins in the sponson. The Stub Wing's very tight fit into the sponson greatly limits fore and aft degrees of freedom. You have to get all the pins into all the holes, even though some are completely out of sight. And you must do this without applying undo pressure.

This whole deal took a lot of time. I was getting frustrated and was thinking of building it without landing gear, but the Apache doesn't have retracting gear so that possibility was moot. I perserved! Eventually it snapped in place. I ran a stream of glue (Tamiya) around the entire perimter. The fit is amazing.

Peering into the innerds, you can see the sponson-side mounting lug. You cannot see the fuze side which makes this whole affair so confounding. It's also why that pin must be reduced in cross-section so it drops into its hole. You can't force it!

Now... with all that said, the second sponson dropped into position almost instantly and snapped solidly in place. Don't ask me why this happened or what I was doing wrong with the first side. I have no idea! As Mark Knopfler says, "You can get lucky some time."

So here were are as now. Notice I broke off the Long Bow mast... AGAIN! I had already glued it with metal reinforcement. It broke right at the end of the metal rod. This time I'm going to replace it all with metal if I can. I hate long plastic shafts like that. I always break them during assembly when I'm doing something else on the model and holding it wrong. I'm waiting to whack the tail rotor shaft. Don't know when it's going to happen, but I am sure it will. I should replace it with metall before it happens.

I'm bringing this model to Philly with me when I deliver the turret model. I'm building it for a friend. If you choose to build it with blades folded you have to leave off the Long Bow radar. The folded config is only used when airlifting or shipping the Apache. And the Long Bow would create head room problems. It's an entirely manual affair, unlike a Seahawk where blades are routinely and hydraulically folded for shipboard stowage. It would be easier to build with blades extended since the folded blade support system is finicky, complicated and looks a bit frail. I know that the Seahawk's support frame was a fragile mess that kept breaking right up the show last September when i got a 2nd place award for Helicopters. That said, I don't believe my friend has the display space for a 1:35 Apache with it's full rotor width.

Today, I glued the errant part P53 in place.

I cleaned off the dried canopy cement from yesterday's attempt and then reglued the glazing with the P53 properly seated below the glazing. It's why the glazing had to come off. The glazing sits on a lip on the P53 which had to go in first. There's a lot to do before O.D. goes in on those windows. I trimmed those styrene strips in prep for painting. 

Got back to work on the sponsons. There's two PE grills that go in on each side which are retained by a narrow plastic frame. Went in without too much fussing.

I read and made notes on all the review builds of this kit. One of the things that caught my eye was installing the stub fins now instead of much later in the assembly. If you wait, they will not go on! The fit is nested within the sponsons so you need to do them sort of simultaneously. I assembled the two wings and did some trial fits to the fuze. It's a very tight fit. They also say that it's wise to slightly thin the wing's broad tab so it's a nice sliding fit. Right out of the box it's almost a press fit and all that pushing and shoving can lead to bad things.

Here's the port side wing alone. That upper fairing is a separate part.

The upper fairing completely fills the opening on the sponson and would be very difficult to install if the sponson was fully glued in place.

And here's the sponsor during a trial fit. The Takom kit has very nice Tamiya-like without needing little or no filler. This is the strb'd side. Can't glue this in yet. You have to capture the main landing gear inside before buttoning up. That, of course, complicates things. I purposefully clipped off the pitot tube since it was bent sideways. I will replace all these tiny tubes with piano wire later in the build..

Worked today... well... sort of... spent half the time searching for a part. More about that later. 

Got some smalll details put on the roof and proceeded to damage the small vertical antenna. So I cut it off and will replace it with music wire later on. The other detail also got whacked, but survived.

With the top roof's handles secure, I glued it in with Tamiya liquid. Front and back went in nicely. There part over the mid-tub armor panel was gapped and needed some special attention.

I glued in the pilot side glazing using Testor's Canopy Cement. I like that stuff since it does hold reasonably well, can clean up easily, doesn't craze and, G_d forbid, you have to remove the part, you can. Today I did. A couple of pieces of tape held it in place until it cured. 

