UH -34 Sea Horse WIP

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

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

-Derek

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 .

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

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 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

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 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 .