UH -34 Sea Horse WIP

I would be stunned by this in 1/48 so to say I feel shocked in the head barely begins to describe it.

Hi Swanny, thanks. Although it's 1/72, I've seen other better builds and detailing than mine in this forum. I feel I'm just average with my skills and still learning as I progress. I lack detail references so most of it is basically guess work and pictures from the net.

It's now at the masking stage and on to painting.

Cheers,

Richard 

The heli is all masked up and ready for the coats of paint starting with grey for canopy frame and primer coat for the whole body so that the black pre-shade will show through. Then a coat of olive green and future for decaling. Re-seal with future. Then pin wash with water color. Add light filtering with oils then airbrush light coat of cloud filtering and then seal again with future and finally with matt coat. Lastly pick out details with fine brush.

But here is the mummyfied helo and steps until the main color while it cures before the coat of Future.

Thanks for looking.

Cheers,

Richard

Howdy Richard,

nice work with the preshading. And also an interesting idea to do the red on the fuel fillers at this time. Keep up the good work and have a nice day

Pawel

Thanks Pawel,

And there's more as I'm on a roll.

I added the orange panel after I I gave the helo a coat of Future. I should have added the orange panel during the primer stage.

The effects of pre-shading on the tail.

Then I removed the masking for the top of the canopy to spray on the sun-shade transparent green from Tamiya. Again this should have been done from the inside out but it turned out okay.

Decals next. Thanks for looking.

Cheers,

Richard

Hi Richard ,

I really like the pre-shading on your H-34 build , this is something I will definitly try myself on my current builds , it really looks great . I have always been curious about the tinted overhead panels on the canopy , I've been tempted a few times to do it on a H-34 but wasn't sure if it was a standard practice on Seahorse's .

She's looking really good and great pic's .

                                John

Absolutely fantastic work!! Cannot wait to see the finished model. The pre-shading looks fantastic!

Helo H-34

Hi Richard ,

I really like the pre-shading on your H-34 build , this is something I will definitly try myself on my current builds , it really looks great . I have always been curious about the tinted overhead panels on the canopy , I've been tempted a few times to do it on a H-34 but wasn't sure if it was a standard practice on Seahorse's .

She's looking really good and great pic's .

                                John

Thanks John, I really appreciate your comments. Pre-shading is more forgivable than post shading and subtle.

Cheers,

Richard

tonka

Absolutely fantastic work!! Cannot wait to see the finished model. The pre-shading looks fantastic!

Tonka, thanks. I'm trying to finish it this weekend for the local group build. It should be going into a dio that I've planned.

I noticed you're also tackling a H-19 and H-34. Looking forward to see progress pix on them soon.

Cheers,

Richard

Ok John and friends,

My progress report on the UH-34 read like this: Decals done and sealed, proceeding to weathering and detail painting.

Giving you a peek into what stage I'm at with the dio:

Started out like this with the wire secured to the base with nails. Drilled the helo also.

Drew all the circular lines as guide to prop wash.

Then added the raised embankments with poly and then carved.

Coated with pollyfilla and white glue.

At this stage I don't think I have time to add figures so will try to complete the base as much as possible for the Group Build.

I didn't have time to post the WIP on the base before the GB so for those who kept asking how the base was achieved , I continued with a post GB WIP:

Stuck all the paint brush bristles at an angle with white glue.

Airbrushed certain portions as I progressed.

The following shots are different angles of the completed base all done within 6 days.

Next, since I had time , I proceeded to add figures to the heli as it didn't seem right to have a pilotless heli in mid-air. So I scrounged some old Airfix figures from a botched Bronco. Added new hands and split the legs apart to fit the joysticks.

The cabin gunner is from Preiser with Bondite helmet.

I added safety belt straps from Bondite.

And then painted them all.

The heli went into the GB without the rear view mirror as I lost it in the carpet the night before.

I finally got the rear view mirror and extra wind screen wiper done after the GB.

Here are the pix of the finished UH-34:

Thanks for viewing, now only to add the Marines in the padi field.

Cheers,
Richard

Richard,

great build and a great dio display base to go with it. And while I'm not entirely convinced by the waves/water, I like the rice/grass a lot. How many paintbrushes did you have to slash for this one? I'm looking forward to see this one, and also your other, hopefully Vietnam-themed builds completed. Keep 'em comin' and have a nice day

Pawel

Richard your H-34 and Dio are absolutly stunning ;

Using the bristles from a paint brush to simulate rice paddy grass is awesome .

I like the pilot figures and crew chief/door gunner ; I also like how you added a brown/rust appearence to the recess panel lines etc , that detail really caught my attention .