The Strb'd side needed Part P53. It's specifically shaped filler piece that goes in between the moveable frames and has provision for a hand grab. I cut off one end, and when the other end cut... whoosh! Gone! It took off to the left in an elevated trajectory. I didn't expect this part to be a flyer. I didn't hear it land anywhere. I usually try and listen if a part hits anything.

I cleaned and emptied EVERYTHING. I checked my clothing, shoes, etc. I emptied a chaotic box of scrap wood and junk under the workbench (it needed it anyway... badly), swept everywhere, checked every nook and cranny of my other main workbench. This puppy was in the multi-verse. 

So I fabbed a filler piece and glued it in. It lacked the surface details of the real thing, but did the job. It wasn't as easily as it looked since the slot was not uniform width all the way down.

There was also some gapping at the top of the front glazing and I filled this with styrene to be trimmed later.

I started working on the two sponsons. I'm not opening the equipment bays. My friend is not a critical model observer and I don't want to spend the many hours to detail these areas if they're not appreciated. Furthermore, I have some big stuff in the queue and want this model done by the end of July when I deliver the turret model to the New Jersey.

It was quitting time (5:00) and when changing out of my shop shirt, I reached in the pocket and guess what I found? P53! I swear I checked that pocket early on in the search. Absolutely drove me nuts!

Brings up being able to rip out work when glued with canopy cement. I removed both glazing pieces and will install the correct part tomorrow. 

Looking good.  I've got the 1/48 Hasegawa Apache in the stash and also bought the reskit gun.  Good tips on being brittle.

Had a week off... not by choice. Two weeks ago, I had a normal Medicare Wellness Checkup. It was PERFECT. All the numbers were centered in the green. I've been quite healthy lately without having a cold in almost four years and the mildest case of COVID anyone could ask for. My doc suggested getting an updated pneumonia shot, PCV 20. I normally have no reaction to vaccines. 

That was on Wednesday. Friday night my wife and I went for a walk. I was more tired than usual at the end. Saturday night it started in earnest. Ran a fever, had terrible chills, headache. Fever got worse over the next two days, and then I got a rash on most of my abdomen and extremites. Then a tight chest, light cough, bloody nose, etc. I went from being very healthy to being completely miserable.

Went to the doc, had blood work which showed systemic reaction to vaccine. Got steroids. Slowly, things began to normalize. it's been 10 days and I'm almost back to normal. RIDIDCULOUS!

It seems I have "serum sickness". It's an identifiable immune response to a specific protein antigen in some medication. Usually it takes two weeks to show up. However, if you've been exposed to this antigen in the past, it can take 2-3 days... just like me. It self-cures, but don't have that vaccine again! Most likely it was because I had Prevnar 15 a few years ago. My doc and I need to find out specifically what caused it, since other vaccines may have this protien also.

So I'm finally back in the shop and got some Apache work done.

The mask set (AllScale from Czech Republic) is very precise. There are masks for the interior and exterior of all glazing. The interior frame has rounded corners reflected in these masks.

And the outside masks have squared-off corners. There was just some tiny trimming needed on a few edges with a brand new #11.

I airbrushed the interior frame with NATO black. I was able to remove the masks on the side glass, but left it on for the roof glazing until I got more detailing done on it. This is a model for a friend and not going to be a contest entrant. Therefore; I'm going easy on the detailing. To that end, I'm leaving off a lot of the doodads inside the cabin roof, and I'm not opening the doors. The model is much more secure with the doors in the closed position. With them closed, the roof is hard to view and therefore, I'm leaving stuff out.

The roof does have some hand holds. (4). I used a J-B Weld Structural cement since it works well with painted surface and doesn't craze plastic. I had three installed and the four was just sitting on the bench in front of me. THEN IT WASN'T! Gone! I made a replacement out of 0.020" phos-bronze wire. Glued it in, and then... one of the plastic ones I previously glued in was now GONE ALSO! What the heck! Made another metal one.

This glue takes several hours to fully set up, so I'll install the glazing tomorrow. The decal set, as I noted last post, had masks for the front optics.

I then glued this assembly onto the nose with good ole Testor's tube cement, which works well on slightly uneven joints.

I entertained the though of filling that seam, but then after looking at some prototype images, found that it's not a very tight seam and I left it alone.

More assembly and painting will go on tomorrow.

