And yet another question on the Apache again...

Thanks Jon

good luck in the bag!

David

Dan,

Its rough, especially since everything on the tailboom is raised.  The main fuselage seams aren't too bad though.  The upper one is along the catwalk door separation on the turtleback and then it extends along the tail rotor driveshaft covers to the vertical tail.  You shouldn't really lose much detail along here.  The engine nacelles are a bit of an issue, but again, they tried to break them along the access door panel line.  The seam does need some cleanup, but it shouldn't be too bad.  The only area that you should use extra caution to avoid removing rivet detail is the tailboom underside.  My take on that was simple.  If no one's gonna see it, I'm not worryin' about the friggin rivets!  

I'm almost finished with "51A", which was the first Longbow I flew.  Should have it finished this coming weekend!

Jon 

And here I am, with my next question, this time not about color, Jon, I believe you've build an Apache in 2004 or sometime around that, right ?

How did you get rid of the seams without loosing the rivets ? 

Gino,

Things are going well.  I've got my "Bag" checkride this week, so I'm attempting to study a lot to get ready for it.  Between that and trying to get the Walkaround book off to Squadron this week.  

David, 

The two shots I do have of removed panels don't show the color very well.  I'll see what I can get tomorrow.  I'm not publishing any shots of the transmission compartment or catwalk area, for obvious reasons, but I can probably get a decent shot of the area just inside the doghouse.

Jon

Any chance of getting a pic of that burnt orange on the inside of the transmission housing?

everything I see on the net is of an A model when you can find some interior shot, so I would love to see how this is layed out.

 Admittedly, ......not an Apache mek here...they are too new! :-)

David

Nope!  The transmission itself is flat black.  The bellcranks that are included on the kit part you mention are Helo Drab, regardless of what nation the Apache flies for.  The sidewall color varies between yellow zinc chromate and a burnt-orange shade, depending on when and where it was manufactured.  Those pieces are not metal, so ZnCrO2 was only sprayed for uniformity. On our Longbows, the sidewalls tend to be the orange shade.  The floor is yellow chromate as are the transmission mounts and a lot of other things in the transmission compartment, but the sidewalls are Kevlar.  The forward wall should be chromate yellow, since it is a structural, metal component.

Jon