 J.H. Primm wrote: |
I got mine from Gordon Kwan at Sprue Bros for about $40 less than that.
Good looking kit, the aft landing gear and engine air inlet screens look to be O.K., I won't know how it all will fit until the kit starts going together. |
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My sneaky wife managed to pull a fast one on me for Father's Day and lo and behold, I'm the proud owner of a Trump CH-47D. I didn't even think that kit was OUT yet (I haven't been paying close attention here in the forums of late. DOOH! Talk about a lack of situational awareness!). Apparently she visited our LHS (which ain't too darn spectacular, IMHO) and was adamant with the guy that it had to be the D model kit. He ordered it up (and she paid a premium for it), and now I'm scratching my head looking at the parts saying "How am I going to make this bad boy a Charlie?"
Interestingly, in reading Bryan's post (
A in D clothing), many of the problems he notes in the D kit as being "too A model-ish" are actually GOOD things for me wanting to build a C model out of the D kit.
For example:
The cockpit. The CH-47C cockpit was more like its CH-47A&B cousins than the D. Whew. I think I lucked out here, since I suck at detailing cockpits.
Avionics, flight control & heater closets: Much of this actually works in my favor, but I'll still have to scratchbuild a winch and the STVA control boxes, I think. There is a LOT of work to do in all three areas, though. Scratch build the SAS boxes, HF rig, KY-58 & KIT1/A, etc. Dunno what I'm gonna do about the flight control closet which, on a C, was pretty much wide open with the SAS actuators right there in your face.
(Anybody remember the mnemonic to ID the correct flight control axis in the closet? "P***y Tickles Your Rod"? Pitch Thrust Yaw Roll. I just don't remember where you start and which way you go. Was it start from the front left and go clockwise? Argh. I need a set of CH-47C maintenance manuals! Already have the -10. Gosh, I'm losing my memory fast. Too much OB at the Seven Club with Johnny Primm..)
In the cabin, the lack of seats is, to quote Darth Vader: "disturbing." I need to jimmy up some sagging soundproofing held up with a big X of parachute cord at various intervals or something.
(Oops, now I remember why my memory is so shot: I remember spending a whole hot-*** Korean summer [1987] on 68-15822 with my FEI Dan Daniels, our heads up in the top of the cabin, using MEK [oooh, in the 80s you could get such good industrial solvents..] to get the old glue residue off the formers so we could tack up new velcro to hold the soundproofing. I must have killed a LOT of brain cells with that..<GRIN>) What a pain in the *** thats gonna be. Any word on AM brass parts for seats? I don't feel like scratchbuilding seats, that would take FOREVER, but I don't want to leave seats out, either.
Of course, there are things like a new cargohook beam & hook assembly. The hook was the same, I seem to recall from tech school, for the A thru C models, but the kit has the D beam. Hmmm. gotta leave the doors open on that, too.
I will need to add some antennas/domes on the
bottom, and the missing ERFS vents & GPS antennas work in my favor for the Charlie. The ramp is going to be a pain in the ***, since the Charlie was MUCH more complex than the D
(one of the selling points of the D to the Army: "Less places to leak!") in that area. I don't get the luxury of the panels covering the aft transmission area, either. Those were long gone on the Cs by the time I got there.
Then, of course, there are the filling of various and sundry little screens and vents, and that big honking notch in the forward pylon. Piece of cake.
I have my work cut out for me now.
Darin Ninness
213th Avn Co, ROK 86-89
CH-47C, 67-18500 "The Pride of Texas"