This is just an amazing build , well done Sir....

Kind regards

                            John .

Thanks Guys,

Had fun doing it and will be challenged with the 1/72 Marines that I have to convert. Still in progress. 

I wasn't comfortable with the water ripples either Pawel but I had to complete it in a rush. They're just too even and may need smaller ripples in between. Paddy(in English...I spelt it in Malay the last time) water at this stage of growth is brackish and dark and not brown or clear.

Thanks for the comments. Much appreciated.

Cheers,

Richard

Re. the water; perhaps some white on the wave crests to suggest foam and white streaks on the water surface radiating out from the center to suggest mist?  Just a thought.  The grass is absolutely terrific and the details on the chopper are some of the best I have seen.  Keep up the great work!

                                                                                                               Pat

YL-75 served with HMM-362 in Vietnam in 1962, during Operation SHUFLY. Troops on the ground would be ARVN, not USMC.

Thanks for the tip Pat. I will be adding the white wave crest.

Cheers,

Richard

Great heads up from you HMM-362. Thanks.

I won't have to modify the M-1 carbines to M-14's then and I can paint the figures skin color Asian. ARVN were fitted with US gear anyway and at 1/72, it's gonna be hard to tell depending on my painting skill.

Just a thought, wouldn't YL-75 have served further and participated in Operation Starlight? Did it survive to ferry US troops later in the conflict?

Cheers,

Richard

145748 saw limited time in country. It  was written off in June of 1964 at Futema.

Len

Len Lundh

145748 saw limited time in country. It  was written off in June of 1964 at Futema.

 

Len

Thanks Len.

Appreciate the reply. Then it's settled...ARVN grunts it is. What unit of ARVN participated in Operation Shufly? Were they just regular army or the Tiger, Airborne, Ranger or Marine units.

The ARVN Marine units would be cool as they had tiger striped camo for their uniform. I guess most of their special forces had this camo.

Cheers,

Richard

Photos in Vietnam Diary, by Richard Tregaskis, show regular ARVN troops aboard the Marine UH-34Ds.

Len

Thanks and much appreciated Len,

I'll check it out.

Cheers,

Richard

Excellent work! Very impressive. The whole dio is coming together great. Cannot wait to see the troops added,,,would have been nice to been US Marines...but I am prejudiced

Hi Richard ,

I'm not sure if this pic is of any use to you

" In 1961 , a small number of highly-motivated American troops went to vietnam to advise the Army of the Republic of Vietnam , quickly dubbed 'Arvin' in GI slang . Soon Americans were in actual combat "

From the book Vietnam Air Warfare , Dorr and Biship .

HTH

                   John

Another pic from the same book shows South Vietnamese troops during a Cambodian incursion , however it's form the chapter marked 1970 : 'Holding the line' .

                       John .

Helo H-34

Hi Richard ,

I'm not sure if this pic is of any use to you

" In 1961 , a small number of highly-motivated American troops went to vietnam to advise the Army of the Republic of Vietnam , quickly dubbed 'Arvin' in GI slang . Soon Americans were in actual combat "

From the book Vietnam Air Warfare , Dorr and Biship .

HTH

                   John

Thanks John,

...they're very helpful especially the first picture set around '60. The ARVN wore basic equipment that still looked WW2 'ish with carbines and all. With my 1/72 Italeri Iwo Jima flag bearers I can easily convert them to ARVN. The fact that half their legs will be submerged in mud will cut them down to size.

I'm concentrating on my other Dio while the references are gathered. Thanks again for specially looking it up for me.

Cheers,

Richard 

To call this a work of art barely begins to express my feeling about what I see here. A jewel, maybe vision, I don't know .... adjectives really are failing me with this one.

Thanks Swanny. Don't worry about finding the right adjectives, glad you like it.

I have a question, which is more appealing...the UH-34 or the UH-34 with the dio?

The UH-34 dio is taking a backseat for the moment as I concentrate on R & R(another dio in progress).

Cheers,

Richard

I think it looks best in the dio.  The rotor wash in the rice paddy looks really good.  The dio puts the helo in its element.  I say keep plugging away at the full dio.

Dio for sure! ' Really adds to the 'story!!

Hi Gino and Tonka,

I'll be doing the dio but will be posting the figure convertions in the figure forum. Once that's done, the whole shebang will be posted in the Dio forum. I'll link them and will post the final picture here.

Figure link here: /forums/t/129997.aspx

Got to be patient though. I've got so many other neglected builds to attend to with so little time and I'm hindered by my slow speed.

Thanks for hanging in there.

Cheers,

Richard