CH-46- "Doing it, Phroggy Style" Finished

bondoman wrote:

J.H. Primm wrote:  When you get to the rotor blades check your references carefully, When viewed from above the direction of rotation for the forward rotor head is counter clockwise and the aft rotor head is clockwise. A lot of people get this backward when they build tandem rotor helicopters (H-21s, CH-46s and CH-47s) One thing that is ENORMOUSLY confusing is the photos of the finished model on the box for mine, which is the A/D "Vietnam Marines" version. Out of six photos, three have counter-rotators and three have same-direction rotators! The instructions have it right if you read them carefully, except that some of the views are from the bottom, so you have to be careful.

Don't reference photos of the completed model. If you need help let me know and I will send you photos and reference material for the real deal.

 BTW, Academy kind of took a short cut when they issued the A and D Models. None of those kits have the correct rotor heads or rotor blades, but then most people won't notice.

What they do have in the kits are replicas of FRBs (Fiberglass Blades) and rotor heads for those blades. The FRBs and accompanying rotor heads showed up with the E model in 1977. When I got out in 1980 the upgrade from CH-46D and CH-46F to CH-46E was well underway. It may be possible that the FRBs and accompanying rotor systems were retrofitted to the remaining Ds and Fs (These would have been in Navy squadrons and serving as Air Station SAR aircraft)...Of course others may know more.

J Primm

J.H. Primm wrote:

When you get to the rotor blades check your references carefully, When viewed from above the direction of rotation for the forward rotor head is counter clockwise and the aft rotor head is clockwise. A lot of people get this backward when they build tandem rotor helicopters (H-21s, CH-46s and CH-47s)

J.H. Primm wrote:

When you get to the rotor blades check your references carefully, When viewed from above the direction of rotation for the forward rotor head is counter clockwise and the aft rotor head is clockwise. A lot of people get this backward when they build tandem rotor helicopters (H-21s, CH-46s and CH-47s)   J Primm

 Noted!!! Thanks. I would not want a repeat of my 58 blunder!!!

Fermis 

You have the look "nailed"!

Concerning the hatch that opens inward above the ramp, the "flippers" don't have actuators, only the hinges which you have depicted very nicely. On the real aircraft there is a single actuator located at the aft end of the center of the hatch, As it is opened the side sections simply fold around the hinges.

 When you get to the rotor blades check your references carefully, When viewed from above the direction of rotation for the forward rotor head is counter clockwise and the aft rotor head is clockwise. A lot of people get this backward when they build tandem rotor helicopters (H-21s, CH-46s and CH-47s)

Great work. If you decide to do another one let me know and I can send you reference material from my copy of the '46 NATOPS manual.

J Primm

 Making much headway. The other night I detailed the ramp and rebuilt the top (rear) door. The kit offers two options, 1 closed and one open with the panels molded together. I didn't care for the molded open 1 so I cut apart the other, did some sanding and shaping, and scratched some basic actuator arms. Also cut mounting tab off the other part.

 Detailed ramp.(kit parts; 2, total parts: 45!)

 Even got some paint thrown at her!

 After painting, I was looking at some pics and realized I had it wrong, the dark grey doesn't continue aroun the rear pylon. I had already put on some decals, which really made correcting this an issue, but I got it.

 For the custom mkgs; The E S on the tail, I pre-painted black, then cut letters from masking tape for....masking! The kit decals had EM and YS, so I was able to combine them as a stencil.

 The 15, I just masked out a stencil with tamiya tape.

 For the BUNO, his is 154009, the kit had 153369, I put those on and corrected with paint. I also pieced together the hmm-266.

I still have all the stencil decals to do, as well as the Griffin on the tail, but, here is where she's at right now.

 AAAAWWWWWE, make me blush!!!!

 Come on over!!!! I'll take some backstrap out of the freezer....wrap em in bacon...onto the charcoal!!!!!

 With full bellies, we'll be all set for a POWER build!!!!

You're right . I will redirect for Bondo. Still a great build though. Looking forward to the next steps.

~Brian

 Thanks for the comps guys, much appreciated!

 Brain, I think you may have confused Bondo's build with mine. I'm doing the 2tone grey finish on this one.

 Not much to report today. Got all the glass masked and installed along with most of the doo-dads, just got to get ahold of my buddy again to find out what-all antennas were on his bird. Then I can start flingin some color.

     Thanks again

             FERMIS

Fermis,

I read through this entire build this morning and am absolutely floored by your work. It's amazing the detail that you put in with mostly bits of wire and sprue. I retired out of the Corps last year and as a straightleg infantry man I looked to the heavens many a time to get transported by a phrog. Brings back a whole bunch of memories.