Mask problem solved. The pre-cut mask set I bought HAS masks for all the optics lenses. As Mark Knopfler said in a song, "You might get lucky sometimes."

Some caveats… I'm not intending this model to be a show entry. It's for a friend who's into this aircraft, so it's going to be "mostly" out of the box. I use quotes because I've already added that Reskit Chain Gun. It's having exposed engines and then all the piping that I can add if I was so inclined. It's the same powerplant as used in the Seahawk, and y'all know what i did to that one. It got a silver metal at our Regional adjudicated show last September. This one is not going to be that spectacular. That said, I have AMS and therefore, can't be held responsible to any sudden urges to super-detail stuff.

Yesterday, I got the front optical sighting system built. I inadvertently cut off several nubs that I mistook for sprue remains that were in actuality alignment and pivot points. I fixed one by substituting a metal rod all the way… a much better solution anyway. For the other I put the part in from the front and managed to position it well enough.

First the metal rod substitution.

The male pin was on the top of 1/2 of the drum. I filed what was left of it level with the surround surface, made a center punch mark with an awl and then drilled it all the way through and out the other side so the rod would be properly aligned.

The bottom had a female divot which was supposed to be captured by the pin in the bottom bracket. It was very dubious. With the metal, it ain't go'n anywhere.

The lens on the top optical unit had two side bumps that were to key into respective divots on the two plastic shells. The instructions, which I didn't read as thoroughly as I should, showed the plastic lens being attached to one side and then captivated by the other. I glued them together first thinking the lens went in from the front as the other two, and left the bunps on, only to find that I couldn't pass the lens through the opening because the bumps got in the way. I filed them off and spent way too much time positioning the lens in the opening. It kept flipping or dropping inside. Persistence won the day. I used Testor's Canopy Cement to hold all the glazing.

For the telescopic optics. I painted the chamber flat black. When dry went over the lens areas with Dull Coat to seal the black. Then applied Molotow Chrome and let this dry.

I added clear green and a mixture of clear red and blue to the two lenses. That ended the session.

The glazing for this one goes on next. I'm deciding on how to mask them. I'm vascilating between liquid mask or trimmed Tamiya tape. I've had mixed results using either method. Should have painted the insdie of the larger opening flat black. Didn't realize you could peer into that space.

My last post was in August 2023. After that time I made this.

The model is a cutaway of the entire 5"38 Caliber Mark 28 Iowa-Class Secondary Battery from gun house to magazine three decks below. It will be joining my model of the 16" gun system in the Ward Room of the Battleship New Jersey Museum and Memorial berthed at the Camden, NJ Waterfront. Right now the Big J is in a dry dock at the Philadelphia Navy Yard to have its bottom painted for the first time in 34 years. It will return to Camden before the 4th of July. I will be delivering the model in the first week in August. This model, was supposed to incorporate the 1:35 Takom 5" turret plastic model, but it was no longer available and I already committed to the ship to build this, so I changed scale to 1:48 and scratch built the entire model.

No commercial parts whatsoever. Every part was drawn, printed, crafted and/or assembled by me. I had only a few dimensioned drawings. Ryan Syzmanski, the Big J Curator, was able to feed me pictures and measures that I needed for more esoteric features.

The magazine is located three decks below and offset towards the ship's interior and well within the armored citadel that characterizes these ships. It was a challenge to show it while maintaining this relationship. Drawings I've seen eliminated the 2nd deck making it look like the magazine is much closer.

But that model is built and my attention is turning back to the apache. 

Today, I got the fuselage closed and was pleased by the general fit of the Takom kit. it was much better than the Kitty Hawk Seahawk I had completed earlier.

Almost no filling is going to be needed on the model. The tail fit nicely as did the joint at the front.

Likewise, the two bottom panels went on very tightly, Tamiya-like.

Lastly, I assembled the wonderfully-detailed the 3D printed Reskit Chain Gun. I'm pretty good at 3D printing. These guys are working at another level. I would like to see what machinery, setting, etc. they're using. I get some amazing prints, but they are just a tad better than my best. That said, it's a fairly brittle resin and you have to be very careful removing the supports. One of the guard rails broke and I repaired it with Bondic. Bondic is a similar UV resin as they use to make the parts and welds parts together or fills holes. But you must have a way to shine the curing UV light on the resin. If it's buried in the joint, it will not cure. The heat shield of the barrel is actually proud of the barrel!

