UPDATE: #3 Dragon 1/35 UH-1D/H Australian Army build.

Looking good to me, Chris. Keep it up.

  Nice start, Chris!

Keep the pics coming!

 Andy

aussie if I am understanding you, then I need to paint everything from the pilot seats to the front black?.. So where on the floor should it start, at the back of the pilots seat floor and seats, or before that. What about the center control console ect?

I am trying to build a modern Australian Huey before it was retired, so I need to get the exact description correct.. Pics would be greatly appreciated also..

Chris

G'day mate. I have hundreds of oz huey pics and i was also at their farewell flight over brisbane.

Email me at cbrosnan1@optusnet.com.au  and i will send you some as i dont know quite how to post them here.

cheers

chris

Chris, email sent mate.. Maybe I can post them here when I get them for other members to reference as well.. Look forward to hearing from you....

I also asked in the email if you are a Brissy boy.. If so, happy to have a brother on board. Welcome to the boards.. 

Chris 

Update: Just spent this evening re-painting the cockpit black, and have decided that I will build it without the tropical filter kit and build it as is.. I will wait for a decent upgrade kit to be made in 1/35 scale and will convert it then... For now it will have to be the normal exhaust ect.. I was going to scratch build it all, but in all honesty I dont think I can do it justice..

Chris 

Normally, all the interior metal parts (seat supports, consoles, instrument panels, B pillar, floor, etc.) is painted flat black.  The only thing left gray is the fabric soundproofing on the ceiling and rear walls.  Check out my UH-1H WSMR SAR build to see what I am talking about.  Sometimes it is just the forward flight deck area painted black though.  It depends on the aircraft you are modeling.

The particle separator, exhaust diverter, and some other great items (you may need the APR-39 antenna bulges too), are already available from Fireball Modelworks in their Aircraft Survivability Equipment (ASE) Set in 1/32.  With some sanding and fitting, the parts will fit the 1/35 kit just fine.  I used some of them on my UH-1H WSMR SAR Huey recently. 

Cobra Company also has the exhaust diverter, oil cooler cover, and cowl shields in their UH-1 Heat Supressor (Strella) set as well.

With the above two sets, you have all the parts needed to build a modern UH-1H w/ASE as seen on Aussie helos. 

Good luck.

Thanks Gino, I saw that build in my other thread that you gave me the link.. All has been sorted and have since recieved some great reference photo's to work from..

Chris 

Well I have a little update, not much as I have been busy with work and the new baby, so its hard to get any time to put in.. With the help of bushranger Chris in Brisbane I was able to get some great reference material in order to the cockpit and cabin  justice.. Although in saying that I have decided to stick with the armoured seats and seat belt set up..

Anyway here are a few pics of where I am at.. This thing is gonna be chocka block with detail by the time I am finished with it. This is just the start..

As he said that he didnt know how to post them here, I thought I would post the pics that Chris sent me for others to share.. I thank him for his help also.. Great reference..

Chris 

Coming along nicely Chris. Thanks for sharing the pics - looks like they were taken at AAvn Base Oakey . Aahh the wokkas...

So will you do this as a Recce Sqdn bird from Oakey or from 5 Avn Reg Townsville?

Thanks Gino, I have only done the rough base so far, and alot of the detail is yet to come. Any advice is welcome believe me..

Shaun, havnt figured it out yet, I just saw a picture of one that I liked and have been basing myself off of it.. Will see where we are when the interior has been done and she is ready to go together.. I was thinking when would the armour seats be used?. I just liked the look and design of them..

Chris 

Ok, here is another update.. I had a busy weekend and so didn't get as much as I would have hoped done, but I am making slow progress.. I have added the canvas bag on the back of the center console, and also added the fire extinguisher aswell.. I finished the seat belt's on the front seats, and replaced the foot rests with the etched part ones.. I also did a dry fit to see how the control panels would look, and once the feuselage is closed up it is hard to see alot of detail, so I decided to keep the photo etch instrument panels the original colour so they are easier to see.. The next part I will start on will be the cabin and rear seat set up..

Chris 

Thanks for your reply.. I dont want to sound rude here, and I am happy for any advice. But those last 3 pics were taken with super zoom, and are litterally in your face.. As to what it looks like a foot away is a different story..

There is always a method in my madness, and so the reason it looks a little full on is for one simple reason and one reason only. Once the assembly goes together, and the cockpit is in its shell, the natural light will all but disapear.. The dry brushing at that stage is not for the resemblance of worn pain, but to give lines to the matt black once it loses its natural light after being closed up..

I originally had the seats done just flat black and kept putting the cockpit inside the airframe and found that it just looked like a whole bunch of black that didnt look like much.. With the highlighted lines, now you can actually tell that its a seat and the lines that are associated with it. Its the same reason I did the seat cushions tan instead of black in order to break it up somewhat and have it look like they are seat coveres and not just something else painted black...

As for getting all the colours right, then I am in the process of doing that, and have been using the reference pics as my guide. The fact that the control stick isnt the right colour yet is basically because I haven't finished it yet..

Chris 

I'm not trying to be rude either, but it still doesn't look right to me.  Dry-brushing is a technique I think many modelers over-do.  I guess it is an issue of either having an artistic model with artificially accented panel lines and details, or a model that looks more life-like to me.  Either is fine, it just depends on what you are trying to achieve.  In my opinion, a much finer dry-brushing with a dark gray or slightly different shade of black would look much better. Also, picking out individual details adds a lot to it as well. 

Also, you didn't really say you were still working on the colors, that is why I pointed out the discrepancies. 

