Italeri AH-1W WIP update DONE!!! Pics Page 3

ive got another project on the go atm, i was kinda over it and not enjoying the build anymore. My philosophy is if your not enjoying it. put it down and do something else for a while. so thats what im doing. Check out my rocket power GB, thats my next project.

Well, there you go...nicely done!

Why not just go ahead and weather it now???

If I ever call something "done, for now", with the intention of coming back to it, it never happens and it just sits around forever.....undone....til I pitch it!!!!

I say...knock er out!!!

Shes as done as im gonna get her for now. Ill revisit at a later date to do some weathering and weapons.

Photos

Enjoy, comments and criticism welcome.

shes nearly there, antennas and pitot tube on tonight, hopefully rotors decals and weathering too. ill post pics tonight.

cheers, in that case, final touch ups tonight, final assembly, decals, weathering, then done, tommorow night, hopefully lol

Most later models did not have the faired skid support legs.  They were a very early feature.  It is fine with them, but up to you if you want to change them out. 

ive been doing a bit more research and ive noticed that alot of these birds dont have the faired off struts like the model shows, neither does it have the wee step on the leading strut, was this common? is my kit still ok or will i need to modify it?

sweet, shes nearly finished, hopefully monday or tuesday

Looking pretty good.  Yes, the whole rotor hub is flat black, both the main and tail rotors.

you mean the hub? yeah i havent got that far yet. if i get time tonight ill do some painting (grocery night, yay) but yeah i seem to remember them being black, or at least very dark grey.

Both projects look great!!!

However, I do believe the rotorheads are all black. I haven't seen a pic to disprove that.

Ok when i first posted this i mentioned i got the kit to use for a school project. Below are some screen shots of the 3D model i made. as you can see its very bare of detail. this was due to the fact i was importing it into another program which works in surfaces instead of solids. so the less detail the better. also even at this detail level it took several hours to render the animation into a video.

Enjoy

I think i caught the shape quite well. Canopy need much addressing. same with engine nacelle. but otherwise i think i did alright.

Cheers. any idea what colour the inside of the intakes are?

Good thing you didn't scrap the build. Top-notch work!

Ok, quick update, a few photos of everything dry fitted together (that would stay on without glue anyway) As you can see i ended up going with desert camo. Kind of an accident really. I started with Desert yellow intending to use it as a base for the green black and brown. Then i want to paint something else with Buff and started doing camo on the huey. lol. Its looking good. Im finding it hard to get the paint looking good as poor lighting is making things difficult. i dont get the opportunity to model by daylight so i do it by lamplight.

Anyway enough of me. heres the pics. lemme know what you think.

HMA1369

 

The fuses (tips) are steel colored but the actual warheads are color-coded for identification:

M151 HE  - Olive drab with yellow markings

M156 White Phosphorus  - Light green with a single yellow band and markings

M247 HE Dual Purpose - Black with yellow markings

M257 Illumination - OD with white markings

M259 Smoke - Lt green with red markings

M261 HE Multi-purpose submunition - OD with single yellow band and markings

WDU-4A/A Anti-personnel (flechette round) - OD with white markings

 

Wow, thats quite comprihensive. So really i should be painting the tips silver or white? I went for blue cos i saw them in a walkaround and thought they looked cool. didnt turn out how i wanted though lol

The fuses (tips) are steel colored but the actual warheads are color-coded for identification:

M151 HE  - Olive drab with yellow markings

M156 White Phosphorus  - Light green with a single yellow band and markings

M247 HE Dual Purpose - Black with yellow markings

M257 Illumination - OD with white markings

M259 Smoke - Lt green with red markings

M261 HE Multi-purpose submunition - OD with single yellow band and markings

WDU-4A/A Anti-personnel (flechette round) - OD with white markings

Got the zuney pods painted (OD over Flat Black with blue tips on the missiles)...

Blue on ordinance is to denote inert practice rounds.  Unless you are going for a training mission look, they would not be on a combat-loaded helo.  Standard 2.75 in. rocket tips are steel color.

meh, its a rocket pod, i call em zunis cos i couldnt think of anything else to describe them without going into detail lol. but yes your right, 2.75 rocket pods, 2 of them in fact

Scorpiomikey

Ok, small update (no pictures unfortunately) Ive got a base coat of desert yellow down. still hunting for some lead shot. got the winglets on and working on the skids now. Had a pin snap on me so im trying to get it square. Working on armaments aswell. Got the zuney pods painted (OD over Flat Black with blue tips on the missiles) At this rate ill have her finished by the end of the week. ill get photos up when i can.

Sorry to be nit noid but I think what you are referring to as Zunis are probably just regular 2.75" rockets.  Zunis are 5" rockets that come four to a pod.  I'm not aware of any of these in any Cobra kits.  Regular 2.75" rockets come 7 or 19 to a pod and are in most (all?) kits.

Helo 53

I'm yet to figure out if this is a two tone gray finish ??

 

John,

I'm pretty sure that the colors in the scheme you are referring to are HMLA-367's sand and brown Desert Storm scheme.  I have a picture of it here somewhere.  367 came back and transferred it to HMT-303 (QT) and they added their markings.

Ok, small update (no pictures unfortunately) Ive got a base coat of desert yellow down. still hunting for some lead shot. got the winglets on and working on the skids now. Had a pin snap on me so im trying to get it square. Working on armaments aswell. Got the zuney pods painted (OD over Flat Black with blue tips on the missiles) At this rate ill have her finished by the end of the week. ill get photos up when i can.

A hammer also works great on lead, if you don't have a vice.

wow, i never thought of that, legend mate. thanks heaps.

I have a metal vice on the workbench in the garage , it's perfect for squashing large fishing sinkers nice and flat so they can fit under cockpit floors if there is not enough room in the nose section . I think you can put some behind the pilots seat/rear wall . You could also drop some down the hole where the rotor shaft fits , add a few drops of super glue to one side so they wont roll back towards the tail .

                                               John .

im still trying to work out where to put the weight, ive left te front controll pannel off but theres no room to put enough weight in.

Hi Scorpiomikey ,

All helicopter kits are rather challenging but if you stick with it the end results are most satisfying .

Italeri's cobra's are a bit easier to build than Airfix's cobra's , Hasegawa's probably fit together better than the other two , although I'm yet to put together a Hobbyboss cobra .

Revell's boxing of the italeri AH-1W cobra has two sets of decal markings , one in the three tone camouflage and the the other two tone gray ....{I think} , Revell's paint instructions call for the darker color A=grey mat 57 [50%] +sky blue mat 59 [50%] and the lighter color B=sea green mat 48 [75%] + yellow mat 15 [25%] .

I'm yet to figure out if this is a two tone gray finish ??

Don't forget to add some weight to the nose or under the cockpit floor , cobra kits tend to be tail sitters ...

HTH

                             John .

 Can't help with the pods,

 For what it's worth, Academys 1/35, has the pods smooth.

 but for the paint, I'd go with the grey/green/black. A bit more interesting than the grey on grey. Or, you could always go digital!!!

lol cheers for the support, well the winglets are made and the zuney pods are assembled. quick question about the zuney pods, are they meant to have a ridge along the underside? or are they smooth cylinders like on fixed wing?