This very delicate part will NOT go on the model until very near the end. Otherwise, I will break it!

As before, I may stop posting here. This site is still too difficult and too skitish. I'm posting this build on Kitmaker and WW2aircrafter.com. I will post the addresses for those that want to follow elsewhere.

Wow! This looks super cool! Great job!

Looks like they are doing another release with very nice pilots.

https://www.themodellingnews.com/2023/08/135th-scale-ah-64d-apache-block-ii.html

I'd hold off making any rash decisions until I get further along. This kit is highly detailed, but it seems to be pretty challenging.

Installed the new belts today and they are vastly better than the pathetic PE with the kit. I don't know why Takom bothered to include it. It might have been better to mold them into the seats. 

Here's a nice comparison: I won't tell you which is which. You can figure it out.

With the belts installed I was able to finally mount the seats. By default and installing the fancy seat belts, I'm saving my money and not spending $50+ on the wonderful Reedoak crew. I'm building the 5" turret and need to keep my powder dry to cover the costs of that project.

I then got back to work on the fuselage. 

Based on Nigel's video, he found that Part P25 which is installed on Page 20, must be installed on Page 5. You can't put the duct assembly in place without P25 being in place, and it's not an easy part to install requiring some pushing and shoving.

Here is part P25 glued to the exterior.

The fit was a bit ragged and needed a tad of filler. Then you assemble the 2-part duct and insert it from the rear. It's supposed to nest tighly into the open space on the outside, but couldn't quite get there. This is what the fit it looked like.

Here's how it looked after filling and sanding.

And here's the ducting on the inside. This ducting is for an APU and the starboard side is the intake I'm assuming.

There's similar opening on the port side which I'm assuming is the APU's exhaust. However, nothing is mentioned on page five. It shows the assembly going in on page 19 FROM THE OUTSIDE. Again, it's tricky fit that would require handling the model a lot and there's internal ducting (Parts C11 & 12) for this one too. I decided to install it now for the same reasons as the opposite side.

I assembled the three parts with the duct glued to the exterior fairing C60.

T DOESN'T GO IN WELL FROM THE OUTSIDE. If you do try and force it, the duct doesn't bend around the corner and breaks the glue joint. Experiece talking. So I did it like the previous one and install the fairing on the outside and the duct from inside. Further reason to install in on Page 5. Page five is where you join the fuselage halves.

Here's the outisde view: The duct has a tiny gap. I'm thinking that all of this is going to be hidden by the engine exhaust housing.

And from the inside.

The last thing I did was install the tail rotor gear box housing. You need to install this BEFORE joining the halves. It has a small fairing and a small PE screen that goes in. All this done before gluing it in place.

It's installed in the starboard half. There is a plastic tail rotor shaft that also goes in before closing it up. I'm not happy with the plastic and may turn a piece out of brass that should not break when you look at it. The vertical fit is excellent. The fore and aft fit looks a tad long, and I will shave it down when it's fully cured.ng. This is the insde view of the starboard half.

And the exterior.

We're heading out for a week trip Back East, so any work will have to wait until then. Happy modeling!

Your progress is moving along and your detail work looks amazing!  I guess that I'll be selling my old 1/32 Revell Apache kits and I'll be getting a couple of these kits.

I haven't done any Apache work for a while. If you're following along on the 5"38 project you can see why I haven't. I also haven't done any work becuase I needed those seat belts. Thanks to a tip from one of my readers, I got these on eBay and they'll be perfect. We're heading out for a week trip on Tuesday so work will begin again after that. They're just was the doctor ordered as long as I don't lose any of them.

After airbrushing the rotor head and deck Tamiya Olive Drab, I prepared some thin aluminum foil to finish the steel portion of the rotor shaft. I have some German Aluminum foil that's very thin. That roll is over 20 years old and came back with us when we repatriated back from our German sojourn in 2002. It's thinner than standards Reynolds. I didn't have bright polished Bare Metal Foil. I do have the matte aluminum, but didn't want to use it in this application.

To make the foil adhesive, I coated it with old standby Microscale Foil Adhesive.