In the end though, as long as you are happy with is all that matters.

HeavyArty wrote:

In the end though, as long as you are happy with is all that matters

I have to be honest and say that comments like this have never really sat well with me.. Its kind of like a back handed comment..

The fact is, that we have to remember one thing when building a scale model of a real subject.. And that is, that it will never look real for the simple fact being that it isn't.. So what ever we try to produce is just a representation of the subject we are depicting.. Now in saying that, as the model unlike the real thing is limited in its size and access to natural light (if boxed, or displayed indoors). Then we have to understand that we are limited in what will be purely visible to the naked eye when standing back from it looking at it on a display shelf.

I have seen your latest build that you showed with the cockpit you built, and although I can see alot of effort has gone into making it canon, it simply doesnt look real because it is a model built and painted to look like it.. As will be the case when my Huey is complete. Its just a depiction..

As I can phisically sit inside of a real chopper and get a guage to the materials that the aircraft is made from. We simply dont have that luxury with a 1/35 scale replica of it, and so alot of what we think we are doing (canon) is therefore missed and unnoticable to the average observer.. It is therefore the ability to bring out the appearance of what we are meant to be looking at is what I concentrate on.. I can paint it all black as you suggested, but then it will be all black.. I wanted to give it all a little bit of depth and contrast, so that you could see the different angles and shades.. Not to give the appearance of worn metal..

The same could be said for the photo etched control panel and console.. If you want to put your eye 3 inches away from it and count rivets, then one could suggest that it lacks depth and is flat with no bulges or buttons that are sticking up.. But move away from it, then it looks like a pretty detailed control panel..

Seriously, I am not trying to come off as a know it all or discredit your comments, and I put my work up for people to look at as I am free with opinions. But the whole picture has to be looked at and although my methods may be a different to someone elses, then its the completed model and not a few update pics that will tell the true story of what I was trying to achieve....

Cheers, Chris

Lets just say we don't see eye to eye on the techniques and leave it at that.  You prefer a more artistic approach and I do not.  To me, the way I build mine is how they look when I have sat in them in 1:1 scale.

My last comment was not meant to be a backhanded one.  I truely meant that as long as you are happy with it, that is all that counts.  It doesn't matter whether I or anyone else is pleased with it.  It is yours and you are the one who has to be happpy with how it comes out.

No problemo.. Artistic is painting a Qantas jumbo in Aboriginal art. But hey, if you say so..

Chris

Here is another update.. Slowly as she goes.. Infact I think this is the slowest I have ever built anything.. But I am enjoying what I have done so far.. Have done a dry fit with the shell and the interior is comming along nicely.. Still alot of detail, but its starting to take shape..

Cheers, Chris 

Chris, do you know which exact aircraft you want to portray? I was posted to 1 Aviation Regt for a number of years and did a stint at 171 OP SPT SQN when they had the Iriquois. I have a few different images of them that may be of a bit of help to you.

I also have an extensive series of images of Kiwi Iriquois that were in East Timor when I was there. These are pretty much the same standard as the Aust ones (of course) so they should be of use if the images you have already don't cover what you are in need of. The images include the Armour seats, cockpit, engines etc.

Harvs, I appreciate any help mate, always welcome.. I have taken a little bit of artistic licence with the pilot seats as I am not that great at scratch building, but always looking for assistance..

Cheers.. 

PS: This is the picture that started my interest, so I guess this is the Huey that started it.. So Harvs, although I havnt chosen an exact aircraft, I guess I am basing it on this one..

Gino.. I am yet to give it a wash man..... It wont look silver when I am finished...

Chris 

HeavyArty wrote:

What color did you use for the fabric soundproofing on the rear walls and ceiling?  It looks like silver or aluminum.  I have never seen a Huey with silver soundproofing.  It is usually a light gray color.

That's right; I just noticed that, too, and was about to comment. It's meant to be a quilted sound blanket, not checkerplate aluminum.

Looks like a fun kit, although I still like the old Revell D-model.

It will be given a wash. It wont be shiny silver when I am finished with it..

Chris 

Ok, I want to just set the record strait on a few things so that some people dont think that I am comming off the wrong way with them..

I understand that people want to help, and for that I am greatly appreciative. I for one am more than happy to accept advice, opinion and constructive critisism.

But unless I state that a subject is completed, finished or done. Then the pics that I post are of course works in progress.. In saying that, I have my own way of doing certain things and I also do things in stages that may seem odd to other people. But for me, it works..

I may not be building or painting and detailing exactly to that of a 1:1 scale subject, but it is not a 1:1 scale subject that I am building. I also dont count rivets, and if my scratch built yellow fire extinguisher is 1:32 and not 1:35, then that is ok by me. We all get the idea..

If it is also not exact to that of the real thing, then that is also ok, as not every Huey is the same, and I am really building this as just an Aussie Huey and havn't even begun to think of what serial number it will have, although the pic that I posted above is where I began this project from.

So in conclusion, just so that you dont think I am being sensative, or ignorant of certain facts, I just wanted to clear the air and let people know how I feel on certain matters, and at the end of the day I am happy to accept help, but if its just to say, oh that colour is not Tamiya #555555 then in all honesty, it is of no interest to me.

My builds are built in order of, how, and where I will be displaying them for me, and if what I will be building will be visible to the naked eye. I dont believe in competitions and judging as modeling is a very subjective hobby and everyone has different tastes.. Like on aircraft where by paneling and over shadowing are used on models that win awards, but look nothing like the real thing..

For now, I will just post my updates and enjoy the build with you..

Chris