UH -34 Sea Horse WIP

Hi Richard ;

Your Sea Horse is coming along nicely , the H-34 is a favourite of mine too , I have a few on the workbench as well . I really like how you have airbrushed the interior with light and dark shades of gray , I think I may try that on some of my next H-34 builds .

The kit goes together rather well , with no real fit issue's , so it should be an enjoyable build ... Good luck and keep the progress pic's coming .

Kind regards

                      John .

Helo 53

Hi Richard ;

Your Sea Horse is coming along nicely , the H-34 is a favourite of mine too , I have a few on the workbench as well . I really like how you have airbrushed the interior with light and dark shades of gray , I think I may try that on some of my next H-34 builds .

The kit goes together rather well , with no real fit issue's , so it should be an enjoyable build ... Good luck and keep the progress pic's coming .

Kind regards

                      John .

Thanks John,

I saw your post and the fleet of cool Sea Horses. Real nice. I was also queried on the main landing struts by the group builders here and referred them to the knowledge of the two types of struts available on both the D & H versions from your post. Thanks for the great source of info on the kit from you.

I basically do Dioramas and this will be place in one as well. Sometimes I go overboard and add details which you can't get with AM products that have not reached the shelves yet and kick myself when they finally come out. Hope this one turns out well.

Now the following pix show the progress of the cockpit window surgery...

See the cut out window frame...I'll need to sand it thin and remove the frame around it.

IMG]http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g316/rtfoe/rtfoe%20Heli%20Builds/PICT0004-63.jpg[/IMG]

IMG]http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g316/rtfoe/rtfoe%20Heli%20Builds/PICT0005-55.jpg[/IMG]

I'll be filling in the mold release depressions where ever they can be seen.

The top pix shows the back with supports. The bottom pix shows that I had to pay a lot of attention to alignment as there are two sides of windows.

I'll remove the little support once the frame has set. The corners will also recieve some sanding to round off the corners.

Will post more shortly.

Cheers,
Richard

Hi All,

More progress on the Seahorse,

I managed to sand down the frames thin enough to hold the clear parts using my rotor tool.

I filled the release mold depressions with putty and sanded them down. Will spray on the interior colors over the frames later.

While slicing off the sanded burrs I accidentally cut off a bit of the front angle of the frame which you can see that I've added plastic card.

In my haste I also dropped glue onto the corner of one of the clear parts. I'll wait for it to dry and harden before wet sanding with very fine sand paper and then polish it.

More shortly

Cheers,

Richard

Hi again,

My itchy fingers had to cut up and scratch more details. The kit comes with well molded mesh for the engine vents but viewed from the profile it just didn't have the transparent look so out came my power cutting tool.

Here's the progress, first I had to locate my mesh. Don't ask me where I got it from...all I can remember is that I picked it up from the road.

Then I traced the area that was to be cut out by rubbing over the raised detail with pencil lead on thin receipt paper compliments of MH.

Look at how good the molding was and I have to cut it up using the grinding bit.

That was easy with the help of the grinding bit chocked into a power tool.

That makes two plus the tail section.

The hard part is to thin out  from the inside with another grinding bit as thin as possible.

This will take a while. Meantime I'll be cutting the wire mesh from the template and roughly scratch an engine.

C&C welcomed. More shortly

Cheers,
Richard

Hi, this is what I've done so far.

I really opened up a can of worms by replacing the mesh 'cos I had to scratch the interior. Lets start with the mesh at the forward section

All nice from the front but just look at the back, all super glued up.

The interior top of the passenger compartment had no roof. So templates of the roof and firewalls were cut from plastic sheet. I also added a section for the shaft on the back of the seat board.

I cut a section from the flight deck floor board to fit the firwall.

The following show Bondite (two part epoxy putty) used for forming the sound proofing texture...

Some gyzmology for the engine and firewall...

All three frabrications.