I actually measured the different areas area with a dividers and made each strip long enough to overlap the ends with reasonable extra. I then picked out all the shafts and pivots with Molotow decanted chrome with a very fine detail brush. I buy eyeliner brushes from Amazon to do this. They are very cheap, about $8.00 for 100 of them. They're impervious to solvents and when they don't work well anymore I throw them away. I like how this turned out. As I noted, the metal links do not look out of place now that they're painted.

I tried this assembly into the fuselage. The piece keys into the side with very positve lugs, and the cockpit locates well too. As you can see, you can't see much!

A lot has to happen before I button up the fuselage, but it was worth checking. I also did the final treatment to the cockpit and glued it together. I did very light weathering on the edges, rudder pedals and gloss coated the screens. I had trouble getting the masking tape off the lower edges of the armor glass dividing panel and scratched the clear styrene. I brushed a coat of Future on it to hide the scratches. I also put a wash on the seat cushions. I know there are aftermarket items that could even notch the cockpit up a level, but frankly, it's seems sufficient out of the box.

The seat cushions are nothing special. i wish there was some more texture to them. The left seat has the wash.

Then came the kit's PE seat belts. There are no instructions on their use. I first treated them in vinegar to micro-etch the surface to accept paint. I then treated them with JAX brass brown treatment which also chemically treats the surface. 

I then hand painted them neutral gray. Photos show that these belts can be gray.

I have no idea just how they're going on, and I'm not a big fan of PE seat belts since they can have a mind of their own. I supposed I could have annealed them beforehand so they would be soft enough to conform to any shape I want, but I didn't. Wish me luck. I'll molotow the hardware after bending.

While I was waiting for things to dry I was re-watching Nigel's AH-64E buildk and was catching some more hints. He really went out of sequence on some things that seem to work. He installed those swash plate on the mast before installing that into the rest. That would have helped alot. So make a note of that. INSTALL SWASH PLATE HALVES BEFORE ATTACHING MAST TO REMAINING ROTOR ASSEMBLY!

With a fresh start I tackled this ridiculously complex and fragile rotor head. I had just played guitar for about a half hour. I'm very out of practice and pledged this weekend that I'm going to start playing again to build up my strength and callouses. I was inspired after seeing an old Austin City Limits show featuring Stevie Ray Vaugh (RIP) at his last appearance in 1989. Why am I telling you all this? Because the exercise and being a little low on blood sugar left me with very shaky hands and I was about to finally assemble the lever bracket assembly I started yesterday.

I have a ton of images today, and a lot of dialog since this was one heckuva session, so strap in... And paraphrasing the words of Obi Wan Kanobi remarking on the Tatooine Cantina, "things could be a little rough"!

After trimming the homemade link a scosh more I was able to get is all together. I ended up drilling more 0.022" holes and pinning the final connection instead of relying on the tiny plastic protrusions. It's now a reasonably stable assembly.

After this, there is a mast base and rotor head plate (don't know what to call all of these sub-parts). Around the mast go a sequence of angular trusses that brace the rotor head. Each is different in their upper connection helping to avoid getting them in the wrong place. They fit nicely and caused no trouble. It lulls you into thinking that this could all go together easily. Wrong!

Here was the first one. I cut each individually off the sprue, cleaned it up and attached it before doing the next, just to keep things tidy.

Here's the complete array installed. Note that the upper pin area is different for all four so even if you're confused, if observant, you could figure it out.

Yesterday's assembly attaches to this with two plastic pins. At first I didn't glue it, not knowing for sure how it would settle in, but later felt it was okay to fasten it since it was moving around too much and not helping at all.

When this was installed the three operating links went in. These were very fragile with the upper clevis end almost being to fine to work. Comparing it to the #11 blade shows the lack of mass quite well.

Amazingly, all three links went in without hassle or breakage.

The mast then slipped in between and glued into the base with a key to align it. BEFORE PUTTING IT IN PLACE YOU MUST PUT PART #F52 ONTO THE MAST. This part is supposed to be NOT GLUED. That's a real challenge as you're suppose to install swashplate parts below it and they must be glued. 

