Four-Bladed Whiskey Sources?

Quite right Snake,

       I guess that I let my enthusiasm get the better of me.  Your right:

                       1.Cobra Company is not out of the woods yet, they need our continued support if they are to succeed and stay in business.  Chris himself said that the business end has to stabilize before new products can come out.  Hopefully modelers won't overlook this rare and wonderful second chance to support a fine AM producer.

                       2.While that conversion is a good start, it needs some work.  I am not going to knock Mr. Butler either, and I agree with your point; He is probably bound by several Non-Disclosure forms, as well as Classified information rules, so he could not give us a lot of technical data, even if the latest magazine had a full spread on the chopper.  Also, that conversion was produced 3 years ago.  A lot could have changed with the initial design since then, as it is still in testing and LRIP. At least he did produce a conversion, though, 

                       3.I think your last point has a lot of merit.  The MRC Whiskey is a very popular kit, a good combination of scale, price, and ease of assembly. CC's sets are also affordable, and very easy to work with, and usually relevant to what modelers are seeking.  I am again and again impressed with the NTS set I have.  I have met quite a few people interested in a model of the Zulu.  If Chris were to produce the conversion to Cobra Company's top notch standards, It would be the only accurate Zulu available on the market in any scale, and a truly awesome set.  I think that the potential is there.  We just have to wait an see what more comes of this.

~Anthony

Er, let's not jump the gun here. We may be seeing the light, but CC ain't out of the woods yet.

If I recall correctly from the original HKN post, the pictures of the masters looked a tad rough. Also, the original master-maker seemed to to be under some tight constraints as far as how much detail he'd put into the set. I won't knock him for it, given his knowledge of the a/c and the nature of the program, but I don't exactly want a conversion that doesn't have all the absolute latest & greatest lumps & humps on it. Let's face it, the engineers can't even acknowledge the existence of some components that the Aviation Week photographer takes pictures of.

But, if something like this were to generate enough interest (read: create revenue for CC), I'm sure it'd be an awesome conversion set for the highly prolific and very affordable MRC Whiskey kit.

Andy

 Snake!

Thanks Ray, I have that problem with my model tools as well. 

Chris,

you're awesome!

Sign me up for 1! 

It's great that there are manufacturers on this forum, listening to our wants.  I hope that things are going well for you, and we get to see the conversion soon!

Thanks again,

Anthony

~AKA, The Reluctant Wanderer

......fingers...........crossed................................

I bought a master set from Charles when he made them. The understanding was that I would be refining them for a Cobra Company conversion in the future.

Chief Snake 

RW,

  No worries man, I can't remember where I left my shoes most days!  Glad I could help jog your memory.  Good luck with the build and please post some pics.

       Ray

Hey Ray!

      Forgive me, sir, I had that PDF tucked away, and forgot about.  Thanks for reminding me about it.  I did look at it again, and took a good look at the rotor details, and I should be able to build it.  Forgive an ignorant fool for overlooking an excellent resource

Thanks again.

~RW

Anthony,

  I've posted this link before:

http://www.bellhelicopter.com/en/aircraft/military/bellAH-1Z.cfm

It is the link to Bell Textron's official AH-1Z page.  Download the "pocket guide" in PDF and enjoy all the nice pics, including details of the rotor head.

    Ray

Thanks Andy,

          in other words, building a Zulu or a 4BW is more a "flights of fancy" sort of project than a real operational aircraft.  There is no real model of a zulu, a conversion for 1/35 was made, but I can't make contact with who made it, there aren't any good pics of tth top view of the hub, and bulding that dog house is going to be a real pain.

          I read somewhere that the 4bw's rotor was the same as the sikorsky S-72, but I don't remember the source, or it's validity.  Either case, I am guessing on how to build its hub.  So, if I want to build a model of a accurate, verifiable cobra with plenty of sources, then I had better stick to the Whiskey.

          In either case, I have the Cobra Company NTS set, and the Eduard PE sets, so that shouldn't be a problem.

Thanks again.

~Anthony

Italeri's 1/48 "Zulu" does come with elongated stub wings, but I can't vouch for the accuracy of their shape or size. Never really gave them a second look since I have always planned on building mine as a W. They should be close enough for 1/48, though.

I don't know what the 4BW may have carried as far as cockpit avionics go, but I doubt that it had the gunner's MFD, since that was part of the gear they stuffed in with the canopy mod. In any case, I don't know how functional it may or may not have been from a weapons systems standpoint, since that airframe seemed to spend a good number of years as a concept demonstrator for Bell.

As far as hubs go, I think you are on your own for the Zulu. I think that one is developed especially for the upgrade program. No idea what may have been used for the 4BW: if Bell developed a new system for that, or if they used something similar to their 412s.

Andy

Thanks Andy,

          I appreciate the help. The pictures were exactly what I needed. As far as I know, Isn't the 1/48 kit missing the bigger wings of the Zulu as well?

        On the 4BW, am I right in assuming that they used a standard whiskey NTS cockpit, without the canopy mod? 

       Also, on the rotors, I am thinking of swiping a four-bladed hub, and building the blades myself, what other helicopters have a hub closest to the 4BW, or the Zulu even?

Thanks again,

Anthony

Well, yes and no. It's actually a poor representation of both.

Noticeably lacking is the modified transmission and doghouse assembly that would allow you to build a proper AH-1Z. Also, the lack of a new targeting unit, some fuselage facets, and the turned exhaust really kills all possibility of a Z, so I purchased one just to use as a W build. The good thing about that kit is that it still has all the parts to build a W. In theory, it would make a great representation of the 4BW if you used all of the W parts, and just use the Z's 4-bladed main rotor.

Andy

Andy,

  Is the Italeri "AH-1Z" actually the AH-1W 4BW?  It looks like it from the pics I've seen.

      Ray

ajlafleche wrote:

Just Google "AH-1Z" and you'll have dozens of sites.

The 4BW was simply an AH-1W fitted with a four-bladed main rotor. Only one was produced and tested. Earlier in its lifetime, this particular airframe was also the original AH-1W prototype as well (aka the AH-1T+). You can find a couple pictures of the 4BW variant in a 3-color USMC scheme on airliners.net.

Andy

edit* Here's the links to the two photos of the 4BW that I have.
Note that it has some other, smaller mods worth noting:
-A bulbous NTS nose (caused by not having the canopy mod)
-Above-wing sidewinder rails
-Chaff/flare dispensers mounted inside the end of the stubwings
-Small vertical tails on the ends of the aft elevator

http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?id=0536307
http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?id=0807932