Then I added detail to the exhaust. Re-inforcement clasp and three spoked seperators in the muffler. Painted it rust and silver with a wash of sepia.

The engine got a bit of wiring with copper wire and the whole was painted and washed down. I randomly colored the wires. Through the mesh it looks quite convincing.

The interior paneling was also given a wash to bring out the already darker and lighter tonesdone earlier.. I use water color for the wash.

Then like stuffing turkey I stuffed all the elements in to the bird. The wire ends can't be seen after the halves are put together.

The seats and dash board are being dealt with now and will be added later.

That's all for now. C & C most welcomed.

Cheers,
Richard

Absolutly amazing work richard

I had no idea how much effort you were going to put into this build , your scratch-building workmanship is truely inspiring ... 'frankly it makes my H-34 builds look like amateur hour' .

Just cutting open the cockpit windows is hard enough but the rest of your build so far is awesome . I really like the mesh screens , that motor tool looks handy to have around , I may have to look at buying one myself ... Better than using a pin vice and needle files .

I also like the way you did the sound proofing on the cabin roof , I never thought of making a small wedge shape block to represent where the rotor shaft  goes from the engine up to the rotors .

I like the engine , is something you can buy aftermarket ??

I popped a CD into the computer and copied all your great progress pic's , your UH-34D build is just amazing .

Please keep the updates and pic's coming Sir....

                                                 John .

Wow!  Excellent work Richard!!  Thanks for sharing your WIP pics here and keep them coming.

-Derek

Thanks Guys,

Helo 53

I had no idea how much effort you were going to put into this build , your scratch-building workmanship is truely inspiring ... 'frankly it makes my H-34 builds look like amateur hour' .

John - Don't say that as your objective was to build a flotila of variants. They're really good. I would have done the same and kept the detailing to the minimum besides the UH-34 Italeri kit details are themselves good. I got overboard on mine as it was a one off build. The mesh detail is one of the best I've seen on a kit...it's just a pity I had itchy fingers and wanted it see through.

If you getting a motor tool, get one that has variable speed and can be slowed down to working levels with plastic. Too fast and it will melt plastic.

Not sure about AM engines for the H-34...I guess any resin 1'72 scale radial engine can suffice with a bit of modifications. Mine, can you beat it is actually a cooloing fan part from a 1/35 scale M-113 Armoured Carrier.

Glad you like the progress pic's.

Derek - My progress is quite slow at times as I have a few projects on my plate but I'll try to keep this one consistant.

Cheers,

Richard

Richard,

Nice work!

It's appropriate that you used the cooling fan from an M-113, since your "engine" is actually the cooling fan for the Seahorse's powerplant. The engine (and fan) sits forward of the firewall, and isn't visible through the air screens. Actually, there's not a whole lot of gear in that void between the back of the firewall and the front cabin bulkhead -- basically the fan gearbox and shaft, assorted wires and cables, and lots of room for the air to get in.

There aren't any AM engines that I've heard of. The closest appears to be the engine from the 1/72nd scale Esci M-4 Sherman tank, and its various reboxings by other manufacturers. It's not an R1820-84, but it's adaptable.

Len

Thanks Len, appreciate your comments. Looks like I got lucky using the cooling fan from the M-113. I've actually got the 1/72 ESCI M-4 Sherman. Don't know where I chucked the engine.

More updates...

The vents just behind the cockpit also have mesh that I had to replace. They're slightly more coarse as compared with the sample fine mesh here.

I used return rollers from a Tamiya M-48 Patton to simulate the gears.

This is what it looks like patched to the body.

I also added gyzmology plumbing to the tail boom.

CX & C welcomed.

Cheers,

Richard

Hi Guys,

More updates on my WIP. This is realtime WIP as opposed to the other completed WIP's I have posted in other forums.

These were done just a day ago...I have glued the body together with minor adjustments to the interior bulkheads by shaving and sanding.