Just underneath the rotating connection plate (possibly for the collective pitch) went a two-part swash plate (term??) with two frail links that tie into the lever assembly installed earlier. The swash plate without the pins goes in first and engages another lever in this assembly. This was a horror, but not the worst horror. You are supposed to glue it in place WITHOUT gluing that collective plate above it. My first attempt with liquid cement did just that...glued it! I was able to spin it enough to break the not-complete-bond and get it moving.

There is a lug on the i.d. of these two shells that is supposed to engage in a similarly shaped slot in the main shaft. They are different sizes so you can't mix up what goes on which side. As I fussed with getting the rest of this in place, it kept breaking loose... over and over and over...

Then came the real horror show. The last one was just a "coming attraction". In addition to putting the second shell in place into its rectangular slot, you must also captivate two tiny connecting links.

Attempt #1: I glued the two links into the pins on the non-attached shell and tried to manipulate it into position while catching the lower end of these links into another clevis on the lever mechansim. Not only didn't it work, knocking the previously installed shell off, but it ended up breaking one of the links in half. I then crafted a replacement matching the length and design of the two ends: one enclosed and one with an open slot.

Attempt #2: Same scenario except this time one plastic and one metal link fell off.

Attempt #3: Plastic link #2 gave out. Getting a bit scary now, isn't it?

With my vast experience making metallic links, I quickly crafted another the same length as the first one.

I then made a couple of changes so I wasn't doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different outcome. Hey! I'm obsessed! I'm not crazy! 

I also removed the rectangular lug on the one shell that I was having trouble installing since the lug was not fully entering the mating slot and was preventing the two shells from meeting properly.

Here's the slot that wasn't working.

Problem solved! This shows the short pins which I subsequently abandoned.

I also realized that attempting to hang the links on those tiny plastic pins and expecting it all to hold together as I kept manipulating the parts simply wasn't woring. I drilled the plastic pins out of the one shell and fully drilled out the dimple ont the other. I originally cut the metallic pins correct length, but this was just as hard to assemble as with the plastic pins. I wised up and used long pieces of 0.022" phos-bronze that I could thread through both shells and then guide them together. 

Once I got all these mods in operation, I was finally able to bring all the parts together. I brought then into engagement gradually, making sure that the links were engaging their correct clevises in the lever block.

Once I got the two halves positioned, I was able to swing the links up into engagement without worrying about all the parts falling into my parts catcher.

Here's the reverse view showing the lnks into their respective locations. You really have to master the skill of drilling tiny holes in akward places to do this work. BTW: my hands steadied out after a snack and some Gummi Bears.

And here's the fully assembled lower control end of the main mast. There's another crisis waiting around the corner. That upper rotating part has two little ears with slots to receive other links. Both of these ears have one half broken away and will need to be replaced. I believe I can either form it with Bondic UV curing resin or make it out of PE fret material. Either way, I'll get it fixed.

That last bit took well over an hour to resolve. I can see why some folks are just leaving all this stuff off the model since it's out of the sight line. I also can imagine that a lot of modelers just don't have the experience making these small jewelery-like parts. If I had it my way, I'd replace all the plastic links with metal. I believe when Neil on videos got to this step, he wrestled with it all off camera. Granted, my metal links are a bit simpler in design than the kit's, but when painted, no one will notice. I had to do this a lot of the Seahawk too for the same reason. If I had a swiss-type lathe that can turn tiny long parts, I'd machine them all.

I think this assembly has reached the point where it can be painted. I believe it can be painted all NATO black. Part of the main shaft is polished steel, I will try and use Bare Metal Foil for this part. When you look at the mechanical complexity of a helicopter you wonder how they ever fly at all...

The color looks pretty dark. Anyone have accurate data on the rotating parts color? In this image it looks awfully like Olive Drab... Also note the polished portion and shiny ends of fasteners and link bearings.

I'm glad this part is over. It was truly a challenge!

I did drill that tight pin hole larger so it would no longer be a press fit. It was a #54 drill. I then made a metal connecting rod to replace the missing one. I first had to cut out the remains of the existing rod to leave an open clevis to accept my homemade part. To make these kinds of things, I take the phos-bronze or brass wire and crush an end flat in the powerful jaws of a Vise Grip. My vise grip was my dad's and is probably 60 years old. They don't wear out. I squish it in the jaws while tightening the screw until it gets as thin as I want it. I turn it over, clamp in different places on the on the jaws so the piece is flattened evenly. Since this piece needed a round end with a little bit of thickness, I added some solder on both side. Final shaping was done holding the shaft in a needle nose and filed both in thickness and width. I rounded the end. 

