1/35 CH-47D Chinook ... Finished, APR 2011

A late response tho I have been away fpr a long time.  This is one amazing build!  I know 1/35 allows for a bit more detailing but I only hope that my upcoming 1/48 CH-46E looks half as good as this one turned out.  WOW!! 

Fantastic build, thanks for posting the great images and descriptions. I'm just back into scale models after a 40+ year hiatus and have the Trumpy CH-47A and BigED for the -D but was stumped by the lack of interior detail, compared to say Revell 1/48. Having been directed to your thread by Big Arty on Missing Lynx (thanks), it's given me the impetus to get scratching.

Well done

John Waller

modelchasm

Haha!! Glad it inspired you on your '64 ... I'm actually about to break into that kit myself .... Ooo Lordie Lordie.... :)

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Oh, you ain't seen nothing yet!!  It looks nice enough laying in the box, but parts fit is rather poor.  I spent most of my time trying to get the fuselage seams to match/smooth out.  Part joint mismatch is a problem with this kit.  Then there are the soft details.  I ended up bending my own hand-holds, among other things, and it really helped the look.  Most of the pictures I've seen of the real bird showed a little 'cage' around the chain gun.  That's either missing, or very-poorly-executed in the kit.  I fabbed up my own. 

I used the ARC walk-arounds a lot:

http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com/AWA1/001-100/walk072_Apache/walk072.htm

It's not a kit I took a lot of pleasure putting together, but I take a lot of pride at the way it turned out.

...and of course the real thing was probably just one enormous cloud of dust, but what can you do?

I thought about a smoke machine, but then I thought that might be a little over board. :)

Great diorama indeed and well deserved praise from "those who know".

Welcome back, thank you for your service, and congratulations on the new child as well. Been a full year for you!

I'm in the frozen blades camp too. I just haven't seen it done very often well in any other way. Having those trees bending over gives the feeling of that powerful down wash, and of course the real thing was probably just one enormous cloud of dust, but what can you do?

Excellent work. It's actually a really gutsy composition. No wonder it turns heads.

Haha!! Glad it inspired you on your '64 ... I'm actually about to break into that kit myself .... Ooo Lordie Lordie.... :)

Thanks for your comments, Crash ... Glad you got to see it in person. :)

modelchasm

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This build has earned numerous awards and achievements since getting all the final touches put on, even earning a few 1st place awards at shows It was featured in the Reader Gallery in the Oct 2013 issue of FSM, and lastly was chosen/ accepted to be on permanent display aboard the USS Lexington, Corpus Christi, TX, for their new scale model exhibit. It was hard to give it up but its been great to get random messages of "Holy crap I just saw your model!" from friends I hadn't talked to in years. Who knows .... maybe it'll even inspire some kiddo to get into the hobby.

Thanks for the short blast. Enjoy the pics ... and look for more stuff to get build, updated, and finished in the coming weeks!

Thanks for posting up the finished pictures for us with better light.  I followed this build, and waited for nice pictures with all the finished details.  I was working on the really bad Revell AH-64 kit, and your build gave me the inspiration to complete that pig's ear, turning it into not too bad a silk purse. 

I quoted your comments above, because when I read it, I had to laugh.  I was looking at some pictures from show somewhere a while back, and there was a picture of your diarama there.  My thoughts?  "H0ly Cr@p, I know who built that!!" 

Nice job, can't wait to see your next project.

I saw this some time ago, liked the model then and it still looks as good now.

Whether the blades are blurred or not is the photographer's choice.  I intentionally try to get the same motion blur the eye sees, but that takes a slower exposure that I would prefer if maximum detail is wanted in the rest of the picture.  Also, I have noticed in my pictures, and in those posted here, that there is no sag in the rotor blades when they are spinning at flight rpm.   Here's one of mine from last year:

Photos are my inspiration and I like most of, if not all, my models to reflect action. Unless I want to wire them all up, which I don't, I guess I'd have to say I build for that "frozen moment in time" look. I've tried the whole clear disc thing and I've never been happy with the outcome ... even in the 1/72 scale things I've tried ... so it was out of the question here. I like helos and the action-feel you can get out of them. So, I make sure to do certain things like put an upward bend in the rotors, bend the trees a little, blowing clothes or flags, poses of figures, etc. I've been very please with this one and it always brings me a smile to look at it.

Thanks again for all the comments Gino & Raven. I'm glad you all enjoyed it. And, if I helped anyone with techniques or methods by posting all this, then even better.

I guess it is your preference.  The blurred disks look toylike to me.  I prefer the "moment in time" capture of the frozen blades.

Yeah but if you look at the photo of the real thing (the pic posted on pg13 along with the pics of the diorama) they are blurred.

Whether they are blurred or not depends on the camera, shutter speed etc. I guess.