There is a Marine in my club that owns MAW Decals and he specializes in Marine Aircraft.

You said you were doing thisone in green chamo. Creighton Henthorne produces a decal sheet for this scheme.

http://www.mawdecals.com/decals/1_48/1_48.html

48-MAW020 CH-46 Field
Green/Land Scheme Stencils
1/48 scale
Subjects:
- CH-46D/E Stencils
- reference cd included

~Brian

J.H. Primm wrote:

At the rate you are going I wouldn't be surprised to see  rotating and stationary swashplates along with the the drive arms, pitch change links, aft vertical shaft, blade fold positioning motor, rotor brake and heater not to mention longitudinal and lateral bellcranks for the forward and aft rotor heads along with the gearing absorbers, blade fold linkage, etc, etc, etc....

 WOW, It LOOKS like English....but it sounds Greek!!!!

 I know..."rotor head" and "rotor blade", that's about it!!!

 I've pretty much forgoten about the oil tank, really can't see it. I had thought of repositioning the thing before I installed it, but forgot then too. My A.D.D. is in full force, jumping back and forth between the subassemblies. All those are done now, just the little do-dads all around to get it ready to throw some paint.

 I attached all the window and doors with liquid mask so they will be easily removed after painting(much easier than trying to mask them with tape.

 The PE intake screens were a major PITA, but, I got em!!!

 I ground off the molded in light lenses on the canopy, and scratched new ones in the nose. I just used a piece of styrene for the back, and sprue with the end drilled out a bit for the lenses.

 Hopefully I can get some paint on it this weekend!

fermis wrote:

Ah CRAP!!! So, do I probably have the whole part upside down? That tank is molded on with the rest. I just added the lines comming out of it. Then the real problem would be that I already cemented the halves together.  The Cobra resin doesn't give instructions.  The c-rat is glued inside there, I know it'll never be seen, but we know it's there!!!

Oh well!  Next time ask before you glue and maybe it won't make you blue! 

It's still a great build!  Don't let one little glitch ruin it for ya!

 Ah CRAP!!! So, do I probably have the whole part upside down? That tank is molded on with the rest. I just added the lines comming out of it. Then the real problem would be that I already cemented the halves together.  The Cobra resin doesn't give instructions.

 The c-rat is glued inside there, I know it'll never be seen, but we know it's there!!!

John,

Good catch the oil tank!  I'm not familiar with the inner workings of the CH-46 but thought it might have been upside down when I saw the picture.  Thanks for sharing your knowledge on the subject.

fermis wrote:

Thanks again guys,  My humble(but accurate) opinion is, that, this is the greatest forum ever, and the best thing I've done to improve my craft!  J.H. Primm wrote: Fermis; No need to rip em out, just apply the correct colors, the dimensions look good, so don't throw them away!  I did decide to go ahead and leave em in. Once the ramp is on and all is said-n-done, they probably won't really be seen to well anyway.  What would be the correct color? All the pics I've seen, it just looks dark grey.  I got along to the rear nacelle, openned up the vents and added the resin bit to the front end with a couple added wires and lines.  and a C-rat can of spaggetti-n-meatballs to go in the nacelle  (there's a "plus 1" on the parts count!!!!)         Thanks again guys, extra special thanks to V-man!!!!            FERMIS

Engine bay doors were covered with a steel/aluminum sheeting. so they should be a very dull shade of aluminum or steel, but not too dark. I imagine Testors flat steel would be a close match.

BTW, the C-rats wouldn't be visibile unless you opened the engine bay up :)

I have a photo somewhere of a GE-T-58-10...The dash 16s of course had the squarish exhausts as you have set up and that along with the external hoist at the cabin door are the quickest ways to distinguish E models from earlier CH-46 As, Ds, and Fs.

Also, great work on the engine oil tanks and pushpull tubes in the aft pylon! The only minor thing is that the tank filler caps (those yellow thingees  should be rotated upward about 45 degrees unless you want oil running down the inside of the aft pylon :),  Seriously  most people wont know the difference so it isn't a big deal.

Great work.

At the rate you are going I wouldn't be surprised to see  rotating and stationary swashplates along with the the drive arms, pitch change links, aft vertical shaft, blade fold positioning motor, rotor brake and heater not to mention longitudinal and lateral bellcranks for the forward and aft rotor heads along with the gearing absorbers, blade fold linkage, etc, etc, etc....

 Thanks again guys,

 My humble(but accurate) opinion is, that, this is the greatest forum ever, and the best thing I've done to improve my craft!

J.H. Primm wrote:

Fermis; No need to rip em out, just apply the correct colors, the dimensions look good, so don't throw them away!

 I did decide to go ahead and leave em in. Once the ramp is on and all is said-n-done, they probably won't really be seen to well anyway.