I used a scratch awl to make a fine center punch mark and used the 0.022" carbide drill to create the pin hole. The other end, after capturing the length for the existing one, had the same treatments and then a piece of rod soldered in to simulate the pin on that end.

I had to drill the bracket with the same drill to accept the pin. I first cut off the fake pin's nub and filed it flat so it would accept another center punch mark for an accurate drilling. I had to further reduce the radius of my rod's end so the two holes would align and accept the real pin.

Putting that vertical lever on was a challenge and the glue joints of the cross pin kept breaking loose. I finaly got it together and decided to let in cure fully before finishing the assembly tomorrow (or wednesday). My younger (19 year old) grandson and I are installing a new garbage disposal. Depending on how long that takes will determine how much shop time I'll get.

Waiting in the wings is another part of this complex set of swinging levers and frames that provide the cyclic and collective inputs to the swash plate on the rotor shaft. Helicopter mechanics are something else! This drawing, like others, is misleading. The leftmost arrow descending down from part F41, does NOT interact on that pin on F39. It falls way wide of it. I'm assuming that arrow just shows the direction the part must be assembled. I've read complaints about the instructions and they're not wrong.

Till tomorrow.

After viewing the videos and reading reviews it was quite clear that decals would be a problem. I chose to use the screen decals for the instrutment panels. To ensure the thick carrier film was not a problem, I used the #11 blade to slice through the film to separte the colored part of the decal right at it's demarcation line. I didn't cut all the way through the decal paper since you need something to hold onto.

This let the decal sit nice and tight against the screen boundary. I used Tamiya clear as a base coat for the decals and then, after application, Microscale Microlsol. They did settle down nicely.

I'm not gloss coating the screeens. They are not glossy in real life. After decal application I started the detail painting. The panels ARE NOT colorful. There is very little color other than matte black and light gray. I painted the knobs Tamiya sky gray, and the tiny toggles just a touch of Molotow chrome. The dots are so tiny you can't tell what color they are. If fudged the three steam gauges to the right of the pilot's rt hand screen.

I painted the seat cushions off the seat pans and when dry glued them together with Testor's tube cement.

Tomorrow I will go back and do some light weathering and wear marks on things. I still have to order the Reedoak pilot and gunner figures. 

While that was all drying I started on the complicated and very delicate rotor head. I already broke one of the very fine extensions on one of the parts. I don't actually know when it broke. One minute it was there and the next gone. Much of the rotor is completely hidden by the fuselage fairing so I don't know if it's critical to replace it with wire. I have the skills to duplicate that portion of the part. I'm just not sure it will be worth the effort.

The instructions for this portion are difficult to interpret and I trial fit it together multiple times before I understood just how it went together. The cylindrical part's spindle is slightly oversized for the hole and in attempting to push them together was probably what broke that tiny rod. I should just open up the hole with the properly sized drill. I did attempt to slightly reduce the size of the pin.

As I was starting to get frustrated and it was dinner time, it was a good time to quit before I broke anything more. I'll tackle it again tomorrow and probably will re-make some of the tinier rods out of metal. Styrene doesn't work for everything!

Finished the tub as far as I could go without painting stuff. My decisions to keep it open for access for airbrushing and detail work seems to be correct. I was having trouble with my various tweezers holding small round objects so I took another pair and made a small mod with a diamond burr and the Dremel. The group grips nicely and the parts don't go "Sproing!" all over the shop.

I put the parts on my Ed Tackett designed parts holder and shot them with NATO black. I painted the tub holding it in my hand.

While this was all drying I drilled the openings in the fuselage sides based on the instructions for this particular iteration of Apache. The sides had a few sprue attachments that needed snipping and cleaning. I test fit the fuse sides together to get an idea of how they mated. They mated well!

Two drills were called out: .7mm and 1.0mm. I used the English equivalent of them and drilled them out and lightly deburred the outside hole. One of the holes had to be drilled at the junction of the two hull sides. I hand-held the sides and drilled the hole successfully.