Also depends if he was intending the diorama to be a recreation of the still photo, or the actual moment in time as viewed in real life by the Mk 1 eyeball.

She came out great and looks even better w/the professional pics.  Well deserving of teh awards it has won.

"I'd have put "fake" spinning rotors on it though, you know the sort where you make them out of a clear piece of plastic sheet so it looks like the rotors are spinning."

Actually, when a photo is taken of a helo, it will freeze the blades, not make a blurred disk .  It is more realistic to have the blades there.

Examples:

Just awesome.  Wish I could build models that well.  I'd have put "fake" spinning rotors on it though, you know the sort where you make them out of a clear piece of plastic sheet so it looks like the rotors are spinning.  Looks a little wrong in the photos with static rotors.  But still an awesome diorama.

Ish!!! ... Good to see you buddy! Thanks again for all the reference material. Couldn't have done it w/o you.

Pawel ... always good to see you. I did have to take a second look at the forum. I was a little confused ... but I like it.

Bigfoot & Dave ... thanks for checking things out and I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Great job on that CH-47! And, THANK YOU for your service to this country! Greatly appreciated!

Absolutely incredible! And welcome home and THANK YOU for your service!

Welcome back and congratulations on the awards! You'll notice, that the forum has changed, too. Good luck with your projects and have a nice day!

Paweł

Glad to see you made it back from the 'Stan.  

Don't mean to resurrect an old topic or beat a dead horse, but I was finally able to finish-finish this build and get some professional pictures taken of it. Been very, very busy since returning from Afghanistan and honestly haven't touch much plastic since. My wife and I had a baby boy and now that everything is just now settling down I'm wanting to get back into the swing of things.

To finish this one up I couldn't get good pictures myself, so I took it to a photographer and get some really good shots of it ... and we did some with a green screen just for fun later on.

Here's a series of finished, 360 deg, shots....

And some of my favorite ... playing around with PS and the green-screen images...

And lastly ... My very favorite ... The picture that inspired it all, along side the finished build.

This build has earned numerous awards and achievements since getting all the final touches put on, even earning a few 1st place awards at shows It was featured in the Reader Gallery in the Oct 2013 issue of FSM, and lastly was chosen/ accepted to be on permanent display aboard the USS Lexington, Corpus Christi, TX, for their new scale model exhibit. It was hard to give it up but its been great to get random messages of "Holy crap I just saw your model!" from friends I hadn't talked to in years. Who knows .... maybe it'll even inspire some kiddo to get into the hobby.

Thanks for the short blast. Enjoy the pics ... and look for more stuff to get build, updated, and finished in the coming weeks!

Very nice work there!!

Mike

modelchasm

Thanks, Model Freak ....

It's easier than you might think ... the trick is to step away when something on the build frustrates you and just come back later. 5 minutes of "dumb" can ruin 12 months of work.

Thanks again ....

You're welcome!

Well, that happens alot to me with that pontoon boat, and I end up staying away for weeks b/c I get distracted on the other aspects of life. Perseverance is greatly needed in modeling I've found.

Thanks, Model Freak ....

It's easier than you might think ... the trick is to step away when something on the build frustrates you and just come back later. 5 minutes of "dumb" can ruin 12 months of work.

Thanks again ....

WOW!!!

GREAT JOB!

I wish I could do something like that!

Yup, that is how I'm doing it too.  I just finished the shield tonight and am letting it dry.  I am going to do the visor next and do plan on making a mold of it on the HGU-56 helmet I used for the pilots.

Thanks for the comments guys. I'm glad that you like it.

Gino, the face shield is nothing more than a small dot of putty shaped across the face. In hind sight, I should have made a mold of the head .... but it was easy enough to do the first time. The visor was added last using a small piece of clear acetate.

She came out great.  I really like the FE with the face shield.  I plan on doing that to the CE on my UH-60A MedEvac as well.  Great job. 

Yes Sir!!

Ok ... as promised .... its taken me awhile to get these uploaded with my connection, but I hope this works. They're not the greatest, my wife took these for me since I was already gone and the flash washes a lot out. I'll be home on leave soon and I'll take more/ better pictures then. Hope you guys enjoy them as much as I did getting this one finished up....

Thanks again for all that followed this one ... hopefully, I'll get at least SOME building done while I'm here and I can post up some new threads.

I'll post more pictures here as soon as I get home. Hope all's well .... take care.

Jeremy!!! How goes it, brother!!! Good to hear from you and thanks for checking in on me. HAHA! ... I didn't fall of the ends of the earth, though I think I'm REALLY close to it!! HAHAH

Will try to get something posted up here in the next couple days. .... "work" is  a little hectic, but I'll see what I can do. I just go interent too, so I'm doing a lot of catching up...

Thanks again for checking in..... Later.