Dry fitted the canopy...this is where more adjustments were made to the scratched frames.

I added more strip card to compensate for the gaps between the clear parts and the frame.

Notice that putty is needed for the gaps for the top engine vent frames.

Putty has been added to the front vent frames...I took off the dash board to facilitate sanding to fit the clear canopy.

Close up of the exhaust where I added bracings and spokes in each tube.

These two pix show what you see through the mesh...I hope I captured the look of it.

That's all for today. C & C welcomed.

Cheers,

Richard

She's really coming together now Richard . The engine screens look amazing and so does the dry-brushing/highliting of the cockpit consols . I like the way you fitted the cockpit consol in , it's sometimes difficult to get the consol to sit in place properly with italeri's instructions , I like the way you did it .

The high stack exhaust looks great too.....

                                              John .

Thanks John,

With all the scratch building done, the area I'm most dreading to do is the mating of the canopy to the cockpit which is second to masking of the canopy frame. To get my mind off it I'll probably add switches and wire to the canopy console.

I saw your growing fleet of H-34's and they're looking great.

Cheers,

Richard

Hi everyone,

It's been a while since the last post as I was busy with work and my other builds.

I haven't progressed much but managed to add the canopy console and wiring.

 I added putty along visible seams and sanded.

Again I test fitted the canopy to the frame and will need filler to the back of the canopy. I'll use a strip of card for this.

Then I made the console from card strips and stretched sprue and test fitted it on the top of the canopy.

I added wire to simulate dangling communication wires and painted it all black. Again test fitting on the canopy to see how it looks.

That's all for now till later. Thanks for looking.

Cheers,

Richard

She looks about ready for the spray booth Richard ;

The amazing workmanship you have put into your H-34 build has certainly inspired me ; I had a go at cutting open the cockpit side windows on three of my current H-34's . I'm adding pilots as well and I like your idea for the communication wire ; Italeri's UH-34J canopy has a slightly thinner console panel molded to the underside with some knobs molded on as opposed to the UH-34D canopy .

Again great progress pic's , thank's for sharing .

                               John .

Hi John,

Thanks, glad that you're sliding the canopy window open and adding pilots. I'm having a hard time finding pilot figures in 1/72 scale to fit this UH-34.

Yes, there is a slight console panel mold on the canopy underside, that's why I had to build a box to cover it instead of a solid one from plastic sheet. I did the same hanging communication wires for my Revell Huey. I hope to post it someday. Will the Vietnam Huey guys object if I post some pictures in their post? Would like to get feedback from some of the Vets there.

Progress is slow but steady. I'm stuck with deciding on a static bird or one that is just lifting off for my dio. With the lift off I would have to reverse the bend of the prop blades upwards. I've figured how to do that but how much of a bend should it be. John , perhaps you could help me on this?

Cheers,

Richard

I'm not really sure as to how much of an upward bend you would need on the rotors ? ;

I don't think it would be too much ...

I borrowed some pilots from two Hasegawa SH-60B Seahawk kits , there are three pilot figures in each kit so I will use two each in three USMC H-34's , It will be a tight squeeze so I may have to do some filing and adjusting to the main console panel and possibly their legs as well .

                                                        John .

You're doing a wonderful job on this, excellent attention to detail.

Swanny

You're doing a wonderful job on this, excellent attention to detail.

Thanks Swanny, I took a look at your link and it's cool.

John, thanks for the info on the props and figures. I saw that you also did some scratch building to your V undercarriage. Really good, it's like you've been experienced in scratch building all your life. Have to warn you though, over detailing can sometimes stall building progress and I've been there.

Here's more WIP on the UH-34...

The overhead console got painted and the canopy was soaked in Future to get the shine. I let it dry on a paper towel as I tackled the rear rotor blade.

There was a mention that the manufacturer had produced the rear rotor blades backwards. I checked with reference and it's true (picture attached)

So I had to flip the rotor from this ...