I hope everyone is having a nice weekend. Here in Louisvile we're having wonderful weather for a change.

I promise not to disappoint. Some of these threads will have repeat themes from earlier ones, so if you've read all of them, please forgive me.

Construction in earnest started on the Apache. You're presented with a challenge right from step one... painting. The model does not call out colors. I downloaded many Apache images including a raft of them about the two cockpits. Based on the pics, the entire space is basically NATO black. The side control panels are a medium gray background and most switchs/knobs are light gray.

If you just follow the instructions in order and build the entire cockpit, you will be challenged detailing and getting paint where you want it. I'm building it up in sections that will be painted and then installed. Of course this adds some extra work removing paint where the glue is going to go, but it's the price you have to pay to get good access. 

The first step has you building up the tub.

The gunner's (front) rudder pedals are out in the open and easy to put in now. The pilot's pedals are going to be shielded by the center bulkhead. Therefore, hold off putting in the bulkhead until you get the pedals installed. It's easy to want to put that structural piece in first, but resist it.

Part M20 goes on the outside of the tub, but the instructions were difficult to determine this. After fussing with it inside, I did some lateral thinking and said to myself, "Where else could this go?"

The moldings are very precise. Parting lines are almost non-existent, but the sprue attachments are a bit robust and require a lot of slicing and sanding to remove. Ejection pin marks aren't bad either.

The 2nd part was the first piece of PE of many. There's quite a lot of PE in this model; four frets including one for the blade fold project. After advice from Brian Bunger, the propietor of one of the best hobby shops in the USA; Scale Reproductions, Inc., I apply PE using Gel CA. It stays where you put it. You can apply tiny amounts. And it cures slowly so you can actually move the PE around to position it without it kicking halfway through. When you get the part where you want it, a small brush with a small amount of accelerator and it kicks. This was a kick plate for a vent, I'm assuming.

The next parts were the collective pitch control and throttles. The mounting end of the CP is an angular piece where the sprue was attached. Be careful when you de-nub this part to maintain the flat mounting surface at the correct angle. The trottles are tiny and again, careful de-nubbing ensures there is a mounting tab left to glue into the side panel.

These parts are very exposed and delicate so I could wait until I got the rear and side walls in place to protect them.

Left side and rear:

And the right side:

The color of the quilted padding appears to be the same color as the rest of the cockpit as can be seen in the overhead panel.

The seats and cyclic pitch stick were next. These I chose to leave off until the tub is painted. The seats obscure too much of the interior. They glue in with two pins and shouldn't be any problem to install.

Three key pads go in next. These had distinct mounting features and you can't mix them up. The kit has screen decals, but no other buttons. These will be hand painted. While there are keys on these details, their relief seems shallow so making them distinct won't be easy for me.

The gunner's control console is a separate build and installs in a large notch at the tub front. While I debated not installing this, upon reflection, it doesn't block much and I chose to install it. Afer installing I added the details.

I work on models with high and tiny parts count with my "parts catcher". It's a piece of cloth stapled to the underside of my work table, draped over my lap and then clothes pinned to my shirt. This doesn't catch everything, but parts that drop straight down are caught. I have two walls on my work table on the back and right sides to block flying parts that head in that direction. There's still open sky and other ways for parts to enter the quantum rift, but I've mitigated some of the avenues.

Here's the drape.

And here's a part that it caught (among others).

And here's where that part goes.

I don't know what that part is. It faces under the control panel and won't be seen.

Two more parts went onto the gunner's console: His trigger controls. They're identical and were a pain in the butt. Sometimes little stuff can drive you nuts.

Last thing I did required another decision. There is a transparent armor glass shield between pilot and gunner's compartments. The instructions have it going on now, but that would be a problem with painting. But there is a plastic wing attached that should go on now for better gluing reasons. I chose to mask the glass now and install it. I can then paint the tub without worrying about it. This assembly also will go on as a subassembly after tub painting.

Till tomorrow...

This will be fun to watch.

Oh man! This one will be greater than the sum of my two! I'm looking forward to following this one.

Good luck!

-O

Great subject Myles.  I have the 1/48 Hasegawa kit in the stash so I'll be watching.  Always fun to watch you work your magic on your builds.