 What would be the correct color? All the pics I've seen, it just looks dark grey.

 I got along to the rear nacelle, openned up the vents and added the resin bit to the front end with a couple added wires and lines.

 and a C-rat can of spaggetti-n-meatballs to go in the nacelle

 (there's a "plus 1" on the parts count!!!!)

      Thanks again guys, extra special thanks to V-man!!!!

           FERMIS

fermis,

You are putting an amazing amount of detail in your Phrog!  Really neat!  Thanks for sharing your work.  I just found out about the stainless steel panels under the engines this last summer when I went to Pensacola and watched the Blues practice.  They had a couple Phrogs out on the back ramp and one had enough of the the rear ramp open I was able to put my camera inside and just point and shoot a few interior shots.  Keep up the great work!

Fermis;

No need to rip em out, just apply the correct colors, the dimensions look good, so don't throw them away!

Fermis Amazing detail I must say, is all I can say buddy. Thanks for letting me know about this build, gives me a mark to shoot for one day.

PM inbound Fermis

J.H. Primm wrote:

fermis wrote:   Fermis; The panels you replicated are actually constructed of stainless steel/titanium and are in fact the access panels for each engine. It looks as if you even replicated a repair on the right hand (#2 ) engine bay door.  This is a very good set up as it allows for the crew chief to check for any problems with the engines while in flight. We used to use this area as an oven...I once put a c-ration can of spaghetti and meatballs in there and forgot about it, after the flight I spent a bunch of time cleaning up the resulting mess... Here's one for your files, a photo of yours truly, circa May 1978...CH-46D 154831, HMM-164 MCAS Futenma, Okinawa

 AHHH, that makes perfect sense! I think I'll rip mine out and give it another go. Maybe even scratch a can of spag.-n-meatballs to throw in there (would that have been the GREEN can?) I remember them being green in the early 80s(Dad used to bring em on camping trips.)

 Thanks for the info

    FERMIS

fermis wrote:

Before joining the halves together, I replicated the canvas(?) sheets just above the ramp.  I started with a piece of styrene, covered with masking tape, for texture, and poked a couple ritets in it.  I also had to add the supports for the seats. Just bits of stretched sprue.  I also had to thin the front end of the roof section for it to fit against the resin bulkhead. All that detail on the resin sits a bit high.  Here's she is, all buttoned up.  Now, things should progress pretty quick, over the weekend.

Fermis;

The panels you replicated are actually constructed of stainless steel/titanium and are in fact the access panels for each engine.

It looks as if you even replicated a repair on the right hand (#2 ) engine bay door.

 This is a very good set up as it allows for the crew chief to check for any problems with the engines while in flight.

We used to use this area as an oven...I once put a c-ration can of spaghetti and meatballs in there and forgot about it, after the flight I spent a bunch of time cleaning up the resulting mess...

Here's one for your files, a photo of yours truly, circa May 1978...CH-46D 154831, HMM-164 MCAS Futenma, Okinawa

fermis wrote:

I had to make an extra set for the pic, so it's just laying around, not to be used by me. Bondo??? You want them for your project?

So pass em on. And stop posting pics of the real thing! I'm on this full time now that the Weekend GB is over. Very nice work on the litters- I'm copying. I'm pulling up short of the marvelous work you did on the IP, and simpler interior too. You rock!

If I had to do this again I would have passed on the resin AM stuff and spent the money on the brass, but no big deal.

I have a dog that looks like yours.

 Hey Viper, I haven't changed the setting yet on my cutter, I can make more, PM me your particulars, I can get em out to you.

 Anybody else?   They will be just the round windows, the rest, I'll just be pieceing bits of tape over.

 Before joining the halves together, I replicated the canvas(?) sheets just above the ramp.

 I started with a piece of styrene, covered with masking tape, for texture, and poked a couple ritets in it.

 I also had to add the supports for the seats. Just bits of stretched sprue.

 I also had to thin the front end of the roof section for it to fit against the resin bulkhead. All that detail on the resin sits a bit high.

 Here's she is, all buttoned up.

 Now, things should progress pretty quick, over the weekend.

 Thanks Viper, do you have some property there? That is huntable? I'll deliver some jerky!!!! Iowa has some monsters!!!!

 I'm to the point of installing the interior, but was kinda held up, trying to figure out how to go about masking the windows, which get sandwiched between. Then I remembered that I had this circle cutter, YAAAAY!!!

 It is made by OLFA, I got it at Michaels for around $5.

 It took a bit of trail-n-error to get the right size.

 Perfect!!!

 I had to make an extra set for the pic, so it's just laying around, not to be used by me. Bondo??? You want them for your project?