...to this...

...and it was easy, I just had to slice off both ends at the correct distance and switch them over...

With that aside I added strip bracings for the front mesh and secured the canopy with the added backing strip and liquid cement.

Now the hoisting hook assembly looked a bit empty so I'm going to add some electric wire cables to spruce it up next.

Till the next post.

Cheers,

Richard

Richard , the tail rotor correction is absolutly brilliant , I'll be trying that as well .

I was a little curious as to why you added the plastic strip to the canopy window opening , some pic's I have looked at on the net and in books , there doesn't seem to be any type of frame around the opening . I was thinking of just sanding down the raised edge on the seperate window frame and leave the canopy as is or should there be some type of [strip] frame to the cockpit opening ???

Kind regards

                        John .

Hi John,

Thanks for the nice comment. As for the window frame on the kit, it's molded with the outer main frame that has the the lip or rain guard. What I did was to removed the main frame. While doing so I couldn't save it so I had to scratch the frame lip and inner frame(together it becomes the main frame). Also the bottom rail guard was replaced with strip and stretched sprue.

I thought it was going to be an easy modification until I realised I had to fabricate the cut off main frame. Here's an angle shot showing the inner and outer frame. The outer lip was thinner until I added extra strip to compensate for the gap with the canopy.

Will post reference later.

Cheers,

Richard

Hi John,

Here is the reference picture that shows the rain catch lip for the front and top of the side cockpit window.

Here are more WIP's for the hoisting winch where I added wire and plastic strip.

I added some bracing also with thin plastic strip.

Thanks for looking.

Cheers,

Richard

Howdy Richard!

I like your build a lot. The best thing about it is the addition of the wire mesh IMO. I wanted to do that on my Seahorse 10 years ago, but back then I couldn't locate the apropriate mash, nor did I know what should "peep" from under it (I mean the engine area). The detailing of the winch is so nice too. It just warms an electrician's heart like mine. I just have to build a helicopter soon myself

Good luck with your project, have a nice day

Pawel

Great job on the winch, keep those pictures coming.

Thanks Pawel and Swanny,

Pawel - I found that mesh by the roadside near a construction site and only 6" x 8". Haven't seen any of it like its kind so I treat it like gold. I have shared some with fellow modelers for air intake covers. Since you like Vietnam stuff, I have a built Huey posted on the Vietnam Huey post if you like to have a look.

I enjoyed building the winch and am glad both of you liked it.

Here is another picture of the windows and doors dry fitted with blu-tac to see how it looks. 

The next thing to add are grab handles which are missing on the kit.

Cheers,

Richard

Thank's for the reference pic of the rain guard Richard .

I'll make the effort and add them on my builds .

The winch and the added wiring look great , I really have learned a lot about scratch-building from watching your awesome H-34 WIP .

Kind regards

                          John .

I am in awe at the work you have done on this model.  I can't believe it is a 1/72 scale helicopter kit.  It looks fantastic.  I can't wait to see it all painted up.

Thanks John and Macattack80,

John - Glad you were inspired to scratch build and I see you're pretty good at it too. When dealing with the rain guard be careful to protect your transparencies with tape when you sand, cut or file.

Macattack80 - 1/72 it is and I was telling Adam on the dio forum that I was getting cross eyed from building it. I have reading and magnifying glasses to help with the close detail but after a while I get a headache.

Hope I can justify with a good paint job after all this work.

Cheers,

Richard

Hi All, I've added more details to the UH-34 and they are grab handles, rear view mirror stand and wind screen wiper.

These are grab handles in the front clam shell engine covers.

Grab handles for the left and right side canopy and side panels.

Rear view mirror stand and wind shield wiper which was dry fitted for the picture.

The wind shield wiper made from wire and plastic strip. Thw windows at the back are drying after a dip in Future.

That's it now to mask and proceed to spray painting.

Thanks for looking.

Cheers,

Richard